were a mythical people who lived far to the north of Thrace. The Greeks thought that Boreas, the North Wind, lived in Thrace, and that therefore Hyperborea was an unspecified region in the northern lands that lay beyond the north wind. Their land, called Hyperborea or Hyperboria — "beyond the Boreas" — was perfect, with the sun shining twenty-four hours a day.
The Amazons
are a nation of all-female warriors in Greek mythology and Classical antiquity. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia. There they formed an independent kingdom under the government of a queen named Hippolyta The Amazons were supposed to have founded many towns, amongst them Smyrna, Ephesus, Sinope, and Paphos. According to the dramatist Aeschylus, in the distant past they had lived in Scythia (modern Crimea), at the Palus Maeotis ("Lake Maeotis", the Sea of Azov), but later moved to Themiscyra on the River Thermodon (the Terme river in northern Turkey). Herodotus called them Androktones ("killers of men"), and he stated that in the Scythian language they were called Oiorpata, which he asserted had this meaning.
To protect the sanctity of the Amazons, Athena spirited the remaining Amazons away to a secret island hidden from the outside world. As long as they stayed on the island they were free from ageing, time and the changing world around them.
The Makhlyes
were Libyan tribe of hermaphrodites whose bodies were both male and female. They belonged to a sophisticated society and were excellent warriors.
Centaurs
The Centaur's are half man, and half horse. They have the body of a horse but, in place of the horse's head the have the torso, head and arms of a man. Most are wild and savage, known for lustfulness and drunkeness. The exception is the wise Centaur Chiron.
Sileni
a race of elderly Satyrs with the bodies of old-men, pug-noses, the tails of horses, and donkeys' ears
Ipotanes
were a race of half-horse, half-humans; the original version of the satyr.
Satyrs
are described as roguish but faint-hearted folk — subversive and dangerous, yet shy and cowardly. As Dionysiac creatures they are lovers of wine and women, and they are ready for every physical pleasure. They roam to the music of pipes (auloi), cymbals, castanets, and bagpipes, and they love to dance with the nymphs (with whom they are obsessed, and whom they often pursue), and have a special form of dance called sikinnis. Because of their love of wine, they are often represented holding wine cups, and they appear often in the decorations on wine cups.
Panes
a tribe of nature-spirits which had the heads and torsos of men, the legs and tails of goats, goatish faces and goat-horns.
The Telkhines (or Telchines)
were mysterious tribe of magician-smiths and sea daimones, native to the islands of Keos and Rhodes. They invented the art of metal-working and were said to have crafted the sickle Kronos used to castrate his father Ouranos and later a magical trident for Poseidon which the god used to lever mountains into the sea and form the islands. Their malignant use of magic later angered Zeus, who cast them beneath the sea. Later they found sanctuary and were worshipped in Egypt. These strange Sea Daimones were described as having the heads of dogs.
The Cynocephali
were an Indian and African tribe of dog-headed men. The name Kynokephalos means dog-headed, from "kuôn," a dog, and "kephalos," head.
The Kobalos
was a tribe of sprite-type creatures from Greek mythology, mischievous creatures fond of tricking and frightening mortals. Greek myths depict the kobaloi as "impudent, thieving, droll, idle, mischievous, gnome-dwarfs", and as "funny, little triksy elves" of a phallic nature. They were companions of Dionysus and could shapeshift as Dionysus in the guise of Choroimanes-Aiolomorphos. According to one myth, they robbed Herakles while he slept. He captured them in revenge but took pity on them when he found them amusing. In one version of the myth, Herakles gave them to the Lydian queen Omphale as a gift. The kobaloi were thought to live in Euboea or near Thermopylai.
The Panotii
a tribe of northern sprite-type humanoid creatures, with large ears. Unlike their evil cousins the Kobalos, the Panotii are peaceful, shy and withdrawn creatures without the ability nor aggression to fight.
The Arimaspi
were a legendary race of one-eyed people of northern Scythia who lived in the foothills of the Riphean Mountains, variously identified with the Ural Mountains or the Carpathians. There are many tales of their struggles with the gold-guarding griffins in the Hyperborean lands near the cave of Boreas.
The Gegenees
were a tribe of six-armed giants who fought the Argonauts on Bear Mountain in Mysia.
Pygmies
were a tribe of diminutive 1ft tall humans in Greek mythology. Their name in Greek was Pygmaioi, from pygmê, the length of the forearm. Small yet powerful beings, they were involved in a constant war with the cranes, which migrated in winter to their homeland on the southern shores of the earth-encircling river Oceanus.
In art the scene was popular with little Pygmies armed with spears and slings, riding on the backs of goats and other small animals, battling the flying cranes. The Pygmies were often portrayed as pudgy and dwarf like.
The Blemmyes
was a tribe of creatures believed to be acephalous (headless) monsters who had eyes and mouths on their chest.
The Gorgades
were a tribe inhabiting certain islands off the Atlantic coast of Africa who were entirely covered in hair.
The Myrmidons
were legendary people of Greek history. They were very brave and skilled warriors commanded by Achilles, as described in Homer's Iliad. Their eponymous ancestor was Myrmidon, a king of Thessalian Phthia, who was the son of Zeus and "wide-ruling" Eurymedousa, a princess of Phthia. She was seduced by Zeus in the form of an ant. An etiological myth of their origins, expanding upon their etymology — the name in Classical Greek was interpreted as "ant-people", from (murmedon) "ant's nest" and that from (murmex) "ant" — was first mentioned by Ovid, in Metamorphoses: in Ovid's telling, King Aeacus of Aegina, father of Peleus, pleaded with Zeus to populate his country after a terrible plague. Zeus said his people would number as the ants on his sacred oak, and from the ants sprang the people of Aegina. The Myrmidons only lasted one generation as all their offspring were born human.
According to Homer's Iliad, the Myrmidons were the fiercest warriors in all of Greece. As said in Iliad, "Go home, then, with your ships and comrades to lord it over the Myrmidons".
The Nymphai Meliai
were Naiad Nymphs of the island of Melos (in the Aegean Sea). They were transformed into frogs by Zeus as punishment for burying the body of Euphorion, an arrogant boy who tried to fly to heaven.
The Sparti
were a race of warlike, earth-born warriors, which sprang fully grown, armed and ready for battle from the sown teeth of a Drakon sacred to the war-god Ares.
Two batches of Spartoi were sown. The first were those of Thebes, sown by the hero Kadmos from the teeth of the sacred Drakon of the spring of Ismene. He cast a stone among them as they were emerging from the earth and they fell to fighting. Only five survived the battle, who joined Kadmos in the founding of the city of Thebes.
The second batch was sown by Jason in the fields of Kolkhis on the Black Sea. The task was demanded of him by King Aeetes, from whom he and the Argonauts had come to fetch the Golden Fleece. Like Kadmos he threw a stone among these earth-born warriors and they fell to fighting.
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