Eighth Labor: The Horses of Diomedes
This particular Diomedes lived in Thrace. His horses were mild mares whom Diomedes fed with human flesh. Monsters that ate the flesh of people was a common trope in Greek legend. Although horses that dined on flesh was a first. Heracles bested this task by first slaying Diomedes and then feeding the horses with his flesh. After this act, the horses were said to behave in a more tame, malleable fashion than they had previously. Taming of horses by a hero was seen as a crucial rite in many early European societies, and there were even echoes of it in the New World (after horses had been introduced by the Spanish).
Ninth Labor: The Girdle of the Amazon
Hippolyta was the most famous queen of the Amazons. According to one legend, she would later be defeated by Theseus of Athens by whom she gave birth to a son named Hippolytus. Heracles’s task here was to obtain the girdle of Hippolyta. King Eurystheus intended to use this Amazonian girdle as a gift for his daughter, the princess. According to one recount of this labor, Hippolyta became enamored of Heracles and gave him the girdle voluntarily. It makes sense, as Amazonian women were said to have a hankering for men who were strong and masculine as Heracles was.
Tenth Labor: Geryon’s Cattle
Geryon was the name of a monster with three heads. Unlike other monsters, however, Geryon kept a herd of cattle for which he was quite famous in Greece. This story has the echoes of the various stories about giants in Norse mythology, but we digress. Eurystheus was one of those who envied the multi-headed monster his cattle, and it was the labor of Heracles to obtain this cattle. Heracles was expected to steal the cattle, an ancient custom, which he did deftly. Apparently, it was not common in early Europe for men to steal cattle and then use the earnings from a cattle ride to pay a bride price for a new spouse.
Eleventh Labor: The Theft of Cerberus
Cerberus was the famous hound that guarded the entrance to Tartarus, the underworld. Cerberus was a three-headed dog whose job was to prevent people from getting into the underworld who were not meant to be there. Heracles’s labor was to bring the hound back to Argos, although Eurystheus never expected Heracles to succeed in the task. Succeeding where would mean traveling to the land of the dead, making it in and out alive, and then returning to the land of the living.
Fortunately for Heracles, he had some divine help in this labor. The gods Athena and Hermes offered to help. With their help, Heracles managed to best both Hades, the god of the underworld, and Cerberus. He took the three-headed dog back to King Eurystheus, who again jumped inside of a bronze jar to hide. He was not a particularly courageous king, hence the need to make Heracles do all the heavy lifting.
Twelfth Labor: The Apples of the Hesperides
The Hesperides were the daughters of Atlas. Atlas was the Titan who was damned to carry the sky on his shoulders for leading the Titans against the Olympians. The golden apples of the Hesperides were actually the property of Hera, wife of Zeus. It was the job of a dragon called Ladon to guard the apples against anyone who might try to take them. Atlas was the only one who knew where the orchard of apples lies so Heracles went to him for information. Heracles offered to carry the sky on his own shoulders if Atlas would fetch some of the apples. According to some legends, after Atlas returned Heracles tricked him into taking the sky back on his shoulders. Others say that Atlas was freed by Heracles.
Chapter 9: Lighter Tales of Greek Gods and Heroes
Not all of the tales of Greek myth and legend had to do with the main gods like Zeus and Apollo or better-known heroes like Perseus, Theseus, and Jason. The Greek world was rife with stories of this figure or that who may have had a regional significance, or a minor role in the larger picture of Greek mythology. One of the things that set Greek mythology apart is the profusion of stories, and in this chapter, we will explore some of the picturesque if not essential stories of Greek myth. Of course, there are many stories like this and in this chapter we only have time for a small selection.
Oedipus and his Children
Oedipus, though not a god or a hero, was one of the more important figures in Greek myth. Oedipus is particularly known for his treatment in Greek drama, and it is interesting to examine how important he would be as a figure if the Greek dramatists had not had such a go at his life. Oedipus’s name meant “swollen foot” in Geek. He was the son of the king of Thebes, Laius, by his wife Jocasta. He would be the father of several children; namely, Antigone, Eteocles, Ismene, and Polynices.
Laius had heard the pronouncement of the oracle that his son would kill his father and marry his mother so he abandoned his infant boy on a hillside. In Ancient Greece, it was common to abandon unwanted children (or children who could not be cared for) in this fashion. Before Laius abandoned his son, he pierced his son’s foot, which is why Oedipus was given the name of the swollen foot. A shepherd found the babe and took him to the king of Corinth who raised him. Oedipus heard the story that he would kill his father and marry his mother so he left Corinth, thinking that the king and queen of Corinth were his real parents.
Oedipus ended up meeting Laius at a crossroads. They had an altercation and Oedipus slew him. he then went to Thebes where he successfully answered a riddle invented by the Sphinx. As a result, he won the hand of the queen of Thebes, who was his mother Jocasta. He married her unknowing that she was his mother, and he inadvertently fulfilled the prophecies of the Sphinx. When he learned the truth, Oedipus blinded himself as he could no longer face reality. He went to exile in Attica while his children battled each other for control of Thebes. This is the story of the Seven Against Thebes. Oedipus was accompanied by his daughter Antigone who faithfully escorted her blind father in his wanderings.
Artemis and Actaeon
The story of Artemis and Actaeon was an important one in the compendium of tales about Artemis. It reveals her character as a goddess and sets her apart as being quite different from Aphrodite, for example. Actaeon was a handsome hunter, the grandson of Cadmus and the son of a certain Autonoe. He was hunting with his ferocious dogs in the woods when he had the misfortune to come across the nude Artemis bathing in a river in the wood. He could not tear himself away even though he knew there would be consequences of seeing the goddess naked. By the time he looked away, it was too late. The goddess revered herself for the affront by setting the man’s own dogs on him. The hunting dogs tore Actaeon to pieces.
The Myth of Arachne
Arachne was a princess of Lydia who was well-known for her skills at the loom. Onlookers said that she must have been trained by Athena herself, and the proud girl offered to compete against the goddess in a competition. Athena, annoyed, accepted the invitation. The maiden was so good at weaving than Athena could find no fault with it. The maiden had woven scenes of the gods disporting themselves in their happy revels. Athena ripped the work apart and dashed the loom. Arachne wanted to hang herself, but Athena turned her instead into a spider, cursed to always revel in the cobwebs that are the weaving work of the spider.
Cupid and Psyche
Cupid, known as Eros to the Greeks, was the god of love. We call him Cupid here as that is the name by which he is most well-known. He represented the chaotic side of love and for this reason, he was both feared and worshipped by his devotees. It is not clear who his parents were in myth, but he is usually thought of as the son of Aphrodite. His father was either Zeus, Ares, or Hephaestus, depending on which ancient source you consult.
Psyche was the most beautiful princess in the world. Aphrodite, in a rage, ordered her son to punish the girl by making her fall in love with someone embarrassing. Instead, Cupid accidentally scratched himself with his own arrow and therefore fell in love. He carried the princess off to a palace and subsequently married her, but he did not reveal who he was. The girl was commanded never to look at his face, a commandment which she obeyed, but she fell in love with him anyway. But one day, the sisters of Psyche persuaded her to try and see her face. She lit a lamp and saw the beautiful form of the slee
ping young man. In an instant, all the beautiful surroundings that had been wrought for her disappeared. Aphrodite hounded Psyche all over the Greek world until Eros convinced Zeus to make her immortal. The god consented and the wedding of Eros (Cupid) and Psyche was lavishly celebrated on Olympus.
Chapter 10: The Trojan War
The Trojan War was a defining event in Greek mythology and Greek history. Although it is impossible to know whether the primary actors in this drama were men and women who actually lived it is certain the Greeks and Romans regarded them as real, even intertwining the events of the conflict into their own history. The prime example of this is the descent that the Romans traced through to Aeneas, who left Ilium for Italy after the Trojan War.
Like everything else in Greek mythology, the Trojan conflict was filled with symbolism. A common motif in Greek mythology was the idea that pride was a sin that would often lead to the downfall of Man. Men and women were often punished for their pride against the gods, as stories like that of Arachne, Oedipus, and others demonstrate. The prophecies spoken by the oracles were gods will transmitted to men, and those who refused to obey them would find that all their efforts only served to bring the prophecy into action.
The question then becomes what the Trojan conflict was meant to symbolize. There was an element of pride in this conflict, too. The Greek leaders were too proud to unite and defeat the Trojans, forcing them to spend ten years on a conflict that could have been won in a year. Individual Greek warriors like Achilles also displayed pride, which led to their downfall. The Trojans, too, were proud in their attempt to circumvent the will of the gods who seemed to have marked the city of Troy for destruction. Finally, the beauty of Helen was found to be a blessing rather than a curse, resulting in the downfall not only of the Trojans but of most of the Greeks.
The Judgment of Paris
Helen sits at the center of the Trojan conflict, but the story really begins with Paris. Paris was a prince of Troy, a large city on the Western coast of Turkey. This city had been buried for centuries with its precise location unknown until an architect called Schliemann discovered it. The Trojans were not Greeks, although in the myths they seem equivalent to the Greeks, worshipping the same gods and engaging in the same general practices that the Greeks engaged in.
Eris, the goddess of discord, was angered that she had not been given an invitation to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, who were the parents of Achilles. Out of spite, Eris dropped a golden apple into the wedding feast. It was inscribed with the words: “To the most beautiful.” This naturally led to a quarrel between the goddesses Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera, each of whom believed themselves to be the most beautiful. In some versions of the story, Athena is replaced with Artemis. These goddesses asked Zeus to choose among them, but he declined this dubious honor. Instead, he sent Hermes to ask Paris to make the choice. Paris was regarded as the most handsome of men then living so it seemed natural that he should make the decision.
To win Paris over, each of the goddesses offered to bribe Paris with something of value. Hera offered to make him the most powerful of men, a great king of the earth. Athena offered to make him the wisest, a man whose knowledge drew all from far and wide. But Aphrodite offered to give him the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Sparta. Paris did not hesitate in awarding the apple to Aphrodite. Hera and Athena (or Artemis) from then on became the implacable enemies of Paris, doing all they could to help his enemies among the Greeks. Paris spirited Helen away in his ship to Troy, causing the Greek leaders to convene a meeting and decide what to do.
Iphigenia in Aulis
The Greek leaders convened to plan a course of action. The leader of the Greeks was Agamemnon who was chosen because he ruled the mightiest Greek city and because he was also the brother of the offended party, King Menelaus of Sparta. The Goddess Artemis was angered because Agamemnon had offended her and she demanded the life of his daughter Iphigenia in sacrifice. Others say that the princess Iphigenia was sacrificed in order to give the Greeks a safe passage in their travels to Troy. Queen Clytemnestra, the wife of Agamemnon, pleaded with her husband not to sacrifice their daughter, but he ignored her. Therefore, Iphigenia was sacrificed at the altar in Aulis, earning Agamemnon the lifelong hatred of his wife Clytemnestra, a hatred that would destroy them all. This story would be the subject of dramas by Euripides and Sophocles, which served to render this myth one of the more well-known in the Greek canon.
Achilles and Patroclus
Achilles was the greatest hero on the Greek side during the Trojan War. he was the son of Peleus and Thetis, a nymph who was married to her husband in a lavish ceremony. Thetis feared for the safety of her son she dipped him as a babe in the waters of the River Styx, but she had to hold him by the ankle which left this spot vulnerable. Achilles went to war on the Greek side joined by his dearest friend and companion Patroclus. There were many on the Trojan side who wanted to slay Achilles because of his prowess, but all attempts failed. Achilles also had enemies on the Greek side, especially Agamemnon with whom Achilles quarreled over the beautiful Briseis. This resulted in Achilles withdrawing from the war.
Patroclus later joined the war effort in Achilles stead. Patroclus was dressed in the famous armor of the Greek warrior. Achilles' friend was sought out by Hector, crown prince of Troy, and he was slain. In revenge, Achilles fought against Hector and this latter hero, too, was slain. Achilles drew Hector’s body around the walls of the city of Troy in his chariot until he finally agreed to give the body to Priam, the king of Troy and Hector’s father.
The Death of Achilles
Revenge was sought by the Trojans for the way that their hero Hector had been treated by Achilles, even though the latter did eventually allow the Trojan prince to have an honorable burial. Paris would be the one to bring Achilles to his end. Some authors stated that it was Apollo who guided Paris’s arrow on that fateful day. Whatever the case may be, Paris of Troy unleashed an arrow that hit the hero in his one weak spot, the ankle where his mother had held him when she dipped him into the River Styx.
The Aftermath: Agamemnon and Clytemnestra
The war would drag on until the Greeks had the idea of entering through the high walls of Troy by deception. They fashioned a giant wooden horse in which warriors could hide (on the inside), the famed Trojan Horse. The naive Trojans brought the Greek gift into their city, and during the night the warriors came in. They raised the gates and the inhabitants of Troy were slaughtered. The war was finally over. Agamemnon seemed lucky to get home in one piece, unlike Odysseus who would be left to journey the world for another ten years.
But Agamemnon would not be so lucky. His wife Clytemnestra still despised him for the sacrifice of their daughter Iphigenia all those years before. To add insult to injury, Agamemnon brought with him Cassandra, the famed princess of Troy whose prophecies, both Agamemnon and Cassandra would be murdered by Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus. Agamemnon was drowned in a bathtub, while Clytemnestra would meet her own end at the hand of her vengeful children Electra and Orestes.
Chapter 11: Twenty Essential Facts about Greek Myth and Legend
Fact One: Hades was not counted among the Olympians.
There was some debate about which gods should be counted among the Olympians, but Hades certainly was not one of them. This is because Hades was the god of the underworld where he had his throne. Poseidon was also the ruler of a realm that was a division of the world, but because his throne was on Olympus he was counted as an Olympian. Hades’s throne was not on Olympus so he was not counted among their number.
Fact Two: The oldest texts that detail the Ancient Greek gods are the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Greek myth is fortunate in that it has two canonical documents which can be used as sources for the essentials of Greek religion. The major gods and other creatures are all dealt with in these works, attesting to the fact that the basics of Greek religion were preserved relatively intact over a period of hundreds of year
s. It is believed that Homer lived in the 8th or 9th century BC, so that would place him about four hundred years before the golden age of Greek civilization.
Fact Three: Hades was not only the name of the god of the underworld but also of the underworld itself.
An interesting fact about Hades, the god of the underworld, is that his name was not only used for the god himself, but it also referred to the land which he ruled. So one can speak of so and so being sent to Hades (the place) and so forth.
Fact Four: Before the Olympian gods, there were the Titans.
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