Perseus
Perseus- Family of Perseus Perseus was the son of Zeus and the princess Danaë, daughter of the mythical king of Argos Acrisius. The Birth of Perseus According to a prophecy, Danaë child would be so strong that would kill the king of Argos, so Acrisius decided to imprison his daughter in a dungeon to prevent any man from approaching her. But Zeus, the king of the gods, madly fell in love with Danae, so he transformed himself into a shower of golden rain and penetrated into the dungeon.
Danaë and Zeus gave birth to a child and called him Perseus. When Arcisius found out, he put Danae and her son inside a chest of wood and threw them into the sea. The wind guided Danae and Perseus to the island of Seriphos, where the fisherman Polydectes discovered them and offered them hospitality. Perseus was raised up secretly in Seriphos and soon he became a very strong and courageous man... time had come for Perseus to be challenged on a very dangerous feat: the feat of delivering the head of the Gorgon Medusa.
The Fight with the Medusa The Gorgon Medusa was a monstrous, yet mortal creature with glorious hair that had the power to turn anyone who looked at her into stone. Messenger of the gods Hermes borrowed Perseus his winged shoes and Athena borrowed her shield, and with these weapons Perseus succeeded in defeating the Medusa.
Perseus and Andromeda On his way back to Seriphos, Perseus fell in love with Andromeda of Aethiopia and they married.Together, they went to city of Larissa, where the funeral games were being held, and Perseus participated. While he was competing in a game, he threw the discus so far, that it struck his grandfather Acrisius fatally, fulfilling this way the prophecy once been told.
Struck by fate, Perseus founded the city of Mycenae in a small distance from the city of his grandfather.
Theseus
Theseus- Theseus was a very important Greek hero who combined strength, power and wisdom. He was the mythical founder of Athens, Greece. According to Pausanias, Theseus was also the first person who applied certain rules to the game of wrestling and elevated it into an art.
Family of Theseus Theseus was the son of Aegeus, the king of Athens, and his wife Aethra. Aegeus, concerned that he had reached a certain age without having descendants, went to Delphi to consult the Delphic oracle, but he received a prophecy he could not understand. So, on his way back home, he decided to stop by at the city of Troezen and ask its King Pittheus for advice.
However, Instead of supporting him, Pittheus rather tricked Aegeus to lie with his daughter Aethra, in the hope that Aethra would conceive a child. But in the same night, Aethra had been previously seduced by the Greek god Poseidon. This way, Theseus was considered to have had two divine origins.
Childhood of Theseus Before heading off to Athens, Aegeus left a sword and sandals under a rock and told Aethra that when his son was strong enough to lift the rock, she should send him to Athens. Knowing who the father of Theseus actually was, Aethra agreed.
Theseus grew up in the palace of Pittheus and indeed became an extraordinarily strong man. At the age of 16, he already was capable to lift the rock and leave for Athens. Although Theseus was advised to travel by sea, he prefered to take the land route from Troezen to Athens; this way, he had to go through numerous adventures and obstacles, also known as the "Labors of Theseus".
The Adventures in Athens When Theseus reached Athens, he did not reveal his identity at first. Aegeus’ new wife Medea, who already had a child with Aegeus and possessed the gift of prophecy, saw a threat in Theseus and told Aegeus that Theseus was conspiring against him. So Aegeus sent Theseus away to Marathon to tame the Cretan Bull. Theseus was able to accomplish the task and, back in Athens, he sacrificed the bull to Apollo Delphinius.
When he returned to Athens, Medea again tried to harm Theseus by poisoning him. But at that point, Aegeus recognized his son from his sandals and his sword and knocked the cup from his hands. From that moment on, father and son were reunited and Medea was exiled with her son to Asia. Theseus became the king and founding hero of Athens and always occupied a special place in the hearts of the Athenians.
Labors of Theseus
The Pine-Bender of Corinth
The Club-Man of Epidaurus
The Bandit Sciron
The Wrestler Cercyon
Myths about Theseus
Theseus and the thread of Ariadne
Theseus kidnaps Helen
Theseus and the Minotaur
Theseus and the Amazons
Family of Theseus Theseus was the son of Aegeus, the king of Athens, and his wife Aethra. Aegeus, concerned that he had reached a certain age without having descendants, went to Delphi to consult the Delphic oracle, but he received a prophecy he could not understand. So, on his way back home, he decided to stop by at the city of Troezen and ask its King Pittheus for advice.
However, Instead of supporting him, Pittheus rather tricked Aegeus to lie with his daughter Aethra, in the hope that Aethra would conceive a child. But in the same night, Aethra had been previously seduced by the Greek god Poseidon. This way, Theseus was considered to have had two divine origins.
Childhood of Theseus Before heading off to Athens, Aegeus left a sword and sandals under a rock and told Aethra that when his son was strong enough to lift the rock, she should send him to Athens. Knowing who the father of Theseus actually was, Aethra agreed.
Theseus grew up in the palace of Pittheus and indeed became an extraordinarily strong man. At the age of 16, he already was capable to lift the rock and leave for Athens. Although Theseus was advised to travel by sea, he prefered to take the land route from Troezen to Athens; this way, he had to go through numerous adventures and obstacles, also known as the "Labors of Theseus".
The Adventures in Athens When Theseus reached Athens, he did not reveal his identity at first. Aegeus’ new wife Medea, who already had a child with Aegeus and possessed the gift of prophecy, saw a threat in Theseus and told Aegeus that Theseus was conspiring against him. So Aegeus sent Theseus away to Marathon to tame the Cretan Bull. Theseus was able to accomplish the task and, back in Athens, he sacrificed the bull to Apollo Delphinius.
When he returned to Athens, Medea again tried to harm Theseus by poisoning him. But at that point, Aegeus recognized his son from his sandals and his sword and knocked the cup from his hands. From that moment on, father and son were reunited and Medea was exiled with her son to Asia. Theseus became the king and founding hero of Athens and always occupied a special place in the hearts of the Athenians.
Labors of Theseus
The Pine-Bender of Corinth
The Club-Man of Epidaurus
The Bandit Sciron
The Wrestler Cercyon
Myths about Theseus
Theseus and the thread of Ariadne
Theseus kidnaps Helen
Theseus and the Minotaur
Theseus and the Amazons
Jason was the son of Polymeda, who was an aunt of Odysseus and Aeson, an expelled king of Thessaly, who was unjustly overthrown from his throne by his half brother Pelion.
Upon his birth, his parents pretended that Jason had died at birth and secretly gave the child to the wise Centaur Chiron to be protected from the enemies. Jason grew up safely in the Mountains of Pelion, practicing perfectly his body and mind under the guidance of the gentle Centaur.
By the age of twenty, Jason, with the help of goddess Hera, decided to return to his father's kingdom in Iolcus to re-claim his family's throne. On his way, Jason encountered a helpless old woman and offered himself to carry her across a river; the old woman, in fact, was no other than Hera in disguise who was putting Jason's kind soul to a test. While crossing the river, Jason lost his sandal and therefore arrived at Iolcus with only one sandal.
When Pelias saw Jason he got very much frightened because once a prophecy had warned him he would lose his life from the "one sandaled". In order to protect himself, Pelias set Jason an impossible feat: to bring back the Golden Fleece from the divine forest of Ares in Colchis. To accomplish this, Jason needed to pass the Black Sea between Colchis and Thessaly and, once there, to take the Golden Fleece away from its fierce guarding dragon. The journey would be long and the mission tedious and of great difficulty, so Jason needed to find a strong ship and brave shipmates. Goddess Athena, who was helping the goddess Hera, ordered from the shipwright Argos a fast ship with fifty oars; Athena herself was observing Argos' work. The spectacular ship was named after his builder, "Argo". The comrades that were chosen for the journey took the name Argonauts. All of them were volunteers and were exceptionally strong and brave warriors. Among them were the strong Heracles, Theseus,the king of Athens and the musician and poet Orpheus.While the ship of Argo was sailing along, Jason and the Argonauts went through numerous adventures, but since they always were frank and cooperative, they were given a lot of valuable information for their course and could pass any obstacle they encountered on their way.When they reached Colchis, they encountered Aetes, the King of Colchis. The king pretended to be friendly at first, although he didn't really want to give up the Golden Fleece. He therefore set Jason an impossible task: to plow the field with two fire-breathing bulls and then to sow the field with the teeth of a dragon, while armed men would be growing like plants.
The feat seemed to be impossible, but Jason was not alone. Medea, the daughter of Aetes who possessed magic powers, had fallen in love with Jason and helped the hero through by giving him a magic stone to throw to the armed men. By doing so, Jason managed to accomplish Aetes' order successfully. However, Aetes then went back on his word and set his army to attack the Argo at night. Medea, who knew about her father's plan, quickly brought Jason to the grove where the Golden Fleece was hanging. She sang the dragon to sleep with a lullaby and Jason quickly seized the Golden Fleece and ran back to the ship. Jason and the Argonauts rowed away and Medea followed them. Later on Medea became Jason's wife. When the ship of Argo returned to Thessaly, Jason found Pelias still unwilling to give up his land. So Medea put a spell to Pelias to sleep and convinced his daughters that her father had died. In order to return to life, they were advised to cut him to pieces and boil- and so they did. Without knowing, they killed their father all by themselves. Jason and Medea lived happily together for 10 years, when Jason fell in love with Glauce, a princess of Corinth. When Medea found out about her husband's affair, she killed all her children and then fled from Thessaly. Jason grew old lonely and in the end he killed himself by falling from the stern of the Argo.
Upon his birth, his parents pretended that Jason had died at birth and secretly gave the child to the wise Centaur Chiron to be protected from the enemies. Jason grew up safely in the Mountains of Pelion, practicing perfectly his body and mind under the guidance of the gentle Centaur.
By the age of twenty, Jason, with the help of goddess Hera, decided to return to his father's kingdom in Iolcus to re-claim his family's throne. On his way, Jason encountered a helpless old woman and offered himself to carry her across a river; the old woman, in fact, was no other than Hera in disguise who was putting Jason's kind soul to a test. While crossing the river, Jason lost his sandal and therefore arrived at Iolcus with only one sandal.
When Pelias saw Jason he got very much frightened because once a prophecy had warned him he would lose his life from the "one sandaled". In order to protect himself, Pelias set Jason an impossible feat: to bring back the Golden Fleece from the divine forest of Ares in Colchis. To accomplish this, Jason needed to pass the Black Sea between Colchis and Thessaly and, once there, to take the Golden Fleece away from its fierce guarding dragon. The journey would be long and the mission tedious and of great difficulty, so Jason needed to find a strong ship and brave shipmates. Goddess Athena, who was helping the goddess Hera, ordered from the shipwright Argos a fast ship with fifty oars; Athena herself was observing Argos' work. The spectacular ship was named after his builder, "Argo". The comrades that were chosen for the journey took the name Argonauts. All of them were volunteers and were exceptionally strong and brave warriors. Among them were the strong Heracles, Theseus,the king of Athens and the musician and poet Orpheus.While the ship of Argo was sailing along, Jason and the Argonauts went through numerous adventures, but since they always were frank and cooperative, they were given a lot of valuable information for their course and could pass any obstacle they encountered on their way.When they reached Colchis, they encountered Aetes, the King of Colchis. The king pretended to be friendly at first, although he didn't really want to give up the Golden Fleece. He therefore set Jason an impossible task: to plow the field with two fire-breathing bulls and then to sow the field with the teeth of a dragon, while armed men would be growing like plants.
The feat seemed to be impossible, but Jason was not alone. Medea, the daughter of Aetes who possessed magic powers, had fallen in love with Jason and helped the hero through by giving him a magic stone to throw to the armed men. By doing so, Jason managed to accomplish Aetes' order successfully. However, Aetes then went back on his word and set his army to attack the Argo at night. Medea, who knew about her father's plan, quickly brought Jason to the grove where the Golden Fleece was hanging. She sang the dragon to sleep with a lullaby and Jason quickly seized the Golden Fleece and ran back to the ship. Jason and the Argonauts rowed away and Medea followed them. Later on Medea became Jason's wife. When the ship of Argo returned to Thessaly, Jason found Pelias still unwilling to give up his land. So Medea put a spell to Pelias to sleep and convinced his daughters that her father had died. In order to return to life, they were advised to cut him to pieces and boil- and so they did. Without knowing, they killed their father all by themselves. Jason and Medea lived happily together for 10 years, when Jason fell in love with Glauce, a princess of Corinth. When Medea found out about her husband's affair, she killed all her children and then fled from Thessaly. Jason grew old lonely and in the end he killed himself by falling from the stern of the Argo.