Winged horses, one-eyed giants, and monstrous, intelligent lizards with fire in

their breaththese impossible creatures romp through the ancient storehouse

of myth and legend that is humanitys shared legacy. People have always
wondered two things: Where did the idea of mythic beasts originate, and is it
possible they still exist outside the written page or whispered tale?
When looking at ancient mythology, it may help to remember that these tales
involve much more than simple descriptions of weird creatures. The great myths
of civilization are not just collections of fairy tales or childrens stories. They are
meant to carry the great teachings of society to each generation through the
power of vivid imagery. And what image could be more powerful than a creature
that is not only monstrous in size, but is made of parts of many different beasts
with special characteristics and powers?
Some mythical creatures do not look monstrous at all. A whole new generation
searching for spirituality in nature has taken up the quest to discover whether
little people, or fairies, still cavort in the few undisturbed forests that remain on
this planet.
Some mythical creatures such as the dragon or the unicorn have their
origin in traditional mythology and were at one time believed to be real
creatures. Greek mythology, for example, features many creatures connected to
the godsharpies were beasts sent by Zeus to exact punishment. In mythology
and folklore the world over "wonder beasts" can be found representing the
powers of good and evil, the virtues and vices of human nature, and the
temptations into which human beings fall.
Others were based on real creatures, originating in garbled accounts of
travelers' tales; such as the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary, which supposedly grew
tethered to the earth (and was actually a type of fern).
Conversely, some creatures downplayed as just storytelling, have been
rediscovered and found to be real in recent times, such as the giant squid.
Did you know?
Mythical creatures are often chimeras, composed of parts of two or more
animals
Mythical creatures are often chimeras, composed of parts of two or more
animals. Some of these are the combination of a human being and one or more
other creatures. For example, a centaur is a combination of a man and horse, a
minotaur of a man and bull. It should be noted that these were not always
intended to be understood as literal juxtapositions of parts from disparate
species. Lacking a common morphological vocabulary, classical and medieval
scholars and travelers would attempt to describe unusual animals by comparing
them point-for-point with familiar: the giraffe, for example, was called
cameleopard, and thought of as a creature half-camel, and half-leopard. In
other cases, the beast was merely an exaggeration that made for exciting storytelling of adventures from far-off lands.

Many mythical creatures have supernatural powers (some good, some evil),
powers that even in contemporary times have no physical explanation. In these
cases the creatures bear more similarity to spiritual beings, such as angels, in
religious thought.