A host of legendary creatures, animals, and mythic humanoids occur in ancient Greek mythology. A mythological creature (also mythical or fictional entity) is a type of fictional entity, typically a hybrid, that has not been proven and that is described in folklore (including myths and legends), but may be featured in historical accounts before modernity. Something mythological can also be described as mythic, mythical, or mythologic.
Mythological creatures Aeternae: Giants who use bones as tools, their most notable feature is the saw-toothed protuberances sprouting from their heads. Amphisbaena: A serpent born from Medusa's blood over the Libyan Desert, famous for having two heads one on either end of its body. The Amphisbaena also has dragon wings and chicken feet. Arae: A female demon that personifies curses usually placed by the dead upon their murderers. They would leave the underworld to fulfill the curse. Basilisk: A serpent often called the king of snakes whose gaze could petrify or kill and its toxic breath could break stones. Catoblepas: A buffalo-like creature with shaggy fur, large horns, and a heavy head whose toxic breath and ugly looks could kill. Centaur and Centauride: Creatures with a head and the torso of a human, and the body of a horse. Cyprian centaurs: bull-horned centaurs native to the island of Cyprus. Ichthyocentaurs: a pair of marine centaurs with the upper bodies of men, the lower fronts of horses, and the tails of fish. Lamian centaurs or Lamian Pheres: twelve rustic spirits of the Lamos river. They were instructed by Zeus to guard the infant Dionysus, protecting him from the machinations of Hera, but the enraged goddess transformed them into ox-horned centaurs. They accompanied Dionysus in his campaign against the Indians. Onocentaur: part human, part donkey. It had the head and torso of a human with the body of a donkey. Cerastes: spineless serpents with a set of ram-like horns on their heads. Cerberus: a three headed dog, pet of Hades Cetus or Ceto: sea monsters. Ceuthonymus: daemon of the underworld. Father of Menoetius. Charybdis: a sea monster whose inhalations formed a deadly whirlpool or a huge water mouth. Chimera: a fire-breathing, three-headed monster with one head of a lion, one of a snake, and another of a goat, lion claws in front and goat legs behind, and a long snake tail. Crocotta or Cynolycus: a creature with the body of a stag, a lion's neck, cloven hooves, and a wide mouth with a sharp, bony ridge in place of teeth. It imitates the human voice, calls men by name at night, and devours those who approach it. Derceto: a half-woman half-fish goddess. Diomedes of Thrace: the son of Ares and Cyrene, known for his man-eating horses. Dryad: tree spirits who look similar to women. Echidna: Mate of Typhon and mother of many monsters. Eidolon: spirit-image of a living or dead person; a shade or phantom look-alike of the human form. Empousa, a ghostly female being who is able to shapeshift Eurynomos: the netherworld daemon of rotting corpses dwelling in the Underworld. Gello: a female demon or revenant who threatens the reproductive cycle by causing infertility, miscarriage, and infant mortality. Ghosts, Shades, Spirits. Gorgons: female monsters depicted with snakes on their head instead of hair, and sometimes described as having tusks, wings, and brazen claws. Their names were Euryale, Medusa, and Stheno. Graeae: three old women with one tooth and one eye among them. Also known as the Graeae sisters. Their names were Deino, Enyo, and Pemphredo. Griffin or Gryphon or Gryps or Grypes: a creature that combines a lion's body and an eagle's head and wings. Harpies: a creature with the torso, head, and arms of a woman, and the talons, tail, and wings (mixed with the arms) of a bird. Very small but can be vicious when provoked. Their names were Aello, Celaeno, and Ocypete. Hippalectryon: a creature with the fore parts of a horse and the hind parts of a cockerel/rooster. Hippocampus: a creature with the upper body of a horse and the lower body of a fish. Created by Poseidon when he offered them to Athens. Hydras Lernaean 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. Ipotane: a race of half-horse, half-humans. The Ipotanes are considered the original version of the centaurs. Keres: the spirits of violent or cruel death. Kobaloi: a mischievous creature fond of tricking and frightening mortals. Lamia: a vampiric demon who by voluptuous artifices attracted young men, to enjoy their fresh, youthful, and pure flesh and blood. Corinthian Lamia: a vampiric demon who seduced the handsome youth Menippos in the guise of a beautiful woman to consume his flesh and blood. Leontophonos (meaning "lion-killer"): a small animal whose urine was said to be fatal to lions.Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, Leontophonos Leopanther: a mythical creature with the head of a lion and the body of a panther. Two leopanthers are depicted on the west pediment of the Temple of Artemis in Corfu. Manticore or Androphagos: having the body of a red lion, a human face with three rows of sharp teeth, and the wings of a bat or dragon. The manticore can shoot spikes out of its tail, making it a deadly foe. Merpeople: humans with fish tail after torso (Mermaid as female, Merman as male). They lure adventurers to drown them. Minotaur: a monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man; slain by Theseus in the Labyrinth created by Daedelus. Mormo, a vampiric creature that preyed on children. Multi-headed Dogs Cerberus (Hellhound): the three-headed giant hound that guarded the gates of the Underworld. Orthrus: a two-headed dog, brother of Cerberus, slain by Heracles. Nymph Odontotyrannos: a beast with a black, horse-like head, with three horns protruding from its forehead, and exceeded the size of an elephant. Ophiotaurus (Bull-Serpent): a creature part bull and part serpent. Ouroboros: an immortal self-eating, circular being. The being is a serpent or a dragon curled into a circle or hoop, biting its tail. Panes: a tribe of nature spirits that had the heads and torsos of men, the legs and tails of goats, goatish faces, and goat-horns. Panther: a big cat with a multicoloured hide, similar to a Leopard. Philinnion: an unwed maiden who died prematurely and returned from the tomb as the living dead to consort with a handsome youth named Makhates. When her mother discovered the girl she collapsed back into death and was burned by the terrified townsfolk beyond the town boundaries. Phoenix: a golden-red firebird of which only one could live at a time, but would burst into flames to rebirth from ashes as a new phoenix. Satyrs and Satyresses: creatures with upper human bodies, and the horns and hindquarters of a goat. Some were companions of Pan and Dionysus. Scylla: once a nereid, transformed by Circe into a many-headed, tentacled monster who fed on passing sailors in the straits between herself and Charybdis by plucking them off the ship and eating them. Scythian Dracanae: upper body of a woman, lower body composed of two snake tails. Sea goats: creatures having the back end of a fish and the front parts of a goat. Sirens: bird-like women whose irresistible song lured sailors to their deaths. Skolopendra: a giant sea monster said to be the size of a Greek trireme. It has a crayfish-like tail, numerous legs along its body which it uses like oars to move, and extremely long hairs that protrude from its nostrils. Child of Phorcys and Keto. Spartae: a malevolent spirit born from violence. Argo crew member Jason fought alongside these creatures after discovering the dragon teeth could create these violent spirits. Spartae is generally depicted as skeletal beings with some form of weapon and military attire. Sphinx Androsphinx or simply Sphinx: a creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion.History of Herodotus Criosphinx: a creature with the head of a ram and the body of a lion. Hieracosphinx: a creature with the head of a hawk and the body of a lion. Stymphalian birds: man-eating birds with beaks of bronze and sharp metallic feathers they could launch at their victims. Tarandos: a rare animal with the size of an ox and the head of a deer. It could change the color of its hair according to the environment that it was, like a chameleon. It was living at the land of the Scythians.Aristotelian Corpus, On Marvelous Things Heard, 30 Solinus, wrote about a similar creature in Aethiopia and called it Parandrus.Solinus, Polyhistor, 30.24 Taraxippi: ghosts that frightened horses. Triton: son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, half-man and half-fish. Typhon or Typhoeus: a humongous savage monster with snake coils instead of limbs; father of several other monsters with his mate Echidna. Almost destroyed the gods but was foiled by Hermes and Zeus. Unicorns or Monocerata: creatures as large or larger than horses with a large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from their forehead. Vrykolakas: shares similarities with numerous other legendary creatures, but is generally equated with the vampire of the folklore of the neighbouring Slavic countries. While the two are very similar, a vrykolakas eats flesh, particularly livers, rather than drinking blood, which combined with other factors such as its appearance bring it more in line with the modern concept of a zombie or ghoul. Werewolf or Lycanthrope. Agriopas: he tasted the viscera of a human child and was turned into a wolf for ten years. Damarchus: a boxer from Parrhasia (Arcadia) who is said to have changed his shape into that of a wolf at the festival of Lykaia, became a man again after ten years. Lycaon: turned into a wolf by the gods as punishment for serving them his murdered son Nyctimus' flesh at a feast. Lykos (Λύκος) of Athens: a wolf-shaped herο whose shrine stood by the jury court, and the first jurors were named after him.Suda, eta, 271 Winged Horses, or Pterippi. Pegasus: a divine winged stallion that is pure white, son of Medusa and Poseidon, brother of Chrysaor, and father of winged horses. Ethiopian Pegasus: winged, horned horses native to Ethiopia.
Giants
Gigantes
The Gigantes were a race of great strength and aggression. They were the offspring of Gaia (Earth), born from the blood that fell when Uranus (Sky) was castrated by their Titan son Cronus, who fought the Gigantomachy, their war with the Olympian gods for supremacy of the cosmos. Archaic and Classical representations show Gigantes as human in form, while later representations show Gigantes with snakes for legs.
Other giants Almops a giant son of the god Poseidon and the half-nymph Helle. Aloadae (Ἀλῳάδαι), twin giants who attempted to climb to Olympus by piling mountains on top of each other. Their names were Otus and Ephialtes. Anax (Αναξ) was a giant of the island of Lade near Miletos in Lydia, Anatolia. Antaeus (Ἀνταῖος), a Libyan giant who wrestled all visitors to the death until he was slain by Heracles. Antiphates (Ἀντιφάτης), the king of the man-eating giants known as Laestrygones which were encountered by Odysseus on his travels. Argus Panoptes (Ἄργος Πανόπτης), a hundred-eyed giant tasked with guarding Io. Athos: an enemy of Poseidon, best known for the creation of Mount Athos in Chalcidice. Cacus (Κακος), a fire-breathing Latin giant slain by Heracles. Chthonius Cyclopes: three one-eyed giants who forged the lightning bolts of Zeus and Helmet and Bident of Hades. Some assisted the god Hephaestus at his workshops. Children of Gaia and Uranus, who were locked by Uranus in Tartarus. According to Hesiod, their names were Arges, Brontes, and Steropes. According to Homer, were a tribe of one-eyed, man-eating giants who herded flocks of sheep on the island of Sicily, who included Polyphemus.