Half-breeds

Myrddin

Myrddin

Well-Known Member
I have always found the concept of half-breed creatures quite interesting. Like griffins, hippogriffs, mermaids, the sphinx, centaurs, and chimaeras (which, correct me if I'm wrong, has the tail of a snake, hindquarters of a goat, upper body and wings of an eagle, and the head, or rather heads, of all three). I am curious to know how some of these got started, mermaids I think I know, and what else is out there in the world of mythology.

E. M.
 
Myrddin

Myrddin

Well-Known Member
Ah, yes, the Minotaur. Don't know how I missed him. The poor guy was mistreated enough, and now I forgot to mention him! Ugh.

E. M.
 
Argus

Argus

New Member
Hippocampi - foreparts of a horse and tail of a fish. Sirens - half woman half bird and Echidna - half woman half snake.
 
Myrddin

Myrddin

Well-Known Member
Argus said:
Hippocampi - foreparts of a horse and tail of a fish. Sirens - half woman half bird and Echidna - half woman half snake.
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Echidna I've never heard of before. The half woman hald bird breed though are Harpies, I believe. Or so I've been taught, anyway. I remember Sirens being confused with mermaids, with the upper torso of a woman and lower torso, or tail, of a fish, but I know that that is not right. I forget what is. Hippocampi, or Hippocampus, you have brought out from the back of my mind. I think I read about him in The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures; a great reference book, by the way. The Element Encyclopedia series is EXCELLENT!

E. M.
 
RLynn

RLynn

Active Member
Myrddin said:
Ah, yes, the Minotaur. Don't know how I missed him. The poor guy was mistreated enough, and now I forgot to mention him! Ugh.

E. M.
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Bull-headed people tend to be unpopular unless they are politicians, who are all full of bull anyway. :D
 
Argus

Argus

New Member
Echidna (Ekhidna) is said to be the daughter of Tartarus and Gaia and mother of many creatures in greek myth, from which she bore with Typhon (Typhoeus). Yes Sirens are seen often as mermaid type creatures but do also seem to be depicted as half bird women. There is a pic of them flying around Odysseus,s boat as he,s fastened to the mast at www.theoi.com . Dont know how correct there view of sirens are, coz ive always thought of them as you have.
 
Alejandro

Alejandro

Active Member
The Sphinx originated in Egypt, and it is still somewhat of an unanswered question exactly what its meaning was. Speculations abound, including the concept that, since lions have often represented royalty or royal power in various cultures around the world, placing Pharaoh's head on the body of a lion is quite a logical symbolical choice. The Sphinx's wings, and even its name (which means "Strangler"), seem to be later Greek appendages. There is the theory that Centaurs came up as a result of people who had never seen horseback riders encountering them for the first time... which theory I don't quite buy. The original Chimaera from Greek mythology did not have any eagle/bird parts or wings. It had the foreparts of a lion and the hindquarters (and often head too) of a goat, had a snake for a tail, and breathed fire. Here's the Chimera di Arezzo, a famous Etruscan sculpture depicting the creature> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chimera_di_Arezzo.jpg
The Forgotten Realms version has it as a triple-headed monster which seems to composed of dragon, panther and demon goat, and furnished also with dragon-wings and -tail. Checkitt> http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20070301131849/forgottenrealms/images/d/d3/Chimera.JPG
The mythology of the Warner Bros Picture Wrath of the Titans, released earlier this year, comes from a significantly different universe still using the traditional mythical Greek characters, but I think that the creature designs are wickedamazing! This is the Chimera from that flick> http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120307173355/clash-of-the-titans/images/1/15/Chimera_Art.jpg
The Minotaur, by the way, was actually part god and part bull. His mother Pasiphai was a goddess and his grandfather Helios was the Sun itself :)! Mary Renault, in her 1958 novel The King Must Die, about the Greek hero Theseus, rationalises the Minotaur story by having the king of Crete wear a bull-mask, saying that "Minotaur" was the title of the island's crown prince. In the mythology the monster's real name was Asterion (or Asterios) and while his nickname Minotaüros, "Minos' Bull," came to be the handle by which he was better known.

The original Greek Sirens were definitely ornithine (bird-like) creatures. This is Ulysses and the Sirens, by John William Waterhouse> http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_drqO7qJ_y4o/THyVNbpkXLI/AAAAAAAAF6g/X4qyQ9AiA5w/s1600/Odysseusand-thesirensbywaterhouse.jpg
It is based on an ancient Attic Red Figure vase painting, which see> http://www.theoi.com/Gallery/O21.3.html
This is a Roman copy of the same work> http://www.maicar.com/GML/000Iconography/Odysseus/slides/7608.jpg
In most versions of their parentage, by the way, they were cousins of the Harpies, and the parents of both sets of monsters were sea deities, so it's not a stretch to envision both creature-types as ornithine marine monsters. Echidna was the mother of such famous monsters as the Sphinx, the Chimaera, the Nemean Lion and, of course, of Cerberus, the watchdog of Hades. In one version of her parentage, she is a granddaughter of the Gorgon Medusa (who was a sister of the Sirens and cousin of the Harpies).

The origins of these hybrid monsters could be debated, I suppose, till the cows come home, and I'm sure there're a bazillion theories, including that these creatures either once existed or still do, in some form, being either mere animals or demonic apparitions, or something in between. Whatever the truth is, I agree with you about them being quite interesting. I've seen a few hybrid animals, stranger even than the ones mentioned so far, in traditional African sculptures mostly from West Africa, especially Mali. The Bambara name for these pieces is Chiwara (which to me sounds similar to swara, the Swahili word for "antelope")>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chiwara_Chicago_sculpture.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ChiWara_styles_4.png
It's often difficult to tell what combination of creatures these are, since the art leans so much towards abstraction but they are definitely composed of antelope and human elements, perhaps also reptile parts (lizard or snake?). I've seen some other sculptures from the same region of the continent which represent a combination of a crocodile and an elephant, which sounds like quite a formidable beast. The sculptures are traditionally not used as art but for religious purposes, and they represent spiritual entities, so it would seem, similar to certain monsters in a lot of Far Eastern cultures, most famously in China and Japan.
 
Caburus

Caburus

Active Member
Alejandro, your mention of the African crocodile/elephant cross reminded me of the hippo/crocodile cross of the Egyptian goddess Taweret.

I guess most Egyptian gods are half-breeds - human body with an animal head (much like the Minotaur).
 
Alejandro

Alejandro

Active Member
Other forms of Centaurs, or "Centauroids," apparently include creatures which bear a similar shape to Centaurs but in place of their equine [horse] parts have bull, lion or donkey elements, thus making bucentaurs, leontocentaurs and onocentaurs. For more of such, see here http://www.angelfire.com/rpg2/maltor/Races/Centauroids.html Kheiron [Chiron], the first ever Centaur in Greek mythology, was the older brother of a breed of marine creatures who were part god, part horse and part lobster, called Ichthyocentaurs, "Fish-Centaurs." The eldest of these Mediterranean sea-gods, called Aphros, was the first king of Libya and the name Africa apparently derives itself from his name.
 
Myrddin

Myrddin

Well-Known Member
Alejandro said:
Other forms of Centaurs, or "Centauroids," apparently include creatures which bear a similar shape to Centaurs but in place of their equine [horse] parts have bull, lion or donkey elements, thus making bucentaurs, leontocentaurs and onocentaurs. For more of such, see here http://www.angelfire.com/rpg2/maltor/Races/Centauroids.html Kheiron [Chiron], the first ever Centaur in Greek mythology, was the older brother of a breed of marine creatures who were part god, part horse and part lobster, called Ichthyocentaurs, "Fish-Centaurs." The eldest of these Mediterranean sea-gods, called Aphros, was the first king of Libya and the name Africa apparently derives itself from his name.
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Interesting, I hadn't met the various types of centaurs before. I shall have to give the list a closer look when I get the time.

E. M.
 
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