Dragons play a role in Greek mythology. Greek mythology comprises the collected narratives of Greek gods, goddesses, heroes, and heroines, originally created and spread within an oral-poetic tradition. ... The ancient Greeks proposed many different ideas about the primordial gods in their mythology. ... For the moon of Saturn, see Titan (moon). ... 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. ... The twelve gods of Olympus. ... Marble sculpture of Pan copulating with a goat, recovered from Herculaneum Pan (Greek Παν, genitive Πανος) is the Greek god who watches over shepherds and their flocks. ... Hylas and the Nymphs by John William Waterhouse In Greek mythology, a nymph is any member of a large class of female nature entities, sometimes bound to a particular location or landform. ... Apollo (Greek: Απόλλων, Apóllōn; Απελλων) is a god in Greek and Roman mythology, the son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin of Artemis (goddess of the hunt), one of the most important and many-sided of the Olympian divinities. ... Bacchus by Caravaggio Dionysus or Dionysos (Ancient Greek: Διώνυσος or Διόνυσος; also known as Bacchus in both Greek and Roman mythology and associated with the Italic Liber), the Thracian god of wine, represents not only the intoxicating power of wine, but also its social and beneficent influences. ... The ancient Greeks had a large number of sea gods. ... In mythology chthonic (from Greek χθονιος-pertaining to the earth; earthy) designates, or pertains to, gods or spirits of the underworld, especially in Greek mythology. ... 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. ... For other uses, see Achilles (disambiguation). ... The Trojan War was a war waged, according to legend, against the city of Troy in Asia Minor by the armies of the Achaeans, following the kidnapping (or elopement) of Helen of Sparta by Paris of Troy. ... Odysseus and the Sirens. ... Odysseus and Nausicaä - by Charles Gleyre The Odyssey (Greek Οδύσσεια) is the second of the two great Greek epic poems ascribed to Homer, the first of which is the Iliad. ... Jason (Greek: Ίασων, Etruscan: Easun) is a hero of Greek mythology. ... In Greek mythology, the ram with the Golden Fleece (Okros Satsmisi in Georgian) was given to Nephele of Thessaly by Hermes for her to transport her children, Helle and Phrixus, away from Ino. ... Perseus with the head of Medusa by Antonio Canova. ... In Greek mythology, the Gorgons (terrible or, according to some, loud-roaring) were vicious female monsters with sharp fangs and hair of living, venomous snakes. ... Oedipus and the Sphinx, from an 1879 illustration from Stories from the Greek Tragedians by Alfred Church Oedipus (Greek , Oidipous, swollen-foot; rarely ; Latin Oedipus) or Œdipus was the mythical king of Thebes, son of Laius and Jocasta, who, unknowingly, killed his father and married his mother. ... The Oath of the Seven Chiefs, an 1897 illustration from Stories from the Greek Tragedians by Alfred Church Seven Against Thebes is a play by Aeschylus concerning the battle between Eteocles and the army of Thebes and Polynices and his supporters, traditional Theban enemies. ... Theseus (Greek Θησευς) was a legendary king of Athens, son of Aegeus (or of Poseidon) and of Aethra. ... In Greek mythology, the Minotaur was a creature that was part man and part bull. ... Triptolemus (also Buzyges), in Greek mythology, was the son of King Celeus of Eleusis in Attica. ... The Eleusinian Mysteries were annual initiation ceremonies for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. ... A mystery religion is any religion with an arcanum, or body of secret wisdom. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Guido Reni, Abduction of Deianira, 1620-21 In Greek mythology, the centaurs (Greek: Κένταυροι) are a race part human and part horse, with a horses body and a human head and torso. ... Greek religion is the polytheistic religion practiced in ancient Greece in form of cult practices, thus the practical counterpart of Greek mythology. ... Greek mythology comprises the collected narratives of Greek gods, goddesses, heroes, and heroines, originally created and spread within an oral-poetic tradition. ...

Ladon

Ladon was a dragon-like beast that was slain by Hercules as a part of the requests of Eyrystheus. He is the hundred-headed dragon that guarded the garden of the Hesperides. He is variously described as the offspring of Phorcys or of Typhon and Echidna. It was said that his heads spoke with a multitude of voices in many languages. Ladon is the hundred-headed dragon that guarded the garden of the Hesperides in Greek mythology. ... Hercules and Cacus, by Baccio Bandinelli, 1525 - 1534. ... In Greek mythology, Phorcys, or Phorkys was a primevil sea god, son of Pontus and Gaia. ... Typhon (Typhaon, Typhoeus, Typhus), in Greek mythology, was the final son of Gaia, this time with Tartarus, the offspring of the Earth and the cavernous void beneath: But when Zeus had driven the Titans from heaven, huge Earth bare her youngest child Typhoeus of the love of Tartarus, by the... In the most ancient layers of Greek mythology Echidna (ekhis, meaning she viper) was called the Mother of All Monsters. Echidna was described by Hesiod (Theogony) as a female monster, who mothered with Typhon every major monster in the entire Greek mythos. ...

Python

Main article: Python (mythology)

Python, the oracular serpent of Delphi, was never confused with a dragon among the Greeks. Python was the oracular serpent of Delphi. It was the offspring of Gaia and the mud that was left over after the flood of Deucalion, or in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo Python was the offspring of Hera, the Olympian Lady, who bore him, to spite Zeus, out of her own being, parthegenetically, in the manner of Gaia. Apollo killed it and remade its former home his own oracle, the most famous in Greece. (But see also Dodona.) In Greek mythology, Python was the oracular serpent of Delphi. ... Species Aspidites melanocephalus Aspidites ramsayi Python anchietae Python breitensteini Python brongersmai Python molurus Python regius Python reticulatus Python sebae Python timoriensis Python is the common name for the Boidae Family of nonvenomous constricting snakes—specifically the subfamily Pythonidae. ... Serpent can be any of the following: The reptile commonly called snake. ... The theatre, seen from above Delphikjl;lk;kl; (Greek Δελφοί - Delphoi; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is an archaeological site and a modern town in Greece. ... Species Aspidites melanocephalus Aspidites ramsayi Python anchietae Python breitensteini Python brongersmai Python molurus Python regius Python reticulatus Python sebae Python timoriensis Python is the common name for the Boidae Family of nonvenomous constricting snakes—specifically the subfamily Pythonidae. ... Serpent can be any of the following: The reptile commonly called snake. ... The theatre, seen from above Delphikjl;lk;kl; (Greek Δελφοί - Delphoi; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is an archaeological site and a modern town in Greece. ... Gaia, the Earth-goddess; classical Greek cup signed by Aristophanes and made between 410 B.C. and 400 B.C. Gaia (land or earth, from the Greek ; variant spelling Gaea—see also also Ge from ) is a Greek goddess personifying the Earth. ... Deucalion In Greek mythology, Deucalion, or Deukálion (new-wine sailor) was the son of Prometheus and Clymene or Celaeno. ... The anonymous Homeric Hymns are a collection of ancient Greek hymns. ... In the Olympian pantheon of classical Greek Mythology, Hêra (Greek or ) was the wife and sister of Zeus. ... For other uses, see Apollo (disambiguation). ... An Oracle is a person or agency considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophetic opinion; an infallible authority, usually spiritual in nature. ... At Dodona (ancient Greek: Δοδώνη, modern Dodoni, Albanian: Dodona) in Epirus, northwestern Greece, was a prehistoric oracle devoted to the Greek god, Zeus and the Mother Goddess identified at other sites with Rhea or Gaia, but here called Dione. ...

When Zeus lay with the goddess Leto, and she was to deliver Artemis and Apollo, Lady Hera sent Python to pursue her throughout the lands, so that she could not be delivered wherever the sun shone. Thus when the infant was grown he pursued the python, making his way straight for Mount Parnassus where the serpent dwelled, and chased it to the oracle of Gaia at Delphi, and dared to penetrate the sacred precinct and kill it with his arrows beside the rock cleft where the priestess sat on her tripod. Robert Graves, who often read into primitive myths a retelling of archaic political and social turmoil, saw in this the capturing by Hellenes of a pre-Hellenic shrine. "To placate local opinion at Delphi," he wrote in The Greek Myths, "regular funeral games were instituted in honour of the dead hero Python, and his priestess was retained in office." The politics are conjectural, but the myth reports that Zeus ordered Apollo to purify himself for the sacrilege and instituted the Pythian Games, over which Apollo was to preside, as penance for his act. The priestess of the oracle at Delphi became known as the Pythoness. 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. ... In Greek mythology Lētō (Greek: Λητώ, Lato in Dorian Greek, the hidden one) is known to be a daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe, and in the Olympian scheme of things, Zeus is the father of her twins, Apollo and Artemis. ... The Artemis of Versailles, a Roman copy of a Hellenistic marble sculpture, now at the Louvre Museum. ... Apollo (Greek: Απόλλων, Apóllōn; Απελλων) is a god in Greek and Roman mythology, the son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin of Artemis (goddess of the hunt), one of the most important and many-sided of the Olympian divinities. ... Mount Parnassus (also Mount Parnassos or Liakoura) is a mountain barren limestone in central Greece that towers above Delphi, north of the Gulf of Corinth, and offers scenic views of the surrounding olive groves and countryside. ... Gaia, also spelled as Gaea, Gaïa, or Ge, can refer to any one of the following. ... Portrait of Robert Graves (circa 1974) by Rab Shiell Robert von Ranke Graves (July 24, 1895–December 7, 1985) was an English scholar, best remembered for his work as a poet and novelist. ... View of the stadium of the Delphi sanctuary, used for the Pythian Games. ... An Oracle is a person or agency considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophetic opinion; an infallible authority, usually spiritual in nature. ... The theatre, seen from above Delphikjl;lk;kl; (Greek Δελφοί - Delphoi; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is an archaeological site and a modern town in Greece. ...

Others

Other dragon like beasts were Laernean Hydra with the ever growing heads and many other serpentine creatures. Generally, dragons were used to guard treasures such as the golden fleece or the Hesperides Trees. Echidna was said to be the mother of all beasts, as she mated with the Titan Typhon: Cerberus, Orthrus, Sphinx, Python (amongst others) were all offspring of Echidna. In Greek mythology, the ram with the Golden Fleece (Okros Satsmisi in Georgian) was given to Nephele of Thessaly by Hermes for her to transport her children, Helle and Phrixus, away from Ino. ... Typhon (Typhaon, Typhoeus, Typhus), in Greek mythology, was the final son of Gaia, this time with Tartarus, the offspring of the Earth and the cavernous void beneath: But when Zeus had driven the Titans from heaven, huge Earth bare her youngest child Typhoeus of the love of Tartarus, by the...