Demigods and Monsters (23 page)

Titan punished by Zeus for joining the “revolt of the Titans” by having to stand forever at the world's western edge and support the weight of the heavens on his shoulders. Only once did he have a break: Hercules, on his mission to fetch the golden apples of the Hesperides, agreed to take on his great burden if Atlas fetched the apples. This done, Hercules promptly gave the crushing weight of the heavens back. Atlas was the father of Calypso and of the Pleiades, who became a constellation. He gave his name to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, the westernmost area the Greeks knew.

Son of Uranus and Gaea, called Briares by the gods and Aegaeon by men. Briares, one of the three Hekatonkheires, had fifty heads and 100 arms like his brothers. According to Homer, he successfully aided Zeus, with his brothers, against the Titans. Another version has him as one of the attackers on Olympus, who when defeated was buried under Mount Etna. Yet another version depicts Briares as Poseidon's enemy and a sea giant who invented warships.

Son and daughter of Agenor, king of Tyre in Phoenicia (modern-day Lebanon). Cadmus, along with his brothers, was sent to rescue his sister Europa when she was abducted by Zeus (who had taken the form of a beautiful bull to seduce her) to Crete. There Europa bore the god three children, Minos, Rhadamanthys, and Sarpedon, before marrying Asterion, king of Crete. Cadmus never found his sister because he landed in central Greece. There, following orders from the Oracle at Delphi, he founded the city of Thebes after
killing a dragon. From the dragon's teeth sprang up a race of formidable fighting men, with which Cadmus peopled his new city.

Nymph daughter of Atlas and the Titaness Tethus, who lived on the magical island of Ogygia. Calypso rescued Odysseus from a shipwreck and they lived in bliss together for seven years. But Calypso would not let her still-homesick lover leave, vainly promising him immortality if he stayed. Finally, after Zeus ordered her to release Odysseus, she bade him a reluctant farewell, equipping him for his voyages. They had two sons: Nausithous and Nausinous.

Dangerous wild creatures who were half-human (from the waist up) and half-horse (from the waist down). Invited by King Pirithous of the Lapiths to his wedding feast, the centaurs became drunk and attacked the bride. The Lapiths won the battle that followed, but from then on there was war between centaurs and men. Hercules killed the centaur Nessus for attacking his wife. One or two centaurs were different, however. Chiron was famous for his wisdom and taught the young Achilles and Jason.

Ferocious many-headed dog that guarded the entrance to the Underworld. Cerberus had a baying brass voice and a shaggy mane that sprouted snakes. Despite such horrors, he was lulled asleep by Orpheus' songs, enabling the poet to regain his wife Eurydice from the Underworld, and later was overwhelmed and chained up by Hercules.
(See Hades, Hercules, Hydra, Orpheus, Orthus)

Spectral boatman who ferried the spirits of the dead across the River Styx to the Underworld. He demanded payment of one obol (a small
coin) from the dead for this service, so corpses were always buried with a coin.

Whirlpools (Charybdis) and rocks (Scylla) encountered by Odysseus on his travels around the Mediterranean, which he only escaped by clinging to a tree as his ship went down. Both Charybdis and Scylla had once been beautiful nymphs but were transformed, Charybdis by Zeus and Scylla by Circe.

Bizarre monster killed by the hero Bellerophon. According to Homer the chimera had a lion's head and feet, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail. According to other accounts it breathed fire and had six heads, and was related to the similar monsters Eris and Typhon. The name has come to mean something obviously impossible and fantastic.

The wise, aged centaur who tutored heroes such as Jason as children. Chiron was regarded as a great educator, and was also reputed to be learned in medicine, astrology, and astronomy.

Daughter of the sun god Helios and aunt of Medea, and a powerful sorceress. Circe lived on the fabulous island of Aeaea (meaning “wailing”) at the edge of the world. When Odysseus' men landed on Aeaaea, she transformed them into swine. Odysseus alone escaped, thanks to the magical herb “moly” given him by the god Hermes, and forced Circe to change his followers back into men. They stayed on her island for a year before Circe sent them off with advice on how to escape the Sirens, whose seductive singing lured sailors to their doom, and how to enter the Underworld. Later, when Jason and the
Argonauts reached her island, she purified them of the guilt of murdering Medea's brother.

King of Sicily, who saved Daedalus' life by hiding him from Minos. When Minos arrived in Sicily looking for Daedalus, Cocalus convinced Minos to take a bath before retrieving Daedalus. While he was bathing, Cocalus' daughters killed him.

Home of the Golden Ram, located in the southeast corner of the Black Sea. Jason and his followers, the Argonauts, sailed to Colchis to capture the ram's fabulous fleece. Colchis was also the birthplace of Medea, daughter of King Aetes, who fell in love with Jason and fled with him after he found the fleece.

One-eyed giants who, according to Homer, lived on a distant primitive island where they kept sheep. Looking for food, Odysseus and his crew landed on the Cyclopes' island and entered a deep cave. They were trapped in it by Polyphemus, the Cyclops to whom the cave belonged, who had returned and rolled a boulder across the entrance. Polyphemus, on discovering his intruders, ate two of the Greeks raw before Odysseus managed to blind the giant while he slept. (By calling himself “nobody” when Polyphemus asked who he was, Odysseus tricked Polyphemus into shouting, “Nobody is hurting me!” when he yelled for help after being blinded. The other Cyclopes thought that if nobody was hurting their comrade there was nothing to worry about, and left him alone in his cave with the Greeks.) The Greeks then escaped by clinging to the underside of Polyphemus' sheep when the giant let his animals out in the morning,
for Polyphemus checked his flock by touching them on their backs. Once back on board ship, Odysseus taunted Polyphemus, thinking he was safe. He was not, for Polyphemus was the son of Poseidon, and Odysseus then had to face the sea god's wrath on his storm-tossed journeys. Another legend portrays the Cyclopes as giant craftsmen, blacksmiths working with Hephaestus.

Athenian master craftsman and great artist, attributed with building the labyrinth used to hold the minotaur. Daedalus had two sons, Icarus and Iapyx, and a nephew, Perdix, his sister's child. Daedalus was so accomplished that he could not bear for his greatness to be surpassed. When his nephew started to show signs of ingenuity, Daedalus pushed him off a high tower in order to get rid of his competition. However, Athena witnessed Daedalus' wrongdoing and saved his nephew Perdix by changing the boy into a partridge. For his crime, Daedalus was banished from Athens. Daedalus was recruited to build a labyrinth for King Minos, who used it to imprison the Minotaur. Daedalus was later detained in the labyrinth with his son Icarus, in one story so that he could not tell anyone else the secrets of the labyrinth, and in another story as punishment for giving Ariadne, Minos's daughter, the thread that allowed the hero Theseus to escape the labyrinth after killing the Minotaur. Daedalus escaped from imprisonment with Icarus by creating a pair of wings for each of them and flying out of Crete. Daedalus hid from Minos in King Cocalus' court, where Minos was tricked and killed by Cocalus' daughters during his search for the escaped craftsman.

Site of the holiest Greek Oracle, located 2,000 feet up on the southern slope of Mount Parnassus in central Greece. In it was the
omphalos
(navel), a numinous stone considered to mark the center of the world. Delphi was sacred to the god Apollo, who had slain (or tamed) the serpent Pytho, and established his own Oracle, the Pythoness. This act symbolized the triumph of Greek reason and order over primeval earth deities. Vapors rising from a cleft in the earth intoxicated the Oracle, a priestess seated on a tripod above the chasm. She answered questions put to her in famously cryptic verses that could be interpreted ambiguously. For example, Croesus, king of Lydia, asked if he should attack Persia, his powerful eastern neighbor. “If you cross the river Halys [the frontier], you will destroy a great kingdom,” declared the Oracle. Encouraged, Croesus went to war and indeed destroyed a kingdom—his own. Delphi's prophetic reputation, however, remained unharmed. (Other major Greek oracles were Apollo's at Delos and Zeus' at Dodona and Olympia.)

Goddess of all vegetation and therefore life on Earth. Demeter had a daughter by her brother called Persephone, or simply
Kore
, “girl.” When Persephone disappeared, Demeter wandered the Earth looking for her, disguised as an old woman with a torch. At Eleusis, near Athens, Demeter learned that Persephone had been abducted by Hades and taken to the Underworld. In gratitude she taught Eleusinians the secrets of agriculture, but in anger she blighted the earth so that nothing grew, causing universal famine. Finally Zeus ordered Hades to let Persephone go. At Eleusis the Mysteries of the Two Goddesses (as Demeter and Persephone were known) were held each year in the fall, after the harvest was gathered. These mysteries remain mysterious, but as far as historians can tell, they involved initiates
fasting, spending the night in darkness, and then being granted a dazzling revelation of a golden ear of wheat.

God of wine, ecstasy, and intoxication. Dionysus was the “most terrible and sweet” of deities and his wild worship transgressed all the normal bounds of social life. The son of Zeus and Semele, a Theban princess, Dionysus was called “twice-born” because he was snatched from the womb of his dying mother (who Hera killed out of jealousy) and sewn up in Zeus' thigh. Delivered safely, he was brought up by nymphs and satyrs. He then set out on a triumphal journey to India in a chariot drawn by panthers or tigers, accompanied by Maenads (ecstatic female worshippers) and satyrs, teaching the world the joys of wine. He often appeared somewhat effeminate, with long hair, but he was a dangerous god to cross. On Dionysus' return to Greece, Pentheus, uptight king of Thebes, arrested him. This was a big mistake. Ivy, sacred to the god, burst through the prison walls and Dionysus was freed. Meanwhile Agave, Pentheus' mother, had joined the drunken worshippers in the mountains outside the city. Pentheus, lured by Dionysus to spy on the women in drag, was seized by Agave and other women and torn to pieces. Similar fates befell other rulers who failed to accept the god. Dionysus was the god of Greek theater, both tragic and comic, and many festivals were held in his honor. He was married to Ariadne, who he rescued when the Cretan princess was abandoned on Naxos by Theseus.

Standard currency of Athens and other Greek cities, often minted coins of great beauty.

Nymphs who lived in groves and forests. There were many types of dryads, each associated with a different sort of tree. They included Daphnaie (laurel trees), Hamadryads (oak trees), Meliads (ash and fruit trees), and Oreads (pines). Although dryads could leave their trees, a dryad's existence was bound up with her tree; if the tree died, then the dryad died with it. When a tree was cut down, its dryad could be heard screaming, and might exact revenge if not appeased by proper prayers and sacrifice.

Mythical half-woman, half-snake creature who gave birth to Typhon, one of the numerous monsters killed by Hercules. According to some sources, the Scythians (of southern Russia) were her descendants.

The paradise that awaited a highly select and very fortunate few. Elysium was located at the ends of the Earth. Gentle breezes blew over it all the time and there fortunate heroes enjoyed a life generally like that of the gods. Menelaus, Helen's husband, went there, but most dead people, even if heroes, did not—they ended up in the gloomy Underworld.

Monsters that took the form of beautiful women with one leg of brass and the other of a donkey. The empousai were sent out by Hecate to frighten travelers, but if a traveler insulted them, they would shriek and run away. They share a name with Empusa, a Greek demigoddess who feasted on men's blood.