History NightmareFuel / ClassicalMythology

[[caption-width-right:326:Saturn Devouring His Son.]]

* In the ''Dionysiaca'', we have Typhon spelling out to Zeus [[ToThePain all the lovely things he plans on doing to the Olympians when he takes over]]. These include, but are not limited to...

** A smaller example, but the Danaides, the fifty daughters of Danaus[[note]]Well, only forty-nine of them ended up in Tartarus since one of them opted out of committing the crime that condemned her sisters[[/note]], were punished for killing their husbands by being forced to fill a bath that would cleanse their sins. The problem? The bath is perpetually leaking, meaning that no matter how much they fill it, it will never be full.

* Many gods of the Pantheon were terrifying in the same way as [[Series/TheTwilightZone1959 Anthony from "It's a Good Life"]]; by marrying incredible power to a complete lack of temperance or discipline. Even the mightiest of gods could be vain, petty, selfish, lecherous, vindictive, and very enthusiastic when it came to DisproportionateRetribution. And, unlike the deities of most other belief systems who get the same accusations from time to time, this was ''not'' a matter of AlternateCharacterInterpretation; according to their own believers, these gods were a bunch of cruel, vicious, spoiled children and humanity was just one of their playthings.

* Lycaon. He (or his sons, depending on the version) knew full well that Zeus makes a habit of dropping by in disguise to see if kings and hosts behave as they should, so when the big guy did show up, they suspected he might actually be Zeus. So what do they do to put him to the test? Why, ''kill a child from the next village over and serve him up as food.'' So Zeus turns them into the first werewolves, in some versions even noting that nothing about their ''behaviour'' changed.

** Actaeon, a man who accidentally [[NakedFirstImpression walked in on a bathing Artemis]], got himself [[BalefulPolymorph turned into a deer]] and killed by his own dogs.

* Medea. Where to start? First, she killed her brother and threw his diced up corpse into the sea bit by bit to make sure she and her boytoy Jason escaped her father, the king of Colchis. When Jason dumped her for a princess, she then decided to murder the princess with a cloak that instantly turns the wearer into a fireball. She also kills Jasons' future father-in-law, and finished this up by killing the kids that the couple had together. She make her get-away by flying into the sky on a chariot driven by '''Dragons'''. Finally, Medea manages to make peace with her father afterwards by killing her uncle, who had deposed the father as king. She is NightmareFuel for anyone who goes through messy divorces with psychopaths.

* The myth of Hades and Persephone has many interpretations, but the original, ancient tale is pure AdultFear at it's finest from both the perspective of Demeter and Persephone. Persephone out picking flowers with her friends and strays from the group when she spots a narcissus, which is really a trap laid out by Hades to ensnare her. When Persephone plucks the flower Hades bursts out of the earth in his chariot and pulls her in while she is vainly attempting to fight him off and screaming for help, but they plunge to the earth before anyone can come to the goddess's aid. Hades arrives in his kingdom with his justifiably terrified bride-to-be and [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe drops the bomb that they're getting married]] on her while the poor girl is still trying to process the fact that she was just snatched from her home, her beloved mother and everything else she's ever known, and is about become her abductor's wife and queen of his kingdom.

** [[SanitySlippage Demeter goes crazy enough from the loss of Persephone]] [[ReplacementGoldfish that she attempts to claim somebody else's child as her own to fill in the void.]] After being informed of Persephone's abduction Demeter exiles herself to the mortal realm and comes to the city of Eleusis, where she is taken in by its kind king and queen who make her a wet nurse to their son. Demeter gets attached to the baby and decides to make him immortal (a process which involves anointing the infant in ambrosia and sticking him in the fire at night). Metanira, the queen of Eleusis, happens upon this when she gets suspicious of the old woman and panics at the sight, accusing Demeter of trying to kill her son before Demeter reveals herself.
** After all of this, Demeter continues to starve off all of humanity and vows to keep it that way until Persephone is returned to her. Not only is she willing to kill off mortals, but also possibly bring down her entire family with her if they disappear from lack of human worship. Moral of the story: ''Do not'' piss off the goddess in charge of acriculture, especially where her daughter is concerned.

** [[SanitySlipage Demeter goes crazy enough from the loss of Persephone]] [[ReplacementGoldfish that she attempts to claim somebody else's child as her own to fill in the void.]] After being informed of Persephone's abduction Demeter exiles herself to the mortal realm and comes to the city of Eleusis, where she is taken in by its kind king and queen who make her a wet nurse to their son. Demeter gets attached to the baby and decides to make him immortal (a process which involves anointing the infant in ambrosia and sticking him in the fire at night). Metanira, the queen of Eleusis, happens upon this when she gets suspicious of the old woman and panics at the sight, accusing Demeter of trying to kill her son before Demeter reveals herself.

** Demeter goes crazy enough from the loss of Persephone that she attempts to claim somebody else's child as her own. After being informed of Persephone's abduction Demeter exiles herself to the mortal realm and comes to the city of Eleusis, where she is taken in by a kind king and queen who make her a wet nurse to their son. Demeter gets attached to the baby and decides to make him immortal (a process which involves anointing the infant in ambrosia and sticking him in the fire. Metanira, the queen of Eleusis, happens upon this when she gets suspicious of the old woman and panics at the sight, accusing Demeter of trying to kill her baby before Demeter reveals herself.

* Persephone's abduction. Sure there are many variations of it, but the one we're most likely familiar with goes like this: Persephone is just out in the field picking flowers and minding her own business. She decides to pick a narcissus she sees, which is really a trap laid out by Hades to ensnare her. Hades bursts out of the earth in his chariot and pulls Persephone in while she is vainly attempting to fight him off and screaming for help, but they plunge to the earth before anyone can come to the goddess's aid. Hades arrives in his kingdom with his bride-to-be and [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe drops the bomb that they're getting married]] on her while the poor girl is still trying to process the fact that she was just snatched from her home, her beloved mother and everything else she's ever known, and is about become her abductor's wife and queen of his kingdom.
** Then there's Demeter's perspective, which is AdultFear at it's finest. She hears Persephone screaming and runs to her only to find her gone when she reaches the spot. Demeter then proceeds to search the world for her daughter to no avail while starving the earth in the process. In the middle of her search Demeter discovers that Persephone has been married off without her knowledge or consent at the blessing of Zeus, Persephone's father, is unsurprisingly absolutely ''furious'' and [[MamaBear vows to never let anything grow on Earth until her daughter is returned to her]] In every single version of the myth, even the ones where Persephone willingly went with Hades, Demeter has no idea what happened to her child and [[JerkassGods was willing to starve and kill off pretty much all life on earth in retaliation.]]
** In the middle of Demeter's futile search, she takes the form of an old, mortal woman and gets taken in by a kind king and queen and becomes a wetnurse for their son. Demeter decides to make him immortal, either [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe in return for his parents' hospitality]] or [[ReplacementGoldfish because she got attached to the baby who filled in the void for Persephone]], a ritual that involves putting him in the fire every night. The baby's mother happens upon this when she gets suspicious of Demeter, naturally assumes that this crazy old woman is murdering her child and completely freaks out before the goddess reveals herself.

** One Gigante Damasen (anti-Ares) was peaceful and good friends with a farmer. Then the farmer gets eaten by a dragon. He kills the dragon. Neither his mom or dad were happy with that, [[DisproportionateRetribution so they send him to hell to kill that dragon every day for all eternity]].

* The rape of Callisto. She was raped (once she realized who her attacker really was and what he was going to do she fought), by [[{{Squick}} Zeus disguised as his daughter Artemis]]. Callisto was a follower of Artemis and one of the goddess’s favorite companions. In other words, Callisto was raped by a god in the form of her best friend. Callisto is cast out, turned into a bear, separated from her son for 15 years, and upon seeing him after those 15 years, is almost killed by him.

** Medusa, whose face was apparently so frightening that anyone who saw her [[TakenForGranite turned into stone]]. Much like Scylla and Charybdis above, she also used to be a beautiful woman before the Gods transformed her.

** Medusa, whose face was apparently so frightening that anyone who saw her [[TakenForGranite turned into stone]].

* The rape of Callisto. She was raped (once she realized who her attacker really was and what he was going to do she fought), by [[SquickTastic Zeus disguised as his daughter Artemis]]. Callisto was a follower of Artemis and one of the goddess’s favorite companions. In other words, Callisto was raped by a god in the form of her best friend. Callisto is cast out, turned into a bear, separated from her son for 15 years, and upon seeing him after those 15 years, is almost killed by him.

** In the middle of Demeter's futile search, she takes the form of an old, mortal woman and gets taken in by a kind king and queen and becomes a wetnurse for their son. Demeter decides to make him immortal, [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe either in return for his parents' hospitality]] or [[ReplacementGoldfish because her and Persephone's separation made her attached to the baby and wanted to make him her own]], a ritual that involves putting him in the fire every night. The baby's mother happens upon this when she gets suspicious of Demeter, naturally assumes that this crazy old woman is murdering her child and completely freaks out before the goddess reveals herself.

** In the middle of Demeter's futile search, she takes the form of an old, mortal woman and gets taken in by a kind king and queen and becomes a wet nurse for their infant son. In return for their hospitality, Demeter decides to make the baby immortal, a ritual that involves putting him in fire. The baby's mother happens upon this when she gets suspicious of Demeter, naturally assumes that this crazy old woman is murdering her child and completely freaks out before the goddess reveals herself.

* The fate of anyone unlucky enough to incur the wrath of [[WorldsStrongestMan Herakles.]]

** Then there's Demeter's perspective, which is AdultFear at it's finest. She hears Persephone screaming and runs to her only to find her gone when she reaches the spot. Demeter then proceeds to search the world for her daughter to no avail while starving the earth in the process. In the middle of her search Demeter discovers that Persephone has been married off without her knowledge or consent at the blessing of Zeus, Persephone's father, is unsurprisingly absolutely ''furious'' and [[MamaBear vows to never let anything grow on Earth until her daughter is returned to her]] Yep, [[JerkassGods she was willing to let all of humanity slowly die off from hunger and coldness]] [[JerkassWoobie because of her daughter getting abducted.]] Even in the versions where Persephone willingly goes to the underworld and marries Hades, she did not tell Demeter about it, so in each variation Demeter has no idea what the hell happened to her child.