Legendary creatures

LEGENDARY CREATION

PRESENTS

• Picture – legendary creature with music

CentaurHalf man, half horse

.

a mythological creature with the head, arms, and

torso of a human and the body and legs of a horse

Centaur or Hippocentaur

PHOENIXLONG-LIVED BIRD

.

a long-lived bird that is cyclically regenerated or reborn. Associated with

the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from

the ashes of its predecessor.

PHOENIX OR PHENIX

• satyr

SATYRHALF MAN, HALF GOAT

.

In Greek mythology, the satyrs are deities of the woods and mountains. They are half human and half beast; they usually have a goat's tail, flanks and hooves. While the upper part of the body is that of a human, they also have the horns of a

goat. They are the companions of Dionysus, the god of wine, and they spent their time drinking,

dancing, and chasing nymphs. The Italian version of the satyr is the faun, while the Slavic version

is the Ljeschi.

SATYR

NYMPHFEMALE NATURE DEITY

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The sea nymph was depicted in ancient art as beautiful young

maidens, sometimes running with small dolphins or fish in their hands,

or else riding on the back of dolphins, hippokampoi (fish-tailed horses) and other sea creatures.

NYMPH

UNICORNLEGENDARY HORSE WITH POINTED

HORN

.

a legendary animal that has been described

since antiquity as a beast with a large, pointed,

spiraling horn projecting from its forehead.

UNICORN

• Picture – legendary creature with music

Cyclope or Cyclops

A tribe of one-eyed

cannibalistic giants who shepherded

flocks of sheep on the

island of Sicily.

LADON

• Ladon was the serpent-like dragon that twined and twisted around the tree in the Garden of the Hesperides and guarded the golden apples. He was overcome by Heracles.

LERNAEAN HYDRA• An ancient serpent-like

water monster with reptilian traits. It possessed many heads – the poets mention more heads than the vase-painters could paint – and for each head cut off it grew two more 'Cut off one head, Two more shall take its place'. It had poisonous breath and blood so virulent that even its tracks were deadly.

Ismenian Dragon• A gigantic serpent which guarded

the sacred spring of Ismenos near Thebes. When the hero Kadmos (Cadmus) came to fetch water for the founding of the city of Thebes, he slew the deadly serpent with a cast of a stone. The goddess Athena afterwards instructed him to sow the dragon's teeth in the earth, producing a crop of fully-grown, armed warriors, called Spartoi, five of whom became the ancestral lords of Thebes. Ares, the father of the dragon, later avenged its death when he transformed Kadmos and his wife into serpents.

Colchian Dragon

• An ever-wakeful, giant serpent which guarded the golden fleece in the sacred grove of Ares at Kolkhis. When Jason and the Argonauts came to fetch the fleece, the beast was either slain by the hero or put to sleep by the witch Medea. In one version of the story, preserved only in vase painting, Jason was first devoured and disgorged by the dragon. The teeth of the dragon were harvested by King Aeetes for their magical property. One of the labors he assigned, Jason, was the sowing of these teeth in a field using a plough drawn by fire-breathing bulls. When they were planted, a tribe of warlike men (Spartoi) sprang fully grown from the earth. The teeth of the closely related IsmenianDrakon of Thebes, sown by Kadmos, produced a similar crop of men.

Leon• One of the

Thracian Gigantes who made war on the gods. He was slain by Heracles who

stripped him of his leonine skin.

Orion• A gigantic hunter

with the ability to walk on water. He was slain by Gaea

or Artemis for some offence and placed amongst the stars as a constellation.

Python• The earth-dragon of Delphi,

always represented in Greek sculpture and vase-paintings as a serpent. He presided at the Delphic oracle, which existed in the cult center for his mother, Gaia, "Earth," Pytho being the place name that was substituted for the earlier Krisa. Hellenes considered the site to be the center of the earth, represented by a stone, the omphalos or navel, which Python guarded.

LEGENDARY CREATION