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Home , Hesperides, Ladon (mythology), Legendary creature, Lernaean Hydra, Serpent (symbolism), Spartoi

LEGENDARY CREATION

PRESENTS • Picture – with music

Centaur. Half man, half horse Hippocentaur a mythological creature with the head, arms, and torso of a and the body and legs of a horse

PHOENIX. LONG-LIVED BIRD OR PHENIX 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. • SATYR. HALF MAN, HALF GOAT SATYR

In , the 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 , the god of wine, and they spent their time drinking, dancing, and chasing . The Italian version of the satyr is the faun, while the Slavic version is the Ljeschi.

NYMPH. FEMALE DEITY

The sea nymph was depicted in ancient art as beautiful young maidens, sometimes running with small or fish in their hands, or else riding on the back of dolphins, hippokampoi (fish-tailed horses) and other sea creatures.

UNICORN. LEGENDARY 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. • Picture – legendary creature with music Cyclope or Cyclops

A tribe of one- eyed cannibalistic who shepherded flocks of sheep on the island of Sicily.

• Ladon was the -like that twined and twisted around the tree in the Garden of the and guarded the golden . He was overcome by . LERNAEAN

• An ancient serpent-like water 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 Kadmos () 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 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. , 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 in the sacred grove of Ares at Kolkhis. When and the came to fetch the fleece, the beast was either slain by the hero or put to sleep by the witch . 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 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 for some offence and placed amongst the stars as a . • The earth-dragon of , always represented in Greek sculpture and vase-paintings as a serpent. He presided at the Delphic , which existed in the cult center for his mother, , "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