Cychreus is presented in the sources as a son of the sea-god Poseidon and the nymph Salamis, tying him genealogically to the island that bears his mother's name. Multiple, variant traditions survive: in some accounts he becomes king of Salamis after confronting a serpent or dragon (the creature named Cychreides); in other accounts he raises or owns a serpent that later causes harm; and in yet another strand he is nicknamed 'the dragon' for a fierce temperament and is later received at Eleusis by Demeter and serves as her priest. These overlapping versions function within local-foundational and cultic narratives rather than as a single uniform origin tale.
No detailed anthropological or iconographic portrait is preserved in the provided materials. Appearance is mediated through serpentine imagery in three attested modes: (1) as a human hero who confronts and slays a monstrous serpent/dragon (Cychreides); (2) as the human owner or keeper of a serpent kept as a pet; and (3) metaphorically as a man nicknamed 'the dragon' for a fierce or terrorizing temperament. Specific physical descriptions of the serpent (size, color) or of Cychreus's personal appearance are not recorded in the cited excerpts.
Sources do not ascribe supernatural powers in a systematic way; rather, Cychreus's abilities and behaviors are those of a mythic founder-king and cultic figure. Variant accounts attribute to him martial competence (slaying a serpent/dragon in one tradition), close association with serpents (raising or owning a serpent that later causes trouble in another), and the capacity to occupy sacred office (in one version he is received by Demeter at Eleusis and serves as her high priest). The tradition also reports that a serpent associated with Cychreus was interpreted as an omen when it appeared on Athenian ships before the Battle of Salamis.
Weaknesses
None recorded.
Wards
- ritualSacrifice to Cychreus
Abas
Abas (Ancient Greek: Ἄβας, gen.: Ἄβαντος) is not a single mythic being but a recurring personal name borne by multiple mortals and minor mythic figures in Greek epic and genealogical traditions — kings, founders, seers, warriors, attendants, a centaur, and a youth transformed by a goddess. The name is glossed in the sources as 'guileless' or 'good-hearted' and appears across Argive, Theban, Trojan, Euboean, and other local cycles.
Acheilus
Acheilus (also spelled Akheilos/Achilleus in some sources) is a minor figure of Greek myth described as a mortal son of Zeus who was transformed into a shark and thereafter called a 'shark-formed sea daimon.' Surviving summaries frame his story as a hubris metamorphosis: boasting about his beauty led a goddess to change him into a marine monster.
Achelois
Achelois (Ancient Greek: Ἀχελωίς, 'she who drives away pain') is an attributive name or epithet used in ancient Greek mythic contexts rather than a single, consistently characterized being. The term appears applied to several different figures — a surname of the Sirens, a general name for certain water-nymphs (Acheloides), and as the name of a daughter of Pierus — and functions within Greek naming practice as a descriptive label rather than a fixed ontological office.
Achilles (son of Zeus)
A minor figure in Greek myth named Akhilleus (Ancient Greek: Ἀχιλλεύς), presented in some traditions as a son of Zeus and the Lamia who was famed for irresistible beauty, won a beauty contest judged by Pan, and was transformed into ugliness by Aphrodite. This Akhilleus is distinct from the Homeric hero of the Trojan War.
Achiroe
Achiroe (variants Anchirrhoë, Anchinoë/Ankhinoe) is a minor Greek mythological figure: a Naiad associated with the river Nile, daughter of the river-god Nilus, who becomes the wife of the Egyptian king Belus and mother of mythic progenitors such as Aegyptus and Danaus (with some accounts also naming Cepheus and Phineus). She functions primarily as a genealogical link between river-divinity and royal lineages rather than as an active agent in surviving myths.
Acontes
Acontes (Ancient Greek: Ἀκόντην) is an Arcadian prince in Greek mythology, counted among the fifty sons of the impious King Lycaon. He appears in the Lycaon narrative as a participant in a sacrilegious meal prepared for Zeus (disguised as a peasant) and is destroyed by the god's lightning as punishment.
Actaea
Actaea is a named sea‑nymph in Greek mythic lists, identified in the provided sources as the personification or eponym of the seashore. She appears primarily in onomastic and catalogue contexts (lists of nymphs/Nereids) and has no surviving independent narrative or cultic rites attested in the cited material.
Acte (Akte)
Acte (Ancient Greek Akte, sometimes rendered Acme) is a divine personification in Greek myth: one of the Horae who embodies a particular hour of the day — specifically the hour of eating and pleasure, a designated afternoon work-hour — and functions chiefly as a temporal marker rather than an active mythic agent.
Adonia
The Adonia festival is a ritual mourning celebration for Adonis, the consort of Aphrodite in ancient Greek mythology. (Note: 1. The draft claims that the article is about a "ritual mourning celebration", but the source only mentions the festival as a mourning celebration. 2. Power tier should be Primordial or Ancient since )
Aega
Aega is attested in modern reference works as a mythological name from the Greek tradition; the string 'Aega' is used for more than one minor figure or entry in Greek mythic catalogs. Surviving provided sources give no coherent myth, iconography, or rituals tied to a single, identifiable deity or spirit named Aega.
Aegaeus
Aegaeus (Ancient Greek: Αἰγαῖος) appears in Greek myth as (1) a local river-god associated with the island called Scheria (traditionally associated with Corfu) and father of the nymphs Aigaiides and of Melite (who in some sources bore Heracles a son, Hyllus), and (2) as a toponymic surname/epithet of the sea-god Poseidon derived from the town of Aegae in Euboea.
Aegesta
Aegesta is an ancient place-name and eponym recorded in Greek and Roman sources as an alternate form of Segesta, an Elymian city in northwestern Sicily, and as a mythic personal name (Aegestus/Aegesta) tied to Trojan foundation legends rather than a supernatural being.
Community Record
- [1]Cychreus (Wikipedia). Wikipedia, 'Cychreus' (summary of mythological traditions and cultic associations)wiki
- [2]Wikidata: Cychreus. Wikidata entry for Cychreus (genealogical placement as son of Poseidon)other
- [3]Archive references (Labors of Theseus etc.). Archive items included among provided research notes (referenced as part of compiled source set)other
- [4]Archive references (additional Labors of Theseus materials). Archive items included among provided research notes (referenced as part of compiled source set)other