PERSEUSTHESEUS

HERCULESATALANTA

The Great Heroes before the Trojan War

The Definition of Hero

•The definition of hero (from Merrian-Webster) 1 a: a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability; b: an illustrious warrior; c: a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities; d: one that shows great courage.2 a: the principal male character in a literary or dramatic work; b: the central figure in an event, period, or movement.

In Greek myth, a hero was the offspring of one mortal parent and one immortal—an example is Herakles, son of Zeus and the mortal queen Alkmena. Because of their half-human, half-divine nature heroes had difficulty adapting to the demands of mortal life, and their personality disorders—not to mention their divine attributes—often caused trouble in the mortal world. (For instance, Herakles periodically went mad and at one stage murdered his own children; Helen's superhuman beauty was a direct cause of the Trojan War.) Such problems, and the more-than-mortal appeal of heroes generally, led to heroes playing the main roles in most myth-based stories and hence to the word being applied to the protagonist of a piece of fiction generally. The Romans, making over Greek myth for their own purposes, sometimes allegorized the hero's conflicts in what we would think of as psychological terms: Aeneas's dilemmas in Virgil's Aeneid, for example, are caused not so much by the struggle between divine and mortal sides to the same nature as by (for instance) the conflict between love and duty.In later fiction of the simpler kind (for example folk tales), heroes lost the dual mortal/immortal identity, but kept their ability to move between the human and superhuman worlds. Favourite types of hero-stories are those involving quests and those involving ‘making something of oneself’ (usually moving from rags to riches as a result of application, cunning, superhuman intervention or all three at once). In more complex fiction, the Roman model is often followed and the hero is the figure in whose character and actions some moral, ethical or other dilemma is worked out

"Hero." Bloomsbury Guide to Human Thought. Ed. Kenneth McLeish. London: Bloomsbury, 1993. Credo Reference. Web. 16 Mar. 2016

Definition of Hero

hero,  in literature, broadly, the main character in a literary work; the term is also used in a specialized sense for any figure celebrated in the ancient legends of a people. These legendary heroes belong to a princely class existing in an early stage of the history of a people, and they transcend ordinary men in skill, strength, and courage. They are usually born to their role. Some, like the Greek Achilles, are of semidivine origin, unusual beauty, and extraordinary precocity.

War or dangerous adventure is the hero’s normal occupation. He is surrounded by noble peers, and is magnanimous to his followers and ruthless to his enemies. In addition to his prowess in battle, he is resourceful and skillful in many crafts; he can build a house, sail a boat, and, if shipwrecked, is an expert swimmer. He is sometimes, like Odysseus, cunning and wise in counsel, but a hero is not usually given to much subtlety. He is a man of action rather than thought and lives by a personal code of honour that admits of no qualification. His responses are usually instinctive, predictable, and inevitable. He accepts challenge and sometimes even courts disaster. Thus baldly stated, the hero’s ethos seems oversimple by the standards of a later age. He is childlike in his boasting and rivalry, in his love of presents and rewards, and in his concern for his reputation. He is sometimes foolhardy and wrong-headed, risking his life—and the lives of others—for trifles. Roland, for instance, dies because he is too proud to sound his horn for help when he is overwhelmed in battle. Yet the hero still exerts an attraction for sophisticated readers and remains a seminal influence in literature.

The appearance of heroes in literature marks a revolution in thought that occurred when poets and their audiences turned their attention away from immortal gods to mortal men, who suffer pain and death, but in defiance of this live gallantly and fully, and create, through their own efforts, a moment’s glory that survives in the memory of their descendants. They are the first human beings in literature, and the novelty of their experiences has a perennial freshness.

"hero." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Britannica Academic. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.

Perseus Profile

Parents: Danae and Zeus

Prophecy: King Acrisius of Argos locked his daughter, Danae , away to avoid her having a grandson that was said to kill him. Zeus came to her and she bore his son. When King Acrisius found out he sent them both away in a box by water.

Saved by the people: the fisherman, Dictys, and his wife.

Seeks and finds grandfather and accidentally takes revenge: Goes on a quest for the perfect wedding gift and in the end kills King Acrisius by accident at a discus-throwing competition.

Perseus with Medusa’s head

Perseus, bronze sculpture by Benvenuto Cellini, 1545–54; in the Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence.

In Greek mythology, the slayer of the Gorgon Medusa and the rescuer of Andromeda from a sea monster. Perseus was the son of Zeus and Danaë, the daughter of Acrisius of Argos. As an infant he was cast into the sea in a chest with his mother by Acrisius, to whom it had been prophesied that he would be killed by his grandson. After Perseus had grown up on the island of Seriphus, where the chest had grounded, King Polydectes of Seriphus, who desired Danaë, tricked Perseus into promising to obtain the head of Medusa, the only mortal among the Gorgons.

Aided by Hermes and Athena, Perseus pressed the Graiae, sisters of the Gorgons, into helping him by seizing the one eye and one tooth that the sisters shared and not returning them until they provided him with winged sandals (which enabled him to fly), the cap of Hades (which conferred invisibility), a curved sword, or sickle, to decapitate Medusa, and a bag in which to conceal the head. (According to another version, the Graiae merely directed him to the Stygian Nymphs, who told him where to find the Gorgons and gave him the bag, sandals, and helmet; Hermes gave him the sword.) Because the gaze of Medusa turned all who looked at her to stone, Perseus guided himself by her reflection in a shield given him by Athena and beheaded Medusa as she slept. He then returned to Seriphus and rescued his mother by turning Polydectes and his supporters to stone at the sight of Medusa’s head.

Perseus Continued

A further deed attributed to Perseus was his rescue of the Ethiopian princess Andromeda when he was on his way home with Medusa’s head. Andromeda’s mother, Cassiopeia, had claimed to be more beautiful than the sea nymphs, or Nereids; so Poseidon had punished Ethiopia by flooding it and plaguing it with a sea monster. An oracle informed Andromeda’s father, King Cepheus, that the ills would cease if he exposed Andromeda to the monster, which he did. Perseus, passing by, saw the princess and fell in love with her. He turned the sea monster to stone by showing it Medusa’s head and afterward married Andromeda.

Later Perseus gave the Gorgon’s head to Athena, who placed it on her shield, and gave his other accoutrements to Hermes. He accompanied his mother back to her native Argos, where he accidentally struck her father, Acrisius, dead when throwing the discus, thus fulfilling the prophecy that he would kill his grandfather. He consequently left Argos and founded Mycenae as his capital, becoming the ancestor of the Perseids, including Heracles. The Perseus legend was a favourite subject in painting and sculpture, both ancient and Renaissance. (Benvenuto Cellini’s bronze statue in Florence of Perseus with Medusa’s head is especially famous.) The chief characters in the Perseus legend, Perseus, Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Andromeda, and the sea monster (Cetus), all figure in the night sky as constellations.

Perseus, portrayed by Sam Worthington, in Clash of the Titans

Perseus- Six Traits

1. Innocence Lost- Killing Medusa to provide a “worthy” wedding gift

2. Chaos and Complexity- his family story from being cast away, to being accepted by a new family, to a complicated journey, to returning with a gift for a wedding that was canceled, to accidently murdering his grandfather.

3. The Heroic Quest- To obtain Medusa’s head as a wedding gift for his mother and Polydectes

4. Gurus and Alliances- Hermes and Athena5. Trials, Tests, Initiations- escaping with Medusa’s head

from her Gorgon siblings; Saving Andromeda from a sea serpent; Defeating Polydectes; the accidental murder of his grandfather at the discus-throwing competition

6. Insight and Transformation- Realized that King Acrisius had done his best to kill Perseus and his mother; married Andromeda and lived happily ever after.

Theseus Profile- A hero and lover

The father of Theseus was Aegeus and his mother was Aethra. However, before meeting Aethra, Aegeus had desperately wished for a son and although having twice married no child was forthcoming. For advice and guidance to solve this problem he decided to visit the oracle at Delphi but unfortunately this visit was not successful as the oracle was incomprehensible to him and with heavy heart he made his way back to Athens.He decided therefore to go to the temple of Zeus and placed his sandals and sword under a rock next to the temple. He then told Aethra that, if she bears him a son, she should not reveal the name of his father and when he reaches puberty she must tell the son to go to the rock next to and, if he is able to lift it he will reveal the signs by which he can search for his father in Athens. In time, Aethra had her child and it was a son. She named him Theseus after the Greek word "ethese", meaning "he put under", as his father had put the signs of recognition under the rock.Time passed and Theseus grew into a brave and strong young man. When he reached sixteen years old his mother, Aethra, led him to the rock next to the Temple of Zeus and here he raised the rock with ease, retrieved the paternal signs and began his journey to seek his father in the city of Athens.

Theseus

On the way to Athens, the Hero met with a series of villains. Firstly, at Epidaurus he met Periphetes, son of Hephaestus and Antikleia. Periphetes#5 was known also as Korynitis because he roamed the region with an iron cudgel killing all who where passing by. The hero killed him and fashioned a weapon from the iron cudgel.

At Kechrees near Isthmus, he met the next villain, the son of Poseidon named Sinis, who was also known as Pityokamptis. This name derived from his custom of killing people in the most gruesome way as follows: he bent and fastened the tops of two large pine trees to the ground with rope and tied his victims to these uppermost branches. Then, he unfastened the rope that held the two trees down causing them to spring back into the air and, as they did so, their momentum ripped the victim into two. Theseus killed Sinis in the same way.

Sinis had a very beautiful daughter, Perigoune, who on seeing the fight between her father and the Hero was scared for her own life and, looking around for somewhere to hide noticed a clump of thorn bushes. She begged them to conceal her and in return she would ensure they were never burned. They opened their branches and took her in. However, on completion of his feat, Theseus found her and promised to stay with her and protect her.

The fourth feat was on Skirronides rocks, or the Wicked Scala. Here Theseus met Skiron, the son of Pelops. Skiron was forcing travellers who where passing by to wash his feet. When they bent down in front of him to carry out this chore he kicked them into the sea where they were eaten by a giant tortoise. Theseus threw him into the sea to meet his death in the same way.

The fifth feat of the hero was in Eleusis. There Cercyon #7, son of Poseidon, was killing people by forcing them to grapple with him. The hero lifted him up and knocked him to the ground, beating him not only with his strength but also with his cleverness, therefore they say that the fight is an art first coined by the hero.

Theseus

Lastly in his path the hero met Procrustes. He lived near the Sacred Way (Iera Odos) from Athens to Elefsis. This villain had a hostel with two beds: one short and one long, supposedly to accommodate travellers. Once he had lured the unsuspecting travellers into his hostel he forced the tall ones to lie on the short bed and the short ones to the long bed. Then, taking up a hammer he repeatedly struck the short victims flattening them until they fitted the dimensions of the bed, with the tall victims he simply cut away the parts of their bodies that hung over the short beds. Theseus punished Procrustes in the same way.

During all this time that Theseus had been growing up, Aegeus had given refuge to Medea who he later married. She in turn healed him from his assumed sterility and given him a son who they had named Medes.

When Theseus arrived at the palace, the king had already heard about the brave lad and his accomplishments. Aegeus never imagined that it might be his son, but Medea, who was a witch , realized that it was so and plotted against him, persuading the unsuspecting Aegeus to poison him during dinner.

Theseus had not yet revealed who he was, but during the dinner, Theseus under the guise of carving the meat, stuck his father's sword into it. On recognizing his sword and understanding what it meant, Aegeus threw the glass of poison away and embraced his new found son. Aegeus then gathered all his subjects around him and presented his son Theseus to them. Medea fled with her son Medes to Asia.

Theseus greatly influenced the story told in The Hunger Games Appears in several of Shakespeare’s plays

Theseus- Six Traits

1. Innocence Lost- Grew up without his father until he was strong enough to move the rock which hid the shoes and sword his father left for him.

2. Chaos and Complexity- Instead of taking the easy route to his father by ship where he would be safe, he decided to go by land to become a hero like his cousin Hercules. Also, experienced chaos and complexity at the end with his wife’s death and son’s banishment.

3. The Heroic Quest- slaying the Minotaur to save the people4. Gurus and Alliances- Hercules and Pirithous5. Trials, Tests, Initiations- Killing the bandits for safe travel; was part

of the mission to find the Golden Fleece; assisted Oedipus when Oedipus was cast out and protected Oedipus’ daughters; comforted Hercules when he was experiencing family hardships; went to the Underworld with Pirithous; then experienced his own family drama

6. Insight and Transformation- Learned the truth after his wife killed herself for loving her stepson too much and he blamed and banished his son for the lies she created. Theseus was killed later, but recognized as the “protector of the defenseless.”

Hercules or Heracles Profile

Parents: Zeus and Alcemena (Amphitryon, stepfather)

Prophecy: No prophecy was listed in this Mythology book.

Saved by the people: Theseus stopped him from killing himself and took him to Athens to live with him.

Known for his: confidence and physical strength, but lack of intelligence ; his fatal rages and his punishments.

Acknowledged by his father: Amphitryon, his stepfather, tried to console him after Hercules killed his family.

Hercules or Heracles

His first exploit, in fact, was the strangling of two serpents that she had sent to kill him in his cradle

Later, Heracles waged a victorious war against the kingdom of Orchomenus in Boeotia and married Megara, daughter of Creon, king of Thebes. But he killed her and their children in a fit of madness sent by Hera and, consequently, was obliged to become the servant of Eurystheus. It was Eurystheus who imposed upon Heracles the famous Labours, later arranged in a cycle of 12, usually as follows: (1) the slaying of the Nemean lion, whose skin he thereafter wore; (2) the slaying of the nine-headed Hydra of Lerna; (3) the capture of the elusive hind (or stag) of Arcadia; (4) the capture of the wild boar of Mt. Erymanthus; (5) the cleansing, in a single day, of the cattle stables of King Augeas of Elis; (6) the shooting of the monstrous man-eating birds of the Stymphalian marshes; (7) the capture of the mad bull that terrorized the island of Crete; (8) the capture of the man-eating mares of King Diomedes of the Bistones; (9) the taking of the girdle of Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons; (10) the seizing of the cattle of the three-bodied giant Geryon, who ruled the island Erytheia (meaning Red) in the far west; (11) the bringing back of the golden apples kept at the world’s end by the Hesperides; and (12) the fetching up from the lower world of the triple-headed dog Cerberus, guardian of its gates.

Having completed the Labours, Heracles undertook further enterprises, including warlike campaigns. He also successfully fought the river god Achelous for the hand of Deianeira. As he was taking her home, the Centaur Nessus tried to violate her, and Heracles shot him with one of his poisoned arrows. The Centaur, dying, told Deianeira to preserve the blood from his wound, for if Heracles wore a garment rubbed with it he would love none but her forever. Several years later Heracles fell in love with Iole, daughter of Eurytus, king of Oechalia. Deianeira, realizing that Iole was a dangerous rival, sent Heracles a garment smeared with the blood of Nessus. The blood proved to be a powerful poison, and Heracles died. His body was placed on a pyre on Mt. Oeta (modern Greek Oiti), his mortal part was consumed, and his divine part ascended to heaven. There he was reconciled to Hera and married Hebe

In art and literature Heracles was represented as an enormously strong man of moderate height; a huge eater and drinker, very amorous, generally kindly but with occasional outbursts of brutal rage. His characteristic weapon was the bow but frequently also the club.

"Heracles." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Britannica Academic. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 16 Mar. 2016

Hercules- Six Traits

1. Innocence Lost- As a baby, Hercules killed two snakes with his bare hands that were sent by Hera out of jealousy.

2. Chaos and Complexity- Under Hera’s power, Hercules kills his wife and 3 sons.

3. The heroic Quest- Helped the gods conquer the Giants, fought and conquered the Minyans, Fought death and brought back the wife of Admatus.

4. Gurus and Alliances- Theseus, Iolaus, Athena, and Atlas5. Trials, Tests, Initiations- “The 12 Labors of Hercules” given by

Eurystheus to purify his guilt.6. Insight and Transformation- His guilt became too much to bear.

“Since death would not come to him, he would go to death.” He was taken to Heaven and reunited with his father Zeus. He made amends with Hera and married her daughter Hebe.

Atalanta Profile

Parents: Real parents are unknown. When Atalanta’s father found out he had a daughter instead of a son, he decided she was not worthy and left her on the mountainside wear a she-bear took her as her own baby.

Saved by the people: She was found by a few hunters and they took her to live with them.

Known for her ability to outshoot, outrun, and outwrestle the men.

Seeks and find parents: After she beat Peleus, the father of Achilles, at the funeral games she discovered who her parents were and went to live with them.

Atalanta- Six Traits

1. Innocence Lost- raised by a hunter and became handy with the bow and arrow.

2. Chaos and Complexity- Parents did not want her for being a girl, but in the end welcomed her back because she was just a strong as the men.

3. The heroic Quest- the hunt of the Calydonian bear4. Gurus and Alliances- Meleager5. Trials, Tests, Initiations- killing two centaurs without

hesitation who were after her; the hunt of the Calydonian bear

6. Insight and Transformation- Melanion (or Hippomenes), with the help of Aphrodite, was able to trick Atalanta during the race and won her hand in marriage using three golden apples. The two were turned into lions because of an insult to Zeus or Aphrodite after she bore a son, Parthenopaeus, who was one of the Seven of Thebes.