Halloween is approaching and, in the spirit of the season, I would like to present some great artworks of magnificent monsters from classical mythology (an exercise which should also help flesh out the deities of the underworld category). Leading up to October 31st I am going to highlight paintings of the different offspring of Echidna, the “mother of monsters,” whose brood cast a long, many-headed shadow over Greek mythology. But we come to an immediate problem: Echidna herself is under-represented in art (indeed her whole story is shrouded in uncertainty). Likewise, Typhon, Echidna’s husband and the “father of monsters,” is not as familiar to artists or poets as his dark progeny.
Echidna was an offspring of Ceto and Phorcys, primordial sea gods who ruled the ocean before the Olympian gods seized power. Possessing the body of a snake and the torso of a woman, Echidna was a fearsome creature in her own right. When Gaia, the great Earth mother, gave birth to her last and greatest child, the monstrous giant, Typhon, Echidna wed him and joined his rebellion against the Olympian Gods. This was a very bold romantic choice because Typhon was no Adonis. The giant has been described as being as tall as the stars with a hundred snakes in lieu of each arm. His legs were two enormous viper coils. His beard was a monstrous mop of ragged hair–which was presumably fire proof since flame flashed from his eyes. Typhon’s body was covered with wings and his voice was an unearthly combination of beast noises.
For a while it looked as though Tiphon would overthrow the Olympians: the great monster tore off Zeus’ muscles and kept them hidden in a cave. Only with the wily intervention of the trickster gods Pan and Hermes did Zeus recover his strength. In a final conflict of power, the King of the Gods hurled the mountain Etna upon Typhon, imprisoning the giant beneath the great mass. To this day the volcano heaves and belches flame. Echidna escaped (to rear her children sired by Typhon) and Zeus allowed her to do so in order that the monsters would provide a future challenge to heroes and demi-gods. The offspring she had are as follows:
- Orthrus
- Cerberus
- the Lernaean Hydra
- the Chimera (a fire breathing beast: part goat and part lion)
- the Caucasian eagle (who, every day, ate the regenerating liver of Prometheus)
- the Crommyonian Sow
- Colchian Dragon
- the Sphinx
- the Nemean Lion
- the Dragon Ladon
I think you will like the family pictures from this group!
In some stories Echidna preyed on mortals until finally the hundred eyed giant Argus put an end to her (I wish someone painted that fight!). In other tales she escaped to a lair deep beneath the earth where she bides her time, waiting to avenge her husband and her children. As a last peculiar note, that lovable and peaceful monotreme the echidna is named after her, not because of its ferocity, but because it was so strange and alarming to European taxonomists…
7 comments
Comments feed for this article
April 23, 2012 at 5:33 PM
adriana
This really helped me because im doing a report of echidna for a school project 🙂 .
April 25, 2012 at 11:45 AM
Wayne
I’m glad this helped out. I hope your project was a success!
December 4, 2012 at 8:23 PM
stacy
where does it say her powers
December 5, 2012 at 12:23 PM
Wayne
I guess her real power was fecundity: it couldn’t be easy to give birth to so many monsters (and just think of the expense of raising them all) but she also looks pretty tough in general.
October 15, 2013 at 8:59 PM
Adde
Do you have the name of the stories in which you found the information? I have a book full of stories from the Odyssey, Iliad and Aeneid and it would be quite a lot to rad through just to find it. This information was really helpful but I would like to read it straight from the source instead of placing third party information in my project
October 17, 2013 at 11:58 AM
Wayne
I first found these tales in D’aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths when I was a child, however the original stories can be found in a variety of ancient sources most notably Hesiod’s Theogony. For example in Theogony, Echidna’s birth is described as follows:
“Then Ceto bore another invincible monster,
in no way like mortal men or the deathless gods;
yes, in a hollow cave she bore Echidna, divine
and iron-hearted, half fair-cheeked and bright-eyed nymph
and half huge and monstrous snake inside the holy earth,
a snake that strikes swiftly and feeds on living flesh.
Her lair is a cave under a hollow rock,
far from immortal gods and mortal men;
the gods decreed for her a glorious dwelling there.”
(Hesiod, Theogony, 295-303)
July 30, 2014 at 8:50 AM
Defense Tower
Fantastic goods from you, man. I have understand your stuff previous to and you’re just extremely wonderful.
I really like what you have acquired here, really like what you are saying and the way in which you say it.
You make it enjoyable and you still take care of to keep it sensible.
I can not wait to read far more from you. This is actually a tremendous site.