Monsters in Greek Mythology Essay

Since the beginning of time the people of the world have their share of beliefs. Greek mythology is the arguably the most popular region of study. In Ancient Greece every citizen had a patron that would protect them and pantheism was commonplace. The Romans admired the Greeks in their art and culture and even took different aspects of their gods. Polytheism was widely accepted in all cultures so the seed of mythology bloomed. The time line of the creations of gods to the end of their reign is an important factor in Greek Mythology.

The United States judicial system says that you are innocent until proven guilty. In language arts class we read a book called Monster, by Walter Dean Myers. Monster is about a 16 year old boy named Steve Harmon, and how he had to go on a trial for felony murder. The book is set as if Steve is making a screenplay. At the end of the book Steve is proven innocent, and free to go, but I believe that there was not enough information for Steve to be proven guilty. The jury did not see many parts of the story that readers of the book Monster read, for example, in his journal Steve writes about wanting to be like King, he also has flashbacks to before the crime that show him interacting with other members of the crime, and finally he had a lot of really close people doubting him.

“Monsters, in the language of mythology, were beings of unnatural proportions or parts, usually regarded with terror, as possessing immense strength and ferocity, which they employed for the injury and annoyance of men”(Thomas Bulfinch). This quote defines a monster and describes them as unnatural and often feared by the people they terrorize. There are many different types of monsters and all monsters fight different heroes, but all their purpose is the same, to strike fear in the people surrounding them. In Greek mythology heroes are often sent to defeat these creatures that are thought to be unbeatable. Heroes are often sent to beat these monsters as a way to gain passage to a better life. The heroes who fight with

     Mythology is a way that the ancient societies explained why things are the way they are and how they came to being. Two ancient societies are infamous for their mythology. These societies are Greece and Rome. Great authors were made be the mythological works they wrote. Homer was a famous author who is best known for his epics. It is from these epics that most of the gods and actual myths well known. I am writing of two of these gods in particular, Saturn and Dionsysus.

Several monsters such as the Minotaur, Medusa, and centaurs appear to be partially human. These monsters have human characteristics because the gods decided to create them that way. The Minotaur has the head of a bull with the body of a man. He was born as the offspring of Minos’ wife and a beautiful white bull sent by Poseidon (Hamilton 157). Poseidon forced Minos’ wife to love the bull. Their offspring was the

Greek Mythology has influenced many “monsters” we reference in various works of current literature. Anywhere from 3 headed dogs to women with snakes for locks of hair, all of these deformed common things originated from Mythology. Not only do we still reference the monsters themselves in all forms of art today but also we implement the qualities the monsters posses unto characters in our stories.

When Poseidon realized Minos released the bull, he put a spell on Minos’s wife, which caused her to fall in love with the bull. Minos’s wife asked a sculptor and engineer named Daedalus to help her, so he built her a wooden cow, which she climbed in and loved the bull. This resulted in the birth of the minotaur. The minotaur is a creature with head of a bull and the body of a human.

Majestic, noble, and brave, this famous iconic wild animal on the planet has captivated the people since the beginning of time. They are most feared by other animals thus, known as the king of the jungle – no other than the lions. Member of the genus Panthera, the lion is one of the big cats in the Felidae family. A lion’s head and body size average about 4.5 to 6.5 feet and tail of about 26 to 40 inches in length. A lion also weighs about 265 up to 420 pounds and a size relative to a 6-foot human. These mammals are also carnivores. Lions have always seen hunting in groups called pride. While lions generally avoid a full-grown elephant, lions still prefer their preys large like the zebras, buffaloes, and giraffes. Poised as the top animal in the ecological pyramid, lions have strong physical qualities, fascinating reputation, and an unfortunate decreasing number of population.

They may image a mythical creature and say “monster” but when we start to distinguish the differences in them such as a mythical creature they are known by people to be considered medusa or cyclopes. A mythical creature usually is imagined as someone that is either half human/half animal or half human/half god. When imagining a half human/half god mythical monster society may imagine someone or something that is beyond the reach of a living soul. A monster such as human is considered anything that can bring harm to someone. The person that can walk into a house and stab a family of four with no remorse is what people think when thinking about a monster such as Stephen King said in Why we Crave Horror Movies “If we are all insane, then sanity becomes a matter of degree.” since a person that is heartless enough to go into a house and “scare” and “hurt” someone is

Imagine winding your way through the most complex maze in history, only to come face-to-face with a monstrous creature with the body of a human and the head of a bull. That'll keep you up at night. This beast, known as the Minotaur, is one of the most fearsome creatures of ancient Greek mythology. Today, we often refer to any creature that is part bull and part human as a minotaur, but in mythology there was really only the Minotaur, and he was one scary monster.

Typhon, however, was not just a monster, he was a god, being the son of the Gaia and Tartarus gave him such title. Now just because Typhon is a son of gods, that alone does not make him one of the most feared creatures in Greek mythology, rather than his ascribed status, it is Typhon’s actual physical appearance and capabilities that strike fear into his foes and anyone else who comes across his path. This

that are pertained as monsters by the way they abuse something or act out in an evil

The lion represents the sin of violence. Dante describes the lion as approaching with a ravenous hunger. Even the air was afraid of the lion. Dante choose the lion to represent violence because they are known as the kings of the jungle. Their powerful legs and long teeth allow them to quickly take down and kill their prey. Male lions contain pride that causes them to violently fight to remain the head of their pack. This violent behavior can be found in the seventh layer of hell where the tyrants, killers, and war hungry sinners reside.

Monster is usually a term used to describe something of the unknown or just a freighting creature. There is also an evil connotation assigned to anything called a monster. Beings that do not fit inside this descriptive box are not considered monsters. However, Monstress challenges this normal conception of monster by introducing Maika, who is human that has a monster inside her. The separation between the human and the monster are fuzzy because Maika’s motivations and values are almost always obscure. She is constantly fighting off her urge of hunger and often seems to lack remorse; she is not the shining embodiment of virtue and morality (Liu, #3: 9). Between Maika, the warring tribes and arcane magical groups, there are no obvious good guys. Even the human characters without the tentacles act in similar ways that the so-called “monster” does, in that they eat other humans for energy (Liu, #1: 26). What is often called a monster is part of humanity as well. Nothing is ever solely a monster or solely a human, it is a fluid relationship where there is no line separating the two, which often is the case in real life as well. It is hard to find people who act only evil or only good; most of us are a complex mix. Another key piece of information left out is the monster’s name. He spends a lot of the time searching for his name, without a name the monster has no identity (Liu, #5:5). Without an identity, people do

When people think of mythology they usually get an idea of gods’ monsters and magic. However people don’t realize how mythology is so connected to the existence of humanity and how we will grow and fall as a species. It’s not the easiest concept for us as a species to wrap our heads around but these stories in mythology almost tells us how our future might end up. David Leeming has a definition for mythology that states, humans are always on a quest for fulfillment in the face of entropy. Entropy is the idea that we are always moving toward chaos and disorder. Based on what I’ve seen and read in mythology it almost seems like these stories and ideas but me more relevant than we actually believe.