Heroes were born from the marriage of the Olympian gods to mortals. They were endowed with superhuman capabilities and tremendous strength, but did not possess immortality. Heroes performed all kinds of feats with the help of their divine parents. They had to carry out the will of the gods on earth, bring justice and order into people's lives. Heroes were highly revered in Ancient Greece, legends about them were passed down from generation to generation.
The concept of a heroic act did not always include military valor. Some heroes, indeed, are great warriors, others are healers, others are great travelers, fourths are just husbands of goddesses, fifths are the ancestors of nations, sixths are prophets, etc. Greek heroes are not immortal, but their posthumous fate is unusual. After death, some heroes of Greece live on the Isles of the Blessed, others on the island of Levka or even on Olympus. It was believed that most of the heroes who died in battles or died as a result of dramatic events were buried in the ground. The tombs of heroes - heroons - were places of their worship. Often, at the same time, the graves of the same hero existed in different places in Greece.
More about the heroes from the book "Entertaining Greece" by Mikhail Gasparov
In Thebes, they talked about the hero Cadmus, the founder of Cadmea, the victor of the terrible cave dragon. In Argos, they talked about the hero Perseus, who at the end of the world cut off the head of the monstrous Gorgon, from whose gaze people turned to stone, and then defeated the sea monster - Kit. In Athens, they talked about the hero Theseus, who liberated central Greece from evil robbers, and then in Crete killed the bull-headed cannibal Minotaur, who was sitting in a palace with intricate passages - the Labyrinth; he did not get lost in the Labyrinth because he held on to the thread given to him by the Cretan princess Ariadne, who later became the wife of the god Dionysus. In the Peloponnese (named after another hero - Pelop), they talked about the twin heroes Castor and Polidevka, who later became the patron gods of horsemen and fighters. The hero Jason conquered the sea: on the ship "Argo" with his Argonauts, he brought to Greece from the eastern end of the world the "golden fleece" - the skin of a golden ram that descended from heaven. The sky was conquered by the hero Daedalus, the builder of the Labyrinth: on wings of bird feathers fastened with wax, he flew from Cretan captivity to his native Athens, although his son Icarus, who flew with him, could not resist in the air and died.
The main hero, the real savior of the gods, was Hercules, the son of Zeus. He was not just a mortal man - he was a bondage mortal man who served a weak and cowardly king for twelve years. By his orders, Hercules performed twelve famous feats. The first were victories over monsters from the vicinity of Argos - a stone lion and a multi-headed hydra snake, in which instead of each severed head several new ones grew. The last were victories over the dragon of the far West, guarding the golden apples of eternal youth (it was on the way to him that Hercules dug the Strait of Gibraltar, and the mountains on its sides began to be called the Pillars of Hercules), and over the three-headed dog Kerber, who guarded the terrible kingdom of the dead. And after that, he was called to his main business: he became a participant in the great war of the Olympians with the rebellious younger gods, giants - in gigantomachy. The giants threw mountains at the gods, the gods struck the giants, some with lightning, some with a rod, some with a trident, giants fell, but not killed, but only stunned. Then Hercules hit them with arrows from his bow, and they did not get up again. So man helped the gods to defeat their most terrible enemies.
But gigantomachy was only the penultimate danger threatening the omnipotence of the Olympians. Hercules also saved them from the last danger. In his wanderings to the ends of the earth, he saw on the Caucasian rock a chained Prometheus, tormented by Zeus's eagle, took pity on him and killed the eagle with an arrow from a bow. In gratitude for this, Prometheus revealed to him the last secret of fate: let Zeus not seek the love of the sea goddess Thetis, because the son, whom Thetis will give birth to, will be stronger than his father, and if it is the son of Zeus, he will overthrow Zeus. Zeus obeyed: Thetis was given not for a god, but for a mortal hero, and they had a son, Achilles. And from this began the decline of the heroic age.
The mythological heroes of Ancient Greece were people, but the parents of many of them were the gods. Myths about their exploits and accomplishments are an integral part of the culture of the ancient Greeks, and below in the article a kind of "top" of the heroes of Hellas is presented.
The most powerful hero of ancient Greece - Hercules
Hercules' parents were the mortal woman Alcmene and the powerful ancient Greek god Zeus. According to ancient Greek mythology, Hercules performed twelve famous feats during his life, for which the goddess Athena took him to Olympus, where Zeus granted immortality to the hero.
The most famous exploits of Hercules are the killing of the nine-headed hydra, the victory over the previously invulnerable Nemean lion, the taming of the guardian of the kingdom of the dead, Cerberus, the cleansing of the unclean Augean stables for decades, the construction of stone pillars on the shores of the Strait of Gibraltar, separating Africa and Europe. In ancient times, the strait was called the Pillars of Hercules (Hercules is the Roman name for Hercules).
Ancient Greek hero Odysseus
The king of Ithaca, Odysseus, is famous for his journey from the city of Troy to his homeland, full of dangers and mortal risks. The feats that the hero performed during him are described by the ancient Greek poet Homer in the poem "The Odyssey".
Odysseus was distinguished not only by strength, but also by cunning. During the journey, he blinded the giant cyclops Polyphemus, escaped from the sorceress Kirka, did not succumb to the spell of sweet-voiced sirens, "slipped" on the ship between Scylla, devouring all living things, and Charybdis, absorbing everything, left the beautiful nymph Calypso, survived a lightning strike and returned home , dealt with all the newly appeared "suitors" of his wife Penelope. "Odyssey" - since then people have called any risky and long journey.
Hero of Ancient Greece Perseus
Perseus is another son of Zeus, his mother was the Argos princess Danae. Perseus became famous for killing the Gorgon Medusa - a winged monster covered with scales, whose head was covered with snakes instead of hair, and from whose gaze all living things turned to stone. Then Perseus freed the princess Andromeda from the clutches of the sea monster that was devouring people, and turned her former groom into stone, forcing him to look at the severed head of the Gorgon.
Ancient Greek hero of the Trojan War - Achilles
Achilles was the son of King Peleus and the nymph Thetis. In infancy, his mother dipped him into the waters of the Styx river of the dead, thanks to which Achilles' entire body became invulnerable, except for the heel, by which his mother held him.
The invulnerability of Achilles made him an invincible warrior, until, during the siege of Troy, the son of the Trojan king Paris hit him with an arrow in that very heel. Since then, any vulnerability of any impregnable defense is called its "Achilles heel".
Hero of Ancient Greece Jason
Jason is famous for the fact that on the ship "Argo" with a team of brave Argonauts (among whom were the sweet-voiced singer Orpheus, and the mighty Hercules) went to distant Colchis (modern Georgia) and got the skin of a magical ram guarded by a dragon - the golden fleece.
In Colchis, Jason married the daughter of the king of this country, the jealous Medea, who bore him two boys. When Jason later decided to remarry the Corinthian princess Creusa, Medea killed both her and her own children.
Unhappy hero of ancient Greece Oedipus
The oracle predicted to Oedipus's father, the Theban king Lai, that he would die at the hands of his son. Lai ordered to kill Oedipus, but he was saved and adopted by a slave, and the young men also received the prediction of the Delphic Oracle that he would kill his father and marry his own mother.
Frightened, Oedipus set off on a journey, but on the way to Thebes, in a quarrel, he killed some noble old Thebanese. The road to Thebes was guarded by the Sphinx, making riddles to travelers and devouring everyone who could not guess them. Oedipus solved the riddle of the Sphinx, after which he committed suicide.
The Thebans chose Oedipus as their king, and the widow of the former ruler of Thebes became his wife. But when Oedipus learned that the former king was an old man who had once been killed on the road, and that his wife was also a mother, he blinded himself.
Another famous hero of Ancient Greece - Theseus
Theseus was the son of Poseidon, the king of the seas, and became famous for having killed the Minotaur - a monster that lived in the rugged Cretan labyrinth, and then found a way out of this labyrinth. He got out of there thanks to a ball of thread, which was presented to him by the daughter of the Cretan king Ariadne.
The mythological hero Theseus is revered in Greece as the founder of Athens.
Based on the materials of the encyclopedia "Who is Who".
The dead 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 which 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 against impure forces and the horrors of nature and, freed from human weaknesses, becomes like gods. In Greek mythology, Hercules is a representative of humanity, which, with the help of its semi-divine origin, can ascend to Olympus, with all the hostile forces towards him.
Originally appearing in Boeotia and Argos, the myth of Hercules was later mixed with many foreign legends, because the Greeks merged with their Hercules all such deities, whom they met in their relations with the Phoenicians (Melqart), Egyptians and Celtic-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: he frees the Peloponnese and other regions from monsters and beasts of prey, cleans the stables of King Avgius in Elis, and extracts golden apples from the gardens of the Hesperides (in North Africa) with the help Titan Atlas, for which he holds the firmament for some time, passes through the so-called Pillars of Hercules to Spain, there he takes the bulls away 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 leads the fettered Cerberus out of the underworld. But he also falls for a time weakness and performs female service for the Lydian queen Omphale; soon, however, he returns to his former courage, undertakes some more feats and finally deprives himself of life in the flame on Mount Ete, when the poisoned clothes sent to him by his wife Deianira, who did not suspect trouble, led the hero to inevitable death. Upon death, he was ascended to Olympus and married Hebe, the goddess of youth.
In all countries and on all shores, where the active sea trade brought the Greeks, they found traces of their national hero, who preceded them, paving the way, whose works and dangers, defeated by his heroism and perseverance, were a reflection of their own folk life. c Greek mythology took its beloved hero from the far west, where the Atlas Range, the Hesperides Gardens and the Pillars of Hercules testified to his existence as far as Egypt and the shores of the Black Sea. The soldiers of Alexander the Great acquired it even in India.
In the Peloponnese, a myth arose about the cursed clan of the Lydian or Phrygian Tantalus, whose son, the hero Pelops, by means of deception and cunning, took possession of the daughter and the region of the Elide king Enomai. His sons Atreus and Fiestos (Tiestes) allow themselves incest, infanticide and pass on to their descendants an even greater degree of curse. The mythological hero Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, friend of Pilad, the murderer of his mother Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus, with the return of his sister Iphigenia from Taurida, where she was a priestess of the barbaric worship of Artemis, is freed from Erinnia and atones for the sins of the entire Tantalus family.
In Lacedaemon, myths were told about the Tyndarid heroes - the twins Castor and Pollux (Pollux), the brothers of Helen, who merged with the Dioscuri, the shining stars, the patrons of sailors and sailors: they thought that their ascent would calm the storm.
The tribal hero of Thebes was the Phoenician Cadmus, who was looking for his sister Europa, kidnapped by Zeus, and brought to Boeotia as a cow. From him came King Lai, who, frightened by a single saying of the oracle, ordered to throw his son from Jocasta, Oedipus, 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 a widowed queen, his own mother, in marriage. Then, when grave calamities befell the country, and one aged 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 March 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.
Brothers-heroes - the singer Amphion, the husband of Niobe, and the brave one, 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 a 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 the Kopaid Lake, and his sister and sister-in-law, Prokna and Philomela, who, after the murder of Tereus's son, were turned - one into a swallow, the other into a nightingale, was established in Boeotia and Attica.
Thessaly, rich in horses, was inhabited by the Greek myths about heroes with Centaurs (exterminators of bulls) with a horse body and legs, who fought against 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, Theseus was a popular mythological hero. 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, was born and raised in Trezen by Pitfey. Taking out his father's sword and sandals from under a huge boulder and thus proving his extraordinary strength, this hero, on his way back to his homeland, clears the isthmus of wild robbers (Procrustes and others) and frees the Athenians from the heavy tribute of seven boys and seven girls, which they had 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 royal daughter Ariadne, he 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, indigenous on the island of Crete and combined with human sacrifices). Aegeus, believing that his son had died, for when he returned 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 of the Aegean.
The name of Theseus is closely related to the worship of the god Poseidon, in whose honor he established the Isthmian games. Poseidon gives the tragic denouement of the love story of the second wife of Theseus (Phaedra) with his son Hippolytus. The Legend of Theseus has many affinities with the Legend of Hercules. Like Hercules, the hero Theseus also went to the underworld.
It is due to the fact that the gods constantly interfered in the lives of ordinary people - a god could fall in love with a woman, and a goddess could give birth to a child from a simple Greek. As a result of such love unions, Greeks were born, who were called heroes.
Features of Greek heroes
The heroes lived among other people, but their fate was different from the usual, dangers and difficulties constantly arose on their way. Heroes helped people, defeating monsters that could attack them, and could also teach people something new and unusual.
Some of the heroes were subsequently adopted on Olympus and became immortal, and some continued their earthly life. Many myths about such heroes were kept in the memory of the Greeks and other peoples, their fame became immortal, their exploits were sung in songs and poems. The most famous and powerful heroes are called Hercules and Perseus.
Myths about Hercules
The life story of the hero Hercules begins with the fact that he was born of the god Zeus and the earthly woman Alcmene. Zeus's wife Aida hated him from birth, as she did not want to forgive his mother for her love for Zeus and for the fact that Alcmene fell in love with her husband.
When the hero was still very young, Hera sent snakes that were supposed to kill him. When the snakes attacked him, Hercules woke up and strangled them. Soon, everyone learned that Alcmene's tiny son had managed to defeat two deadly snakes.
Twelve labors of Hercules
Hercules is famous for twelve exploits, all of them were very difficult and dangerous for his life. Thus, Hercules had to free the cowardly king Eurystheus, his relative.
First, he had to fight a lion, a huge monster that devastated the surroundings of the city of Nemea. Hercules struck him with his club, and when the lion fell to the ground, he strangled him.
Then Hercules had to defeat the Lernaean hydra, which had nine heads and the body of a snake. The next feat of Hercules was helping the son of the sun god - Augius. The hero managed to clear the king's stockyard, where there were a hundred bulls, he broke the walls of the courtyard and let the water of two rivers to the breach.
He also managed to subdue the guardian of the underworld - the dog Cerberus, he brought him to his king Eurystheus. But the twelve feats of Hercules are considered the most famous and difficult. His task was to get three golden apples from the gardens of Atlanta, which held the firmament on his shoulders.
He fought Antaeus, the son of the goddess Gaia and the god of the seas, Poseidon. During the battle, the powers of Hercules were constantly drying up when Antaeus constantly renewed his powers from his mother, the earth. But still, Hercules managed to defeat his opponent, raising him above the Earth.
His participation in the battle of the gods with giants, in which the hero managed to save the gods from destruction, is also considered a great feat. So he became an immortal god and settled on Olympus.
Hero Perseus
Perseus was also the son of Zeus and the mortal woman Danae. Perseus's adventures began when he was still young, as his grandfather was predicted that he would die at the hands of his grandson.
Danaë's father threw Perseus and his mother into the sea, closing them in a wooden box. Thanks to the power of Persus, he and Danae managed to escape.
The hero has grown into a powerful and strong warrior. Polydectus wanted to destroy him, and therefore sent him to the ends of the earth, where the Gorgons lived.
Before talking about the Heroes of Greece, it is necessary to determine who they are and how they differ from Genghis Khan, Napoleon and other heroes known in different historical eras. In addition to strength, resourcefulness, and intelligence, one of the differences between ancient Greek heroes is duality from birth. One of the parents was a deity, and the other was mortal.
Famous heroes of the myths of Ancient Greece
The description of the Heroes of Ancient Greece should begin with Hercules (Hercules) who was born from the love affair of the mortal Alcmene and the main god of the ancient Greek pantheon Zeus. According to myths that have come down from time immemorial, for the perfect dozen feats, Hercules was lifted by the goddess Athena - Pallas to Olympus, where his father, Zeus, bestowed immortality on his son. The exploits of Hercules are widely known and many were included in sayings and sayings. This hero cleared the stables of Avgius from the manure, defeated the Nemean lion, and killed the hydra. In honor of Zeus, the Strait of Gibraltar was named in ancient times - the Pillars of Hercules. According to one of the legends, Hercules was too lazy to overcome the Atlas Mountains, and he punched a passage through them, connecting the waters of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic.
Another bastard is Perseus. Perseus's mother is Princess Danae, daughter of the Argos king Acrisius. The feats of Perseus would have been impossible without the victory over Medusa Gorgon. This mythical monster turned all living things into stone with its eyes. After killing the Gorgon, Perseus attached her head to his shield. Wanting to win the favor of Andromeda, the Ethiopian princess, daughter of Cassiopeia and King Kefei, this hero killed her fiancé and snatched from the clutches of the sea monster that was going to satisfy Andromeda's hunger.
Famous for killing the Minotaur and finding a way out of the Cretan labyrinth, Theseus, was born of the god of the seas, Poseidon. In mythology, he is revered as the founder of Athens.
Ancient Greek heroes Odysseus and Jason cannot boast of their divine origin. The king of Ithaca Odysseus is famous for the invention of the Trojan horse, thanks to which the Greeks destroyed it. Returning to his homeland, he deprived the only eye of the Cyclops Polyphemus, held his ship between the rocks on which the monsters Scylla and Charybdis lived, and did not succumb to the magical charm of sweet-voiced sirens. However, his wife, Penelope, who, while waiting for her husband, remained faithful to him, refused to 108 suitors, gave Odysseus a significant share of fame.
Most of the exploits of the ancient Greek Heroes have survived to this day as narrated by the poet-narrator Homer, who wrote the famous epic poems "The Odyssey and the Iliad".
Olympic heroes of ancient Greece
The Olympic Games Winner Ribbon has been issued since 752 BC. The heroes wore purple ribbons and were revered in society. Those who won the Games three times received a statue in Altis as a gift.
From the history of Ancient Greece, the names of Korab of Elis, who won the race in 776 BC, became known.
The strongest for the entire period of the festival in ancient times was Milon of Croton, he won six competitions in strength. It is believed that he was a student
