There are thousands of named mythological creatures and millions more unnamed ones. The land and stories of mythology date back to 2500 BC, and we still think about them to this day.
One of the most renowned mythological creatures is the centaur. Centaurs are part horse with a human torso, arms, and head. Centaurs are one of the mythological creatures that show human traits, as they are part human. In Greek mythology, centaurs inhabit the mountains and forests of Thessaly. Centaurs symbolize multiple things: barbarism, chaos, and the power of a strong spirit.
Another well known mythological creature is a phoenix, the bird that would rise from the ashes when it died. When one phoenix died, a baby phoenix would rise from its ashes because only one phoenix can exist at a time. The phoenix was a way for Greek mythology to show reincarnation. The phoenix symbolizes reincarnation, renewal, resurrection, and youth.
The creature that guarded the gates of the underworld, Cerberus, was the three-headed dog that stood 25-30 feet tall. Cerberus acted like a giant puppy for Hades when he was around. The whole purpose of Cerberus guarding the underworld was to prevent any of the living to trespass on the land of the dead, and he did his job well. Cerberus’s parents were Typhon and Echidna. Cerberus symbolizes loyalty, vigilance, strength and ferocity.
Medusa was once the most beautiful creature alive, even more than even the goddess Athena. The reason that Medusa has snakes for hair is because Athena got jealous when Medusa had an affair with Poseidon, which led to Athena turning her hair to snakes and skin to a green hue, which caused anyone to look at her to turn to stone. After becoming what Athena made her to be, Medusa was assaulted, killed, and beheaded by mortals and gods alike on multiple occasions. Medusa symbolizes the chaotic neutral, a dangerous threat to ward off dangerous threats, the evil that wards off evil. Medusa did not deserve what she became.
A horrific creature of myth is the wendigo from Algonquian mythology. The wendigo is a bipedal deer-monster creature that is greedy and has an urge to eat human flesh uncontrollably. Wendigos can shift/transform into different animals or people to trick someone. If a wendigo bites someone, they will become cannibalistic after a while and have an urge for human flesh. The wendigo symbolizes the spirit of winter and the dangers of selfishness.
One of the most popular creatures from mythology is the siren. A siren is a very beautiful half-human, half-fish, mostly female creature. In mythology, they lived near an island, and any man who passed by on a ship would be lured to her by her voice. This often led to shipwrecks and death of the man to the siren’s fangs. Siren’s symbolize the dangers men faced at sea and to not be blindly lured in by your lust.
Mythological creatures are so interesting and there are so many more worth investigating.
