I decided to look into Greek mythology because it is another subject that I am interested in. I’ve always been fascinated by the stories about the different gods and monsters. My god and goddess I have to say are Hades and Artemis. Hades because honestly just due to Cerberus and Artemis because of what she represents. She is the goddess of hunting, wild nature, and chastity. I got a little off-topic.
In Greek mythology, there was no definite physical definition of a dragon. It was not what we typically think of when we think of a dragon. It was more described as serpent-like. There are four different types of these “dragons”. The four types are dracones, cetea, chimaera, and dracaenae. I will briefly talk about these four different types and offer one example for each one. I will then talk about two specific creatures that are the reason for most of these creatures.
Dracones
The creatures that were considered this type had several heads, serpent-like bodies, poison, and rows upon rows of sharp teeth. These creatures were usually guardians of treasures.
One creature that many may recognize goes by the name is a hydra. A hydra has 9 heads and for every head that was decapitated 2 more would grow. Its task was to guard the springs of Lerna. The hydra was eventually slain by Heracles.
Cetea
These were more sea creatures and those associated with princesses. The Greeks believed the cetea lived in the oceans. The princesses were usually sacrifices to these sea creatures.
Ethiopian cetus is once such creature that was sent to destroy a kingdom by Poseidon, god of the seas. The King of the land tried to sacrifice his daughter but she was recused by Perseus who slain the beast.
Chimaera
The chimaera does breathe fire like a dragon. Its body was a mixture of a lion, serpent, and goat. An example of this type of creature is the Khimaira. The Khimaira has 3 heads, the foreparts of a lion, the hind parts of a goat, a goat’s head on its back, and the tail were the head of a serpent. It was killed by Bellerophon by throwing a spear into her throat causing her to suffocate due to melting the metal.
I added an image because I know it may be hard to imagine.
Dracaenae
The body of a nymph and the lower body parts of a drakon or sea monster. There are two main dracaenae that play roles in Greek mythology. Their names are Ceto and Echidna. Ceto is a marine goddess that has the bottom of a sea monster. She gave birth to Echidna. Echidna married Typhon and their children are some well known monsters, such as the Hydra and Khimaira that were previously mentioned.
Typhon and Echidna
Typhon’s parents are Gaia and Tartarus due to this he was both god and a monster. His reason for birth was to destroy Zeus, the king of the gods. He was able to inhale and breathe fire. Typhon was so giant that his head touched the stars and his eyes were red. He had about 100 heads that are said to be of different creatures or snakes that made different noises. His torso was human and the legs were 100 serpent vipers. There were hundreds of different wings and his hands were the same as his legs.
As previously mentioned he married Echidna. They are known as the father and mother of all monsters. Some of their other children include the Sphinx, Cerberus, and the Lion of Nemea.
I hope that you guys found this as interesting as I did. Let me know what you guys think! I have included the links where I found the information in this blog post.
https://dragon-vibe.com/blogs/dragon-blog/dragons-in-greek-mythology
