"Greek mythology in western art and literature With the rediscovery of classical antiquity in the Renaissance, the poetry of Ovid became a major influence on the imagination of poets and artists, and remained a fundamental influence on the diffusion and perception of Greek mythology through subsequent centuries. From the early years of the Renaissance, artists portrayed subjects from Greek mythology alongside more conventional Christian themes. Among the best-known subjects of Italian artists are Botticelli's ""Birth of Venus"" and ""Pallas and the Centaur"", the Ledas of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, and Raphael's ""Galatea"". Through the medium of Latin and the"
"Hippocampus (mythology) The hippocampus or hippocamp, also ""hippokampoi"" (plural: hippocampi or hippocamps; , from , ""horse"" and , ""sea monster""), often called a sea-horse in English, is a mythological creature shared by Phoenician, Etruscan, and Greek mythology, though its name has a Greek origin. The hippocampus has typically been depicted as having the upper body of a horse with the lower body of a fish. Coins minted at Tyre around the 4th century BC show the patron god Melqart riding on a winged hippocampus and accompanied by dolphins. Coins of the same period from Byblos show a hippocampus diving under"
"Sphinx A sphinx ( , Boeotian: , plural sphinxes or sphinges) is a mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion. In Greek tradition, it has the head of a human, the haunches of a lion, and sometimes the wings of a bird. It is mythicised as treacherous and merciless. Those who cannot answer its riddle suffer a fate typical in such mythological stories, as they are killed and eaten by this ravenous monster. This deadly version of a sphinx appears in the myth and drama of Oedipus. Unlike the Greek sphinx, which was"
"Faun The faun (, , ""phaunos"", ) is a mythological half human–half goat creature appearing in Ancient Rome. The goat man, more commonly affiliated with the Satyrs of Greek mythology or Fauns of Roman, is a bipedal creature with the legs and tail of a goat and the head, arms and torso of a man and is often depicted with goat's horns and pointed ears. These creatures in turn borrowed their appearance from the god Pan of the Greek pantheon. They were a symbol of fertility, and their chieftain was Silenus, a minor deity of Greek mythology. Romans believed fauns"
"Centaur A centaur (; , ""kéntauros"", ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a mythological creature with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse. The centaurs were usually said to have been born of Ixion and Nephele (the cloud made in the image of Hera). Another version, however, makes them children of a certain Centaurus, who mated with the Magnesian mares. This Centaurus was either himself the son of Ixion and Nephele (inserting an additional generation) or of Apollo and Stilbe, daughter of the river god Peneus. In the later version of the story"
"Griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Greek: γρύφων, ""grýphōn"", or γρύπων, ""grýpōn"", early form ""γρύψ"", ""grýps""; ) is a legendary creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion; the head and wings of an eagle; and sometimes an eagle's talons as its front feet. Because the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle the king of birds by the Middle Ages the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature. Since classical antiquity, Griffins were known for guarding treasure and priceless possessions. In Greek and Roman texts, griffins and"
"the dipygus condition. Many mythological creatures like dragons, winged horses, and griffins have six limbs: four legs and two wings. The dragon's science is discussed in ""Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real"". In Greek Mythology, the Hekatonkheires were said to each have one hundred hands. The Gegenees were a race of giants with six arms. Sleipnir, Odin's horse in Norse mythology, has eight normal horse legs, and is usually depicted with limbs twinned at the shoulder or hip. Several Hindu deities are depicted with multiple arms and sometimes also multiple legs. Polymelia Polymelia (from Greek πολυ- ""many"", μέλεα ""limbs""), also known"
"Ichthyocentaurs In late poetical Greek mythology, ichthyocentaurs (, plural: Ιχθυοκένταυροι), were a race of centaurine sea gods with the upper body of a human, the lower front of a horse, the tail of a fish, and lobster-claw horns on their heads. The best-known members of this race were Aphros and Bythos, two half-brothers of the wise centaur Chiron and the sons of the Titan Cronus and Nymph Philyra. Though little remembered, they were set in the sky as the astronomical constellation Pisces. The twin ichthyocentaurs appear together in several works of art. A first- or second-century mosaic from Zeugma, Commagene,"
"Monoceros (legendary creature) The monoceros () is a legendary animal with only one horn. It derives from the Greek word ""Μονόκερως"", a compound word from μόνος (""monos"") which means ""only one"" / ""single"" and κέρας (""keras"") (neuter gender, which means ""horn"". The monoceros was first described in Pliny the Elder's ""Natural History"" as a creature with the body of a horse, the head of a stag (minus the antlers), the feet of an elephant, and the tail of a wild boar. It has one black horn in the middle of its forehead, which is two cubits in length, and is"
"Flegetonte (""river of blood""), to continue through the seventh Circle. Minotaur In Greek mythology, the Minotaur (, ; , , Etruscan: ""Θevrumineś"") is a mythical creature portrayed in Classical times with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being ""part man and part bull"". It dwelt at the center of the Labyrinth, which was an elaborate maze-like construction designed by the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus, on the command of King Minos of Crete. The Minotaur was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus. The"
"the union she bears the horse, Arion, and a daughter who originally had the shape of a mare too. It seems that the Greek deities started as powers of nature, and then they were given other attributes. These powers of nature developed into a belief in nymphs and in deities with human forms and the heads or tails of animals. Some of them, such as Pan and the Silenoi, survived into the classical age. The two great Arcadian goddesses, Demeter and Despoina (later Persephone), were closely related to the springs and the animals, and especially, to the goddess Artemis (Potnia"
"Greek. This has led to speculation among scholars that originally there were only two Kekropidai and that Herse was a later addition to the myth, functioning essentially as a double of Pandrosos. The purpose of the creation of the character of Herse would have been to bring the number of Kekropidai up to three so as to conform to the common trope of three sisters in Greek mythology (in keeping with the Three Fates, the Three Charites, etc.). Kekrops is thought to have been born from the soil of Athens itself, and possesses the head and torso of a man"
"Pegasides Pegasides () were nymphs of Greek mythology connected with wells and springs, specifically those that the mythical horse Pegasus created by striking the ground with his hooves. According to Greek mythological tradition the winged horse Pegasus was the son of Poseidon, sea and river god of the Greeks, equivalent to the Roman Neptune. The hero Bellerophon needed the untamed Pegasus to help him defeat the monster Chimera. Hence, while Pegasus was drinking at the spring Pirene in Corinth, Bellerophon caught him. Pegasus, startled, struck a rock with his hoof, creating the spring Hippocrene on Mount Helicon. The name Pegasides"
"mouth with his hands to prevent him from answering, and thus saved his companions. Some say he held Anticlus so tight that he strangled him. The asteroid 7214 Anticlus is named for the mythological figure. Anticlus In Greek mythology, Anticlus (Greek: Ἄντικλος, ""Antiklos""), son of Ortyx, was one of the Greek warriors who hid inside the Trojan Horse during the siege of Troy. When the wooden horse was taken within the city, Helen, suspecting a trick by the Greeks, circled the horse imitating the voices of the warriors' wives and sweethearts and calling their names. Anticlus was the only one"
"Minotaur In Greek mythology, the Minotaur (, ; , , Etruscan: ""Θevrumineś"") is a mythical creature portrayed in Classical times with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being ""part man and part bull"". It dwelt at the center of the Labyrinth, which was an elaborate maze-like construction designed by the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus, on the command of King Minos of Crete. The Minotaur was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus. The term Minotaur derives from the Ancient Greek , a compound"
"Chrysaor In Greek mythology, Chrysaor (, ""Chrysáor"", ""gen"".: Χρυσάορος, ""Chrysáoros""; English translation: ""He who has a golden sword"" (from χρυσός, ""golden"" and ἄορ, ""sword"")), the brother of the winged horse Pegasus, was often depicted as a young man, the son of Poseidon and the Gorgon Medusa. Chrysaor and Pegasus were not born until Perseus chopped off Medusa's head. Medusa, one of the three Gorgon sisters, the most beautiful, and the only mortal one, angered Athena due to either having sex with, or being raped by, Poseidon in the Temple of Athena. Athena punished Medusa by turning her hair into snakes."
"impossible to capture alive. In today's English language, the term ""monoceros"" typically refers to a unicorn or similar one-horned creature. Monoceros (legendary creature) The monoceros () is a legendary animal with only one horn. It derives from the Greek word ""Μονόκερως"", a compound word from μόνος (""monos"") which means ""only one"" / ""single"" and κέρας (""keras"") (neuter gender, which means ""horn"". The monoceros was first described in Pliny the Elder's ""Natural History"" as a creature with the body of a horse, the head of a stag (minus the antlers), the feet of an elephant, and the tail of a wild"
"Hippalectryon A hippalectryon or hippalektryon (), is a type of fantastic hybrid creature of Ancient Greek folklore, half-horse (front) and half-rooster (hind), including the tail, wings and hind legs. Its colour varies between yellow and reddish. No myths related to it are currently known. The oldest representation currently known dates back to the 9th century BCE, and the motif grows most common in the 6th century, notably in vase painting and sometimes as statues, often shown with a rider. It is also featured on some pieces of currency. A few literary works of the 5th century mention the beast, most"
"Cerberus In Greek mythology, Cerberus (; ""Kerberos"" ), often called the ""hound of Hades"", is a multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. Cerberus was the offspring of the monsters Echidna and Typhon, and usually is described as having three heads, a serpent for a tail, and snakes protruding from parts of his body. Cerberus is primarily known for his capture by Heracles, one of Heracles' twelve labours. Descriptions of Cerberus vary, including the number of his heads. Cerberus was usually three-headed, though not always. Cerberus had several multi-headed relatives. His father"
"that appears as a horse as often happens in northern-European folklore. He pursues the mare-Demeter and from the union she bears the horse Arion and a daughter who originally had the form or the shape of a mare. The two goddesses were not clearly separated and they were closely connected with the springs and the animals. They were related with the god of rivers and springs; Poseidon and especially with Artemis, the Mistress of the Animals who was the first nymph. According to the Greek tradition a hunt-goddess preceded the harvest goddess. In Arcadia, Demeter and Persephone were often called"
"of Osiris. Silenus, the Satyrs and the Fauns were either capriform or had some part of their bodies shaped like that of a goat. In northern Europe the wood spirit, Leszi, is believed to have a goat's horns, ears and legs (Thomas 1911, p. 51). A deity known as the Goat of Mendes is associated with the pentagram. In Greece, Italy, and Egypt, the goat was worshipped in both goat form and phallic form (Neave 1988, p. 8). This type of worship has sometimes been said to have originated from the goat's increased sex drive. One male goat was capable"
"pre-Greek griffin written accounts exist to tell us what was believed about imaginary hybird bird-mammal figures from the pre-classical time period. Griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Greek: γρύφων, ""grýphōn"", or γρύπων, ""grýpōn"", early form ""γρύψ"", ""grýps""; ) is a legendary creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion; the head and wings of an eagle; and sometimes an eagle's talons as its front feet. Because the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle the king of birds by the Middle Ages the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and"
"have been used for the first time by Aeschylus in ""Myrmidons""; the comic usage made by Aristophanes suggests that by the end of the 5th Century, most of the inhabitants of Athens had never heard about the creature. In ""The Birds"", Aristophanes describes the hippalectryon as a yellow-feathered, awkward-looking creature. The appearance of the creature is consistent amongst the known artistic representations. It involves a horse front part, including the head, withers and the front legs; the hind part is that of a rooster, including the wings, tail and legs. A text attributed to Hesychius of Alexandria mentions three different"
"a galley. A gold sea-horse was discovered in a hoard from the kingdom of Lydia in Asia minor, dating to the 6th century BC. In the ""Iliad"", Homer describes Poseidon, god of horses, earthquakes, and the sea, drawn by brazen-hoofed horses over the sea's surface, and Apollonius of Rhodes, describes the horse of Poseidon emerging from the sea and galloping across the Libyan sands. This compares to the specifically ""two-hoofed"" hippocampi of Gaius Valerius Flaccus in his ""Argonautica"": ""Orion when grasping his father’s reins heaves the sea with the snorting of his two-hooved horses."" In Hellenistic and Roman imagery, however,"
"he has six hands and six feet and is winged; there are some mid-sixth-century Chalcidian vases portraying Geryon as winged. Some accounts state that he had six legs as well while others state that the three bodies were joined to one pair of legs. Apart from these bizarre features, his appearance was that of a warrior. He owned a two-headed hound named Orthrus, which was the brother of Cerberus, and a herd of magnificent red cattle that were guarded by Orthrus, and a herder Eurytion, son of Erytheia. In the fullest account in the ""Bibliotheke"" of Pseudo-Apollodorus, Heracles was required"
"represented with thunder and lightning. The proponents of this etymology adduce Pegasus' role, reported as early as Hesiod, as the bringer of thunderbolts to Zeus. It was first suggested in 1952 and remains widely accepted, but Robin Lane Fox (2009) has criticized it as implausible. According to legend, everywhere the winged horse struck his hoof to the earth, an inspiring water spring burst forth. One of these springs was upon the Muses' Mount Helicon, the ""Hippocrene"" (""horse spring""), opened, Antoninus Liberalis suggested, at the behest of Poseidon to prevent the mountain swelling with rapture at the song of the Muses;"
"Satyr In Greek mythology, a satyr ( """", ), also known as a silenos ( ), is a male nature spirit with ears and a tail resembling those of a horse, as well as a permanent, exaggerated erection. Early artistic representations sometimes include horse-like legs, but, by the sixth century BC, they were more often represented with human legs. Comically hideous, they have mane-like hair, bestial faces, and snub noses and are always shown naked. Satyrs were characterized by their ribaldry and were known as lovers of wine, music, dancing, and women. They were companions of the god Dionysus and"
"Mares of Diomedes The Mares of Diomedes (), also called the Mares of Thrace, were a quartet of man-eating horses in Greek mythology. Magnificent, wild, and uncontrollable, they belonged to Diomedes (not to be confused with Diomedes, son of Tydeus), king of Thrace, son of Ares and Cyrene who lived on the shores of the Black Sea. Bucephalus, Alexander the Great's horse, was said to be descended from these mares. After capturing the Cretan bull, Heracles was to steal the Mares. In one version of the story, Heracles brought a number of youths to help him. They took the mares"
"of the folded back forelimbs and webbed feet of the Classical hippocampus (Greek: ἱππόκαμπος), a sea monster with a horse's forequarters and a fish's tail. At a subsequent stage the hippocampus was described as ""pes hippocampi major"", with the calcar avis being named ""pes hippocampi minor"". The renaming of the hippocampus as hippocampus major, and the calcar avis as hippocampus minor, has been attributed to Félix Vicq-d'Azyr systematising nomenclature of parts of the brain in 1786. While ""hippocampus minor"" was used interchangeably with ""calcar avis"" for much of the 19th century, for a few years after 1861 the former name"
"Chimera (mythology) The Chimera ( or , also Chimaera (""Chimæra""); Greek: , ""Chímaira"" ""she-goat"") was, according to Greek mythology, a monstrous fire-breathing hybrid creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of more than one animal. It is usually depicted as a lion, with the head of a goat arising from its back, and a tail that might end with a snake's head, and was one of the offspring of Typhon and Echidna and a sibling of such monsters as Cerberus and the Lernaean Hydra. The term ""chimera"" has come to describe any mythical or fictional animal with"
"bull to Athena and/or Apollo. The eighth labour was to bring back the Mares of Diomedes, which had been trained to eat human flesh by their owner, King Diomedes of Thrace. In one version of the story, Hercules brought a number of youths to help him. They took the mares, called Podargos (""swift-footed""), Lampon (""the shining""), Xanthos (""the blond""), and Deinos (""the terrible""), and were chased by Diomedes and his men. Hercules was not aware that the horses were kept tethered to a bronze manger because they were wild; their madness being attributed to an unnatural diet of human flesh."
"Gorgon In Greek mythology, a Gorgon (; plural: Gorgons, ""Gorgon""/""Gorgo"") is a mythical creature portrayed in ancient Greek literature. While descriptions of Gorgons vary across Greek literature and occur in the earliest examples of Greek literature, the term commonly refers to any of three sisters who had hair made of living, venomous snakes, as well as a horrifying visage that turned those who beheld her to stone. Traditionally, while two of the Gorgons were immortal, Stheno and Euryale, their sister Medusa was not and she was slain by the demigod and hero Perseus. The name derives from the ancient Greek"
"consequence, they are scarcely mentioned by Greek authors. Aeschylus is the first to mention them: in ""Myrmidons"", he describes a ship featuring a ""fire-coloured horse-chanticleer"". Hippalectryon is one of Aristophanes' favourite insults. He uses it in ""Peace"" (421 BCE), ""The Birds"" (414) and in ""The Frogs"" (405), in which Dionysus and Euripides mock Aeschylus for mentioning it. He furthermore mentions that in his time (end of the 5th century BCE), most inhabitants of Athens had never heard of hippalectryons. Hippalectryon A hippalectryon or hippalektryon (), is a type of fantastic hybrid creature of Ancient Greek folklore, half-horse (front) and half-rooster"