Faun- from photobucket
Whether you or your child is into Rick Riordan’s books for kids, the Narnia Series, or learning about myths from ancient days, you probably came here to find a list of mythical creatures. Many people choose to expose their children to mythical creatures and deities in a historical context so that they will know that people have different beliefs.
Most of the creatures are hideous and cruel, so I have chosen not to show their pictures on here for now, just in case a young person doing research gets scared.
Greek and Roman Mythical Creatures
Some of the Greek and Roman Creatures have different names, which you’ll find in parentheses.
- Centaurs are half man and half horse. The head was that of a man and the body was a horse.
- Cerberus (alternate name: Kerberos) is a dog with three heads that guards Hades (the Greek underworld).
- Charybdis inhaled to make deadly whirlpools.
- Cyclopes are giants from Sicily. They are cannibals with one eye.
- Gorgons: there are three sisters, one of whom is Medusa, who have snake hair. Looking into Medusa’s eyes guaranteed that you’ll be turned to stone.
- Graeae: three old women who share an eyeball and tooth- they fight over both because they cannot see with out the eye. They were sisters to the gorgons.
- Minotaurs have the head of a bull and the body of a man.
- Pegasus are winged horses
- Satyrs (faun in Roman mythology) have the upper body of man but the legs, nose, ears, and tail of a donkey.
- Sirens sing a song that is irresistible to men and can appear to be whatever the men deem desireable. They are bird women with three wings.
- Sphinx have the body of a lion and the head of a woman
Chinese Mythical Creatures
- Dragon King: This one is pretty obvious because this dragon is the king of all dragons.
- Jian: a bird that symbolizes marriage because it has only one wing and must depend on another Jian to fly.
- Jingwei another bird. This bird likes to drop pebbles and twigs into bodies of water, especially the ocean.
- Jiaolong dragons like to create floods and have dominion over the sea.
- Jiufeng: if you are a kid, watch out because this 9 headed bird wants to terrorized you!
- Shang-Yang is the rain bird.
- Xiezhi represent justice, law, and order. In Korea, they are known as Haetae and have been the symbol of Seoul, Korea since 2009
- Zhulong dragons have a human face and snake body. They are responsible for causing the wind that changes the seasons.
Conclusion:
Whether you are interested in Greek, Roman, or Chinese Myths for fun or for a history research project, it is good to know that some people believed differently from each other and from what most people believe today. The people who created the myths had very creative imaginations, which helped shape the choices they made.
