Heroes Flashcards
Odysseus
He is a commander/leader of the Greek army.
Travels for 20 years trying to get back home to Ithaca after the Trojan War
Agamemnon
Assembles great army to bring his brother’s wife back from Troy. Success, but is killed by the wife and her lover when he gets home.
Perseus
King of Argos, son of Zeus by Danae
Magical equipment: winged sandals, invisibility helmet, magic sword, reflective shield
Kills Medusa and out pop Pegasus and Chrysaor
Kills sea monster, saves Andromeda, chained to a rock
Kills his grandfather by accident with discus
Theseus
King of Athens, Son of Poseidon/Aegeus
Many sexual affairs: abducts Helen (as a kid), tries to abduct Persephone, has a son by an Amazon
Kills 6 brigands
Kills Minotaur in Cretan labyrinth, with the help of Ariadne
Abandons Ariadne on Naxos
Fails to change his sails (so his mortal father, thinking him dead, takes his own life)
Marries Phaedra (Ariadne’s sister), who falls in love with his stepson, Hippolytus- whom Theseus curses and causes his death
Heracles
Son of Zeus by Alcmene, hated by Hera
Mortal father: Amphitryon
Rival of his evil kinsman, Eurystheus (who imposes on him the 12 labors)
Baby Heracles, wrestles snakes
He kills his family in a fit of madness sent by Hera
Heracles comes closest to being a PanHellenic/ Universal Hero, partly because he traveled all over the place to kill those monsters.
What are Heracles 12 Labors?
- Nemean Lion
- Lernean Hydra
- Cerinitian Hind of Artemis
- Erymanthian Boar
- Augean Stables
- Stymphalian Birds
- Cretan Bull
- Mares of Diomedes
- Belt of Hippolyta
- Cattle of Geryon
- Golden Apples of the Hesperides
- Capture Cerberus
Jason
From Iolcos
Builds the Argo: first every ship
Builds a team to go get stuff
Gets the golden fleece from Colchis with the help of local princess/daughter of Helios, Medea
Back in Corinth: remarries, and Medea, enraged kills their kids
What do Theseus, Perseus, Jason and Heracles have in common?
All travel to weird/non-Greek mainland places
All great at killing
All confront and defeat various kinds of hybrid creatures and weird animals.
All have divine and royal blood
All defeat and/or abandon women and other female beings
All of them are strongly coded as ultra-masculine and ultra-greek
