THE HEROES Perseus Theseus Hercules Bellerophon Daedalus

PERSEUS-1  Son of Zeus and Danaë  Danaë and son cast into sea by King Acrisius  Dictys find the two, Polydectes loves Danaë  Perseus swears to bring Medusa’s head as gift  Hermes guides him to the Graiae, to Nymphs of the North  Hyperboreans gave him winged sandals, magic wallet and cap of invisibility  Hermes gave him a sword, and Athena her shield  Perseus cut Medusa’s head and escaped

PERSEUS-2  On his way back, he stopped in Ethiopia to save Andromeda from the sea serpent and married her  He went back to the island of his mother to find cruel Polydectes and his men feasting  He showed them Medusa’s head, all of them were petrified  When throwing the discus he killed Acrisius, so the oracle proved true  He became the great-grandfather of Hercules  Athena bore Medusa’s head on the aegis

THESEUS-1  Son of King Aegeus of Athens  Spent childhood in his mother’s home  When old enough he was sent to Athens to claim his father  Always wanted to become a hero, travelled by land, which was dangerous, killed all the bandits on his way to Athens  Father recognised him from his sword  He became the proclaimed heir

THESEUS-2  King Minos of Crete was punishing the Athenians; every 9 years 14 youth from Athens were given to Minotaur, half bull, half human  Theseus wanted to kill Minotaur in the Labyrinth  Ariadne helped him; gave a ball of thread so he could find his way in the maze  Theseus killed the monster and set sail for home  Forgot to change the sail from black to white, Aegeus threw himself into the sea (Aegean Sea)

HERCULES-1  Son of Zeus and Alcmena  Hera wanted to kill him, sent two snakes to his cradle, Hercules killed the snakes  The strongest man on Earth; killed his music master by accident, (no intellect, sheer strength)  In a time of madness he killed his wife Megara and his own three sons  Friend Theseus prevented him from killing himself for punishment, took him to Athens

HERCULES-2  King Eurystheus of Mycenae, urged by Hera gave Hercules 12 difficult tasks to complete for purification  Kill the Lion of Nemea  Kill the nine-headed Hydra  Bring back alive the stag with golden horns  Capture a great boar on Mount Erymanthus  Clean the Augean stables in one day  Drive away the Stymphalian birds  Bring back the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of Amazons  Bring back the three-bodied cattle of Geryon  Bring back the Golden Apples of the Hesperides, of Atlas  Bring Cerberus up from Hades

HERCULES-3  Helped the gods in their fight against the Titans  Freed Prometheus by killing the Caucasian Eagle  Fought Death to bring Alcestis back from the dead  His wife Deianira kept the blood of Centaur Nessus killed by Hercules as a charm to be used if Hercules loved another woman  Hercules wore the poisonous robe sent by his wife, who was jealous of maiden Iole; died on a pyre; and taken to heaven to marry Hebe

BELLEROPHON-1  He was the grandson of Sisyphus  Aspired to tame Pegasus, the winged-horse  By the help of Athena’s charm he succeeded  Anteia lied to King Proetus when her love was not returned by Bellerophon  Sent by the King to King of Lycia  King of Lycia asked him to kill the Chimaera, the monster with the lion’s head, goat’s body and a serpent behind

BELLEROPHON-2  After killing the flaming monster he buried the Chimera’s body under heavy rocks (Çıralı, Antalya)  He became ambitious and tried to ride Pegasus to Mount Olympus, which it rejected  Bellerophone lived in misery thereafter  Pegasus lived in Zeus’s stalls and became his favourite horse

DAEDALUS  He was the architect of the Labyrinth built for the Minotaur in Crete  Minos wanted to punish him for his help to Theseus, put him and his son Icarus into the maze  Daedalus made wings from wax for their escape  Icarus disregarded his father’s warning and due to his ambition flew too close to the sun; his wings melted, and he died