The Cyclopes were gigantic one eyed monsters. The most famous is Polyphemus, the Cyclops blinded by Odysseus. Hesiod mentions only three (not a race or tribe): Arges (thunderbolt), Steropes (lightning), and Brontes (thunder), obviously storm Gods. They were born to Gaea and Uranus. They were also the first smiths.

When Cronus came to power he imprisoned the Cyclopes in Tartarus. They were released by Zeus and fought with him against the Titans. As a reward for their release the Cyclopes gave Zeus his weapons of lighting and thunder. They continued as his workers at Mount Olympus forging his thunderbolts .

Arges was killed by Hermes while he guarded Io for Hera

Apollo killed at least one of the Cyclopes to retribution for Zeus killing his son Aesculapius.

Hecatoncheires

Hecatoncheires means "hundred handed." They were gigantic and had fifty heads and one hundred arms each of great strength. There were three of them: Briareus also called Aegaeon, Cottus, and Gyges, also called Gyes. They were born to Gaea and Uranus. Their mutual hatred of Uranus caused him to force the Hecatoncheires back into Gaea's womb. This precipitated Gaea's rebellion against Uranus. When Cronus came to power he imprisoned the Cyclopes in Tartarus. They were released by Zeus and fought with him against the Titans. They were able to hurl huge boulders as many as a hundred at a time against their opponents. One of them, Briareus, served as Zeus's bodygaurd.

Giants

The Giants were generated from Uranus blood resulting from his castration by Cronus. They became powerful enough to try to unseat Zeus and the Olympians early in their rule. When the Gods won they imprisoned the Giants in Tartarus.

Ash Tree Nymphs

The Ash Tree Nymphs were generated from Uranus blood resulting from his castration by Cronus

Typhoeus

Typhoeus, was a fire breathing dragon with a hundred heads that never rest. It was birthed by Gaea as a last ditch effort to keep the Olympians from defeating her children the Titans. It came close to succeeding, setting most of the gods to flight and capturing Zeus. Hermes was able to free Zeus. Zeus was then able to dispatch Typhoeus with his lighting bolts. Typhoeus is buried under Mount Etna in Sicily.

Cerberus

Cerberus is the three headed dog with a dragon tail which guards the entrance to the underworld. Allowing the dead to enter but, never leave. Fetching Cerberus was the last labour of Heracles.

Sirens

Beautiful half-woman, half-birdlike creatures who sang such sweet songs that listeners forgot everything and died of hunger. The Sirens are sisters who lure sailors to their death. The song of the Sirens is irritable but, the they reside beyond unpassable reefs which destroy the sailor’s boat when they try to reach the Sirens. Among those tempted were Jason on the Argo and Odysseus.

Odysseus escaped from them by filling his crew's ears with wax while he tied himself to the ship's mast. The Argonauts were saved by Orpheus' music. Aglaope (beautiful face), Aglaophonos (beautiful voice), Himeropa, Leucosia (white being), Ligeia (shrill), Molpe (music), Parthenope (maiden face), Peisinol (persuading mind), Raidne (improvement), Teles (perfect), Thelchtereia, Thelxepeia (soothing words), Thelxiope (persuasive face) are their names. The three most famous were Parthenope, Ligea, and Leucosia.

Centaur

The Centaur's are half man, and half horse. They have the body of a horse but, in place of the horse's head the have the torso, head and arms of a man. Most are wild and savage, known for lustfulness and drunkenness. The exception is the wise Centaur Chiron.

Chiron

Chiron was known for his exceptional goodness and wisdom. He was the only immortal centaur. He became the tutor for a number of famous Greek hero’s including: Achilles, Aesculapius, Actaeon.

Despite his immortality he was to end up dying. Hercules stopped to visit Pholus. Hercules was thirsty and persuaded Pholus to open a jar of wine that was the common property of the centaurs. The other centaurs smelled the wine and came running. A fight broke out between Hercules and the centaurs. Chiron took no part in the fight but, was accidentally wounded by Hercules. As an immortal Chiron could not die but, lived in terrible pain.

Chiron then chose to trade his life for the release of Prometheus.

The Medusa

The medusa was an ugly creature. Let's have a look at how she came into existence, for she wasn't always that ugly. Again, the Gods played their role.

The Medusa was the daughter of Phorkys and Keto, the children of Gaia (Earth) and Okeanos (Ocean). She was one of the three sisters known as the Gorgons. The other two sisters were Sthenno and Euryale. Medusa was the only mortal out of the three. She was once very beautiful and lived far in the north were the sun didn't visit.

Being very curious, she wanted to see the sun, and asked the Goddess Athena for permission to visit the south. Athena refused to allow her to visit. The medusa got angry and dared to say that Athena hadn't given her permission because she was jealous of her beauty. That was it! Athena was angered and punished her by turning her hair into snakes and cursing her by making her so ugly that who ever looks at her eyes would turn into stone.

Argus Panoptes

An all seeing man. A man with many eyes. Early accounts say he had four eyes, later a hundred. There are many accounts of his parentage. He was in a number of adventures: He killed a bull ravaging Arcadia. He killed a satyr for stealing cattle. He killed Echidna. He avenged the death of Apis.

Argus was killed by Hermes while he guarded Io for Hera

Chimaera

Spawned by Typhoeus and Echidna, the Chimaera had three heads - lion, goat, and snake .Its body was also mixed having the front part of a lion, middle of a goat, and snake for a tail. It breathed fire. It ravaged Lycia, killing cattle and setting fires until it was killed by Bellerophon.

Echidna

A female monster consisting of half nymph, half speckled snake. It lived in a cave coming out to snatch up and eat those passing. The critter was ageless but, not immortal. It was killed by Argus Panoptes while sleeping. It mated frequently with Typhoeus producing a variety of offspring.

Gorgons

These are female monsters with snakes for hair. Their faces are so ugly that any man that see the face will turn to stone. Oddly the three gorgons have very different origins. Stheno and Euryale were born as gorgons from Phorcys and Ceto. They are immortal. Medusa was not.

Pegasus

Pegasus was a winged horse and good flyer. The Pegasus was the result of the ill fated mating of Medusa and Poseidon. It was born from Medusa when her head was cut off by Perseus. Tamed by Bellerophon it served as his mount during his adventures including his slaying of the Chimaera. When Bellerophon attempted to fly Pegasus to Mount Olympus he was dismounted by Zeus. Pegasus continued on and made it to Mount Olympus. Here Pegasus spent his days carrying lighting bolts for Zeus.