Greek Mythology

"The Greeks shape bronze statues so real they seem to breathe, And carve cold marble until it almost comes to life. The Greeks compose great orations, and measure The heavens so well they can predict the rising of the stars. But you, Romans, remember your great arts; To govern the peoples with authority, To establish peace under the rule of law, To conquer the mighty, and show them mercy once they are conquered."

– Virgil, Aeneid VI

"AND THEN ALONG CAME ZEUS"

– What happens in 99% of all Greek Myths

In the days when printing was not a thing, when people partook in wars and fought in arenas, there were poets and scriptors who's pen is yet unmatched by modern orators. In the ancient times of the Bronze Age, and even before, were forged tales of might, gods and heroes. Tragedies written in the name of immortal beings who ruled over every element of this very world. This was an age undreamed of. Without these tales, perhaps men would have not heard of magical stories, of divinity, of fantastic beasts and impressive feats beyond all that is earthly and orderly... And the many tall tales of gods fucking like rabbits.

This is Greek Mythology. Also known as Roman Mythology since they 'adapted' the stories.

No seriously, perhaps the closest we ever got to ancient ass fantasy lore (along with the lost texts of Norse Mythology) is this. Greek poets and artists from all across the land spent centuries, perhaps even beyond a millenia, forging the stories that would inspire modern authors, which would in time lead to the creation of the Fantasy genre as a whole.

The Roman Connection

The civilization of Rome had its own original native mythology. However, they also hugely admired the Greeks, their neighbors and also the guys who kind of beat them to the civilization game. With both civilizations being polytheists, the result was that the Romans did a lot of mythological cross-pollination, adopting many of the Greek gods as their own, just giving them different names and sometimes putting different spins on them. For example, we draw the current names of the planets in Earth's solar system - Mercury, Mars, Venus, Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, Jupiter, Pluto - from the Roman names for Greek gods, such as Hermes, Ares, Aphrodites, Poseidon, Zeus and Hades. Greeks viewed Ares with disdain, denouncing him as the embodiment of bloodlust, savagery and the ugly brutalities of War, whilst the Roman Mars was a revered god of honor, courage, strength and leadership, closer more to the Greek Athena. A similar thing happened across the post-Alexander Hellenistic world, in which local dieties that loosely matched the Greek pantheon might be referred to by Greek names; one such example being "Zeus Olympios" to refer to the Greek Zeus as the leader of the gods, who would resemble various sun gods such as "Zeus Helioupolites" (Ba'al of Canaan), "Zeus Labrandos" (Teshub of Mesopotamia), etc, so this was a very common practice in the classical world.

Classical Mythology?

A common alternative name for Greek Mythology, after "Greco-Roman Mythology", is "Classical Mythology". That's because Greco-Roman Mythology is the one ancient pre-Christian religion that survived best during the rise of the Christian powers of Europe during the Dark Age. Whilst the Christians of the Roman Empire had stamped out the political powers once held by the pagan priesthoods, the lore of Rome and through it Greece was still very strongly baked into Roman culture, and it resisted the erasure that other pagan cultures like the various Celtic peoples of Europe or the Vikings would experience. Plus, the Greeks and the Romans wrote shit down, so there were lots and lots and we mean lots of texts written by pagan Greeks and Romans rather than all of the responsibility for passing on that lore being instead left to Christian monks who had... shall we say a certain bias about what they actually wrote down? That helped a lot in making sure there Greco-Roman myths and tales were never lost like the Celtic lores would be.

Enter the Renaissance, when the newly emerging non-Christian Monk-based scholarly class looked to these ancient Greek and Roman texts (often copies of copies traded over from the Islamic world), and basically went "wow, that's really neat!" Add to it the huge importance that being able to trace their roots back to the Roman Empire was given by the early Christian monarchies of Europe and the end result was that Greek and Roman Mythology experienced a resurgence of popularity throughout Europe, often being romanticised in all sorts of ways

This meant in turn that, until the mid-1900s or so, the Greek and Roman Mythologies were the only Pre-Christian Mythology that European students had to study, so they became associated heavily with the lost "golden age" of the Classical Period.

The "Canon" Timeline of Greek Mythos

Buckle up folks, this is going to be a wild ride. Greek mythos weren't written by nerds the likes of those working for the Black Library. These were mostly the results of decades of philosophical musings and rewritings. Prepare your anus.

Part I - Creation

In the begining, there was nothing... but Chaos, a complete hazardous mess of nothingness and random, and also a girl. From it were born the first primordial deities; Gaea, personification of the Earth, and Tartarus, personification of the Underworld. Both female, they didn't do a lot of shit from there, only creating the land on which we walk by making it rain atoms. And then, Eros was born, the literal embodiment of love, the sexual one. So naturally, Gaea and Chaos banged. Whether they're sisters or mother and daughter, we'll leave that your incestual imagination.

From this copious amount of fornication were born other personifications; Erebus, the embodiment of Darkness, and Nyx, the embodiment of Night. They fucked, too. From this forbidden union were born Aether, the upper air (or the sky, depending on who you ask), and Hemera, the embodiment of Day. Later on, perhaps Nyx realised that incest wasn't wincest and decided to make children by her own means, thus creating Thanatos (Quiet and peaceful death), Hypnos (Sleep), Oneiroi (Dreams), Ker (DOOOOOOOOOM), Geras (Old age), Oizus (Pain), Nemesis (Revenge), Eris (Strife), Apate (Deceit), Philotes (Sexual Pleasure, oh yeah you thought it was Aphrodites who was in charge of this one, huh?), Momos (Blame!) and FINALLY the Hesperides, Daughters of the Evening.

So all of this were mostly the tall tales of Hesiod, and it's pretty clear that lot of these name dropped deities aren't gonna pop back up any time soon. Think of all of them as the Endless from Sandman. They're here, but not very active.

Now things got a lot more physical. There's a world now, and the Titans are born. And unlike Nyx's offspring or the rest of the Primordial ones, they have some form of physicality. So Gaea birthed Uranus and consequently married him. With this union, they birth three of the first Cyclops, three of the Hecatoncheires (that's a mouthful) and the twelve Titans. Uranus being a shit dad, he stuck 'em all up Gaea's womb, as in deep underground. This obviously made Mother Earth particularly mad. She gave her children an adamant sickle, called the Harpe, and told them to go hog wild on their dad. None of them had the balls to do it, except one; madlad Cronus. So him and Gaea ambushed Uranus and cut off his balls and threw 'em in the ocean. Depending on who you ask either Uranus died or he became Italian, although that's not really important. What is important however is thanks to this incident, the blood of his balls permitted the birth of the Giants, the Meliae and the Erinyes. Later on down the line, Aphrodites would be born from Ura's balls.

Now that the place of supreme ruler was free, Cronus took it and became King of the Titans. He even married one; Rhea, his sister mind you, and had children with her. Cronus' first decision was to imprison the Cyclops and the Hecatoncheires in Tartarus. Good so far. And then Cronus, being a humanitarian, started to eat his children because he thought someone would depose him just like he did Uranus. Rhea wasn't too please about this. She decided to plot against him, just like he did with his own father, and went into hiding with her sixth child; Zeus. Yes, that Zeus.

Turns out eating children to stop a prophecy just makes it self-fulfilling, who knew?

Part II - The Titanomachy

Once Zeus grew of age, he began serving Cronus as the Titan's cupbearer and waiting for the opportunity to earn his trust. When that moment came, Zeus fed his dad a mixture of mustard and wine that was apparently so repulsive that it caused the Titan to vomit out his other children (Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Hestia, and Demeter), all of them having apparently matured in Cronus' gut. After freeing the Cyclopes and Hecatonchires, the three races waged wars against their Titan forebears.

This massive war took ten years before it ended, but once it did the Olympians had secured dominion of the world while the surviving Titans were either exiled or banished to Tartarus. With the world theirs, the three sons of Cronus decided to divvy up their territories amongst themselves, with Zeus owning the skies and becoming undisputed leader of the gods, Poseidon laying claim to the seas and the other bodies of water, and Hades was given wardenship of the Underworld. The earth, meanwhile, was left as a common space shared between all the gods where they could do as they pleased unless one of the big three was forced to intervene.

Gods

Primordial Gods

• Chaos : the original being, let alone god. Both a goddess and literal primordial universe stuff, and is ultimately responsible for everything due to well, allowing it all to happen. More directly responsible for starting the divine incest train by spawning Gaea and proceeding to perform PROMOTIONS with her.
• Uranus/Ouranos: Father Heaven himself. Gaea's son-husband, presumably produced by her fling with Chaos. His own fling with Gaea was responsible for the birth of the Titans. Kind of a dick (hiding away the non-god children between him and Gaia, even if said children were, say, master smiths like the Cyclopes were), which is why Gaea got Cronus to cut his literal one off. Whether he survived CBT's final form is up for interpretation. Whatever's the case, his blood spawned the Giants, the Erinyes, and few other monsters while his ballsack fell in the ocean and his foaming sperm created Aphrodite(s).
• Gaea : Mother Earth herself. Directly responsible for the first changing of what gods were in charge and indirectly helped with the second. She's mainly known for being the mother of the Titans and several monsters like Cyclopes, with Uranus hiding the monster kids as they were born being the catalyst for her giving Cronus a sickle. Has a (modern) reputation of being a bitch, given her track record of betraying her own family members for her own ends.

Titans

• Cronos : The leader of the Titans by right of being the one to take charge when tasked to castrate Uranus. While he initially started off as a well-respected ruler of the world, eventually he grew paranoid that his own children would overthrow him like he did to his own father, hence the baby-swallowing. This would eventually prove to be his undoing when Zeus fed him something to throw up his children and then united the Olympians, Cyclopes, and Hecatonchires against the Titans. He would eventually lose, though his punishment is a bit unclear between Tartarus or being locked away in a dungeon for eternity.
• Rhea : Wife and sister to Cronos, meaning that she is also the mother of the original Olympians. Unfortunately, this didn't stop Cronos from swallowing all of her children so she replaced Zeus with a rock while hiding her last son in Crete to grow up. After the Titanomachy, her fate was rather kind, as she remained a steadfast ally of Olympus.
• Atlas : Another Titan who was a significant leader of the Titans during the Titanomachy. When the Titans lost, Atlas was punished by being forced to uphold the heavens for eternity, being the origin of both astronomy and the root of the term for a collection of maps.

Olympian Gods

• Zeus : The Big Guy in Charge, the man who hurls his thunderbolt. Ruling over the Olympians on Mount Olympus, Zeus has a habit of being a very undecisive but very effective leader. Effective because problems tend to stop whenever he steps in, undecisive however because he has tough time wondering when is the right time to strike. Rulers of the Sky as well, he's in charge of the weather! Somewhat. The Greeks considered that everytime there was thunder or a massive shitstorm, that was because Zeus was beyond pissed. Other than that, Zeus has recently got himself a reputation of being a womanizer and a rapist. And also an otherkin god. He banged all kinds of women as all kinds of animals and other types of stuff; Bulls, Birds, Clouds, Fishes, Ants... And in most cases it gave birth to either a monster or a demi-god.
• Hera : The All-powerful queen of the Gods, and goddess of marriage. Most ironic that she has the most infaithful husband in all of mythology (and arguably, all of fiction). As a consequence of her domain is the vow of marriage, and punisher of those that break it, being at odds with the free love nature of the gods, thus Hera is known as a foul-mouthed jealous goddess who has gone to punish women for "absolutely no reason", and torment poor Heracles and his many wives because he was born off the wrong guy. (can't punish the king of the gods, so victim-blame the mortal that couldn't say no or outrun a horny god, it still ends either way badly).
• Ares : The God of War. Although not like her sister Athena, he's more like Khorne or Gork and Mork. The Greeks disliked him (except Sparta) for being a bringer of utter bullshit (being the father of the gods that personify them), yet unlike other badass war gods, he is an utter wuss and a crybaby if you prick him and has never won a fight against anyone important (being the popular pro-Athens intpetation). Whereas the Romans absolutely adored the guy and hallowed his name, being the father of the city's founder (though is originally a different god that purpusplfuly conflated with Ares because Greek culture was in vogue). Arguably because both nations had very different views on war.
• Aphrodites : The Goddess of Love... In every sense of the term. Also a worshipped Warrior Goddess in Laconia. She doesn't do much, besides being one of the three reasons why the War of Troy began (the two other being Hera and Athena, funnily enough), although she's been known as the Goddess of beauty in general. So consider the fact that the mere sight of her might be enough to put your dick in a wheelchair. Which is fairly tame by the standards of this article. She's also known for being the wife of Hephateus, though since Heph is a forge-dwelling Neckbeard (and the polar opposite of her beauty) she tried to sneak out with Ares. Only for the forge god to trap them both in a golden net and make them the laughing stock of Olympus.
• Apollo : God of Arts, Music, Poetry, Hunks and Light. There's not much to him, but he's known as the conductor of the Muses, and also a famous proclaimer of Heroes. Among other things, he's also famous for having spent a significant amount of time in none other than fucking Hyperborea. He's also one of the few who sided with the Troyans during the siege of Troy.
• Athena : Goddess of Wisdom, Strategy, Handicraft and School teachers. Usually depicted as an Owl when disguised. Wisest of the Olympians, and definetely one of the reverred Gods along with Poseidon and Zeus. Perhaps even moreso than these two since she got her own city. And that's a pretty huge prestige. She has been guiding a whole lot of heroes, most famously Ulysses during the Siege of Troy and during his escapades on the high seas. She's also directly responsible for punishing Medusa for being more beautiful than she is, which is strangely out of character for her, but hey, consistency is not of Greek Mytho's forte.
• Artemis : Goddess of Hunting, Savagery and Birthing. Odd job, right? One of the first bastard child of Zeus, she made a name for herself as one of the busiest gods out there. She's capable of creating plagues and sicknesses, but also giving the cure to treat them. Kind of like a second hand great equalizer. She's very close to young children and animals. And also a great protector of roads, ports and the likes.
• Demeter : Goddess of Agriculture. Famously known as the mother of Hades' wife, Persephones. Besides the myth of her daughter getting kidnapped, there ain't much about her. That being said, she gave birth to a whole lot of other gods, like Ploutos the God of Wealth, and is one of the most level-headed Olympians. She was very much adored by the Greek, as if it weren't for her, they would all starve to death.
• Dionysius : Aight, so -hic- th-this fella righ- right there? -hic- He's da -hic- God of Parties and -hic- Alcohol! -hic- He's actually not a lazy bum, -hic- and he's more like -hic- a softcore Slaanesh, right? -hic- Just minus the boobs -hic-. Anyway, like, he gave birth to -hic- a bunch of lesser Olympians by fucking with -hic- Aphrodites, maybe? -hic-, I dunno anymore. Oh! -hic- Being a god of booze, he's -hic- in charge of all the Ambrosia -hic-, the drink that makes you -hic- immortal... -hic-!
• Hades : God of the Underworld, which also shares his name and wears a helmet of invisibility. Though he's often considered to be a massive asshole (and to be fair, the incident with Persephone was a massive dick move), he's usually a lot more chill.
• Hephaestus : God of Blacksmithing. While he was born to Zeus and Hera, he was thrown off Olympus for his deformities. Despite this, he's an incredibly talented artisan, creating everything from thrones and weapons to the first Automata. Managed to hit the jackpot and marry Aphrodites, though he had to teach her a lesson after she committed adultery at least once. He is considered a patron god of Dorfs and Neckbeards by /tg/.
• Poseidon : God of the Seas and Storms, but his portfolio also curiously contains horses as well, which is why he has his own chariot carried by Hippocampuses, horses with the back halves of their bodies being those of fish. Wields a magical Trident which allows him to control the tides. While he hadn't stirred up as much controversy over what he's banged, he's also managed to create his own harem and array of bastard children and monsters.

Personifications

• Hypnos : Personification of Sleep. Twin brother of Thanatos (with whom he shares the same bed). Depending on the myth, he either lives in the Underworld near the Lethe, the lake that makes you forget things, or on the Isle of Lemnos, in a cave. One of the most benevolent Gods and certainly a very powerful deity as well. This guy managed to knock Zeus into sleeping. Is married to Pasithea, and is the cutest character in Hades. 'Nuff said.
• Ker : Personification (or goddesses, this time call Keres) of cruel and violent deaths. Drawn to bloody battles and thirsting for blood. They have been compared to the Valkyries from Norse Mythology, although unfairly, because the latter is actually benevolent, while the former clearly is not.
• Kratos : Personification of Strength, being one of Zeus' enforcers alongside his siblings and being a massive dick. More famous because of a certain video game by Sony Santa Monica, which radically shifts his story to that of an asshole of a (demi)god who killed Ares for his place only to become manipulated by the rest of Olympus before getting fed up and destroying it all and fleeing elsewhere...to repeat with the Norse pantheon.
• The Moirai/The Fates : Personifications of... Well, fate. It's unclear who exactly gave them birth, but one thing is for sure; Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos are tending to the thread of your life, and you better not trashtalk them unless you want your ass handed over to Hades prompto.
• Nemesis : Personification of Retribution and Revenge, often sent by the Gods to punish those who showed arrogance before the Gods (Ironic). We also don't know who her actual parents are, but given the nature of Mythologies, that's a given. She's described as a Woman with wings. Feel free to see her as a precursor to Angels. Kind of.
• Thanatos : Personification of Death. Quiet Death that is. He's not the only one in that department, but he's usually the one who peacefully guides the souls of those who lived the good life and died safe and tranquil to the Underworld. Could technically qualify as a Cthonic God since he's usually seen dwelling there. There aren't many myths surrounding him, and that is because the Greeks were very much afraid of talking shit to deities tied to Death.

Demi-Gods

• Heracles : Or Hercules if you're roman or uncultured (Honey, you mean HUNKules?). Illegitimate son of Zeus and bearer of the greatest power that ever was in Greek Mythology: Plot Armor! Just kidding, it's his super strenght. Heracles had a number of misadventures and a whole lot of extremely terrible stuff happened to his loved ones, primarily because he was the favorite torture toy of Hera, absolutely livid goddess that she is. He lost all of his wives (and arguably husband too), and was forced to do the dirtiest of jobs around Greece. While he still has some qualities and definitely is one of the most "Goodie-two-shoes" heroes of Greek myths, his stories are quite anti-climatic. Well, it is pretty tragic to see him enter a fenzy because of Hera's fuckery, but the guy just dispose of every adversary he meets by punching them once. His fight with the Lion of Nemea? He strangled him. That's all he did. Eventually, when he was done with his twelve tasks, he was poisoned by his fourth wife (although it was all a misunderstanding), but was allowed Immortal life and a place on Olympus by his dad. Much to Hera's chagrin.

Greek Heroes and Zeroes

The Ancient Greeks had a rather different idea of what constitutes a hero than we do today. To us, a hero not only does exceptional things but does so because they are the right thing to do. Spider-Man got his powers, but what made him a hero was when he learned that with Great Power comes Great Responsibility. He also faces down individuals who have their own powers and abilities, but are not heroic as use them to harm people (steal stuff, get revenge, turn the population of New York into Lizards against their will, be a callous asshole unconcerned with collateral damage, etc).

To the Ancient Greeks a hero was exceptionally capable (strong, skilled or intelligent) and might have superhuman abilities which they used to great ends for themselves and their people. Being a good person was in no way a requirement. Heroes could and often did do evil or dickish things to either get their way or once the dust had settled.

Note that there's a lot of overlap between heroes and demigods; many heroes were either able to become demigods for their deeds, or were able to perform their heroic deeds because they were the sons (or, in very rare cases, daughters) of gods and morals.

• Achilles: Most remembered for his role in the story of the Trojan War, Achilles was the son of a human and a nymph whose mom tried to keep him safe from all harm by dunking him in the water of the Styx when he was a baby; as a result, he became invulnerable everywhere except the heel she held to keep hold of him as she was dipping him like a donut. So of course he got killed in the war when an enemy stabbed him in the heel with a poisoned spear. Hence the term "Achilles heel" to refer to a weakspot.
• Bellerephon: A hero who slew the dreaded chimera with the aid of pegasus, only to be slain by Zeus when he got arrogant and tried to fly up to Olympus to demand immortality.
• Jason: A prince whose evil uncle stole his throne, Jason proved his claim as the rightful king by leading the Argonauts, a team of heroes and demigods, to retrieve the Golden Fleece, a sacred relic guarded by a many-headed dragon. He seriously screwed himself over by wedding and then betraying a powerful sorceress named Medea.
• Odysseus: Renowned for his cleverness. Partook in the Trojan War, then angered Poseidon and was cursed to roam across the monster-infested islands of remote seas for years, a series of tales collectively known as the Odyssey.
• Perseus: One of the great monster-slaying heroes of Greek myth, though the one he's most remembered for killing is Medusa, an act that also created Pegasus.
• Theseus: The famed slayer of the Minotaur.

Monsters and Nonhuman Races

• Minotaur - Originally known as "King Minos' Beast", a towering giant man with a bull's head and a hunger for flesh. In the beginning, Minos ruled Crete with his wife, but when he refused to sacrifice a white bull in order to fulfill a bargain with Posiedon, the spiteful god forced his wife to fuck the bull and give birth to a monster that was promptly locked in a maze dungeon, where it was fed several young men and women every few years as sacrifices. Was eventually slain when Theseus entered the dungeon.
• Medusa and the Gorgons - The Gorgons were a race of snake-like women with serpents for hair and petrifying gazes. Medusa was merely the most famous among them alongside her sisters Stheno and Euryale, but unlike them, she was originally a beautiful human woman. When Posiedon raped her in Athena's temple, Athena cursed her to become a gorgon for...some reason. Was slain by Perseus, with her head being turned into a shield-mounting and her body turning into a freaking Pegasus for some reason (since Posideon is associated with horses we can assume he's why).
• Harpy - Massive birds with the bodies of human women. Essentially considered spirits of the wind and often spirited away people to feed to the Erinyes.
• Centaur - Horses with men (or, more rarely, women) for upper bodies. Largely representative of being untamed animals, though some like Chiron were actually incredibly intelligent.
• Nymph - An all female race of spirits embodying varying aspects of nature. There are a lot of specific nymph variants, but some of the most well known are the Dryad (spirits of forests - the "tree spirit" version is due to confusion with the Hamadryad, essentially reversing their statuses), the Oread (spirits of mountains), the Naiad (spirits of rivers, and often conflated with the Oceanids, who were sea nymphs).
• Satyr - Half man, half goat, drunken party animals heavily associated with Pan and Dionysius. A closely related creature with horse parts instead of goat parts was called the Ipotane.
• Faun - Younger, prettier, gentler versions of satyrs.
• Hydra - The multi-headed monstrosity who grew more heads when one gets cut off. Was slain as one of Heracles' Labors.
• Scylla & Charybdis - A pair of cursed nymphs warped into monstrous forms; Scylla was cursed into a many-headed dragon/wolf thing that was stranded on a rocky island cave, from which she would extend her many necks to grab sailors and devour them. Charybdis became a fish-thing that was chained up in the water a short way over from Scylla's lair; she would take enormous drinks of the ocean, and then spew up everything she had drunk, creating an enormous whirlpool. One of Odysseus' challenges was wending a course between the two.
• Siren - Sea-dwelling women with hypnotically beautiful singing voices that would lure sailors to their doom on the rocky shore, either for kicks or because they ate them. Originally portrayed as either nymphs or merfolk, they became conflated with harpies for some reason.
• Chimera - A tripartite beast with the forequarters of a lion, the hindquarters of a goat, the tail of a serpent or dragon, the heads of all three, and the ability to breathe fire.
• Cyclops - One-eyed giants. Some worked for Zeus or Hephaestus, forging thunderbolts and other miraculous works. Others, like Polyphemus the son of Poseidon, lived on islands where they tended to giant sheep and ate sailors.
• Hecatonchires - Towering giants with fifty heads and one hundred arms. Were assigned to keep the Titans in Tartarus following the Titanomachy.
• Pegasus - Winged horse that emerged from Medusa's body when she was decapitated. Said to be her son by Poseidon, who was trapped in her womb until Perseus killed her.
• Hippocampus - Half-fish, half-horse sea creature kept in great herds by Poseidon.
• Men of Gold - First race of humans, created by Kronos to be free of sin. Sadly, this meant they were celibate and they all died out within a generation. Their souls became the first Daemons, which in Greek Mythology are quite different from Daemons as we've come to know them. If the name sounds familiar, this is from where Geedubs ripped off their own Men of Gold for the Dark Age of Technology.
• Daemons - Spirits of Earth and Air, born of the souls of Just and Noble men, which is a lot more than can be said about their more modern iterations. The first were the souls of the Men of Gold.
• Men of Silver - Second Generation of humans. Created to replace the Men of Gold. Unfortunately, too much sin was added into the batch this time, and whilst they could reproduce, they were apparently Always Chaotic Evil, and the gods were so horrified at what they had created they wiped them out. Other versions of the tale say that, whilst they were sinful, their worst offense was actually just refusing to worship or make sacrifices to the gods. If the second one was true, it wouldn't be a surprise, with how much of a bunch of dicks the Greek Gods were. These more sympathetic versions of the tale state that the souls of the Men of Silver also became Daemons after death.
• Cerberus - The massive three-headed hound that guards the gates of the underworld and prevents the dead from fleeing. Was captured as the last of Heracles' labors.

/tg/ relevance

As the single most well-known mythology to the Western Audience until the very late decades of the 1900s, Greek Mythology casts a vast shadow over fantasy gaming as a whole. One could argue the very idea of the adventurer traces back to the Greek Hero...although admittedly that's a stretch, since slaying monsters and questing for treasure is a pretty damn common motif in myths the world over. Seriously, even Buddhism has the Journey to the West.

Dungeons & Dragons owes a massive debt to Greek Mythology. Most of its iconic monsters are rooted in either Greek Mythology, Norse Mythology, or European Mythology, with a smattering of exotic foreign creatures like the rakshasa and the genie. In many ways, D&D could be said to be the biggest redefiner of Greek Mythology in all of /tg/ culture, since concepts like creating entire races from singular Greecian monsters were born in D&D.

Arkadia and Odyssey of the Dragonlords are D&D settings that double-down on D&D's roots in Greek mythology.