Theseus. Theseus was a founder-hero, like Perseus, Cadmus, or Heracles, all of whom battled and overcame foes that were identified with an archaic religious and social order.[2] As Heracles was the Dorian hero, Theseus was a founding hero, considered by Athenians as their own great reformer: his name comes from the same root as θεσμός ("thesmos"), Greek for "The Gathering".
Plutarch's vita (a literalistic biography) of Theseus makes use of varying accounts of the death of the Minotaur, Theseus' escape, and the love of Ariadne for Theseus.[3] Plutarch's sources, not all of whose texts have survived independently, included Pherecydes (mid-fifth century BC), Demon (ca 400 BC), Philochorus, and Cleidemus (both fourth century BC).[4] Early years[edit] Thus Theseus was raised in his mother's land. When Theseus grew up and became a brave young man, he moved the rock and recovered his father's tokens.
Minotaur. Oedipus. In the most well-known version of the myth, Oedipus was born to King Laius and Queen Jocasta.
Laius wished to thwart a prophecy, so left him to die on a mountainside. Seven Against Thebes. Plot summary[edit] When Oedipus, King of Thebes, realized he had married his own mother and had two sons and two daughters with her, he blinded himself and cursed his sons to divide their inheritance (the kingdom) by the sword.
The two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, in order to avoid bloodshed, agreed to rule Thebes in alternate years. Perseus. Etymology[edit] Because of the obscurity of the name Perseus and the legendary character of its bearer, most etymologists pass it by, on the presumption that it might be pre-Greek; however, the name of Perseus’ native city was Greek and so were the names of his wife and relatives.
There is some prospect that it descended into Greek from the Proto-Indo-European language. In that regard Robert Graves has espoused the only Greek derivation available. Perseus might be from the Greek verb, "πέρθειν" (perthein), “to waste, ravage, sack, destroy”, some form of which appears in Homeric epithets. According to Carl Darling Buck (Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin), the –eus suffix is typically used to form an agent noun, in this case from the aorist stem, pers-. The origin of perth- is more obscure. ”It is tempting to see...the classical Perse...daughter of Oceanus...; whether it may be further identified with the first element of Persephone is only speculative.”
Origin at Argos[edit] Medusa. In Greek mythology Medusa ("guardian, protectress")[1] was a monster, a Gorgon, generally described as having the face of a hideous human female with living venomous snakes in place of hair.
Gazing directly upon her would turn onlookers to stone. Most sources describe her as the daughter of Phorcys and Ceto,[2] though the author Hyginus (Fabulae, 151) interposes a generation and gives Medusa another chthonic pair as parents.[3] Medusa was beheaded by the hero Perseus, who thereafter used her head as a weapon[4] until he gave it to the goddess Athena to place on her shield. Jason. Jason landing in Colchis - as depicted in a 17th-century painting.
Jason (Ancient Greek: Ἰάσων, Iásōn) was an ancient Greek mythological hero who was famous for his role as the leader of the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. Argonauts. Story[edit] After the death of King Cretheus, the Aeolian Pelias usurped the Iolcan throne from his half-brother Aeson and became king of Iolcus in Thessaly (near the modern city of Volos).
Because of this unlawful act, an oracle warned him that a descendant of Aeolus would seek revenge. Pelias put to death every prominent descendant of Aeolus he could, but spared Aeson because of the pleas of their mother Tyro. Instead, Pelias kept Aeson prisoner and forced him to renounce his inheritance. Aeson married Alcimede, who bore him a son named Jason. When Jason was 20 years old, an oracle ordered him to dress as a Magnesian and head to the Iolcan court. Another oracle warned Pelias to be on his guard against a man with one shoe.
Trojan War. Sources The Burning of Troy (1759/62), oil painting by Johann Georg Trautmann.
Achilles. In Greek mythology, Achilles (/əˈkɪliːz/; Ancient Greek: Ἀχιλλεύς, Akhilleus, pronounced [akʰillěws]) was a Greek hero of the Trojan War and the central character and greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad.
Achilles was said to be a demigod; his mother was the nymph Thetis, and his father, Peleus, was the king of the Myrmidons. Etymology[edit] Odysseus. Odysseus (/oʊˈdɪsiəs, oʊˈdɪsjuːs/; Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς [odysˈsews]), also known by the Roman name Ulysses (/juːˈlɪsiːz/; Latin: Ulyssēs, Ulixēs), was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and a hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey.
Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in that same Epic Cycle. Husband of Penelope, father of Telemachus, and son of Laërtes and Anticlea, Odysseus is renowned for his brilliance, guile, and versatility (polytropos), and is hence known by the epithet Odysseus the Cunning (mētis, or "cunning intelligence"). He is most famous for the ten eventful years he took to return home after the decade-long Trojan War. Heracles.