The greatest heroes

The son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene (a granddaughter of Perseus), brave and strong Hercules is the most loved of Greek heroes. When he was a baby Zeus’s jealous wife, Hera, sent two snakes to kill him however he strangled them with his bare hands. Later in life Hera made him temporarily insane and he killed his wife and children. As punishment Hercules performed twelve seemingly impossible labours, which have been the subject of countless works of art and drama. Some of these labors include slaying the nine-headed hydra, stealing the girdle of the Amazonian queen Hippolyta, taming Cerberus, and slaying the Nemean lion. Hercules died from a poisoned tunic. On his funeral pyre he received the honor of being brought to live among the gods on Mount Olympus. He is often depicted wearing a lion skin and wielding a club.

Jason was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos, and also the great-grandson of the messenger god Hermes, through his mother's side. Jason's uncle, Pelias, had stolen the kingdom that should belong to Jason. He promised to return it only if Jason would bring home the Golden Fleece - the wool from the magical winged ram that became the constellation Aries. Therefore Jason built his famous ship the Argo and gathered 50 heroes, including Hercules, and sailed off to Colchis near the Black Sea. On their journey Jason and the Argonauts faced down such dangers as the deadly singing Sirens. They ultimately captured the fleece with the help of the sorceress Medea, which Jason later made his wife. Back in Iolcos, Medea used her cunning to have Pelius killed.

The hero of Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus was king of Ithaca and a clever and brave warrior. He was one of Helen’s suitors and when Paris abducted Helen he was called in to fight in the Trojan War. He fought heroically and thought up the idea of the Trojan horse. What happened to him after the war is described in Homer’s second epic poem the Odyssey, where it is said he journeyed ten years to return home to Ithaca and his wife Penelope. Along the way Odysseus's courage and cleverness saved him from such monsters as the Cyclops, Polyphemus, the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis. Back in Ithaca, Odysseus proved his identity to Penelope and once again ruled his homeland.

Perseus was the son of Zeus and Danae, a princess of Argos. Perseus accomplished many dangerous feats with his quick thinking and talents as a warrior. He is well known for slaying the Gorgon Medusa. Because looking directly at the monstrous Medusa would turn a man to stone, Perseus killed her by looking at her reflection in a mirror. After beheading the Gorgon with his sword he kept her head in his satchel. Later, in order to save the princess Andromeda being eaten by a sea monster, Perseus pulled out Medusa's head and turned the creature to stone. According to one account, he also killed his grandfather by accident when throwing a quoit. He later founded the city of Mycenae.

Theseus was the son of princess Aethra of Troizon and either Aegeus, king of Athens, or the sea god Poseidon. He is well known for his triumph over the Minotaur, the half man half bull monster which lived in a labyrinth on the island of Crete. Every year the people of Athens had been forced to send fourteen young people for the Minotaur to be eaten alive. But Theseus, using a ball of thread from the princess Ariadne, found his way in and out of the labyrinth and killed the beast. In later life he became king of Athens and a famous warrior.

The son of the mortal Peleus, and Thetis, a sea nymph. As an infant Achilles’ mother dipped him into the River Styx, which made him invulnerable everywhere but the heel by which she held him. He was the greatest Greek warrior in the Trojan War and central character in Homer’s Iliad. In the end, Paris, son of the Trojan king, fatally wounded Achilles by shooting him in the heel with an arrow. Today, the tendon that connects the calf muscles to the heel bone is called the Achilles tendon, and a small but dangerous weakness is known as an "Achilles heel."