THE HEROES
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Perseus
Theseus
Hercules
Bellerophon
Daedalus
PERSEUS-1
 Son of Zeus and Danaë
 Danaë and son cast into sea by King Acrisius
 Dictys find the two, Polydectes loves Danaë
 Perseus swears to bring Medusa’s head as gift
 Hermes guides him to the Graiae, to Nymphs of
the North
 Hyperboreans gave him winged sandals, magic
wallet and cap of invisibility
Hermes gave him a sword, and Athena her shield
 Perseus cut Medusa’s head and escaped
PERSEUS-2
 On his way back, he stopped in Ethiopia to save
Andromeda from the sea serpent and married her
 He went back to the island of his mother to find
cruel Polydectes and his men feasting
 He showed them Medusa’s head, all of them
were petrified
 When throwing the discus he killed Acrisius, so
the oracle proved true
 He became the great-grandfather of Hercules
 Athena bore Medusa’s head on the aegis
THESEUS-1
 Son of King Aegeus of Athens
 Spent childhood in his mother’s home
 When old enough he was sent to Athens to
claim his father
 Always wanted to become a hero, travelled
by land, which was dangerous, killed all the
bandits on his way to Athens
 Father recognised him from his sword
 He became the proclaimed heir
THESEUS-2
 King Minos of Crete was punishing the
Athenians; every 9 years 14 youth from Athens
were given to Minotaur, half bull, half human
 Theseus wanted to kill Minotaur in the Labyrinth
 Ariadne helped him; gave a ball of thread so he
could find his way in the maze
 Theseus killed the monster and set sail for home
 Forgot to change the sail from black to white,
Aegeus threw himself into the sea (Aegean Sea)
HERCULES-1
 Son of Zeus and Alcmena
 Hera wanted to kill him, sent two snakes to his
cradle, Hercules killed the snakes
 The strongest man on Earth; killed his music
master by accident, (no intellect, sheer strength)
 In a time of madness he killed his wife Megara
and his own three sons
 Friend Theseus prevented him from killing
himself for punishment, took him to Athens
HERCULES-2
 King Eurystheus of Mycenae, urged by Hera gave
Hercules 12 difficult tasks to complete for purification
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Kill the Lion of Nemea
Kill the nine-headed Hydra
Bring back alive the stag with golden horns
Capture a great boar on Mount Erymanthus
Clean the Augean stables in one day
Drive away the Stymphalian birds
Bring back the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of Amazons
Bring back the three-bodied cattle of Geryon
Bring back the Golden Apples of the Hesperides, of Atlas
Bring Cerberus up from Hades
HERCULES-3
 Helped the gods in their fight against the Titans
 Freed Prometheus by killing the Caucasian Eagle
 Fought Death to bring Alcestis back from the
dead
 His wife Deianira kept the blood of Centaur
Nessus killed by Hercules as a charm to be used
if Hercules loved another woman
 Hercules wore the poisonous robe sent by his
wife, who was jealous of maiden Iole; died on a
pyre; and taken to heaven to marry Hebe
BELLEROPHON-1
 He was the grandson of Sisyphus
 Aspired to tame Pegasus, the winged-horse
 By the help of Athena’s charm he succeeded
 Anteia lied to King Proetus when her love was
not returned by Bellerophon
 Sent by the King to King of Lycia
 King of Lycia asked him to kill the Chimaera,
the monster with the lion’s head, goat’s body and
a serpent behind
BELLEROPHON-2
 After killing the flaming monster he buried the
Chimera’s body under heavy rocks (Çıralı,
Antalya)
 He became ambitious and tried to ride Pegasus
to Mount Olympus, which it rejected
 Bellerophone lived in misery thereafter
 Pegasus lived in Zeus’s stalls and became his
favourite horse
DAEDALUS
 He was the architect of the Labyrinth built for
the Minotaur in Crete
 Minos wanted to punish him for his help to
Theseus, put him and his son Icarus into the
maze
 Daedalus made wings from wax for their escape
 Icarus disregarded his father’s warning and due
to his ambition flew too close to the sun; his
wings melted, and he died