A Quick Look at Major Greek
& Roman Heroes
Onto the Greeks
Battle of Thermopylae
• King Leonidas confronts Xerxes (a
Persian) with 300 men at the Thermopylae
Pass
• Leonidas is betrayed by one of his
followers
• Out flanked the 300 hold off the Persian
army for a while but ultimately succumb
Trojan War
• Trojan Heroes
– Hector
– Paris
– Aeneas
Achilles kills Hector outside the
walls of Troy
Trojan War
• Greek heroes
– Achilles
– Odysseus
– Diomedes
Odysseus: Trials
• Laistrygones – maneating giants
• Polyphemus – the
cyclops
• Aeolus – the god of
the winds
• Circe – witch who
turned Odysseus’
men into swine
• Sirens – sea nymphs
• Scylla – rocks in a
straight protected by
a sea witch who eats
sailors
• Charybdis – giant
whirlpool opposite
Scylla
• Calypso – goddess
nymph
Other Greek Heroes & Heroines
• Jason – a Thessalian who lead the quest
for the Golden Fleece; later married to
Medea
• Leda – queen of Sparta, seduced by Zeus
in the form of a swan; laid an egg that
hatched Helen and a set of twins
• Pandora – first woman created by gods;
delivered evil to man when opened a jar of
evil spirits (similar to Eve?)
Heroes & Heroines continued
• Perseus – sent by King Polydectes to
behead Medusa the Gorgon. When
Perseus returned with her head, he turned
King Polydectes to stone
• Others you may find interesting
– Pygmalion and Galatea
– Demeter, Hades & Persephone
– Psyche
– Narcissus
Hercules: the Greatest Greek Hero
• Parents: the god, Zeus and Alcmene, a
mortal
• Hera, Zeus’s wife, seeks revenge
– Delays Hercules’ birth so that he is not the
firstborn; therefore, cannot wear a crown and
is in fact made a slave
– Places two serpents in his crib; Hercules
strangles them before they can strike
– Later turns Hercules into a murderer by
inflicting him with a fit of madness
Madness and Atonement
• While mad Hercules lets loose his arrows
and kills his wife, Megara and their three
children
• Oracle of Delphi sends Hercules to his
cousin, Eurytheus for 12 years
• Performs 12 labors
The 12 Labors
• The Nemean Lion
– Lion kills flocks near Mycenae
– Arrows bounce off lion
– Hercules chases it and kills it with his bare
hands
– Keeps the lion’s skin as trophy
The Lernean Hydra
• Many headed snake
with body of hound
• Breath can kill
• Heads grow back
• Kills livestock
• H. gets help from
Iolaus who seals each
neck with fire
• H. dips arrows into
blood
The Erymanthian Boar
• Captures a boar
• Later stops to eat,
drink, visit some
centaurs
• A brawl breaks out
and H. kills all but one
centaur, Nessus
• Nessus later will
reappear in H.’s life
The Ceryneian Hind
• Ordered to capture a
deer famed for golden
antlers and metal
hoofs
• Tracks a year and
captures
• Apollo tells H. the
deer is sacred to
Artemis
• H. releases the deer
The Stymphalian Birds
• Near Arcadian lake, birds who shoot arrows from
wings, pierce armor and whose droppings
destroy crops
• H. bangs metal castanets, startles birds into
flight then kills them with poison arrows
The Augean Stables
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Huge, nasty stables
Clever Herc punches holes into sides of stables
Diverts a river to flow through the stable
Cleans them overnight
The Cretan Bull
• Ordered to capture King
Minos’ sacred bull in
Crete
• Herc grabs the bull by its
horns and tosses it to the
sea
• Then rides it back to
Mycenae where he
releases it
• The bull is later killed by
Theseus
The Horse of Diomede
• H. captures the
wicked king Diomede,
who has four savage
flesh-eating horses
• H. feeds Diomede to
the horses then
tames them and
releases them
• Horses are later
eaten by wolves
The Girdle of Hippolyta
• Asked to obtain the
belt of Hippolyta,
queen of the
Amazons
• Hippolyta is smitten
by the handsome
hero and simply
hands the belt over
The Cattle of Geryon
• Geryon, three headed
monster, has flock of
magical cattle
• Herc travels across N.
Africa and then builds two
great columns
• Kills the herders
• Drives cattle across
Europe to Mycenae
• Sacrifices cattle to Hera
The Apples of the Hesperides
The Hesperides are the
daughters of Atlas, the Titan who
holds the world on his
shoulders.
Prometheus is the Titan who
stole fire from the gods and
gave it to man; his punishment
is to be chained to a rock where
an eagle pecks out his liver
daily.
• Hercules finds the magical tree
of life and sees the apples
• He also finds Prometheus; he
kills the eagle and frees
Prometheus – who tells H how
to get the apples
• H offers to hold the world for
Atlas in exchange for the
apples, but Atlas decides not
to take the world back
• H tricks him by asking him to
hold the world for just a
moment
• H takes the apples and leaves
Atlas holding the world
Cerberus, the Hound of Hades
• Most daunting labor, H
must go to Hades and
steal Cerberus, who
guards the gates of Hell.
• H and Hades (the god)
fight and Hades is
wounded
• While Hades is being
healed, H wrestles the
dog and drags it to the
upper world
• H is rewarded with
immortality
Hercules’ Fate
• Marries Deianira (man-killer)
• While traveling, they meet up Nessus (the
centaur) who ferries people across a river
• While transporting Deianira, he attempts to
rape her and is shot by H’s poisonous
arrows
• Nessus convinces D to take some blood
and other fluids, smear it on H’s cloak to
keep him faithful
A Woman Scorned
• H falls in love with another Princess
• D put the “potion” on his cloak
• The potion burns H so badly he begs for a
funeral pyre into which he jumps
• D is so grief stricken she follows him
• H ascends to Olympus, resolves conflict
with Hera, marries Hebe (youth) and lives
in immortality
Perseus
• Son of Zeus and Danae, daughter of
Acrisius, king of Argos
• Mother is shut up in bronze tower to thwart
the prophecy that she would kill her father
• Zeus visits her in the form of a golden
shower and Perseus is born.
• Acrisius fearfully places mother and child
in a wooden box and cast in the sea.
• Zeus protects them and leads the safely to
shore.
Polydectes and Medusa
• Sent by Polydectes to retrieve the head of
Medusa, a gorgon, whose hair consists of
snakes and whose stare turn mean to
stone.
• Athena who hated Medusa instructs
Perseus on how to accomplish the feat.
• Graia, three hags, share an eye. He takes
it and forces them to tell him about the
Gorgons (3 sisters)
Three Useful Gifts
• Cap of invisibility
• Winged shoes
– Flies to Gorgon’s cave in the far west
• Bag for Medusa’s head
Death of Medusa
• Uses reflection in shield to approach
Medusa (backwards) and beheads her.
• The head’s powers help him complete
another heroic deed.
Andromeda
• Saved Andromeda from fierce sea
monster
• Then married her
• Turned several people to stone before he
and Andromeda could return safely.
• Had returned all his magical equipment to
Hermes.
• Perseus visits Argos; discovers his
grandfather at fled to Larissa in fear.
Prophecy Fulfilled
• Perseus invited to participate in games.
• His discus accidently hits Acrisius in the
head and kills him.
• Perseus the choses to become king of
Tiryns.
• After their deaths, Athena placed both
Perseus and Andromeda in the sky as
constellations.
Theseus and the Minotaur
Birth and Athens
• Son of Aegeus, king of Athens and Aethra
• Aegeus was childless until he visited the Oracle of
Delphi
– Tells him not open his wine bottle
– Aegeus doen’t understand
• Visits King Pittheus
– Gets Aegeus drunk
– Puts him in bed with daughter Aethra
– Theseus is conceived.
• Pittheus claims Poseidon was Aethra’s lover.
Theseus in Athens
• When an adult, Aethra explains he is heir
to the Athenian throne.
• She explains that Aegus buried some
possessions to prove that Theseus was
his son.
• Theseus retrieves his father’s sword and
sandals; then travels to Athens
• On the way he must over come several
trials.
Road of Trials
• Slays son of Hephaistos and daughter (a sow) of the
monster Typhon
• Forced to wrestle with king of Eleusis, Cercyon
– Cercyon dies
– Theseus becomes king of Eleusis
• At Athens:
– Discovers his father is being challenged by the
sons of Pallas
– His father has fallen under the spell of Medea, a
powerful witch once married to Jason
– Medea is hoping her son, Medus, will become the
king.
– Medea tries to poison Theseus but is
recognized by his father (who sees the sword)
– Plot revealed and Medea, with Medus, flees
from Athens
• Next Theseus must protect Athens (since he is
now King)
− Pallas’s sons
− Marathon bull
− Defeated the minotaur
What is the Minotaur?
• On the island of Crete, King Minos had
– Daedalus (father of Icarus)design a labyrinth
– The Minotaur was place it
• Annual tribute
• No survivors
– Theseus volunteers to confront it
• If he succeeds in killing the Minotaur, raise white
flag and goes home
• Aphrodite gave Theseus the king’s daughter
Ariadne
– Ariadne gives the hero a ball of thread and
sword
– Theseus survives the labyrinth and slays the
Minotaur
• Approaching Athens, he forgets to raise
the white sail;
– Aegeus thinks Theseus is dead and throws
himself off a cliff
– Theseus becomes king of Athens
Other exploits
• Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons
– Son Hippolytus
• Oedipus and Antigone
– Refuge at Colonus following their exile from
Thebes
• Phaedra (second wife)
– Accuses Hippolytus of rape then kills herself
• One version Hippolytus is exiled and dies in a
chariot accident
• In another, Hippolytus is killed by a sea monster
• Helen
• Kidnaps her (12-years-old) [She is a daughter of
Zeus]
• Her kinsmen attack and defeat Theseus
• Takes refuge on the island of Scyros
– The king fears him
– Pushes Theseus over a cliff as he admired the
view.
Romans (borrowed everything)
• When Alexander the Great began conquering
much of the known world between 338 BCE and
323 BCE, he attempted to “Hellenize” the
empire.
• He conquered Egypt and founded Alexandria
(the site of a great library of ancient texts) – this
became the center of Greek culture
• Romans associated their Gods with those of the
Greeks
Roman Gods
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Jupiter = Zeus
Mars = Ares
Juno = Hera
Minerva = Athena
Roman Heroes
• Deified emperors such as Julius Caesar
and Augustus
• Other divinities came from historical
personages – best example regards the
founding of Rome
Romulus & Remus
• Parents: Mars (god of war) raped Rhea
Silvia (first vestal virgin)
• As her punishment, the twins were taken
from her and set adrift on Tiber River
• Found and raised by a she-wolf
More on Romulus & Remus
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Later raised to adulthood by a shepherd
Grew into fierce hunters and warriors
Revered by followers
Set out to build a city at the site where the
she-wolf found them
• The brothers quarrel
Rome is founded
• Romulus kills Remus and weeps over his
brothers body
• Completes the city
• Named its king and reigns for 40 years
• Then Romulus disappears into a
thundercloud
• Note: the biblical similarities to Moses,
Cain and Abel, and Jesus
Sources
• Davis, Kenneth C. Don’t Know Much About Mythology.
New York: HarperCollins, 2006.
• Google Images accessed 31 Aug. 2009
• Perseus Digital Library Project. Ed. Gregory R. Crane. 8
Sept. 2008. Tufts University. 30 Aug. 2009.
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu.
• The Theban Saga. Ed. Andrea Webb Deagon. U. of N.
Carolina-Wilmington. 30 Aug. 2008.
http://people.uncw.edu/deagon/myth/
• The Theoi Project: Greek Mythology. Ed. Aaron T.
Atsma. 2008. 31 Aug. 2009. http://www.theoi.com