TROLLS - Trolls are mythical creatures from Norse mythology. They are ugly giants who eat meat (including humans) so they were enemies of humans and Gods.

In some legends trolls were kind of elves long time ago but they got cursed, turned into these ugly creatures and were banished from elves realms. Also it was said that trolls can only move in night, caves, shadows or underground because if only one Sun beam touches them they get turned into stone.

Posted in: Mythical Creatures -> Trolls

GRYPHON - Gryphons were creatures from Greek mythology with body of a lion and head and wings of an eagle. In tales and myths Gryphons were guardians of royal thrones and fearsome beasts in wars. Gryphons were worshiped as kings of all beasts because they had parts of lion na eagle - both of these animals are considered kings of their sorts (lion is king of animals while eagle is king of birds).

Posted in: Mythical Creatures -> Gryphons

MUMMY - A mummy is a corpse whose skin and dried flesh have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs.

In ancient Egypt rulers of Egypt, Pharaohs, were prepared in process of mummification for their after life. They were then placed in their tombs as mummies together with their wealth, their closest servants and anything else they might need in after life.

Posted in: Mythical Creatures -> Mummy

ANUBITE - Anubites were Anubis' (Egyptian God) priests. They wore jackal masks and were helping during the mummification rituals.

Posted in: Mythical Creatures -> Anubite

GOLEMS - In Jewish folklore, a golem is an animated being created entirely from inanimate matter. The name appears to derive from the word golem, which means raw material.

Having a golem servant was seen as the ultimate symbol of wisdom and holiness, and there are many tales of golems connected to prominent rabbis throughout the Middle Ages.

In Norse mythology, Mokkurkalfi was a clay giant, built to help the troll Hrungnir in a battle with Thor.

Posted in: Mythical Creatures -> Golems

CHIMERA - In Greek mythology, the Chimera was a monstrous creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, which was made of the parts of multiple animals. Chimera was one of the offspring of Typhon and Echidna and sister of such monsters as Cerberus and the Lernaean Hydra.

Chimera is a thing of immortal make, not human, lion-fronted and snake behind, a goat in the middle, and snorting out the breath of the terrible flame of bright fire.

Posted in: Mythical Creatures -> Chimera

DRYAD - Dryads are female tree spirits in Greek mythology. Thus dryads are specifically the nymphs of oak trees, though the term has come to be used for all tree nymphs in general. Normally considered to be very shy creatures, except around the goddess Artemis who was known to be a friend to most nymphs.

Meliai - The nymphs of ash trees were called the Meliai. The ash-tree sisters tended the infant Zeus in Rhea's Cretan cave. Rhea gave birth to the Meliai after being made fertile by the blood of castrated Ouranos. They were also sometimes associated with fruit trees.

Hamadryad - Dryads, like all nymphs, were supernaturally long-lived and tied to their homes, but some were a step beyond most nymphs. These were the hamadryads who were an integral part of their trees, such that if the tree died, the hamadryad associated with it died as well. For these reasons, dryads and the Greek gods punished any mortals who harmed trees without first propitiating the tree-nymphs.

Daphnaie - The nymphs of the laurel trees who spent most of their time sleeping, only coming out when no one was around.

Posted in: Mythical Creatures -> Dryads

Cyclops - In Greek mythology a Cyclops, or Kyklops is a member of a primordial race of giants, each with a single round eye in the middle of its forehead. Zeus released the Cyclopes, from the dark pit of Tartarus. They provide Zeus's thunderbolt, Hades' helmet of invisibility, and Poseidon's trident, and the gods used these weapons to defeat the titans.

The Cyclopes were huge one-eyed monsters that resided on an island with the same name. Commonly, the term Cyclops refers to a particular son of Poseidon and Thoosa named Polyphemus who was a Cyclops. Another member of this group of Cyclopes was Telemus, a seer.

Posted in: Mythical Creatures -> Cyclops

Cerberus - In Greek mythology Cerberus or Kerberos was the hound of Hades, a monstrous three-headed dog (sometimes said to have 50 or 100 heads). Cerberus guarded the gate to Hades and ensured that spirits of the dead could enter, but none could exit (additionally no living person was to come into Hades). Among his siblings are Chimera and the Hydra. Cerberus is the offspring of Echidna and Typhon.

In the last of his Twelve Labours, Hercules was to capture Cerberus. After having been given the task, Hercules went to Eleusis to be initiated in the Eleusinian Mysteries so that he could learn how to enter and exit the underworld alive, and in passing absolve himself for killing centaurs. He found the entrance to the underworld at Tanaerum, and Athena and Hermes helped him to traverse the entrance in each direction. He passed Charon with Hermes's assistance and his own heavy and fierce frowning.

Whilst in the underworld, Hercules freed Theseus, but the earth shook when he attempted to liberate Pirithous, so he had to leave him behind.

They had been imprisoned by Hades, by magically binding them to a bench, because they had attempted to kidnap Persephone. The magic was so strong that when Hercules pulled Theseus free, part of Theseus's thighs remained on the bench, explaining why his descendants had notably lean thighs.

Hercules presented himself before the throne of Hades and Persephone and asked permission to take Cerberus, to which the gods agreed as long as Hercules did not harm the hound in any way. Some say Persephone gave her consent because Hercules was her own brother. In any case, Hercules wrestled the dog into submission and dragged it out of Hades, passing through a cavern entrance in the Peloponnese. When he returned with Cerberus to the palace, Eurystheus, the man who had assigned the task to Hercules, was so afraid of the fearsome beast that he jumped into a pithos (large storage jar) to hide. From the spittle of the dog which fell upon earth, the first poisonous plants were born, including deadly aconite.

Posted in: Mythical Creatures -> Cerberus

SATYR - In Greek mythology, satyrs are young humans, possibly with horse ears, that roamed the woods and mountains, and were the companions of Pan and Dionysus. In mythology they are often associated with male sex drive and Greco-Roman art often portrays them with erections.

Their chief was called Silenus, a minor deity associated with fertility. These characters can be found in the remaining Satyr plays: Cyclops by Euripedes and Sophocles' The Searching Satyrs. The satyr play was a lighthearted follow-up attached to the end of each trilogy of tragedies in Athenian festivals honoring Dionysus. These plays would take a lighthearted approach to the heavier subject matter of the tragedies in the series, featuring heroes speaking in tragic iambic verse and taking their situation seriously as "straight men" to the flippant, irreverent and obscene remarks and antics of the satyrs.

Posted in: Mythical Creatures -> Satyr

MINOTAUR - In Greek mythology, the Minotaur was a creature that was part man and part bull. It dwelt at the center of the Labyrinth, which was an elaborate maze-like construction built for King Minos of Crete and designed by the architect Daedalus to hold the Minotaur. He and his son Icarus were ordered to build it. The historical site of Knossos is usually identified as the site of the labyrinth. The Minotaur was eventually killed by Theseus.

The literary myth satisfied a Hellenic interpretation of Minoan myth and ritual. According to this, before Minos became king, he asked the Greek god Poseidon for a sign, to assure him that he, and not his brother, was to receive the throne. Poseidon agreed to send a white bull as a sign, on condition Minos would sacrifice the bull to the god in return. Indeed, a bull of unmatched beauty came out of the sea. King Minos, after seeing it, found it so beautiful that he instead sacrificed another bull, hoping that Poseidon would not notice. Poseidon was enraged when he realized what had been done, so he caused Minos's wife, Pasiphae, to be overcome with a fit of madness in which she conceived a passion for the bull. Pasiphae tried to seduce the bull without success, then she requested some help from Daedalus the greatest artificer from Crete. Pasiphae went to Daedalus for assistance, and Daedalus devised a way to satisfy her. He constructed a hollow wooden cow covered with cowhide for Pasiphae to hide in and allow the bull to mount her. As a result of this union Pasiphae gave birth to the Minotaur, who some say bore the proper name Asterius.

The Minotaur, as the Greeks imagined him, had the body of a man and the head and tail of a bull. Pasiphae nursed him in his infancy, but he grew and became ferocious. Minos, after getting advice from the Oracle at Delphi, had Daedalus construct a gigantic labyrinth to hold the Minotaur. Its location was near Minos' palace in Knossos.

Posted in: Mythical Creatures -> Minotaur

CENTAURS - In Greek mythology, the Centaurs are a race of creatures composed of part human and part horse. In early Attic vase-paintings, they are depicted as the creatures who had torso of a human and body of a horse.

This half-human and half-animal composition has led many writers to treat them as luminous beings, caught between the two natures, embodied in contrasted myths, and as the embodiment of untamed nature, as in their battle with the Lapiths, or conversely as teachers, like Chiron.

The centaurs descended from Centaurus, who mated with the Magnesian mares. Centaurus was the son of either Ixion and Nephele (the cloud made in the image of Hera) or of Apollo and Stilbe, daughter of the river god Peneus. In the latter version of the story his twin brother was Lapithus, ancestor of the Lapiths, thus making the two warring peoples cousins.

Posted in: Mythical Creatures -> Centaurs