REVIEWER FOR ENGLISH 10:

MYTHOLOGY AND FOLKLORE

 THE TWELVE LABORS OF HERCULES

BACKGROUND

One of the most famous names in Greek mythology is Hercules. Hercules was born a demi-god. His
father was Zeus, and his mother was the mortal princess Alcmene. Zeus was married to Hera, the
goddess of women, when he fathered Hercules to Alcmene. Zeus’s infidelity would enrage Hera which
would ultimately lead Hercules to kill his wife and children.

Heracles was commanded by the Delphic Oracle to perform twelve labors for King Eurystheus of
Mycenae to atone for his sins.

SUMMARY

One: Kill the Nemean Lion

This monster of a lion had a hide was so tough that no arrow could pierce it. Hercules stunned the
beast with his olive-wood club and then strangled it with his bare hands. It is said that he skinned the
lion, using the lion's sharp claws, and ever after wore its hide

Two: Kill the Lernean Hydra

The evil, snakelike Hydra had nine heads. If one got hurt, two would grow in its place. But Hercules
quickly sliced off the heads, while his charioteer, Iolaus, sealed the wounds with a torch. Hercules
made his arrows poisonous by dipping them in the Hydra's blood.

Three: Capture the Cerynian Hind

The goddess Artemis loved and protected this stubborn little deer, which had gold horns. Hercules
found it a challenge to capture the delicate hind without hurting it (and making Artemis angry). After
following the hind for an entire year, he safely carried it away.

Four: Capture the Erymanthian Boar

The people of Mount Erymanthus lived in fear of this deadly animal. Hercules chased the wild boar up
the mountain and into a snowdrift. He then took it in a net and brought it to King Eurystheus, who
was so frightened of the beast that he hid in a huge bronze jar.

Five: Clean the Augean Stables

Thousands of cows lived in these stables belonging to King Augeas. They had not been cleaned in 30
years, but Hercules was told to clean them completely in a single day. To do so he made two rivers
bend so that they flowed into the stables, sweeping out the filth.

Six: Kill the Stymphalian Birds

These murderous birds lived around Lake Stymphalos. Their claws and beaks were sharp as metal and
their feathers flew like darts. Hercules scared them out of their nests with a rattle and then killed
them with the poison arrows he had made from the Hydra's blood.

Seven: Capture the Cretan Bull

This savage bull, kept by King Minos of Crete, was said to be insane and breathe fire. Hercules
wrestled the mad beast to the ground and brought it back to King Eurystheus. Unfortunately, the king
set it free, and it roamed Greece, causing terror wherever it went.

Eight: Capture the Horses of Diomedes

King Diomedes, leader of the Bistones, fed his bloodthirsty horses on human flesh. Hercules and his
men fought and killed King Diomedes and fed the king to his horses. This made the horses tame, so
that Hercules was able to lead them to King Eurystheus.

Nine: Take the Girdle of the Amazon Queen Hippolyte

Hercules went to the land of the Amazons, where the queen welcomed him and agreed to give him
her girdle for Eurystheus's daughter. But Hera spread the rumor that Hercules came as an enemy. In
the end he had to conquer the Amazons and steal the golden belt.

Ten: Capture the Cattle of Geryon

Geryon, a winged monster with three human bodies, had a herd of beautiful red cattle. He guarded
his prized herd with the help of a giant and a vicious two-headed dog. Hercules killed Geryon, the
giant, and the dog and brought the cattle to King Eurystheus.

Eleven: Take the Golden Apples of the Hesperides

The Hesperides were nymphs. In their garden grew golden apples protected by Ladon, a dragon with a
hundred heads. Hercules struck a bargain with Atlas, who held up the earth. Hercules shouldered the
earth while Atlas, the nymphs' father, fetched the apples.

Twelve: Capture Cerberus

Hercules was ordered to capture Cerberus, the three-headed guard dog of the underworld, without
using weapons. Hercules wrestled down the dog's wild heads, and it agreed to go with him to King
Eurystheus. Cerberus was soon returned unharmed to the underworld.

A SELECTION OF CHARACTERS & CREATURES FROM THE MYTHS OF HERACLES

ACHELOUS (Akheloios) An Aetolian river-god. He was defeated by Heracles in a wrestling match when
the pair vied for the hand of Deianeira in marriage.

ATLAS A Titan who was forced to hold the sky aloft. Heracles agreed to take on the burden, if Atlas
would fetch for him the Golden Apples of the Hesperides.
AUGEAS (Augeias) A king of Elis who possessed an enormous herd of cattle. Eurystheus commanded
Heracles clean his stables which he did by diverting a river. However, Augeias denied him payment, so
after his labours were complete he led an army to conquer the country.

CARCINUS (Karkinos) A giant crab which inhabited the swamps of Lerna. It assisted the Hydra in the fight
with Heracles, but was crushed beneath the hero's heel.

CAUCASIAN EAGLE (Aetos Kaukasios) A giant eagle which fed on the ever-regenerating liver of the
Prometheus. Heracles slew it and released the Titan from his chains.

CENTAURS (Kentauroi) A tribe of half-horse men who inhabited the Arcadian mountain of Pholoe.

CERBERUS (Kerberos) The hound of Hades who guarded the entrance to the underworld. Heracles was
sent to fetch the beast as one of his twelve labours, and captured it with the approval of the goddess
Persephone.

CERYNITIAN HIND (Elaphos Kerynitis) A golden horned deer which was sacred to the goddess Artemis.

CRETAN BULL (Tauros Kretaios) A giant white bull which ravage the island of Crete. Heracles was sent to
fetch it as the seventh of his labours.

DIOMEDES A King of the Edonians of Thrace, who kept of herd of man-eating mares. Heracles was sent
to fetch these as one of his labours, slew the king, and fed him to the horses.

ERYMANTHIAN BOAR (Hus Erymanthios) A giant boar which ravaged the countryside around Mount
Erymanthus. Heracles was sent to capture it alive as one of his twelve labours.

GERYON (Geryones) A three-bodied giant who possessed a herd of fabulous red-skinned cattle. Heracles
was sent to fetch these as one of his labours, and slew the king.

HEBE The goddess of youth, daughter of Zeus and Hera. She married Heracles after he joined the
company of the gods of heaven

HESPERIAN DRAGON (Drakon Hesperios) A hundred-headed dragon which guarded the golden apples of
the Hesperides. Heracles slew it when he came in quest of the treasure.

HESPERIDES Three nymphs who tended the tree of the golden apples. Heracles encountered them in his
quest for the treasure.

HIPPOLYTE A queen of the Amazons, daughter of the war-god Ares. Heracles was sent to fetch her belt
as one of his twelve labours.

HYDRA A nine headed serpent which haunted the swamps of Lerna. For every head that was cut off the
Hydra grew two more. Eurystheus commanded Heracles to destroy it.

NEMEAN LION (Leon Nemeios) A huge lion which terrorized the region around Nemea. Heracles was
sent to destroy it by Eurystheus as the first of his twelve labours, and because the creature was
impervious to weapons, he wrestled with the beast and throttled it to death.

NESSUS (Nessos) A centaur who ferried passengers across the River Evenus. Heracles entrusted his wife
Deianeira to the centaur, but he attempted to rape the woman and was shot dead by the hero.
ORTHRUS (Orthros) A two-headed dog which guarded the cattle of Geryon. It was slain by Heracles
when he came to fetch the cattle.

STYMPHALIAN BIRDS (Ornithes Stymphalides) A flock of rapacious birds inhabiting lake Stymphalus.
Heracles was sent to destroy them as one of his labours.
 PROMETHEUS AND THE GIFT OF FIRE

PROMETHEUS was the Titan god of forethought and crafty counsel who was given the task of moulding
mankind out of clay. His attempts to better the lives of his creation brought him into conflict with Zeus.
Firstly he tricked the gods out of the best portion of the sacrificial feast, acquiring the meat for the
feasting of man. Then, when Zeus withheld fire, he stole it from heaven and delivered it to mortal kind
hidden inside a fennel-stalk. As punishment for these rebellious acts, Zeus ordered the creation of
Pandora (the first woman) as a means to deliver misfortune into the house of man, or as a way to cheat
mankind of the company of the good spirits. Prometheus meanwhile, was arrested and bound to a stake
on Mount Kaukasos (Caucasus) where an eagle was set to feed upon his ever-regenerating liver (or,
some say, heart). Generations later the great hero Herakles (Heracles) came along and released the old
Titan from his torture.

CHARACTERS

Prometheus- Titan of forethought

Zeus- King of the gods

Herakles (Hercules)- a demigod hero that freed Prometheus from his punishment

SISYPHUS

BACKGROUND

Sisyphus, in Greek mythology, the cunning king of Corinth who was punished in Hades by having
repeatedly to roll a huge stone up a hill only to have it roll down again as soon as he had brought it to
the summit. This fate is related in Homer’s Odyssey, Book XI.

SUMMARY

Sisyphus is probably more famous for his punishment in the underworld than for what he did in his life.
According to the Greek myth, Sisyphus is condemned to roll a rock up to the top of a mountain, only to
have the rock roll back down to the bottom every time he reaches the top. The gods were wise, Camus
suggests, in perceiving that an eternity of futile labor is a hideous punishment.

There are a number of stories—ones which are not mutually exclusive—that explain how Sisyphus came
to earn his punishment in the underworld. Among the most famous stories tells how Sisyphus enchained
the spirit of Death, so that during Death's imprisonment, no human being died. Naturally, when the gods
freed Death, his first victim was Sisyphus. It is also said that Sisyphus told his wife not to offer any of the
traditional burial rites when he died. When he arrived in the underworld, he complained to Hades that
his wife had not observed these rites and was granted permission to return to earth to chastise her.
Once granted this second lease on life, Sisyphus refused to return to the underworld, and lived to a ripe
old age before returning to the underworld a second time to endure his eternal punishment.

Characters:
Sisyphus- a king of Corinth that chained Death so he would not die

Hades- god of the underworld

Thanatos- the personification of Death in Greek mythology

NARCISSUS AND ECHO

BACKGROUND

Echo and Narcissus is a myth from Ovid's Metamorphoses, a Roman mythological epic from the
Augustan Age. The introduction of the myth of the mountain nymph Echo into the story of Narcissus,
the beautiful youth who rejected Echo and fell in love with his own reflection, appears to have been
Ovid's invention. Ovid's version influenced the presentation of the myth in later Western art and
literature.

SUMMARY

Zeus had given Echo the task of entertaining his wife Hera with stories, in order that he might have time
to slip away and philander around with other women. Hera noticed something was up (she was known
for her jealous and vengeful nature), and mistaking Echo as the object of Zeus's uncouth affections, she
cast a spell on the unfortunate nymph - Echo would only be able to repeat the last words addressed to
her and never speak her own again.

Narcissus, a beautiful human youth, got separated from his hunting companions one day in some
woods. Echo, being a nymph and also feeling pitiful because of her curse, had been wandering those
same woods. The moment she saw Narcissus traipsing through the forest, she fell in love with him and
his breathtaking beauty. But because of Hera's curse, she was unable to tell him, so she followed the
boy and waited for him to speak. Eventually, Narcissus began to call for his companions. Echo eagerly
stepped out of the trees and repeated the words. A confusing and repetitive conversation ensued,
ending with Narcissus telling Echo they should make love. Ever opportunistic, Echo repeated his words
and leapt towards Narcissus. However, at that moment, Narcissus decided he'd rather die before letting
a wood nymph have him, and pushed her away. Echo, heartbroken, ran away and hid in a cave, not
eating or sleeping, just pining for Narcissus. After some time, Echo began to grow skinny from starvation
until her body withered away entirely into dust, leaving nothing but her voice.

Later, the goddess of revenge, Nemesis punished Narcissus for not accepting the unrequited love of
Echo. Nemesis caused him to fall in love with his own reflection he saw in a pool near the cave where
Echo had died. Narcissus refused to leave the reflection of himself and, like Echo, starvation was going to
claim him. But not before he cried out to his reflection: "Farewell, dear boy. Beloved in vain.". Echo's
voice repeated the lament from the cave and Narcissus died by the bank of the pool.
To this day Echo's voice still calls back from caves and labyrinths, repeating the last spoken words.

CHARACTERS

Narcissus- Narcissus was a beautiful hunter from Boetia. The most popular myth about him features him
falling in love with his own reflection in a pool of water, which he stared at until he died. His name is the
origin of the term narcissism, which means a fixation a person has with their own appearance.

Echo-Echo was a nymph in Greek mythology, and an Oread (a mountain nymph). She was very beautiful,
but loved her own voice.

Nemesis (Ancient Greek: Νέμεσις), is the goddess who takes vengence against those who show hubris
(arrogance before the gods).

PERSEUS AND MEDUSA

BACKGROUND

SUMMARY

CHARACTERS

ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE

BACKGROUND

SUMMARY

CHARACTERS

THESEUS AND THE LABYRINTH

BACKGROUND

SUMMARY

CHARACTERS

ICARUS
BACKGROUND

SUMMARY

CHARACTERS

OEDIPUS REX

BACKGROUND

SUMMARY

CHARACTERS

THE TROJAN WAR

BACKGROUND

SUMMARY

CHARACTERS