Monsters of Greek Mythology
Volume 1
Bernard Evslin
Contents
AMYCUS
CHAPTER I
The Feud
CHAPTER II
The Crater
CHAPTER III
Owl and Seal
CHAPTER IV
The Crystal Smithy
CHAPTER V
A Monster Is Born
CHAPTER VI
Wingless Dragons
CHAPTER VII
The Spartan Twins
CHAPTER VIII
Jason, the Healer
CHAPTER IX
The Assassin
CHAPTER X
The Scorching
CHAPTER XI
Hero Meets Monster
ANTEUS
CHAPTER I
Cannibal Stew
CHAPTER II
Sport for the Gods
CHAPTER III
Gaia’s Spell
CHAPTER IV
Bowman, Banger, Butcher
CHAPTER V
Hera’s Grudge
CHAPTER VI
Landfall in Libya
CHAPTER VII
Gobi
CHAPTER VIII
Mordo and Kell
CHAPTER IX
A Gift of Fire
CHAPTER X
Hero Meets Monster
THE CALYDONIAN BOAR
CHAPTER I
Birth of the Boar
CHAPTER II
Give Her to the Mountain
CHAPTER III
The Wild Child
CHAPTER IV
Gain, Loss, and Revenge
CHAPTER V
The Fatal Crones
CHAPTER VI
A Prince, a Hag, and Two Evil Uncles
CHAPTER VII
The Simba Hound
CHAPTER VIII
A Death and a Promise
CHAPTER IX
The Bear’s Sister
CHAPTER X
Two Jealousies
CHAPTER XI
The Monster
CERBERUS
CHAPTER I
The Serpent-Woman’s Pup
CHAPTER II
Hades’ Visit
CHAPTER III
The Shark Hunter
CHAPTER IV
The Fisherman’s Daughter
CHAPTER V
Glaucus
CHAPTER VI
Wild Boars
CHAPTER VII
Hecate’s Idea
CHAPTER VIII
Decoy and Death
CHAPTER IX
The Body on the Rocks
CHAPTER X
Conference in Hell
CHAPTER XI
Hera and the Harpy
CHAPTER XII
Zeus Complains
CHAPTER XIII
Revolt of the Dead
CHAPTER XIV
Blood on the Meadow
CHAPTER XV
The Gates of Hell
CHAPTER XVI
The Three-Headed Sentinel
THE CHIMAERA
CHAPTER I
Monster and Monarch
CHAPTER II
The Smallest Archer
CHAPTER III
The Horse-Breaker
CHAPTER IV
The Warning
CHAPTER V
The Tormented Land
CHAPTER VI
The Blind Seer
CHAPTER VII
The Mad King
CHAPTER VIII
A Gathering Doom
CHAPTER IX
Hooves of Death
CHAPTER X
Anteia
CHAPTER XI
The Hunt Begins
CHAPTER XII
Dangerous Passage
CHAPTER XIII
The Ghost Returns
CHAPTER XIV
The Winged Horse
CHAPTER XV
The Chimaera
THE CYCLOPES
CHAPTER I
The Maiming
CHAPTER II
The Sickle
CHAPTER III
The Betrayals
CHAPTER IV
The Cannibal God
CHAPTER V
Zeus
CHAPTER VI
Underground
CHAPTER VII
Family Reunion
CHAPTER VIII
The Magic Weapons
CHAPTER IX
Before the Battle
CHAPTER X
Different Fires
CHAPTER XI
To Death and Back
CHAPTER XII
Ulysses and the Cyclops
THE DRAGON OF BOEOTIA
CHAPTER I
The Curse
CHAPTER II
The High Council
CHAPTER III
The Abduction of Europa
CHAPTER IV
The Lizard’s Ambition
CHAPTER V
The Titan
CHAPTER VI
On the Peak
CHAPTER VII
The Spider
CHAPTER VIII
The Three Fates
CHAPTER IX
The Smith God
CHAPTER X
A New Dragon
CHAPTER XI
Journey to Boeotia
CHAPTER XII
Fighting the Dragon
CHAPTER XIII
The Buried Teeth
THE FURIES
CHAPTER I
Trouble in Heaven
CHAPTER II
The Furies
CHAPTER III
The Angry Titan
CHAPTER IV
The Stolen Sun
CHAPTER V
The High Council
CHAPTER VII
Dione
CHAPTER VIII
Sorcery Lessons
CHAPTER IX
Salmoneus
CHAPTER X
Jealousy
CHAPTER VI
Judgment Day
CHAPTER XI
Athena
CHAPTER XII
Final Enchantments
GERYON
CHAPTER I
The Three Fates
CHAPTER II
Bats on the River Bank
CHAPTER III
The Suitors
CHAPTER IV
The War God
CHAPTER V
Queen of the Pygmies
CHAPTER VI
A Vengeful Goddess
CHAPTER VII
Abduction
CHAPTER VIII
The First Massacre
CHAPTER IX
The River’s Ally
CHAPTER X
Send a Storm!
CHAPTER XI
The Trial of Hercules
CHAPTER XII
Clam and Gull
CHAPTER XIII
Hero Meets Monster
HECATE
CHAPTER I
Death’s Domain
CHAPTER II
The Poet
CHAPTER III
The Cannibal Gods
CHAPTER IV
His Song Is a Mischief
CHAPTER V
The Hag Hovers
CHAPTER VI
Eurydice
CHAPTER VII
The Healer
CHAPTER VIII
The Strangler
CHAPTER IX
The Singing Head
CHAPTER X
The Rebel Shade
CHAPTER XI
The Descent
CHAPTER XII
A Hellish Baffle
About the Author
AMYCUS
This tale of the brass-headed giant
is dedicated to my son TOM,
whose head is of purest gold
Characters
Monsters
Amycus
(AHM ih kuhs)
Giant brass-headed maniac
The Cyclopes
(SY klahps) sing.
(SY kloh peez) plur.
Huge one-eyed smiths, powerful servants of the gods
Brontes
(BRAHN teez)
Amycus’s father, the cleverest of the Cyclopes
Ludo
(LOO doh)
Another Cyclops
Wingless Dragons
Giant flame-spitting lizards
Gods
Zeus
(ZOOS)
King of the Gods
Athena
(uh THEE nuh)
Goddess of Wisdom
Poseidon
(poh SY duhn)
God of the Sea
Hades
(HAY deez)
Ruler of the Dead
Hermes
(HUR meez)
The messenger god
Mortals
Castor
(KASS tuhr)
Prince of Sparta, a champion wrestler
Pollux
(POL uhks)
Castor’s twin brother, a master boxer
Jason
(JAY suhn)
Exiled young king of Iolcus
Peleus
(PEE lee uhs)
Wicked usurper of Jason’s throne
Deucalion
(doo KAY lee on)
A worthy man, survivor of the Great Flood
Pyrrha
(PIHR ah)
Deucalion’s wife
Girl on Bebrycos
Animals
Owl
Athena’s spying bird
Swordfish
Agent of the owl
White goat, blue fox
black bear, brown bear
Others
Proteus
(PRO tee uhs)
Poseidon’s aide, a minor sea deity who changes shape at will
Liana
(LEE ah nuh)
Amycus’s mother, Brontus’ wife, a sea nymph
Contents
CHAPTER I
The Feud
CHAPTER II
The Crater
CHAPTER III
Owl and Seal
CHAPTER IV
The Crystal Smithy
CHAPTER V
A Monster Is Born
CHAPTER VI
Wingless Dragons
CHAPTER VII
The Spartan Twins
CHAPTER VIII
Jason, the Healer
CHAPTER IX
The Assassin
CHAPTER X
The Scorching
CHAPTER XI
Hero Meets Monster
1
The Feud
The brass-headed monster, Amycus, who enslaved so many women and battered so many men to death, was born out of a quarrel between Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, and Poseidon, God of the Sea.
They both wielded tremendous power. Poseidon means “earth shaker,” and he deserved the name; his wrath was catastrophe. And the tall, free-striding Athena who bore spear and shield and whose gray eyes could freeze the marrow of any human and many Olympians was the most feared of all the goddesses.
Their feud had simmered for centuries. It began when Athena, trying to read the future, guessed that a certain small fishing village would grow into a great and brilliant city whose name would be as a song amid the horrid shrieks of history. And she decided that this village of high destiny must call itself after her so that the sound of her name would fall sweetly upon the ear after the other gods were forgotten.
But Poseidon believed that he alone ruled the destinies of all who dwelt along his shores and drew their bounty from his seas. All coastal cities were his, all fishing villages. When pleased, he would send rich harvests of fish; when angered he would crush ships like walnuts, or send storms that swept all who displeased him into the sea. When he discovered that Athena was paying unusual attention to one fishing village he became very angry.
Green robed, green bearded, he loomed over the little huts like a tidal wave about to break. The people gaped in horror. His voice, pounding like the surf, forced them to their knees. He demanded that the village be given his name. Otherwise, he declared, he would starve them by withdrawing fish from their waters, send storms to wreck their ships, sea serpents to devour whoever jumped overboard, and pirates to slaughter anyone left on shore.
Before he departed, the terrified villagers vowed to do whatever he asked.
The clouds split. An arch of sunlight bridged sky and earth, and something strode down the span of light: a maiden goddess, bearing spear and shield. She towered above the village, but her voice was a mighty music and uttered no threats.
“Villagers,” she said. “This is the first day of your glorious destiny. I am Athena, daughter of Zeus. I come to offer you my favor forever and to honor you with the gift of my name. Under my blessing shall this cluster of huts grow into a marble city, famed for wit, wisdom, and skill in warfare—which of course brings wealth. So arise, lucky ones, get up off your knees. Stand proud. Under my protection shall you survive and prosper despite all the threats of blowhard Poseidon.”
Hearing the musical voice utter these words, gazing upon the stern, radiant goddess, the villagers felt their spirits soar, and decided to ignore the threats of Poseidon.
“Yes!” they cried. “All honor, Great Goddess, all worship! We shall call our village by your name.”
And from that time on, both gods sought to fulfill threat and promise. Poseidon never stopped tormenting the Athenians, and Athena sought always to protect them. And the feud between powerful niece and stormy uncle grew more and more vicious, and was to entangle many lives, to cause a horde of deaths, and to spawn a multitude of monsters—the worst of whom, perhaps, was the Horrible Head, also known as Amycus.
2
The Crater
Now, everything about Poseidon irritated Athena, but she was particularly annoyed by his arrogance. All the gods had tremendous opinions of themselves. They all strode proudly and seemed to glow with a sense of being exactly who they were and no one else. But to the eye of his brooding niece, Poseidon seemed to swagger more and be puffed up with the idea of his own importance more than any other god. Worst of all though, Athena thought bitterly, her obnoxious uncle had cause to exult.
For of all the prayers that thronged the air and mounted to heaven, the most frequent and most passionate were those addressed to Poseidon. There was good reason for this. Those who worshiped the Olympians were largely seagoing people—sailors, fisherfolk, pirates. Before every voyage they visited Poseidon’s driftwood altars and sacrificed to him, and prayed for fair weather and following winds and safe landfalls. And when, very frequently, the god turned contrary and sent storms and killer tides and savage sea raiders, then, instead of losing faith, the voyagers were terrified into deeper belief, and their prayers grew more fervent than ever.
Athena, studying this, felt her hatred growing so fast she thought she must burst. But she was intelligent enough to learn from what displeased her, and she told herself that the way to injure Poseidon was to make his worshipers lose faith in his powers. And the way to do this was to intensify the peril, to plant special monstrous dangers upon the sea—creatures and events that would destroy ships and crews, and finally teach humankind that the richest sacrifices and most heartfelt prayers to the sea god would not keep them from harm.
This would not be an easy process, she knew; it would take a long time and much skillful plotting … flotillas of ships sent to the bottom and hordes of sailors to be drowned, or to meet even worse death. With so much to do then, she set to work immediately.
Athena was known as the wise one no
t only because she reasoned brilliantly and inspired men like Daedalus to invent the wheel and the plow and the rudder, but because she seemed to know everything about everyone. Indeed, she went to a great deal of trouble to gather this information, training her pet owl to spy upon all the gods and certain humans.
The owl with its silent, gliding wings, its night-piercing eyes, and ears that could pick up the fall of a distant leaf, was perfectly framed for spying—particularly at night, when most secret things are done. And by day a flock of crows, instructed by the owl herself, flew here and there, spying, prying, noticing, and reporting back to the owl, who sifted the information and brought the interesting bits back to Athena. For among its many tricks the clever bird could also speak Greek.
Upon a certain day the owl flew up to Olympus, found Athena, perched on her shoulder and spoke into her ear.
“Oh Goddess, a crow has flown all the way from Sicily to tell me that Mount Aetna is erupting.”
“Nonsense,” said Athena. “It’s forbidden to erupt. Zeus himself quenched the fires of that raging mountain, hollowed it out and presented it to his son, Hephaestus, to use as a smithy. Therein labor the Cyclopes who forge thunderbolts for Zeus, and weapons and armor and ornaments for the rest of us.”
“Nevertheless,” said the owl, “the mountain is belching red smoke, and trembling so hard that huge boulders are rolling down its flanks toward the villages below. And all who dwell there are fleeing that part of Sicily.”