Top 10 Worst Punishments From the Greek Gods
Whatever you do, don't offend a Greek god. A difficult thing to do, considering they're so easily offended!
No, really. I mean it! Don't claim to be better than them, don't question them and definitely don't forget to give them offerings. These grumpy, fussy bullies are vengeful, powerful and, worst of all, bored! They love nothing more than to amuse themselves by using their godly magic to make lives hellish for us puny mortals.
Don't believe me?
Check out this list of the top 10 worst punishments doled out by those petulant Greek gods - you'll soon change your mind!
Top 10 Worst Punishments from the Greek Gods
Prometheus
Crime:
Prometheus was a Titan with a love for all things human - something the Greek gods couldn't stand. Prometheus even stole fire from the gods and gifted it to the humans, knowing Zeus would be furious. And boy was he furious...
Punishment:
Zeus ordered Prometheus to be chained to a rock - so far, not so bad. But then Zeus sent an eagle to peck at Prometheus and eat his liver. Yowch!! But that's not the worst bit. Because Prometheus was immortal, his liver would grow back every night. And the next day, the eagle would always come back to repeat this grizzly task of liver-eating. Prometheus had to endure this pain for eternity (or at least until Heracles came to save him - yay!).
Sisyphus
Crime:
Sisyphus committed quite a few crimes that offended the gods, including murdering his own guests, tricking the gods and, worst of all, cheating death on two separate occasions! He was an impressively bad egg.
Punishment:
Sisyphus was clearly a bit of a trouble-maker and the gods rightly punished him for it. He had to push an enormous boulder up to the top of a hill. Every time the boulder neared the top, it would roll back down to the bottom and Sisyphus had to start all over again. He was forced to repeat this activity for the rest of eternity. Sounds exhausting.
Arachne
Crime:
Arachne was dead good at weaving. So good at weaving that she started to get a little boastful - uh oh! She was so big-headed that she even challenged Athena to a weaving contest - double uh oh! Then to make matters worse, when Arachne crafted her contest tapestry, she filled it with pictures showing how much she hated the gods - and right in front of Athena! Triple uh-oh!
Punishment:
I'm sure you can guess how Athena felt about this. She took her rage out on Arachne by turning her into a spider. She was condemned to an eternity of weaving and spinning webs. And occasionally being sucked up by a hoover and thrown outside.
Cassandra
Crime:
Cassandra was unfortunate enough to catch the eye of the god Apollo. He liked her so much, he offered her the gift of prophesy. She took the gift but naively told Apollo she didn't actually like him that much.
Punishment:
Apollo was outraged by being rejected by a puny mortal - albeit a really pretty one. He couldn't take back the gift he'd given Cassandra so he thought of another way to take his vengeance. He cursed Cassandra so nobody would believe her prophesies. Poor Cassandra would foresee terrible events but could never stop them from happening because everyone thought she was lying.
Tantalus
Crime:
Tantalus committed the crime of murdering his own son, cooking him and serving him up on a plate for the gods to eat. Uh... the less said about this one the better.
Punishment:
Safe to say the gods thought this was the ikky-est thing anyone had ever done. They punished him by trapping him in a pool of water underneath a tree of tasty looking fruit. Sounds luscious right? Wrongo! Anytime Tantalus tried to drink from the pool, the water receded. Anytime he tried to reach for something to eat, the fruit would be just beyond his grasp. He spent an eternity thirsty and starving. Quite right too. What a weirdo!
Actaeon
Crime:
Ever had that supremely embarrassing moment where you accidently walk in on someone using the bathroom? Well I bet you never got punished for it like the hunter, Actaeon. He made the mistake of stumbling into a clearing in the forest where the goddess Artemis was bathing.
Punishment:
Artemis was so scandalised by a mortal seeing her in the nuddy that she turned the hunter into a deer. Seems quite pleasant really, being a deer. But being a hunter, Actaeon had his pack of hunting dogs accompany him into the forest. Suddenly the hunter had become the hunted. Actaeon's pack of dogs chased him through the forest until they caught him and... well... we'll keep things PG by saying they all had dinner together.
Medusa
Crime:
You've probably heard of Medusa the Gorgon - you know, the ugly monster with snaky hair that had a nasty habit of turning people to stone? Well she wasn't always a Gorgon. She was once an incredibly beautiful priestess who worked at the temple of Athena and took an oath to never have a boyfriend or husband. Problem was, she was so beautiful, the god Poseidon took a fancy to her which forced her to break her oath.
Punishment:
Athena was offended by what happened between the pair. But despite the blame sitting squarely with Poseidon, Athena took her rage out on Medusa by turning her into a monster.
Io
Crime:
Io was another poor mortal woman caught in the crosshairs for merely catching the wandering eye of a deity. This time, the deity in question was Zeus. Zeus was married to goddess Hera and to hide his love for Io, he turned the unfortunate woman into a cow!
Punishment:
I know what you're thinking - surely being turned into a cow was Io's punishment. Sadly not. You see, Hera was still suspicious so she sent a gadfly to follow Io the cow around stinging her for all eternity. Io suffered immense pain from the stinging and, with not being able to stop and rest, was soon sent mad. Yikes!
Echo
Crime:
This wasn't the first time Zeus had got somebody in trouble with Hera because of his lying ways. The nymph, Echo, drew the short straw when she had to distract Hera with endless chattering while Zeus snuck off to see other women behind his wife's back. Tut.
Punishment:
Hera, of course, found out about the lies and placed a unique curse on Echo. She stripped Echo of her own voice - the only words Echo could utter were the final words spoken by others... others... others.... others....
Heracles
Crime:
Heracles (or Hercules if you'd prefer) was one of the most famous Ancient Greek heroes. But he was also another unfortunate soul who was unlucky enough to come between Hera and Zeus. Heracles was the son of Zeus and a mortal woman called Alcmene. As you could imagine, Hera was very upset by this and took her rage out on Heracles.
Punishment:
Hera enacted many punishments upon Heracles over the years, the worst of which was a curse of temporary madness. Being taken over by a sudden bloodlust, Heracles saw monsters everywhere he turned and took up his sword to slay them all. When the curse passed and the madness subsided, Heracles awoke to find there had been no monsters at all. Just his wife and children. He had mistakenly killed them all believing they were monsters.
Double punishment:
The curse from Hera had caused Heracles to commit another crime: murder. Now he had to be punished again (as if the guilt of killing your whole family wasn't punishment enough!). Because of this he now had to complete 12 impossible tasks, called Labours, to be forgiven for his wrongdoing.
