This huge, poisonous, fire-breathing and vicious creature is the most terrible monster in all of Greek mythology. Soon after its birth, this monster challenged Zeus for the right to rule over all the gods - and almost won.
Ancient Greek poets described it in different ways. The only details that were attributed to him as one were that he was immeasurably large - "so large that he surpassed all mountains, and his head often touched the stars" - and unimaginably hideous.
Among other horrors he had: a hundred snake heads with eyes that shoot fire; heads of leopard, lion, bull, wild boar, bear, dragon and wolf; rings of snake tails below the waist; hundreds of hands and arms with snakes instead of fingers; hundreds of wings spread all over the body; and one pair of huge dragon wings.
Over time, Greek artists combined and revised all of these poetic descriptions. Above the waist, this character was a giant with bulging muscles, a long, messy beard and shaggy hair. His nose grew like a dog's face, his ears were pointed like a donkey's, and his eyes sparkled with fire. His fingers were unnaturally long. A pair of feathery wings unfolded on its massive shoulders. Below the waist, he had two snake tails instead of legs.
Greek poets called him "terrible, outrageous and lawless", "cruel and ferocious", "strong and indefatigable", "the greatest disaster for people and gods." Without a doubt, he was the biggest bully in Greek mythology - and there was not a single good or merciful particle in his flesh.
For him, destruction was a game, and ugliness was beautiful. He turned villages into ruins for no reason, killed people and attacked the gods for no reason. He was drawn to dark places and monstrous characters - such as his wife Echidna - but even the places and people he liked could not win his loyalty. He spent his life on the path of destruction.
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With such a set of monstrous characteristics, he never missed an opportunity to attack. He could use his snake heads or fingers to spit deadly poison at the enemy. His heads, from leopard to wild boar, stunned with their "battle cry, the screams of all wild beasts put together," which was so loud that it echoed through the mountains.
Don't forget about its size. He was so big that his steps caused earthquakes. His voice was fiercer than thunder. He could use his mighty arms to destroy mountains by hurling boulders and molten rocks at villages. And all these dirty tricks came from only one monstrous creature, whose name is Typhon.
The fight between Typhon and Zeus, on which the throne of Olympus was at stake, showed the full extent of his abilities:
"From the flame of the monster, from its flaming arrows […] the whole earth, and the sky, and the sea, and surging waves rushed and beat everything up and down […] boiled up."
In the end, Zeus won the victory and threw him into the deepest abyss called Tartarus.
There are many legends surrounding the birth of Typhon. Some legends say that Gaia, the goddess of the earth, was enraged when Zeus destroyed her children, the giants. She decided that she would have another child, a giant of giants, to replace the children she had lost, but since Zeus also defeated her husband, the titan Kronos, she needed a new husband. She turned to Tartarus, and with the help of Aphrodite, Typhon was born.
Other legends claim that Hera had a fit of rage after she discovered another of Zeus's children. She announced that she would have a child without Zeus, because he had many children without her, and that the child would be even stronger than Zeus himself. Some legends say that Gaia heard her cry and sympathized with her, so she made Hera pregnant with Typhon.
As his bride, Typhon took Echidna, a monstrous snake woman who lived in a cave and devoured men who passed by. Of course, Echidna was not very lucky in devouring Typhon, so she accepted him as a partner and bore him many "ferocious offspring", including the Lernaean Hydra, Chimera, Sphinx, Cerberus and Gorgon. Typhon and Echidna became "the father and mother of all monsters."
