Monsters of Greek Mythology

What the words in this puzzle mean

CATOBLEPAS

A heavy-headed beast whose downward stare was said to kill whatever met it.

CENTAURS

Half-horse, half-man; mostly wild and violent, though Chiron was famously wise.

CERBERUS

The three-headed dog guarding the gate of the underworld so no soul could leave.

CHARYBDIS

A whirlpool that swallowed the sea three times a day, opposite Scylla in the strait.

CHIMERA

A fire-breathing mix of lion, goat and serpent, killed by Bellerophon from the air.

CYCLOPES

One-eyed giants; Polyphemus trapped Odysseus and his men in his cave.

ECHIDNA

Half woman and half snake, called the mother of monsters — Cerberus and the Hydra were hers.

EIDOLON

A phantom double or spirit image of a living person or a ghost of the dead.

EMPUSA

A shape-shifting demon of Hecate said to waylay travellers on lonely roads.

FURIES

Three avenging spirits who hunted down those who murdered their own kin.

GIGANTES

The giants who made war on the Olympian gods and were defeated with Heracles' help.

GORGON

One of three sisters with snakes for hair; a look at Medusa turned a man to stone.

GRIFFIN

An eagle-headed lion, guardian of gold in the far north of the known world.

HARPIES

Winged women who snatched food and people away, described as filthy and swift.

HYDRA

A many-headed water serpent that grew two heads for every one cut off.

KERES

Female death-spirits who gathered over battlefields to take the dying.

LADON

The dragon coiled round the tree of golden apples in the garden of the Hesperides.

LAMIA

A queen turned child-devouring monster after Hera destroyed her own children.

MINOTAUR

Bull-headed and man-bodied, kept in the Labyrinth at Knossos until Theseus killed it.

NEMEAN LION

A lion whose hide no weapon could cut; Heracles strangled it as his first labour.

SCYLLA

A six-headed creature in the cliff above the strait, facing the whirlpool Charybdis.

SIRENS

Singers whose voices drew sailors onto the rocks; Odysseus had himself tied to the mast.

SPHINX

A winged lion with a woman's head who killed those who failed her riddle at Thebes.

TYPHON

The largest monster of all, a hundred-headed storm giant who fought Zeus for the sky.