Mythological hero. Mythical male and female names and their meanings

Ancient Greece is one of the richest sources of myths about gods, ordinary people and
mortal heroes who protected them. Over the centuries, these stories have been created
poets, historians and simply “eyewitnesses” of the legendary exploits of intrepid heroes,
having the powers of demigods.

Hercules, the son of Zeus and a mortal woman, was especially honored among heroes.
Alcmene. The most famous myth of all can be considered the cycle of 12 labors,
which the son of Zeus performed alone while in the service of King Eurystheus. Even
in the celestial constellation you can see the constellation Hercules.

Achilles is one of the bravest Greek heroes who undertook a campaign against
Troy under the leadership of Agamemnon. Stories about him are always full of courage and
courage. It is not for nothing that he is one of the key figures in the writings of the Iliad, where he
given more honor than any other warrior.

He was described not only as an intelligent and brave king, but also as
a great speaker. He was the main key figure in the story "The Odyssey".
His adventures and return to his wife Penelope found an echo in the hearts of
many people.

Perseus was no less a key figure in ancient Greek mythology. He
described as the conqueror of the monster gorgon Medusa, and the savior of the beautiful
Princess Andromeda.

Theseus can be called the most famous character in all of Greek mythology. He
most often appears not only in the Iliad but also in the Odyssey.

Jason is the leader of the Argonauts who went to Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece.
This task was given to him by his father's brother Pelias in order to destroy him, but it
brought him eternal glory.

Hector in ancient Greek mythology appears to us not only as a prince
Troy, but also a great commander who died at the hands of Achilles. He is placed on par with
many heroes of that time.

Ergin is the son of Poseidon, and one of the Argonauts who went for the Golden Fleece.

Talai is another of the Argonauts. Honest, fair, smart and reliable -
This is how Homer described him in his Odyssey.

Orpheus was not so much a hero as a singer and musician. However, his
the image can be “found” in many paintings of that time.

Greek myths, which tell of gods, goddesses and heroes, date back to the Bronze Age, a time of oral tradition. They were first recorded at the beginning of the 6th century. BC. and have continued to live in Western literature ever since. Myths were closely related to the beliefs of the ancient Greeks and interpreted the secrets of nature. They told about the creation of the world about the deeds of the deities, about the golden age of ancient Greek society, about the age of heroic demigods such as Theseus and Hercules, whose exploits inspired ordinary people. The Greeks imagined the gods as ideal people who possessed all the feelings characteristic of humans. The gods lived on Mount Olympus. The supreme god Zeus was considered the father of many Olympians. Each member of the Olympic family was assigned a divine role.

Zeus- the father of gods and people, ruled them from Mount Olympus.
Eris goddess of discord.
Klymene, mother Promethea who gave fire to people.
Hera Zeus's wife was very jealous.
Athena emerged from the head of Zeus in full battle garb, in Greek mythology she was the goddess of wisdom, strategy and war.
Poseidon, god of the seas, one of the brothers of Zeus. The symbol of his power is the trident. Myths bring to us stories about Poseidon's infidelity to his wife, the sea goddess Amphitrite, who was the goddess of the sea in Greek mythology. This statue is kept in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.
Paris must award the golden apple to the most beautiful of goddesses. Paris's dog helped him graze his flocks on Mount Ida, where the prince grew up.
Dionysus, the god of viticulture and wine, Zeus gave birth from his thigh.
Hades And Persephone ruled the kingdoms of the dead and the souls of the dead. Hades kidnapped Persephone from her mother Demeter, the goddess of fertility. Angry, Demeter sent a famine to the earth, and then Zeus decided that Persephone would live with her mother for part of the year.
Artemis, maiden goddess of the hunt, daughter of Zeus and sister of Apollo. She is armed with a bow and arrows. The eternally young goddess is surrounded by dogs and nymphs. Having taken a vow of chastity, she was nevertheless also the goddess of childbirth.
Hermes was a messenger of the gods.
Aphrodite, goddess of love, was born from the foam of the sea.
Apollo, son of Zeus and brother of Artemis, god-healer and soothsayer, patron of the arts, was unusually handsome.

Labors of Hercules. Hercules(among the Romans - Hercules) - the greatest of the Greek heroes, the son of Zeus and the mortal woman Alcmene. Endowed with superhuman strength, he achieved success and immortality by completing 12 tasks of the Mycenaean king Eurystheus, which seemed impossible.
First he defeated the Nemean Lion, whose skin he always wore on himself from then on.
The second labor of Hercules was the victory over the Lernaean Hydra. The severed heads of this poisonous monster, raised by Hera, immediately grew back. As in his other exploits, Hercules was helped by Athena.
Then the huge boar that was ravaging Mount Erymanth was caught. Hercules delivered him to King Eurystheus alive. The king was so frightened that he hid in a large jug.
The sixth feat was the extermination of the Stymphalian birds. Hercules saved Lake Stymphalia from man-eating birds with copper beaks: having scared the birds with bronze rattles, he killed them with stones fired from a sling.

The heroes of Greek myths and legends were not immortal like their gods. But they were not mere mortals either. Most of them traced their origins to the gods. Their great exploits and accomplishments, which were captured in myths and famous artistic creations, give us an idea of the views of the ancient Greeks. So what did the most famous Greek heroes become famous for? We'll tell you below...

The king of the island of Ithaca and the favorite of the goddess Athena, was known for his extraordinary intelligence and courage, although no less for his cunning and cunning. Homer's Odyssey tells about his return from Troy to his homeland and his adventures during these wanderings. First, a strong storm washed Odysseus's ships to the shores of Thrace, where the wild Cycones killed 72 of his companions. In Libya, he blinded the Cyclops Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon himself. After many trials, the hero ended up on the island of Eya, where he lived for a year with the sorceress Kirka. Sailing past the island of sweet-voiced sirens, Odysseus ordered himself to be tied to the mast so as not to be tempted by their magical singing. He safely passed through the narrow strait between the six-headed Scylla, devouring all living things, and Charybdis, absorbing everyone in her whirlpool, and went out into the open sea. But lightning struck his ship, and all his companions died. Only Odysseus escaped. The sea threw him onto the island of Ogygia, where the nymph Calypso kept him for seven years. Finally, after nine years of dangerous wanderings, Odysseus returned to Ithaca. There, together with his son Telemachus, he killed the suitors who were besieging his faithful wife Penelope and squandering his fortune, and began to rule Ithaca again.

Hercules (Romans - Hercules), the most glorious and powerful of all Greek heroes, the son of Zeus and the mortal woman Alcmene. Forced to serve the Mycenaean king Eurystheus, he performed twelve famous feats. For example, he killed the nine-headed hydra, tamed and led away the hellish dog Cerberus from the underworld, strangled the invulnerable Nemean lion and dressed in his skin, erected two stone pillars on the banks of the strait separating Europe from Africa (the Pillars of Hercules - the ancient name of the Strait of Gibraltar), supported the heavenly vault, while the Titan Atlant obtained for him miraculous golden apples, guarded by the Hesperides nymphs. For these and other great exploits, Athena after her death carried Hercules to Olympus, and Zeus granted him eternal life.

, the son of Zeus and the Argive princess Danae, went to the country of the gorgons - winged monsters covered with scales. Instead of hair, poisonous snakes wriggled on their heads, and a terrible gaze turned anyone who dared to look at them to stone. Perseus beheaded the gorgon Medusa and married the daughter of the Ethiopian king Andromeda, whom he saved from a sea monster that was devouring people. He turned her former fiancé, who arranged the conspiracy, into stone, showing the severed head of Medusa.

, son of the Thessalian king Peleus and the sea nymph Thetis, one of the main heroes of the Trojan War. As an infant, his mother dipped him into the sacred waters of the Styx, making his body invulnerable, with the exception of his heel, by which his mother held him, lowering him into the Styx. In the Battle of Troy, Achilles was killed by the son of the Trojan king Paris, whose arrow Apollo, who was helping the Trojans, aimed at his heel - his only vulnerable spot (hence the expression “Achilles’ heel”).

, the son of the Thessalian king Eson, went with his companions to distant Colchis on the Black Sea to get the skin of a magic ram, the golden fleece, protected by a dragon. Among the 50 Argonauts who took part in the expedition on the ship "Argo" were Hercules, the pepper Orpheus and the Dioscuri twins (sons of Zeus) - Castor and Polydeuces.
After numerous adventures, the Argonauts brought the fleece to Hellas. Jason married the daughter of the Colchian king, the sorceress Medea, and they had two boys. When a few years later Jason decided to marry the daughter of the Corinthian king Creus, Medea killed her rival, and then her own children. Jason died under the wreckage of the dilapidated ship "Argo".

Oedipus, son of the Theban king Laius. Oedipus's father was predicted to die at the hands of his own son, so Laius ordered the child to be thrown to be devoured by wild animals. But the slave took pity and saved him. As a young man, Oedipus received a prediction from the Delphic Oracle that he would kill his father and marry his own mother. Frightened by this, Oedipus left his adoptive parents and went wandering. On the way, in a random quarrel, he killed a noble old man. But on the way to Thebes he met the Sphinx, who guarded the road and asked the travelers a riddle: “Who walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?” Those who could not answer were devoured by the monster. Oedipus solved the riddle: “Man: as a child he crawls on all fours, as an adult he walks upright, and in old age he leans on a stick.” Shattered by this answer, the Sphinx threw itself into the abyss. The grateful Thebans chose Oedipus as their king and gave him the king's widow Jocasta as his wife. When it turned out that the old man killed on the road was his father King Laius, and Jocasta his mother, Oedipus blinded himself in despair, and Jocasta committed suicide.

, the son of Poseidon, also accomplished many glorious deeds. On the way to Athens he killed six monsters and robbers. In the Knossos labyrinth he destroyed the Minotaur and found a way out with the help of a ball of thread, which was given to him by the daughter of the Cretan king Ariadne. He was also revered as the creator of the Athenian state.

HEROES

Ancient mythology

Achilles
Hector
Hercules
Odysseus
Orpheus
Perseus
Theseus
Oedipus
Aeneas
Jason

ACHILLES -
in Greek mythology one of the greatest heroes,
son of King Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis.
Zeus and Poseidon wanted to have a son from the beautiful Thetis,
but the titan Prometheus warned them,
that the child will surpass his father in greatness.
And the gods wisely arranged the marriage of Thetis with a mortal.
Love for Achilles, as well as the desire to make him invulnerable and
to give immortality they forced Thetis to bathe the child in the River Styx,
flowing through Hades, the land of the dead.
Since Thetis was forced to hold her son by the heel, t
This part of the body remained defenseless.
Achilles' mentor was the centaur Chiron, who fed him
the entrails of lions, bears and wild boars, taught him to play the cithara and sing.
Achilles grew up to be a fearless warrior, but his immortal mother, knowing
that participation in the campaign against Troy would bring death to his son,
dressed him up as a girl and hid him among the women in the palace of King Lycomedes.
When the leaders of the Greeks became aware of the prediction of the priest Kalkhant,
grandson of Apollo, that without Achilles the campaign against Troy is doomed to failure,
they sent the cunning Odysseus to him.
Arriving at the king disguised as a merchant, Odysseus laid out in front of those gathered
women's jewelry mixed with weapons.
The inhabitants of the palace began to look at the jewelry,
but suddenly, at a sign from Odysseus, an alarm sounded -
the girls ran away in fright, and the hero grabbed his sword, giving himself away completely.
After being exposed, Achilles, willy-nilly, had to sail to Troy,
where he soon quarreled with the leader of the Greeks, Agamemnon.
According to one version of the myth, this happened because,
wanting to provide the Greek fleet
favorable wind, Agamemnon secretly from the hero,
under the pretext of marriage with Achilles, summoned to Aulis
his daughter Iphigenia and sacrificed her to the goddess Artemis.
The angry Achilles retired to his tent, refusing to fight.
However, the death of his faithful friend and brother-in-arms Patroclus
forced by the Trojan Hector
Achilles to immediate action.
Having received armor as a gift from the blacksmith god Hephaestus,
Achilles killed Hector with a spear and twelve days
mocked his body near the grave of Patroclus.
Only Thetis was able to convince her son to give the remains of Hector to the Trojans
for funeral rites -
sacred duty of the living towards the dead.
Returning to the battlefield, Achilles defeated hundreds of enemies.
But his own life was coming to an end.
The arrow of Paris, well aimed by Apollo,
inflicted a mortal wound on Achilles' heel,
the only weak spot on the hero's body.
Thus died the valiant and arrogant Achilles,
the ideal of the great ancient commander Alexander the Great.

1.Training Achilles
Pompeo Batoni, 1770

2. Achilles at Lycomedes
Pompeo Batoni, 1745

3.Agamemnon's ambassadors to Achilles
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
1801, Louvre, Paris

4. Centaur Chiron returns the body
Achilles to his mother Thetis
Pompeo Batoni, 1770

HECTOR -
in ancient Greek mythology, one of the main heroes of the Trojan War.
The hero was the son of Hecuba and Priam, the king of Troy.
Hector had 49 brothers and sisters, but among the sons of Priam it was he who was famous
with your strength and courage. According to legend, Hector struck the first Greek to death,
who set foot on the land of Troy - Protesilaus.
The hero became especially famous in the ninth year of the Trojan War,
challenging Ajax Telamonides to battle.
Hector promised his enemy not to desecrate his body
in case of defeat and not to remove his armor and demanded the same from Ajax.
After a long struggle, they decided to stop the fight and, as a sign
gifts were exchanged of mutual respect.
Hector hoped to defeat the Greeks, despite Cassandra's prediction.
It was under his leadership that the Trojans broke into the fortified camp of the Achaeans,
approached the navy and even managed to set fire to one of the ships.
The legends also describe the battle between Hector and the Greek Patroclus.
The hero defeated his opponent and took off Achilles' armor.
The gods took a very active part in the war. They split into two camps
and each helped their favorites.
Hector was patronized by Apollo himself.
When Patroclus died, Achilles, obsessed with revenge for his death,
tied the defeated dead Hector to his chariot and
dragged him around the walls of Troy, but the hero’s body was not touched by any ashes,
not a bird, since Apollo protected him in gratitude for
that Hector helped him several times during his lifetime.
Based on this circumstance, the ancient Greeks concluded that
that Hector was the son of Apollo.
According to myths, Apollo persuaded Zeus at the council of the gods
hand over Hector's body to the Trojans,
to be buried with honor.
The Supreme God ordered Achilles to give the body of the deceased to his father Priam.
Since, according to legend, Hector's grave was in Thebes,
researchers have suggested that the image of the hero is of Boeotian origin.
Hector was a highly revered hero in Ancient Greece,
which proves the fact of the presence of his image
on antique vases and in antique plastic.
They usually depicted scenes of Hector’s farewell to his wife Andromache,
the battle with Achilles and many other episodes.

1. Andromache at Hector’s body
Jacques Louis David
1783, Louvre, Paris

]

HERCULES -
in ancient Greek mythology, the greatest of heroes,
son of Zeus and the mortal woman Alcmene.
Zeus needed a mortal hero to defeat the giants,
and he decided to give birth to Hercules.
The best mentors taught Hercules various arts, wrestling, and archery.
Zeus wanted Hercules to become the ruler of Mycenae or Tiryns, key fortresses on the approaches to Argos,
but jealous Hera upset his plans.
She struck Hercules with madness, in a fit of which he killed
wife and his three sons.
To atone for his grave guilt, the hero had to serve Eurystheus for twelve years,
king of Tiryns and Mycenae, after which he was granted immortality.
The most famous is the cycle of tales about the twelve labors of Hercules.
The first feat was to obtain the skin of the Nemean lion,
whom Hercules had to strangle with his bare hands.
Having defeated the lion, the hero tanned its skin and wore it as a trophy.
The next feat was the victory over the Hydra, the sacred nine-headed snake of Hera.
The monster lived in a swamp near Lerna, not far from Argos.
The difficulty was that instead of the hero’s severed head, the hydra
two new ones immediately grew.
With the help of his nephew Iolaus, Hercules overpowered the ferocious Lernaean hydra -
the young man burned the neck of each head severed by the hero.
True, the feat was not counted by Eurystheus, since Hercules was helped by his nephew.
The next feat was not so bloody.
Hercules had to catch the Cerynean doe, the sacred animal of Artemis.
Then the hero caught the Erymanthian boar, which was devastating the fields of Arcadia.
In this case, the wise centaur Chiron accidentally died.
The fifth feat was cleaning the Augean stables from manure,
what the hero did in one day, sending the waters of the nearest river into them.
The last of the labors performed by Hercules in the Peloponnese was
expulsion of Stymphalian birds with pointed iron feathers.
The ominous birds were afraid of the copper rattles,
made by Hephaestus and given to Hercules
the goddess Athena, who was favorable to him.
The seventh labor was the capture of a fierce bull, which Minos, king of Crete,
refused to sacrifice to the god of the sea Poseidon.
The bull copulated with Minos' wife Pasiphae, who gave birth to the Minotaur, a man with a bull's head.
Hercules performed the eighth labor in Thrace,
where he subjugated the man-eating mares of King Diomedes to his power.
The remaining four feats were of a different kind.
Eurystheus ordered Hercules to obtain the belt of the queen of the warlike Amazons, Hippolyta.
Then the hero kidnapped and delivered the cows of the three-headed giant Geryon to Mycenae.
After this, Hercules brought Eurystheus the golden apples of the Hesperides, for which he had to
strangle the giant Antaeus and deceive Atlas, who holds the firmament on his shoulders.
The last labor of Hercules - the journey to the kingdom of the dead - was the most difficult.
With the assistance of the queen of the underworld Persephone, the hero was able to bring
and deliver to Tiryns the three-headed dog Kerberus (Cerberus), the guardian of the underworld.
The end of Hercules was terrible.
The hero died in terrible agony, wearing the shirt that his wife Deianira,
on the advice of the centaur Nessus, dying at the hands of Hercules,
soaked this half-man, half-horse with the poisonous blood.
When the hero, with his last strength, ascended the funeral pyre,
crimson lightning struck from the sky and
Zeus accepted his son into the host of immortals.
Some of the labors of Hercules are immortalized in the names of constellations.
For example, the constellation Leo - in memory of the Nemean lion,
the constellation Cancer is reminiscent of the huge cancer Karkina,
sent by Hera to help the Lernaean hydra.
In Roman mythology, Hercules corresponds to Hercules.

1.Hercules and Cerberus
Boris Vallejo, 1988

2.Hercules and Hydra
Gustave Moreau, 1876

3.Hercules at the crossroads
Pompeo Batoni, 1745

4.Hercules and Omphale
Francois Lemoine, About 1725

ODYSSEUS -
"angry", "wrathful" (Ulysses). In Greek mythology, the king of the island of Ithaca,
one of the leaders of the Achaeans in the Trojan War.
He is famous for his cunning, dexterity and amazing adventures.
The brave Odysseus was sometimes considered the son of Sisyphus, who seduced Anticlea
even before his marriage to Laertes,
and according to some versions, Odysseus is the grandson of Autolycus, “an oathbreaker and thief,” the son of the god Hermes,
inherited their intelligence, practicality and enterprise.
Agamemnon, the leader of the Greeks, had high hopes for the ingenuity and intelligence of Odysseus.
Together with the wise Nestor, Odysseus was tasked with persuading the great warrior
Achilles to take part in the Trojan War on the side of the Greeks,
and when their fleet got stuck in Aulis, it was Odysseus who tricked his wife into
Agamemnon releases Clytemnestra to Iphigenia in Aulis
under the pretext of her marriage to Achilles.
In reality, Iphigenia was intended to be sacrificed to Artemis,
who otherwise did not agree
provide the Greek ships with a fair wind.
It was Odysseus who came up with the idea of the Trojan Horse, which brought victory to the Achaeans.
The Greeks pretended to lift the siege of the city and went out to sea,
leaving a huge hollow horse on the shore,
inside whose body a detachment of warriors led by Odysseus hid.
The Trojans, rejoicing at the departure of the Achaeans, dragged the horse into the city.
They decided to present the statue as a gift to Athena and provide the city with the patronage of the gods.
At night, armed Achaeans poured out of the horse through a secret door,
killed the guards and opened the gates of Troy.
Hence the ancient saying: “Fear the Achaeans (Danaans), who bring gifts,” and
expression "Trojan horse".
Troy fell, but the brutal massacre committed by the Greeks
caused the severe wrath of the gods, especially Athena,
after all, the favorite of the gods, Cassandra, was raped in her sanctuary.
The wanderings of Odysseus were a favorite story of the Greeks and Romans,
who called him Ulysses.
From Troy Odysseus headed for Thrace,
where he lost many people in the battle with the Kikons.
Then a storm carried him to the land of lotus eaters ("lotus eaters"),
whose food made the newcomers forget about their homeland.
Later Odysseus fell into the possession of the Cyclopes (Cyclopes),
finding himself a prisoner of the one-eyed Polyphemus, son of Poseidon.
However, Odysseus and his companions managed to avoid inevitable death.
On the island of the lord of the winds, Aeolus, Odysseus received a gift - fur,
filled with fair winds,
but the curious sailors untied the fur and the winds scattered in all directions,
stopped blowing in the same direction.
Then Odysseus' ships were attacked by the Laestrygonians, a tribe of cannibal giants,
but the hero managed to get to the island of Eya, the possession of the sorceress Circe (Kirka).
With the help of Hermes, Odysseus was able to force the sorceress to return
human appearance to the members of his team,
which she turned into pigs.
Further, on the advice of Kirka, he visits the underground kingdom of the dead,
where the shadow of the blind soothsayer Tiresias warns the brave Odysseus
about upcoming dangers.
Having left the island, Odysseus's ship sailed past the coast,
where are the sweet-voiced sirens with their wondrous singing
lured sailors onto sharp rocks.
The hero ordered his companions to cover their ears with wax and tie himself to the mast. Having happily passed the wandering rocks of Plankta,
Odysseus lost six men, who were dragged away and devoured by the six-headed Scyta (Scylla).
On the island of Thrinacia, as Tiresias predicted, hungry travelers
were tempted by the fat herds of the sun god Helios.
As punishment, these sailors died from a storm sent by Zeus at the request of Helios.
The surviving Odysseus was almost swallowed by the monstrous whirlpool Charybdis.
Exhausted from exhaustion, he washed up on the island of the sorceress Calypso,
who came out to him and proposed marriage.
But even the prospect of immortality did not seduce Odysseus,
eager to return to his homeland, and seven years later the gods forced
the nymph in love to let the traveler go.
After another shipwreck, Odysseus, with the help of Athena, took on the form
a poor old man, returned home, where his wife Penelope had been waiting for him for many years.
Besieged by noble suitors, she played for time, announcing that she would get married,
when he finishes weaving a shroud for his father-in-law Laertes.
However, at night Penelope unraveled the day's woven fabric.
When the maids revealed her secret, she agreed to marry the one
who can string the bow of Odysseus?
The test was passed by an unknown beggar old man, who, throwing off his rags,
turned out to be the mighty Odysseus.
After twenty years of separation, the hero hugged his faithful Penelope,
whom Athena awarded with rare beauty before the meeting.
According to some versions of the myth, Odysseus, unrecognized, fell at the hands of Telegonus,
his son from Circe (Circa), according to others -
died peacefully in old age.

1.Odysseus in the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus
Jacob Jordaens, 1630

2.Odysseus and the Sirens
John William Waterhouse, 1891

3.Circe and Odysseus
John William Waterhouse 1891

4.Penelope waiting for Odysseus
John William Waterhouse, 1890

ORPHEUS -
in ancient Greek mythology, a hero and traveler.
Orpheus was the son of the Thracian river god Eagra and the muse Calliope.
He was known as a talented singer and musician.
Orpheus took part in the campaign of the Argonauts, with his playing of the forming
and with prayers he calmed the waves and helped the rowers of the Argo ship.
The hero married the beautiful Eurydice and, when she suddenly died from a snake bite,
followed her into the afterlife.
Guardian of the underworld, evil dog Cerberus,
Persephone and Hades were enchanted by the young man's magical music.
Hades promised to return Eurydice to earth on condition that
that Orpheus will not look at his wife until he enters his house.
Orpheus could not restrain himself and looked at Eurydice,
As a result, she remained forever in the kingdom of the dead.
Orpheus did not treat Dionysus with due respect, but he revered Helios,
whom he called Apollo.
Dionysus decided to teach the young man a lesson and sent maenads to attack him,
who tore the musician to pieces and threw him into the river.
Parts of his body were collected by the muses, who mourned the death of the beautiful young man.
The head of Orpheus floated down the Hebrus River and was found by nymphs,
then she ended up on the island of Lesbos, where Apollo accepted her.
The musician's shadow fell into Hades, where the couple were reunited.

1.Orpheus and Eurydice
Frederic Leighton, 1864

2.Nymphs and the head of Orpheus
John Waterhouse, 1900

PERSEUS -
in Greek mythology, the ancestor of Hercules, the son of Zeus and Danae,
daughter of the Argive king Acrisius.
Hoping to prevent the fulfillment of the prophecy about the death of Acrisius at the hands of his grandson,
Danae was imprisoned in a copper tower, but the almighty Zeus penetrated there,
turning into golden rain, and conceived Perseus.
Frightened Acrisius sat down the mother and child
into a wooden box and threw it into the sea.
However, Zeus helped his beloved and son safely
get to the island of Serif.
The matured Perseus was sent by the local ruler Polydectes,
who fell in love with Danae, in search of the gorgon Medusa,
with her gaze turning all living things into stone.
Fortunately for the hero, Athena hated Medusa and, according to one of the myths,
out of jealousy, she awarded the once beautiful gorgon with deadly beauty.
Athena taught Perseus what to do.
First, the young man, following the advice of the goddess, went to the old gray women,
who among the three had one eye and one tooth.
Having captured an eye and a tooth by cunning, Perseus returned them to the Grays in exchange
to indicate the way to the nymphs who gave him the invisibility cap,
winged sandals and a bag for Medusa's head.
Perseus flew to the western edge of the world, to the cave of the Gorgon, and
looking at the reflection of the mortal Medusa in his copper shield, he cut off her head.
Having put it in his bag, he rushed off wearing an invisibility cap,
unnoticed by the monster's snake-haired sisters.
On the way home, Perseus saved the beautiful Andromeda from a sea monster.
and married her.
Then the hero headed to Argos, but Acrisius,
Having learned about the arrival of his grandson, he fled to Larisa.
And yet he did not escape his fate - during the festivities in Larisa,
participating in the competition, Perseus threw a heavy bronze disk,
hit Acrisius in the head and killed him.
The inconsolable hero, stricken with grief, did not want to rule in Argos
and moved to Tiryns.
After the death of Perseus and Andromeda, the goddess Athena raised the spouses to heaven, turning them into constellations.

1.Perseus and Andromeda
Peter Paul Rubens, 1639

2.Ominous Gorgon Head
Edward Burne-Jones, 1887

THESEUS -
(“strong”), in Greek mythology, a hero, the son of the Athenian king Aegeus and Efra.
Childless Aegeus received advice from the Delphic oracle - when going from guests not to untie
your bottle of wine until you return home. Aegeus did not guess the prediction, but the Troezen king Pittheus,
with whom he was visiting, he realized that Aegeus was destined to conceive a hero. He gave the guest a drink and put him to bed
with his daughter Ephra. That same night Poseidon also became close to her.
This is how Theseus was born, the great hero, the son of two fathers.
Before leaving Efra, Aegeus led her to a boulder, under which he hid his sword and sandals.
If a son is born, he said, let him grow up, mature,
and when he can move the stone,
then send him to me. Theseus grew up, and Ephra discovered the secret of his birth.
The young man easily took out his sword and sandals, and on the way to Athens he dealt
with the robber Sinis and the Crommion pig.
Theseus was able to defeat the monstrous Minotaur, the man-bull,
only with the help of Princess Ariadne, who loved him, who gave him a guiding thread.
In Athens, Theseus learned that fifty sons of his cousin Pallant laid claim to the throne of Aegeus,
and Aegeus himself fell under the power of the sorceress Medea,
abandoned by Jason, who hoped that her son Med would receive the throne.
Theseus hid his origin, but Medea, knowing who he was,
persuaded Aegeus to give the stranger a cup of poison.
Theseus was saved by the fact that his father recognized his sword, with which the hero cut meat.
Theseus performed the following feats for the benefit of Athens.
He dealt with the sons of Pallant and Marathon
with a bull that ravaged the fields, he defeated the man-bull Minotaur.
Young Athenians were given to the monster that lived in the labyrinth to be devoured.
as an atoning sacrifice for the death of the king's son in Athens.
When Theseus volunteered to fight the Minotaur, his old father became desperate.
They agreed that if Theseus escaped death, then, returning home,
will change the sail from black to white.
Theseus, having killed the monster, got out of the labyrinth thanks to the daughter of Minos, Ariadne, who fell in love with him,
following the thread tied at the entrance (Ariadne's guiding thread).
Theseus and Ariadne then fled secretly to the island of Naxos.
Here Theseus left the princess and fate punished him.
Returning home, Theseus forgot to change the sail as a sign of victory.
Theseus's father Aegeus, seeing the black cloth, threw himself off the cliff into the sea.
Theseus performed a number of other feats. He captured the queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta,
who bore him a son, Hippolytus, gave shelter to the outcast Oedipus and his daughter Antigone.
True, Theseus was not among the Argonauts;
at this time he helped the Lapith king Pirithous
kidnap the queen of Hades, Persephone.
For this, the gods decided to leave the daredevil in Hades forever,
but Theseus was saved by Hercules.
However, grief came knocking on his house again when his second wife, Phaedra,
she desired his son Hippolytus, who remained silent in horror about her passion.
Humiliated by the refusal, Phaedra hanged herself.
in a suicide note accusing her stepson of trying to dishonor her.
The young man was expelled from the city,
and he died before his father knew the truth.
In his old age, Theseus boldly abducted the twelve-year-old daughter of Zeus Helen,
declaring that only she is worthy to be his wife,
but Helen's brothers, the Dioscuri, rescued their sister and expelled Theseus.
The hero died on the island of Skyros at the hands of the local king, who,
fearing the still mighty Theseus, he pushed the guest off the cliff.

1.Theseus and the Minotaur
Vase 450g. BC.

2.Theseus
with Ariadne and Phaedra
B. Zhennari, 1702

3.Theseus and Ephra
Lovren de la Hire, 1640

OEDIPUS -
descendant of Cadmus, from the Labdacid family, son of the Theban king Laius and Jocasta, or Epicasta,
favorite hero of Greek folk tales and tragedies, due to the multitude of which
it is very difficult to imagine the myth of Oedipus in its original form.
According to the most common legend, the oracle predicted Laius
about the birth of a son who will kill himself,
marries his own mother and covers the entire house of Labdacids with shame.
Therefore, when Lai's son was born, his parents pierced his legs
and tying them together (which made them swollen),
they sent him to Kiferon, where Oedipus was found by a shepherd,
sheltered the boy and then brought him to Sicyon,
or Corinth, to King Polybus, who raised his adopted son as his own son.
Having once received a reproach at a feast for his dubious origins,
Oedipus asked for clarification
to the oracle and received advice from him - to beware of parricide and incest.
As a result, Oedipus, who considered Polybus his father, left Sicyon.
On the road he met Lai, started a quarrel with him and, in a temper,
killed him and his retinue.
At this time, the Sphinx monster was wreaking havoc in Thebes,
asked for several years in a row
a riddle for everyone and devouring everyone who did not guess it.
Oedipus managed to solve this riddle
(what creature walks on four legs in the morning, on two at noon,
and in the evening at three? The answer is man)
as a result of which the Sphinx threw itself from a cliff and died.
In gratitude for delivering the country from a prolonged disaster, the Theban citizens
made Oedipus their king and gave him Laius's widow, Jocasta, as his wife -
his own mother.
Soon the double crime committed by Oedipus out of ignorance was revealed,
and Oedipus, in despair, gouged out his eyes, and Jocasta took her own life.
According to an ancient legend (Homer, Odyssey, XI, 271 et seq.)
Oedipus remained to reign in Thebes and died,
pursued by the Erinyes.
Sophocles tells about the end of Oedipus' life differently:
When the crimes of Oedipus were revealed, the Thebans with the sons of Oedipus:
Eteocles and Polyneices led the expulsion of the aged and blind king from Thebes,
and he, accompanied by his faithful daughter Antigone, went to the town of Colon
(in Attica), where in the sanctuary of Erinyes,
who finally, thanks to the intervention of Apollo, subdued their anger,
ended his life full of suffering.
His memory was considered sacred, and his grave was one of the palladiums of Attica.
As a character, Oedipus is depicted in Sophocles' tragedies "Oedipus the King" and
"Oedipus at Colonus" (both tragedies are available in Russian poetic translation
D. S. Merezhkovsky, St. Petersburg, 1902),
in Euripides' tragedy "The Phoenician Women"
(poetic Russian translation by I. Annensky, “The World of God”, 1898, No. 4)
and in Seneca's tragedy "Oedipus".
There were many other poetic works that dealt with the fate of Oedipus.

1. Bookplate of Sigmund Freud.
The bookplate depicts King Oedipus talking to the sphinx.

2.Oedipus and the Sphinx
J.O.Ingres

3.Oedipus and the Sphinx, 1864
Gustave Moreau

4. Oedipus the Wanderer, 1888
Gustave Moreau

AENEAS -
in Greek and Roman mythology, the son of the handsome shepherd Anchises and Aphrodite (Venus),
participant in the defense of Troy during the Trojan War, a most glorious hero.
A brave warrior, Aeneas took part in decisive battles with Achilles and escaped death
only through the intercession of his divine mother.
After the fall of devastated Troy, at the behest of the gods, he left the burning city
and together with the old father,
wife Kreusa and young son Askanius (Yul),
capturing images of the Trojan gods,
accompanied by companions on twenty ships, set off in search of a new homeland.
Having survived a series of adventures and a terrible storm, he reached the Italian city of Cuma,
and then came to Latium, a region in Central Italy.
The local king was ready to give his daughter Lavinia for Aeneas (who was widowed along the way)
and provide him with land to found a city.
Having defeated Turnus, the leader of the warlike Rutul tribe, in a duel
and a contender for Lavinia's hand,
Aeneas settled in Italy, which became the successor to the glory of Troy.
His son Askanius (Yul) was considered the progenitor of the Julius family,
including the famous emperors Julius Caesar and Augustus.

1.Venus giving Aeneas armor made by Vulcan, 1748
Pompeo Batoni

2.Mercury appearing to Aeneas (fresco), 1757
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

3. Battle of Aeneas with the harpies
Francois Perrier, 1647

JASON -
("healer"), in Greek mythology, the great-grandson of the god of the winds Aeolus, the son of King Iolcus Aeson and Polymede.
Hero, leader of the Argonauts.
When Pelias overthrew his brother Aeson from the throne, he, fearing for the life of his son,
gave him under the tutelage of the wise centaur Chiron, who lived in the Thessalian forests.
The Delphic oracle predicted to Pelias that he would be killed by a man wearing only one sandal.
This explains the king’s fear when the matured Jason returned to the city,
lost a sandal on the way.
Pelias decided to get rid of the impending threat and promised to recognize Jason as heir if he, risking his life, obtained the Golden Fleece in Colchis.
Jason and his crew on the ship "Argo", having experienced many adventures, returned to their homeland with a wonderful fleece.
With his success - victory over the dragon and formidable warriors,
growing from his teeth -
they owed a lot to the Colchian princess Medea, since Eros,
at the request of Athena and Hera, who patronized Jason,
instilled love for the hero in the girl’s heart.
Upon returning to Iolcus, the Argonauts learned
that Pelias killed Jason's father and all his relatives.
According to one version, Pelias dies from the spell of Medea, whose name means “insidious.”
According to another, Jason resigned himself to exile and lived happily with Medea for ten years
and they had three children.
Then the hero married Princess Glavka; V
In revenge, Medea killed her and killed her sons by Jason.
Years passed. The elderly hero dragged out his days until one day he wandered onto the pier,
where the famous Argo stood.
Suddenly the mast of the ship, rotten from time to time, broke.
and fell on Jason, who fell dead.

1. Jason and Medea
John William Waterhouse, 1890

2. Jason and Medea
Gustave Moreau, 1865

Oleg and Valentina Svetovid are mystics, specialists in esotericism and occultism, authors of 14 books.

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