Dragons: Greek Mythology

Dragons:

Greek Mythology

The dragons of Greek mythology were serpentine monsters. They include the serpent-like Drakons, the marine-dwelling Cetea and the she-monster Dracaenae. Homer describes the dragons with wings and legs.

• The Colchian Dragon, an unsleeping dragon which guarded the Golden Fleece.
  
  
• Cychreides, a dragon which terrorised Salamis before being slain by Cychreus.
  
  
• Demeter's dragons, a pair of winged dragons that drew Demeter's chariot.
  
  
• Giantomachian dragon, a dragon that was thrown at Athena during the Giant war. She threw it into the sky where it became the constellation Draco.
  
  
• Lernaean Hydra, also known as King Hydra, a many-headed, serpent-like creature that guarded an Underworld entrance beneath Lake Lerna. It was destroyed by Heracles, in his second Labour. Son of Typhon and Echidna.
  
  
• Ismenian Dragon, a dragon which guarded the sacred spring of Ares near Thebes; it was slain by Cadmus.
  
  
• Ladon, a serpent-like dragon which guarded the Golden apples of immortality of the Hesperides.
  
  
• Maeonian Drakon, a dragon that lived in the kingdom of Lydia.
  
  
• Medea's dragons, a pair of flying dragons that pulled Medea's chariot. Born from the blood of the Titans.
  
  
• Nemean dragon, a dragon that guarded Zeus' sacred grove in Nemea.
  
  
• Ophiogenean dragon, a dragon that guarded Artemis' sacred grove in Mysia
  
  
• Pitanian dragon, a dragon in Pitane, Aeolis, that was turned to stone by the gods.
  
  
• Python, a dragon which guarded the oracle of Delphi; it was slain by Apollo.
  
  
• Rhodian dragons, serpents that inhabited the island of Rhodes.
  
  
• Thespian dragon, a dragon that terrorized the city of Thespiae in Boeotia.
  
  
• Trojan dragons, a pair of dragons sent by Poseidon to kill Laocoön and his sons in order to stop him from telling his people that the Wooden Horse was a trap.
  
  
• Three-Headed Hydra, it is believed, as the offspring of the Lernaean Hydra, are multiple-headed aquatic and very poisonous dragons, like their father, more heads will grow by cutting one off.

Drakons

Drakons ("δράκους" in Greek, "dracones" in Latin) were giant serpents, sometimes possessing multiple heads or able to breathe fire (or even both), but most just spit deadly venom. 

The Laconian Drakon was one of the most fearsome of all the drakons.

Cetea

Cetea were sea monsters. They were usually featured in myths of a hero rescuing a sacrificial princess.

• The Ethiopian Cetus was a sea monster sent by Poseidon to ravage Ethiopia and devour Andromeda, which was slain by Perseus.
  
  
• The Trojan Cetus was a sea monster that plagued Troy before being slain by Heracles.

Dracaenae

The Dracaenae were monsters that had the upper body of a beautiful woman and the lower body of any sort of dragon. Echidna, the mother of monsters, and Keto, the mother of sea-monsters are two famous dracaenae. Some Dracaenae were even known to have had in place of two legs, one (or two) serpent tail.

• Campe, a dracaena that was charged by Cronus with the job of guarding the gates of Tartarus; she was slain by Zeus when he rescued the Cyclopes and Hecatoncheires from their prison.
  
  
• Ceto, a marine goddess who was the mother of all sea monsters as well as Echidna and other dragons and monsters.
  
  
• Echidna, wife of Typhon and mother of monsters.
  
  
• Poena, a dracaena sent by Apollo to ravage the kingdom of Argos as punishment for the death of his infant son Linos; killed by Coraebus.
  
  
• Scythian Dracaena, the Dracaena queen of Scythia; she stole Geryon's cattle that Heracles was herding through the region and agreed to return them on condition he mate with her.
  
  
• Scylla, a dracaena that was the lover of Poseidon, transformed by Circe into a multi headed monster that fed on passing sailors in the way between her and Charybdis.
  
  
• Sybaris, a draceana that lived on a mountain near Delphi, eating shepherds and passing travellers; she was pushed off the cliff by Eurybarus.