List of mortals in Greek mythology


The following is a list of mortals in Greek mythology, including heroes, mythical kings, and notable women. In Greek mythology, humans are created by the Titan Prometheus, who fashions them in the likeness of the gods. While the Greek gods are immortal and unaffected by aging, the mortality of humans forces them to move through the stages of life, before reaching death. The group of figures referred to as "heroes", unique to Greek religion and mythology, are individuals who have died but continue to exert power in the world, and who were worshipped in hero cults.

Heroes

Notable women

Kings

Seers/oracles

Inmates of Tartarus

  • The Danaïdes, the forty-nine daughters of Danaus who murdered their husbands on their wedding night, were condemned to an eternity of carrying water in leaky jugs.
  • Ixion, king of the Lapiths, who attempted to rape Hera, was bound to a flaming, ever-spinning wheel in Tartarus as eternal punishment.
  • Sisyphus, a king of Thessaly who tried to cheat death, was condemned to an eternity of rolling a boulder uphill, only to watch it roll back down each time.
  • Tantalus, a king of Anatolia who butchered his son Pelops and served him as a meal to the gods, was punished with eternal starvation—food and drink forever dangling just out of reach.
  • Pirithous, king of the Lapiths and the closest companion of Theseus, attempted to kidnap Persephone to make her his wife. As punishment, he was either bound to a chair by snakes for eternity or devoured by Cerberus, depending on the version of the myth.