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0:13
Over two thousand years ago in ancient Greece, a blind poet known as Homer, along with the most famous authors, playwrights and historians of their day would record the tales known to us as “Greek Mythology”. They would speak of the great heroes of the land, the mighty gods of Olympus and the mortal men and women who were unfortunate enough to get in their way. But who was Zeus and why did he wage a war against his own father, and send a great flood to wipe out humanity?
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How was mankind created by Prometheus and why were the horrors of the world unleashed from Pandora’s box? What awaited the souls of the dead in the realm of Hades and how were monsters such as the Hydra, the Cyclops and Medusa slain by famous heroes? From the 12 labours of Hercules to the Trojan War, this is the Entire Story of Greek Mythology.
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In the beginning, there was only chaos, a great void of emptiness. But from the chaos sprung Gaia, Earth, as well as Eros, Love. They were then joined by Night and Day, who would put an end to the reign of Erebus, Darkness, with the eternal cycle of dusk and dawn emerging. Lastly would come Tartarus, the deepest depths of the world, where condemned souls would be sent for punishment. But these would not be the only primordial beings to emerge,
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for Gaia would birth one more. Uranus, the Sky.
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The two would then unite and produce 12 children; 6 sons and 6 daughters. These children would be known as the Titans. Among them was Oceanus, a great river that encircled the world. He would be joined by his brother Hyperion, the Sun, who would ride his great chariot across the sky, shining light down upon the Earth. But when day became night, his daughter Selene, the Moon, would emerge, shining her light into the darkness. But Uranus was a cruel father to the Titans,
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locking his children deep within the Earth. To escape, they would look to their mother Gaia, who fashioned an indestructible sickle that she gifted to her youngest and strongest son Cronus. Cronus would patiently wait, and when Uranus next came to lie with his mother, he would jump out and slice off his father’s genitals which fell into the sea. From them would spawn Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty and the first of a new generation.
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Having defeated his father Uranus with the sickle, Cronus would take his place as ruler of the world, but his reign was not to last as Cronus would have 3 sons and 3 daughters with his sister Rhea, with these children becoming known as the Gods.
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Cronus, however, was just as cruel as his own father and having recently been informed that one of his children was prophesied to overthrow him, would swallow each of them whole as they were born.
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Only one would escape this horrible fate, with Zeus, the youngest of his children, being saved by his mother Rhea. Not wanting to lose her last child, Rhea would hide Zeus on Mount Ida in Crete and instead feed her husband a rock dressed in infant’s clothing, with the Titan consuming it none the wiser. Zeus would be raised by his Grandmother Gaia on the island, being hidden away until he reached manhood and was strong enough to challenge his father.
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When the time came Zeus would return, striking down Cronus and releasing his siblings from his father’s stomach. With his brothers and sisters now at his side, Zeus would wage war for 10 long years against the Titans, releasing from the depths of the earth the hundred-handed giants, as well as the Cyclops, legendary craftsmen who would forge Zeus a mighty thunderbolt, Poseidon a trident and Hades a hat of Invisibility, turning the tide of the war.
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With the Titans defeated, Zeus would imprison them in Tartarus, deep within the earth, where they would remain in torment for eternity. Having led the Titans in battle, a special punishment was reserved for Atlas, who was cursed to hold the sky on his shoulders forever. Only a few Titans would escape punishment, with Themis, the Titan of law and order, and her son Prometheus, who had allied with Zeus at the start of the conflict,
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being pardoned and allowed to live their lives amongst the Gods. With the world now free of the Titan’s rule, the three brothers Zeus, Poseidon and Hades would decide what realm each would claim, with Zeus receiving the sky, Poseidon the sea and Hades the Underworld where the spirits of the dead would reside.
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Taking up home on Mount Olympus, Zeus and his fellow gods would become known as the 12 Olympians, ruling over mortals and monsters alike.
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While the Gods now ruled Earth, Prometheus, one of the only titans spared, was not satisfied with its inhabitants, he saw only beasts, mindless creatures that were barely worthy of attention. And so Prometheus would fashion man from clay, sculpting his new creation in the image of the Gods. But Prometheus was not content with his new creation as man dwelled in the caves just like other beasts. And so he gave them fire, a great primordial flame,
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that would allow them to emerge from the cave, to fashion tools and rise from the darkness. Man would soon come to rule over all other creatures, but Zeus was not happy. He wanted them to show gratitude to the gods and so demanded that an animal sacrifice be made at each meal, but left it to Prometheus to decide what part of the animal would be offered. But Prometheus’ loyalty lay with man rather than the Gods. Wanting to give them an advantage,
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he would kill a bull and divide it into two parts, presenting both to Zeus. On one side lay the tender and juicy meat, hidden under the unappealing stomach of the beast. On the other side, lay the bare bones of the animal, concealed by a thick layer of delicious fat. Zeus would choose the parcel covered in fat to be offered to the gods, but when he stripped away the top layer to discover that only the bones remained, he would become enraged and so
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decided to punish man by taking away the fire Prometheus had gifted them. But without fire, man went back to darkness, retreating into the caves. Wanting to save his creation, Prometheus would scale Mount Olympus to steal the fire of the gods. With his great torch in hand, he would return to earth, gifting his creation fire and allowing civilisation to start once again. When Zeus looked down to see fire on earth yet again, he was furious, taking Prometheus
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and chaining him to the side of a mountain. Each day Prometheus would lay in torment, as Zeus sent an eagle to feast on his liver. But as Prometheus was immortal, each night, the liver would grow back, only to be consumed once again the following day. On and on the punishment would go with his suffering continuing for millennia.
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But Zeus was not done and wished to punish humanity further, asking Hephaestus to craft a being capable of inflicting great suffering upon man. And so taking up clay from the earth, Hephaestus would shape the first woman. From Aphrodite she gained her emotions and beauty and from Zeus an insatiable curiosity. Hermes would give her the gift of speech but also grant her her name, Pandora, meaning ‘all gifts’, as she had received an offering from each of the gods.
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Pandora was then given a final gift by the gods, a sealed box that she was told contained special gifts, but was forbidden from ever opening. Zeus would then instruct Hermes to deliver Pandora to Earth, where she would soon marry the Titan Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus. Prometheus had advised his brother not to take anything from the gods, but he was so struck by Pandora's beauty that he accepted her without thought. For a time the two would live happily together,
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exploring nature and having a daughter named Pyrrha who brought them great joy, but in all her curiosity, Pandora’s mind would always wander back to the box. As days turned to weeks, and weeks to months, her curiosity turned into a burning desire. Finally, she could resist no more, peeking into the box to see what was inside. But the moment she did, a great cloud filled the air. Out sprung all the evils Prometheus had kept away from man,
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with greed and envy, as well as old age and disease, all escaping into the world. By the time Pandora managed to close the lid, there was only one thing remaining inside, hope. It was to be Zeus’ greatest punishment, for with hope, men would cling on to their lives through all adversity, ensuring they endured the hardships that now burdened them for the rest of time.
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And so ended the Golden Age of Man, a perfect time, where humanity lived without care or worry. Never growing old, they would live off the wild fruits of the land, enjoying all that nature had to offer. But with old age escaping from Pandora's box, their time on earth had come to an end. Next would come the Age of Silver and then the Age of Bronze, where man would become arrogant, failing to worship the gods and forging weapons to wage war on each other. Vicious and cruel,
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man would draw the anger of Zeus, who was so appalled by man’s lust for war, would decide that humanity deserved nothing more than to be completely wiped from the earth. The only feasible option he saw to do this was to unleash a great flood upon the world. And so he asked his brother Poseidon to gather all his strength and strike his trident upon the deepest depths of the ocean. The wave created was so powerful that it would eclipse the tallest mountains,
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crashing down upon the cities of man below. Rains would pour from the heavens and winds would strike the water until it consumed all the eye could see. Those who survived would soon succumb to starvation, until finally, all dry land had disappeared. There would be only two survivors, Pyrrha, the daughter of Pandora, and Deucalion, the son of Prometheus. They had been forewarned by Prometheus that a great flood was coming and so had built a
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ship to survive the coming destruction. Their little boat would survive the ravages of Poseidon’s great storm, drifting alone in the vast oceans, while they mourned for their fallen kin. They would soon drift towards Mount Parnassus, the peak of which remained the only place the oceans had not consumed. Believing his job was done Zeus would command the rains to cease, and for the waters to recede, with the Earth becoming calm once again.
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But although the earth was now still, it was devoid of human life. Deucalion and Pyrrha would ask the gods how they could rebuild humanity, with the Titan Themis being sent to answer their prayers. To bring back their fellow man, Themis instructed that they each travel along the mountain, throwing stones behind their backs as they went. Day after day and night after night they would each throw stones behind them,
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with those thrown by Deucalion growing into men and those by Pyrrha into women. And so it was that humanity was born once again. With the crimes of their ancestors washed away, they were granted a second chance, able to choose a path of their own making. Only time would tell if they would be as brutal and destructive as those that had preceded them. But this time humanity would be protected, for on Mount Parnassus, Deucalion had found a gift,
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Zeus, the king of the Gods ruled from his throne on Mount Olympus, with his symbols of the thunderbolt and eagle becoming omens to humanity. Zeus was responsible for all weather changes, from thunderstorms to raging blizzards depending on his mood. The Greeks considered Zeus the greatest of the gods, with those who bowed before him receiving good fortune and those who dared to defy him subjected to terrible punishments.
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Having now taken control of the world, Zeus would look for a wife to rule by his side. But the King of the Gods was famous for his infidelity, with him having no less than seven wives during his reign. The first to marry Zeus would be the nymph Metis, the goddess of wisdom, with her soon falling pregnant with his child. But Zeus had been warned by his grandparents, Gaia and Uranus, that Metis was destined to bear him a treacherous son, who would one day take his throne. Seeing no
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other choice, Zeus would swallow Metis before she gave birth, in the hopes of avoiding the prophecy. But after he did so, Zeus would begin to suffer a terrible headache, with the pain becoming so intense that he would ask for his head to be split open with an axe. From the gap in his forehead would spring the child Metis had been carrying inside her, a daughter named Athena, the goddess of war and wisdom, fully grown and ready to take her place as one of the Olympians.
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Zeus’ second wife would be his aunt Themis, the Titan of justice and law, who had betrayed her own kind, to side with the gods during their war with the Titans. The pair would have only three children together, however, they would come to garner great power over the mortal world. Known as The Three Fates, these sisters would become the goddesses of destiny, spinning a thread of life that would determine the road each individual soul would take.
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The youngest sister would be known as Clotho, “The Spinner”, as she was responsible for spinning the thread of each human life as they were born. Controlling if and when a soul was created, it was only through Clotho’s great power that a new life would come to be. Her older sister, Lachesis, “The Alotter”, would determine the fate of each person. Using her rod, Lachesis would measure the length and nature of every thread spun upon Clotho’s spindle,
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and in doing so would plot out the duration, as well as every major event of each human life. And finally, the eldest and most feared sister would be known as Atropos, “The Unturning”. When a mortal's allotted time on earth had come to an end, Atropos would take her great shears and end their life by cutting through the thread.
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Zeus would go on to have many more wives, fathering numerous gods and goddesses alike,
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but for his seventh and final wife, he would take his older sister Hera, the goddess of women and marriage, with Zeus having finally found a queen to rule by his side.
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But even after his marriage to Hera, Zeus’ lustful eye would extend beyond the heavens with the king of the gods continuing to pursue other women. Fathering countless children, Zeus would be related to nearly every god and hero, with him often disguising himself to gain the affection of women who drew his eye. One such woman, Europa, was the princess of the city of Tyre, and sister to the famous hero Cadmus. One day, as she was picking flowers by the coast, Europa would draw the
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attention of Zeus, with the king of the gods deciding to claim her as his own. To hide his infidelity from Hera, Zeus decided to transform himself into a magnificent white bull before travelling down to Earth. Upon seeing the bull, Europa would be mesmerised by its beauty and so decided to climb upon its back. The moment she mounted him, however, Zeus would set out at full speed, sprinting straight into the sea. Screaming in terror,
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Europa would grip desperately to the bull’s horns as it ran across the vast ocean. To reassure the terrified princess, Zeus would decide to reveal his true identity, telling her he was not merely a beast but instead the King of the Gods. The two would eventually arrive at Crete, the island on which Zeus was hidden as a child, where she would bear him many children. Their offspring would eventually become some of the most renowned men of Greece,
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with Minos, the king of Crete and owner of the legendary Minotaur being amongst them. To commemorate his love for Europa, Zeus would name the continent where they stood “Europe” in her honour, and would recreate the image of the white bull in the stars, which would become known as the constellation Taurus.
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Hera, wife of Zeus and Queen of the Gods, was the protector of marriage and women, being deeply respected in Greek society. Although she was revered, she was also one of the most vengeful and spiteful Gods on Mount Olympus, making her a poor match for her husband Zeus, whose numerous affairs would constantly draw her anger. Despite being his queen, Hera would only bear him two of the twelve olympians, Ares and Hephaestus, with the other gods coming from Zeus’ numerous affairs.
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One of Zeus’ most insulting acts of infidelity would be with the princess Io, one of Hera’s most devoted priestesses.
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When Hera came to investigate, in an attempt to protect Io from his wife, Zeus would transform her into a beautiful white cow. But the queen of the gods was not fooled by the deception, and knowing that she had caught Zeus red-handed, would demand that he give her the white cow as a present. Knowing that refusing the request would only confirm Hera’s suspicions, Zeus saw little choice but to accept, with Hera locking Io in a cave,
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where she would be guarded by the hundred eyed monster known as Argus. The perfect guardsman, Argus could sit with half his eyes asleep and the other half awake, never breaking his watch. Zeus was too terrified of Hera to intervene himself, but he would eventually send the messenger god Hermes to free the miserable Io. A master musician, Hermes decided to defeat Argus not through strength, but through wit. Approaching the monster as a friend, he began playing his
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pipes and singing sweet lullabies until Argus began to fall asleep. As the hundredth eye finally shut, Hermes would take out his sword and slay the beast, before releasing Io from her prison. To thank Argus for his service, Hera would take his eyes and set them in the tail of the peacock, her favourite bird, which would become a symbol of her power. Not yet finished with Io, she would send a gad-fly to torment her as she made her escape, almost driving the woman insane.
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Io wandered long and far, with the sea which she ran along being named the Ionian Sea in her honour. The Bosporus, which means Ford of the Cow, would also be named to commemorate the moment she passed by during her wanderings. Io would eventually arrive at the Nile in Egypt, far away from Hera, where Zeus would finally be able to restore her human form. The two would have a child, Epaphus,
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with Io becoming the ancestor to many of Greece’s greatest heroes, including Perseus and Heracles.
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Leto, yet another of Zeus’ lovers, would experience the full extent of Hera’s jealous rage. After finding out Leto had laid with Zeus and fallen pregnant with twins, Hera would send the great serpent Python to torment her, forcing Leto to flee across Greece in a desperate search to find refuge and a place to give birth to her children. But Hera would forbid any city from providing her with shelter, with Leto travelling from Athens to Crete, from Lemnos to Samos,
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with none willing to take her in for fear of upsetting the queen of the gods. Only the island of Delos was willing to offer Leto refuge, but she was still unable to deliver her children, as Hera, still scheming against her, had trapped Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, on Mount Olympus, preventing any births from taking place.
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After nine days and nights of agonising labour the other goddesses would take pity on Leto, retrieving Eileithyia from Olympus, and finally allowing her to give birth. Leto would name one child Apollo and the other Artemis, the god of Archery and goddess of the hunt, who would grow up to become fully fledged gods of Olympus. Upon the birth of the twins, towns and cities across the known world would arrange
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great parties in their honour, with the city of Thebes hosting the greatest celebrations of all. Yet of all the city’s inhabitants, one would not take part in the festivities, Queen Niobe, whose beauty was matched only by her arrogance. Boasting to all who would listen, Niobe mocked Leto for having just two children, arguing that as she had many more, seven sons and seven daughters, she should receive the honours instead.
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Upon hearing the insult, Leto was furious that a mortal queen would dare to disrespect her, and so sent Apollo and Artemis to the city of Thebes to enact her revenge. Raining down arrows from above, Apollo would kill each of her sons and Artemis every daughter, with Niobe left alone in despair. Distraught at the loss of her children, Niobe would flee to her homeland of Sipylus, crying uncontrollably and begging the gods to put an end to her pain.
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Taking pity on the queen, Zeus would transform her into a great stone, forever ending her suffering. Located in Western Turkey and known as the Weeping Rock, Niobe can still be seen grieving to this day, with tears flooding from her eyes wherever it rains, as the water flows through the porous rock.
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Apollo, the youngest twin, was the god of archery, light and music. He was also closely linked with prophecy, with him travelling to Mt Parnassus, where the great snake Python, which had chased his mother across the land, had made its home. Taking his revenge, he would slay the beast with countless shots from his golden bow, constructing a great temple where its body fell, a site that would become the home of the famous Oracle of Delphi.
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Known as the Pythia, the Oracle would become one of the most influential figures in ancient Greece, where anyone from great kings to common farmers went for advice. Said to be the mouthpiece of Apollo, she would inhale the vapours rising from her chamber and go into a frenzied state, delivering the god’s prophecies through her psychotic and demented chanting.
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Following his great victory over Python, a beast he had killed with over a thousand arrows, Apollo was filled with pride, declaring himself the greatest archer to have ever lived. So proud was Apollo, that when he saw Eros, the youthful god of love, holding his own bow and set of arrows, Apollo would laugh at the child, declaring that he was unfit to even wield such a weapon. Filled with rage, Eros would swear revenge against Apollo, promising to show him the
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full extent and true power of his bow. Following Apollo to the River Peneus, Eros would soon spot the River’s daughter, the beautiful Daphne, sitting upon the shore. Taking aim with his bow, Eros would fire a gold-tipped arrow at Apollo, causing him to fall madly in love with her. Yet he would fire a second arrow at Daphne, one tipped with lead, that would make her feel nothing but disgust at the sight of Apollo.
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And so, as the God of Archery approached Daphne overcome with desire, she would flee at the very sight of him, running through the forest in a desperate attempt to escape. Consumed by Eros’ spell and longing to confess his love, Apollo would chase her through the woods, using his divine powers to quickly catch up and reach her. Terrified of the god, Daphne would cry out to her father, the River God Peneus, for help. He
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would answer her call, with her soon beginning to feel a great heaviness overcome her limbs. Slowing to a halt, her skin would turn to bark and her hair to leaves, until finally, Daphne’s transformation was complete. Where a young and beautiful woman had once stood was now, the first Laurel tree, with Apollo using his powers of eternal youth and immortality to make the Laurel tree’s leaves evergreen,
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ensuring they kept their colour all year round. Mourning his lost love, Apollo would carry a laurel wreath wherever he went, making sure that Daphne was always close to his heart.
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Apollo’s most important child would be Asclepius, a famous physician who was so skilled that he was able to bring the dead back to life. But this would draw the wrath of Hades, as these resurrections destroyed the balance of nature and deprived the Underworld of new souls. To restore the natural order, Zeus would kill Asclepius with a thunderbolt, yet at the pleading of Apollo, Zeus would later resurrect him, with Asclepius becoming the god of healing and medicine. Asclepius
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would later father Hygieia, the goddess of cleanliness, from whom we derive the word Hygiene.
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Goddess of the hunt and twin sister of Apollo, Artemis was a deadly archer, watching over hunters and ensuring that nature was kept in check. A goddess of the moon and one of three virgin goddesses alongside Athena and Hestia, Artemis was quick to anger, protecting her chastity by any means possible. When the hunter Actaeon, a grandson of Cadmus, accidentally stumbled upon her as she lay bathing in the forest,
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the goddess was quick to punish him. Turning Actaeon into a deer, she would set his 50 hunting dogs upon him, with the hunter suffering a horrific and painful death for his mistake.
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Poseidon, brother of Zeus, ruled the seas from his magnificent palace beneath the waves. Known as the Earth Shaker, Poseidon would create all earthquakes, travelling across the oceans in his golden chariot, with him stirring and calming the waters with his famous trident. One of his harshest punishments would be inflicted upon Minos, the king of Crete. After Minos refused to sacrifice his best bull to Poseidon, the god would curse Minos’ wife to fall in love with the beast,
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which eventually led to the birth of the half-man, half-bull creature known as the Minotaur.
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But while he usually kept to his own domain in the seas, Poseidon would grow tired of Zeus’ rule on Olympus. Alongside Athena, Hera and Apollo, Poseidon would attempt to dethrone Zeus, but the rebellion would ultimately fail. Zeus would punish Poseidon and Apollo by sending them to serve king Laomedon of Troy, where they would spend an entire year building the city’s giant and famous walls, walls that would
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later have to withstand the force of Greece’s mightiest armies during the Trojan War.
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Athena, the goddess of war and wisdom and the child of Zeus and Metis, was known for her love of strategists and cunning heroes, helping many of them on their great quests. But she was also a proud goddess and to stake her claim on the world, she decided to compete for patronage of a great city in eastern Greece, which was yet to be named. Competing against her Uncle Poseidon, the two would attempt to give the city the best gift. Poseidon would strike the ground
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with his trident, making a stream of water rise up for all to see, but as the water was salty, it could not be used to tend the land, with the city's inhabitants unimpressed. But Athena, wanting to gift the city something they had never seen before, would place the palm of her hand on the earth, with the first olive tree emerging. Not only would it feed the people of the land, but it would also have many uses, with the oil it produced used in cooking,
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medicine, perfume, candles, and athletics, bringing numerous benefits to the ancient world. With Poseidon hanging his head in shame, the gods would deem Athena victorious, with the city taking her name and becoming known as Athens, the capital of Greece and one of the most important cities of its era.
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The inventor of mathematics, Athena also had a fondness for music, inventing the trumpet and flute, as well as being the patron of artists and craftsmen. She was particularly proud of her skill in weaving, although this would bring her into conflict with a young girl from Libya named Arachne. Highly skilled in the craft, Arachne would boast she was the greatest weaver to ever live, challenging Athena to a competition. They would each produce a tapestry of the gods,
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with the person that demonstrated the most skill being crowned victorious. The two would weave furiously for hours until finally both pieces were complete. But to Athena’s surprise, Arachne’s was far better than her own. Furious, she struck Arachne on the head again and again until she dropped to the floor. But rather than kill her, Athena transformed the girl into the first spider, where she would use
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her talents to weave beautiful webs, with the creatures known as arachnids taking her name. If you, unlike Arachne, want to avoid Athena’s wrath, make sure you subscribe and if you're feeling very generous, we've just launched a new feature called super thanks, where you can help support the channel and get your message highlighted for us and others to see.
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Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, was born from the genitals of Uranus, making her the oldest of the Olympians. A mischievous god, she would use her powers for her own amusement, making Zeus sleep with mortal women so he would have to face the anger of Hera. Responsible for sexual attraction in both mortals and the gods alike, she would often be accompanied by Eros, known to the Romans as Cupid, whose arrows could charm any creature,
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with the two striking love into the hearts of unsuspecting mortals across the world.
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For one man in particular, Eros shot many arrows into the hearts of potential lovers, who found themselves attracted to a beautiful young man who went by the name of Narcissus. While he was blessed with great beauty, he was also burdened by vanity and arrogance, taking pleasure in cruelly rejecting the advances of the many women who pursued him. But soon, he would cross paths with the nymph Echo. Cursed by Hera after she became the object
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of Zeus’ affections, Echo was unable to use her voice except to copy the words of others. Echo had been in love with Narcissus for some time, but when she finally found the courage to approach him, all she could do was repeat what he said. Unamused, Narcissus would cruelly reject her too, and in doing so would crush her spirit. In her grief, she would slowly waste away until only her voice remained, a voice that can still be heard
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today as Echo repeats our words back to us. But Echo would not go unavenged, as Nemesis, the goddess of vengeance, had been watching. When Narcissus next bent down to drink from a lake, he would finally find the one he loved, yet it was not a woman, but instead his own reflection. Mesmerised, he stared deeply into his own eyes, unable to turn away. For weeks he stayed by the pool, gazing at his own reflection, until finally, he could endure it no more. Realising he would
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never be with anyone as beautiful as himself, he would take a dagger and plunge it into his heart.
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From where his blood touched the earth would bloom a beautiful flower, the first Narcissus, with the word narcissist stemming from his story.
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But while some, like Narcissus, would become lost in the depths of love, others would seek endlessly to find it. One such man, Pygmalion, was a great artist from the island of Cyprus. But after many years of unlucky love, he had given up on women entirely, resigning himself to a life of solitude and instead focusing all his attention into his art. Beginning work on a new statue, Pygmalion would labour day after day, until the figure of a woman
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would begin to appear before him. Working harder than he ever had before, Pygmalion would spend hours chiselling the most intricate of details into his woman of stone, shaping her slender face and carving out each lock of hair, until finally, his masterpiece was complete. As he stepped back to admire his work, Pygmalion was struck by the beauty of his creation. Never before had he seen a more perfect statue, nor even a real woman, who could match what he saw before
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him. Spending hours holding the statue’s stone hands and kissing its cold and lifeless lips, Pygmalion would grow ever sadder and more lonely, as he realised that he would never find a woman he loved more than the one he had carved from stone. Spending night after night in the workshop, Pygmalion would pray to the gods to bless him with a woman as perfect as his statue. But as he prayed, the stone figure behind him would begin to transform.
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Its cold and lifeless hair would turn into long and flowing locks while its grey and cracked skin would soften and become warm to the touch. Looking up in surprise, Pygmalion would be shocked to see a face smiling back at him, not one of stone, but one of flesh and blood. Always happy to help those seeking love, Aphrodite had answered his prayers, with the once lifeless statue introducing herself as Galatea, before stepping down from her pedestal
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and embracing Pygmalion with open arms, his years of loneliness and isolation finally over.
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But while Aphrodite took joy in helping young couples find love, she was also a vain and jealous goddess, and would take revenge against those who stole the spotlight away from her. Such was the case with the Greek princess Psyche, a mortal woman who was so beautiful that it was said she surpassed the goddess of love herself. With men from every corner of the earth coming to gaze upon Psyche, they would soon forget about
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Aphrodite entirely, with her altars becoming neglected and her temples falling to ruin. Furious that none were paying her attention, Aphrodite would call upon her companion Eros, demanding that he use his powers to make Psyche fall in love with the most vile and despicable man on the face of the earth. But when Eros went to carry out her instructions, he too would be struck by Psyche’s beauty, falling deeply in love and for the first time, refusing to follow Aphrodite’s commands.
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However, as Eros would now refuse to strike any man with love for Psyche, she would grow sadder and more lonely as the years went on, before finally turning to the Oracle of Delphi for help. Following the Oracle’s instructions, Psyche would travel to a magnificent palace where it was said her husband would come to claim her. But upon arriving, the palace’s servants would warn Psyche that her new husband was a secretive man, and would only visit her in the dark of night,
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with her never allowed to ask for his identity, nor seek to look upon his face. Overjoyed with her new life, Psyche would spend every day in the palace’s beautiful gardens, but one day, Psyche would be overcome by her curiosity, taking an oil lamp and lighting it in the early hours of the morning. Looking down, she would be overcome with joy, as her husband was none other than Eros, the young and handsome god of love.
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However, in her excitement, Psyche would lose her grip on the lamp, with the hot oil falling down onto Eros’ shoulder, causing the god to wake up in fright. Disappointed that Psyche had failed to keep her trust in him, Eros would tell her that the marriage was over, before flying back to mount Olympus. Distraught at the loss of her husband, Psyche would visit Aphrodite, begging the goddess for a chance to see Eros once again.
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But Aphrodite had not forgotten her hatred for the girl who had stolen the world’s attention away from her. And so when Psyche arrived to beg at the foot of her throne, Aphrodite would laugh in delight, setting the girl an impossible task. If she wanted to see her husband again, Psyche would have to travel to the underworld and ask Persephone, the queen of the dead, to place a fragment of her beauty within a golden box.
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Travelling to the underworld, Psyche would come to the River Styx, and after paying Charon’s fee, would be ferried across its dark and haunting waters. Arriving in the throne room of Hades and Persephone, Psyche would approach the queen of the dead, who was happy to give her assistance, placing a fragment of her beauty within the golden box. But as Psyche began the trip back to Olympus, she would become overwhelmed by curiosity once again,
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lifting up the lid of the golden box and taking a look at the fragment of Persephone’s beauty contained within. But such things were not meant for mortal eyes, with Psyche falling to the ground and being enveloped by a dark and endless sleep. It was at this moment that Eros, moved by the lengths Psyche had gone to find him, would fly down to earth and use one of his arrows to save her from the grip of eternal sleep. Returning to Olympus, Zeus would arrange for them a great wedding
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celebration where he would grant Psyche the gift of immortality. And so it was that Psyche, whose name means soul, would become a goddess. In her union with Eros, Love and Soul would now be forever linked, with their child Hedone, the goddess of pleasure, bringing joy to mortals across the earth.
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The god of smithing, and the son of Zeus and Hera, Hephaestus would have a difficult start to life. He was born lame and so his mother Hera, after seeing the deformity, decided to throw him off Olympus into the sea to drown. Surviving the fall, Hephaestus would later return to the home of the Gods and take his revenge, crafting a golden throne for Hera that would not allow her to stand back up once she sat upon it. It would only be through the intervention of
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Zeus that Hera would escape, with the king of the gods securing her release in exchange for gifting Hephaestus the goddess Aphrodite, the most beautiful Olympian, as his wife. Hephaestus would become a great inventor and fashioned many of the palaces on Olympus, as well as the equipment of the gods, with Athena’s breastplate, Hermes winged helmet and sandals as well as Helios’ Chariot all being crafted in his legendary forge.
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Some of his most famous work would be the bow and arrow of Eros, as well as the magnificent armour and shield of Achilles, with Hephaestus’ creations aiding the greatest heroes of Greek Mythology.
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To the Romans he was known as Vulcan, the god of fire, who would forge his creations from a workshop beneath Sicily’s Mount Etna, with it being said that the smoke and lava emitted by the volcano came from Vulcan’s great forge beneath the surface.
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Ares, the god of war, delighted in battle and took pleasure in the slaughter of men and the sacking of towns. He was hated by mortals and gods alike as he represented unrestrained rage, cruelty and bloodshed, with the gods playing tricks on him for their own amusement. Ares had a long term affair with Aphrodite, the wife of Hephaestus, with the two sleeping together whenever her husband was away. When Hephaestus found out he
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was furious and decided to forge an invisible net to hang over his bed. When Ares came to lie with Aphrodite again, the two would be trapped naked beneath the net, unable to move, with all the gods of Olympus called out to see. Laughter would ring out throughout the heavens with the humiliation only coming to an end when Poseidon took pity and decided to set them free.
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But Aphrodite was not the only lover of Ares, with him also having an affair with Eos, the goddess of the dawn, who would rise through the sky each morning to clear the path for her brother Helios, the sun, so that he could make his daily journey across the earth. But upon finding out about the affair, Aphrodite would jealousy put a curse upon Eos, causing her to have an uncontrollable lust for the young mortal men of the world.
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And so one day, just as the morning hours were coming to an end, Eos would look down upon the Earth, with her gaze settling upon the great city of Troy. For in the city was a young Trojan prince named Tithonus, so handsome that Eos was unable to look away. Descending to Earth, Eos would introduce herself to the prince, with the two soon falling in love. At the end of each morning, when her duties were complete, Eos would travel down to Troy
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and meet with her beloved prince, but the more she grew to love him, the more she could not bear the thought of losing him to old age or war, to starvation or disease, or any of the other terrible ways mortal lives come to an abrupt end. And so, on her return to Mount Olympus, Eos would visit Zeus, begging him to make Tithonus immortal, a request he was happy to grant. But Eos had made one fatal mistake, as she had not asked for Tithonus to be given eternal youth.
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The two would live happily at first, but as the years went on, and grey hairs began to appear on the prince’s head, he would begin to realise the terrible fate that lay before him. By the time a century had passed, Tithonus would find himself crushed under the unbearable weight of age, his limbs no longer working and his mind having deteriorated, but as much as he wished for death, he knew it would never come.
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With sadness in her heart, Eos would take Tithonus’ fragile body and lock it away in a grand chamber where he would be safe from the outside world. After years had passed and the prince had withered away until he was little more than bones, Eos would transform Tithonus into the first cicada, an insect known for its long lifespan, and for making noise during the early hours of dawn, when Eos carries out her duties in the sky above.
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Hermes, the messenger god and patron of thieves was known as a trickster amongst the gods, often teasing and annoying his fellow divinities. When he came of age, he assumed the role of messenger, travelling with a golden rod as a mark of his authority. Aided by his winged helmet and sandals, he would use them to fly around and deliver messages, frequently travelling between Olympus and the Underworld. Here, he would help Hades, acting
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as a shepherd for the souls of the dead, guiding them as they made their way to the afterlife.
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Like the other gods, Hermes was known to father many children with various women, but one of his sons, Pan, the god of nature and fertility, would be born with the features of a satyr, creatures that were part man and part goat. But when he was born, Pan’s mother, a nymph named Dryope, was so horrified to see her newborn baby with a pair of horns, a full beard and hooves, that she would run away screaming in terror at the very sight of him. However Hermes would take his child
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up to Mount Olympus and introduce him to the rest of the gods, who were so intrigued by the boy’s hideous appearance and charmed by his playful attitude, that they would soon come to adore him. None would love him more than Dionysus, the god of wine and parties, who would give him the name Pan, meaning ‘all’, as he was beloved by all the gods of Olympus. But much like his father, Pan was known for his many affairs with Nymphs, the nature deities
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that inhabited streams and forests across the world. But one nymph by the name of Syrinx, would become the object of Pan’s affections, with him pursuing her through the marshes where she lived. Terrified of the god, Syrinx would try desperately to escape him, transforming herself into a bed of water reeds when she neared the river’s edge. When Pan finally reached the river, he would tear through the marsh trying to
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uncover the terrified nymph. But as he did so, a strong breeze would blow through the reeds, producing a beautiful melody unlike any he had heard before. Inspired by the sound, Pan would uproot the reeds and bind them together with wax, creating a set of pipes. Sitting down, he would play a tune in the memory of his lost love Syrinx, with the instrument being named the panpipes after its creator, and carried by the god wherever he went.
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God of wine and parties, Dionysus would have an unusual birth, when his mother, Semele, asked Zeus to appear before her in his true form, the sight of which would cause her to die of terror. Taking the infant that was growing inside her, Zeus would place it in his thigh until the baby was fully grown, with Dionysus being born a few months later. Becoming one of the most loved gods in Greece, Dionysus would be seen as a symbol of pleasure,
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with his followers engaging in mass drinking, crazed dancing and love making. Known as the liberator, Dionysus would create a new drink called wine, which helped his followers stem their pain while also bringing them joy and euphoria.
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While he spent much of his time partying, Dionysus was also a generous god, willing to grant mortals their deepest desires. After saving a close friend of Dionysus, King Midas was granted a single wish in thanks. Obsessed with wealth and fortune, Midas asked for his deepest desire, the power to turn anything he touched into gold. Dionysus would grant Midas his wish, with him returning to his palace in joy,
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touching everything the eye could see. Soon, the floors, walls, and even his clothes were gold, with Midas flaunting his wealth to guests from across the Kingdom. After displaying his abilities for hours, Midas would become parched, ordering his servants to fetch him some water. However, as the liquid touched his lips, it too would turn to gold. Panicking, he would reach out across the table, but the bread, wine,
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meat and fruit would all turn into the precious metal, nothing he touched could be consumed. Cursing his gift, Midas would begin to cry, with the sound of his sobbing alerting his daughter, who came to console him. But as she touched his hand, her fingers would begin to stiffen. Soon her whole arm was gold and before long all that remained was a statue of a little girl, reaching out to comfort her father. Mourning for his lost child, Midas would return to Dionysus, begging him
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to revoke his gift. Pitying the man, Dionysus instructed him to bathe in the river Pactolus, with his golden touch being washed away in the water. Becoming a normal man once again, the story of King Midas would serve as a warning for those who would prioritise wealth above all else.
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One of the 12 Olympians and the sister of Zeus, Demeter was the goddess of farming, ensuring that the harvest was rich and the land remained fertile. Under her watch, the fields knew no decay, with the earth consumed in an endless spring. But there was one thing she prized above all else, her daughter, Persephone. However, Persephone had another admirer, with Hades taking a keen interest in her. One day while she was strolling through a
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meadow, a beautiful flower would bloom before her, a Narcissus, something she had never seen before. But when Persephone reached down to pluck it, the earth would break open and swallow her, with Hades dragging Persephone down to the Underworld, where she would be forced to marry him. Distraught at her daughter’s disappearance, Demeter would search for nine days and nights until the sun god Helios revealed her captor's identity. Demeter would lock herself away for
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an entire year, refusing to return until Persephone was released. But without the goddess of farming, the world entered into a great famine, with the fields turning barren. It was only now, with humanity on the brink of starvation, that Zeus was forced to intervene, ordering Hades to return Persephone to her mother. Although Hades would agree, before she left he fed Persephone the food of the dead, a single pomegranate seed, binding her to the Underworld for eternity.
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In order to save humanity, Zeus was forced to make a compromise. For nine months of each year, Persephone would return to live with her mother on Olympus, with Demeter’s joy causing nature to bloom across the earth. However, for the final three months, Persephone would return to Hades in the Underworld, a period we now call winter, with Demeter’s grief at the absence of her daughter causing the plants to die and the world to freeze over. And so it was that the seasons began.
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Of all the Gods of Ancient Greece, there were few feared more than Hades. The brother of Zeus and Poseidon, Hades was lord of the Underworld, an isolated place where the souls of the dead would reside. But although he ruled the kingdom of the dead along with his wife Persephone, Hades would not command death itself, instead, that power lay with Thanatos, who would claim the souls of mortals when they died,
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with Hermes the messenger god, then guiding the souls to the shores of the Underworld. Waiting at the shore would be the eternal ferryman, Charon, who was the only one able to guide the deceased across the deadly River Styx, a giant waterway that separated the Earth from the Underworld. Only those who had coins placed under their tongue when buried were able to pay Charon's fee, with those who could not afford the journey,
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destined to wander the shores of the River Styx for 100 years before they were allowed to cross. Having travelled along the River Styx, the souls would pass the white rock, before arriving at the giant adamantine gates of the Underworld, where Cerberus, the three-headed dog, stood guard, ready to devour intruders or those trying to escape. Resuming their journey and coming ashore, the souls would be directed towards the
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court of the Underworld, where three judges would decide their fate. The judges would examine each soul, looking through every action they had made while alive. For those who had not angered the gods, a tranquil place lay before them, but for those who had, an eternity of misery and suffering awaited. After a judgement was reached, the souls would be directed along one of three paths, either to the Fields of Asphodel, the eternal paradise of
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Elysium or to the deepest depths of Hades’ realm: Tartarus, a place of scalding fire.
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The Fields of Asphodel were a peaceful place for those who did not achieve anything notable in life, good or evil. It would be here that most souls were sent and after 1,000 years had passed and their time had finally come to an end, each person would drink from the River Lethe, whose waters would wipe away their memory. Born anew, each soul having forgotten their previous life would be reincarnated and returned to the earth, starting the eternal cycle once more.
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The second path however would lead to Elysium, a paradise of eternal bliss where the souls of heroes, demi-gods and especially good mortals would reside. Those sent here were loved by the gods and could experience all of life’s pleasures, with parties, feasts and hunting consuming much of their time. Each soul was given the option to return to earth, but most would choose to stay and not have to endure once again the hardships of life.
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Within Elysium but across the shore lay the Isle of the Blessed, reserved only for the greatest of heroes, with Helen of Troy, Achilles and Odysseus all residing there for eternity. The third and last path would lead to Tartarus, the deepest depths of the Underworld, reserved only for the worst of criminals and those who had offended the gods. It would be here that Cronus and the other Titans would reside, looking on for eternity as new souls entered the realm of the damned.
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This would be the only place Hades would become involved, with the God himself designing and overseeing each soul’s punishment based on their previous crimes. For the Danaides, 49 sisters who had each killed their husbands, Hades forced them to fill a tub with water to cleanse them of their crimes. But as the tub would always leak, they would spend an eternity trying to fill it. Ixion, the first man to murder a family member and who had grown lustful for Zeus's wife,
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would be bound to a wheel of fire that would spin for the rest of time. Whereas, Tantalus, a man who had killed his son and stolen from Zeus, was cursed to eternal hunger and thirst. He would stand in a pool of water, with the branches of a fruit tree hanging above him. However, as he went to quench his thirst the water would recede and as he went to eat, the branches would rise out of reach, forever leaving him in a state of agony.
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But of all the punishments, the most famous would be given to Sisyphus. Having cheated death multiple times Sisyphus would pay the ultimate price for tricking the gods. Every day he was to roll a boulder up a steep hill, only to have it slip from his grasp as he neared the peak. Having to start over again and again, Sisyphus would suffer his punishment for the rest of time. Although Hades would have complete control over the underworld, his realm was so vast that he
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had to enlist the help of the Furies to carry out his punishments. But they would not only be confined to the realm of the dead. The murder of a family member was considered so terrible in Greek society that even those still alive could not escape Hades’ wrath. They would be hunted down and tormented by the Furies, three sisters from the Underworld, who would not stop until they had avenged the dead and driven their target insane. It would be the Underworld they called home,
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resting here before their everlasting torment of the human soul began once again. Travelling across the underworld would also lay the Fields of Mourning, a resting place for those who had spent their life pursuing love only to be rejected. The anguish they felt would condemn them to this dark and haunting forest, where they would forever mourn the love they never had. In the far corner of the underworld lay the land of dreams, an island
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accessible only to the gods of Olympus. Ruling over the island would be Morpheus, the god of dreams, who each night when all were asleep, would alongside his two brothers, control the dreams of not only mortals, but the gods too, either granting them pleasant visions of the future or haunting them with the worst of nightmares. So powerful was Morpheus over the unconscious mind, that he would be used to name the drug
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Morphine, a pain medication renowned for sending its users to sleep. The true seat of power however did not rest in the land of dreams, for the underworld had only one ruler, the mighty Hades who lived in a grand palace deep within the earth. Hidden away on an island engulfed by fire, those who searched for his home without an invitation would become lost in the dark and winding halls of the dead.
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But while the Underworld was filled with punishments, Hades and Persephone were not cruel rulers and would take pity on mortals who found their way to their kingdom. Orpheus, a famed musician and poet, had fallen in love with the beautiful Eurydice. But on their wedding day, Eurydice would be killed by a snake bite, with Orpheus left alone in despair. Grieving and desperate to see his wife once again, he would decide to travel to the underworld to retrieve her.
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Arriving at the river Styx, he would take out his lyre and play a beautiful song for Charon, who was so moved that he ferried Orpheus across the water for free. Upon reaching the other side, he would be confronted by Cerberus, with the tune he played so sweet, that the three-headed dog would be lulled into a deep sleep. Finally, he would reach the palace of Hades and Persephone, playing for them a song about his lost love Eurydice. With tears welling in his eyes,
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Hades would take pity on Orpheus, and agreed to release her soul, but only on the condition that Orpheus refrain from laying his eyes upon her until they were both out of the Underworld. Overjoyed, Orpheus would agree and began to lead his bride through the dark and winding halls of the dead, but as he neared the surface and the daylight shone upon his face, he would be overcome by excitement, turning around to look at his wife.
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But Orpheus had not yet completed the journey, and so, as his eyes fell upon her, Eurydice would be dragged back down into the realm of death, never to return. It was a lesson to all Greeks in the virtues of patience and restraint, for if Orpheus had resisted temptation when his goal was so close, Eurydice, the love of his life, would have been with him once again.
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With the gods having established control over the world and the realm of the dead, The Heroic Age would soon begin, with warriors from across the land embarking on great adventures that would become legend. The first in this generation of Heroes would be Cadmus. The brother of Europa, Cadmus would spend many months searching the land for his sister, but as she had been abducted by Zeus, her location would be impossible to find.
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Desperate for information, Cadmus would make his way to the Oracle of Delphi, but she would inform him that his sister was lost forever, and not to dwell on her absence. Instead, she would tell Cadmus the gods had special plans for him, and that he was to follow a sacred cow and found a city upon the place where it came to rest. Following the Oracle’s instructions, Cadmus would find the cow nearby,
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following it for days into the region of Boeotia, where it would finally lay down to rest. Upon that very spot he would found the city of Thebes, which would become one of the greatest cities of Ancient Greece, rivalling the likes of Athens and Sparta for power and influence. To sanctify the city and receive blessings from the gods, Cadmus intended to sacrifice the sacred cow to Athena, a ceremony that required water from a nearby spring. But when Cadmus sent
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his companions to collect the water, they would find the spring guarded by a ferocious dragon, who slew them as they tried desperately to escape. Hearing screams, Cadmus would run to the spring, only to find the dragon devouring his friends. Taking a spear, he would lunge forward and impale the beast, with the dragon unleashing a terrible scream as it took its last and final breath.
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Little did Cadmus know that the dragon was sacred to Ares, and that by killing it, he had committed a crime against the God of War. Ares would spare his life, but would force Cadmus to serve him as a slave for eight years before his actions could be forgiven. But for Ares, his troubles would not only be confined to earth, for on Mount Olympus, Hephaestus, the god of smithing, had discovered one of Ares's deepest secrets.
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Hephaestus was married to Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, but Aphrodite had not been faithful, having an affair with Ares. The romance had lasted many years, with Aphrodite secretly bearing Ares a child called Harmonia. When she came of age and Cadmus had finished his many years of service, Ares was so impressed by his devotion that he would offer his daughter Harmonia to Cadmus as a bride. Hosting a great wedding celebration in Thebes, the two would wed, with all the
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Gods of Olympus happy for their marriage bar one. For Hephaestus, having just found out his wife had had an illegitimate child, would present Harmonia with a cursed wedding gift, a beautiful necklace that would bring misfortune to any family who possessed it. Unaware of the curse the necklace contained, Cadmus and Harmonia would go on to rule the City of Thebes for many years, enjoying a long life and having 5 children together, 4 daughters and one son.
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Yet soon, the curse of Harmonia’s necklace would bring ruin to the House of Cadmus. Their youngest daughter Seleme would be the first to suffer tragedy. Having spent a night with Zeus, Seleme would fall pregnant with the god Dionysus, but the cursed necklace would soon bring about misfortune, with Seleme bursting into flames when she saw Zeus's true form.
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Her sister Ino would also suffer misfortune, with her husband Athamas going insane and killing their children, with Ino herself jumping to her death while trying to escape him. The third daughter of Cadmus, Agave, would give birth to a son named Pentheus, who would become the second King of Thebes after Cadmus decided to retire in his old age. But Pentheus would make a deadly mistake, deciding to ban the worship of his divine cousin Dionysus in the city. In revenge,
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Dionysus would drive all the women of Thebes into a frenzy, who would tear Pentheus limb from limb, with his own mother Agave, ripping off his head while under Dionysus’ spell.
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And finally, Autonoë, the last daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, would be mother to the hunter Actaeon, who would be transformed into a deer and devoured by his own hunting dogs after he accidentally saw the goddess Artemis bathing in the forest.
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With the necklace of Harmonia being passed from generation to generation, the curse of the house of Cadmus would continue, with each new descendant suffering misfortune. However, the necklace’s curse would torment one man, in particular, Oedipus, the seventh King of Thebes, whose tragic story would bring tears to the eyes of all who heard it.
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The son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes, Oedipus would face hardship from the very beginning of his life. His father, Laius, the city’s sixth king, had consulted the Oracle of Delphi about the future of his lineage. But the prophecy he received would not be to his liking, as it was foretold that he would die at the hands of his son. And so when his first son was born, Laius would bind his feet, hanging the boy on
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the branch of a tree to die. But a shepherd would soon stumble across the helpless child, retrieving him from the tree and taking him home to safety. As the child’s ankles had been damaged, he would name the infant Oedipus, meaning ‘swollen foot’. Wanting the best for the child, the shepherd would deliver Oedipus to the king and queen of Corinth, good people who could not conceive a child of their own.
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Oedipus would experience a happy upbringing in Corinth, but as he reached manhood, he would begin to wonder about his true parentage. Making his way to the Oracle of Delphi, he would ask who his parents were. In reply, the oracle only warned him to stay away from his homeland, otherwise he was destined to kill his father and marry his mother. Horrified by the prophecy, and believing that it referred to his foster parents,
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the king and queen of Corinth, Oedipus vowed to never again return to the city. Instead, he would travel to Thebes which, unknown to Oedipus, was the true land of his birth. On the road to Thebes, Oedipus would come to a narrow junction, where a large chariot blocked his way. But the chariot’s passenger, an impatient man, would speed past Oedipus, knocking him off the road while hitting him on the head with a stick.
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Furious, Oedipus would chase after the chariot, killing all those on board including the elderly man who had struck him. Unknown to Oedipus, he had already begun to fulfil the prophecy, as the old man lying dead at his feet was none other than his true father, King Laius.
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Continuing his journey, Oedipus would reach the gates of Thebes, only to discover that the city was plagued by a monster, the Sphinx, sent there by Hera to punish the city for the crimes of its kings. With the head of a woman, the body of a lion and the wings of a bird, the Sphinx would ask anyone wishing to enter or leave the city a simple riddle: “What animal has four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?”
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None had yet solved the riddle, and those who failed would be killed and eaten by the Sphinx. The rulers of Thebes were so desperate to get rid of the creature that they offered the throne to anyone who could kill it. Approaching the monster, Oedipus would be asked the riddle, with the Sphinx eagerly waiting for yet another kill. But after thinking long and hard, Oedupus would finally give his answer: Man. For in the morning, man is a child,
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crawling around on all fours. Then, at noon, in the prime of his life, man walks on just two legs. And finally, in the evening of his life, man walks with the aid of a third leg, a walking stick, to help him keep balance. Shocked by her defeat, the Sphinx would jump off a tall rock to her death, with Oedipus entering the city of Thebes as a hero. Being crowned King for ridding the city of the Sphinx, he would also be gifted the recently
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widowed Queen Jocasta as his wife, with the two having several children together. But unknown to Oedipus, he had just married his own mother, with the prophecy now complete. The two would live together happily for a time but it was not to last, with the gods casting a plague upon Thebes as punishment for the crimes of patricide and incest that Oedipus was still unaware he had committed. With the plague getting worse by the day,
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the shepherd that had saved Oedipus as a child, would finally reveal to him his true identity. Horrified by the revelation that she had married her son, Queen Jocasta would hang herself, with Oedipus soon finding her body. Overcome by grief at the death of his mother and wife, Oedipus would take the golden brooches from her robe and blind himself with their sharp pins. Disgusted by the revelation of his identity, the people of Thebes would exile Oedipus with
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only his daughter Antigone choosing to accompany him. Blind and poor, he would spend his remaining years wandering the land as a beggar, with all those he encountered hurling abuse at him for his crimes. The only comfort he received was knowing his daughter was by his side, with Oedipus dying an old man having realised that no mortal can outrun their fate. His story would resonate throughout the ages, inspiring the works of Sigmund Freud, whose
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Oedipus Complex would propose that every young boy would lust for their mother, while feeling resentment towards their father, much as Oedipus had.
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But although the House of Cadmus was the first great heroic family, a new line of heroes would soon emerge. For there was another kingdom that sat between the great cities of Athens and Sparta, Argos, ruled by king Acrisius. But Acrisius had been informed of a terrible prophecy by the Oracle of Delphi, warning him that his grandson, soon to be born, was destined to murder him. It would not be long until Zeus, having seen the king’s daughter Danae, would be
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struck by her beauty, sneaking into her room as a shower of gold. With the gold falling upon her, Danae would fall pregnant, soon giving birth to a son, a son she would name Perseus. But King Acrisius, terrified that the prophecy was coming true and not able to kill his daughter and grandchild, would banish them from his kingdom, locking them in a chest and letting it drift out to sea. Travelling for many days and nights at sea, they would soon arrive upon
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the shores of Serifos, where they would be discovered by the fisherman Dictys. Dictys would raise the boy as his own, with Perseus soon reaching manhood on the island. But not all would be well, for the fisherman’s brother, King Polydectes, had also noticed the beauty of Danae, and desired her as his wife. But she was always protected by her son Perseus, who never left her side. Wanting to have Danae to himself, King Polydectes would
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look to find a way to get rid of Perseus, with an opportunity soon presenting itself.
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Hosting a great feast, Polydectes would invite guests from across the island, with each man expected to bring a horse in Tribute. But Perseus, having no money to his name, and possessing great speed and strength, instead boasted he could easily deliver the King a greater gift, the Head of Medusa. It was the opportunity Polydectes had been waiting for, with him ordering Perseus to collect the head. Not expecting the king to take up his offer, Perseus
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would set out in despair, having only heard the terrifying tales of the creature that awaited him.
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But Medusa had not always been a terrifying creature. The daughter of the sea gods Phorcys and Ceto, Medusa was one of three sisters, renowned for their unrivalled beauty. The only mortal sister, Medusa would also be the most beautiful, with any man that set eyes on her immediately falling in love. But despite this, Medusa would dedicate her life to Athena, the goddess of war and wisdom, taking a vow of celibacy so she could serve as her priestess.
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However, one day while she was walking by the sea, the god Poseidon would be struck by her beauty, following her back to Athena’s temple where he would force himself upon her. Furious at the act performed in her sacred temple and not able to turn her rage upon her powerful uncle Poseidon, Athena would instead place the blame upon Medusa for allowing herself to be defiled and breaking her vow of celibacy. Wielding the power of the gods, she would curse Medusa,
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distorting her once beautiful features into a hideous visage. Where her long and flowing hair had once been was now a tangled web of snakes, and where her eyes had once seduced any man, would now turn those who looked upon them to stone. But Medusa’s sisters, who came to her defence, would not escape Athena's wrath, with each of them transforming into hideous creatures, with the three sisters becoming known as the Gorgons.
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Exiled from their homeland, the three sisters would find a new home in North Africa, but their troubles would soon continue, as warriors from across the world would come to hunt them for sport. As the years went on and their loneliness continued, the hate they felt for the outside world would begin to grow, with Medusa and her sisters killing any who came near.
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With Perseus having set out to slay Medusa, both Athena and Hermes would soon approach him offering aid, with Hermes gifting Perseus an indestructible sword and Athena giving him an exquisite shield, so polished that he could see his own reflection. Knowing he would need more items to defeat Medusa, Perseus would next seek the help of the Nymphs, forest deities that tended to the garden of the Hesperides. Soon finding the Nymphs,
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Perseus would ask for their assistance, with them gifting him a pair of winged sandals, Hades’ hat of invisibility and an enchanted bag which could safely contain Medusa’s head. Following the Nymphs’ directions, he would use his winged sandals to fly to North Africa, where Medusa’s cave was located. Sneaking into the cave Perseus would soon come across Medusa, sleeping amongst the stone corpses of her victims. Using the reflection in his shield,
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Perseus was careful not to look at her directly, with her gaze able to turn any man to stone. Seeing only her reflection, he would draw his sword and swiftly cut off her head, being careful not to look at her eyes as he placed it inside the enchanted bag. But to Perseus’ surprise, from Medusa’s body would spring Pegasus, a beautiful winged horse, Poseidon’s child who had been growing inside her all this time. Mounting Pegasus,
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Perseus would fly out of the cave and begin the journey home to Greece.
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Soaring across the ocean, Perseus would look down at the waves below, shocked to see a woman chained to a rock. The woman was the beautiful Andromeda, Princess of the Kingdom of Aethiopia, who had been placed there as an offering to the gods, in the hopes that her sacrifice would save the kingdom from the terrifying sea creature Cetus, who had been ravaging the shore, killing all those it came across.
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Captivated by Andromeda's beauty, Perseus would approach her parents, the king and queen of Aethiopia, offering to slay the creature in return for Andromeda’s hand in marriage. Relieved, they would quickly accept, with Perseus flying over the monster with his winged sandals, slashing it with his sword until the beast was dead. Returning Andromeda to the shore, the Queen would honour her word, giving Perseus her blessing, with the two soon marrying. With his new bride in hand,
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the pair would mount Pegasus, flying back to the island of Serifos, where Perseus’ mother awaited.
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But things were not as Perseus had left them. His mother Danae had continued to reject the advances of the king, but without Perseus there to protect her, she was forced into hiding. Having seen that King Polydectes had turned to violence to gain his mother as a bride, Perseus would fly down to the palace in anger, with the king's guards drawing their swords. Taking Medusa’s head from his bag, Perseus would hold it out before him,
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turning the soldiers to stone. Panicking, the king ran for his spear, but it was too late, with Perseus holding Medusa’s head before him, forever immortalising his terrified expression in stone.
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Finally reunited, Danae would embrace her son, thankful that she would no longer have to live in fear. Leaving the island behind them, Perseus, Andromeda and Danae would decide to return to Argos, the place of Perseus’ birth, where his grandfather, Acrisius, still ruled as king. But before he left, Perseus would return his gifts to the gods, with Athena taking Medusa’s severed head and placing it on her shield, a final punishment
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for her former priestess, with it remaining as a symbol of Athena’s dominance and power.
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Returning to Argos, Perseus was hailed as a hero for slaying Medusa, with all the townspeople encouraging him to join a local athletics tournament, where he could compete against some of the strongest men in Greece. With the event underway and Perseus dominating the competition, it would soon be his turn to throw the discus. Spinning with all his might, Perseus would forget his own strength, with the discus flying off into the crowd, killing a member of the audience. Running
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over to the body, he discovered that it was none other than his grandfather, King Acrisius laying dead on the floor, the discus having struck him on the head. And so, just as the prophecy had predicted so many years ago, King Acricius had died at the hands of his grandson, a lesson that no mortal can run from their fate.
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But having shed the blood of a family member, something that was deeply frowned upon and considered one of the worst crimes in ancient greek society, Perseus was no longer able to stay in Argos. Instead, he would found his own kingdom, Mycenae, north of Argos and west of Athens which would soon become the most powerful city in Greece. Its great walls were constructed with massive boulders, too large for any man to lift alone,
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with Perseus enlisting the help of the mighty cyclops, whose craftsmanship was unrivalled. Ruling over the city, Perseus and Andromeda would have many children together, with their family's reign lasting for generations to come. But unknown to them, one of their descendants would become the most famous hero of them all. For the son of Zeus and Alcmene, would be the great hero Heracles, whose famous 12 labours would echo throughout every corner of the world.
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But for all his fame and glory, Heracles’ beginnings hold some of the most tragic and sad tales of all Greek myth. As Zeus sat on his throne on Mount Olympus, he looked down upon the world, with the beautiful Alcmena, the grandchild of Perseus, catching his eye. Descending to earth Zeus would lay with Alcmena, with her soon falling pregnant with a son named Heracles, later known as Hercules to the Romans, with Zeus planning to make his son the next great king of Greece.
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But little did he know that his wife Hera, the Queen of the Gods, had been watching these events unfold. In the past she had sat idle, while Zeus had fathered many illegitimate children, but this time, she had finally had enough. When Zeus swore an oath to give kingship to the next descendant of Perseus, thinking it would be his son Heracles, Hera saw an opportunity to get revenge on her husband. When Heracles was about to be born, she used her magic to delay the birth,
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while also speeding up the birth of another descendant of Perseus, a child called Eurystheus. As Eurystheus had been born just mere seconds before Heracles, he had become the next descendant of Perseus, with Zeus being forced to give him the kingship instead. While Zeus could do nothing about his son’s lost kingdom, he did manage to get his own revenge on Hera. After Heracles was born, Zeus brought him up to Hera’s bed chamber on Olympus. As she
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was sleeping, Zeus placed the infant on Hera’s breast, where Heracles was able to feed on the goddess’ milk, stealing some of her divine power for himself. Startled, Hera woke up and threw the baby off her chest, with her milk spraying across the heavens. This milk would settle out in space, becoming known as the milky way. Zeus chuckled to himself and brought Heracles back to earth, placing him in a crib next to his mother. Back on Olympus, Hera was furious.
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This was too great an embarrassment for her to ignore, and so in an attempt to kill Heracles, she sent two snakes into his crib. To her surprise, Heracles just giggled and grabbed a snake in each hand, strangling them with the strength he had just stolen from her. Hera looked down at the scene in rage, vowing to make Heracles’ life as difficult as possible.
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Growing up, Heracles received an education from some of the most renowned masters of Greece, in all things from archery to music. One thing that became clear from a young age was that Heracles had a very short temper. This combined with his supernatural strength, made him dangerous to both his friends and enemies alike. Linus, his music teacher, found this out the hard way when he was teaching the young hero to play an instrument called the
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lyre. Heracles lacked the finesse to play the instrument and became infuriated by the constant corrections of his teacher. After some particularly harsh criticism, he ended up smashing Linus on the back of the head with the instrument, killing him instantly. While Heracles only received a minor punishment, his temper would go on to cause him many issues in his later life. Upon reaching manhood, Heracles would marry the Theban princess Megara, with the pair having
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three children together. However, Heracles’ good fortune was not looked upon favourably by Hera, who still harboured resentment for her husband’s illegitimate son. Not only was he now married but he was also in line to become the next king of Thebes. Hera would now act on the vow she had taken all those years ago. Heracles’ happiness could not continue.
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Heracles, completely oblivious to the scheming of Hera, came home one day to find his door broken down. Running inside, he found that his family were nowhere to be seen. When he cried out to them, several hideous monsters appeared from the back of the house and began to crawl towards him. Finding himself overcome with an unnatural rage, Heracles lashed out at the monsters, killing one with a powerful strike to the head. The other monsters began to run away in fear,
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but Heracles, now in a blind rage, would not allow any to escape, chasing them down one by one before killing them with his bare hands. It was only then that Hera dispelled her magic, lifting her illusion from Heracles’ eyes. The hero watched in horror as the monsters transformed back into their original form. His own family now lay dead before him. He frantically shook their bodies, trying to wake them up, tears flooding from his eyes. But it was too late,
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Hera’s magic had done its job and he would now forever live with the guilt of having murdered his own wife and children. As Heracles looked down at his blood-stained hands, he realised that he would have to atone for his crimes. The murder of a family member was considered one of the most serious crimes in Ancient Greece and if Heracles did not atone for his crimes, then the Furies would hunt him down and torture him for
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eternity. The only person he knew that could give him guidance was the famous Oracle of Delphi, and so he exiled himself from his home in Thebes and started his journey for redemption. The Oracle of Delphi was the mouthpiece of Apollo, able to deliver prophecies and guidance from the god. On this occasion, however, Hera managed to use her magic to influence some of the Oracles’ words. When Heracles asked what he should do to atone for his crimes,
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the Oracle responded that he had to serve King Eurystheus of Mycenae for 10 years, who was the descendent of Perseus that had been born just mere seconds before Heracles. Understanding his task, Heracles bowed to the Oracle, stood up, and began his long voyage to Mycenae.
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King Eurystheus had known of Heracles for some time and was deeply jealous of him. The two were cousins as they shared descent from Perseus, however, they were nothing alike. Heracles was strong and heroic whereas Eurystheus was cowardly and weak, often sending others to fight his battles for him. Arriving in servitude, Heracles bowed before his cousin, Eurystheus, who could barely contain his joy. Quickly accepting Heracles’ service,
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the King instructed him to carry out 10 labours over a period of 10 years, only after which would he be forgiven for his crimes. There was only one caveat, however, these labours would have to be completed without any assistance or payment. Heracles hung his head in shame, asking what his first labour would be. King Eurystheus told him of a ferocious lion that had been terrorising a village in the
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northeast part of his Kingdom named Nemea. The lion could not be stopped, its golden hide was impervious to weapons and its claws were sharper than any sword known to man. It had killed all those sent against it and the task would now lay with Heracles, who was sent to slay the beast. Aware that no sword or spear could penetrate the lion's hide, Heracles trained for several months, uprooting trees and lifting boulders to increase his strength. Stronger than ever,
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he could now confront the beast with his bare hands. Upon arriving at the lion’s den, Heracles passed the bodies of warriors, their swords and axes shattered on the floor. The lion then appeared and began to charge toward him, but just before it was about to pounce, Heracles stepped to the side, catching its neck in his arms. The two wrestled for hours, but when Heracles managed to get a good grasp on the lion’s throat, he squeezed with all his
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might until he heard a crack. The dead beast fell down to the floor. His first labour was complete.
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Realising the lion's pelt would aid him in his upcoming labours, he pulled out one of its razor-sharp claws, using it to skin the animal. He then threw the pelt around his shoulders like a cloak, using the lion’s head as a protective hood. As Heracles left the lair, he found a giant oak tree, which he lifted from the ground and stripped of its branches, whittling it into a club. This would be his new weapon and the lion skin his new armour,
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symbols of his path to redemption. As Heracles returned to Mycenae, draped in the pelt of the Nemean Lion, Eurystheus was shocked, never imagining his cousin would make it back alive.
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For his second labour, Heracles was sent to kill the Lernaean Hydra. And so he travelled to Lake Lerna, near the city of Argos, where the fearsome water serpent had made its home. Known as the ‘Hydra’, this beast had 9 heads, one of which was immortal, with its blood the most poisonous substance known to man. Upon his journey to face the creature, however, Hera wanted to make the challenge more difficult, hiding a giant crab deep within the lake.
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When Heracles arrived, he charged at the Hydra with his club, and with a massive swing took one its heads clean off. But to his horror, where one head had been, two new heads emerged in its place. Confused, Heracles began to cut off more heads, but this only made the situation worse, as each time one head was removed two more would spawn. As he was grappling with the beast, Hera’s giant crab would jump out from the water, pinning Heracles to the ground.
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With the two monsters attacking him, Heracles was sure that his death was close. But as the hydra moved towards him, an arrow flew out of the bushes and struck it in the side. Heracles turned around to see his nephew, Iolaus, aiming a bow at the monster. The boy had followed his uncle to the lake, hoping to help in any way he could. With the monsters distracted, Heracles reached for his club, swinging it with such force that he crushed the giant crab in a single blow.
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With his nephew now by his side, as Heracles sliced off a head, Iolaus would then cauterise the Hydra’s neck with a flaming torch, preventing any more heads from growing. The pair worked together for hours, slicing and cauterising until finally, no more heads remained. Heracles then knelt beside the Hydra's body, dipping the tip of his arrows in its poisonous blood. The slightest scratch from
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one of these arrows would prove fatal, something that would aid him in his upcoming labours. Despite defeating the Hydra, Eurystheus did not count this labour, as Heracles had been assisted by his nephew Iolaus, and therefore an additional 11th labour would have to be completed. As Heracles and Iolaus left the lake, to thank the crab for its service, Hera took its remains and cast its image up into the heavens, creating the constellation Cancer.
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For his third labour, Heracles was ordered to catch the Ceryneian Hind and bring it back alive to Eurystheus. The Hind was a beautiful creature, much like a stag, with bronze like hooves and a magnificent pair of golden antlers. Heracles then set off to Mount Ceryneia where the creature lived, but the Hind was extremely fast, being nearly impossible to catch, with Heracles chasing his prey for a full year before he was able to capture it.
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Infuriated that his cousin had completed the task so easily, Eurystheus would quickly set Heracles his fourth labour, to capture the Erymanthian Boar.
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For his fourth labour, Eurystheus sent Heracles to Mount Erymanthus, to capture alive a giant boar that had been ravaging the area. Not thinking much of the task, Heracles set off with enthusiasm, even deciding to visit his friend, the centaur Pholus, along the way. Centaurs were half men, half horse creatures, renowned for acting more like beasts than humans. Pholus was an exception however, being both
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friendly and intelligent and had been friends with Heracles since his youth. After Heracles arrived, Pholus decided to host a dinner party to honour his guest, inviting a few of the local centaurs, one of whom was Heracles’ old, intelligent and immortal archery teacher Chiron. As the feast began everything was going well, Heracles reminisced with his old teacher, before deciding to take a walk. On the way out, he came across a jar of wine on Pholus’ shelf,
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which he decided to crack open and take a large helping of. Little did he know that the wine was communal property of all the centaurs, something the God Dionysus had gifted them four generations earlier. The wine also had a powerful odour that the Centaurs could smell for miles around. As Heracles returned, he was confronted by a huge crowd of Centaurs demanding to know why he had drunk their sacred wine. His friends Pholus and Chiron tried to calm down the other Centaurs,
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but the situation soon got out of hand as the whole tribe had arrived, drawn by the wine’s odour. Enraged, the Centaurs tried to kill Heracles, but despite their numbers, they were unable to overpower him. In defence, Heracles began shooting them with his arrows coated in the poisonous Hydra blood, killing many with the rest then fleeing. Unfortunately, In the chaos, Heracles had accidentally shot his old teacher Chiron,
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who fell down screaming in agony. As he was immortal the wound did not kill him, but with the Hydra’s poison coursing through his veins, he would spend an eternity in pain. Zeus however, had watched the events unfold and decided to take pity on the old Centaur, taking Chiron’s spirit and casting it up into the heavens, creating the constellation Sagittarius. Confused as to how such a small arrow had killed the other Centaurs, Pholus picked an arrow up from
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the ground. As he lifted it up to his face to take a closer look, the arrow slipped from his fingers, landing on his hoof, with the poison killing him within seconds. After chasing the other Centaurs away, Heracles returned, but when he found that he had killed both his friend and his teacher, he was overcome with shame and regret. But unknown to Heracles, a centaur called Nessus was able to survive the massacre, running far into the mountains, where he would spend over
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a decade planning his revenge on the hero. Heracles completed his actual labour with ease, chasing the boar into deep snow, where he bound it in chains to bring back to Eurystheus. Upon seeing the giant monster, Eurystheus was petrified, quickly jumping into a large storage jar, refusing to come out until Heracles removed the boar from the room. Heracles could barely hide his amusement, but did as he was told and set the boar free. King Eurystheus
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then crawled out of the jar in embarrassment and quickly sent Heracles off on his fifth labour.
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For his fifth labour, Heracles was tasked to clean the Augean stables in a single day, using only his hands and without any assistance.
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Eurystheus believed the task to be impossible, sending Heracles on his way believing failure was certain. The stables belonged to King Augeas from the neighbouring kingdom of Elis. They housed 3,000 immortal cattle and had not been cleaned for thirty years. The stables were so overrun with animal dung that in some places the filth had piled several metres high, and no one dared approach them due to the awful smell.
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Upon arriving in Elis, Heracles visited King Augeas who promised the hero one tenth of the immortal herd as a reward if he was able to clean the stables before nightfall. As he made his way over to the stables, Heracles was bombarded with a horrid smell. It was even larger and more filthy than he had imagined, spanning the length of a small city.
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After taking a look around, Heracles himself thought the task impossible to complete. He instead headed to the nearby rivers Alpheus and Peneus, which he hoped would do the job for him. Obeying the restrictions Eurystheus had given him, Heracles used no tools, instead using his bare hands to dig a canal which flowed from the rivers down into the stables. Once completed, a great torrent of water came flooding into the stables, washing
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away years of filth in an instant. The water continued to flow into the surrounding farmland, fertilising the fields with an enormous amount of manure. This caused celebration in Elis, with the people cheering for Heracles as their farms were to prosper for years to come. Heracles would mark this occasion by creating the famous Olympic Games, which would occur every four years in Elis. But not all was well, as Eurystheus would
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refuse to count this labour as one of the 10, as he claimed the task had been accomplished for payment in the form of a portion of the immortal herd. An additional Labour would therefore be added to his service, bringing the new total now to 12 labours.
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For his sixth labour, Heracles was tasked with driving away a flock of man-eating birds from Lake Stymphalus. These birds were sacred to Ares, and sported iron beaks, capable of tearing through the toughest of armour. The birds were the size of Herons and excreted poisonous droppings, rendering the surrounding area uninhabitable. Upon arriving, Heracles would find a pair of giant bronze rattles, that had been placed on the fallen trunk of a willow tree, by Athena.
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Thanking the goddess for her aid, Heracles would begin to shake the rattles, with the noise they produced causing the birds enormous pain, with hundreds of them rising from the lake, forming a great flock above. Heracles then took his aim, shooting down as many as he could, until finally, those that had survived fled the lake, with his sixth labour now complete.
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When King Eurystheus saw his cousin returning successfully yet again, he realised that he had exhausted all of the difficult tasks within his kingdom. Needing more time to come up with one, he sent Heracles to Crete, an island near the Greek mainland, where King Minos would give him his next labour. King Minos had been gifted a beautiful white bull from the sea god Poseidon, with the expectation that he would sacrifice the bull in Poseidon’s
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honour. Instead of doing this however, King Minos decided to keep the bull for himself, thinking it too beautiful to kill. In revenge, Poseidon made the King’s wife fall in love with the bull, with this union eventually leading to the birth of the half-man, half-bull creature known as the Minotaur, a creature that King Minos kept in a Labyrinth beneath his palace. After the bull impregnated the King’s wife, Poseidon turned it mad,
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with the bull running around Crete, destroying everything in its path. While Heracles was not destined to kill the minotaur beneath the palace, that was a task destined for the hero Theseus, King Minos did want Heracles to capture the mad bull that was causing havoc in his kingdom. Accepting the challenge, Heracles went to confront the bull, and when the beast charged at him, Heracles would grab it by the horns and wrestle its head into the ground. After
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many hours had passed, the exhausted bull would finally submit, with Heracles then jumping upon its back. As the bull was a child of Poseidon, it could walk on water, and so Heracles would ride it across the seas to Mycenae, to show Eurystheus proof of his achievement. With his task complete and not wanting to kill an animal sacred to Poseidon, Heracles released the bull outside of the palace, where it went on to rampage the
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Greek mainland until it was finally, many years later, caught and killed by the hero Theseus.
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For his eighth labour, Heracles was tasked with bringing Eurystheus the Mares of the Thracian King Diomedes. These horses were fearsome creatures, known to breathe fire, with their aggression made worse by Diomedes feeding them the flesh of unsuspecting guests and strangers to his kingdom. As Heracles made his way to Thrace, he would be accompanied by his friend and lover Abderus, the son of Hermes. As they arrived, the pair made their way to the palace of Diomedes,
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where they witnessed the fire-breathing horses Heracles was tasked with collecting. The Mares were bound to the palace wall with cast iron chains, put on display for all to see, thrashing around and foaming at the mouth. But as he entered the palace to meet with king Diomedes, a foul-looking man with a nauseous stench, Heracles would hear a terrible scream behind him. Rushing out to see what had happened, Heracles would watch in horror,
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as the horses ripped into the corpse of his young lover Abderus, who had gotten too close to them in his curiosity. Filled with rage, Heracles charged back into the palace, killing the guards and grabbing Diomedes by the hair, dragging him outside. Giving the king a taste of his own medicine, Heracles threw Diomedes to the monsters, who began to devour their master. The flesh of Diomedes was so foul however, that the horses
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stopped eating him halfway through, forever put off the taste of human flesh. With the horses now docile, Heracles grabbed their chains and brought them back to Eurystheus, his task now complete.
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For his 9th labour, Heracles was tasked to retrieve the Girdle of Hippolyta, a gold and leather belt that ensured victory in battle. It belonged to Hippolyta, daughter of the War God Ares and Queen of the Amazons, a race of warrior women, who could fight better than almost any man, with them routinely raiding local tribes to assert their dominance. So Heracles set off east, bringing with him a small band of warriors in case he had to fight
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the Amazons. However, on arrival, Heracles was surprised by the Amazons’ hospitality, with Hippolyta herself taking a keen interest in him. Having heard of his famous labours and overcome by lust, Hippolyta would give him her girdle as a sign of her interest. But Hera, watching from Mount Olympus, could not believe her eyes. The task was going too well, and so to make this labour more difficult, she decided to intervene.
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Disguising herself as an Amazon, she made her way into the camp, walking amongst the women and sowing the seeds of distrust. Slowly convincing the entire tribe that Heracles had come to enslave them, the Amazons became outraged, mounting their horses and charging towards the men they had let into their camp. Heracles heard the commotion and rushed outside, where he saw the Amazons slaughtering his friends.
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He turned around in rage, thinking that Hippolyta had tricked him, keeping him away from his men so they could be slaughtered. Before the Queen could explain, Heracles lifted his club and struck her dead, her girdle not protecting her, as she had already gifted it to him. Heracles then ran outside, striking down any Amazon who challenged him. He managed to save a small handful of his companions and the group hastily left the camp heading home to Mycenae.
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Eurystheus had grown tired of Heracles beating any task laid before him, and so decided to send him to the farthest place he could think of, the island of Erytheia.
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For his 10th labour, Heracles was sent to Erytheia, to steal the cattle of a three headed giant known as Geryon. Heading south west, he travelled along the African coastline, but It did not take long for Heracles, unused to the intense and scorching heat of the continent, to become annoyed with the Sun itself. Halfway across the Libyan desert he took out his bow and threatened to shoot the Sun with one of his poisoned arrows if it continued to torment him.
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Quite distressed at this, the Sun came down in its human form, as the god Helios, begging Heracles not to shoot him. He promised to shine less intensely while Heracles was on his journey, also offering to give the hero his great golden ‘Cup’, a vessel shaped like a water lily, that Helios used to sail around the ocean at night.
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Finally reaching the island of Erytheia, Heracles was quick to see the herd of cattle he had to steal, along with Geryon, their giant three-headed owner. But wanting to be done with his task quickly, Heracles didn’t even bother to fight the giant, instead shooting Geryon with a poisoned arrow, killing him within seconds. Heracles then herded the cattle into Helios’ Cup and sailed home to Mycenae, where he delivered them to Eurystheus.
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For his eleventh labour, Heracles was tasked with travelling to the garden of the Hesperides, the daughters of the night, and collecting the golden apples that grew on a tree there, which granted immortality to anyone who ate them. Not only was the location of the garden unknown, but Hera had sent a hundred-headed dragon called Ladon, to guard the tree from which the apples grew. As Heracles set off to find the mythical garden, he first visited the titan Prometheus, who he
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thought would know of its location. Prometheus, the creator of mankind, had been chained to the side of a mountain after stealing the fire of the gods to give to humanity, and by the time Heracles found him, this cycle of punishment had been going on for centuries. Taking pity on Prometheus, Heracles broke his chains and set the titan free, finally bringing an end to the torment, with Prometheus then happily sharing the Garden’s location. However, he also warned Heracles that no
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mortal could pick the golden apples from the tree. Instead, he suggested that Heracles seek help from the titan Atlas, as he lived near the garden. Following Prometheus’ advice, Heracles would seek out Atlas, who was not difficult to find due to the Titan’s immense size. Atlas had fought against the Olympians in the war between the gods and the titans, but as he was defeated, Zeus forced him
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to hold up the sky for eternity as punishment. Approaching the titan, Heracles explained his situation and offered to make a trade: he would temporarily hold up the sky and give Atlas a much-needed break, and in exchange, Atlas would collect the golden apples. Thankful to be free of his burden, even for a short time, Atlas accepted the deal and went to collect the apples, transferring the weight of the heavens onto the shoulders of Heracles. Though he had achieved the
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impossible before, even Heracles struggled to bear the immense weight he now had to hold. As time went on, his muscles began to cramp, his body began to shake and he contemplated whether this would be the task that would finally break him. As the sun began to set, Atlas finally returned with a basket full of golden apples. With a grunt of relief, Heracles thanked the titan, moving to give him back the sky. Not wanting to take it back, Atlas offered to take the apples to
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Eurystheus himself, promising he would return and bear the weight of the sky once more. But Heracles would not be fooled. He thanked the Titan for his generous offer to deliver the apples, and offered to hold the sky for a little longer, but asked if Atlas would take the sky back, just for a moment, so he could put on his pelt to cushion his shoulders and head. Knowing the pelt would make a great difference and none the wiser, Atlas placed the apples on the ground and
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took back the sky from Heracles. As soon as he was free, Heracles picked up the apples and bid Atlas farewell, quickly returning them to Eurystheus to complete his labour. Atlas was enraged, cursing at the hero as he left, with his roars shaking the ground for miles around. As decades passed and then centuries, Atlas would become a part of the world itself, being transformed into stone, with his giant remains becoming known as the Atlas mountain range of North Africa.
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For his twelfth and final labour, Heracles was tasked with capturing Cerberus, the three headed dog that guarded the gates of the underworld. Descending to the Underworld and approaching Hades and Persephone, Heracles would explain that he had been tasked with collecting Cerberus as his final labour. Knowing that helping Heracles would infuriate Hera, who had always looked down on him, Hades allowed Cerberus to be taken, but two conditions had to be met. First, Heracles
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must use no weapons to capture Cerberus, and second, once his task was complete, Cerberus must be returned. Agreeing to the terms, Heracles set out to face the beast. Just as he had done with the Nemean Lion and the Cretan Bull before, Heracles grappled with the dog, wrestling it for hours until the beast was utterly exhausted. With his club in one hand and Cerberus in the other, he dragged the dog by its chains and made his way back to the realm of the living.
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Heracles then delivered Cerberus to King Eurystheus, who once again chose to cower in his jar, a now permanent installation next to his throne. The king poked his head out of the top of the jar, and while shaking in fear, agreed to release Heracles from his servitude, granting him pardon for his past crimes. Heracles was filled with joy, he had finally atoned for his crimes and was to be a free man. But before embarking on his
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next journey, he fulfilled his promise and returned Cerberus to the land of the dead.
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Heracles took some time to celebrate when he returned, enjoying all the pleasures of a free life. He was now a well-renowned hero and had admirers wherever he went. He would go on several more adventures, even joining the hero Jason and the Argonauts on their quest for the golden fleece. Heracles soon found another lover, taking the beautiful Deianira as his wife. However, as the newlywed couple were making their
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way to their home in the city of Tiryns, they came across a rapid river that they had to pass. On the other bank stood a centaur, who made his way over and offered to carry Deianira across on his back. Heracles accepted the offer, not recognising the centaur as Nessus, the sole survivor of the massacre Heracles had committed against the centaur tribe on the way to his fourth labour. Nessus had been plotting his revenge against Heracles for over a decade, with him now seeing
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the perfect opportunity to execute his plan. As soon as Nessus reached the other side of the river, he threw Deianira to the floor and attempted to violate her. Seeing this from the other bank, Heracles pulled out his bow and shot Nessus through the chest with a poisoned arrow, sending the centaur to the ground in agonising pain. In his last breaths, Nessus apologised to Deianira, and offered her a gift as a means of apology. He claimed that
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his blood had magic love properties, telling Deianira to discreetly collect it up in a vial, in case Heracles ever fell in love with another woman. As Nessus finally died, Deianira collected up his blood, keeping it hidden in case she ever needed to win Heracles back. Little did she know that she had just begun the chain of events that would lead to the death of her husband.
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The couple lived happily in Tiryns for a time and had several children. However, after a few years Heracles became tired of such a peaceful life and craved some of the action of his youth. Seeking some adventure, he left his family behind and set out to the kingdom of Oechalia, where his old archery tutor, Eurytus, ruled as king. Once he arrived, it only took a few days for Heracles to
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fall in love with the daughter of King Eurytus, a woman named Iole. Winning her affections, Heracles would take Iole home to the city of Tiryns, where his children and wife Deianira, were living. While Deianira was initially happy to see her husband return, she became worried when she saw him arrive with another woman, suspecting that he had been unfaithful. In her desperation to win Heracles back, Deianira retrieved the blood of the centaur Nessus that she
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had been hiding, hoping that its love properties would help her. She smeared the blood on a robe which she then gifted to Heracles, asking him to wear it to dinner that evening. When Heracles put the robe on later that evening, he immediately knew that something was wrong. Nessus’ blood began to stick to his skin, causing a horrible burning sensation. Heracles began to scream in agony and tried to rip off the robe, tearing out large chunks of his flesh in the
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process. The centaur Nessus had planned this all along. He knew that Heracles would shoot him with a poisoned arrow when he attempted to attack Deianira. By convincing Deianira to gather his blood that was tainted with the hydra poison, Nessus had craftily ensured that Heracles would suffer the same agonising death that he had inflicted on the other centaurs. Heracles’ torment lasted for hours, with his wife Deianira hanging herself,
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upon realising that she had poisoned her husband. Knowing his death was close, Heracles frantically ran around his courtyard, ripping up trees to construct a funeral pyre. Once assembled, the hero lay down upon it and asked one of his friends to set it alight. As the fire seared through his skin and his body went up in flames, a smile appeared on Heracles’s face, as he was finally released from the horrific pain.
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It was at this moment a great storm cloud gathered around the funeral pyre. In the cloud sat Zeus, who watched as the mortal part of his son burnt away. The god then grabbed Heracles’ spirit, taking his son up to Olympus, where he transformed him into an immortal. From this point on, Heracles was worshipped as a god by the Greeks, with his labours becoming legend, with Zeus eventually casting his son up into the stars, where he can still be seen as a constellation to this day.
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While some heroes like Heracles had to earn their place on Olympus, others would become arrogant, with many mortal men who assumed themselves equal to the gods often meeting a tragic end. Such was the case with Bellerophon, the grandson of Sisyphus, the man cursed to roll a boulder up a hill for eternity. Gifted the winged horse Pegasus by Poseidon and learning to ride it with the help of Athena, Bellerophon would
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go on many adventures. His most famous exploit would be his slaying of the fearsome Chimera, a fire-breathing monster with the head of a lion, the body of a goat and a snake for a tail. But as Bellerophon’s fame grew, so too did his ego. Believing he had earned the right to sit amongst the gods, he took Pegasus and began flying up to Mount Olympus. But this would anger Zeus – not only did Bellerophon think himself an equal to the Olympians, but he was using Pegasus,
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a gift from the gods, to get there. And so, as Bellerophon neared the heavens, Zeus sent a gadfly to sting Pegasus, causing the horse to kick Bellerophon off his back. Although he would survive the fall, Bellerophon would be blinded when he landed in a thorn bush. Living the rest of his life in misery, he would wander the earth alone, serving as a warning to those who thought to compare themselves to the gods.
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Pegasus would complete the journey to Olympus, where he would be claimed by Zeus, with the winged horse proudly carrying the god’s thunder and lightning on his back for the rest of time.
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With the adventures of Cadmus, Perseus and Heracles having come to an end, the first age of heroes was drawing to a close. But with the children they had inspired with their stories now reaching manhood, a new generation of heroes would soon emerge, ready to forge their own legends and make their mark on the world. Jason and The Argonauts quest for the Golden Fleece would become one of these great legends, with heroes from far and wide all embarking on what would become one
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of the greatest stories in all mythology.
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Jason, the heir to the city of Iolcus, had been banished from his homeland as a child by his uncle Pelias, a ruthless tyrant who seized power and took the city by force, claiming the throne of Iolcus for himself. Jason would be raised by Chiron, the teacher of Heracles and other famous heroes, spending 20 years under his tutelage, learning the likes of Athletics, speechcraft and warfare. But as Jason reached manhood, and having learnt
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everything Chiron had to offer, he would set out to reclaim his stolen kingdom. Beginning the journey back to Iolcus, Jason would soon come across a river, its harsh current making it difficult to cross. On his side of the stream sat an old woman unable to pass, with Jason offering to carry her across on his back. But as he did so the swift current would remove one of his sandals, with him forced to continue his journey with one foot bare.
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However, back in Iolcus, King Pelias, having just asked an oracle the way in which he would die, was advised to be wary of a man with one sandal. It was at this moment that Jason arrived at the palace, demanding that the kingdom be given to him. Seeing Jason was wearing only one sandal and hearing the townspeople cheer his return, Pelias realised he could not simply have him killed, so instead came up with a devious plan.
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He would challange Jason to retrieve the famous Golden Fleece from Colchis, an item said to be more valuable than anything else on earth. If he was able to retrieve the fleece, Pelias promised to forfeit the kingdom, being certain that Jason would die along the way. With his honour on the line, Jason would accept Pelias’s offer, but knowing of the dangers that lay ahead, would begin to gather the greatest heroes the world had ever seen.
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With word spreading of Jason’s great quest, heroes from across the land soon flocked to Iolcus to join him on the adventure. The first to arrive would be Heracles, the greatest hero of the land, who offered his incredible strength and skill, having just completed his famous 12 labours. He would be joined by Zetes and Calais, sons of the North Wind, who each possessed a magnificent pair of wings that granted them the power of flight.
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Following close behind would be the warriors known as the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, the twin brothers of Helen of Troy. Also seeking adventure, Peleus, the father of the great hero Achilles and king of Phthia, would also join, with his elder brother Telamon, the king of Salamis who had helped Heracles fight the Amazons during his 9th labour, accompanying his brother on the journey. The next to arrive would be the heroes of the Calydonian Boar Hunt, an adventure still to come,
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with Euphemus, Meleager and Idas all excited to take part on their next adventure. And finally, the last to join would be Orpheus, the famous poet whose beautiful singing was known throughout the land. It would only be after his journey with the Argonauts that his most famous story, the loss of his wife Eurydice, would come to pass.
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To transport these great heroes, Jason would enlist the help of the legendary shipbuilder Argus, who with the help of Athena, would create the Argo, the swiftest and most sturdy ship of its time. At its bow Athena would place an enchanted piece of wood, through which Jason could communicate with the gods. As they set sail and their great voyage began, Jason and his companions would name themselves the Argonauts after the ship,
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with the Greek translation of Argo meaning swift and Nautes meaning sailor.
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Heading north, they would first arrive at the island of Lemnos, only to discover it was inhabited entirely by women.
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Many years ago, the women of the island had been devoted followers of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, but their devotion to the goddess had begun to wane, with her temple falling into ruin. Outraged, Aphrodite would curse the women, causing them to emit a horrible stench, with each of their husbands choosing to sleep with their female slaves, rather than spend time with their wives. The women, neglected and feeling betrayed by their husbands,
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would decide to murder every male inhabitant of the island, including every boy, with them spending many years alone until the Argonauts arrival. Seeing the heroes arrive, Aphrodite would lift her curse, allowing the women to greet their new visitors. With smell now gone, Aphrodite hoped that the women would fall pregnant, ensuring the survival of the island’s inhabitants, with a new generation of children ready to worship her.
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Her plan would be successful, and after an entire year had passed, the Argonauts had still not left the island, with Heracles becoming enraged. Assembling his companions, Heracles would shame them for forgetting their quest, reminding the men that they would not become great and famed heroes if they did not retrieve the golden fleece. Hanging their heads in embarrassment, the Argonauts would return to the ship, with their journey soon resuming.
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Continuing East, the Argonauts would pass Troy, soon arriving at Cios so Heracles could replace his broken oar. However, Heracles’ companion and servant Hylas, having wandered into the wilderness, had become lost in the depths of a vast forest. Hylas would soon stumble across a beautiful spring, stopping to quench his thirst and to wash his body. However, the spring was home to a group of water nymphs, who, upon seeing the young man,
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the first man they had ever seen, would fall in love. Grabbing him by the arm, they would pull Hylas into the water, making him immortal and trapping him there for eternity. Heracles, wondering where his servant had gone, would go into the forest to look for him, but no matter how hard he looked, Hylas could not be found. After searching for days, Heracles would return to the shore, only to find that Jason and the Argonauts had set sail without him.
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They would next pass the kingdom of Thrace, before travelling through the clashing rocks, a waterway so dangerous that no ship had ever passed through before. Entering the black sea, Jason and his crew would finally lay their eyes upon Colchis, their final destination where the Golden Fleece, the most valuable item known to man, was kept by King Aeetes. Arriving in his palace, Aeetes would show hospitality to the Argonauts, but would
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refuse to give up the fleece, knowing it was safe as it was guarded by the fearsome Colchian Dragon. Knowing that defeating the dragon was impossible even for Jason, Hera, queen of the gods, would now give him her aid. For long ago, Jason had carried an old woman across a river out of kindness, not knowing that she was none other than Hera, who had come down to earth in disguise. Hera would now repay the debt, making Medea, the beautiful daughter of King
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Aeetes, fall in love with Jason. Medea was a powerful witch and would offer Jason her aid, giving him a bundle of magical herbs that he could use to subdue the dragon. With the herbs in hand, Jason would put the beast to sleep before grabbing the Golden Fleece. Finally, with the fleece in his possession, Jason and the Argonauts would hastily retreat back to the ship, with Medea joining them onboard as they made a quick escape.
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As morning came, King Aeetes awoke to discover that the Golden Fleece had been taken, with him quickly assembling a fleet of ships to head out in pursuit. Leading the fleet would be Aeetes’ son Apsyrtus, and it would not be long until he was close on their tail. Medea, seeing her brother Apsyrtus closing in on them, and knowing that they could not outrun such a large fleet, would ask for the Argo to be halted, so she could bring her brother on board to discuss peace talks.
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But as Apsyrtus’s ship came near, Medea would drag him on board, taking a knife from her robe and stabbing him in the chest. Dismembering the body, she would throw the remains of her brother, piece by piece into the sea, so that her grieving father would have to stop the pursuit to collect them. With the time she had now bought, the Argonauts would look for a way to escape. Heading west they would enter the Istros River, sailing for many weeks until they
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reached the alps. Having come to a dead end, the Argonauts would come ashore, lifting up the ship to travel through the mountains by foot. Finally reaching the Rhodanus River, they would set sail once again, where this time they would enter the Mediterranean sea.
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Setting sail, Jason and his men would begin to hear a beautiful melody. For his ship was passing the home of the Sirens, irresistible creatures that enticed sailors to their death with their bewitching songs. It was at this moment that Orpheus, the famous poet, would take out his lyre and begin to play his beautiful songs, songs that would grow louder and louder as they drowned out the siren’s call. Only when they had passed by safely would Orpheus
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put down his lyre, with all the men on board cheering and thanking him for saving their lives. Heading back to Greece, their next stop would be the island of Scheria, home to the Phaeacians, a kind people who welcomed them with open arms. After facing so many dangers, they would rest on the island for a few weeks, with Jason and Medea hosting a great wedding during their time there. Now married, they would take to the sea once again finally heading home to Greece.
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But as they neared close to home, the Argonautes would decide to take one final rest on the island of Crete. However, unknown to them, the island was home to Talos, a bronze giant that patrolled the shore three times each day, destroying any ship that approached. Powerless against the giant, the Argonauts would run in terror, with there being nowhere to hide on the beach. But Medea, using her magic, would soon be able to identify Talos’ one weakness,
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a large bronze nail in the side of his ankle, that prevented his divine blood from pouring out. Stopping the giant, Medea would tell Talos that she was a powerful witch and could make him immortal, the only thing he had to do was follow her instructions. Claiming that it was the nail in his foot that kept him from becoming immortal and Talos, never having talked to a human, would be easily tricked, reaching down and pulling out the nail.
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With his blood pouring out, Talos would fall down to the ground, never to torment travellers again.
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With the giant defeated, the Argonauts would board their ship, soon reaching the kingdom of Iolcus. After many years of travel and with the Golden Fleece in hand, Jason was finally ready to reclaim his homeland.
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Arriving back in the city, Jason would learn that King Pelias had put his father to death during his absence, with revenge now the only thing on his mind. Approaching the king with the golden fleece, Jason demanded that the kingdom be rightfully transferred to him, but Pelias not honouring his would would refuse, asking Jason to leave. However, Medea, realising the king would never give up his throne, came up with a cunning plan.
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Inviting the king’s daughters to attend, Medea would chop an old ram into pieces, boiling it in a cauldron for all to see. Using her magic, the ram would come back to life, jumping out of the cauldron with its youth restored. But Pelias’ daughters, having seen their father grow old and weary just as the ram had, desired him to be rejuvenated as well. And so, when Medea told them she could perform the same
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magic on the king, their faces lit up with joy. Sneaking into Pelias’ room when all were asleep, they would chop their father into pieces and throw him in the cauldron, eagerly awaiting Medea’s return the next morning. But upon seeing the king butchered by his own daughters, all Medea could do was laugh, her cunning plan having worked exactly as foreseen. With Pelias now dead, Jason was ready to take the throne, however the king's son Acastus,
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would discover Medea’s involvement in the gruesome murder, driving her and Jason from the city.
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Travelling south, they would find a new home in the city of Corinth, with Jason taking the Golden Fleece and hanging it in the temple of Zeus, leaving his life of adventure behind. Creating a new family with Medea, the two would have many children together, but as the years went on, Jason’s eyes would begin to wander. Craving the fame and fortune of his youth, he would look for a wife that he could use to rise through the ranks of society,
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abandoning Medea and his family to marry the Princess Creusa. Betrayed, and her heart broken, having murdered her own brother to help Jason, Medea would swear revenge, sending a magic robe to Creusa as a wedding gift. As soon as the robe touched her skin, Creusa’s flesh would begin to burn, with her letting out a scream of agony. Her elderly father would attempt to save her, but upon touching the robe he too would begin to burn,
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with the pair dying together in front of Jason’s tearful eyes. Horrified at the death of his new wife, Jason, knowing who had sent the cursed robe, would draw his sword and rush to confront Medea, but upon finding her, he would discover the true extent of her rage. For at her feet lay the dead bodies of their two sons, Alcimenes and Tisander, with blood still dripping from the dagger Medea had used to kill them.
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Dropping to his knees, Jason would begin to weep, with Medea flying off in the chariot of her grandfather, the sun god Helios, her final act of revenge complete. Jason would go on to live the rest of his life as a lonely man, never finding love and producing no more children. Clinging onto the memories of his youth, Jason would often visit the Argo, which had been deserted on the shore. With many years having passed and Jason now an old man, one day while he
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was lying under the ship, its rotting stern would collapse, crushing him below. The ship that had once brought him fame and fortune, would now be the very thing that brought his life to an end.
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As for Medea, she would flee to the city of Athens, gaining refuge and using her beauty to seduce King Aegeus. Becoming queen, she would bear him a son, but her rise to power would soon be challenged, when the city’s rightful heir, the great hero Theseus, would return to claim the throne.
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Many years before Medea’s arrival to Athens, King Aegeus had ruled the city alone, having tried and failed many times to father an heir to which he could leave his kingdom. Believing he was incapable of having children, Aegeus would travel to Delphi and ask the Oracle for help, who would instruct him to travel to the small kingdom of Troezen, where the city’s princess, Aethra, would bear him a son.
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Overjoyed, Aegeus would travel to Troezen and meet with princess Aethra, with the two conceiving a child that night. However, unknown to Aegeus, Poseidon would also visit Aethra the same evening, with the child that was born, Theseus, being the offspring of the two men. With Poseidon’s blood now running through his veins, Theseus would be granted immense agility and strength, something that would prove useful in the many trials that lay ahead.
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But King Aegeus, knowing that it was his duty to return to Athens, would leave the princess to raise the boy alone. Only when Theseus was old and strong enough to lift a heavy stone, under which Aegeus hid his sword and sandals, would he be worthy of travelling to Athens to claim his birthright, with the items he retrieved being symbols by which Aegeus could recognise his son. When the day finally came, Theseus, having reached manhood, would lift up the rock and
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claim his father’s possessions, soon setting out on the road to Athens. But when Theseus arrived in Athens, Medea, his father’s new queen, had already bore the king a son named Medus, who was next in line to the throne. And so, when Medea saw that Theseus had arrived to claim his birthright, she feared that her own son would be deprived of the throne, and so began to scheme against him. When Theseus entered the palace, Medea would inform him that the only way
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he would be granted an audience with the king was to prove his skill as a warrior, sending him to fight the Bull of Marathon, the mad creature that Heracles had wrestled with and brought over to Greece during his seventh labour. But instead of dying as Medea had hoped, Theseus would use his great strength to kill the Bull with ease, soon returning to Athens triumphant. Shocked at his success, Medea would
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now attempt to kill Theseus, handing him a cup of poisoned wine as he approached the king. But as Theseus went to drink it, Aegeus would recognise the sword and sandals that the young man was wearing as the same ones he had hidden under the rock all those years ago, knocking the cup from his son’s hand and saving his life. Realising Medea’s deception, Aegeus would banish her from the city, before embracing Theseus as his rightful heir.
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Expelled from yet another city, Medea would return home to Colchis, where she would reconcile with her father Aeetes, restoring him as the king of Colchis and living out the rest of her days at the edge of the known world.
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After living in Athens for some time, Theseus would learn that the city was in deep trouble. Many years ago, Athens had fought a war against King Minos of Crete, a war they would lose. To save the city, King Aegeus had signed a treaty with Minos, binding him to send seven boys and seven girls to Crete every nine years, so that they could be fed to the Minotaur, a half man, half bull creature that lived in a Labyrinth beneath Minos’ palace.
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Upon hearing of the treaty, Theseus was appalled and would immediately volunteer to be one of the next tributes, hoping to slay the Minotaur and bring an end to the suffering of his people. Aegeus begged him not to go, but when he saw he could not change Theseus’ mind, he would give his blessing, only asking that if he returned successful, he should change his black sails to white, with the white sails signalling that he was alive.
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And so began his long voyage to Crete, where the infamous minotaur awaited. But when he arrived on the island and was greeted by Minos and his family, Theseus would attract the eye of the king’s daughter, Ariadne, who quickly found herself deeply in love with him. Wanting to protect Theseus, Ariadne would approach him as he was about to enter the Minotaur’s lair offering him a ball of thread, with which he could trace his path back to the labyrinth’s entrance.
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All she asked in return was that Theseus take her with him when he left Crete for Athens, a deal he was happy to accept.
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Entering the labyrinth, he tied the thread to the entrance and began his descent, following the dark winding paths of the maze. He had been warned by Ariadne, however, that the true threat he faced was not the minotaur, but instead the labyrinth itself. It was so vast and complex, that all those who had entered had never made it out alive, with most starving to death in the labyrinth's endless twists and turns as they tried to reach the exit.
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After travelling for hours, Theseus would eventually reach the centre, where the Minotaur lay in wait, with the two beginning an intense and brutal fight.
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It would be the most difficult battle Theseus had ever fought, but his speed and agility would prove triumphant. Grabbing his sword he managed to stab the beast in the throat. Never again would Athens have to endure the sacrifice of its children.
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Theseus would then find the thread and began tracing his way back to the entrance, where he found Ariadne and the thirteen other Athenian sacrifices waiting for him. They greeted him with a cheer, with the group soon escaping the island in their ship, beginning the voyage back to Athens. But Theseus, caught up in his excitement for having slain the legendary minotaur, would begin to grow distant from Ariadne as he no longer needed her help. Along the way they would
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stop and rest on the island of Dia and when Ariadne was sleeping, Theseus would board his ship, stranding her on the island. Releasing she had been used and that Theseus had no intention of marrying her from the start, Ariadne would be left crying on the island’s shores, until almost at the brink of starvation, the god Dionysus would find her, bringing her to Olympus as his wife.
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As Athens appeared on the horizon, Theseus could think of nothing but the fame he would receive upon telling his heroic story. Overcome with excitement he would forget to change his black sails to white as his father had requested. And so, when King Aegeus saw the ship sailing back with black sails, a sign that his son was dead, he would throw himself from a tall cliff into the waters below, which would become known as the Aegean Sea in his honour.
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Having returned home, Theseus would mourn his father, after which he would be crowned the King of Athens, with his rule being celebrated by the Athenian people. He would go on to join Heracles in his fight against the Amazons, as well as helping Oedipus in his time of need, becoming one of the greatest heroes of his age.
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A famous architect and inventor, Daedalus was revered across all of Greece, and had been tasked by King Minos with constructing a labyrinth so complex that no one could ever escape it. However, after Theseus had left the labyrinth with ease after following the string Ariadne had gifted him, King Minos was furious, imprisoning Daedalus and his son Icarus deep within their own creation. But the maze was so well constructed that even Deadalus could not find his way out,
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he would instead turn to his imagination, coming to the conclusion that the only way out was up. Combining feathers with wax, he would construct two great pairs of wings for him and his son. Although the wings would let them escape, he warned Icarus that they were extremely delicate and that flying too high would cause them to break. Flying side by side in the sky, Icarus was soon overcome with excitement, ignoring his
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father’s warning. Higher and higher he would fly, soaring over the ocean below. But the sun's hot rays would begin to take a toll on the wings, melting the wax that held them together. One by one the feathers fell out, until finally Icarus himself plummeted into the sea. The story of Icarus would pass down from generation to generation, with the boy who flew too close to the sun serving as an example of
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the importance of knowing your own limits and not being blinded by overconfidence.
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On the western edge of Greece lay the city of Calydon, a city that would become the site of the greatest gathering of heroes since the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts. Ruling the city would be King Oeneus and Queen Althea, who would have a son named Meleager. Yet unknown to King Oeneus, Meleager was actually the son of the war god Ares, who had slept with his wife in secret, an affair that would draw the attention of
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the three fates, the goddesses who decide the destiny of each mortal. Appearing at the moment of Meleager’s birth, they would find the baby lying on the floor next to a freshly lit fire. Pointing to a large log amidst the flames, they would sing a song of Meleager’s fate: “To you, O new-born child, we grant a gift, To live until this wood turns to ash.”
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Overhearing the prophecy, Meleager’s mother Queen Althea would run to the fire, quickly dousing it with water and picking up the large log that now controlled the life of her son. Wanting to keep it safe, she would travel back to her palace and secure the log in a chest, out of reach from those wishing to harm her son.
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Almost two decades later, Meleager had become an Argonaut, joining Jason on his quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece, before returning to Greece as a hero. But when he travelled back to visit his family in Calydon, he would find his homeland all but destroyed. For his father, King Oeneus, had been blessed by the god Dionysus, with a fruitful harvest. With so many crops to feed his people, the King had become arrogant,
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forgetting to worship the goddess Artemis who oversaw all of nature. Furious, she would send a great and powerful boar to ravage the countryside, an enormous beast that would destroy towns, trample crops and kill any who were unfortunate enough to be caught in its path. With the boar destroying his kingdom, King Oeneus would send messenger birds to every corner of Greece, inviting the greatest heroes of the land to take part in a hunt to slay the beast.
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Leading the expedition would be his own son Meleager, with over 50 other warriors answering the call. The first to join would be Meleager’s trusted companions, the Argonauts, who had only just returned to Greece, with Jason, Euphemus and Idas, alongside Peleus, Telamon and the Dioscuri, all travelling to Calydon to take part.
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Next would come Theseus, the King of Athens and slayer of the minotaur, as well as Iolaus, the nephew of Heracles who had helped his uncle slay the Lernean Hydra during his second Labour. They would be joined by Nestor, the king of Pylos and wisest of the Greeks, alongside Laertes, the father of the famous hero Odysseus. With all assembled to begin the hunt, one final member would choose to join,
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but they would be unlike the rest, for Atalanta, a woman had come to claim the boar as a prize. Born to a king wishing for a son, as a baby Atalanta had been left in the wilderness to die, yet she would be nursed and protected by a bear, surviving long enough until she was found and raised by a pair of hunters. Growing up in the wild, Atalanta would learn to hunt, soon becoming a devoted follower of
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the goddess Artemis. By the time she became an adult, Atalanta was one of the greatest archers in the land, able to fight, run and shoot better than almost any man. After hearing of the expedition gathering to slay the Calydonian Boar, Atalanta would be keen to join, wishing to win the glory and prove her worth as a hunter. But upon her arrival to the gathering, she was greeted by mockery and contempt, with every
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warrior bursting out in uncontrollable laughter, at the very thought of a woman wishing to hunt. Only one remained silent, for Meleager, after setting his eyes upon her, had fallen deeply in love with Atalanta, and would argue with his companions until they finally agreed to let her join. With all now prepared, the hunt could finally begin. Setting out into the countryside, the party would have an easy time tracking the boar,
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as it left an unmistakable trail of destruction and carnage in its wake. Soon finding the boar stampeding through the woods, the hunters would quickly surround it, but just as they went to strike, the beast would rush forward, impaling one man on its tusks before trampling another beneath its heavy hooves. Panicking, the men would begin to attack the creature, but this would only add to the chaos,
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with one man being killed when a stray javelin impaled his chest. Amidst the madness, only one would keep a level head, with Atalanta raising her bow and letting fly an iron-tipped arrow, striking the boar in the throat. The beast would squeal out in pain, with Meleager taking the opportunity to rush forward with his spear, finishing off the beast with a strike through the heart. With the boar defeated, a great cheer would erupt amongst the hunters, all praising
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Meleager for delivering the killing blow. But Meleager would refuse to take credit, instead insisting that Atalanta take the boar’s hide as a prize, as she had delivered the first blow. The suggestion would cause outrage amongst the hunters, with Meleager’s uncles, Toxeus and Plexippus, stepping forward to voice their disgust at the thought of a woman taking home the prize, instead insisting that if Meleager did not want it, then the boar’s hide should belong to them.
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Enraged by the comments and blinded by his love for Atalanta, Meleager drew his sword and would strike down both of his uncles where they stood. Shocked at the bloodshed, the hunters would begin their return to Calydon, with word soon reaching Meleager’s mother, Queen Althea, that her two brothers had died at the hands of her son. In a moment of grief and anger, Queen Althea would rush to collect the chest that contained
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the large log she had hidden all those years ago. Throwing it into the fire, she would watch on with tears in her eyes as the log that kept her son alive was consumed by the flames. Instantly, Meleager would begin to scream, twisting in agony and falling to the floor, with him taking his last and final breath as the log was reduced to ash. Realising what she had done, Queen Althea would try desperately to remove the log from the fire, but it was too late, for the log was no more,
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with her taking her own life in the grief of knowing she had killed her own son. With the Calydonian Boar Hunt having ended in tragedy, the Heroes would begin to disperse, yet for Atalanta, more adventure lay ahead.
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After her role in slaying the Calydonian Boar, Atalanta’s name would become known across Greece, with suitors from far and wide coming to try and claim her hand in marriage. But Atalanta, wanting to continue her life of adventure, would come up with an easy way of rejecting them all, declaring that she would only marry the man who could beat her in a footrace. Suitor after suitor would try to win, but all would fail,
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with Atalanta knowing that there was no man alive who could match her. But one day she would be challenged by a suitor who was different from the rest, a young man named Hippomenes, who knew full well that he had no chance of beating her. Instead, he had visited the temple of Aphrodite the night before to pray for assistance, with the goddess gifting him three golden apples in return, so beautiful that no mortal could resist the urge to take them.
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And so, when the race began and Atalanta quickly took the lead, Hippomenes would take an apple and throw it onto the ground before them. Enchanted by the sight of it, Atalanta would come to a halt, reaching down to pick the apple up. But she would soon resume the race, with Hippomenes forced to throw yet another apple to slow Atalanta down. With the finish line in sight, and Hippomenes barely managing to keep a lead, he was forced
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to throw the third and final apple, this time throwing it far across the track, forcing Atalanta to veer off the path in pursuit. With his plan having worked, Hippomenes would achieve what no man had done before, finally beating Atalanta and claiming her hand in marriage. The two would wed and have a son, with Atalanta falling in love with her new husband. But Hippomenes, in his excitement over winning the race, had forgotten to
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offer sacrifice to thank Aphrodite for providing him with the golden apples. In revenge, Aphrodite would make Atalanta and Hippomenes lay together in a sacred temple of Zeus, with the king of the gods punishing the couple by transforming them into lions. As the Ancient Greeks believed that male and female lions could not mate, and that lion cubs came exclusively from the union of lions and leopards, the couple would be forever
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doomed to wander the earth, always together but unable to ever share the joys of intimacy again.
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With the Calydonian Boar hunt having come to an end, a new generation of heroes would now rise. But for Zeus, he thought too many demi-gods still roamed the earth and believed that there should be a greater distinction between gods and mortals. And so he would set in motion a series of events that would lead to war, the greatest war the world had ever seen, that would finally, once and for all, rid the earth of his many descendants.
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Across the sea from the great cities of Greece, reigned the most powerful kingdom of them all: Troy, whose famous walls were said to be indestructible, having been built by the gods themselves.
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The city was ruled by King Priam and Queen Hecuba, who were deeply loved and respected by their people, with Priam having 50 sons and 50 daughters during his reign. The most admired of them would be Prince Hector, Troy’s greatest warrior. The eldest son of Priam, Hector was a brave and honourable warrior. Devoted to his homeland and committed to his family, Hector loved none more than his wife, Andromache, and his son, Astyanax, for whom he would sacrifice anything to protect.
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The sister of Hector, Cassandra would be the least fortunate of Priam’s children. She would once catch the eye of the god Apollo, who would give her the gift of prophecy in his attempts to seduce her. But when she rejected the god, he would curse Cassandra in a jealous rage, making it so none would ever believe her prophecies. Finally there would be Paris, the brother of Hector and Cassandra, who would be raised
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away from his family. Before his birth, Hecuba received a prophecy revealing that her unborn son was destined to bring destruction to Troy. But unable to kill the child herself, she instructed a local shepherd to complete the task, but just like Hecuba, the shepherd could not harm the helpless infant, and instead would raise Paris in secret, a decision that would change the course of history.
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But the shepherd’s misguided generosity would not bring about the prophecy alone, as for Troy to fall, another child needed to be born. Across the seas in the city of Sparta, Zeus had fallen in love with Queen Leda. Transforming himself into a magnificent swan, Zeus would lie with the Queen, with Leda soon giving birth to two eggs. Out of the eggs would hatch two sons, Castor and Pollux, the Dioscuri,
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who would later join the famous Argonauts, as well as two daughters, Clytemnestra and Helen, with Helen growing up to become the most beautiful woman in the world. The first step in Zeus’ grand plan had now been set in motion. When Helen came of age, almost every man would attempt to win her hand in marriage, with the greatest warriors, richest warlords and even Greece’s princes travelling great distances to reach Sparta, with Odysseus of Ithaca,
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Agamemnon of Mycenae and Ajax of Salamis all putting themselves forward. Knowing her decision would lead to the rejection of so many powerful men, Helen was worried that bloodshed would likely follow. And so, to try and prevent conflict, Odysseus of Ithaca made each suitor swear an oath to protect her chosen husband. With the threat of violence now gone, Helen would choose Prince Menelaus of Mycenae, with the two soon marrying and becoming the King and Queen of Sparta.
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Disappointed, her other suitors would peacefully return home, but unknown to them, their oath to defend her chosen husband, king Menelaus, an oath they had made to prevent violence, would be the very thing that would draw them into one of the greatest wars the world had ever seen.
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But high on Mount Olympus, another marriage was taking place. The parents of Achilles, Thetis, the goddess of water, and Peleus, a former Argonaut and King of Phthia, had been invited to Olympus to celebrate their marriage. Hosting a great feast, they would invite all the Gods and heroes from across the land, but they would make one exception. For amongst all the gods, there was one who was universally
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disliked, Eris, the goddess of discord and strife, who brought chaos wherever she went. Hurt that she was not invited to the wedding, Eris would decide to attend anyway, bringing with her a gift that would sow the seeds of conflict amongst the gods. The gift was to be a golden apple, inscribed with one simple phrase: "To the Most Beautiful".
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She would then throw the apple amongst the goddesses of Olympus, knowing that their vanity would lead to conflict. Soon Hera, Athena and Aphrodite were all fighting, with each claiming the apple should be awarded to them. Unable to decide they would all turn to Zeus, who saw an opportunity to further his great plan. Instead of deciding himself, Zeus would give the responsibility to a mortal. The man he chose would be a humble shepherd, known for his fair judgement, a man that was
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none other than Prince Paris of Troy, who had been raised as a shepherd in his exile. And so the three goddesses would approach Paris, with each offering him a different gift in return for his vote. Hera offered to make him king of Europe and Asia, Athena promised unrivalled skill in war, but Aphrodite, knowing the young man’s desires, would promise to give him the most beautiful woman in the world, an offer he could not refuse. With Paris then giving her the apple,
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Aphrodite would tell him to travel to Sparta, where she would use her magic to make Queen Helen, whose beauty knew no equal, fall in love with him. Following the Goddesses’ instructions, Paris would travel to Sparta and meet with Helen, with the two falling in love. Taking Helen’s hand, Paris and his men would fight through the ranks of the Spartan guards, who had been sent to stop her abduction.
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But it was to no avail, with the two boarding his ship, before making the long voyage back to Troy. Arriving home, Paris would be recognised by his father, King Priam, who welcomed him with open arms. Awed by Helen’s beauty, the entire palace would try to catch a glimpse of her, overjoyed to see the new princess of Troy. However, amidst the excitement, there remained two who were concerned with her arrival. Prince Hector was furious with his brother,
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warning that his naive and lustful actions would bring war to the shores of Troy. But while Hector’s words were harsh, it would be his sister Cassandra who would have the worst reaction. Shrieking in despair, she would prophesise that Helen’s arrival would lead to the fall of Troy itself. But as she had been cursed by Apollo, no one would heed her warning, with the royal guards dismissing her prophecies as mad ravings.
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Arriving back in Sparta from a funeral in Crete, Menelaus was informed that his wife Helen had been abducted, with the ship she was on heading in the direction of Troy. Enraged, he would raise his armies to attack the Trojans, calling upon all of Helen’s suitors to honour their oaths and join him in the conflict. Men of their words, they would answer his call, and soon the greatest warriors from across Greece were assembling to return Helen home to Sparta.
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The first to join Menelaus would be his brother, Agamemnon. The most powerful Greek King, Agamemnon would rule over Mycenae, an ally of Sparta, with his kingdom having the most wealth and largest army. And so when the time of war came, it would be Agamemnon who would command Greece’s mighty fleet. Next to join would be the suitors of Helen, who had pledged their allegiance to defend Menelaus,
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with the kings Nestor, Diomedes and Odysseus, the wisest of the Greeks, all honouring their word. Joining these powerful kings would be the best warriors Greece had to offer, with Achilles, Patroclus, as well as Ajax the Greater and Ajax the lesser all answering the call.
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Prince of Phthia, Achilles was the greatest warrior to have ever lived, with his support ensuring victory in any conflict. Achilles was invulnerable to attacks, and without his assistance the conquest of Troy was unthinkable.
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After his birth, his mother, the water goddess Thetis, would take Achilles to the Underworld, submerging him into the River Styx, whose waters granted immortality. But as she had held him by the foot, the waters would not cover his heel, which would remain the only vulnerable part of his body. Lusting for war, Achilles would join the greatest warriors of his age, with his lifelong friend Patroclus accompanying him on the journey.
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With the greatest fighters from across Greece now assembled, Agamemnon would command a mighty fleet of hundreds of ships. But as they set sail for Troy, they would find themselves unable to move, with the waters having calmed and the ocean’s winds having ceased. For Agamemnon, having killed a sacred deer, had offended the goddess Artemis, who had stolen the winds so he could not set sail. Anxious to reach Troy, Agamemnon would consult a prophet on how to restore the
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winds once again. But to restore them, the prophet revealed that Agamemnon would have to sacrifice the one who was dearest to him, his eldest daughter, Iphigenia. With thousands of men waiting idle in their ships, Agamemnon’s pride could not stand for such a delay. Claiming that Achilles wanted her hand in marriage, Agamemnon would lure his daughter to his camp, with Iphigenia arriving in excitement. With her father waiting for her at the altar, she would
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begin to walk towards him. However, as she got closer, she realised it was not a wedding altar at all, but rather a sacrificial shrine, with her father plunging his dagger into her broken heart. With his daughter now laying dead at his feet, Agamemnon had appeased Artemis, who would release the winds from her grasp. Now setting sail, it would not be long until they reached their enemy’s mighty city, but awaiting them would be the greatest army Troy had to offer.
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The son of Aphrodite and cousin to the Royal Family, Aeneas would join the fight to protect his homeland. But Troy would not fight alone, with Priam calling upon his allies, the Lycians and the Amazons, who would come to his aid.
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Lycia would be led by Sarpedon, the son of Zeus and grandson of Bellerophon as well as Glaucus, a legendary warrior, who would lead the Lycian armies into battle. They would fight alongside the Amazons, fierce warrior women, led by Penthesilea, a daughter of Ares, who could fight better than almost any man.
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But while both sides possessed the best warriors and leaders of their age, the gods too would be divided by the war.
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Still furious they had not been given the apple by Paris, Hera and Athena would choose to support the Greeks. While Aphrodite, having gifted Helen to the Trojans, would decide to give them her support. The patron of Troy, Apollo would come to the defence of his city, with Poseidon, jealous that the Trojans worshipped Apollo and not him after they had both built the city’s walls, would decide to join the Greeks.
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And finally Ares, lured by the promise of battle, and wanting to best his sister Athena, would join the side of the Trojans, to cause as much bloodshed as possible.
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For 9 years, the Achaeans would attack Troy, with wave after wave, failing to break the city's impenetrable walls. But with resources running short, Achilles would lead Greece’s armies south, searching for supplies, gold and women. They would first take the island of Lesbos, before landing on the shores of Asia Minor, pillaging all the towns and cities they came across as they made their way back up to Troy.
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From the cities of Lyrnessus and Hypoplacia, the Greeks would take many beautiful women as slaves, with Brisies being awarded to Achilles and Chryseis given to Agamemnon, two women that would change the course of the war.
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Having taken Chryseis as a concubine, Agamenon would fall deeply in love with her. However, her father, a priest of Apollo, was not happy with his daughter being taken as a slave, and so travelled to Agamemnon’s camp. He offered the king gold and silver in exchange for his daughter, but Agamemnon refused the offer, taunting the old man by pointing at Chryseis chained to his bed. Apollo, disgusted at the way his priest had been treated, would send a plague of arrows
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upon the Greek armies, refusing to relent until Chryseis was returned home. Agamemnon, having no other choice, would agree to let her go, with Odysseus reuniting Chryseis with her father. But with his concubine now gone, Agamemnon would look to satisfy his desires, turning to Brisies, the slave girl of Achilles. If he would have to go without his prize, then so too would his greatest warrior. Stealing her from his tent,
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Agamemnon would declare Brisies his own, with Achilles becoming enraged. Demanding her return, Achilles would only be laughed at by the king, causing him to draw his sword in frustration. But as he did so, the goddess Athena would descend from the heavens, holding his arm in place and warning against such an impulsive action. Heeding the god’s advice, Achilles would put down his sword, refusing to serve a king that had treated him with such disrespect. Returning to his tent,
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the Greek armies would have to fight on without his assistance.
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For a time, the Greeks would manage to fight on without Achilles, although the losses on both sides would begin to take their toll. But with Achilles now out of action, Hector would realise that this was his only opportunity to win the war, and so decided to bid his family farewell. With his wife and son crying in his arms, he knew this could be the last time he would ever see them, but he had no choice, for Troy to survive, he would have to fight.
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Emerging from Troy’s mighty walls, Hector would rally his men, pushing the Greeks all the way back to their ships, who were no match for him without Achilles’ assistance. But even on the verge of defeat, with his men dying around him, Achilles would refuse to rejoin the fight. Taking matters into his own hands, his best friend, Patroclus would put on Achilles’ iconic armour, before charging into battle. With it appearing that Achilles had rejoined the fight,
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fear swept through the Trojan forces, who began to flee back to the safety of the city’s walls. Seeing his army crumbling before him, Hector would decide to make a final stand, turning to face Patroclus to save as many of his men as possible. Charging towards him, with his sword in hand, he would take one swift blow, striking Patroclus dead. Shocked at the ease with which Greece’s finest warrior had been defeated,
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Hector would crouch down to remove Achilles’ helmet. But when Patroclus’ face was uncovered, he realised that he had not defeated Achilles at all.
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Seeing the death of Patroclus, the Greek armies would rush to claim his body, fighting off the Trojans as they went. Bringing him back to their camp, Achilles would be distraught when he saw his best friend laying dead before him. Contemplating ending his own life, Achilles could not hold back his anguish, with his mother Thetis coming to comfort him. Seeing her son in such distress, Thetis would go to Olympus and retrieve
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a new set of armour from the forge of Hephaestus, placing it on Achilles when she returned. With his new armour equipped, the grief Achilles had felt would now turn to revenge, with the destruction of Hector and Troy the only things on his mind. Seeing the real Achilles now charging towards him, Hector would begin to run in fear, with him being chased around Troy’s walls three times before he was eventually caught.
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Unable to run any further, Hector decided to make a final stand and fight Achilles with honour. Charging at him, Hector would draw his sword, but as he took his final swing, it would miss, with him falling down to the floor. Realising the end was near, Hector would refuse to beg for his life and instead would only request one thing, that Achilles treat his body with respect so his family could properly mourn his passing. But still enraged at the death of Patroclus,
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Achilles would plunge his spear into Hector's neck, bringing a swift end to his life. Tying Hector's legs to the back of his chariot, Achilles would drag his corpse around the city, parading his body for all to see, while Hector’s entire family watched from the walls above. It was a sight too much for Hector’s father, King Priam to bear. As nightfall came, Priam would approach Achilles in his camp, begging at his feet,
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for his son's body to be returned. Moved by the king's words that reminded him of his own grief after the death of Patroclus, Achilles would give in, and allow Priam to take Hector's body.
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Arriving back in Troy, the entire city would gather to see Priam’s son, mourning for the loss of their great hero. But none would feel the pain more than Hector’s wife, Andromache and his son, Astyanax, who clung onto his body as it passed through Troy’s sombre streets.
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With Hector now gone, all hope was lost within the city, and with Achilles closing in, it looked like the end was near. Slaughtering the Trojans one by one, he would make his way to the gates of Troy. But as he went to scale the city walls, he would feel a sharp and excruciating pain in his heel. For Paris, guided by the god Apollo, had shot Achilles with a poisoned arrow in the only mortal part of his body. Dropping to the floor and poison coursing through his veins,
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Achilles’ skin would turn white as snow, with him taking his last and final breath. But Paris would not live long enough to enjoy his victory, for the Greeks, who had seen him shoot Achilles, would hunt him down and take their revenge. With their greatest heroes now gone, each side would fall into despair, especially the Greeks, who saw no way to penetrate Troy’s great walls without the strength of Achilles.
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But there would be one Greek who did not give up hope, with Odysseus devising a cunning plan, a plan so genius that its story would echo throughout the ages. Constructing a giant wooden horse, Odysseus would hollow out the inside, making enough room for himself and a handful of Greece’s best warriors to be hidden within. And so, when the next day dawned, the Trojans awoke to find a great horse outside their walls.
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Seeing the Greek camp dismantled and their ships sailing off into the horizon, a great cheer erupted throughout the city, celebrating that the war had come to an end. Mesmerised by its beauty and believing the horse to be a peace offering, the Trojans would decide to bring it within their walls. But there was one who was not fooled by the gift. Cassandra, claiming it was a trap, would urge the Trojans to burn the Horse,
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but once again she was ignored, with the entire city laughing and ridiculing her. But that night, when all were asleep, Odysseus, Menelaus, Diomedes and Ajax would begin to pour out of the horse. Killing the guards, they would open Troy’s gates from within, before signalling with fire for the rest of the Greek fleet to return. The Trojans would awake to their city ablaze, with Greek warriors flooding through the streets, looting homes and slaughtering any remaining defenders.
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With his entire city burning before his eyes, Priam, the king of Troy would meet his end, with Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, plunging his dagger into the old man's defenceless body. Leaving the king's body amongst his fallen men, Pyrrhus would head to the royal chambers where he would find Hector’s wife and son. Taking Astyanax from his mother’s arms, he would throw the infant to its death from the city walls, before taking his mother,
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Andromache, into slavery, where she would serve as his concubine.
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After 10 long years of war, Troy's famous walls had finally been breached. With its king now gone and its great heroes defeated, Troy would now lay at the mercy of the Greeks.
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Fleeing from the streets of Troy, Cassandra would find refuge in the temple of Athena, watching in fear as her fellow citizens were slaughtered before her eyes. But unfortunately, the Greek warrior Ajax the lesser had spotted Cassandra hiding, soon entering the temple himself and violating her in front of Athena’s statue. Disgusted at the act performed in her sacred temple, as Ajax boarded his ship, Athena would strike it with a bolt
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of lightning, causing him to fall into the sea, where Poseidon would drag him to a watery grave. But for Cassandra things would only get worse, with Ajax now gone, Agamemnon would claim her as his concubine, with a terrible fate soon awaiting them as they travelled to his home in Mycenae. Of the few Trojans to escape, the most significant would be Aeneas. Leading a small group of survivors out of the burning city, they would cross the Mediterranean,
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eventually landing on the shores of Italy. Beginning a new life, Aeneas and his followers would populate the land, with his descendants Romulus and Remus founding a new city called Rome.
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Finally reunited with Helen, Menelaus would return home to Sparta, where the two would rule as king and queen once again. When their time came they would pass onto the next world, where they would spend eternity on the Isle of the Blessed.
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Out of all the heroes to return from Troy, Agamemnon would face one of the worst fates of all, with his son, Orestes, suffering the terrible consequences of his father's actions. Returning home to Mycenae, Agamemnon would receive a hero’s welcome as he entered the city, parading the wealth and women he had taken from Troy. He was most fond of Cassandra, the Trojan princess who was now his unwilling captive, keeping her at the front of the procession for all to see.
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However, Agamemnon’s wife, Clytemnestra, was not pleased with her husband lying with another woman, with her grabbing an axe and butchering Cassandra, that evening, in a jealous rage. But Cassandra would not be the only one to feel Clytemnestra’s wrath. Having never forgiven Agamemnon for sacrificing their daughter, Iphiginea, to restore the winds, Clytemnestra would now take her revenge. Waiting until Agamemnon had fallen asleep,
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she would sneak into his bed chamber, plunging her dagger into his heart, with the king facing the same gruesome death he had inflicted upon their daughter. With her husband now dead, Clytemnestra would take the throne of Mycenae, but Agamemnon’s murder would not be forgotten. For his son, Orestes, was keen to avenge the death of his father. Storming into the palace, Orestes would take his sword and thrust its blade into
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his mother’s chest, with Clytemnestra taking her last and final breath. But as soon as he did so, Orestes would be overcome with a deep sense of regret. He had avenged his father, but in doing so had committed an unspeakable act, one that would live with him for the rest of his life. Looking up with tears in his eyes, Orestes would be shocked to see three terrifying creatures flying towards him. For the Furies, the three sisters of vengeance,
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had risen from the underworld to punish him for the murder of his mother, for it was their duty to haunt those who brought violence and death against their own family. Haunting Orestes for many years, they would drive him to the point of insanity, with it only being through the intervention of Athena that he would finally find peace once again.
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But there was one last hero who had not made it home from Troy. For Odysseus, the most cunning of the Greeks would have to travel for 10 long years where he would face the most terrifying creatures known to man. The Odyssey had just begun.
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Odysseus ruled over the Greek island of Ithaca, but had spent 10 long years fighting in Troy to retrieve the Spartan Queen Helen. But with his mission now complete, Odysseus looked to travel back to his homeland, where his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus awaited. Gathering his fleet of ships on the Trojan shores, Odysseus would set sail, relieved to be finally returning home.
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Heading south they would sail round shores of Greece, before heading north towards Ithaca.
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But as they neared home, a great storm erupted, blowing them off course and towards a large island, where they hoped they could find refuge from the seas.
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Stopping on the island, they would soon spot a shepherd’s camp in the distance, with Odysseus handpicking a small group of warriors to accompany him. Taking several cases of wine to trade, the hungry crew were overjoyed when they saw large supplies of cheese and meat within a cave next to the shepherd’s flock. The warriors would help themselves to the supplies, but soon the cave’s owner would return,
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the giant cyclops Polyphemus, a son of Poseidon, who sealed the entrance with a giant boulder. Ignoring Odysseus’ cries that he was there to trade, Polyphemus would grab two of the warriors, crushing them each in his fists before eating their remains. He would then leave the cave, returning each morning and evening to feast on what remained of the terrified crew. Knowing the odds were stacked against him yet again, Odysseus would devise a cunning plan to escape.
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Realising he couldn’t overpower Polyphemus, he would offer the cyclops the wine he had brought with him, to help wash down the taste of his friends. With the cyclops soon falling down drunk he would ask for Odysseus’ name so he could thank him for the gift. But instead of giving his true name, Odysseus would instead insist that he was called ‘Nobody’. Thanking nobody, Polyphemus would soon fall asleep, where Odysseus would begin to sharpen a wooden stake he had found in the cave.
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Approaching the sleeping giant, he would plunge the stake deep into his eye, blinding the cyclops but making sure not to kill him, as the boulder blocking the cave’s entrance would still have to be moved. Polyphemus would scream out in agony, a scream so loud that cyclopes from across the island would rush to the cave. Calling out to Polyphemus, they would ask, ‘What’s wrong, who's killing you;’. But Polyphemus would shout back, ‘Nobody is killing me, Nobody’.
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It was just as Odysseus had planned, with the cyclopes’ soon leaving in confusion. But while Polyphemus was now blind, there was still no way for the men to move the giant boulder blocking the entrance, with Odysseus coming up with yet another plan.
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When Polyphemus went to move the boulder the next morning to let his sheep out to graze, he would feel each of the animals as they passed to check it wasn’t one of the humans. But Odysseus and his men would each tie themselves to the bottom of the sheep, allowing them to pass by undetected. Reaching their ships, they would manage to escape the island, with Polyphemus hurling boulders in their direction as they sailed away. But Odysseus would make a costly mistake,
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overcome by his achievement, he would reveal to the giant that his name was not Nobody, but instead Odysseus, the famous hero of the Trojan War. Unknown to Odysseus, this would allow Polyphemus to give the name of his attacker to his father Poseidon, the god of the sea, who in revenge for his son’s blinding would curse Odysseus to lose all his crew in his coming travels and wander the seas for 10 long years before he could set foot on his homeland.
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Unaware of the curse Poseidon had placed upon him, Odysseus and his crew would land on the floating island of Aeolia. After dining with his guests, King Aeolus, who ruled the island, would offer Odysseus a parting gift, a leather bag containing the power of the winds, which if used with great precision could speed his journey home.
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Setting sail once more, Odysseus would make use of the winds, with his homeland of Ithaca soon in sight. But as he neared the island's shores, his crew, believing the bag Aeolus had given him contained large sums of gold and silver, decided to take some for themselves. Opening the bag while Odysseus' back was turned, all the winds rushed out at once, blowing their ships back into the ocean, with all aboard holding on for their lives.
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They would arrive at the Island of Aeolia once again, but this time, their arrival would not be met with the same generosity they had received before. For King Aeolus, knowing that only a curse from the gods could have brought Odysseus back to his island, would refuse to aid him any further, expelling him from the palace to avoid the wrath of the gods. Still unaware of Poseidon’s curse, Odysseus would set sail once more,
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but just like his previous attempts to reach his homeland, this time would also hold misfortune.
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Arriving at the harbour of Laestrygonia, Odysseus would send out 3 scouts to find food and the people of the town. But the scouts would soon realise they were not in a place of people at all, being chased by giants back to their ships. Bloodthirsty cannibals, the giant Lastregonians would begin to devour the scouts with them soon turning their attention to Odysseus's ships in their harbour. Pelting them with boulders,
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the Laestrygonians would destroy every ship bar one, with Odysseus barely making it out alive.
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Tired and depleted, Odysseus’ only remaining ship would soon arrive at the island of Aeaea, not knowing it was home to the beautiful witch Circe, daughter of the sun god Helios and sister of the infamous witch Medea. Splitting his men into two groups, Odysseus would stay by his ship and set up camp while the others searched the island for food. They would soon arrive at the house of Circe, where docile wolves and lions quivered at her feet. Inviting the men to dine with her,
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she would serve them a large cup of barley, cheese and wine, but unknown to the men, there was one secret ingredient placed within. Having eaten the meal, the men would begin to fall asleep, but when they awoke, they were no longer in human form, instead they took the body of pigs. But one man, not having an appetite for food, had seen the events unfold, quickly running to Odysseus to tell him of the fate of his crew.
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Hearing the news, Odysseus immediately set off to rescue his men, but along the way he was stopped by the messenger god Hermes, who had come to aid him. Giving Odysseus molly, a magic herb, Hermes would tell him to place it in Circe’s potions so as to not feel the effects of her enchantments. Taking the moly, Odysseus would approach Circe and begin to dine with her, surprising the witch when he remained in human form. Drawing his sword, he stood up and threatened to kill
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Circe unless she transformed his crew back into humans. With the sword at her throat, Circe would quickly agree, with the pigs at her feet transforming back into men. So impressed by Odysseus’ heroics Circe would invite him to her bed-chamber, with the two having a son together named Telegonus. Remaining on the island for a whole year, Odysseus decided it was time to leave, but as he began to set sail, Circe would advise him to visit the Underworld, where
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the prophet Tiresias could advise him on how to survive the many trials that awaited him at sea.
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Following Circe’s advice, Odysseus would travel west, to the edge of the world, where an entrance to the Underworld was located. Completing a ritual sacrifice at the entrance, Odysseus would summon the spirits of the dead where the blind prophet Tiresias would appear. He warned that Odysseus and his men would soon find themselves on the island of the Sun God Helios and that they should refrain from eating his cattle if they wanted to make it home alive. If however,
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they harmed the cattle in any way, then death would follow. Thanking the prophet, Odysseus would leave in his ship, determined that when the time came, no man would touch the sun god's cattle.
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But soon after setting sail, Odysseus and his men would begin to hear a beautiful melody. For just like Jason and the Argonauts had many years ago, his ship was passing the home of the Sirens, irresistible creatures that enticed sailors to their death with their bewitching songs. However, this time Odysseus had come prepared. Remembering the advice that Circe had given him, he would instruct the crew to plug their ears with beeswax, so they could not be seduced by the Siren's call.
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But Odysseus, wanting to be the first man to hear the song and survive, would not plug his ears with wax, instead asking his crew to bind him to the ship's mast. And so, as the ship passed the sirens home and their songs grew louder and louder, Odysseus would begin to struggle. Drawn to the sound with every fibre of his being, he would plead with his men to let him go, but no one would answer his call, as the wax continued to block their ears.
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Eventually making it through safely, Odysseus would be set free, having been the first man to survive the siren’s call. But unknown to him, the sirens were fated to die if a mortal ever heard their enchanting song and survived, with each of them taking their own life as his ship sailed into the horizon.
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As the next day dawned, Odysseus had a difficult decision to make. For Circe, using her magic had warned him of the dangers that lay ahead when he came across a narrow pass.
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On each side would lay incredible danger, with the right home to Scylla, a giant six-headed sea monster, and the left home to Charybdis, a whirlpool that consumed anything that came near. Heeding Circe’s advice yet again, Odysseus would head towards Scylla, for while the monster would take six of his men, it was a price he was willing to pay, as Charybdis would take his entire ship. And so, with a heavy heart, he would direct his men towards the cliff face where Scylla
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lay in wait. As the ship passed, six heads would swoop down from above, each taking a sailor, who screamed as they were consumed by the beast. But with a great storm on the horizon, they had no time to mourn their companions, with them soon stopping on the island of Thrinacia.
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Thrinacia was home to the cattle of the sun god Helios, cattle that Odysseus had been warned not to consume by the prophet Terisias in the underworld. But despite Odysseus instructing his men not to touch the cattle, it would not be easy for them to follow his orders, as the storm had kept them stranded on the island for nearly a month. With their food supplies all but gone, the crew, on the brink of starvation, would wait for
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Odysseus to fall asleep, killing all the cattle and roasting the meat to enjoy amongst themselves.
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When Odysseus awoke the next morning, he would fall to his knees in despair, shaking his head in disbelief at the foolishness of his crew. However, although the crew had ignored his orders, the storm had now calmed, with them setting off to sea once again. But their crime had not gone unnoticed, with the sun god Helios complaining to Zeus about the slaughter of his cattle. Furious, Zeus would strike Odysseus’ ship with a great thunderbolt, tearing it in half, with all
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the crew drowning bar one. For as fate predicted, Poseidon’s curse had come to pass, with only Odysseus having survived the carnage, with him clinging to the broken remains of his ship. For 9 days and nights he would drift across the vast ocean, but on the tenth day, he would wash up on the island of the goddess Calypso.
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Upon rescuing Odysseus from the shore, Calypso, the daughter of the titan Atlas, would fall in love with him, asking if he’d stay on the island with her forever, even offering to make him immortal. But Odysseus, longing to see his wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachus, would reject her advances, insisting that he wanted to leave. However, Calypso, insulted by his rejection, would keep Odysseus captive on the island for the next seven years.
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Being forced to lie with the goddess, Odysseus would spend every night crying on the shore, wishing to see his wife and son once again. But high on Mount Olympus, the goddess Athena, having supported Odysseus since the Trojan War, would look down upon him with sadness in her eyes, until one day she could not stand by any longer. Begging Zeus to finally allow Odysseus to return home, Athena would make her case, with Zeus ordering Calypso to set him free.
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Reluctantly, Calypso would agree, helping Odysseus to build a raft to sail home. But as he was nearing his homeland, Poseidon would hear of Odysseus’ escape, conjuring a storm to destroy his raft. Barely surviving, Odysseus would manage to swim to the island of Scheria, where he would stumble onto the shore completely naked before falling asleep.
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The island of Scheria was home to the Phaeacians, ruled by King Alcinous and Queen Arete. The day after Odysseus’ arrival, their daughter, Nausicaa, would go down to the sea with her maids to wash their clothes, only to come across Odysseus, standing naked on the shore. Shocked by the sight of a naked man, her maids would run away screaming in terror, but Nausicaa, given courage and being prompted by Athena, would stand her ground. Giving Odysseus some clothes,
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Nausicaa would take him back to her palace, where she would introduce him to her parents. Inviting the stranger inside, the King and Queen would ask Odysseus to dine with them, before enjoying entertainment provided by Demodocus the poet, who was known for his songs inspired by the gods. As the night unfolded, the King would ask Odysseus to reveal his name and story, but Odysseus, reluctant to give his name after it had led to Poseidon’s curse,
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would try to avoid the question, instead talking of the great sights he had seen on his travels. After a great feast, Demodocus would soon begin to play his beautiful tunes, singing of the Gods of Olympus. But soon, the poet's attention would turn to the tale of Troy. He would sing of its many heroes, of Achilles and Agamemnon, and of the famous Odysseus, the maker of the wooden horse, and the most cunning of the Greeks.
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Awed by the tale of the Trojan Horse, of how a man so intelligent had managed to outwit the Trojans, the crowd would begin to cheer, but Odysseus, thinking only of the many friends he had lost, would grab his robe and begin to weep, wiping the tears from his eyes. However, the King, hearing Odysseus sobbing, would become suspicious, asking for the man's identity. Overwhelmed that his tale was being told across the land and mesmerised by the poet’s beautiful
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singing, he would reveal that his name was Odysseus, the famous hero of the Trojan War. But rather than returning home after the conflict, Odysseus would explain that he had been wandering the ocean for 10 long years, with every attempt to reach his homeland having ended in tragedy. Amazed by the story and honoured to have such a great hero in their midst, the king and queen would do everything they could to help him. The next morning, Odysseus would awake to
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find a ship in the harbour, loaded with gold and silver and a crew ready to help him return home. Setting sail, Odysseus would thank the king and queen, with his eyes now set firmly upon his homeland.
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20 years after leaving home, Odysseus would finally set foot on Ithaca, ready to see his wife and son once again.
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But Athena, knowing that his homeland was not as he left it, would warn Odysseus of the dangers that waited in his palace. Transforming him into an old beggar, Athena made sure that Odysseus would enter his home in disguise. For his wife Penelope, having been alone for twenty years, was expected to remarry, with suitors from far and wide coming to win her hand. Over 100 of them now infested Odysseus’ palace,
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eating his food and wearing his clothes, although throughout it all Penelope had remained faithful, never giving up hope that her husband would return.
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Devising a cunning plan to avoid marriage, Penelope had stalled her many suitors for years, weaving a burial garment for Odysseus’ father, promising that she would choose a new husband when it was finished. But every night, as the garment neared completion, she would secretly undo all her work, with the deception lasting for three years before it was uncovered, with her now being forced to choose a suitor.
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But unknown to Penelope, Odysseus would soon be by her side. Making his way to the palace, he would first stop at the house of his most loyal servant, Eumaeus. Happy to see his king once again, Eumaeus would offer Odysseus food and wine, while pledging to help him reclaim his home. It would not be long before another would join them. For Odysseus’ son Telemachus, had just arrived home from his travels after searching for his father for many months.
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Making his way up to the palace, Telemachus would see Eumaeus dining with a stranger, and hungry after his long voyage, would ask his friend if he could join for dinner. But Eumaeus, knowing the beggar’s true identity, would seek to give the two some time together, leaving to let Penelope know her son had returned. With Eumaeus now gone, Athena would use her magic to transform the old beggar back into Odysseus in all his glory.
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Telemachus could not believe his eyes and would begin to weep, having been reunited with his father after all this time. Dropping to his knees, Telemachus would embrace his father with open arms. But the reunion would have to wait, as for now Odysseus would have to deal with the suitors. Disguising himself as a beggar once again, he would enter the palace, only to discover that Penelope had set up a competition to choose her next husband.
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She had declared that she would marry the man who could shoot an arrow through a row of 12 axe heads, with every suitor in the land having joined the competition. But there would be one condition, that each suitor must use Odysseus’ great bow, that had been left behind at the palace. It was another of Penelope’s cunning tricks, as one after another, every suitor would take their turn, each unable to even string the bow.
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After every man had failed, Odysseus, still disguised as a beggar, would ask for an attempt, with the whole palace howling with laughter. But they would soon fall quiet, for Odysseus would string the bow with ease, taking aim and shooting an arrow that sailed through all twelve axes with perfect precision. But having seen the damage done to his home, Odysseus could not forgive the suitors. Turning
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the bow upon them, Odysseus would begin to fire, striking them down one by one. Panicked, the suitors would go to grab their weapons, but no matter how hard they looked they could not be found, as Telemachus had hid the weapons while the competition was underway. With Eumaeus then joining Telemachus and Odysseus, they would begin to attack the suitors, not stopping until they had all been killed. With the bodies of the suitors now laying dead
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at his feet, Odysseus had completed his final task. The only thing left to do was to reunite with his wife, with his undying love for her being the only thing that had fuelled his journey home. Recognising her husband and overwhelmed with emotion, Penelope would embrace Odysseus, a moment she had spent 20 long and faithful years waiting for. Letting out a sigh of relief, Odysseus was finally at peace, but his wife would
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have one question for him… asking where he had been after all this time. With a smile on his face and tears in his eyes, he would reply with one simple line: ‘Where do I begin?’
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As Odysseus’ story came to a close, so too would the Age of Heroes. Zeus’ plan to separate the realms of gods and men had been successful, and no longer would mythical beasts roam the land, nor would demi-gods walk among mortals. The tales of these great heroes would now pass into myth and legend, their stories preserved by great poets such as Homer, stories that would be told again and again by each generation that came to pass.
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Zeus, having tried and failed to populate the world with humans of gold, silver and then bronze, as well as his own descendants, would now create a final race of men, this time of Iron, the current age of man. Unlike those that came before them, this race of Iron would be exposed to all the hardships of the world. They would know old age and poverty, starvation and war, with hard work needed to survive the many dangers that faced them.
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But as much as they would struggle, with the gods having retreated from the world, these men of iron would now be truly in charge of their own destiny, free to shape the land in any way they saw fit. They would found cities, learn to write and would explore the world around them, with philosophy, art and music expressing their creativity. They would invent the printing press, discover gravity, harness the power of
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steam and create light from the energy that now fuelled their civilisation. And one day, this race of Iron will use their great talents to travel to the heavens themselves, where, just for a moment, they could see the place of their home from the perspective of the gods.
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