by Stephen Fry
Monsters and Other Creatures
CALYDONIAN BOAR Giant baby-eating bane of Aetolia sent as punishment by Artemis. Hunted by heroes including Asclepius, the Dioscuri, Eurytion, Jason, Nestor, Peleus, Pirithous, Telamon, Theseus and (possibly) Thersites. Slain by Atalanta and Meleager.
CHIMERA Fire-breathing snaky-tailed lion–goat hybrid. Offspring of Typhon. Sibling of the Hydra and the Nemean Lion. Slain by Bellerophon.
CRETAN BULL Creature of Poseidon. Father of the Minotaur. Tamed temporarily by Heracles, then terminally by Theseus.
GOLDEN RAM Bearer of the Golden Fleece retrieved from Colchis by Jason, Medea and the Argonauts, including the Dioscuri, Eurytion, Heracles, Meleager, Nestor, Peleus, Philoctetes, Pirithous and Telamon.
HECATONCHIRES Gigantic fifty-headed, hundred-handed children of Gaia and Ouranos. Summoned from the underworld by Thetis to protect Zeus from his rebellious Olympian family.
HYDRA Polycephalic self-regenerative venomous-blooded serpentine guardian of the gates of hell. Offspring of Typhon. Sibling of the Chimera and the Nemean Lion. Slain by Heracles. Blood involved in the deaths of the giants and of Heracles, Nessus and Paris.
NEMEAN LION Offspring of Typhon. Sibling of the Chimera and the Hydra. Slain, skinned and worn by Heracles.
NESSUS Centaur. Killed by the arrows of Heracles for molesting the hero’s wife. Obtains his revenge when Heracles wears his shirt soaked in Hydra blood.
ORION Boeotian giant and hunter. Son of Poseidon. Slain by Artemis out of jealousy; then catasterized out of remorse.
PEGASUS White winged horse. Offspring of Poseidon and the Gorgon Medusa. Half-brother of Bellerophon, whom he aids in slaying the Chimera.
TYPHON First and worst of monsters. Giant serpentine offspring of Gaia and Tartarus. Father of the Chimera, the Hydra and the Nemean Lion.
GREEKS
Generations before the Trojan War
ACASTUS King of Iolcos. Son of Jason’s enemy and kinsman Pelias. Husband of Astydameia. Offers expiation to Peleus for the slaying of Eurytion. Then tricked by Astydameia into trying to murder him. Slain by Peleus in revenge.
AEACUS King of Aegina. Son of Zeus and the nymph Aegina. Given ant-people (Myrmidons) by Zeus to assuage his loneliness. Husband of Endeis. Father (by her) of Peleus and Telamon, and (by the Nereid Psamathe) of Phocus. After death, one of the three Judges of the Underworld.
AETHRA Princess of Troezen. Daughter of Pittheus. Niece of Atreus and Thyestes. Briefly betrothed to Bellerophon. Mother of Theseus (by Aegeus and Poseidon). Carried off by the Dioscuri in revenge for Theseus’s abduction of Helen. Freed, after long service to Helen, by her grandsons Acamas and Demophon.
ANTICLEA Queen of Cephalonia. Daughter of Autolycus. Wife of Laertes. Mother (by him) of Odysseus.
ANTIGONE Phthian princess. Daughter of Eurytion. Wife of Peleus; mother (by him) of Polydora. Kills herself having been tricked by Astydameia into believing Peleus unfaithful. Not to be confused with Antigone, Princess of Thebes.
ANTIGONE Theban princess. Daughter of Oedipus. Scion of a much-cursed house. Sentenced to death for trying to bury her brother Polynices after he is killed fighting her other brother Eteocles. Escapes her punishment by committing suicide. Not to be confused with Antigone, Princess of Phthia.
ASTYDAMEIA Wife of Acastus. Her advances spurned by Peleus. In revenge, tricks Antigone into committing suicide and Acastus into trying to murder Peleus. Slain in turn by Peleus.
ATALANTA Arcadian princess. Exposed as an infant. Fostered by a she-bear, then raised by hunters. Supremely swift. Votary (and devastating tool) of Artemis. Too much of a girl, in Jason’s view, to be an Argonaut. Too amazing, in Meleager’s view, not to be a Calydonian Boar hunter. Awarded the trophy for slaying the boar, with fatal consequences. Tempted by the Golden Apples of the Hesperides into matrimony with Hippomenes. Punished with him by Aphrodite for ingratitude, then transformed into a lioness for involuntarily profaning a temple.
ATREUS King of Mycenae. Son of Pelops and Hippodamia. Brother of Pittheus and Thyestes. Half-brother of Chrysippus. Kinsman of Theseus. Husband of Aerope (sister of Catreus). Father (by her) of Agamemnon, Anaxibia and Menelaus. Exiled with Thyestes for murdering Chrysippus. Together they depose Eurystheus, then feud barbarically, magnifying the curses already upon the house of Tantalus and Pelops. Adoptive father of Aegisthus, who murders him and installs Thyestes on the Mycenaean throne.
AUTOLYCUS Light-fingered son of Hermes. Husband of Amphithea. Father (by her) of Anticlea. Grandfather of Odysseus and Sinon.
BELLEROPHON Prince of Corinth. Son of Poseidon. Briefly betrothed to Aethra. Half-brother of Pegasus. Exiled for fatally mistaking another half-brother for a boar. Given expiation by King Proetus of Mycenae, then falls foul of his wife Stheneboea. Slayer of the Chimera. Wins the hand of the King of Lycia’s daughter and the succession to his kingdom. Crippled by Zeus for his hubris in trying to enter Olympus. Grandfather of Sarpedon and Glaucus.
CADMUS Founder king of Thebes. Grandson of Poseidon. Brother of Europa. Husband of Harmonia. Grandfather of Dionysus. Great-grandfather of Laius. Forebear of a much-cursed house.
CATREUS King of Crete. Son of Minos. Grandfather of Agamemnon and Menelaus, and of Oeax and Palamedes. Killed by his son in mysterious – and, for the abduction of Helen, convenient – circumstances.
CHRYSIPPUS Son of Pelops and the nymph Axioche. Half-brother of Atreus, Pittheus and Thyestes. Groomed and abducted by Laius; then murdered by Atreus and Thyestes. Laius and his line cursed by Pelops in revenge.
CYCHREUS King of Salamis. Son of Poseidon and the nymph Salamis. Father of Glauce. Gives expiation, Glauce and eventually his kingdom to Telamon.
EUROPA Princess of Tyre. Granddaughter of Poseidon. Sister of Cadmus. Abducted by Zeus in the shape of a bull. Mother (by him) of Minos and Rhadamanthus, Judges of the Underworld.
EURYSTHEUS King of Mycenae. Descendant of Perseus. Cousin of Heracles. Commands Heracles to perform Labours to expiate the murder of his first wife. Deposed by Atreus and Thyestes.
EURYTION King of Phthia. Father of Antigone. One of the Argonauts. Gives expiation, Antigone and eventually his kingdom to Peleus. Receives in return Peleus’s spear through his chest during the hunt for the Calydonian Boar.
HERACLES Son of Zeus and Alcmene. Half-twin of Iphicles. Descendant of Perseus. Cousin of Eurystheus and Theseus. Zeus’s favourite human son. Persecuted by Hera; later her son-in-law. Father of numberless Heraclides, including Telephus. To expiate the murder of his first wife, performs Labours for Eurystheus: (1) slaying the Nemean Lion; (2) slaying the Lernaean Hydra; (3) capturing the Ceryneian Hind; (4) capturing the Erymanthian Boar; (5) cleaning the stables of King Augeas; (6) driving away the Stymphalian Birds; (7) taming the Cretan Bull; (8) taming the mares of King Diomedes of Thrace; (9) stealing the girdle of the Amazon queen Hippolyta; (10) stealing the cattle of the giant Geryon; (11) stealing the Golden Apples of the Hesperides; (12) fetching Cerberus from the underworld. Bane of Typhon’s spawn. Out-wrestler of Nereus. One of the Argonauts. Rescuer of Hesione from Poseidon’s sea monster, and Theseus from the underworld. Sacker of Troy. Sparer of Priam. Slayer of Laomedon and (perhaps) Hippolyta. Installer of Tyndareus on the throne of Sparta. Saviour of the OLYMPIAN GODS from the giants. Fatally wounded by the centaur Nessus’s shirt soaked in Hydra blood. Immolated by Philoctetes; in return, bestows his bow and Hydra-envenomed arrows on him. Immortalized and catasterized by Zeus.
HIPPODAMIA Daughter of Oenomaus and the Pleiad Sterope. First prize in chariot race won by Pelops. Repulsed by idea of one-night stand with Myrtilus. Mother of Atreus, Pittheus and Thyestes. Forebear of a much-cursed house.
IO First mortal woman beloved by Zeus. Transformed by him into a cow. Persecuted by the gadfly of Hera. Gives name to the Bosporus (Cow-Crossing).
JASON Rightful heir to the throne of Iolcos. Son of Aeson and Alcimede. Kinsman of Atalanta, Bellerophon, Neleus and Peleus. Father (by Medea) of Thessalus. Raised by Chiron. Favoured by Athe
na and Hera. With the aid of the Argonauts and Medea’s magic fulfils the task set him by Pelias to recover the Golden Fleece. His plans to marry into the Corinthian royal family fatally spoiled by Medea. Reclaims throne of Iolcos from Acastus. Hunter of the Calydonian Boar. Slain in a shipyard accident involving the Argo.
LAERTES King of Cephalonia. Son of Cephalus. Husband of Anticlea. Father (by her) of Odysseus.
LAIUS King of Thebes. Great-grandson of Cadmus. Father of Oedipus. Raised in exile by Pelops. Repays that trust by grooming and abducting Chrysippus. Cursed by Pelops for his role in Chrysippus’s death, augmenting the curse on the house of Cadmus.
LYCOMEDES King of Skyros. Son of Apollo. Father of numerous daughters, including Deidamia. Host of the exiled Theseus, then slayer of him in a clifftop quarrel. Guardian of Achilles and Neoptolemus, but fails to prevent them going to Troy.
MEDEA Princess of Colchis and enchantress. Granddaughter of Helios. Aids Jason to steal the Golden Fleece, and herself. Cuts a bloody swathe through the royal families of Greece. Stepmother of Theseus.
MELEAGER Prince of Calydon. Possible son of Ares. Cousin of Diomedes and Thersites. Posthumous brother-in-law of Heracles. One of the Argonauts. Leader of the hunt for the Calydonian Boar. Possibly responsible for Thersites’ limp. Love for Atalanta dooms him to an early death.
MYRTILUS Son of Hermes. Charioteer of Oenomaus. Bribed by Pelops to help him win Hippodamia, then slain by him. Curses Pelops and his house.
OENOMAUS King of Pisa. Son of Ares. Father of Hippodamia. Slain by Myrtilus and Pelops in the chariot race to win Hippodamia’s hand in marriage.
OICLES Argive warrior. Companion of Heracles at Troy. Slain by the forces of Laomedon.
PELEUS King of Phthia. Son of Aeacus and the nymph Endeis. Grandson of Zeus and Chiron. Brother of Telamon. Half-brother of Phocus; exiled after killing him. Given expiation, a wife and eventually a kingdom by Eurytion, whom he accidentally slays during the hunt for the Calydonian Boar. Deliberately slays Acastus and Astydameia, restoring the throne of Iolcos to Jason’s son Thessalus. Comrade of Heracles. One of the Argonauts. Husband of Antigone; later wrestles Thetis into wedlock. Father (by Antigone) of Polydora, and (by Thetis) of Achilles. Uncle of Ajax, Patroclus and Teucer. Recipient of a god-forged sword from Zeus, the divine horses Balius and Xanthus from Poseidon, and a miraculous spear from Chiron.
PELOPS Son of Tantalus. Made a gods’ dinner of by his father; then resurrected by Zeus. Beloved by Poseidon. Fails to regain his father’s kingdom of Lydia from Ilus. Winner, in a chariot race, of the hand of Hippodamia and of her father Oenomaus’s kingdom of Pisa. Briber and slayer of Myrtilus. Father (by Hippodamia) of Atreus, Pittheus and Thyestes, and (by the nymph Axioche) of Chrysippus. Fosters Laius; then curses him and his house for abducting Chrysippus. Exiles Atreus and Thyestes for murdering Chrysippus. Southern Greece known as his ‘island’ (Peloponnesos) because ruled by his progeny. Establisher of the Olympic Games. Scion and forebear of much-cursed houses.
PERSEUS Founder king of Mycenae. Son of Zeus and Danae. Saviour of Andromeda from one of Poseidon’s sea monsters. Progenitor of Heracles. Slayer of the Gorgon Medusa. Catasterized.
PHOCUS Prince of Aegina. Son of Aeacus and the Nereid Psamathe. Half-brother of Peleus and Telamon, who kill him.
PIRITHOUS King of the Lapiths. Son of Zeus and Dia. Cousin of the centaurs. Argonaut and hunter of the Calydonian Boar. Bosom friend and bad influence on Theseus. Together, succeed in abducting Antiope (or Hippolyta) and Helen; fail in abducting Persephone. Heracles unable to free him from the underworld.
SISYPHUS King of Corinth. Notorious for his deviousness. Father of Sinon. Grandfather of Bellerophon. Ravisher of Odysseus’s grandmother Amphithea; consequently, thought by many to be Odysseus’s progenitor. Condemned to eternal torment in the underworld.
TANTALUS King of Lydia. Makes a gods’ dinner of his son Pelops. Expelled from Lydia by Ilus. Torturously and eternally tantalized in the underworld. Forebear of a much-cursed house.
TELAMON King of Salamis. Son of Aeacus and the nymph Endeis. Grandson of Zeus and Chiron. Brother of Peleus. Half-brother of Phocus; exiled after Peleus kills him. Given expatiation, a wife and eventually a kingdom by Cychreus. Comrade of Heracles. Argonaut and hunter of the Calydonian Boar. Sacker of Troy. Husband of Glauce and Hesione. Father of Ajax (by Glauce) and Teucer (by Hesione). Uncle of Achilles and Patroclus.
THESEUS King of Athens. Son of Aethra and Aegeus and Poseidon. Kinsman of the house of Atreus and of Heracles. Husband of the Amazon Antiope (or Hippolyta) and Phaedra (sister of Ariadne). Father of Hippolytus (by Antiope or Hippolyta) and Acamas and Demophon (by Phaedra). Inventor of the pankration. Tamer (and sacrificer) of the Cretan Bull; slayer of the Minotaur; hunter of the Calydonian Boar; bane of centaurs. Bosom friend of Pirithous. Together, succeed in abducting Antiope (or Hippolyta) and Helen; fail in abducting Persephone. Rescued from the underworld by Heracles. Exiled for his fatal role in the tragedy of Phaedra’s unrequited love for Hippolytus. Killed by Lycomedes in a clifftop quarrel. Unifier of Attica, laying the foundations of Athens’s historical greatness.
THYESTES King of Mycenae. Son of Pelops and Hippodamia. Brother of Atreus and Pittheus. Half-brother of Chrysippus. Kinsman of Theseus. Father of Pelopia and (by her) of Aegisthus. Exiled with Atreus for murdering Chrysippus. Together they depose Eurystheus, then feud barbarically, magnifying the curses already upon the house of Tantalus and Pelops. Employs Aegisthus to murder Atreus and install him on the Mycenaean throne. Deposed by Agamemnon and dies in exile.
TYNDAREUS King of Sparta; installed on his throne by Heracles. Husband of Leda. Father (by her) of the Dioscuros Castor and of Clytemnestra; raises their half-siblings the Dioscuros Polydeuces and Helen as his children. Uncle of Penelope. Awards the hand of Helen by lottery to Menelaus; and the hand of Clytemnestra more conventionally to Agamemnon. Abdicates in favour of Menelaus.
Generation of the Trojan War
ACAMAS Athenian prince. Son of Theseus and Phaedra. Brother of Demophon. Husband of Laodice (a daughter of Priam). Late-joining but valiant member of the Greek host at Troy. Rescuer, with Demophon, of his grandmother Aethra during the sack of Troy.
ACHILLES Prince of Phthia. Named Ligyron at birth. Son of Peleus and Thetis. Cousin of Ajax, Patroclus and Teucer. Descendant of Chiron, Nereus and Zeus. Greatness foretold by Calchas, Prometheus and Thetis. Immersed in the Styx to make him (almost) invulnerable. Raised by Chiron, when his parents’ attitudes to childcare prove irreconcilable, then by Phoenix. Childhood friend, later lover, of Patroclus. Briefly explores his feminine side as Pyrrha. Father (by Deidamia) of Neoptolemus. Greatest of the warriors in the Greek host at Troy; unsurpassed in speed or ferocity. Greatly favoured by Athena; greatly hated by Apollo. Furious with Agamemnon at being used to lure Iphigenia to her doom, then at having to surrender Briseis to him. Refusal to fight ended by the death of Patroclus. Borne into battle by Peleus’s divine horses Balius and Xanthus. Bears into battle Peleus’s famed sword and spear, and a panoply made by Hephaestus. Slays numberless foes, including Tenes and Troilus, and Troy’s mightiest warriors: Hector, Memnon and Penthesilea. Overreaches himself when he attacks Scamander. Mistreats Hector’s body before taking pity and returning it to Priam. Finally slain by Paris (with the aid of Apollo).
AEGISTHUS Son and grandson of Thyestes;, conceived by him in order to take revenge on Atreus. Adopted by Atreus, then murders him and installs Thyestes on the Mycenaean throne. Driven into exile by Agamemnon. Scion of a much-cursed house.
AGAMEMNON King of Mycenae. Son of Atreus and Aerope (sister of Catreus). Brother of Anaxibia and Menelaus. Scion of a much-cursed house. After exile in Sparta, reclaims his throne from his uncle Thyestes. Suitor of Helen. Husband of Clytemnestra. Father (by her) of Chrysothemis, Electra, Iphigenia and Orestes. Leader of the Greek host at Troy. Perhaps over-reliant on the counsels of Calchas. Prepared to sacrifice Iphigenia to appease Artemis. Prepared to surrender Chryseis to appease Apollo. Prepared
to seize Briseis, despite infuriating Achilles; then repents after the death of Patroclus. Prepared to award the armour of Achilles to Odysseus, despite infuriating Ajax. Prepared to maroon Philoctetes, despite needing him to defeat the Trojans. Prepared to resort to the madcap scheme of a wooden horse to capture Troy. Prepared to take Cassandra as a prize of war, despite her warning what it will lead to.
AIAS ‘Ajax the Lesser’, ‘Locrian Ajax’. Prince of Locris. Son of Oileus and Eriope (sister of Atalanta). Despite his diminutive stature, one of the leading warriors in the Greek host at Troy; unsurpassed in his skill with a spear. Defender of the body of Patroclus. One of the contingent in the wooden horse. Violator of Cassandra.
AJAX ‘Telamonian Ajax’, ‘Ajax the Mighty’, ‘Ajax the Great’. Prince of Salamis. Son of Telamon and Glauce. Half-brother of Teucer. Cousin of Achilles and Patroclus. Suitor of Helen. One of the leading warriors in the Greek host at Troy; unsurpassed in size or strength. Captures Tecmessa, then captures her heart. Father (by her) of Eurysaces. Duels chivalrously with Hector. Member of the embassy to Achilles. Defender of Teucer, Odysseus, the Greek ships, and the bodies of Patroclus and Achilles. Slayer of Glaucus, Hippothous and Phorcys. Quarrels with Odysseus over the armour of Achilles; driven mad with jealous rage, kills himself with Hector’s sword.
ALCIMUS Myrmidon warrior. Captain and attendant of Achilles. Witness of his meeting with Priam to ransom Hector.
ANTICLUS Impressionable Greek warrior. One of the contingent in the wooden horse. Susceptible to the charms of Helen even through solid timber. Accidentally smothered by Odysseus.