Names of heroines from ancient Greek myths. Greek heroes

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.

1

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.

2

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.

3

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.

4

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.

6

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.

7

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.

8

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

9

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

10

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.

The mythology of Ancient Greece is built on myths about the pantheon of gods, about the life of titans and giants, as well as about the exploits of heroes. In the myths of Ancient Greece, the main active force was the Earth, which generates everything and gives everything its beginning.

What happened first

So she gave birth to monsters personifying dark power, titans, cyclopes, hecatoncheires - hundred-armed monsters, the multi-headed serpent Typhon, the terrible goddesses Erinnia, the bloodthirsty dog ​​Cerberus and the Lernaean hydra and three-headed chimeras.

Society developed and these monsters were replaced by the heroes of Ancient Greece. Most of the heroes had parents who were gods, but they were also people. Part of the culture of Greece is the myths about the exploits of these heroes, and some of the names of the heroes of Ancient Greece are well known.

Hercules

Hercules - popular, strong, courageous - was the son of the god Zeus and Alcmene, a simple, earthly woman. He became famous for his twelve labors performed throughout his life. For this, Zeus gave him immortality.

Odysseus

Odysseus is the king of Ithaca, he became famous for his deadly risky journeys from Troy to his homeland. Homer described these exploits in his poem “Odyssey”. Odysseus was smart, cunning and strong. He managed to escape not only from the nymph Calypso, but also from the sorceress Kirka.

He managed to defeat the Cyclops, blinding him, he survived a lightning strike, and when he returned to his homeland, he punished all the “suitors” of his wife Penelope.

Perseus

It is impossible not to remember Perseus if we talk about the names of the heroes of Ancient Greece. The son of Queen Danae and Zeus is Perseus. He accomplished a feat by killing Medusa the Gorgon, a winged monster whose gaze turned everything around to stone. He accomplished his next feat when he freed Princess Andromeda from the clutches of the monster.

Achilles

Achilles became famous in the Trojan War. He was the son of the nymph Thetis and King Peleus. When he was a baby, his mother bought him from the waters of the river of the dead. From then on, he was invulnerable to enemies, with the exception of his heel. Paris, the son of the Trojan king, hit him in the heel with an arrow.

Jason

The ancient Greek hero Jason became famous in Colchis. Jason went for the Golden Fleece to distant Colchis on the ship "Argo" with a team of brave Argonauts, and married Medea, the daughter of the king of this country. They had two sons. Medea killed him and her two sons when Jason was about to marry for the second time.

Theseus

The ancient Greek hero Theseus was the son of the sea king Poseidon. He became famous for killing the monster that lived in the Cretan labyrinth - the Minotaur. He got out of the labyrinth thanks to Ariadne, who gave him a ball of thread. In Greece, this hero is considered the founder of Athens.

The names of the heroes of Ancient Greece are also not forgotten thanks to the animated and feature films produced.

More articles in this section:

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.

The deceased heroes of primitive times, the ancestors of tribes, the founders of cities and colonies enjoyed divine honors among the Greeks. They constitute a separate world of Greek mythology, however, closely connected with the world of the gods from whom they originate. Every tribe, every region, every city, even every clan has its own hero, in whose honor holidays and sacrifices are established. The most widespread and rich in legends heroic cult among the Greeks was the cult of Alcides Hercules (Hercules). He is a symbol of the highest human heroism, who tirelessly overcomes obstacles everywhere opposed to him by testing fate, fights the unclean forces and horrors of nature and, freed from human weaknesses, becomes like the gods. In Greek mythology, Hercules is the representative of humanity who, with the help of his semi-divine origin, can ascend to Olympus, despite all the unfavorability of hostile forces towards him.

Hercules kills the Nemean lion. Copy from the statue of Lysippos

Originally appearing in Boeotia and Argos, the myth of Hercules was subsequently mixed with many foreign legends, because the Greeks merged with their Hercules all similar deities with which they became acquainted in their relations with the Phoenicians (Melkart), Egyptians and Celto-Germanic tribes. He is the son of Zeus and the Theban woman Alcmene and the ancestor of the royal families of Dorian, Thessalian and Macedonian. Condemned by the envy of the goddess Hera to serve the king of Argos Eurystheus, Hercules in myths performs twelve labors on his behalf: frees the Peloponnese and other regions from monsters and predatory animals, cleanses the stables of King Augeas in Elis, extracts golden apples from the gardens of the Hesperides (in northern Africa) with the help of The titan Atlas, for whom he holds the firmament for some time, crosses the so-called Pillars of Hercules to Spain, there he takes away the bulls from King Geryon, and then returns through Gaul, Italy and Sicily. From Asia he brings the belt of the Amazonian queen Hippolyta, in Egypt he kills the cruel king Busiris and brings the chained Cerberus out of the underworld. But he, too, falls into weakness for a time and performs female service for the Lydian queen Omphale; soon, however, he returns to his former courage, undertakes some more feats and finally takes his own life in the flames on Mount Ete, when the poisoned clothes sent to him by his wife Dejanira, who did not suspect the trouble, led the hero to inevitable death. Upon death, he was ascended to Olympus and married Hebe, the goddess of youth.

In all the countries and on all the shores where the active maritime trade brought the Greeks, they found traces of their national hero, who preceded them, paving the way, whose labors and dangers, defeated by his heroism and perseverance, were a reflection of their own national life. c Greek mythology took its beloved hero from the extreme west, where the Atlas Range, the Gardens of the Hesperides and the Pillars of Hercules testified to his existence to Egypt and the shores of the Black Sea. The soldiers of Alexander the Great found it even in India.

In the Peloponnese a myth arose about the cursed family of the Lydians or Phrygians Tantalus, whose son is a hero Pelops through deception and cunning, he took possession of the daughter and the region of the Elidian king Oenomaus. His sons Atreus and Thyestes(Tiestes) allow themselves incest, infanticide and pass on to their descendants an even greater degree of curse. The mythological hero Orestes, son of Agamemnon, friend of Pylades, murderer of his mother Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus, by the return of his sister Iphigenia from Tauris, where she was a priestess of the barbarian worship of Artemis, is freed from the Erinnyes and atones for the sins of the entire Tantalus family.

In Lacedaemon, myths were told about the Tyndarid heroes - twins Kastore and Polidevka(Pollux), brothers of Helen, who merged with the Dioscuri, shining stars, patrons of sailors and sailors: they thought that their ascension would calm the storm.

The tribal hero of Thebes was the Phoenician Cadmus, who was looking for his sister Europe, kidnapped by Zeus, and taken by a cow to Boeotia. From him came King Laius, who, frightened by one saying of the oracle, ordered his son from Jocasta, Oedipus, to be thrown into a mountain gorge. But the son, according to Greek mythology, was saved, raised in Corinth, and subsequently killed his father, out of ignorance; He, having solved one riddle, freed the Theban region from the harmful monster of the Sphinx, and as a reward for this he received the widowed queen, his own mother, in marriage. Then, when grave disasters befell the country, and one elderly priest discovered a terrible secret, Jocasta took her own life, and Oedipus left his fatherland as a blind old man and ended his life in the town of Colone, in Attica; his sons Eteocles and Polynices, cursed by their father, killed each other during the Campaign of the Seven against Thebes. His daughter Antigone was doomed to death by the Theban king Creon because, contrary to his command, she buried the corpse of her brother.

Antigone leads blind Oedipus out of Thebes. Painting by Jalabert, 1842

Hero Brothers – singer Amphion, husband of Niobe, and brave, armed with a club Zet, also belong to Thebes. To avenge their mother, insulted by the nymph Dirka, they claimed the latter to the tail of the bull and tortured her to death (Farnese bull). In Boeotia and Attica, the legend of Tereus, the primitive king of the Thracians rich in myths who lived around Lake Copaides, and his sister and sister-in-law, took root. Procne and Philomele, which, after the murder of Tereus’s son, were turned - one into a swallow, the other into a nightingale.

Greek myths about heroes inhabited Thessaly, rich in horses. Centaurs(bull fighters) with a horse's body and legs, who fought with the Lapiths, more than once depicted in Hellenic sculpture. The fairest of the wild centaurs was the herbalist Chiron, the mentor of Asclepius and Achilles.

In Athens, the folk mythological hero was Theseus. He was considered the founder of the city, for he united the scattered inhabitants into one community. He was the son of the Athenian king Aegeus, born and raised in Troezen by Pittheus. Having taken out his father's sword and sandals from under a huge block of stone and thereby proving his extraordinary strength, this hero, on his way back to his homeland, clears the isthmus from wild robbers (Procrustes and others) and frees the Athenians from the heavy tribute of seven boys and seven girls, which they were to send every nine years to the Cretan Minotaur. Theseus kills this monster, which had a bull's head on a human body, and with the help of a thread given to him by the king's daughter Ariadna, finds a way out of the Labyrinth. (The latest research rightly recognizes in the Greek myth of the Minotaur an allusion to the worship of Moloch, native to the island of Crete and associated with human sacrifices). Aegeus, believing that his son had died, because when returning he forgot to replace the black sail of the ship with a white one, in despair he threw himself into the sea, which received from him the name Aegean.

Theseus kills the Minotaur. Drawing on an ancient Greek vase

Theseus's name is closely associated with the worship of the god Poseidon, in whose honor he established the Isthmian games. Poseidon gives a tragic ending to the love story of Theseus’s second wife ( Phaedra) with his son Hippolytus. The legend of Theseus has many similarities with the legend of Hercules. Like Hercules, the hero Theseus too

Thanks to this book, the reader will be able to get acquainted with the mythical heroes of Ancient Greece and Rome, China, India, Korea, the peoples of the Caucasus, Africa, Ancient Rus', and learn about the exploits they accomplished. The book is supplemented with color illustrations that will give a more complete picture of how the ancients saw their legendary heroes.

A series: 100 most-most

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The given introductory fragment of the book Heroes of Myths (K. A. Lyakhova, 2002) provided by our book partner - the company liters.

Amazing heroes of ancient legends

When you hear the word “hero,” a giant giant with a huge sword appears in the imagination, with which he effortlessly defeats all enemies and monsters, saving the world. Nevertheless, often the heroes of myths are almost no different from ordinary people and nothing human is alien to them. They fall in love, suffer, repent, despair, succumb to other people's tricks, cheat themselves, are afraid, go crazy, laugh, cry, lose faith in themselves, find friends and, of course, accomplish feats. Such different heroes in the legends of different nations are somehow similar to each other. And this is not surprising, because they were created by the imagination of people living on the same planet and trying to imagine where this planet came from and how life appeared on it. How? If you believe the myths, then with the direct participation of the gods. But things couldn’t have happened without the active (or involuntary) intervention of the heroes! Do you want to know how this happened? Then read on...

Abrskil is a hero of Abkhaz legends. The Abkhazians believed that he was born from an immaculate virgin. Having matured, Abrskil became one of the most powerful heroes, a defender of his people. He not only defeated all enemies, but also successfully farmed, destroying ferns, thorns and wild grapevines - plants that harm crops.

However, this did not last long. The day came when Abrskil decided to measure his strength with the supreme god Antsva. The hero filled leather bags to the top with huge boulders, tied this load to the saddle, jumped astride his winged horse-arash and rose into the sky. Swinging his saber, Abrskil cut through the cloud, causing lightning, and then threw several boulders to the ground and made a terrible noise like thunder.

And today, in the Ochamchira region of Abkhazia, local residents visit the Chilou Cave. They believe that it was in it that Abrskil was imprisoned in ancient times.

Upon learning of this, Antswa became very angry. He ordered the daring hero to be caught and imprisoned in a cave, chained with a heavy chain along with his horse to a high iron pillar. According to legend, Abrskil loosened the pillar and tried to pull it out of the ground, but when he was ready to do this, a wagtail bird flew in and sat on the pillar. The hero wanted to drive the bird away and began to hit the top of the pillar, but thereby only drove it even deeper into the ground.

Autolycus is one of the many heroes of Greek myths. In them he is described as a dexterous, skillful and fearless robber. He lived on Mount Parnassus, near the city of Delphi.

He received his gift - to cheat and deceive people - from his father, the god Hermes - the messenger, patron of travelers and guide of the souls of the dead.

The father also gave Autolycus the ability to take on any image at will or become invisible.

However, this hero's name is not related to his abilities. Translated from Greek, it means “the wolf itself” or “the personification of the wolf,” which probably indicates the totemic roots of the hero’s origin.

Autolycus was distinguished by his strength and courage; he had to participate in battles more than once. He was familiar with the techniques of fist fighting, shot accurately with a bow, and was fluent in other types of weapons. He passed on all his knowledge to Hercules, who turned out to be an excellent student.

Among his many cunning tricks, the most often mentioned is the kidnapping of Sisifus's cows, which he vigilantly guarded. Autolycus still managed to deceive the guards and steal cows from Sisifus, who was also known as a swindler and was very difficult to outwit. But Sisyphus turned out to be even more cunning than Autolycus thought: the owner of the herd marked the hooves of all his animals with a special sign, which was known only to Sisyphus, so it was not difficult for him to find the stolen cows.

Greek myths call Autolycus the most thieving of men. But he could defeat the enemy not only by cunning, but also by force.

Autolycus was very soon caught stealing, and he had no choice but to return the cattle to the rightful owner. According to one version of the myth, in revenge for the theft, Sisif seduced the young daughter of Autolycus, the beautiful Anticlea.

Autolycus soon learned about what had happened and, wanting to hide his daughter’s shame, very quickly found Antiklea a groom and got married. According to another version, the girl had a fiancé named Laertes even before meeting Sisif, but she could not resist Sisif’s charm and agreed to have an extramarital affair with him.

Thus was born the legend that the real father of Odysseus, who was born at Anticlea, was in fact not Laertes, but Sisyphus.

Perhaps this legend was invented only to explain the resourcefulness, cunning and propensity for fraud inherent in Odysseus.

Agamemnon

Greek myths call Agamemnon one of the heroes of the Trojan War, the leader of the Greek army.

Agamemnon's father is Atreus, his mother is Aerope. Atreus, the Mycenaean king, was killed by Aegisthus, after which Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus had to leave the city and flee to Aetolia. But they soon regained their power thanks to the help of the king of Sparta Tyndareus, who stood up for them. Agamemnon married Clytaemestra, daughter of Tyndareus, and began to rule Mycenae. His wife bore him three daughters and a son, Orestes.

Agamemnon's military exploits are described in most detail in Homer's Iliad. But from this same work you can also learn about the negative qualities of the king: arrogance, stubbornness, injustice.

After Paris kidnapped Helen, the wife of Menelaus, the former suitors of this beauty united into an army and set off on a military campaign against Troy. Agamemnon, as the elder brother of the deceived husband, was chosen as leader, but the negative qualities of his character were the cause of many misfortunes that happened not only to Agamemnon himself, but also to his army. For example, one day the king shot a doe while hunting and loudly declared that the goddess of hunting Artemis herself should envy his accuracy. Hearing this, Artemis became angry and sent a fierce wind towards Agamemnon’s fleet. The ships never managed to leave Aulis. Agamemnon had to pacify his pride and sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia to Artemis.

The soldiers came to the walls of Troy, but were unable to enter the city. Then they began to destroy the surrounding area, which led to new troubles. Agamemnon kidnapped the daughter of Chryses, a priest of Apollo. The father offered the kidnapper a large ransom, but the king refused to return her. Chryses turned to Apollo for help, and he sent a pestilence to the warriors. After the causes of the illness were revealed, Achilles demanded that the girl be returned to her father. Agamemnon returned her, but instead appropriated the captive Briseis, who, by right of war, went to Achilles. After this, Achilles refused to conduct military operations, and the Trojans inflicted enormous damage on the Greek army.

The Greeks still managed to win the war: they entered the city and destroyed it, after which they set off on their way back. Agamemnon's road to Mycenae was described in most detail in the epic poem "The Return", written in the 7th century BC. e. and has not survived to this day, as well as in the work of Stesichorus called “Oresteia”.

These works tell that Agamemnon, as a result of a military campaign against Troy, received treasures and Cassandra, the daughter of the last Trojan king. But in his homeland he found death. One of the most ancient myths tells that Agamemnon died at the hands of one of his enemies, Aegisthus. During the king's absence, Aegisthus seduced his wife and decided to win the throne by eliminating his rival. Aegisthus killed Agamemnon right at the festive feast. Later, around the middle of the 6th century BC. e., another legend spread, according to which Clytaemestra herself killed her husband, thus avenging the death of her daughter, whom Agamemnon sacrificed to the goddess Artemis. The wife greeted Agamemnon with feigned joy, without betraying her feelings. Later, when the king was in the bath, Clytaemestra covered him with a heavy blanket and struck him three times with a sword.

Akhat, or Akhit, is the hero of the Ugaritic mytho-epic legend in West Semitic mythology. He was the son of the wise ruler Danniil, born with the blessing of Ilu. The boy turned into a strong hero. When he reached initiation age, his father gave him his blessing to go hunting. In memory of this day, Kuasar-i-Khusas made and presented the boy with a wonderful bow. Akhat began to often go hunting and one day met the goddess Anat. Seeing the bow, she wanted to take it for herself and began to offer the young man in exchange any earthly riches, her love, and finally promised to make him immortal.

The childhood of Akhat, the son of the ruler, passed happily. He played, trained and grew up very quickly and became a strong, handsome young man and a skilled hunter. Every day he went hunting and never returned empty-handed.

But Akhat refused everything, not wanting to part with his dear gift. Then Anat, who decided to take possession of the bow at any cost, sent a flock of eagles led by their leader Yatpanu to attack the young hunter. The eagles pounced on the hero, tore him apart with their powerful beaks and ate him. Having learned about the death of his son, Danniil turned to the divine being Balu with a request to help find at least the remains of the body: the ruler, together with his daughter Pagat, wanted to mourn the deceased. Balu tore the wings off the eagles and then ripped open their bellies to reveal the remains of Akhat's body. Then Balu returned the wings to the eagles, and the birds of prey flew away, and Akhat’s sister, Pagat, left the house and went to take revenge on the killers.

Amida, Amida-butsu, or Amida-nyorai, is one of the main deities of Japanese Buddhist mythology. He is also called the ruler of the promised “pure land”, where the righteous live. According to legend, in the “pure land” you can see beautiful fragrant plants that cannot be found on earth. Residents bathe in rivers, the water of which can become warmer or colder at their discretion.

Mentions of this deity can most often be found in the biographies of Japanese righteous people who dedicated their lives to praising Amida and were honored to see the god and communicate with him.

The cult of Amida existed in Japan for a very long time. There is information that Amida was worshiped by one of the figures of early Buddhism, Gyogi, who lived at the turn of the 7th–8th centuries AD. e. Later, the legends of Amida formed the basis of the religious beliefs of Japanese sects, such as the Jodo-shu (pure water sect) or the Jodo Shin-shu (true pure land sect).

Numerous legends about Amida formed the basis of medieval Japanese literature, such as the Japanese Records of Those Who Made a Rebirth in the Land of Extreme Joy. Comic works also began to appear. One of them tells about a devil who pretended to be the god Amida and was able to deceive an old monk.

There are many images of Amida in Japan. These are mainly wooden sculptures, sometimes - images of Amida and his assistants, the bodhisattvas (enlightened ones) Kannon and Seishi.

Amirani is the god of Georgian mythology and the main character of the epic “Amiraniani”. According to numerous legends common among Georgians and related peoples, Amirani was born from the goddess of hunting Dali. His father was a mortal hunter or peasant whose name is not mentioned in the legends. Dali gave birth to a son ahead of schedule, and he ripened for some time in the stomach of a cow.

They guessed about Amirani’s divine origin just by looking at his figure: there was an image of the moon and sun on his shoulders, and some parts of his body were made of pure gold. Amirani was unusually strong: it is believed that he received his strength thanks to the magical blessing of his godfather. According to another legend, Amirani acquired heroic strength after washing in the water of a magical spring belonging to the deity Igri-batoni.

During his life, Amirani accomplished many feats, in which he was helped by his brothers-in-arms Badri and Usipi. Many feats were performed in the fight against devas (evil spirits) and veshapi (dragons). One of the myths tells how the hero tried to return the sun to the sky, which was absorbed by the Veshapi. The fight lasted for a long time, and in the end Veshapi managed to defeat Amirani and swallow him. But the hero ripped open his opponent’s stomach and in this way escaped. Then he inserted a wickerwork between the ribs of the vest: the sun burned it and came out.

Another myth tells that Amirani went to an overseas country and kidnapped the heavenly maiden Kamari, having previously defeated her father, the lord of thunderclouds, in battle.

Amirani helped the inhabitants of his country in agriculture (destroyed harmful plants). He was the first blacksmith and taught blacksmithing to others.

The gods did not like the fact that there was a hero living on earth who could compete with them, and they decided to destroy Amirani. They chained him to a rock in one of the Caucasus caves. From time to time an eagle flew to the rock and pecked at Amirani’s liver. A dog lay at the hero’s feet and licked a thick chain, trying to make it thinner so that Amirani could break it. But every year, on Thursday of Holy Week (or, in another version, on Christmas Eve), the blacksmiths renewed the chain, and the dog had to start working all over again. An ancient legend says that once every seven years the walls of the cave collapse and Amirani can be seen.

Amirani is a huge hero with eyes the size of a sieve. It looks like a dark purple thundercloud that is about to burst into a downpour. He is tireless, like a wolf, swift, like a log flying from a mountain, and strong, like twelve pairs of bulls.

After the spread of Christianity in Georgia, Amirani began to be considered a martyr, like Elijah, George and other Christian saints. Legends about him formed the basis of medieval Georgian literary works, for example, the poem by Sh. Rustaveli “The Knight in the Skin of a Tiger.”

Arjuna is a hero of Hindu mythology. Translated from ancient Indian, his name means “white”, “light”.

Arjuna was the third son of Kunti, born from the god Indra. Legends describe Arjuna as an ideal warrior: strong, courageous, fearless, fair.

Arjuna was noble even towards his enemies, which earned him the mercy of the gods: Krishna himself became the driver of his chariot. Since then, Arjuna has not known defeat. According to one legend, before the start of the battle on Kurukshetra, Krishna announced his divine revelation to Arjunta - the Bhagavad Gita, considering this warrior the most worthy among those living on earth.

Together with his four Pandava brothers, Arjuna was banished to the forest, where he lived for some time. One day he met the god Shiva, who took the form of a Kirata mountaineer, and fought with him. As a reward for a fair fight, Arjuna received from Shiva a divine weapon, with the help of which he was able to defeat the enemies of the Pandavas - the Kauravas.

For several years Arjuna lived in heaven, in Indra's capital Amaravati, assisting the gods in the battle with the asuras, the rivals of the gods.

As a result of long battles, the asuras were cast out of heaven and turned into demons.

Arjuna fought throughout his life. He died during another military campaign, while in the Himalayas, and earned eternal bliss among the gods.

Artavazd

Artavazd is the hero of the Armenian epic “Vipasank”, the son of King Artashes. The epic tells that Artavazd, not finding a suitable place to build his palace in the city of Artashat, founded by his father, took possession of the territory of the Vishaps. These territories were located north of the Yeraskh (Araks) River. The Vishaps, led by their leader Argavan, rebelled against the invader, but Artavazd exterminated them. However, in spite of everything, his subjects more revered his father, King Artashes, and kept the memory of their ruler even after his death.

Since childhood, Artavazd had an evil disposition. Legends explained this in different ways: some said that the baby was bewitched by the Vishapids soon after birth, others that he was kidnapped and a deva was put in his place, who took the form of a small boy.

Artavazd was jealous of his father's glory and was cursed by the gods. According to another version, he deserved the wrath of the gods because, contrary to the will of his father, after his death he declared himself king. Be that as it may, soon a misfortune befell him: he went hunting, but was captured by the Kaj tribe, who chained him to a rock with a thick chain.

Artavazd remained in the cave forever. Two dogs tried to gnaw the chain, and Artavazd was waiting for this moment to get out of captivity and destroy all the people living on earth. But this moment will never come, because the Kaji assigned guards to the prisoner - blacksmiths. When Sunday comes, the blacksmiths hit the anvils with their hammers three times, and the sound of the impact makes the chains even thicker.

Arthur is the most famous hero of Celtic myths. Legends about him formed the basis of the stories about the Grail and the Knights of the Round Table. Arthur, unlike many other legendary heroes, existed in reality, but the legends associated with him largely do not correspond to his real activities. The first mentions of this hero are found in myths that originated in the northern part of the island of Britain, where Arthur in the 5th - early 6th centuries was the leader of the Celt-Britons in their struggle against the invasion of the Anglo-Saxons.

King Arthur settled in Carlyon, where he established his residence. Here he built a palace, in the main hall of which he placed the famous Round Table. At this table he held meetings with the most valiant knights. In another hall, intended for feasts, there was a magical cauldron that Arthur obtained during his journey to Annon - the other world.

According to legend, Arthur, which means “bear” in Celtic, was the king of Britain. He gained power after he managed to pull out a magic sword from a stone lying on the altar. According to another legend, guided by the instructions of the wizard Merlin, he obtained the sword of the Lady of the Lake, which was held on the lake bed by a mysterious hand.

Having obtained the sword, Arthur gained power and became king. He was a brave, honest, fair and kind ruler, helped the poor, punished robbers and thieves. During his reign, the country entered a golden age. He rallied around himself the best people of the kingdom - the strongest and noblest knights, who together with him, without hesitation, stood up to defend their people.

During his life, as numerous Celtic legends tell, Arthur accomplished many feats and military campaigns. Most often stories are told about campaigns related to the search for the Grail (the cup with the blood of Christ).

The myths about the Battle of Camlan, in which Arthur’s best knights died, have also survived to this day, after which the kingdom fell into decline. Arthur himself had to fight his nephew Mordred during the battle to avenge the dishonor he had inflicted on Arthur's wife, Guinevere. The king killed Mordred, but he, dying, managed to mortally wound his opponent. Arthur's sister, the fairy Morgana, took him to the island of Avalon, where to this day he lies on the royal bed in a wonderful palace located on the top of the highest mountain.

The legends of King Arthur were reflected in subsequent architectural masterpieces and literary works. Arthur is depicted on the mosaics of the cathedral in the city of Otranto in Italy. Even Riga and Gdansk have their own “King Arthur’s Courts”. Numerous chivalric romances are told about King Arthur. The first such works, for example the novel by the French writer Chretien de Troyes, were written in the 12th century.

But even in the 20th century, King Arthur was not forgotten - he was made the hero of his novel by Mark Twain (“A Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”).

Atli, or Etzel, is a hero of the German-Scandinavian heroic epic. This man actually existed: his name was Attila, he lived in the 5th century and was the king of the Huns. In myths and legends he usually appears as a negative character.

For example, in the Icelandic Eddic songs, in particular in the Völsunga Saga, as well as in the Norwegian work Thidrek's Saga, Atli is described as a stingy and cruel ruler who deceived the Burgundian king Gunnar and his brother Högni into a trap in order to take possession of the gold that belonged to them.

He comes up with cruel executions for the brothers: the heart of the living Högni is cut out of his chest in front of the people gathered in the square. Atli himself accompanies Gunnar to the very place of execution - a pit filled with snakes, where the executioners, by order of the king, throw the prisoner.

Gunnar and Högni's sister, Gudrun, also present in the square, sends a curse on the cruel king. Not waiting for the justice of the gods and seeing that her enemy continues to live, she kills him herself.

In reality, Atli died on the bed of his German captive named Ildigo. Information about this has been preserved and formed the basis of a myth in which the king also dies at the hands of a woman.

According to another version, described in the “Saga of Thidrek”, Hogni, having already been captured, manages to conceive a son. The boy grows up in Atli's palace and, having become an adult and deciding to avenge the death of his father and uncle, lures Atli to a cave in which the treasure is hidden. There he locks the greedy king, and he, unable to find a way out, dies of hunger near a whole pile of gold, which he was so eager to take possession of.

According to other legends, Atli was a powerful, generous and kind king who ruled over a vast country; he gathered under his leadership many heroes and brave warriors. But he also had shortcomings: he repeatedly showed excessive softness, pliability and indecisiveness. These qualities led to the fact that during the battle with the Huns on the Rhine River, the Burgundians who assisted the king in the battle, as well as the most faithful of his warriors, died.

In many legends, King Atli is described as an evil and cruel man. There are even stories of his diabolical origins, such as the fact that he was conceived by a dog.

Due to his indecision, Atli was unable to save his son and wife Kriemhild. They were killed by Kriemhild's brothers. This option can be found in the German epic, for example in the “Song of the Nibelungs”, as well as in the heroic song “Valtarius”, which was translated into Latin.

One of the many myths offers another version: Atli nevertheless defeated the army of the Huns, thus avenging the death of Brynhild, who in this myth is his sister.

Achilles, or Achilles, is called by Greek mythology one of the most outstanding heroes of the Trojan War.

The legend about him originated in Thessaly, and soon spread to other regions of Greece. In the city of Parsia, which was located in Laconia, there was even a temple of Achilles, where celebrations were held annually in memory of the hero. Another temple was built on the road from Arcadia to Sparta; sacrifices were also made in it. Later, legends about Achilles spread in southern Italy and among the inhabitants of Sicily.

Achilles was the son of the sea goddess Thetis and the Myrmidon king Peleus. The most common version of the legend tells that the mother dipped the boy into the waters of the River Styx, holding him by the heel, after which Achilles became invulnerable in battle.

But other legends have also survived. For example, one of them tells that Thetis sought to make her son invulnerable to arrows and swords, so she rubbed his body with ambrosia every day and tempered him in fire every night.

One day the father saw his son in the flames, became angry and took him away from his mother. Thetis left her husband, and he gave the boy to be raised by the old and wise centaur Chiron. The centaur fed the boy with the entrails of bears, lions and boars, taught him how to use weapons, the rules of battle, as well as singing and playing the cithara.

At a time when the bravest and most famous warriors fought for the hand of the beautiful Helen, Achilles was not yet strong enough and did not have time to accomplish feats that would glorify him, so he did not take part in the grooms’ competitions. According to another version, the wise centaur Chiron dissuaded Achilles from matchmaking.

Achilles' mother, Thetis, trying to make the boy immortal, dipped him into the waters of the underground river Styx. Achilles's entire body became invulnerable, with the exception of his heel, by which his mother held him, plunging him into the waters of the magic river. From the name of Achilles the famous expression “Achilles’ heel” arose, which means “weak spot.”

Helen chose Menelaus, and after some time the Trojan prince Paris kidnapped the beauty from her legal husband, taking his treasures at the same time. Then all the rejected suitors, led by Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon, set off on a campaign against Troy.

Achilles initially did not take part in the campaign. In addition, Thetis, having learned the terrible prediction that her son was destined to die under the walls of Troy, tried to hide him in the palace of King Lycamedes on the island of Skyros. Achilles lived there for some time, and so as not to be recognized, he dressed in women's clothing and was constantly among the daughters of Lycamedes. He entered into a secret relationship with one of his daughters, Deidamia, who bore him a son, Pyrrhus (the boy became famous under the name Neoptolemus).

However, Achilles did not live long on Skyros. The priest Kalkhatan predicted that without the participation of Achilles, the campaign against Troy was doomed to failure. The Achaean leaders, hearing about this, found out where Achilles was hiding and sent soldiers led by Odysseus to Skyros.

Odysseus and his warriors disguised themselves as merchants, entered the island and began selling combs, mirrors, women's jewelry, and also a sword and shield. When Lycaon's sisters, along with Achilles, who was also dressed in a woman's dress, came to do their shopping, the soldiers suddenly sounded an alarm. The girls got scared and ran away, but Achilles did not lose his head, grabbed his sword and was recognized. He had no choice but to go on a campaign against Troy with Odysseus and other soldiers.

The further fate of Achilles is described in the tragedy of Euripides “Iphigenia in Aulis”. It tells that Achilles and the rest of the warriors arrived in Aulis on 50 ships. Achilles was also accompanied by his faithful friend and comrade-in-arms Patroclus. They had to take part in the sacrifice of Iphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon. Iphigenia was in the palace at Mycenae. Odysseus was entrusted with delivering it to Aulis. He arrived to the girl and told her that Achilles was waiting for her, who wanted to marry her (Achilles himself knew nothing about this). Iphigenia agreed to follow Odysseus, who brought her to Aulis.

Achilles learned that his name was used to kill an innocent girl. He became very angry, grabbed a weapon and tried to protect the princess.

However, this later version, as told by Euripides, does not correspond to the earlier legends. In them, Achilles and the entire army were looking forward to the sacrifice, because until it happened, the soldiers would not be able to sail from Aulis to Troy.

In the first battle, Achilles showed himself to be a hero. He was able to defeat the hero Cycnus, and then Troilus, one of the princes of Troy.

The siege of Troy, according to legend, lasted 10 years. In the first years of the siege, the Greeks, desperate to take Troy by storm, began to ravage the nearby area. Achilles, with the help of other warriors, defeated the cities of Lyrnessos, Pedas, Thebes, and Methymna. He turned out to be the most fearless and fair of all the warriors and, without hesitation, entered into the fight with the enemy. After one of the victories, Achilles was awarded as war booty the captive Briseis and the son of the Trojan king Priam Lycaon, whom Achilles sold into slavery.

Because of Briseis, Achilles clashed with Agamemnon. The leader of the Greek army illegally appropriated the captive for himself and did not want to return her to her rightful owner. Thanks to the intervention of the goddess Athena, the dispute did not turn into bloodshed, but Achilles refused to continue the war. He was not obliged to participate in the revenge of the rejected suitors and voluntarily joined them only because he preferred to become famous in battles and die on the battlefield, rather than remain in obscurity on the island of Skyros. Therefore, when he was deprived of his legitimate spoils of war, Achilles was very angry.

Meanwhile, the Trojan troops made several successful forays and inflicted great damage on the Achaean troops. But despite this, Achilles refused to lead his soldiers into battle.

Agamemnon was too proud and did not want to return the captive. But Elder Nestor advised him to restore justice if he did not want to lose the war. Through Odysseus, Agamemnon conveyed to Achilles that he agreed to give him Briseis and, in addition, one of his daughters and several rich cities in addition. But Achilles was adamant, and only when one of the Trojans, Hector, set fire to the Greek ship, did Achilles allow military operations to continue. He ordered Patroclus to put on his armor and lead the battle in his place. But Patroclus did not return from the battlefield: Hector mistook him for Achilles, killed him and took possession of the armor, hoping that they would make him invulnerable.

Having learned about what had happened, Achilles put on new armor, which the god Hephaestus had made for him, and he himself led the troops into battle. He defeated the Trojans and killed Hector in a fair fight. But before he died, Hector predicted that Achilles would soon die under the walls of Troy.

The further fate of the famous Trojan hero can be learned from the retelling of the epic poem “Ethiopida” (unfortunately, its original text has not survived). The retelling says that Achilles won several battles. The Amazon queen Penthesilea arrived to help the Trojans, but Achilles drove her away along with her army. The Ethiopian leader Memnon also made an attempt to help the Trojans, but failed.

Achilles' warriors managed to penetrate the city, but at that moment the prophecy came true: under the walls of Troy, at the Scaean Gate, Achilles died. He never managed to enter the city.

Achilles died at the hands of Paris, who, on the advice of the god Apollo, shot an arrow at Achilles' heel. The warrior could not take a single step, and Paris sent after the first and second arrows, which hit Achilles in the heart and killed him. In later versions of the legend, additional details appeared about the death of Achilles. For example, it is said that he fell in love with the Trojan princess Polyxena and decided to marry her. To do this, he even made an attempt to stop the war and reconcile both warring parties. Achilles went to negotiate in an enemy city unarmed, but Paris waylaid him and treacherously killed him. His brother Defiob helped him in this.

Thetis, hearing about the death of her beloved son, appeared under the walls of Troy and mourned Achilles for seventeen days. On the eighteenth day, the body was burned, and the ashes were collected and placed in a golden urn forged by the god Hephaestus. Then the urn was buried near Cape Sigei, at the entrance to the Hellespont from the Aegean Sea. His friend Patroclus was also buried with Achilles. The soul of Achilles lives on the island of Levka, where the hero enjoys the bliss he deserves during his life.

I. G. Fusli. "Thetis Mourning the Death of Achilles"

The burial place of Achilles was revered by the Greeks. Alexander the Great repeatedly organized funeral games on the burial mound; then this tradition was continued by the Roman emperor Caracalla.

Artists have always turned to the myth of Achilles in their work. Among the works of antiquity, one can mention numerous works of vase painting, frescoes, reliefs that decorated Roman sarcophagi, etc. More recent works include the works of painters A. van Dyck, N. Poussin, G. Tiepolo, P. P. Rubens and many others .

Bastvarai

Bastvarai is one of the heroes of Iranian mythology. Iranian legends call him the son of Zarivaraya; in the epic, written in the Middle Persian language, the father of the hero is considered to be Zarer, a mighty hero. During one of the battles, Zarer died. Vishtasp called on the heroes to avenge him, but no one volunteered to fight the one who killed Zarer. Then Bastvaraj, who was then barely seven years old, declared that he wanted to avenge his father. Vishtasp forbade him to enter into battle, believing that the boy was still too young to fight. Bastvarai decided to prove to the warrior that he could measure his strength even with the strongest hero. To do this, he convinced the groom to give him a war horse, jumped into the saddle and went to the enemy’s camp. Approaching his father's body, the boy began to mourn his death. The warriors wanted to capture Bastvarai, but he, having fought them off with a sword, returned home safely.

Bastvarai was the son of a hero and, like most heroes, he was endowed with strength from birth, and when the boy was seven years old, he was already in command of the battle.

Vishtasp, who did not expect such courageous behavior from the boy, was very surprised. Now he had no reason to prohibit the young hero from participating in the battle. Bastvarai and Giramikkart, the son of the chief adviser to King Jamasp, led troops against the enemy and struck the left flank. Then, together with Vishtasp's brother, the hero Spanddat, they led the troops to the right flank. Thus, they struck their enemies - the Chionites - suddenly and almost simultaneously defeated the enemy. Only Arzhaspe managed to escape.

Batradz is the hero of the Ossetian Nart epic. His father was Khamyts: a red-hot baby came out of his back. Satan, seeing the newborn, grabbed him and threw him far into the sea, hoping that he would drown. But he did not drown, but began to live with the ruler of the underwater kingdom Donbettir. Batradz lived under water until he grew up. After that, he said goodbye to his adoptive father, rose to the surface of the sea, swam to the shore, returned to the sledges and settled with them. Satan accepted him and protected him from harm, just like his own sons.

Batradz is one of the few heroes of the Nart epic to whom divine traits are attributed. He was also considered the god of thunder.

Deciding to become invincible and invulnerable to arrows, Batradz went to the heavenly blacksmith Kurdalagon and asked him to temper him. The blacksmith fulfilled this request: he heated the hero red-hot in a forge, and then cooled it in a vessel with water. After this, Batradz began to live in heaven with the blacksmith, only briefly descending to the ground with the sledges when they called him. At the moment when he descended to earth, lightning flashed in the sky.

Myths describe all sorts of exploits of Batradz: he more than once defeated enemies pursuing the Narts. Feats also include the hero’s struggle with numerous Christian deities. During one of these battles, Batradz died, which symbolically indicates the victory of Christianity over paganism.

Bellerophon

Bellerophon is one of the heroes of Greek mythology. He was the son of the Corinthian king Glaucus and originally bore the name Hippo. However, after he killed his brother Bellaire, everyone began to call him Bellerophon, which means “killer of Bellaire.”

Frightened by the revenge of his relatives for the death of his brother, Bellerophon left his hometown and fled to Argolis. The king of the city, Pretus, greeted him well, and his wife, seeing the young and handsome Corinthian, fell in love with him. Bellerophon rejected her love, and then she, wanting to take revenge on him, accused the guest of an attempt on her honor. Pretus believed his wife, but, not wanting to kill the man to whom he had shown hospitality, he sent Bellerophon to King Iobates of Lycia, his father-in-law. He gave the guest a letter for Iobates, in which he asked to destroy Bellerophon.

Legends about Bellerophon are reflected in the paintings decorating ancient Greek vases, as well as in literary works. For example, Euripides wrote the tragedies “Stheneboea” and “Bellerophon”.

Wanting to fulfill this request, Iobates began entrusting Bellerophon with dangerous tasks, but he easily coped with them and survived each time. First, the king asked the guest to fight a three-headed fire-breathing chimera that lived not far from the city, in the mountains. But Bellerophon was patronized by the gods: they gave him the winged horse Pegasus, with the help of which he managed to defeat the chimera.

Then Bellerophon drove away the militant Solim tribe, which threatened the peace and safety of the city's inhabitants. Having learned that Bellerophon was still alive again, the king sent him alone to fight the Amazons who were attacking the city from the other side, and the warrior again won.

Having learned about this, Iobates was amazed at the strength of Bellerophon and abandoned attempts to destroy him. He gave him his daughter Philonia as his wife and bequeathed his kingdom to him. The brave warrior’s wife gave birth to two sons and a daughter.

However, the calm and happy life of the couple did not last long. One day Iobates told his son-in-law about a letter from Pretus, which contained an order to destroy him. Having learned about this, Bellerophon decided to take revenge on Pret and his wife. He met Sphenebea, assured her of his love and persuaded her to run away with him. Bellerophon and Sphenebeia mounted Pegasus and rose into the air. When they were high above the ground, Bellerophon threw the woman into the sea and she drowned. But this act deprived him of the blessing of the gods, and they made Bellerophon mad.

According to another version, Bellerophon was punished by the gods for wanting to ride Pegasus to the very top of Olympus. Having learned about this, Zeus sent a terrible gadfly to the warrior. He painfully stung the horse, which went berserk and threw the hero to the ground. Bellerophon rolled along the mountainside for a long time. Having reached the foot, he, blind and lame, continued to roll until he reached the Alei Valley (Valley of Wanderings).

Bran is a hero of Irish and Welsh mythology, but the legends of these peoples differ. For example, the Irish consider Bran the son of Febal and a successful navigator who managed to reach the island of the blessed, located far in the ocean, in the other world.

The Welsh call Bran, or Bran Bengygaid ("Bran the Blessed"), the son of Lir and ruler of Britain. According to Welsh myths, Bran was a demigod and could ford seas or carry an army on his back across a river. After Bran's death, his head was buried in the ground in a square in London. Residents of the city considered the head magical: as long as it was in the ground on which the city stood, enemies could not set foot on the island.

What the Celts didn’t tell about Bran! Some gave him the traits of a brave warrior, others - a skilled sailor. Some claimed that Bran had earned the blessing of the gods, had become a demigod himself, and could perform miracles that mere mortals were not capable of.

Among the Welsh legends about Bran there is this: far in the ocean, in the other world, there is the island of Gwales, where rich feasts are held.

The owner of this island is the head of Bran. All who, by the will of the gods, manage to reach the island can count on the hospitality of the “noble head”.

Hiawatha

Hiawatha, or Hayonwatha, is a hero of Iroquois mythology. Legends tell that Hiawatha was an outstanding teacher, leader and prophet, assistant to the famous prophet and founder of the laws of Deganawida.

Hiawatha sought to reconcile the Onondaga tribal tribes, who were waging internecine wars. They were supported by the evil god, the cannibal Atotarho, therefore, in order to restore peace on earth, Hiawatha first of all had to defeat Atotarho.

The war lasted a long time. Atotarho managed to destroy Hiawatha's seven daughters. Deciding that he could not defeat the evil god, Hiawatha went into exile to devote the rest of his life to mourning his daughters. He wandered through the forest for a long time, his grief passed, and he found a magical talisman - wampum, which was supposed to help him in the fight against the cannibal.

Hiawatha was a strong and fearless Indian warrior. He sent his arrows to the target without a miss and could defeat anyone in hand-to-hand combat, but at the same time he was known as kind and fair.

According to another version, Hiawatha himself ate human flesh for a long time. One day he met Deganavida and became his student and assistant. Using talismans and life-giving magical power, they were able to defeat Atotarho, founded the Iroquois League and established its laws.

Greek myths call Hector the son of the last king of Troy, Priam, and his wife Hecuba. In addition to Hector, they had several more sons and daughters: Paris, Deiphobus, Cassandra, Polyxena, etc.

Homer, in his Iliad, featured Hector as one of the main heroes of the Trojan War. The young warrior killed one of Achilles' friends, Protesilaus, who was the first to set foot on Trojan soil. However, this happened at the very beginning of the siege.

For some time, Hector’s activities were not mentioned in the poem. He managed to become famous only in the tenth year of the siege, when Hector, as the eldest son of Priam, was appointed leader of the Trojan troops.

Hector was not only an intelligent and cunning commander, but also a powerful warrior. He was not afraid to measure his strength with the enemy in open battle. Twice he went into battle with Ajax Telamonides, who was considered the strongest and fearless warrior after Achilles.

Under the leadership of Hector, the Trojans defeated one of the enemy’s fortified camps. Then they approached the ships on which the Achaeans sailed to the walls of Troy, and set one of them on fire. Then Hector, just before the gates of Troy, fought with Patroclus, who, on the orders of Achilles, went into battle in his armor. Hector captured the armor of the invulnerable Achilles, thinking that it would also make him invulnerable. However, Hector's luck soon turned away. He had to go into battle with Achilles himself. Hector ordered his mother to make a sacrifice to the goddess Athena. Hecuba fulfilled her son's request, but received a prediction that her son would die. She told her husband, King Priam, about this, and together they tried to dissuade Hector from fighting. However, Hector did not listen to them: he put on the armor of Achilles and was sure that an easy victory awaited him. An amphora decorated with a painting called “The Armament of Hector” has survived to this day: Hector himself is depicted in the center, his mother Hecuba is to his right, and Priam is to his left. Perhaps the painting tells about this last conversation between Hector and his parents.

Hector went out into the field and fought with Achilles one on one. Achilles was angry with Hector for the death of his friend and killed him. However, before his death, Hector repeated to Achilles a prediction that he already knew: Achilles’ life would be short, and he would soon be destined to fall in battle.

J. L. David. "Andromache at Hector's Body"

Still burning with revenge, Achilles tied the body of the dead Hector to his chariot and rode it around Troy. But even this act did not satisfy Achilles, and he continued to desecrate the body of the killed enemy. Finally, he threw the dead body to be devoured by wild animals, but they did not approach Hector’s remains, and decay did not touch them, since the body was protected by the god Apollo, who patronized Hector during his lifetime. Apollo's help repeatedly gave him strength in battle. Victory in the battle with Ajax Telamonides went to Hector also thanks to the assistance of Apollo. And only in the duel with Achilles, God could not help him win, because, according to the lot of fate, Hector was destined to die.

Hercules is one of the most famous heroes of Greek mythology. He was born from the mortal woman Alcmene and the supreme god Zeus. The story of his birth is quite interesting: Alcmene’s husband, Amphitryon, took part in a military campaign against the tribes of TV fighters. Zeus, having learned about this, took the form of Amphitryon and visited his wife. They did not part for three days, and all this time it was night, because Zeus forbade the sun to rise above the horizon.

Soon Amphitryon's husband returned, and a few months later his wife gave birth to two sons: Hercules from Zeus and Iphicles from her husband.

On the day when the baby was supposed to be born, at the supreme council of the gods, Zeus swore an oath that the one born would receive power over Mycenae and neighboring peoples. However, due to the intervention of Hera, the wife of Zeus, on this day the son of King Sphinel was born, who received power over Mycenae. Alcmene's son, Hercules, was born the next day and was thus deprived of the power that Zeus had promised him.

From early childhood, Hercules was distinguished by enormous strength. One day, the goddess Hera sent snakes to the cradle of Hercules to kill the boy. But the baby grabbed them with his small hands and squeezed them so tightly that he strangled them.

Having learned about this, Zeus cunningly forced Hera to breastfeed Hercules, because only by tasting the goddess’s milk could the child of a mortal woman count on honors that were given only to the gods. Hercules began to suckle the milk, but Hera got scared and pushed the baby away from her breast. The milk spilled, and from its drops in the sky, as legend tells, the Milky Way arose.

The boy grew up and turned into a handsome and strong young man. His teachers - the centaur Chiron, Autolycus, Eurytus, Castor Linus - taught Hercules archery, wrestling, arts, and playing the cithara. One day Lin was forced to punish a student, and then Hercules got angry, hit his mentor with a lyre and killed him. Amphitryon, frightened by the strength and temper of the young man, sent him to Mount Cithaeron, where Hercules lived with the shepherds for some time.

In the area where Hercules lived, a mighty lion settled and devastated the surrounding area. Shepherds also suffered from it, as the lion stole livestock more than once. Hercules, who was eighteen years old at that time, was not afraid of the lion and killed him.

After some time, Hercules met on the way the heralds of the king of a neighboring area, who was illegally collecting tribute from the inhabitants of Thebes. The heralds began to demand tribute from him, and the hero, getting angry, cut off their noses, ears and hands and ordered them to be handed over as payment. In response to this, the king sent an army to Thebes, but Hercules killed the king and drove the soldiers away. As a reward for this feat, the Theban ruler Creon gave his daughter Megara to Hercules.

For some time he lived happily with his wife. Megara bore her husband children. But the envious Hera did not stop trying to destroy Hercules: she clouded his mind, and in a fit of rage he killed his children. Having come to his senses, Hercules repented, but could not correct what he had done. He left his wife, went into exile and traveled until he came to Delphi. Here he decided to ask the famous Delphic oracle where he should settle, and received an unexpected answer. He was ordered to change the name he was given at birth (Alcides) to Hercules, settle in Tiryns and serve Eurystheus for 12 years. During this time, Hercules had to perform 10 labors, with which he could earn immortality and become equal to the gods.

Hercules listened to the soothsayer: he began to serve Eurystheus and performed not 10, but 12 labors. In different myths they are presented in different sequences.

Soon the king gave Hercules his first order: to get the skin of the Nemean lion. This was not easy, because the lion could not be killed with an arrow. Hercules was able to deal with the beast, strangling it with his bare hands. Then he skinned the lion and returned with it to Mycenae.

The king, seeing the prey, was so frightened that he forbade Hercules to enter the city with it, ordering it to be shown outside the city gates. The king even ordered the construction of a bronze pithos, in which he hid from Hercules, fearing his strength and temper. The ruler began to convey his orders through the herald Koprey.

Hercules donned the skin of the Nemean lion and became invulnerable to arrows. After this, he went to carry out the next order of the king: to destroy the Lernaean hydra, which was devastating the surrounding area and stealing cattle. The hydra had 9 heads, one of which was immortal. Hercules began to fight the hydra: he cut off one head with a sword, but two immediately grew in its place. Hercules cut off two heads, but instead of them four immediately grew. Then the crayfish Karkin crawled out of the stones and grabbed Hercules’ leg with its claws. But he trampled the crayfish, after which he called on his nephew Iolaus for help. Hercules began to cut off heads, and Iolaus cauterized the wounds with a burning brand, and the heads did not grow back. Hercules cut off all the heads, and buried the immortal head deep in the ground and crushed it with a large stone.

Having killed the hydra, Hercules cut her body into pieces and moistened the tips of his arrows with her bile, which was a powerful poison. Then he returned to Eurystheus and announced that he had carried out the order. But the king refused to include the feat among the ten, because Hercules was helped by his nephew.

Soon Hercules received the following order: to get the Cyrenean hind. This doe with golden horns and copper hooves was the property of Artemis. He stalked her for a year. Finally, in the land of the Hyperboreans, he managed to wound a doe with an arrow and capture it. Artemis, having learned about this, tried to return the doe to herself, but Hercules replied that he was carrying out the order of King Eurystheus, and brought her to Mycenae.

The fourth labor of Hercules was the capture of the Erymanian boar. The hero went to King Efriman and on the way stopped to rest with the centaur Fol. The centaur began to treat the guest, and other centaurs, armed with stones and tree trunks, came running to the smell of roast and wine.

Hercules began to fight with the centaurs and almost defeated them, but then their mother, the goddess of the clouds Nephele, came to their aid. She sent down heavy rain to the earth, but Hercules, despite this, killed some of the centaurs and dispersed the rest. However, by chance, his teacher Chiron and Pholus died in the battle. Chiron was hit by a poisoned arrow from Hercules, and the wounded man died immediately. Fol pulled out the arrow to get a better look and accidentally dropped it on his leg, scratching it. The hydra's bile entered the blood, and Fol also died.

The king then ordered Hercules to clean out the stables of King Augeas. The hero demanded payment from the king - a tenth of his cattle, if he succeeded in completing the task, and the king agreed, confident that Hercules would not be able to clean the stables. He made holes in the walls of the stables, after which he diverted the rivers Peneus and Alpheus into them. The river water quickly washed out the stables, and Augeas had to pay Hercules for the work done. Eurystheus announced that he would not count the feat among the twelve, since Hercules performed it for a fee.

Soon the hero accomplished his sixth feat: he drove out the Stymphalian birds with sharp iron feathers. The birds lived in a swamp near the city of Stymphala, killed the inhabitants of the city and ate them. Athena gave Hercules the copper rattles that Hephaestus had made. With their help, he drove the birds away. Legend tells that some birds subsequently lived on an island in Pontus Euxine, from where they were expelled by the Argonauts.

The seventh feat of the hero is called the capture of the Cretan bull. The bull was very fierce and no one could handle him. But Hercules, with the permission of King Minos, was able to catch the bull and bring it to the king. Eurystheus saw the bull and ordered him to be released. The bull ran away and subsequently ravaged the fields and frightened the inhabitants of Attica near Marathon.

Hercules received the following order: to bring the mares of the Thracian king Diomedes. The mares turned out to be so fierce that the king chained them to copper stalls with strong iron chains. The king fed his mares human meat. Hercules killed the king and drove the mares to Eurystheus.

Eurystheus's daughter Admet asked her father to get her the belt of the Amazon queen Hippolyta. The king ordered Hercules to carry out this assignment. He arrived in the kingdom of the Amazons on a ship, spoke with Hippolyta, and she agreed to give up the belt. But Zeus’s wife, Hera, unexpectedly intervened: she took the form of an Amazon and announced to the others that Hercules wanted to kidnap their queen. The Amazons armed themselves, jumped on their horses and rushed to protect Hippolyta, and Hercules, deciding that she had changed her mind about giving up the belt, killed her and took what he came for. Then he dealt with the Amazons, returned to the ship and set off on his way back.

End of introductory fragment.