Hello and welcome back to the Most Amazing
Channel on the Internet.
I am your host, Rebecca Felgate and today
we’re talking about something I am pretty
excited about, Greek Mythology!
That’s right, we are talking the Top 10
Scary Ancient Greek Legends!
I am pumped for this one!
Before we get into this video, I wanted to
remind you that at the end of the video we
read out comments…so do leave us a comment
and let us know
10 - Medusa
The later version of the Medusa tale is a
scary tale of jealousy.
Medusa was originally said to be a beauty
who made men crazy.
Poseidon allegedly raped her in Athena’s
temple, who in turn punished Medusa by transforming
her beautiful hair into serpents and made
her face horrifying to look at, she had red
eyes and her milky skin was replaced with
green scales.
Other versions of the story say Medusa fell
in love with Poseidon and Athena was jealous.
Either way, Medusa became a Gorgon, a monster
who turned people to stone by looking at them.
She was banished to Sarpedon Island, but before
that she roamed Africa, dropping baby snakes
from her hair.
Medusa was later beheaded by Perseus, and
her head returned to Athena who used it on
her shield as a weapon.
Poor Medusa!
9 - Scylla and Charybdis the Sea Monsters
This pair of sea monsters were said to live
in the Straight of Messina between Italy and
Sicily.
Each monster lived on opposite sides to one
another in the narrow body of water, and sailors
who wanted to pass between them had to choose
which monster they would rather be nearer,
which they thought was the least dangerous.
Scylla was said to be dragon like with dog
heads sprouting from her body, and Charybdis
was said to be a sucking whirlpool monster.
The later would suck ships down into the water,
and the former would eat sailors off the decks
of ships.
In the great tale, the Odyssey, Odysseus is
blighted by both monster.
There is an idiom – between Scylla and Charybdis
– which is like being between a rock and
a hard place – between two dangerous situations.
There is still a whirlpool in this area today,
leading many to believe the legends of the
killer seamonsters are real.
8 - The Justice of the Harpies
Stories of Harpies are truly terrifying.
Harpies are from Hades domain in hell and
work for Erinnyes and Furies, the goddesses
of vengeance and retribution.
Harpies are winged females, sometimes described
as beautiful but always described as taunting.
They abduct people and carry out torture as
a form of evil justice.
They’re sometimes known as the winged hounds
of Zeus and they’re often held responsible
for the sudden disappearances of people.
In fact, the word Harpie, means snatcher.
Stories of Harpies live on through the ages,
and in Dante’s inferno, they infest the
seventh circle of hell.
7 - The Labyrinth and the Minotaur
This is kind of like the ancient Greek Hunger
Games!
King Minos the ruler of Crete became angry
and bitter at the murder of his son, Androgeus
in Athens.
Because of the death of his son, King Minos
waged war on the Athenians, winning, but that
seemingly wasn’t enough for him.
Each year he taunted the Athenians by forcing
them to send seven young men into the Labyrinth,
where they are inevitably gored by the fearsome
minotaur, a half man, half bull…an abominable
creature that devours human flesh and wields
an axe.
The Minotaur came from forced sex between
Minos wife and a bull, with minor using the
creature to do his biding.
In the end, love between Thesus and Minos
daughter, Ariadne, bests the minotaur.
6 - The Empusa
Watch out ladies, The Empusa is coming for
you.
The Empusa joins the other monsters on our
list and is a classic honey trap killer.
She is a shapeshifter who kills lonely travellers,
namely, lonely travelling men.
The stories of the Empusa are ghostly tales
to scare men who dare adventure solo.
A demi-god, the Empusa would take the form
of a beautiful woman who lures men to her,
a bit like a siren.
She would seduce young men, and when they
were asleep, she would transform into her
true form – a one legged beast with sharp
teeth, flaming hair and bat wings.
She would then tear into the men, eat their
skin and drink their blood.
Terrifying.
5 - The Hydra
The Hydra was said to be a deadly water monster,
kind of a serpent reptile like thing with
super deadly venom.
Legend has it, the creature’s venom was
so poisonous that even its breath could kill
a man.
The creature was so loathsome and was practically
unstoppable as it had the ability to regrow
any of its limbs.
It was said that every time its head was cut,
two would grow in its place.
The Hydra was said to live in a lair in the
lake of Lerna, said to be the entrance to
the underworld.
Hercules encounters The Hydra as part of his
12 labours.
Eventually the demi god bests the Hydra by
burning its headless stumps before it gets
a chance to regenerate.
Lovely.
4 – Pandora’s Box
The Legend of Pandora is a terrifying morality
lesson.
The legend of Pandora’s box is tied up with
the legend of Promethus, but we will get to
his horrible story later.
What you need to know for now is that Zeus
wanted to punish humans for accepting the
gift of fire.
To punish man, Zeus created a beautiful, kind
and generous woman called Pandora.
Pandora was brought to earth and given as
a wife to Prometheus’ brother, Epimethueus.
Prometheus warned his brother, but he was
too taken with Pandora’s beauty.
As a wedding present, Zeus gave Pandora a
box, but warned her never ever to open it.
For all her kindness and caring, Zeus had
made Pandora to be curious.
One day, her curiosity got the better of her
and she opened the box despite Zeus’ warning.
Out of the box came all of human suffering;
greed, hatred, pain, heartbreak, disease,
poverty, hunger, war, poison and death.
On seeing all of life’s miseries escape
the box before her eyes, Pandora shut the
lid.
Unfortunately, the last thing remaining in
the box was hope….which was now trapped.
These days the legend of Pandora lives on,
and the term Pandora’s box refers to something
best left untouched.
3 - Typhon
Who is Typhon, oh, only the father of all
monsters.
Typhon was said to have been birth from heaven
and the depths of hell and was said to be
the most ferocious creature to ever exist.
He is said to be as tall as the stars in the
sky.
The bottom half of his body was said to be
hissing viper tails, he also had snakes for
shoulders, dragons for fingers, sun blocking
wings and lazer fire eyes….. incinerating
cities at will.
riiiight.
It took the god of all god’s Zeus to defeat
him – and it was hard for him too.
When they fought, they caused earthquakes
and tsunamis that almost split the earth into
two pieces.
Despite besting Typhon, he couldn’t be killed.
He was instead trapped beneath the earth.
And sometimes, his fierce fits of anger cause
fire to spurt from the ground – volcanic
eruptions are said to be the only way Typhon
can continue to terrorize humanity.
2 – Prometheus’ Fate
Oh Prometheus.
Zeus considered Prometheus to be one of his
biggest betrayers.
Prometheus was a titan who pledged his loyalty
to Zeus and was rewarded with the job of creating
humans, while his brother Epimetheus made
animals and gave them all a form of protection,
using them up leaving humans with none.
Prometheus asked Zeus if humans could have
fire and Zeus said no – Fire is for the
gods only.
None the less, Prometheus went against Zeus’
word and raided the workshop of Hephaistos
and Athena on Mount Olympus, stealing fire
and giving it to humans.
He also gave them the skill of metal work.
Zeus was furious and chained Prometheus to
a rock in the far east and had an eagle peck
out his liver.
His liver regrew every day and the eagle pecked
it out again and again and again for years.
Okay so this has to be the scariest ancient
Greek legend of them all because it is pretttttty
gross…and there is a whole eye gouging thing
that makes me as physically sick as the incest.
1 - The Legend of Oedipus
Oedipus was the king of Thebes who had a temper.
Oedipus’ father, Laius the King of Thebes
was warned his son would kill him, so he had
the baby cast out, much to the dismay of its
mother, Jocasta.
Oedipus was taken in by a different king,
Polybus of Corinth, who brought him up with
hi wife as his own.
When he got older, Oedipus was told by an
oracle he would kill his father.
Believing his father was Polybus, Oedipus
left Corinth, vowing never to come back.
Travelling towards Thebes, he came across
Laius, with both not knowing the others true
identity.
The pair got into a fight and Oedipus, as
predicted, killed him.
When Oedipus got to Thebes, he found it plagued
by a nasty sphinx.
The Sphinx was spinning a riddle – strangling
or eating people who didn’t get it.
Oedipus guess the riddle right, though, leading
the Sphinx devouring herself.
Oedipus was rewarded with the widowed queen
of Thebes, his own mother Jocasta…only she
didn’t know that.
The two actually fell very much in love and
had four children together.
Later, Oedipus learns that his dad was Laius,
which leads Jocasta to realise she has married
and committed incest.
She then hangs herself, and Oedipus uses two
pins from her dress to gauge out her eyes.
So that was the Top 10 Scary Ancient Greek
Stories – what did you think to this list?
Let me know in the comments section down below.
Before we bust out of here, I want to read
a few comments from one of my most recent
videos about the Top 10 Cursed Songs You Should
Listen To.
Caomhan Gamer Wrote:
Thanks for showing us these songs.
Can't wait to DEFINITELY NOT listen to them?
Buni Fizz wrote: Where is It’s Every Day
Bro ……HA.
Sian Harris reiterated this when they wrote:
t's everyday bro should definitely be on the
list.
Also you guys are the best.?
Thaaanks.
KKslipps is brave, they wrote: I’m listening
to all of them.
Violet Gamer 8256 wrote: Rebecca, you're one
of my favorite hosts, but I also like your
friend Danny.
You two are totally awesome!!!
A spooky comment to end with…
Arabelle Jade Wrote: I'm being haunted by
the I feel fantastic song... it won't stop
appearing on my watch list, and I don't even
watch it....or anything like it.
And I started watching this video.... but
when she said that number three scared her
a lot.... and it was I feel fantastic.
So….there was that!
