The Worst Greek Mythology Punishments, Ranked By Harshness

Zeus resented Prometheus for giving fire to mankind and generally being willful and defiant. For his disobedience, Zeus chained Prometheus to a rock on the side of a mountain. But of course, that wasn't enough. Every night, an eagle would come and peck on his abdomen and munch on his liver.

His liver would then regenerated during the day so that the eagle could have at it, again and again, every night. Eventually, he was freed by Chiron, a centaur who gave his life for Prometheus's, and Heracles, who offed that pesky eagle. 

After he accidentally discovered a flute cast away by Athena, Marsyas was reckless enough to challenge Apollo to a contest. The two agreed to the terms that the winner could do anything to the defeated one. Naturally, Marsyas lost to the god. As punishment, Marsyas was skinned alive. Apollo then transformed him into a stream.

Zeus, the king of the gods, was not a very faithful husband. In fact, many women who were ill-fated enough to be his mistress (by will or by force) got caught by Zeus’s wife, Hera. Being a powerful goddess herself, Hera didn’t hold back from destroying her husband's mistresses. That brings us to the story of the poor Libyan queen, Lamia.

Upon finding out about Lamia’s affair with her husband, Hera transformed her into a gruesome creature with a craving to devour children, even her own.

One day, Zeus was kind enough to invite Ixion to Olympus as a guest. However, when the mortal saw Hera, Zeus’s wife, he was attracted to her and made his move to seduce her. Zeus decided to test Ixion’s loyalty and made a cloud copy of his wife. Ixion fell for it and somehow impregnated the cloud-Hera, who later bore the monster Centaurus.

Zeus blasted Ixion with his powerful lightning bolt and bound him to a burning wheel that would spin forever. Ixion was forced to repeat the words "Repay your benefactor frequently with gentle favors in return" for eternity.

Erisychthon was a king with a serious case of hubris. He desired a large banquet table, so naturally, he cut down trees from Demeter's grove, because goddesses definitely don't mind when you disrespect them, right? Wrong. In retaliation, she cursed him with never-ending hunger. He would yearn for anything digestible and eat it, but the hunger was insatiable. In frustration, Erysichthon ended up eating his own flesh until he perished.

You may already know Medusa as the monster with hissing snakes on her head. But before she was Medusa, she was a very pretty young woman. She was so pretty that Poseidon took a liking to her and assaulted her in Athena's temple. This enraged Athena, who turned Medusa's hair into snakes so she would no longer be such a temptress.