Hellás Virgin Athena bestiary

**Greek mythological bestiary** is a listing of all sentient, non sapient, mythological beasts of the Greek countries, Hellas Dimokratia, Ionia, Antianeir, and possibly Byzas Aftokratoría.

## Amphisbæna

Wikipedia

This early description of the amphisbaena depicts a venomous, dual-headed snakelike creature. However, Medieval and later drawings often show it with two or more scaled feet, particularly chicken feet, and feathered wings. Some even depict it as a horned, dragon-like creature with a serpent-headed tail and small, round ears, while others have both "necks" of equal size so that it cannot be determined which is the rear head. Many descriptions of the amphisbaena say its eyes glow like candles or lightning, but the poet Nicander seems to contradict this by describing it as "always dull of eye". He also says: "From either end protrudes a blunt chin; each is far from each other." Nicander's account seems to be referring to what is indeed called the Amphisbaenia.
*(source: Wikipedia)*
## Grýphōn

Wikipedia
   The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Greek: γρύφων, grýphōn, or γρύπων, grýpōn, early form γρύψ, grýps; Latin: gryphus) is a legendary creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion; the head and wings of an eagle; and 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, the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature. The griffin was also thought of as king of all creatures. Griffins are known for guarding treasure and priceless possessions.
In Greek and Roman texts, griffins and Arimaspians were associated with gold. Indeed, in later accounts, "griffins were said to lay eggs in burrows on the grounds and these nests contained gold nuggets". [...] In antiquity, it was a symbol of divine power and a guardian of the divine.
*(source: Wikipedia)*
## Hippalektryon

Wikipedia
   A hippalectryon or hippalektryon (Greek: ἱππαλεκτρυών), 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 color varies between yellow and reddish. No myths related to it are currently known.
The oldest representation is 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 notably Aeschylus and Aristophanes, who used it as one of his favorite insults.
The precise function of the Hippalectryon remains a mystery; as an apotropaic and prophylactic animal, it might have been dedicated to Poseidon and tasked to protect ships. Other studies interpret it as a grotesque beast to amuse children or a simple fantastic decorative element without any specific function.
*(source: Wikipedia)*
## Hippocampus

Wikipedia
The **hippocampus** or **hippocamp**, also *hippokampoi* (plural: hippocampi or hippocamps; Greek: ἱππόκαμπος, from ἵππος, "horse" and κάμπος, "sea monster"), often called a **sea-horse** in English, is a mythological creature shared by Phoenician and Greek mythology, though the name by which it is recognised is purely Greek. It was also adopted into Etruscan mythology. The hippocampus has typically been depicted as having the upper body of a horse with the lower body of a fish.
[...]
Greek and Roman
    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.[8] 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, Poseidon (or Roman Neptune) often drives a sea-chariot drawn by hippocampi. Thus hippocampi sport with this god in both ancient depictions and much more modern ones, such as in the waters of the 18th-century Trevi Fountain in Rome surveyed by Neptune from his niche above.
The appearance of hippocampi in both freshwater and saltwater is counter-intuitive to a modern audience, though not to an ancient one. The Greek picture of the natural hydrological cycle did not take into account the condensation of atmospheric water as rain to replenish the water table but imagined the waters of the sea oozing back landwards through vast underground caverns and aquifers, rising replenished and freshened in springs.
    Thus it was natural for a temple at Helike in the coastal plain of Achaea to be dedicated to *Poseidon Helikonios*, (the Poseidon of Helicon), the sacred spring of Boeotian Helikon. When an earthquake suddenly submerged the city, the temple's bronze Poseidon accompanied by hippocampi continued to snag fishermens' nets. Likewise, the hippocampus was considered an appropriate decoration for mosaics in Roman thermae or public baths, as at Aquae Sulis modern day Bath in Britannia.
Poseidon's horses, which were included in the elaborate sculptural program of gilt-bronze and ivory, added by a Roman client to the temple of Poseidon at Corinth, are likely to have been hippocampi; the Romanised Greek Pausanias described the rich ensemble in the later 2nd century AD (*Geography of Greece* ii.1.7-.8):
On the temple, which is not very large, stand bronze Tritons. In the fore-temple are images, two of Poseidon, a third of Amphitrite, and a Sea, which also is of bronze. The offerings inside were dedicated in our time by Herodes Atticus, four horses, gilded except for the hoofs, which are of ivory, and two gold Tritons beside the horses, with the parts below the waist of ivory. On the car stand Amphitrite and Poseidon, and there is the boy Palaemon upright upon a dolphin. These two are made of ivory and gold. On the middle of the base on which the car has been wrought a Sea holding up the young Aphrodite, and on either side are the nymphs called Nereids.
*(source: Wikipedia)*
## Hippogryph

Wikipedia
The **hippogriff**, or sometimes spelled **hippogryph** (Greek: Ιππόγρυπας), is a legendary creature which has the front half of an eagle and the hind half of a horse.
*(source: Wikipedia)*
## Kerastes

Wikipedia
The cerastes (Greek: κεράστης, English: cerastēs, English translation: "having horns") is a creature of Greek legend, a serpent that is incredibly flexible—so much so that it is said to have no spine. Cerastae can have either two large ram-like horns or four pairs of smaller horns. The cerastes hides its head in the sand with only the horns protruding out of the surface; this is meant to deceive other animals into thinking it is food. When the animal approaches the cerastes, the cerastes promptly kills it.
*(source: Wikipedia)*
## Kētos

Wikipedia
In Ancient Greek, the word *kētos* (κῆτος, plural **kētē** or *kētea*, κήτη or κήτεα)—Latinized as **cetus** (pl. **cetea**)—denotes a large fish, a whale, a shark, or a sea monster. The sea monsters slain by Perseus and Heracles were each referred to as a *cetus* by ancient sources. [...] In Greek art, *cetea* were depicted as serpentine fish. The name of the mythological figure Ceto is derived from *ketos*. The name of the constellation Cetus also derives from this word.
Mythology
When Queen Cassiopeia boasted that her daughter Andromeda was more beautiful than the Nereids, this invoked the wrath of Poseidon who sent the sea monster Cetus to attack Æthiopia. Upon consulting a wise oracle, King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia were told to sacrifice Andromeda to Cetus. They had Andromeda chained to a rock near the ocean so that Cetus could devour her. Perseus found Andromeda chained to the rock and learned of her plight. When Cetus emerged from the ocean to devour Andromeda, Perseus managed to slay it. In one version, Perseus drove his sword into Cetus' back. In another version, Perseus used Medusa's head to turn Cetus to stone.
Depictions
The Cetus is commonly depicted as fishlike, serpentine, with a long muzzle. Alternate depictions may include long ears, horns and legs instead of flippers. It is often depicted fighting Perseus or as the mount of a Nereid.
*(source: Wikipedia)*
## Strix

Wikipedia
Strix (pl. striges or strixes), in the mythology of classical antiquity, was a bird of ill omen, the product of metamorphosis, that fed on human flesh and blood.
*(source: Wikipedia)*
## Wikipedia

Greek mythology is the body of myths and teachings that belong to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. It was a part of the religion in ancient Greece. Modern scholars refer to and study the myths in an attempt to shed light on the religious and political institutions of ancient Greece and its civilization and to gain an understanding of the nature of myth-making itself.
Greek mythology has had an extensive influence on the culture, arts, and literature of Western civilization and remains part of Western heritage and language. Poets and artists from ancient times to the present have derived inspiration from Greek mythology and have discovered contemporary significance and relevance in the themes.
Greek mythology is explicitly embodied in a large collection of narratives, and implicitly in Greek representational arts, such as ancient vase-paintings and votive gifts. Greek myth attempts to explain the origins of the world, and details the lives and adventures of a wide variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines and mythological creatures. These accounts initially were disseminated in an oral-poetic tradition most likely by Minoan and Mycenaean singers starting in the 18th century BC; today the Greek myths are known primarily from ancient Greek literature. The oldest known Greek literary sources, Homer's epic poems Iliad and Odyssey, focus on the Trojan War and its aftermath. Two poems by Homer's near contemporary Hesiod, the Theogony and the Works and Days, contain accounts of the genesis of the world, the succession of divine rulers, the succession of human ages, the origin of human woes, and the origin of sacrificial practices. Myths are also preserved in the Homeric Hymns, in fragments of epic poems of the Epic Cycle, in lyric poems, in the works of the tragedians and comedians of the fifth century BC, in writings of scholars and poets of the Hellenistic Age, and in texts from the time of the Roman Empire by writers such as Plutarch and Pausanias.
Archaeological findings provide a principal source of detail about Greek mythology, with gods and heroes featured prominently in the decoration of many artifacts. Geometric designs on pottery of the eighth century BC depict scenes from the Trojan cycle as well as the adventures of Heracles. In the succeeding Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods, Homeric and various other mythological scenes appear, supplementing the existing literary evidence.
*(source: Wikipedia)*