History NightmareFuel / ClassicalMythology

* Some of the bandits whom Theseus defeated were known for their exceedingly barbaric cruelty:

*** The reason Sisyphus got punished? He had angered Zeus by killing his houseguests and stealing their belongings (a gross violation of ''xenia'' or "sacred hospitality"), so the gods decided to imprison him for his crimes in Tartarus. Back then, Thanatos, the god of Death, actually knocked on your doors visibly and in person, so when he came to Sisyphus, Sisyphus knocked him out and tied him up, causing nobody on Earth to die. Ares noticed that though there was enough mangling and bloodshed going on on his favourite battlefields, nobody died, which put a bummer on the whole thing for him, so he went to look for Thanatos. After finding him under Sisyphus' bed, he freed Thanatos and the two of them killed Sisyphus then and there. In the Underworld, Sisyphus started whining to Hades about how his wife had no time for proper burial rites and how without them he could never really enter the afterlife, so Hades let him back to the world of the living to arrange things, but he told his wife not to complete the rites and stayed on as a ghost. After a while, when it was obvious Sisyphus was not planning on going back, Hades fetched him himself and put him to the task described above.

* The Labdacids (AKA Oedipus' family). They received Apollo's curse from Pelops (of the aforementioned Atreidae) for causing the death of the latter's son. This curse leads them to inevitably kill each other, and then there is poor Oedipus.

* 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 [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent the first werewolves]], in some versions even noting that nothing about their ''behaviour'' changed.

* Hera was a notoriously jealous goddess. While Zeus's infidelities were hardly admirable, her responses to them were nothing short of horrifying. She would wreak cruel vengeance against the women he slept with, including those who didn't know their lover's true identity and even women her husband ''raped''. Not only that, she was incredibly malicious to his children, even though it's obviously not their fault they were fathered by the King of the Gods.

* According to Diodorus Siculus King Minos was looking for Daedalus in Sicily where he encountered the daughter of Cocalus, king of Agrigentum. She arranged for him to leave his bones there by pouring boiling hot water to him while he was having a bath which scalded him to death.
* It is said by the author of Bibliotheke that Pasiphaë was a sorceress and her knowledge of the herbs allowed her to make sure that Minos wouldn't impregnate any unlawful concubine of his-or get to know her again- as she placed a fidelity curse on him that led to him ejaculating serpents, scorpions, and centipedes killing his lover in the process.

** If you thought death had mercy on her, think again: when she died, she (and her son) were transformed into Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, but Hera still held such a grudge that she convinced the deities in control of the movement of the constellations to not let either of the Bear constellations rise beyond a certain point[[note]]Or rather ''set'', as both constellations as seen from middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, never disappear below the horizon, especially Ursa Minor, or at least entirely[[/note]].

** If you thought death had mercy on her, think again: when she died, she (and her son) were transformed into Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, but Hera still held such a grudge that she convinced the deities in control of the movement of the constellations to not let either of the Bear constellations rise beyond a certain point.

** While Persephone is crying out for her, her mother Demeter immediately drops what she is doing in order to save her daughter, but she is already gone by the time Demeter comes. The goddess then goes on to search the world[[note]]In some versions of the myth accompanied and helped by Hekate, the goddess of witchcraft, or at least her having lend Demeter one of her torches[[/note]] for Persephone to no avail while starving the earth and slowly killing of mortals 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, and is [[MamaBear is rightfully]] ''[[MamaBear furious]]'' [[MamaBear about this and 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.]]

** While Persephone is crying out for her, her mother Demeter immediately drops what she is doing in order to save her daughter, but she is already gone by the time Demeter comes. The goddess then goes on to search the world for Persephone to no avail while starving the earth and slowly killing of mortals 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 [[MamaBear is rightfully]] ''[[MamaBear furious]]'' [[MamaBear about this and 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.]]

* The few tales of [[ImAHumanitarian cannibalism]] (such as Tantalus and Atreus).

* The fate of anyone unlucky enough to incur the wrath of [[WorldsStrongestMan Herakles]] - from the teacher he killed with a punch in his youth to his killing of his wife and children, or even a prince (a king thought Herakles stole some cattle and sent the son who idolized Herakles to ask) who did nothing wrong.

* The Nemean Lion, a vicious, bloodthirsty beast with an impenetrable hide and claws that could cut through just about anything.

** If you thought death had mercy on her, think again: when she died, she (and her son) were transformed into Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, but Hera still held such a grudge that she convinced the deities in control of the movement of the constellations to not let either of the Bear constellations to rise beyond a certain point.

** Phaeton, son of Helios or Apollo, had a similar fate: after being allowed to drive the sun chariot, he loses control of it so bad he has to be blasted out of the sky by Zeus. His charred remains crashlanded in Italy and his sisters died of grief at the lake that formed at the crater of impact.

** Imagine marrying your own mother and unknowingly having intercourse with her! Horrible! Then, to top it all off, Oedipus gouged his own eyes out after he discovered all this.

* The fate of the few mortals sent to Tartarus:

** Procrustes, who tied his victims to a bed and chopped body parts if they did not fit.

** Actaeon, a man who accidentally [[NakedFirstImpression walked in on a bathing Artemis]], [[DisproportionateRetribution got himself]] [[ForcedTransformation turned into a deer]] [[DisproportionateRetribution and killed by his own dogs]].
** Erysichthon, who chopped down one of Demeter's trees, was infected with eternal hunger and eventually ate himself.

* The few tales of cannibalism (such as Tantalus and Atreus).

** 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, [[DependingOnTheWriter except when she was a monster from the beginning]].

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

*** Truth be told, some myths do indicate that Arachne did [[DoNotTauntCthulhu weave very unsavory pictures about the gods in her weaving during her challenge with Athena]]. Not that she had to search hard for source material for that...

* Zeus makes another woman pregnant, then hides her underground. She gives birth to a giant... and [[ChestBurster dies of childbirth]].

** Perhaps the worst is Typhon -- father of the above along with the Mother of All Monsters, Echidna -- Typhon is described by some writers as being as tall as the sky itself, and having a hundred dragon-like heads, all of which screamed and breathed fire. It's not hard to see why almost all the gods had a collective {{Brown Note}} when he appeared, and fled Greece, leaving Zeus to face the creature by himself.

** The Lernaean Hydra (a serpent with nine heads, that can [[HealingFactor continually regenerate when injured]], trope namer of HydraProblem for good reason)

[[quoteright:326:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/francisco_de_goya_saturno_devorando_a_su_hijo_1819_1823_6.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:326:[[Creator/FranciscoDeGoya Saturn Devouring His Son.]]]]

* The myth of Hades and Persephone has many interpretations, but the original, ancient tale is pure AdultFear at its finest from both the perspective of Demeter and Persephone. Persephone is 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.

** The Lernaean Hydra (a serpent with nine heads, that can [[HealingFactor continually regenerate when injured]])

*** The reason Sisyphus got punished? Back then, Thanatos, the god of Death, actually knocked on your doors visibly and in person, so when he came to Sisyphus, Sisyphus knocked him out and tied him up, causing nobody on Earth to die. Ares noticed that though there was enough mangling and bloodshed going on on his favourite battlefields, nobody died, which put a bummer on the whole thing for him, so he went to look for Thanatos. After finding him under Sisyphus' bed, he freed Thanatos and the two of them killed Sisyphus then and there. In the Underworld, Sisyphus started whining to Hades about how his wife had no time for proper burial rites and how without them he could never really enter the afterlife, so Hades let him back to the world of the living to arrange things, but he told his wife not to complete the rites and stayed on as a ghost. After a while, when it was obvious Sisyphus was not planning on going back, Hades fetched him himself and put him to the task described above.

** For the obvious question, "why isn't she taking her anger out on ''Zeus'', the one who is actually cheating on her?"... she tried. she tried organizing a coup against him but it failed. As punishment, Zeus tied her above the Gap (Chaos) in strong chains and with an anvil tied to her ankles, and used her ''for target practice''.

* 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 is 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.

* Think about what poor Leto had to go through when Hera found out she was pregnant with Zeus' twins--Hera basically tells Leto she's banned from giving birth ''literally anywhere on Earth'', starts spying on her as she desperately searches for someplace to give birth and in some versions sends a freaking ''dragon'' to chase Leto as she wanders. And just when Leto finally found a haven ([[PetTheDog sometimes provided by Poseidon at Zeus' behest]]) to give birth, a massive storm happens and the Goddess of Childbirth (sometimes Hera, sometimes her daughter) refuses to help her, leaving poor Leto to desperately cling to her patch of land and give birth, hoping that the storm doesn't wash her away. Fortunately, she succeeds.

** 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 agriculture, especially where her daughter is concerned.

** If you thought death had mercy on her, think again: when she died, she (and her son) were transformed into Ursa Maior and Ursa Minor, but Hera still held such a grudge that she convinced the deities in control of the movement of the constellations to not let either of the Bear constellations to rise beyond a certain point.

** The same giant flirts with Artemis. He gets sent off to Tartarus to be forever eaten alive by eagles. This was not Prometheus, just some CasanovaWannabe.

* Some of the bandits whom Theseus defeated were known for their exceedingly barbaric cruelty such as Procrustes, who tied his victims to a bed and chopped body parts if they did not fit. Sinis was also pretty horrific: he bent down two pine trees with his great strength, tied the hands of passer-bys to the tips of the two trees, and then let go.

* 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. (In some versions they are only spared by one killing the other or killing each other by Zeus literally invoking MamaBear in turning the son into a bearcub, upon which all fighting ceases).

** Her mother, Metis, was fated to give birth to a son more powerful than Zeus. So he turns her into a ''fly'' and swallows her ''whole''.

** Before she eloped with Jason, he swore a high oath never to abandon her. When he does and thus she kills his new bride to be, his new father-in-law-to-be and their children (causing Jason to be driven out of his rightful homeland upon pain of death, penniless), Hera goddess of jealous wives, women scorned and obsessed yanderes, who was Jason's ''patron goddess'' and was one of or even THE deity invoked at the oath, couldn't add any more punishment to Jason other than to let him sleep in the bed he made, ie., let him live without her giving back anything that was taken from him.

** While Persephone is crying out for her, her mother Demeter immediately drops what she is doing in order to save her daughter, but she is already gone by the time Demeter comes. The goddess then goes on to search the world for Persephone to no avail while starving the earth and slowly killing of mortals 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 [[MamaBear is rightfully ''furious'' about this and 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.]]