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Monstrocities and Beasts
 
 
 

Echidna
Echidna was the mother of all monsters (now that we're getting into bad guys), but really she was only the mother of about seven of them. She was also a monster and the mate of Typhon (who challenged all of the Greek Gods, and ende up with Mt. Aetna thrown on top of him). Echidna was allowed to live to bear more offspring for future heroes. Echidna  was the daughter of Chrysaor, the Gold Bearer, who was a son of Poseidon and Medusa!!
 

CYCLOPS

A race of giants. Uranus and Gaea/Gaia were the parents. They each had but one eye, and that
was centered in the middle of the forehead. They worked at the forge for Hephaestus,
fashioning thunderbolts, etc.  Hesiod mentions only three (not a race or tribe): Arges (thunderbolt), Steropes (lightning), and Brontes (thunder), obviously storm gods.

Odysseus encounters another group of Cyclopes in the Odyssey, one of whom is Polyphemus, son of Poseidon. These creatures live without any of the trappings of Greek society like law, agriculture or ships. Polyphemus, despite his skills as a shepherd, is a savage creature who eats Odysseus' men until Odysseus works out a strategem to put out the Cyclops' single eye.

In later literature, beginning with the Hellenistic poet Theocritus, Polyphemus is depicted as a burlesque figure, in love with the sea-nymph Galatea.
 

Gryphon
A fabulous beast with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. In myth the gryphon was sacred to Apollo, represented wisdom to Athena, and retribution to Nemesis.
Also spelled: griffin, griffon.
 

The Harpies
Predatory monsters with the head of a woman and the body, wings, and claws of a bird. The
name means "snatchers".
Following tradition, there were three of them, they were:

Aello
Thyella
Ocypete

They were the daughters of the Nereid Electra and Thaumas, the son of Pontus and Gaea. That made them sisters to Iris! These three sisters were always ravenously hungry. They were often called the Dogs of Zeus (Hades?). The name Harpy means "Snatcher." They were the ones that threw an entire country (Ethiopia I believe, no seriously!) into famine!
The Empousae These chicks were Greek demonesses and emmissaries of Hecate.
 

The Hydra
One of the most hideous creatures of Greek mythology is the nine-headed hydra. For each head
that was cut off, the monster grew two new ones. Hydra is famous for being one of the twelve labors of Hercules. It was believed that the middle head of Hydra was immortal. When
Hercules lopped off a head of the Hydra, two more grew out of the old one. With the help of
his servant Iolaus, Hercules managed to burn away the heads of the Hydra and bury the
immortal one under a huge rock.
 

Dragons
A legendary reptilian monster similar in form to a crocodile but with wings, huge claws, and fiery breath. In the Mesopotamian creation myth (Enuma Elish) a dragon was considered a symbol
for destruction and evil. Dragons became more benign in later mythologies. The Greeks and
Romans believed that they had the ability to understand and to teach mortals the secrets of the
earth.
Norsemen carved the prows of their ships with likenesses of the dragon. The ancient Celtic considered the dragon a symbol of sovereignty. The Teutonic invaders of Britain had
dragons depicted on their shields. The dragon also figures in the folklore of Japan. In China it is
traditionally considered as a symbol of good fortune, and was the national emblem of the Chinese Empire.
 

The Gorgons
There were three Gorgons, they were all sisters. Two of them were immortal, but Medusa wasn't. (She ended up getting her head chopped off and having an immortal flying horse jump out of her body). The three were the daughters of  Phorcus (the Sea God) and Ceto (a daughter of Pontus and Gaea. There names were:

Medusa, her name means Ruler
Stheno, her name means Forceful
Euryale, and her name means Far-Roaming

Daughters of Phorkys and Keto. According to Hesiod, they live beyond Okeanos towards
Night, i.e. in the far west. Their sisters are the Graiai who have only one eye and one tooth between them. The Gorgons have snakey hair and, in most accounts, the ability to turn to stone anyone one who looks them in the eye. Apart from that they don't seem to cause much trouble. However, Perseus on the orders of Polydektes, outwits the Graiai and kills one of the Gorgons, Medusa. From the blood which spills on the ground are born Chrysaor and Pegasos  Medusa's head turns out to be a useful weapon against enemies.

The Gorgons' pursuit of Perseus was a favorite subject for archaic vase painters. The Gorgon was also depicted on some early temples, perhaps because it was believed to ward off evil. Athena is depicted wearing a Gorgon's head on her aegis.

Medusa
One of the three Gorgons, who were three monstrous daughters of the sea god Phorcys and his wife, Ceto. Her equally hideous sisters were Stheno and Euryale. (The Gorgons are monstrous creatures covered with impenetrable scales, with hair of living snakes, hands made of brass, sharp fangs and a beard. They live in the ultimate west, near the ocean, and guard the entrance to the underworld). She was the only one who was mortal. Her gaze could turn whoever she looked upon to stone. There is a
particular myth in which Medusa was originally a beautiful maiden. She desecrated Athena's temple by lying there with Poseidon. Outraged, Athena turned Medusa's hair into living snakes. Medusa was killed by the hero Perseus with the help of Athena and Hermes. He killed her by cutting off her head and gave it to Athena, who placed it in the center of her Aegis, which she wore over her breastplate. From Medusa's dead body the giant Chrysaor and the winged horse Pegasus, her son by Poseidon, sprang forth.
 
 

The Minotaur

The Minotaur was the monstrous son of a white bull (which was sent by the sea god Poseidon as a
gift to Minos) and Pasiphae, the wife of King Minos of Crete. When the child was born it had the head of a bull and the body of a man, and was given the name Minotaur. The creature was fed on
seven boys and seven girls sent annually as tribute by the Athenians, a tribute that had been forced
upon them since the murder of Androgeus. To free his countrymen of this terrible burden, now being
exacted for the third time, the hero Theseus came to Knossos, entered the maze-like Labyrinth
where the Minotaur lived and killed it. He was assisted by King Minos' daughter Ariadne, who gave
him a ball of thread, instructing him to unravel it on his way into the maze so that he could find his way out again. She also smuggled a sword to Theseus. Theseus had promised to change the usual
black sail on his ship for a white one if he was successful in his attempt to kill the monster. In the joy
of victory he forgot his promise, and when his father, King Aegeus, saw the black sail on the returning ship he committed suicide.
 
 

The Sirens
The Fisherman and the Siren
 by Frederic Lord Leighton

These were three women who sang so beautifully that any man who heard them was compelled to jump off of his ship (they lived on an island) and swim to them. Unfortunately most of the sailors died in the rough water and those who didn't perished of hunger because they never moved from the Sirens. Supposedly (though we don't know because no one ever  made it back) they were part fish and part woman and incredibly beautiful.
Beautiful half-woman, half-birdlike creatures who sang such sweet songs that listeners forgot everything and died of hunger. They were the daughters of Calliope (some say of Sterope). In
the oldest legends there were two, later writers had three, and still later writers kept adding
more. They sat on rocks by the sea and lured sailors to their doom by singing to them.  The three most famous were Parthenope, Ligea, and Leucosia. Ulysses escaped from
them by filling his crew's ears with wax while he tied himself to the ship's mast. The Argonauts
were saved by Orpheus' music.
 
 

Aglaope(beautiful face)
Aglaophonos (beautiful voice)
Himeropa
Leucosia (white being)
Ligea (shrill)
Molpe (music)
Parthenope (maiden face)
Peisinoë (persuading mind)
Raidne (improvement)
Teles (perfect)
Thelchtereia
Thelxepeia (soothing words)
Thelxiope (persuasive face)
 

They were sisters to the Gorgons as well as the Graiae and the Monster Scylla.
 
 

Sleipnir  (Norse)
was the swift eight-legged horse ridden by Odin. It was the offspring of Svadilfari (the horse that helped build the walls of Asgard) and Loki (disguised as a mare in that event); and was given to Odin as a gift. Sleipnir could travel through the air and over the sea, and was swift enough to beat any other horse in a race.