1. Mythological Monsters and Beasts

2. Minotaur & the Labyrinth
King Minos’ wife had sex with a bull and conceived the Minotaur. King Minos talked his chief engineer into building a maze from which no man could escape. The Minotaur was placed in the labyrinth and seven boys and seven virginal girls from Athens would be sent in as a tribute (shades of Hunger Games!). Theseus of Athens volunteered as one of the sacrificial boys. Luckily Ariadne, one of Minos’ daughters, fell in love with Theseus and gives him a spool of thread and a sword. He attached the thread at the opening of the labyrinth and after killing the Minotaur, follows the thread out to freedom. Theseus goes home and becomes King of Athens.

3. Maenads
Female followers of Dionysis known for wild, drunken, wanton behavior

4. Satyrs / Fauns
Lively woodland spirits whose upper half of their bodies is man and the bottom half is goat. They have may have horse’s tails, horns, and/or pointed ears. They have insatiable appetites for alcohol, sex, and revelry, and are often seen with Dionysus. Pan, the famous player of pipes, was a satyr.The photo on the left is Mr. Tumnus from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Witch, The Lion, and the Wardrobe and is a faun. Fauns and satyrs were originally quite different creatures: whereas fauns are half-man and half-goat, satyrs originally were depicted as stocky, hairy, ugly dwarfs or woodwoses with the ears and tails of horses or asses. Satyrs also were more woman-loving than fauns, and fauns were rather foolish where satyrs had more knowledge.

5. Centaurs
A race of creatures, half man, half horse. Often they were depicted as being caught between two natures – the untamed wild beast, or the tamed animal. The strife among these creatures is a metaphor for the conflict between the lower appetites and civilized behavior in humankind. The most famous centaur in mythology was Chiron, teacher of Jason, Achilles, and many others. You may be familiar with them from children’s and young adult lit. C.S. Lewis' centaurs from his popular The Chronicles of Narnia series are depicted as wisest and noblest of creatures. They are gifted at stargazing, prophecy, healing, and warfare, a fierce and valiant race always faithful to the High King Aslan the Lion. Lewis generally used the species to inspire awe in his readers. In J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, centaurs live in the Forbidden Forest close to Hogwarts. Although different from those seen in Narnia, they live in societies called herds and are skilled at archery, healing and astrology. Although film depictions include very animalistic facial features, the reaction of the Hogwarts girls to Firenze suggests a more classical appearance. With the exception of Chiron, the centaurs in Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson & the Olympians series are different from both the Narnian and Potter centaurs. They are seen as party-goers who use a lot of American slang. Chiron is more like the classical centaurs, being trainer of the heroes and skilled in archery. In Riordan's subsequent series, Heroes of Olympus, another group of centaurs are depicted with more animalistic features (horns) and appear as villains, serving the Gigantes.

6. Phoenix & Sphinx
The phoenix was a bird who spontaneously self-immolates and then is reborn from the ashes. It’s a symbol for death and rebirth and was taken by early Christians because of those associations. Harry Potter books include a phoenix called Fawkes (this also plays on the English rebel Guy Fawkes who tried to burn down Parliament with gunpowder, but whose plot was discovered. Fawkes committed suicide by jumping from the scaffold where he was to be hanged. Fawkes became synonymous with the Gunpowder Plot, the failure of which has been commemorated in England since 5 November His effigy is traditionally burned on a bonfire, commonly accompanied by a firework display. The Sphinx In Greek tradition, it has the haunches of a lion, the wings of a great bird, and the face of a woman. She is mythicised as treacherous and merciless. Those who cannot answer her riddle suffer a fate typical in such mythological stories, as they are killed and eaten by this ravenous monster. The Egyptian version of the Sphinx is a man.

7. Medusa & the Gorgons
The Gorgons were three serpent-haired women so hideous that anyone who looked upon them turned to stone. Originally there were only two Gorgons; Medusa was sentenced to this fate after she slept with Poseidon in the Temple of Athena. Athena was so enraged, she transformed Medusa to a Gorgon. While the other Gorgons were immortal, only Medusa could be killed. Perseus famously kills her.

8. Sirens
Originally bird-like or winged women who used hauntingly sweet singing to lure sailors to their deaths. Some myths say the sailors were so transfixed they starved to death, others say the sailors dashed their ships against the rocks and drowned trying to get to the sirens. Later writers tended to make the sirens more mermaid-like (think of the 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean movie)
Above: Odysseus chained to the mast so he could hear the sirens. Left: a sailor attempting to get to a siren.

9. Circe
Circe was the famous sorceress or witch who turned Odysseus’ men into swine. Circe was renowned for her vast knowledge of drugs and herbs. Through the use of magical potions and a wand she transformed her enemies, or those who offended her, into animals.

10. Scylla & Charybdis (silla & ka-rib-dis)
Scylla and Charybdis were mythical sea monsters noted by Homer; later Greek tradition sited them on opposite sides of the Strait of Messina between Sicily and the Italian mainland. Scylla was rationalized as a rock shoal (described as a six-headed sea monster) on the Italian side of the strait and Charybdis was a whirlpool off the coast of Sicily. They were regarded as a sea hazard located close enough to each other that they posed an inescapable threat to passing sailors; avoiding Charybdis meant passing too close to Scylla and vice versa. A modern interpretation would be “between a rock and a hard place” or both choices being bad.