In Greek mythology, the Cercopes were mischievous forest creatures who lived in Thermopylae or on Euboea but roamed the world and might turn up anywhere mischief was afoot. They were two brothers, but their names are given variously, Passalus and Acmon, or Olus and Eurybatus, or Sillus and Triballus, depending on the context, but usually known as sons of Theia and Oceanus, thus ancient spirits. Greek mythology comprises the collected narratives of Greek gods, goddesses, heroes, and heroines, originally created and spread within an oral-poetic tradition. ... Thermopylae (Ancient & Katharevousa Greek Θερμοπύλαι, Demotic Θερμοπύλες) is a mountain pass in Greece. ... Euboea or Negropont (Modern Greek: Εύβοια Evia, Ancient Greek Εúβοια Eúboia; see also List of traditional Greek place names), is the largest island of the Greek archipelago. ... In Greek mythology, Acmon is one of the Dactyls, associated with the anvil. ... In Greek mythology, Eurybatus slew the lamia that menaced Crissan. ... In Greek mythology, Theia (also written Thea or Thia), also called Euryphaessa (wide-shining), was a Titan. ... Oceanus or Okeanos refers to the ocean, which the Greeks and Romans regarded as a river circling the world. ...

They were proverbial as liars, cheats, and accomplished knaves (Lucian, Alexander the false prophet). They once stole Heracles' weapons, during the time he was the penitent servant of Omphale. He punished them by tying them to a pole he slung over his shoulder with their faces pointing downwards, the only way they appear on Greek vases. The sight of Heracles' dark-tanned butt set them all to laughing, so that Heracles let them go free. In another myth, designed to explain their name ("tail-men" in Greek), Zeus changed the Cercopes into monkeys (from this we have the genus Cercopithecus). In still another myth, Zeus turned them to stone for trying to deceive even him, the stone was shown to visitors to Thermopylae. Lucian Lucian of Samosata (Greek, Λουκιανὸς Σαμοσατεύς, Latin, Lucianus; c. ... Statue of Heracles In Greek mythology, Heracles, or Heraklês (glory of Hera, Ηρακλης) was a divine hero, the demigod son of Zeus and Alcmene, and stepson of Alcmenes rightful husband and grandson of Perseus. ... In Greek mythology, Omphale was a queen or princess of Lydia. ... Statue of Zeus Phidias created the 12-m (40-ft) tall statue of Zeus at Olympia about 435 BC. The statue was perhaps the most famous sculpture in ancient Greece, imagined here in a 16th-century engraving. ... Subfamilies Cercopithecinae - 11 genera Colobinae - 9 genera The Old World monkeys or Cercopithecidae are a group of primates, falling in the superfamily Cercopithecoidea in the clade Catarrhini. ...

Further reading

• Graves, Robert, 1955. The Greek Myths, section 136.c-d and references