S1E3 - Ancient Greek Monster Mash

The stories featured in Greaking Out are original adaptations of classic Greek myths.

This episode contains monsters, drinking, people getting eaten, and someone getting blinded.

If that's not for you, maybe skip this one.

Monsters.

They're everywhere.

Turn on the TV, open up a comic book, click on a video on your tablet, and bam, before you can say boo, there's some scary clown or freaky zombie jumping out at you.

Sometimes that's fun.

Other times, not so much.

But it just wouldn't be nearly as exciting if it wasn't for the monster.

I mean, imagine if that zombie vampire thing in that one movie was actually just a little kid.

It wouldn't be the same fit.

The Wasp Dinocampus cockinellae can lay their eggs in a living ladybug, basically making the ladybug into a zombie that will incubate and protect the growing wasp larva.

Okay, that's gross.

But before there was King Kong or Frankenstein, there were the monsters of Greek mythology, and each one of them has a story too good not to share around this time of year.

Yes, these monsters can be pretty scary, especially if you have to fight them, but you got to admit, sometimes they're kind of cool, too.

Let's start with the Sphinx.

The Sphinx was a giant monster with the body of a lion, the head of a woman, wings of an eagle, and depending upon who you ask, a snake for a tail.

Sphinxes were originally Egyptian monsters.

There's a famous statue of a reclining Sphinx who's missing a nose right next to the great pyramids of Giza.

Greek and Egyptian cultures had tight links and influenced each other all the time.

When Greeks learned about the Egyptian Sphinx, it started appearing in all sorts of Greek myths.

The Sphinx was sent by the gods to plague the Greek town of Thebes as a curse for some crime.

Cities in ancient Greece were always being cursed for one thing or another, and her favorite activity seemed to be tormenting travelers who were coming and going from the town.

She would pounce upon her unsuspecting victims and force them to solve this riddle she was obsessed with before she would let them pass.

Or not.

Her riddle was famous.

Which creature has only one voice, but four feet in the morning, two feet in the afternoon, and three feet at night?

I certainly have no idea, but it sort of sounds like a creature from Greek mythology, doesn't it?

And neither did most of the people who were unlucky enough to encounter her.

Anyone who didn't answer her riddle correctly was devoured by the Sphinx.

Despite dating back to 470 BC, the riddle of the Sphinx is not the oldest recorded riddle.

The oldest riddle is actually from the Rhined Mathematical Papyrus and can be dated back to 1650 BC.

Despite popular opinion, the oldest riddle is also not, why did the chicken cross the road?

Creon, the king of Thebes, was so upset by the Sphinx that he offered the actual throne of his kingdom to anyone who could outwit her.

And when I say throne, I don't mean a fancy chair.

I'm talking about the whole kingdom.

Beat the Sphinx, you get to be king.

That was the deal.

Enter the hero.

There was a brave fellow named Oedipus who was just walking to Thebes from Delphi and had gotten into a little traffic accident on the way.

Oedipus heard about the king's offer and decided to give it a shot.

So he sought out the Sphinx to challenge her.

It wasn't long before he found her, of course.

And she leapt upon him, pinning him to the ground and snarling her riddle in his face.

Which creature has only one voice, but has four four feet in the morning, two feet in the afternoon, and three feet at night.

Now Oedipus was a pretty clever guy, and he thought carefully about the riddle and about what the question really meant.

After a while, he had the answer.

A person, he said.

People crawl on all fours as babies, walk on two legs as adults, and need a walking cane when they're old.

The Sphinx roared her displeasure.

No one had ever solved the riddle before.

The average human walking speed is about 3.1 miles per hour.

The average person takes around 7,500 steps per day and walks about 110,000 miles during their lifespan if they live to be 80 years old.

But instead of letting him go as she had promised, the Sphinx asked Oedipus a second riddle.

That is cheating.

Yeah, it kind of is, but I guess when you have the claws of a lion and a snake for a tail, you get to make the rules up as you go.

Fair point.

The Sphinx snarled, There are two sisters.

One gives birth to the other, who in turn gives birth to the first.

Who are they?

Now, I have no idea how he figured this out or how long it really took, but I always imagined the Sphinx letting Oedipus get up so he could walk around and pace and scratch his chin and stuff and go, hmm.

Eventually, Oedipus offered an answer.

Night and day.

Which totally makes sense.

Night becomes day and day becomes night and so on and so on.

The Sphinx was so angered that she had been bested twice that she flew into a rage and destroyed herself.

Some legends say that she threw herself off a cliff.

Others say she devoured herself, but either way, the riddle of the Sphinx had been solved.

Now, where did that king get to?

There is still the mystery of what happened to the nose on the Great Sphinx statue in Egypt.

There is a legend saying that a cannonball fired by Napoleon soldiers hit the nose and caused it to break off.

But historians have found sketches of a noseless Sphinx published well before the era of Napoleon.

An Egyptian Arab historian wrote in the 15th century that the nose was actually destroyed by a Sufi Muslim named Muhammad Saeem al-Dar because he was outraged that Egyptian peasants made offerings to the Great Sphinx in the hope of controlling the flood cycle and the harvest.

But we don't really know if this story is true and the missing nose is still a mystery.

Next, we'd like to introduce you to the Cyclopseses.

The Cyclops.

Cyclops.

To Cyclopsiseses.

Ops means I, and cycle is circular.

By themselves, a single creature would be a cyclops, but two or more are called cyclopes.

Ah, okay, thanks.

Cyclopes.

But first, a word from our sponsor.

But I was right in the middle of the.

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The Cyclopes were really big giants whose most noticeable feature was the fact that they only had one eye.

The legends say that the Cyclopes were born from Gaia, the earth, their mother, and Uranus, their father, who ruled the skies.

They were so strong and ferocious that they were immediately locked away by Uranus, who was the current ruler of the universe.

Eventually, Uranus was overthrown by Cronus, who became the new ruler of the Greek gods, but even still, the Cyclopes were kept locked away in the pits of Tartarus.

In Greek mythology, Cronus was the leader and youngest of the first generation of Titans.

They were the descendants of Uranus, the sky, and Gaia, the earth.

It wasn't until the gods of Olympus took power that the Cyclopes were freed.

The mighty Zeus himself let them go in exchange for having them make thunderbolts for him to hurl at his enemies.

The most famous Cyclops story refers to a Cyclops named Polyphemus, who Poseidon loved and treated like a son.

This story is probably from a book called The Odyssey.

It's actually a really long poem written by a famous Greek storyteller called Homer, and it's all about this really smart guy named Odysseus and his ridiculously long journey home from the Trojan War.

The ancient Greeks claimed that the Trojan War was a historical event of the 13th or 12th century BC, but many scholars believe that to be mostly a myth.

There is, however, a real ancient city of Troy located on the northwest coast of Turkey, which has been identified by experts as the same Troy discussed in the legend.

So after a nasty storm blew them off course, clever Odysseus and his shipmates wound up sailing by a small wooded island where they decided to stop and scrounge up some food, water, and provisions for the journey ahead.

They were literally starving.

While looking around, they found a huge sheep pen outside of a cave, and inside the cave, a whole bunch of food.

There was meat, there was cheese, there was a lot more.

They didn't even think about it.

They just started eating and eating and eating and were happy and full for the first time in a very long time.

It takes the human body two days to fully digest a meal.

Your stomach can hold about four cups of chewed up food.

But they weren't happy for long.

What the sailors didn't know was that the island was the home of a group of cyclopes and they were intruding in Polyphemus' cave.

So when he returned with his herd of sheep, rolling a rock in front of the cave entrance to keep his sheep inside, Polyphemus discovered a bunch of sleepy men laying around in what was left of his food.

Now you'd think he would be angry, but he was actually pleased.

There's nothing a Cyclops likes better than a sailor snack.

Polyphemus promptly snatched up the nearest two of Odysseus' men and ate them whole.

Now it became apparent to Odysseus and his men that they were in really big trouble.

The stone over the mouth of the cave meant they couldn't leave, and they'd just eaten all of the Cyclops' other food.

Polyphemus was not worried about some tiny humans.

He belched loudly,

yawned,

and then decided to take a nap, content with the notion that he would have a nice supper waiting for him when he awoke.

After a big meal, the body streams more blood to the digestive system to help with digestion.

This means less blood and nutrients go to the brain, so you get sleepy.

Eating more frequent, smaller meals can help preserve energy so you don't feel drowsy after eating.

Odysseus needed to do something.

It was obvious that the Cyclops was going to devour his whole crew one by one if he didn't take action.

So he came up with a plan.

When Polyphemus awoke, Odysseus offered him some wine.

Now this was really strong wine, which he and his men had brought with them from their ship.

The Cyclops had never drunk wine before, and, well, it went straight to his head.

Before he passed out again, Polyphemus the Cyclops asked Odysseus his name, to which Odysseus replied,

nobody.

Well, nobody.

I like you, the Cyclops said.

I'll do you a favor and eat you last.

And then he fell asleep.

Any grown-up can tell you that alcohol makes you sleepy, but wine can actually make you sleepier.

Some experts say that when the grapes ferment, it creates more melatonin than other alcohol, and melatonin is a hormone in your body that helps you sleep.

As soon as they were pretty sure the giant would not wake up, Odysseus and his men got to work.

They carved a sharp point on the end of a giant pole, heated it in the fire, and then thrust it into Polyphemus's eye, blinding the Cyclops.

Obviously, Polyphemus woke up.

He screamed in agony and staggered around blindly, groping for any of the nasty humans who had done this to him.

But the Greeks dodged him all night long.

At one point, Polyphemus even yelled to his Cyclops friends for help.

Help!

Come quickly!

He shouted.

What's the matter?

They called from the other side of the giant boulder.

He blinded me, roared Polyphemus.

What?

Who did this to you?

Who did this?

Nobody, said Polyphemus.

Nobody has blinded me.

Nobody?

Well then stop bothering us.

And the other Cyclopes stomped away from the cave.

In the morning, Polyphemus had to let his sheep out of the cave so they could graze, but he was worried that the Greeks would try to sneak out.

So he planted himself in the entrance, and even though he couldn't see, he touched the back of every sheep to make sure he was only letting out sheep and not Greek sailors.

But Odysseus was smart enough to know him and his men couldn't get past Polyphemus by themselves.

So they hitchhiked.

They went underneath the sheep, clinging to their wool hanging below the bellies, and one by one, they escaped the cave.

According to the American Sheep Association, wool has some unique properties that make it one of nature's most amazing fibers.

It's also an incredibly flexible and durable fiber and is said to be comparatively stronger than steel.

When Polyphemus realized the Greeks had escaped, he stumbled down to the beach where Odysseus and his men were rowing hard for their ship.

He began hurling giant rocks randomly into the water, hoping he would get lucky and maybe hit the boat he heard rowing away.

Odysseus was very proud of his cleverness, and he couldn't stand the idea that no one would know he had outsmarted outsmarted Polyphemus.

He had to say something.

Just so you know, my name is really Odysseus, the Greek called across the water.

But you have nobody to thank for your troubles.

Nobody but yourself, that is.

But um bum.

Eh?

See what he did there?

With a mighty curse, Polyphemus threw a boulder which almost swamped the ship.

But the rowers sped up and they were in the clear.

They left the blinded Cyclops raging uselessly on the shore as they rode for safety.

It may interest you to know that Polyphemus eventually does get his revenge.

He was Poseidon's favorite after all, but that's another story for another time.

The last Greek beastie we'd like to introduce you to is a classic sea monster, one you may have heard about before in other myths,

and one who had the good fortune to find a great location.

The last Greek beastie we'd like to introduce you to is a classic sea monster, one you may have heard about before in other myths, and one who had the good fortune to find a great location.

Scylla was a sea monster who haunted the rocks of a narrow strait opposite the whirlpool of Charybdis.

Ships who sailed too close to her rocks could lose six men to her ravenous darting heads, but the ships who sailed too close to Charybdis would lose the whole crew because the entire ship would be sucked down to the watery depths.

So, Scylla got a lot of business.

But how did she get there?

Was she always just a roaring monster?

Just like any creature, there's always a story behind the fangs and the claws and the six heads.

The poet Homer described Scylla as having 12 dangling feet and six long necks with grizzly heads lined with three rows of sharp teeth.

In classical art, she is often seen as a fish-tailed sea goddess with many dog legs and paws coming from her waist.

Many classical writers told stories of Scylla as a beautiful maiden who had caught the eye of the sea god named Glaucus.

She liked to play with the nymphs by the sea, and over time, Glaucus developed a major crush on her.

Glaucus wasn't sure that Scylla would return his love, so he decided to get some outside help.

He appealed to the sea witch Circe for help.

But that was a mistake.

You see, Circe had a thing for Glaucus, and she she was really jealous of Scylla's beauty and charm.

So she told Glaucus that she would help, but helping was not what Circe really had in mind.

She made a potion of magic herbs that Glaucus was supposed to pour into the water where Scylla swam.

But instead of making Scylla fall in love with Glaucus, these magic herbs would change her into a horrible beast.

Glaucus did as he was instructed.

He sprinkled the herbs in the well where Scylla liked to take a dip now and then and waited for her to jump in.

But Scylla didn't fully commit.

Maybe the water was really cold that day, or maybe she had just gotten her hair the way she liked it, but whatever the reason, Scylla only waded into the water part of the way, just up to her waist.

When suddenly immersed in cold water, the human body reacts involuntarily.

This can cause blood vessels in your skin to close, making it harder for blood to flow around the body.

Your heart heart then has to work harder and your blood pressure increases.

However, the body acclimates most quickly with full immersion instead of slowly wading in.

Since she didn't go all the way under, she wasn't completely transformed into a monster.

While the lower part of her body was changed into the tail of a sea serpent surrounded by dog legs, the top half of her body remained partly a woman with a few extra snakeheads.

Instead of falling in love with Glaucus, Scylla felt betrayed and was filled with rage toward all mankind.

And from then on, she waited by the rocks across from the whirlpool for her chance to take her revenge on unsuspecting sailors.

As in the story of Jason and the Argonauts, our hero clever Odysseus had to sail between Scylla and Charybdis.

And like so many before him, he chose to stay away from the whirlpool.

He had been warned about Scylla from Circe herself, but decided not to say anything to his crew because, well, he was worried that that they would be too paralyzed with fear to sail correctly sure enough six of his bravest men were plucked off his ship by Scylla and the rest of his crew knew how lucky they were to have escaped with their lives so what became of this terrible monster if even the clever Odysseus couldn't find a way to defeat her who could

that honor would go to Hercules but that's also Another story for another day.

Thanks for listening to this week's episode episode of Greaking Out.

Stay tuned for next week's episode about how you shouldn't help Zeus with his problems.

National Geographic Kids Greaking Out is written and hosted by Kenny Curtis with Tori Kerr as the Oracle of Wi-Fi, audio production and sound design by Scotty Beam.

Jennifer Emmett is EVP of kids content at National Geographic and Kate Hale edits Zeus the Mighty.

Diane Klein is our fact checker and Perry Gripp composed our themes.

Emily Everhart is our production manager.