Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths

Bernard Evslin

74 pages 2-hour read

Bernard Evslin

Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths

Fiction | Short Story Collection | YA | Published in 1966

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Character List

Meet the key characters, with insights into their roles, motivations, and relationships—spoiler-free.

Major Characters

The youngest son of Cronos who overthrows his father to become king of the Olympian gods. He commands the sky with a mighty thunderbolt crafted by Cyclopes. He actively suppresses potential threats to his throne, whether by punishing rebellious Titans, hiding dangerous secrets, or swallowing pregnant consorts to prevent threatening prophecies.

Key Relationships

Husband of Hera

Brother of Poseidon

Brother of Hades

Brother of Demeter

Father of Athene

Father of Artemis

Father of Apollo

Father of Hermes

Punisher of Prometheus

The queen of the gods who binds her husband in golden chains during a divine rebellion. She actively patrols the mortal world to catch her husband's infidelities, dispensing harsh punishments to the nymphs and dryads who cross her path. She fiercely defends her position at the top of the Olympian hierarchy.

Key Relationships

Wife of Zeus

Mother of Hephaestus

Curser of Echo

The ruler of the oceans who lives in a vast underwater palace. He actively competes with his fellow gods for patron cities, creating strange sea creatures and the first horses to impress a goddess who fears his immense physical strength.

Key Relationships

Brother of Zeus

Husband of Amphitrite

Pursuer of Demeter

Rival of Athene

Father of Theseus

Father of Arion

The gloomy ruler of the underworld who guards the dead alongside a three-headed dog. He never permits souls to leave his realm and strikes a dark bargain with his brother to acquire a young goddess for his queen, showering her with dark gifts to secure her loyalty.

Key Relationships

Brother of Zeus

Husband of Persephone

Enemy of Demeter

Bargainer with Orpheus

Employer of Charon

Master of Cerberus

The goddess of planting and the harvest who controls the fertility of the earth. When her daughter disappears, she assumes the form of a grieving, howling mother and halts all agricultural growth, starving mortals until the other gods intervene to fix the situation.

Key Relationships

Mother of Persephone

Sister of Zeus

Adversary of Hades

Pursued by Poseidon

The grey-eyed goddess of intellectual activities and strategy. She teaches mortal men to use tools and women to weave, preferring compassion over brute force, while fiercely defending her reputation as the greatest spinner in the world against mortal challengers.

Key Relationships

Daughter of Zeus

Rival of Arachne

Rival of Poseidon

Former patron of Daedalus

Benefactor of Perseus

A skilled huntress who demands a silver bow from her father and claims the mountains as her domain. She travels through the woods with a strict retinue of nymphs, quickly dispensing lethal justice to any man who spies on her camp or threatens her followers.

Key Relationships

Daughter of Zeus

Twin sister of Apollo

Punisher of Actaeon

The golden god of the sun and music who aggressively defends his honor. In his youth, he ruthlessly hunts down monsters and brutally defeats a satyr in a musical contest before maturing into a moderate patron of mathematics and medicine.

Key Relationships

Son of Zeus

Twin brother of Artemis

Brother of Hermes

Father of Phaethon

Father of Asclepius

Punisher of Midas

A precocious infant god who invents the lyre from a tortoise shell mere hours after his birth. He uses his quick wit and sheer audacity to talk his way out of punishment, securing a permanent position as the winged messenger of the Olympian gods.

Key Relationships

Son of Zeus

Brother of Apollo

Benefactor of Perseus

The goddess of desire who commands the attention of all the Olympian gods. She demands homage from mortals, fiercely punishing those who ignore romance while orchestrating advantageous arrangements for her favored artists and suitors.

Key Relationships

Wife of Hephaestus

Mother of Eros

Tormentor of Psyche

Benefactor of Pygmalion

Benefactor of Hippomenes

A daring Titan who questions the divine hoarding of knowledge. He sneaks fire down to the mortal world, teaching shivering humans how to cook food and build tools, fully aware that this act invites severe divine retribution.

Key Relationships

Rebel against Zeus

Brother of Epimetheus

A beautiful woman sculpted by the gods specifically to deliver a mysterious punishment to mankind. Endowed with musical talent, gardening skills, and overwhelming curiosity, she obsessively guards a golden box she is strictly forbidden to open.

Key Relationships

Wife of Epimetheus

Ward of Hermes

A prideful youth mocked by his peers over his claims of divine parentage. He travels to the sun palace on a flying carpet of birds and recklessly demands the right to steer the dangerous sun chariot across the sky to prove his worth.

Key Relationships

Son of Apollo

Rival of Epaphus

A Thracian prince whose lyrical talent pacifies wild animals and enchants nature itself. He withdraws from public life after marrying a quiet girl, eventually undertaking a dangerous descent into the underworld to retrieve her after a fatal accident.

Key Relationships

Husband of Eurydice

Supplicant to Hades

A remarkably handsome boy who causes local girls to faint with a single look. Completely uninterested in romance, he rudely rebuffs a woodland nymph while wandering lost in the forest, bringing down a terrible divine curse upon himself.

Key Relationships

Object of affection for Echo

A beautiful dryad whose chatty storytelling buys time for fleeing nymphs. As punishment for this deception, she loses her ability to form original sentences, forced to only repeat the last words she hears, which ruins her chances of connecting with a boy she admires.

Key Relationships

Victim of Hera

Admirer of Narcissus

A mortal princess so beautiful that citizens forget to worship the goddess of love. Following a dire prophecy, she awaits a monstrous husband on a mountain peak, only to be whisked away by the west wind to a palace of invisible servants.

Key Relationships

Victim of Aphrodite

Wife of Eros

A Corinthian musician who invents praise songs for the sea god. Faced with a murderous ship captain on his journey home, he remains perfectly calm and uses his golden lyre to summon an unconventional aquatic rescue.

Key Relationships

Son of Poseidon

Student of Apollo

A strong youth who grows up on an island listening to his mother's stories of gods and monsters. To stop an unwanted royal wedding, he rashly promises to retrieve the head of a terrifying monster, setting out to find a trio of quarreling hags and secure magical weapons.

Key Relationships

Son of Danae

Son of Zeus

Enemy of Polydectes

Hunter of Medusa

Husband of Andromeda

Protégé of Hermes

Protégé of Athene

The youngest of three sisters transformed into monstrous Gorgons by a jealous goddess. She possesses a gaze so terrifying that anyone who looks at her face turns instantly to solid stone.

Key Relationships

Target of Perseus

An Athenian craftsman who constructs intricate mechanical marvels. Fleeing a murder charge, he relocates to Crete and builds a hollow cow disguise for the local queen, leading to a disastrous royal commission that traps him in his own creation.

Key Relationships

Father of Icarus

Employee of Minos

Accomplice of Pasiphae

A powerful Cretan ruler who takes pride in his white bull. Humiliated by his wife's monstrous offspring, he orders the construction of a massive architectural puzzle to hide his family's shame, later demanding brutal human tributes from Athens.

Key Relationships

Husband of Pasiphae

Captor of Daedalus

Enemy of Theseus

A small but clever prince who receives tactical advice from a seagull. He clears a dangerous coastal road of murderous bandits by turning their own violent traps against them, eventually arriving in Athens to end a cruel tribute system.

Key Relationships

Son of Aegeus

Son of Poseidon

Ally of Ariadne

Enemy of Minos

A wild girl raised by animals on a rugged mountainside. She outshoots veteran hunters during a massive boar hunt and demands lethal footraces from anyone attempting to court her after returning to her royal father's estate.

Key Relationships

Hunting partner of Meleager

Suitor of Hippomenes

A wealthy king whose obsession with gold leads him to criticize the sun god. Offered a single wish, he asks for the ability to turn anything he touches into solid metal, failing to anticipate the practical consequences when he tries to eat.

Key Relationships

Supplicant to Apollo

A fiercely independent Cypriot sculptor who avoids local women to focus entirely on his art. Seeking to delay a forced marriage, he pours his energy into carving an impossibly perfect marble woman.

Key Relationships

Supplicant to Aphrodite

Creator of Galatea

Supporting Characters

A young goddess who spends her days painting in sunny fields. She uproots a strange bush, opening a chasm to the underworld, and finds herself trapped in a dark realm surrounded by unfamiliar gifts, gradually learning to wield power over her gloomy captor.

Key Relationships

Daughter of Demeter

Wife of Hades

A master smith who survives a terrible fall into the sea. Hidden in an underwater grotto, he crafts exquisite jewelry until his mother recognizes his talent and reinstates him with a fully equipped forge and Cyclopes assistants.

Key Relationships

Son of Hera

Husband of Aphrodite

A Titan who accepts a beautiful, mysterious woman as a gift from Zeus. He enjoys a peaceful marriage until his wife's manufactured curiosity disrupts their quiet lives.

Key Relationships

Brother of Prometheus

Husband of Pandora

A silent girl with large, devoted eyes who marries a famous musician. While bathing in a river, she runs in terror from a strange man and suffers a fatal snakebite, trapping her soul in the underworld.

Key Relationships

Wife of Orpheus

A winged archer ordered to ruin a mortal princess's life. He accidentally scratches himself with his own poisoned arrow, forcing him to establish a secret, nighttime-only marriage to hide his identity from his powerful mother.

Key Relationships

Son of Aphrodite

Husband of Psyche

A captive princess who survives a perilous journey adrift in an oarless boat. She patiently raises her son in a foreign court, steadfastly refusing the local king's aggressive marriage proposals while waiting for divine intervention.

Key Relationships

Mother of Perseus

Pursued by Polydectes

A restless boy who shares his father's workshop prison. He joyfully tests a set of wax-and-feather wings, ignoring warnings about atmospheric temperatures in his eagerness to reach the clouds.

Key Relationships

Son of Daedalus

A Cretan princess who possesses a magic ball of thread. She secretly meets an enemy prince outside a maze, offering her essential navigation tool in exchange for a promise of marriage and escape from her father's island.

Key Relationships

Daughter of Minos

Ally of Theseus

A skilled Calydonian prince whose life depends on a single piece of unburned wood. He aggressively defends a female hunter's honor during a massive boar hunt, escalating a minor family dispute into a fatal sword fight.

Key Relationships

Admirer of Atalanta

Son of Althaea

A gentle observer who watches arrogant heroes die in failed footraces. He secretly prays to the goddess of love, acquiring three golden apples to strategically drop during his own athletic challenge to win a dangerous bride.

Key Relationships

Suitor of Atalanta

Supplicant to Aphrodite

A remarkably lifelike marble statue carved by a reclusive artist. She represents her creator's idealized vision of beauty and devotion, brought into reality through intense prayer.

Key Relationships

Creation of Pygmalion

A massive three-headed dog stationed at the gates of the underworld. He aggressively guards the entrance to Tartarus, ensuring that no dead souls escape and no living mortals enter without permission.

Key Relationships

Guard dog of Hades

The grim ferryman of the dead who navigates the dark river separating the living from the underworld. He strictly refuses passage to any soul who does not possess a coin under their tongue to pay his toll.

Key Relationships

Employee of Hades

A young son of Zeus who openly questions a peer's claims of divine parentage. His mocking disbelief drives another boy to undertake a deadly journey to the sun palace to prove his worth.

Key Relationships

Rival of Phaethon

The fearful king of Argos who learns a dark prophecy predicting his death at the hands of his grandson. Rather than risk divine wrath by executing his daughter, he locks her in a brass tower and later casts her out to sea.

Key Relationships

Father of Danae

The scheming king of Sephiros who offers shelter to a helpless princess. He constantly pressures her into marriage, eventually tricking her highly protective son into attempting a suicidal quest to clear his path to the throne room.

Key Relationships

Pursuer of Danae

Enemy of Perseus

A talented young apprentice working in a famous Athenian workshop. His sudden display of superior mechanical skill provokes his jealous uncle into pushing him off the Acropolis.

Key Relationships

Nephew and victim of Daedalus

The arrogant queen of Crete who openly dismisses the gods as mere fables. As punishment for her boasts, she falls under a terrible curse that drives her to pursue a magnificent white bull, bringing shame and horror to her royal household.

Key Relationships

Wife of Minos

Client of Daedalus

The queen of Calydon who safeguards a magical piece of wood tied directly to her son's lifespan. She fiercely protects her child until grief over her brothers' violent deaths overtakes her maternal instincts.

Key Relationships

Mother of Meleager