My own favorite is Scylla, the 6-headed, 12-legged, long necked being which dwelled in a cavern of a rock reaching to the sky (and even surrounded by a brooding cloud forever) 
Contrary to Ovid's later description (obviously Scylla originally is spoken of in the 12th rapsody of the Odyssey), Scylla does not have any dog-parts, but its name (which is related to dogs) was given due to the sound the creature made, similar to the 'yelp' of a newborn puppy.
But it surely did not look like such an animal at all.
While its heads are not spoken of in any detail by Homer (merely noted that they are incredibly ugly), the main bulk of Scylla is perpetually collapsed inside her cavern, and only the heads move out so as to capture fish or the occasional crew of a ship that passes by. Of course the only other way would be to sail dangerously close to the other rock, where Charybdis lives, a vortex in the sea which devours everything and spews out blackened mud
Contrary to Ovid's later description (obviously Scylla originally is spoken of in the 12th rapsody of the Odyssey), Scylla does not have any dog-parts, but its name (which is related to dogs) was given due to the sound the creature made, similar to the 'yelp' of a newborn puppy.
But it surely did not look like such an animal at all.
While its heads are not spoken of in any detail by Homer (merely noted that they are incredibly ugly), the main bulk of Scylla is perpetually collapsed inside her cavern, and only the heads move out so as to capture fish or the occasional crew of a ship that passes by. Of course the only other way would be to sail dangerously close to the other rock, where Charybdis lives, a vortex in the sea which devours everything and spews out blackened mud
