The ENTIRE Story of Greek Mythology Explained
INTRO
Over 2,000 years ago in ancient Greece, a blind poet known as Homer, along with the most famous authors, playwrights and historians of their day,
would record the tales known to us as Greek mythology.
They would speak of the great heroes of the land, the mighty gods of Olympus, and the mortal men and women who were unfortunate enough to get in their way.
But who was Zeus, and why did he wage a war against his own father, and send a great flood to wipe out humanity?
How was mankind created by Prometheus, and why were the horrors of the world unleashed from Pandora's box?
What awaited the souls of the dead in the realm of Hades, and how were monsters such as the Hydra, the Cyclops and Medusa, slain by famous heroes?
From the twelve labours of Hercules to the Trojan War, this is the entire story of Greek mythology.
Chapter 1 – The Great Chaos
In the beginning there was only chaos, a great void of emptiness, but from the chaos sprung Gaia Earth, as well as Eros Love.
They were then joined by night and day, who would put an end to the reign of Erebus, darkness, with the eternal cycle of dusk and dawn emerging.
Lastly would come Tartarus, the deepest depths of the world, where condemned souls would be sent for punishment.
But these would not be the only primordial beings to emerge, for Gaia would birth one more, Uranus the Sky.
The two would then unite and produce twelve children, six sons and six daughters, these children would be known as the Titans.
Among them was Oceanus, a great river that encircled the world.
He would be joined by his brother Hyperion, the Sun, who would ride his great chariot across the sky, shining light down upon the Earth.
But when day became night, his daughter Selene, the Moon would emerge, shining her light into the darkness.
But Uranus was a cruel father to the Titans, locking his children deep within the Earth.
To escape, they would look to their mother Gaia, who fashioned an indestructible sickle that she gifted to her youngest and strongest son Cronus.
Cronus would patiently wait, and when Uranus next came to lie with his mother, he would jump out and slice off his father's genitals, which fell into the sea.
From them would spawn Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, and the first of a new generation.
Having defeated his father Uranus with the sickle, Cronus would take his place as ruler of the world.
But his reign was not to last, as Cronus would have three sons and three daughters with his sister Rhea, with these children becoming known as the gods.
Cronus, however, was just as cruel as his own father, and having recently been informed that one of his children was prophesied to overthrow him, would swallow each of them whole as they were born.
Only one would escape this horrible fate, with Zeus, the youngest of his children, being saved by his mother Rhea.
Not wanting to lose her last child, Rhea would hide Zeus on Mount Ida in Crete, and instead feed her husband a rock dressed in infant's clothing, with the Titan consuming it none the wiser.
Zeus would be raised by his grandmother Gaia on the island, being hidden away until he reached manhood, and was strong enough to challenge his father.
When the time came, Zeus would return, striking down Cronus and releasing his siblings from his father's stomach.
With his brothers and sisters now at his side, Zeus would wage a war for ten long years against the Titans, releasing from the depths of the earth the hundred-handed giants, as well as the Cyclopses, legendary craftsmen, who would forge Zeus a mighty thunderbolt, Poseidon a trident, and Hades a hat of invisibility, turning the tide of the war.
With the Titans defeated, Zeus would imprison them in Tartarus, deep within the earth, where they would remain in torment for eternity.
Having led the Titans in battle, a special punishment would be reserved for Atlas, who was cursed to hold the sky on his shoulders forever.
Only a few Titans would escape punishment, with Themis, the Titan of law and order, and her son Prometheus, who had allied with Zeus at the start of the conflict, being pardoned and allowed to live their lives amongst the gods.
With the world now free of the Titans' rule, the three brothers, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, would decide what realm each would claim, with Zeus receiving the sky, Poseidon the sea and Hades the underworld, where the spirits of the dead would reside.
Taking up home on Mount Olympus, Zeus and his fellow gods would become known as the Twelve Olympians, ruling over mortals and monsters alike.
While the gods now ruled earth, Prometheus, one of the only Titans spared, was not satisfied with its inhabitants.
He saw only beasts, mindless creatures that were barely worthy of attention, and so Prometheus would fashion man from clay, sculpting his new creation in the image of the gods.
But Prometheus was not content with his new creation, as man dwelled in the caves just like other beasts, and so he gave them fire, a great primordial flame that would allow them to emerge from the cave, to fashion tools and rise from the darkness.
Man would soon come to rule over all other creatures, but Zeus was not happy.
He wanted them to show gratitude to the gods, and so demanded that an animal sacrifice be made at each meal, but left it to Prometheus to decide what part of the animal would be offered.
But Prometheus' loyalty lay with man rather than the gods, so wanting to give them an advantage, he would kill a bull and divide it into two parts, presenting both to Zeus.
On one side lay the tender and juicy meat, hidden under the unappealing stomach of the beast.
On the other side lay the bare bones of the animal, concealed by a thick layer of delicious fat.
Zeus would choose the parcel covered in fat to be offered to the gods, but when he stripped away the top layer, to discover that only bones remained, he would become enraged, and so decided to punish man by taking away the fire Prometheus had gifted them.
But without fire, man went back into darkness, retreating into the caves.
Wanting to save his creation, Prometheus would scale Mount Olympus to steal the fire of the gods.
With his great torch in hand, he would return to Earth, gifting his creation fire and allowing civilization to start once again.
When Zeus looked down to see fire on Earth yet again, he was furious, taking Prometheus and chaining him to the side of a mountain.
Each day, Prometheus would lay in torment, as Zeus sent an eagle to feast on his liver.
But as Prometheus was immortal, each night the liver would grow back, only to be consumed once again the following day.
On and on the punishment would go, with his suffering continuing for millennia.
But Zeus was not done, and wished to punish humanity further, asking Hephaestus to craft a being capable of inflicting great suffering upon man.
And so, taking up clay from the earth, Hephaestus would shape the first woman.
From Aphrodite, she gained her emotions and beauty, and from Zeus, an insatiable curiosity.
Hermes would give her the gift of speech, but also grant her her name, Pandora, meaning all gifts, as she had received an offering from each of the gods.
Pandora was then given a final gift by the gods, a sealed box that she was told contained special gifts, but was forbidden from ever opening.
Zeus would then instruct Hermes to deliver Pandora to earth, where she would soon marry the titan Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus.
Prometheus had advised his brother not to take anything from the gods, but he was so struck by Pandora's beauty, that he accepted her without thought.
For a time, the two would live happily together, exploring nature and having a daughter named Pyrrha, who brought them great joy.
But in all her curiosity, Pandora's mind would always wander back to the box.
As days turned to weeks and weeks to months, her curiosity turned into a burning desire.
Finally, she could resist no more, peeking into the box to see what was inside.
But the moment she did, a great cloud filled the air.
Out sprung all the evils Prometheus had kept away from man, with greed and envy, as well as old age and disease, all escaping into the world.
By the time Pandora managed to close the lid, there was only one thing remaining inside.
Hope.
It was to be Zeus' greatest punishment, for with hope, men would cling on to their lives through all adversity, ensuring they endured the hardships that now burdened them for the rest of time.
And so ended the golden age of man, a perfect time where humanity lived without care or worry.
Never growing old, they would live off the wild fruits of the land, enjoying all that nature had to offer.
But with old age escaping from Pandora's box, their time on earth had come to an end.
Next would come the age of silver, and then the age of bronze, where man would become arrogant, failing to worship the gods, and forging weapons to wage war on each other.
Vicious and cruel, man would draw the anger of Zeus, who was so appalled by man's lust for war, would decide that humanity deserved nothing more than to be completely wiped from the earth.
The only feasible option he saw to do this was to unleash a great flood upon the world.
And so, he asked his brother Poseidon to gather all his strength and strike his trident upon the deepest depths of the ocean.
The wave created was so powerful that it would eclipse the tallest mountains, crashing down upon the cities of man below.
Rains would pour from the heavens, and winds would strike the water until it consumed all that eye could see.
Those who survived would soon succumb to starvation, until finally all dry land had disappeared.
There would only be two survivors, Pyrrha, the daughter of Pandora, and Deucalion, the son of Prometheus.
They had been forewarned by Prometheus that a great flood was coming, and so had built a ship to survive the coming destruction.
Their little boat would survive the ravages of Poseidon's great storm, drifting alone in the vast oceans while they mourned for their fallen kin.
They would soon drift towards Mount Parnassus, the peak of which remained the only place the oceans had not consumed.
Believing his job was done, Zeus would command the rains to cease and for the waters to recede, with the earth becoming calm once again.
But although the earth was now still, it was devoid of all human life.
Deucalion and Pyrrha would then ask the gods how they could rebuild humanity, with the titan Themis being sent to answer their prayers.
To bring back their fellow man, Themis instructed that they each travel along the mountain, throwing stones behind their backs as they went.
Day after day and night after night, they would each throw stones behind them, with those thrown by Deucalion growing into men, and those by Pyrrha into women.
And so it was that humanity was born once again.
With the crimes of their ancestors washed away, they were granted a second chance, able to choose a path of their own making.
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Zeus, the king of the gods, ruled from his throne on Mount Olympus, with his symbols of the thunderbolt and eagle becoming omens to humanity.
Zeus was responsible for all weather changes, from thunderstorms to raging blizzards depending on his mood.
The Greeks considered Zeus the greatest of the gods, with those who bowed before him receiving good fortune, and those who dared to defy him subjected to terrible punishments.
Having now taken control of the world, Zeus would look for a wife to rule by his side.
But the king of the gods was famous for his infidelity, with him having no less than 7 wives during his reign.
The first to marry Zeus would be the nymph Metis, the goddess of wisdom, with her soon falling pregnant with his child.
But Zeus had been warned by his grandparents, Gaia and Uranus, that Metis was destined to bear him a treacherous son, who would one day take his throne.
Seeing no other choice, Zeus would swallow Metis before she gave birth, in the hopes of avoiding the prophecy.
But after he did so, Zeus would begin to suffer a terrible headache, with the pain becoming so intense, that he would ask for his head to be split open with an axe.
From the gap in his forehead would spring the child Metis had been carrying inside her, a daughter named Athena, the goddess of war and wisdom, fully grown and ready to take her place as one of the Olympians.
Zeus' second wife would be his aunt Themis, the titan of justice and law, who had betrayed her own kind to side with the gods during their war with the titans.
The pair would only have three children together, however, they would come to garner great power over the mortal world.
Known as the Three Fates, these sisters would become the goddesses of destiny, spinning a thread of life that would determine the road each individual soul would take.
The youngest sister would be known as Clotho, the spinner, as she was responsible for spinning the thread of each human life as they were born, controlling if and when a soul was created.
It was only through Clotho's great power that a new life would come to be.
Her older sister, Lachesis, the allotter, would determine the fate of each person.
Using her rod, Lachesis would measure the length and nature of every thread spun upon Clotho's spindle, and in doing so, would plot out the duration as well as every major event of each human life.
And finally, the eldest and most feared sister would be known as Atropos, the Unturning.
When a mortal's allotted time on earth had come to an end, Atropos would take her great shears and end their life by cutting through the thread.
Zeus would go on to have many more wives, fathering numerous gods and goddesses alike.
But for his seventh and final wife, he would take his older sister Hera, the goddess of women and marriage, with Zeus having finally found a queen to rule by his side.
But even after his marriage to Hera, Zeus' lustful eye would extend beyond the heavens, with the king of the gods continuing to pursue other women.
Fathering countless children, Zeus would be related to nearly every god and hero, with him often disguising himself to gain the affection of women who drew his eye.
One such woman, Europa, was the princess of the city Tyre, and sister to the famous hero Cadmus.
One day, as she was picking flowers by the coast, Europa would draw the attention of Zeus, with the king of the gods deciding to claim her as his own.
To hide his infidelity from Hera, Zeus decided to transform himself into a magnificent white bull before travelling down to earth.
Upon seeing the bull, Europa would be mesmerized by its beauty, and so decided to climb upon its back.
The moment she mounted him, however, Zeus would set out at full speed, sprinting straight into the sea.
Screaming in terror, Europa would grip desperately to the bull's horns as it ran across the vast ocean.
To reassure the terrified princess, Zeus would decide to reveal his true identity, telling her he was not merely a beast, but instead the king of the gods.
The two would eventually arrive at Crete, the island on which Zeus was hidden as a child, where she would bear him many children.
Their offspring would eventually become some of the most renowned men of Greece, with Minos, the king of Crete and owner of the legendary Minotaur, being amongst them.
To commemorate his love for Europa, Zeus would name the continent where they stood Europe in her honour,
and would recreate the image of the white bull in the stars, which would become known as the constellation Taurus.
Hera, wife of Zeus and queen of the gods, was the protector of marriage and women, being deeply respected in Greek society.
Although she was revered, she was also one of the most vengeful and spiteful gods on Mount Olympus,
making her a poor match for her husband Zeus, whose numerous affairs would constantly draw her anger.
Despite being his queen, Hera would only bear him two of the twelve Olympians, Ares and Hephaestus, with the other gods coming from Zeus' numerous affairs.
One of Zeus' most insulting acts of infidelity would be with the princess Io, one of Hera's most devoted priestesses.
When Hera came to investigate, in an attempt to protect Io from his wife, Zeus would transform her into a beautiful white cow.
But the queen of the gods was not fooled by the deception, and knowing that she had caught Zeus red-handed, would demand that he gift her the white cow as a present.
Knowing that refusing the request would only confirm Hera's suspicions, Zeus saw little choice but to accept,
with Hera locking Io in a cave, where she would be guarded by the hundred-eyed monster known as Argus.
The perfect guardsman, Argus could sit with half his eyes asleep and the other half awake, never breaking his watch.
Zeus was too terrified of Hera to intervene himself, but he would eventually send the messenger god Hermes to free the miserable Io.
A master musician, Hermes decided to defeat Argus not through strength but through wit.
Approaching the monster as a friend, he began playing his pipes and singing sweet lullabies, until Argus began to fall asleep.
As the hundredth eye finally shut, Hermes would take out his sword and slay the beast, before releasing Io from her prison.
To thank Argus for his service, Hera would take his eyes and set them in the tail of the peacock, her favourite bird, which would become a symbol of her power.
Not yet finished with Io, she would send a gadfly to torment her as she made her escape, almost driving the woman insane.
Io wandered long and far, with the sea which she ran along being named the Ionian Sea in her honour.
The Bosporus, which means Ford of the Cow, would also be named to commemorate the moment she passed by during her wanderings.
Io would eventually arrive at the Nile in Egypt, far away from Hera, where Zeus would finally be able to restore her human form.
The two would have a child, Epiphus, with Io becoming the ancestor to many of Greece's greatest heroes, including Perseus and Heracles.
Leto, yet another of Zeus' lovers and the mother of Apollo and Artemis, would experience the full extent of Hera's jealous rage.
After finding out Leto had laid with Zeus and fallen pregnant with twins, Hera would send the great serpent Python to torment her,
forcing Leto to flee across Greece in a desperate search to find refuge and a place to give birth to her children.
But Hera would forbid any city from providing her with shelter, with Leto travelling from Athens to Crete, from Lemnos to Samnos,
with none willing to take her in for the fear of upsetting the queen of the gods.
Only the island of Delos was willing to offer Leto refuge, but she was still unable to deliver her children,
as Hera, still scheming against her, had trapped Aletheia, the goddess of childbirth on Mount Olympus, preventing any births from taking place.
After nine days and nights of agonising labour, the other goddesses would take pity on Leto.
Retrieving Aletheia from Olympus and finally allowing her to give birth, Leto would name one child Apollo and the other Artemis,
the god of archery and the goddess of the hunt, who would grow up to become fully fledged gods of Olympus.
Upon the birth of the twins, towns and cities across the known world would arrange great parties in their honour,
with the city of Thebes hosting the greatest celebrations of all.
Yet of all the city's inhabitants, only one would not take part in the festivities, Queen Niobe, whose beauty was matched only by her arrogance.
Boasting to all who would listen, Niobe mocked Leto for having just two children, arguing that as she had many more,
seven sons and seven daughters, she should receive the honours instead.
Upon hearing the insult, Leto was furious that a mortal queen would dare to disrespect her,
and so sent Apollo and Artemis to the city of Thebes to enact her revenge.
Reining down arrows from above, Apollo would kill each of her sons and Artemis every daughter, with Niobe left alone in despair.
Distraught at the loss of her children, Niobe would flee to her homeland of Caelus,
crying uncontrollably and begging the gods to put an end to her pain.
Taking pity on the queen, Zeus would transform her into a great stone, forever ending her suffering.
Located in western Turkey and known as the Weeping Rock, Niobe can still be seen grieving to this day,
with tears flooding from her eyes whenever it rains, as the water flows through the porous rock.
Apollo, the youngest twin, was the god of archery, light and music.
He was also closely linked with prophecy, with him travelling to Mount Parnassus,
where the great snake Python, which had chased his mother across the land, had made its home.
Taking his revenge, he would slay the beast with countless shots from his golden bow,
constructing a great temple where its body fell, a site that would become the home of the famous Oracle of Delphi.
Known as the Pythia, the Oracle would become one of the most influential figures in ancient Greece,
where anyone from great kings to common farmers went for advice.
Said to be the mouthpiece of Apollo, she would inhale the vapours rising from her chamber and go into a frenzied state,
delivering the god's prophecies through her psychotic and demented chanting.
Following his great victory over Python, a beast he had killed with over a thousand arrows,
Apollo was filled with pride, declaring himself the greatest archer to have ever lived.
So proud was Apollo that when he saw Eros, the youthful god of love, holding his own bow and set of arrows,
Apollo would laugh at the child, declaring that he was unfit to even wield such a weapon.
Filled with rage, Eros would swear revenge against Apollo, promising to show him the full extent and true power of his bow.
Following Apollo to the river Penias, Eros would soon spot the river's daughter, the beautiful Daphne, sitting upon the shore.
Taking aim with his bow, Eros would fire a gold-tipped arrow at Apollo, causing him to fall madly in love with her.
Yet he would fire a second arrow at Daphne, one tipped with lead, that would make her feel nothing but disgust at the sight of Apollo.
And so, as the god of archery approached Daphne, overcome with desire, she would flee at the very sight of him,
running through the forest in a desperate attempt to escape.
Consumed by Eros' spell and longing to confess his love, Apollo would chase her through the woods,
using his divine powers to quickly catch up and reach her.
Terrified of the god, Daphne would cry out to her father, the river god Penias, for help.
He would answer her call, with her soon beginning to feel a great heaviness overcome her limbs.
Slowing to a halt, her skin would turn to bark and her hair to leaves, until finally, Daphne's transformation was complete.
Where a young and beautiful woman had once stood, was now the first laurel tree,
with Apollo using his powers of eternal youth and immortality to make the laurel tree's leaves evergreen,
ensuring they kept their colour all year round.
Mourning his lost love, Apollo would carry a laurel wreath wherever he went,
making sure that Daphne was always close to his heart.
Apollo's most important child would be Asclepius, a famous physician,
who was so skilled that he was able to bring the dead back to life.
But this would draw the wrath of Hades, as these resurrections destroyed the balance of nature
and deprived the underworld of new souls.
To restore the natural order, Zeus would kill Asclepius with a thunderbolt.
Yet, at the pleading of Apollo, Zeus would later resurrect him,
with Asclepius becoming the god of healing and medicine.
Asclepius would later father Hygieia, the goddess of cleanliness, from whom we derive the word Hygiene.
The Goddess of the Moon
Goddess of the hunt and twin sister of Apollo, Artemis was a deadly archer,
watching over hunters and ensuring that nature was kept in check.
A goddess of the moon and one of the three virgin goddesses alongside Athena and Hestia,
Artemis was quick to anger, protecting her chastity by any means possible.
When the hunter Actaeon, a grandson of Cadmus, accidentally stumbled upon her as she lay bathing in the forest,
the goddess was quick to punish him.
Turning Actaeon into a deer, she would set his fifty hunting dogs upon him,
with the hunter suffering a horrific and painful death for his mistake.
Poseidon
Poseidon, brother of Zeus, ruled the seas from his magnificent palace beneath the waves.
Known as the Earthshaker, Poseidon would create all earthquakes,
travelling across the oceans in his golden chariot,
with him stirring and calming the waters with his famous trident.
One of his harshest punishments would be inflicted upon Minos, the king of Crete.
After Minos refused to sacrifice his best bull to Poseidon,
the god would curse Minos' wife to fall in love with the beast,
which eventually led to the birth of the half-man, half-bull creature known as the Minotaur.
But while he usually kept to his own domain in the seas,
Poseidon would grow tired of Zeus' rule on Olympus.
Alongside Athena, Hera and Apollo, Poseidon would attempt to dethrone Zeus,
but the rebellion would ultimately fail.
Zeus would punish Poseidon and Apollo by sending them to serve King Laomedon of Troy,
where they would spend an entire year building the city's giant and famous walls.
Walls that would later have to withstand the force of Greece's mightiest armies during the Trojan War.
Athena, the goddess of war and wisdom and the child of Zeus and Metis,
was known for her love of strategists and cunning heroes, helping many of them on their great quests.
But she was also a proud goddess, and to stake her claim on the world,
she decided to compete for patronage of a great city in eastern Greece, which was yet to be named.
Competing against her uncle Poseidon, the two would attempt to give the city the best gift.
Poseidon would strike the ground with his trident, making a stream of water rise up for all to see.
But as the water was salty, it could not be used to tend the land, with the city's inhabitants unimpressed.
But Athena, wanting to gift the city something they had never seen before,
would place the palm of her hand on the earth, with the first olive tree emerging.
Not only would it feed the people of the land, but it would also have many uses,
with the oil it produced used in cooking, medicine, perfume, candles and athletics,
bringing numerous benefits to the ancient world.
With Poseidon hanging his head in shame, the gods would deem Athena victorious,
with the city taking her name and becoming known as Athens,
the capital of Greece and one of the most important cities of its era.
The inventor of mathematics, Athena also had a fondness for music,
inventing the trumpet and the flute, as well as being the patron of artists and craftsmen.
She was particularly proud of her skill in weaving,
although this would bring her into conflict with a young girl from Libya named Arachne.
Highly skilled in the craft, Arachne would boast she was the greatest weaver to ever live,
challenging Athena to a competition.
They would each produce a tapestry of the gods,
with the person that demonstrated the most skill being crowned victorious.
The two would weave furiously for hours, until finally both pieces were complete.
But to Athena's surprise, Arachne's was far better than her own.
Furious, she struck Arachne on the head again and again, until she dropped to the floor.
But rather than kill her, Athena transformed the girl into the first spider,
where she would use her talents to weave beautiful webs,
with the creatures known as Arachnids taking her name.
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Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, was born from the genitals of Uranus,
making her the oldest of the Olympians.
A mischievous god, she would use her powers for her own amusement,
making Zeus sleep with mortal women, so he would have to face the anger of Hera.
Responsible for sexual attraction in both mortals and the gods alike,
she would often be accompanied by Eros, known to the Romans as Cupid,
whose arrows could charm any creature,
with the two striking love into the hearts of unsuspecting mortals across the world.
For one man in particular, Eros shot many arrows into the hearts of potential lovers,
who found themselves attracted to a beautiful young man who went by the name of Narcissus.
While he was blessed with great beauty, he was also burdened by vanity and arrogance,
taking pleasure in cruelly rejecting the advances of many women who pursued him.
But soon, he would cross paths with the nymph Echo.
Cursed by Hera after she became the object of Zeus' affections,
Echo was unable to use her voice except to copy the words of others.
Echo had been in love with Narcissus for some time,
but when she finally found the courage to approach him,
all she could do was repeat what he said.
Unamused, Narcissus would cruelly reject her too, and in doing so would crush her spirit.
In her grief, she would slowly waste away until only her voice remained,
a voice that can still be heard today as Echo repeats our words back to us.
But Echo would not go unavenged, as Nemesis, the goddess of vengeance, had been watching.
When Narcissus next bent down to drink from a lake, he would finally find the one he truly loved.
Yet it was not a woman, but instead his own reflection.
Mesmerized, he stared deeply into his own eyes, unable to turn away.
For weeks he stayed by the pool, gazing at his own reflection, until finally he could endure it no more.
Realizing he would never be with anyone as beautiful as himself,
he would take a dagger and plunge it into his heart.
From where his blood touched the earth would bloom a beautiful flower,
the first Narcissus, with the word Narcissist stemming from his story.
But while some like Narcissus would become lost in the depths of love,
others would seek endlessly to find it.
One such man, Pygmalion, was a great artist from the island of Cyprus,
but after many years of unlucky love, he had given up on women entirely,
resigning himself to a life of solitude and instead focusing all his attention into his art.
Beginning work on a new statue, Pygmalion would labor day after day,
until the figure of a woman would begin to appear before him.
Working harder than he ever had done before, Pygmalion would spend hours chiseling the most intricate details into his woman of stone,
shaping her slender face and carving out each lock of hair,
until finally his masterpiece was complete.
As he stepped back to admire his work, Pygmalion was struck by the beauty of his creation.
Never before had he seen a more perfect statue, not even a real woman, who could match what he saw before him.
Spending hours holding the statue's stone hands and kissing its cold and lifeless lips,
Pygmalion would grow ever sadder and more lonely,
as he realized that he would never find a woman he loved more than the one he had carved from stone.
Spending night after night in the workshop, Pygmalion would pray to the gods to bless him with a woman as perfect as his statue.
But as he prayed, the stone figure behind him would begin to transform.
Its cold and lifeless hair would begin to turn into long and flowing locks,
while its grey and cracked skin would soften and become warm to the touch.
Looking up in surprise, Pygmalion would be shocked to see a face smiling back at him,
not one of stone, but one of flesh and blood.
Always happy to help those seeking love, Aphrodite had answered his prayers,
with the once lifeless statue introducing herself as Galatea,
before stepping down from her pedestal and embracing Pygmalion with open arms.
His years of loneliness and isolation finally over.
But while Aphrodite took joy in helping young couples find love,
she was also a vain and jealous goddess, and would take revenge against those who stole the spotlight away from her.
Such was the case with the Greek princess Psyche, a mortal woman who was so beautiful,
that it was said she surpassed the goddess of love herself.
With men from every corner of the earth coming to gaze upon Psyche,
they would soon forget about Aphrodite entirely,
with all her altars becoming neglected and her temples falling to ruin.
Furious that none were paying her attention, Aphrodite would call upon her companion Eros,
demanding that he use his powers to make Psyche fall in love with the most vile and despicable man on the face of the earth.
But when Eros went to carry out her instructions,
he too would be struck by Psyche's beauty, falling deeply in love,
and for the first time, refusing to follow Aphrodite's commands.
However, as Eros would now refuse to strike any man with love for Psyche,
she would begin to grow sadder and more lonely as the years went on,
before finally turning to the Oracle of Delphi for help.
Following the Oracle's instructions, Psyche would travel to a magnificent palace,
where it was said her husband would come to claim her.
But upon arriving, the palace's servants would warn Psyche that her new husband was a secretive man,
and would only visit her in the dark of night, with her never allowed to ask for his identity,
nor seek to look upon his face.
Overjoyed with her new life, Psyche would spend every day in the palace's beautiful gardens.
But one day, Psyche would be overcome by her curiosity,
taking an oil lamp and lighting it in the early hours of the morning.
Looking down, she would be overcome with joy,
as her husband was none other than Eros, the young and handsome god of love.
However, in her excitement, Psyche would lose her grip on the lamp,
with the hot oil falling down onto Eros' shoulder, causing the god to wake up in a fright.
Disappointed that Psyche had failed to keep her trust in him,
Eros would tell her that the marriage was over, before flying back to Mount Olympus.
Distraught at the loss of her husband, Psyche would visit Aphrodite,
begging the goddess for a chance to see Eros once again.
But Aphrodite had not forgotten her hatred for the girl who had stolen the world's attention away from her.
And so, when Psyche arrived to beg at the foot of her throne,
Aphrodite would laugh in delight, setting the girl an impossible task.
If she wanted to see her husband again, Psyche would have to travel to the underworld,
and ask Persephone, the queen of the dead, to place a fragment of her beauty within a golden box.
Travelling to the underworld, Psyche would come to the river Styx,
and after paying Charon's fee, would be ferried across its dark and haunting waters.
Arriving in the throne room of Hades and Persephone, Psyche would approach the queen of the dead,
who was happy to give her assistance, placing a fragment of her beauty within the golden box.
But as Psyche began the trip back to Olympus, she would be overwhelmed by curiosity once again,
lifting up the lid of the golden box and taking a look at the fragment of Persephone's beauty contained within.
But such things were not meant for mortal eyes, with Psyche falling to the ground,
and being enveloped by a dark and endless sleep.
It was at this moment that Eros, moved by the length Psyche had gone to find him,
would fly down to earth and use one of his arrows to save her from the grip of eternal sleep.
Returning to Olympus, Zeus would arrange for them a great wedding celebration,
where he would grant Psyche the gift of immortality.
And so it was that Psyche, whose name means soul, would become a goddess.
In her union with Eros, love and soul would now be forever linked,
with their child Hadon, the goddess of pleasure, bringing joy to mortals across the earth.
The god of smithing and the son of Zeus and Hera, Hephaestus would have a difficult start to life.
He was born lame, and so his mother Hera, after seeing the deformity,
decided to throw him off Olympus into the sea to drown.
Surviving the fall, Hephaestus would later return to the home of the gods and take his revenge,
crafting a golden throne for Hera that would not allow her to stand back up once she sat upon it.
It would only be through the intervention of Zeus that Hera would escape,
with the king of the gods securing her release in exchange for gifting Hephaestus the goddess Aphrodite,
the most beautiful Olympian as his wife.
Hephaestus would become a great inventor and fashioned many of the palaces on Olympus,
as well as the equipment of the gods, with Athena's breastplate, Hermes' winged helmet and sandals,
as well as Helios' chariot, all being crafted in his legendary forge.
Some of his most famous work would be the bow and arrow of Eros,
as well as the magnificent armour and shield of Achilles,
with Hephaestus' creations aiding the greatest heroes of Greek mythology.
To the Romans he was known as Vulcan, the god of fire,
who would forge his creations from a workshop beneath Sicily's Mount Etna,
with it being said that the smoke and lava emitted by the volcano
came from Vulcan's great forge beneath the surface.
Ares, the god of war, delighted in battle and took pleasure in the slaughter of men and the sacking of towns.
He was hated by mortals and gods alike, as he represented unrestrained rage, cruelty and bloodshed,
with the gods playing tricks on him for their own amusement.
Ares had a long-term affair with Aphrodite, the wife of Hephaestus,
with the two sleeping together whenever her husband was away.
When Hephaestus found out, he was furious and decided to forge an invisible net to hang over his bed.
When Ares came to lie with Aphrodite again, the two would be trapped naked beneath the net,
unable to move, with all the gods of Olympus called out to sea.
Laughter would ring out throughout the heavens,
with the humiliation only coming to an end when Poseidon took pity and decided to set them free.
But Aphrodite was not the only lover of Ares, with him also having an affair with Eos, the goddess of the dawn,
who would rise through the sky each morning to clear the path for her brother Helios, the sun,
so that he could make his daily journey across the earth.
When Aphrodite discovered the affair, she would jealously put a curse upon Eos,
causing her to have an uncontrollable desire to be with him.
And so one day, just as the morning hours were coming to an end,
Eos would look down upon the earth, with her gaze settling upon the great city of Troy.
For in this city was a young Trojan prince named Tithonus, so handsome that Eos was unable to look away.
Descending to earth, Eos would introduce herself to the prince, with the two soon falling in love.
And just as the sun was setting, the two would meet again.
At the end of each morning, when her duties were complete, Eos would travel down to Troy and meet with her beloved prince.
But the more she grew to love him, the more she could not bear the thought of losing him to old age or to war,
to starvation or disease, or to any of the other terrible ways mortal lives came to an abrupt end.
And so, on her return to Mount Olympus, Eos would visit Zeus, begging him to make Tithonus a mortal, a request he was happy to grant.
But Eos had made one fatal mistake, as she had not asked for Tithonus to be given eternal youth.
The two would live happily at first, but as the years went on and grey hairs began to appear on the prince's head,
he would begin to realise the terrible fate that lay before him.
By the time a century had passed, Tithonus would find himself crushed under the unbearable weight of age,
his limbs no longer working and his mind having deteriorated.
But as much as he wished for death, he knew it would never come.
With sadness in her heart, Eos would take Tithonus' fragile body and lock it away in a grand chamber, where he would be safe from the outside world.
After years had passed and the prince had withered away until he was little more than bones,
Eos would transform Tithonus into the first Cicadia, an insect known for its long lifespan,
and for making noise during the early hours of the dawn, when Eos carries out her duties in the sky above.
Hermes, the messenger god and patron of thieves, was known as a trickster amongst the gods,
often teasing and annoying his fellow divinities.
When he came of age, he assumed the role of messenger, travelling with a golden rod as a mark of his authority.
Aided by his winged helmet and sandals, he would use them to fly around and deliver messages,
frequently travelling between Olympus and the underworld.
Here he would help Hades, acting as a shepherd for the souls of the dead,
guiding them as they made their way to the afterlife.
Like the other gods, Hermes was known to father many children with various women,
but one of his sons, Pan, the god of nature and fertility, would be born with the features of a satyr,
creatures that were part man and part goat.
But when he was born, Pan's mother, a nymph named Dryope, was so horrified to see her newborn baby
with a pair of horns, a full-grown beard and hooves, that she would run away screaming in terror at the very sight of him.
However, Hermes would take his child up to Mount Olympus and introduce him to the rest of the gods,
who were so intrigued by the boy's hideous appearance and charmed by his playful attitude,
that they would soon come to adore him.
None would love him more than Dionysus, the god of wine and parties,
who would give him the name Pan, meaning all, as he was beloved by all the gods of Olympus.
But much like his father, Pan was known for his many affairs with nymphs,
the nature deities that inhabited streams and forests across the world.
But one nymph by the name of Syrinx would become the object of Pan's affections,
with him pursuing her through the marshes where she lived.
Terrified of the god, Syrinx would try desperately to escape him,
transforming herself into a bed of water reeds when she neared the river's edge.
When Pan finally reached the river, he would tear through the marsh, trying to uncover the terrified nymph.
But as he did so, a strong breeze would blow through the reeds,
producing a beautiful melody unlike any he had heard before.
Inspired by the sound, Pan would uproot the reeds and bind them together with wax,
creating a set of pipes.
Sitting down, he would play a tune in the memory of his lost love Syrinx,
with the instrument being named the Pan Pipes after its creator,
and carried by the god wherever he went.
The god of wine and parties, Dionysus would have an unusual birth
when his mother Semele asked Zeus to appear before her in his true form,
the sight of which would cause her to die of terror.
Taking the infant that was growing inside her,
Zeus would place it in his thigh until the baby was fully grown,
with Dionysus being born a few months later.
Becoming one of the most loved gods in Greece, Dionysus would be seen as a symbol of pleasure,
with his followers engaging in mass drinking, crazed dancing and lovemaking.
Known as the Liberator, Dionysus would create a new drink called wine,
which helped his followers stem their pain, while also bringing them joy and euphoria.
While he spent much of his time partying, Dionysus was also a generous god,
willing to grant mortals their deepest desires.
After saving a close friend of Dionysus, King Midas was granted a single wish in thanks.
Obsessed with wealth and fortune, Midas asked for his deepest desire,
the power to turn anything he touched into gold.
Dionysus would grant Midas his wish, with him returning to his palace in joy,
touching everything the eye could see.
Soon the floors, walls and even his clothes were gold,
with Midas flaunting his wealth to guests from across the kingdom.
After displaying his abilities for hours, Midas would become parched,
ordering his servants to fetch him some water.
However, as the liquid touched his lips, it too would turn to gold.
Panicking, he would reach out across the table,
but the bread, wine, meat and fruit would all turn into the precious metal.
Nothing he touched could be consumed.
Cursing the gift, Midas would begin to cry,
with the sound of his sobbing alerting his daughter, who came to console him.
But as she touched his hand, her fingers would begin to stiffen.
Soon her whole arm was gold, and before long,
all that remained was a statue of a little girl reaching out to comfort her father.
Mourning the loss of his child, Midas would return to Dionysus,
begging him to revoke his gift.
Pitying the man, Dionysus instructed him to bathe in the river Pactolus,
with his golden touch being washed away in the water.
Becoming a normal man once again,
the story of King Midas would serve as a warning
for those who would prioritize wealth above all else.
One of the twelve Olympians and the sister of Zeus,
Demeter was the goddess of farming,
ensuring that the harvest was rich and that the land remained fertile.
Under her watch, the fields knew no decay,
with the earth consumed in an endless spring.
But there was one thing she prized above all else,
her daughter Persephone.
However, Persephone had another admirer,
with Hades taking a keen interest in her.
One day, while she was strolling through a meadow,
a beautiful flower would bloom before her,
a Narcissus, something she had never seen before.
But when Persephone reached down to pluck it,
the earth would break open and swallow her,
with Hades dragging Persephone down into the underworld,
where she would be forced to marry him.
Distraught at her daughter's disappearance,
Demeter would search for nine days and nights,
until the sun god Helios revealed her captor's identity.
Demeter would lock herself away for an entire year,
refusing to return until Persephone was released.
But without the goddess of farming,
the world entered into a great famine,
with the fields turning barren.
It was only now, with humanity on the brink of starvation,
that Zeus was forced to intervene,
ordering Hades to return Persephone to her mother.
Although Hades would agree,
before she left he fed Persephone the food of the dead,
a single pomegranate seed,
binding her to the underworld for eternity.
In order to save humanity,
Zeus was forced to make a compromise.
For nine months of each year,
Persephone would return to live with her mother on Olympus,
with Demeter's joy causing nature to bloom across the earth.
However, for the final three months,
Persephone would return to Hades in the underworld,
a period we now call winter,
with Demeter's grief at the absence of her daughter,
causing the plants to die and the world to freeze over.
And so it was that this season's began.
Of all the gods of ancient Greece,
there were few feared more than Hades.
The brother of Zeus and Poseidon,
Hades was lord of the underworld,
an isolated place where the souls of the dead would reside.
But although he ruled the kingdom of the dead
along with his wife Persephone,
Hades would not command death itself.
Instead, that power lay with Thanatos,
who would claim the souls of mortals when they died,
with Hermes the messenger god,
then guiding the souls to the shores of the underworld.
Waiting at the shore would be the eternal ferryman Charon,
who was the only one able to guide the deceased
across the deadly River Styx,
a giant waterway that separated the earth from the underworld.
Only those who had coins placed under their tongue when buried
were able to pay Charon's fee,
with those who could not afford the journey,
destined to wander the shores of the River Styx for a hundred years
before they were allowed to cross.
Having travelled along the River Styx,
the souls would pass the White Rock,
before arriving at the giant adamantine gates of the underworld,
where Cerberus, the three-headed dog stood guard,
ready to devour intruders or those trying to escape.
Resuming their journey and coming ashore,
the souls would be directed towards the court of the underworld,
where three judges would decide their fate.
The judges would examine each soul,
looking through every action they had made while alive.
For those who had not angered the gods,
a tranquil place lay before them,
but for those who had, an eternity of misery and suffering awaited.
After a judgement was reached,
the souls would be directed along one of three paths,
either to the fields of Asphodel,
the eternal paradise of Elysium,
or to the deepest depths of Hades' realm,
Tartarus, a place of scalding fire.
The fields of Asphodel were a peaceful place
for those who did not achieve anything notable in life,
good or evil.
It would be here that most souls were sent,
and after a thousand years had passed
and their time had finally come to an end,
each person would drink from the river Lethe,
whose waters would wipe away their memory.
Born anew, each soul, having forgotten their previous life,
would be reincarnated and returned to the earth,
starting the eternal cycle once more.
The second path, however, would lead to Elysium,
a paradise of eternal bliss,
where the souls of heroes, demigods
and especially good mortals would reside.
Those sent here were loved by the gods
and could experience all of life's pleasures,
with parties, feasts and hunting consuming much of their time.
Each soul would be given the option to return to earth,
but most would choose to stay
and not have to endure once again the hardships of life.
Within Elysium, but across the shore,
lay the Isle of the Blessed,
reserved only for the greatest of heroes,
with Helen of Troy, Achilles and Odysseus,
all residing there for eternity.
The third and last path would lead to Tartarus,
the deepest depths of the underworld,
reserved only for the worst of criminals
and those who had offended the gods.
It would be here that Cronus and the other Titans would reside,
looking on for eternity,
as new souls entered the realm of the damned.
This would be the only place Hades would become involved,
with the god himself designing and overseeing each soul's punishment,
based on their previous crimes.
For the Denaedes, 49 sisters who had each killed their husbands,
Hades forced them to fill a tub with water
to cleanse them of their crimes,
but as the tub would always leak,
they would spend an eternity trying to fill it.
Ixion, the first man to murder a family member
and who had grown lustful for Zeus' wife,
would be bound to a wheel of fire that would spin for the rest of time,
whereas Tantalus, a man who had killed his son and stolen from Zeus,
was cursed to eternal hunger and thirst.
He would stand in a pool of water,
with the branches of a fruit tree hanging above him.
However, as he went to quench his thirst,
the water would recede,
and as he went to eat,
the branches would rise out of reach,
forever leaving him in a state of agony.
But of all the punishments,
the most famous would be given to Sisyphus.
Having cheated death multiple times,
Sisyphus would pay the ultimate price for tricking the gods.
Every day he was to roll a boulder up a steep hill,
only to have it slip from his grasp as he neared the peak.
Having to start over again and again,
Sisyphus would suffer his punishment for the rest of time.
Although Hades would have complete control over the underworld,
his realm was so vast that he had to enlist the help of the Furies
to carry out his punishment.
But they would not only be confined to the realm of the dead.
The murder of a family member was considered so terrible in Greek society,
that even those still alive could not escape Hades' wrath.
They would be hunted down and tormented by the Furies,
three sisters from the underworld,
who would not stop until they had avenged the dead
and driven their target insane.
It would be the underworld they called home,
resting here before their everlasting torment of the human soul began once again.
Travelling across the underworld would also lay the Fields of Mourning,
a resting place for those who had spent their life pursuing love,
only to be rejected.
The anguish they felt would condemn them to this dark and haunting forest,
where they would forever mourn the love they never had.
In the far corner of the underworld lay the Land of Dreams,
an island only accessible to the gods of Olympus.
Ruling over the island would be Morpheus, the god of dreams,
who each night when all were asleep, would alongside his two brothers,
control the dreams of not only mortals but the gods too,
either granting them pleasant visions of the future
or haunting them with the worst of nightmares.
So powerful was Morpheus over the unconscious mind
that he would be used to name the drug morphine,
a pain medication renowned for sending its users to sleep.
The true seat of power however did not rest in the Land of Dreams,
for the underworld had only one ruler, the mighty Hades,
who lived in a grand palace deep within the earth.
Hidden away on an island engulfed by fire,
those who searched for his home without an invitation
would become lost in the dark and winding halls of the dead.
But while the underworld was filled with punishments,
Hades and Persephone were not cruel rulers
and would take pity on mortals who found their way to their kingdom.
Orpheus, a famed musician and poet,
had fallen in love with the beautiful Eurydice,
but on their wedding day Eurydice would be killed by a snake bite,
with Orpheus left alone in despair.
Grieving and desperate to see his wife once again,
he would decide to travel to the underworld to retrieve her.
Arriving at the River Styx, he would take out his lyre
and play a beautiful song for Charon,
who was so moved that he ferried Orpheus across the water for free.
Upon reaching the other side he would be confronted by Cerberus,
with the tune he played so sweet,
that the three-headed dog would be lulled into a deep sleep.
Finally he would reach the palace of Hades and Persephone,
playing for them a song about his lost love Eurydice.
With tears welling in his eyes,
Hades would take pity on Orpheus and agree to release her soul,
but only on the condition that Orpheus refrain from laying his eyes upon her,
until they were both out of the underworld.
Overjoyed, Orpheus would agree
and began to lead his bride through the dark and winding halls of the dead.
But as he neared the surface and the daylight shone upon his face,
he would be overcome by excitement, turning around to look at his wife.
But Orpheus had not yet completed the journey,
and so, as his eyes fell upon her,
Eurydice would be dragged back down into the realm of death, never to return.
It was a lesson to all Greeks in the virtues of patience and restraint,
for if Orpheus had resisted temptation when his goal was so close,
Eurydice, the love of his life, would have been with him once again.
♪
With the gods having established control over the world and the realm of the dead,
the heroic age would soon begin,
with warriors from across the land embarking on great adventures that would become legend.
The first in this generation of heroes would be Cadmus.
The brother of Europa, Cadmus would spend many months searching the land for his sister,
but as she had been abducted by Zeus, her location would be impossible to find.
Desperate for information, Cadmus would make his way to the Oracle of Delphi,
but she would inform him that his sister was lost forever, and not to dwell on her absence.
Instead, she would tell Cadmus the gods had special plans for him,
and that he was to follow a sacred cow, and found a city upon the place where it came to rest.
Following the Oracle's instructions, Cadmus would find the cow nearby,
following it for days into the region of Boetia, where it would finally lay down to rest.
Upon that very spot, he would found the city of Thebes,
which would become one of the greatest cities of ancient Greece,
rivening the likes of Athens and Sparta for power and influence.
To sanctify the city and receive blessings from the gods,
Cadmus intended to sacrifice the sacred cow to Athena,
a ceremony that required water from a nearby spring.
But when Cadmus sent his companions to collect the water,
they would find the spring guarded by a ferocious dragon,
who slew them as they tried desperately to escape.
Hearing screams, Cadmus would run to the spring,
only to find the dragon devouring his friends.
Taking a spear, he would lunge forward and impale the beast,
with the dragon unleashing a terrible scream, as it took its last and final breath.
Little did Cadmus know that the dragon was sacred to Ares,
and that by killing it, he had committed a crime against the god of war.
Ares would spare his life, but would force Cadmus to serve him as a slave for eight years,
before his actions could be forgiven.
But for Ares, his troubles would not only be confined to Earth,
for on Mount Olympus, Hephaestus, the god of smithing,
had discovered one of Ares' deepest secrets.
Hephaestus was married to Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty.
But Aphrodite had not been faithful, having an affair with Ares.
The romance had lasted many years, with Aphrodite secretly bearing Ares a child called Harmonia.
When she came of age, and Cadmus had finished his many years of service,
Ares was so impressed by his devotion,
that he would offer his daughter Harmonia to Cadmus as a bride.
Hosting a great wedding celebration in Thebes, the two would wed,
with all the gods of Olympus happy for their marriage bar one.
For Hephaestus, having just found out his wife had had an illegitimate child,
would present Harmonia with a cursed wedding gift,
a beautiful necklace that would bring misfortune to any family who possessed it.
Unaware of the curse the necklace contained,
Cadmus and Harmonia would go on to rule the city of Thebes for many years,
enjoying a long life and having five children together,
four daughters and one son.
Yet soon, the curse of Harmonia's necklace would bring ruin to the house of Cadmus.
Their youngest daughter Selimi would be the first to suffer tragedy.
Having spent a night with Zeus, Selimi would fall pregnant with the god Dionysus,
but the cursed necklace would soon bring about misfortune,
with Selimi bursting into flames when she saw Zeus' true form.
Her sister Ino would also suffer misfortune,
with her husband Athamas going insane and killing their children,
with Ino herself jumping to her death while trying to escape him.
The third daughter of Cadmus, Agave, would give birth to a son named Pentheus,
who would become the second king of Thebes after Cadmus decided to retire in his old age.
But Pentheus would make a deadly mistake,
deciding to ban the worship of his divine cousin Dionysus in the city.
In revenge, Dionysus would drive all the women of Thebes into a frenzy,
who would tear Pentheus limb from limb,
with his own mother Agave ripping off his head while under Dionysus' spell.
And finally, Ortonoi, the last daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia,
would be the mother to the hunter Actaeon,
who would be transformed into a deer and devoured by his own hunting dogs,
after he accidentally saw the goddess Artemis bathing in the forest.
With the necklace of Harmonia being passed from generation to generation,
the curse of the house of Cadmus would continue,
with each new descendant suffering misfortune.
However, the necklace's curse would torment one man in particular,
Oedipus, the seventh king of Thebes,
whose tragic story would bring tears to the eyes of all who heard it.
The son of King Laius and Queen Jocosta of Thebes,
Oedipus would face hardship from the very beginning of his life.
His father Laius, the city's sixth king,
had consulted the Oracle of Delphi about the future of his lineage,
but the prophecy he received would not be to his liking,
as it was foretold that he would die at the hands of his son.
And so, when his first son was born,
Laius would bind his feet,
hanging the boy on the branch of a tree to die,
but a shepherd would soon stumble across the helpless child,
retrieving him from the tree and taking him home to safety.
As the child's ankles had been damaged,
he would name the infant Oedipus, meaning swollen foot.
Wanting the best for the child,
the shepherd would deliver Oedipus to the king and queen of Corinth,
good people who could not conceive a child of their own.
Oedipus would experience a happy upbringing in Corinth,
but as he reached manhood,
he would begin to wonder about his true parentage.
Making his way to the Oracle of Delphi,
he would ask who his true parents were.
In reply, the Oracle only warned him to stay away from his homeland,
otherwise he was destined to kill his father and marry his mother.
Horrified by the prophecy and believing that it referred to his foster parents,
the king and queen of Corinth,
Oedipus vowed never again to return to the city.
Instead, he would travel to Thebes,
which, unknown to Oedipus, was the true land of his birth.
On the road to Thebes, Oedipus would come to a narrow junction
where a large chariot blocked his way,
but the chariot's passenger, an impatient man,
would speed past Oedipus,
knocking him off the road while hitting him on the head with a stick.
Furious, Oedipus would chase after the chariot,
killing all those on board, including the elderly man who had struck him.
Unknown to Oedipus, he had already begun to fulfill the prophecy,
as the old man lying dead at his feet was none other than his true father, King Laëus.
Continuing his journey, Oedipus would reach the gates of Thebes,
only to discover that the city was plagued by a monster,
the Sphinx, sent there by Hera to punish the city for the crimes of its kings.
With the head of a woman, the body of a lion and the wings of a bird,
the Sphinx would ask anyone wishing to enter or leave the city a simple riddle.
What animal has four legs in the morning, two at noon and three in the evening?
None yet had solved the riddle,
and those who failed would be killed and eaten by the Sphinx.
The rulers of Thebes were so desperate to get rid of the creature
that they offered the throne to anyone who could kill it.
Approaching the monster, Oedipus would be asked the riddle,
with the Sphinx eagerly waiting for yet another kill.
But after thinking long and hard, Oedipus would finally give his answer, man.
For in the morning, man is a child, crawling around on all fours.
Then, at noon, in the prime of his life, man walks on just two legs.
And finally, in the evening of his life, man walks with the aid of a third leg,
a walking stick, to help him keep balance.
Shocked by her defeat, the Sphinx would jump off a tall rock to her death,
with Oedipus entering the city of Thebes as a hero.
Being crowned king for ridding the city of the Sphinx,
he would also be gifted the recently widowed Queen Jocasta as his wife,
with the two having several children together.
But unknown to Oedipus, he had just married his own mother,
with the prophecy now complete.
The two would live happily together for a time,
but it was not to last, with the gods casting a plague upon Thebes,
as punishment for the crimes of patricide and incest,
that Oedipus was still unaware he had committed.
With the plague getting worse by the day,
the shepherd that had saved Oedipus as a child,
would finally reveal to him his true identity.
Horrified by the revelation that she had married her own son,
Queen Jocasta would hang herself, with Oedipus soon finding her body.
Overcome by grief at the death of his mother and wife,
Oedipus would take the golden brooches from her robe,
and blind himself with their sharp pins.
Disgusted by the revelation of his identity,
the people of Thebes would exile Oedipus,
with only his daughter Antigone choosing to accompany him.
Blind and poor, he would spend his remaining years wandering the land as a beggar,
with all those he encountered hurling abuse at him for his crimes.
The only comfort he received was knowing his daughter was by his side,
with Oedipus dying an old man,
having realised that no mortal can outrun their fate.
His story would resonate throughout the ages,
inspiring the works of Sigmund Freud,
whose Oedipus Complex would propose that every young boy would lust for their mother,
while feeling resentment towards their father,
much as Oedipus had.
But although the house of Cadmus was the first great heroic family,
a new line of heroes would soon emerge.
For there was another kingdom that sat between the great cities of Athens and Sparta,
Argos, ruled by King Acrisius.
But Acrisius had been informed of a terrible prophecy by the Oracle of Delphi,
warning him that his grandson, soon to be born, was destined to murder him.
It would not be long until Zeus, having seen the king's daughter Danae,
would be struck by her beauty, sneaking into her room as a shower of gold.
With the gold falling upon her, Danae would fall pregnant,
soon giving birth to a son, a son she would name Perseus.
But King Acrisius, terrified that the prophecy was coming true,
and not able to kill his daughter and grandchild,
would banish them from his kingdom,
locking them in a chest and letting it drift out to sea.
Travelling for many days and nights at sea,
they would soon arrive upon the shores of Seraphos,
where they would be discovered by the fisherman Dictys.
Dictys would raise the boy as his own,
with Perseus soon reaching manhood on the island.
But not all would be well,
for the fisherman's brother, King Polydectes,
had noticed the beauty of Danae and desired her as his wife,
but she was always protected by her son Perseus, who never left her side.
Wanting to have Danae to himself,
King Polydectes would look to find a way to get rid of Perseus,
with an opportunity soon presenting itself.
Hosting a great feast, Polydectes would invite guests from across the island,
with each man expected to bring a horse in tribute.
But Perseus, having no money to his name,
and possessing great speed and strength,
instead boasted he could easily deliver the king a greater gift,
the head of Medusa.
It was the opportunity Polydectes had been waiting for,
with him ordering Perseus to collect the head.
Not expecting the king to take up his offer,
Perseus would set out in despair,
having only heard the terrifying tales of the creature that awaited him.
But Medusa had not always been a terrifying creature.
The daughter of the sea gods Phocis and Ceto,
Medusa was one of three sisters,
renowned for their unrivalled beauty.
The only mortal sister, Medusa would also be the most beautiful,
with any man that set eyes on her immediately falling in love.
But despite this, Medusa would dedicate her life to Athena,
the goddess of war and wisdom.
However, one day while she was walking by the sea,
the god Poseidon would be struck by her beauty,
following her back to Athena's temple,
where he would force himself upon her.
Furious at the act performed in her sacred temple,
and not able to turn her rage upon her powerful uncle Poseidon,
Athena would instead place the blame upon Medusa,
for allowing herself to be defiled and breaking her vow to her god.
But Medusa would not allow this to happen,
for allowing herself to be defiled and breaking her vow of celibacy.
Wielding the power of the gods, she would curse Medusa,
distorting her once beautiful features into a hideous visage.
Where her long and flowing hair had once been,
was now a tangled web of snakes,
and where her eyes had once seduced any man,
would now turn those who looked upon them to stone.
But Medusa's sisters who came to her defense,
would not escape Athena's wrath,
with each of them transforming into hideous creatures,
with the three sisters becoming known as the Gorgons.
Exiled from their homeland,
the three sisters would find a new home in North Africa,
but their troubles would soon continue,
as warriors from across the world would come to hunt them for sport.
As the years went on and their loneliness continued,
the hate they felt for the outside world would begin to grow,
with Medusa and her sisters killing any who came near.
The War of the Gods
With Perseus having set out to slay Medusa,
both Athena and Hermes would soon approach him offering aid,
with Hermes gifting Perseus an indestructible sword,
and Athena giving him an exquisite shield,
so polished that he could see his own reflection.
Knowing he would need more items to defeat Medusa,
Perseus would next seek the help of the Nymphs,
forest deities that tended to the garden of the Hesperides.
Soon finding the Nymphs, Perseus would ask for their assistance,
with them gifting him a pair of winged sandals,
Hades' hat of invisibility,
and an enchanted bag which could safely contain Medusa's head.
Following the Nymphs' directions,
he would use his winged sandals to fly to North Africa,
where Medusa's cave was located.
Sneaking into the cave,
Perseus soon came across Medusa,
sleeping amongst the stone corpses of her victims.
Using the reflection in his shield,
Perseus was careful not to look directly at her,
with her gaze able to turn any man to stone.
Seeing only her reflection,
he would draw his sword and swiftly cut off her head,
being careful not to look at her eyes as he placed it inside the enchanted bag.
But to Perseus' surprise,
from Medusa's body would spring Pegasus,
a beautiful winged horse,
Poseidon's child,
who had been growing inside her all this time.
Mounting Pegasus,
Perseus would fly out of the cave,
and begin the journey home to Greece.
Soaring across the ocean,
Perseus would look down at the waves below,
shocked to see a woman chained to a rock.
The woman was the beautiful Andromeda,
princess of the kingdom of Ethiopia,
who had been placed there as an offering to the gods,
in the hopes that her sacrifice would save the kingdom
from the terrifying sea creature Cetus,
who had been ravaging the shore,
killing all those it came across.
Captivated by Andromeda's beauty,
Perseus would approach her parents,
the king and queen of Ethiopia,
offering to slay the creature in return for Andromeda's hand in marriage.
Relieved, they would quickly accept,
with Perseus flying over the monster with his winged sandals,
slashing it with his sword until the beast was dead.
Returning Andromeda to the shore,
the queen would honour her word,
giving Perseus her blessing,
with the two soon marrying.
With his new bride in hand,
the pair would mount Pegasus,
flying back to the island of Seraphos,
where Perseus' mother awaited.
But things were not as Perseus had left them.
His mother, Dene, had continued to reject the advances of the king,
but without Perseus there to protect her,
she was forced into hiding.
Having seen that King Polydectes had turned to violence
to gain his mother as a bride,
Perseus would fly down to the palace in anger,
with the king's guards drawing their swords.
Taking Medusa's head from his bag,
Perseus would hold it out before him,
turning the soldiers to stone.
Panicking, the king ran for his spear,
but it was too late,
with Perseus holding Medusa's head before him,
forever immortalising his terrified expression in stone.
Finally reunited, Dene would embrace her son,
thankful that she would no longer have to live in fear.
Leaving the island behind them,
Perseus, Andromeda and Dene would decide to return to Argos,
the place of Perseus' birth,
where his grandfather, Acrisius, still ruled as king.
But before he left,
Perseus would return his gift to the gods,
with Athena taking Medusa's severed head
and placing it on her shield,
a final punishment for her former priestess,
with it remaining a symbol of Athena's dominance and power.
Returning to Argos,
Perseus was hailed as a hero for slaying Medusa,
with all the townspeople encouraging him
to join a local athletics tournament,
where he could compete against some of the strongest men in Greece.
With the event underway and Perseus dominating the competition,
it would soon be his turn to throw the discus.
Spinning with all his might,
Perseus would forget his own strength,
with the discus flying off into the crowd,
killing a member of the audience.
Running over to the body,
he discovered that it was none other than his grandfather,
King Acrisius, lying dead on the floor,
the discus having struck him on the head.
And so, just as the prophecy had predicted so many years ago,
King Acrisius had died at the hands of his grandson.
A lesson that no mortal can run from their fate.
But having shed the blood of a family member,
something that was deeply frowned upon,
and considered one of the worst crimes in ancient Greek society,
Perseus was no longer able to stay in Argos.
Instead, he would found his own kingdom, Mycenae,
north of Argos and west of Athens,
which would soon become the most powerful city in Greece.
Its great walls were constructed with massive boulders,
too large for any man to lift alone,
with Perseus enlisting the help of the mighty Cyclopes,
whose craftsmanship was unrivalled.
Ruling over the city,
Perseus and Andromeda would have many children together,
with their family's reign lasting for generations to come.
But unknown to them,
one of their descendants would become the most famous hero of them all,
for the son of Zeus and Alcmene,
would be the great hero Heracles,
whose famous twelve labours would echo
throughout every corner of the world.
But for all his fame and glory,
Heracles' beginnings hold some of the most tragic and sad tales of all Greek myth.
As Zeus sat on his throne on Mount Olympus,
he looked down upon the world,
with the beautiful Alcmene,
the grandchild of Perseus, catching his eye.
Descending to earth,
Zeus would lay with Alcmene,
with her soon falling pregnant with a son named Heracles,
later known as Hercules to the Romans,
with Zeus planning to make his son the next great king of Greece.
But little did he know,
that his wife Hera, the queen of the gods,
had been watching these events unfold.
In the past she had sat idle,
while Zeus had fathered many illegitimate children,
but this time she had finally had enough.
When Zeus swore an oath to give kingship to the next descendant of Perseus,
thinking it would be his son Heracles,
Hera saw an opportunity to get revenge on her husband.
When Heracles was about to be born,
she used her magic to delay the birth,
while also speeding up the birth of another descendant of Perseus,
a child called Eurytheus.
As Eurytheus had been born just mere seconds before Heracles,
he had become the next descendant of Perseus,
with Zeus being forced to give him the kingship instead.
While Zeus could do nothing about his son's lost kingdom,
he did manage to get his own revenge on Hera.
After Heracles was born,
Zeus brought him up to Hera's bedchamber on Olympus.
As she was sleeping, Zeus placed the infant on Hera's breast,
where Heracles was able to feed on the goddess' milk,
stealing some of her divine power for himself.
Startled, Hera woke up and threw the baby off her chest,
with her milk spraying across the heavens.
This milk would settle out in space,
becoming known as the Milky Way.
Zeus chuckled to himself and brought Heracles back to Earth,
placing him in a crib next to his mother.
Back on Olympus, Hera was furious.
This was too great an embarrassment for her to ignore,
and so, in an attempt to kill Heracles,
she sent two snakes into his crib.
To her surprise, Heracles just giggled
and grabbed a snake in each hand,
strangling them with the strength he had just stolen from her.
Hera looked down at this scene in rage,
vowing to make Heracles' life as difficult as possible.
Growing up, Heracles received an education
from some of the most renowned masters of Greece,
in all things from archery to music.
One thing that became clear from a young age
was that Heracles had a very short temper.
This, combined with his supernatural strength,
made him dangerous to both his friends and enemies alike.
Linus, his music teacher, found this out the hard way
when he was teaching the young hero
to play an instrument called the lyre.
Heracles lacked the finesse to play the instrument
and became infuriated by the constant corrections of his teacher.
After some particularly harsh criticism,
he ended up smashing Linus on the back of the head with the instrument.
