The Age of Mythology

Welcome...
The most famous of mythologies around the world are that of the Greek and the Roman myths. Rome in fact copied the Greek gods, changing on thier names, when they invaded Greece. In this site, we have chosen to concentrate on the Greek myths themselves, since the Roman myths are almost identical.

Although no immediate knowledge is required for the understanding of these stories, it would be a great advantage if one was acquainted with the main characters in Greek Mythology. Creation provides the basic foundation in the principle gods of Greek Mythology, but if one is interested in finding out more about the extensive range of characters in Greek Mythology, do browse through the many links provided.

The Coming of the Olympians
In the beginning, there was Chaos, and in it nothing existed, until one day, the first entities took form in the shape of Gaia- mother earth. Gaia bore a son named Uranus, who became the heavens, and slowly, the world took shape- a huge flat dish with its many landforms, where the sky stretched over the land like a dome, touching the oceans at its boundaries.

Gaia and Uranus had many children: the three giants, fifty headed and each with a hundred arms; the three Cyclops, one eyed creatures who had enormous strength; and most importantly, the twelve Titans. Six were male, beginning with Okeanos, Koios, Krios, Hyperion, Iapetos and Cronos; and six were females, namely Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe and Tethys.

Uranus was an uncaring father, and when angered by his children, sent the Giants down into Tataros [Tartarus?], the deep underworld. Angered, Gaia plotted against Uranus and had her son, Cronos to castrate his father using a sickle she gave her. From Uranus' blood came twenty four giants, the three Erinnyes, the Furies, and from where Cronos threw his father's genitals into the sea came Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love.

With his father dead, Cronos now succeeded the throne, but yet he remembered that in his father's dying breath, his father warned him that for his act he would be dethroned by his own son. Cronos took his sister, Rhea, as his consort, and with every child that Rhea bore, Cronos swallowed it, until Rhea could no longer take it, and with her next pregnancy, she gave her child to the mountain nymphs and in the place of the child, gave Cronos a stone wrapped in cloth, which Cronos swallowed unsuspectingly.

The child soon grew into Zeus, and when he was old enough to take the throne, Gaia helped him poison Cronos. Cronos vomited all his swallowed children, all fully grown, in all their immortal glory. They became known as the Olympians- Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon.

The war soon raged between the Olympians, who had taken their seat of power on Mount Olympus, and the Titans, on Mount Othrys. The battle caused much destruction, until finally Gaia could no longer bear it, and told Zeus a secret about how he might win the war. The secret was the Giants and Cyclops, who had been imprisoned in Tataros. They harboured a deep hatred for the Titans who had imprisoned them, and would be pivotal to winning the war.

And so with the help of these creatures, The Olympians won the war against the Titans. The Titans were rounded up and were sent to Tataros save those who had sided with them during the war, like Metis and Prometheus. Atlas, the leader of the Titans, was made to hold the sky on his shoulders forever. The days of the Olympians had begun.

The First Days of the Olympians
With the Titans defeated, the Olympians still did not have peace. During the war, the Cyclops had made weapons for three gods. They had forged the thunderbolt for Zeus, the trident for Poseidon, and a helm of darkness for Hades. The universe was wrecked from the war, and more fighting would not have helped anything.

The three brothers thus decided to draw lots for the world. Zeus drew the lot for the sky, where he set up his throne upon Mount Olympus. Poseidon drew the lot that gave him the sea, where he built a palace under the sea. Hades drew the lot for the Underworld, and set up his court beneath the earth, and each god was happy.

Of the other Olympians, Demeter and Hestia were peace loving and content, and desired no power, which left only Hera unsatisfied. Hera left Mount Olympus to live in solitude, but finally, Zeus managed to get her to be his consort, and thus Zeus produced the first of his children with Hera, namely Ares, her twin sister Eris, Hephaistos, Eileithuia and Hebe. Other children of Zeus include Hermes, Apollo, Atremis, the Seasons, the Muses, whom he produced from his many love affairs which were trifling and not worth mention.

Perhaps the most interesting affair he had was with the Titan Metis. Just like his father had been dethroned by his son, Gaia prophesized that if Metis were to bear a son, he would dethrone Zeus. In fear of that happening, once Metis was pregnant, she was swallowed by Zeus whole. However, a few days later, Zeus complained of a terrible headache, and got Hephaistos, the blacksmith of the gods, to wedge open his head to ease the pain. Gods wounds heal very quickly, and just after Hephaistos' blow to wedge open Zeus' head, and before the wound healed, out was born the goddess Athene, fully grown.

All this while, Hera grew unhappy with her husband's many affairs, and started plotting with the other gods to overthrow Zeus. They finally managed to do so by tying Zeus to his bed so he may not get up to get his thunderbolt. The gods were happy, and sat down to discuss who should succeed Zeus. However the discussion soon grew fiery, and, fearing civil war, an ocean nymph went to Tataros to fetch one of the hundred-handed giants who quickly untied the knots that held Zeus down, and before everyone know, Zeus had his thunderbolt and overturned the rebellion.

The Making of Mankind
Prometheus was a Titan, son of Iapetos and Themis. His name meant forethought, and he was the cleverest of the Titans. The titan enjoyed making small clay figurines of the gods, made purely for fun. However, Athene was so enthralled by the little figures, she breathed life into them. Prometheus was amused indeed, and he set out to teaching them all about civilization and the gods, but before he could go very far, Zeus intervened.

Zeus did not approve of the little creatures, but to undo their creation would be impossible, so Zeus commanded Prometheus to teach them nothing to allow them to live like animals.

Back on earth, Prometheus had slaughtered a bull and had the bones wrapped up in leather, while the good meat was put into a bag of guts. He then brought both before Zeus and asked him to choose the one which would be sacrificed to the gods. Zeus chose the leather pack, and when he realized he had been tricked, he was furious and denied man the knowledge of fire forever, leaving them to eat their food raw.

Not being easily beaten, Zeus secretly, created the first woman, the most beautiful creature ever, and filled her with knowledge of deception and treachery. He sent her to earth with a small covered jar, but soon enough, curiosity got the better of her, and although told not to open the jar, she lifted the cover a little and out from the jar suddenly flew out all the diseases of Old Age, Passion, Wickedness, Despair and many more. However, a feeble sprite still lay in the jar, which flew out unnoticed. It was Hope, which would be there as man's salvation.

Zeus also created the seasons, which left humans out in the blistering cold without any heat, and yet the gods did not bother with them, feasting night after night in Mount Olympus whilst humans suffered. Unable to bear it anymore, Prometheus went against Zeus' will and stole fire for humans.

When Zeus saw columns of smoke rising out of the land, he was furious, and chained Prometheus to the top of Mount Caucasus, where day after day, Zues' vulture would devour his liver which healed every day only to be eaten again the next day. And this was how Prometheus would spend eternity until he would be saved much later.

Soon humanity grew arrogant and complacent beyond tolerable limits, and Zeus decided to send a flood to cleanse the world. So the rains started, and humans mistook it for just any other rainy day, but the rains continued until the world was flooded and every human had drowned, except for Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha, Deucalion being Prometheus' son. His father had prepared him for it and told him what to do.

So on their boat, the couple managed to survive until the flood finally ended and they landed their boat near a shrine. There, they begged Zeus to renew the world. Zeus gave in to their request, and the world was suddenly full of life again. A voice from nowhere told them to throw 'Mother's bones'. They were bewildered for a while, but finally realized that it meant to throw rocks, which were mother earth's bones.

Each time a rock touched a ground, it turned into a man for Deucalion, or a woman for Pyrrha. So the world was full of people again, this time in Zeus' approval.

The Twelve Labours of Herakles
Herakles, more often known as Hercules, was the son of Zeus and princess Alkmene of Mycenae. Herakles had heard of a lion which terrorised a nearby kingdom, and decided to seek it out, and kill it. His search brought him to the castle of King Thespios, who was more than delighted to have his service. Apart from that, the king wished his fifty daughters to bear children with lineage from the gods, and therefore offered his daughters to him for every night he stayed in the castle, while in the day he searched for the lion.

This went on for forty nine days, and finally at the end of it, when Herakles had killed the tiger, all but one of the king's daughters were pregnant. Later, they all gave birth to children, some twins. After this task, he went on in search for more adventure, and came upon the city of Thebes. Herakles helped the king bring certain areas under his rule, and as a reward, the king gave him his daughter, Princess Megara, as his wife.

The couple had a few children, and Herakles settled down to a quiet and peaceful life. But Hera, who was jealous of Zeus' many love affairs and children, did not wish Herakles to get away so easily. She used her dark arts to fill Herakles' mind with such insanity that he lost his mind, and went into a frenzy and killed his wife and his children.

When he finally regained his sanity, Herakles was ashamed by what he had done, and wanted to purify himself for the heinous acts he had done. He thus consulted an oracle of Delphi, and asked how he might be purged of his sins. The oracle told him that he was to serve King Eurystheus of Mycenae, and perform ten tasks for the king. Knowing that Hera would be on the side of Eurystheus, the gods did whatever they could to help Herakles along his way, by giving him gifts. Apollo gave him a bow and arrows that would never miss, whilst Zeus gave him a shield and Athene gave him a robe.

The first labour: The Nemean Tiger
Herakles arrived in Mycenae, where Eurytheus had his first task ready. It was to skin the Nemean tiger which lived in the valley of Nemea, and to bring back its skin as proof of his deed. The moon goddess had created this tiger herself, and no mortal man would have been able to stand up against it. Its claws were as sharp as metal and no mortal weapon could pierce through its skin.

Herakles spent many days looking for the creature, and he finally found it sleeping. He used a tree to hit the creature's nose, one of the few vulnerable areas on the creature. The creature was taken aback, and Herakles quickly grabbed the creature around its neck with his arm, and strangled the tiger. However, try as he might, he was not able to skin the tiger, for its skin was too hard. Finally, he used the tiger's sharp claws to cut its skin, for only its claws were sharp enough to do so. With that done, Herakles returned to Eurytheus for his next task.

The second labour: The Hydra
The next task given to Herakles was to kill the Hydra. The Hydra had the tail of a dragon, and had nine heads on long necks. It often terrorised the people of Argos and no one was able to kill it, for it had an immortal head making it impossible to kill. Furthermore, when one of its heads was severed, two more grew to replace it. The Hydra's breath was poison, and it alone was enough to kill any assailant.

To kill the Hydra, Herakles held his breath for as long as he needed to kill it. At one point, Hera sabotaged him by sending a giant crab to knock him off his balance. Luckily for him, Herakles servant, Lolaus, had come along. He saved Herakles, and eventually, Herakles managed to come out unscathed. Herakles managed to subdue the Hydra by burning its mortal heads before new ones could grow. He then sliced the immortal head from the creature's body, before dismembering the body, and burying its immortal head under a large rock. He then dipped an arrow into the blood of the Hydra, to prove that his task was done.

The third labour: The Keryneian Hind
Once the hydra was dead, Eurytheus had something different for Herakles to do. He requested Herakles to catch a deer, known as the Keryneian Hind. The deer had hooves made of bronze, and antlers made of gold and it was able to run faster than any living creature. Eurytheus wanted the deer back alive.

Herakles ended up chasing the deer for almost a year, in a chase across the world. When the deer finally thought it had shaken Herakles off, it stopped for a rest. Once it stopped, Herakles caught up with the deer. He sneaked up on it and pounced upon it, catching it, before tying it up so it may be presented to Eurystheus.

The fourth labour: The Boar
Eurytheus now wanted Herakles to yet pursue another animal. It was a boar which ate humans. Thinking that the boar would be more ferocious than the deer, Eurytheus was happy that he had given Herakles a task he would not be able to complete. However, Herakles proved him wrong.

It was not hard for Herakles to find the boar, because of the loud sounds it made as it rested. When Herakles advanced upon the boar, it ran as fast as it could. Herakles chased the boar for some time, slowly driving it higher and higher up the mountain it was on. Finally, when the boar reached the snowy regions of the mountain, it got stuck in the snow, and Herakles easily tied the animal up to return to Mycenae.

The fifth labour: The Augeian Stables
By now, Eurytheus was angry that for every task he had given Herakles, Herakles was able to complete it easily. He therefore decided to try to give Herakles a different task, one that would take a long time to complete. The task was to clean the stables of King Augeias. The king had a herd of immortal cattle, and since they were immortal, the number of cattle increased day by day without any cattle dying. With this amount of cattle, the king could no longer keep up with the amount of filth they produced. Eurytheus thus commanded Herakles to cleaning the stables where the cattle were kept.
Cleaning the stables was a daunting and dirty job, which was a job way below that of a god's son.

However, Herakles managed to think up a method to clean up the stables quickly and without having to dirty himself. He broke a hole in the stable walls, and then rerouted the river Alpheios right through the stables themselves. The water gushed through the stables, cleaning out the filth and the dirt that had collected over the years, and when the task was complete, Herakles returned the river to its original course. All Herakles had to do next was to patch up the hole he had made for the river, and the task was complete.

The sixth labour: The Stymphalian Birds
Eurystheus was dismayed that the task he had thought would take many years, had been completed by Herakles in a single day. Hoping to make things harder for the hero, he reprimanded Herakles for getting external help on two counts. First was during the slaying of the Hydra, where Herakles had his servant to help. Second was in the cleaning of the stables, where Herakles had employed the help of the river god.

The king now thought he had an impossible task for Herakles and so he gleefully challenged Herakles to it, this time without any form of assistance. The marshes of Stymphalia were swarmed by countless flocks of man-eating birds, which terrorised the nearby areas. The task, as the king dictated, was to drive the birds out of the swamp once and for all, so the people may be safe.

Herakles arrived at the swamp only to be greeted by the endless flocks of birds with sharp talons and bronze beaks and feathers. To protect himself from the birds' claws, he put on the skin which he had gotten from the Nemean tiger. The skin of the tiger was harder than the birds' claws, and would be able to protect him from the birds.

At first Herakles tried to kill the birds, but there were too many birds and no matter how many he killed, the number never seemed to go down. Eventually, he decided to chase them away using noise. He chased the birds around, clanging his weapons together as he screamed as loudly as he could. Finally, after much effort, he managed to chase the birds away, who flew over the horizon in a huge bronze cloud.

The seventh labour: The Cretan Bull
When Herakles told Eurytheus that he had chased the birds away, Eurytheus could hardly believe his ears. However, his next task was ready for Herakles, and it was to subdue the Cretan bull, the very father of the Minotaur. The bull breathed fire, and was very strong.

To capture the creature, Herakles once again wore the skin of the Nemean tiger. When the bull saw the tiger's skin, the bull rushed towards Herakles, who agilely managed to grab hold of the bull's horns and vault himself onto the bull's back. With Herakles on his back, the bull tried to get him off, but to no avail. Herakles managed to drive the bull into the sea, and finally the sea water put out its fire. Herakles had beaten the bull, and he easily brought it back to Eurytheus.

Eventually, Eurytheus tried to sacrifice the bull to Hera, but Hera would not accept a sacrifice that had been obtained by the womanising son of Zeus. The bull was finally sent to the plains of Cretan, broken and defeated.

The eighth labour: Diomedes' Mares
After the bull, Eurytheus sent Herakles on the quest for horses. It was the mares of King Diomedes, who ate human flesh. On many occasions, the king had invited guests to his dinner table, and while they were off their guard he would knock them unconscious and feed them to his mares.

Herakles went to the kingdom where Diomedes ruled, and was invited to dinner like many other victims. He, however, managed to overpower the king's men when they tried to attack him. After that, Herakles took Diomedes and knocked him unconscious. He then took the king and fed him to his own mares. While the mares were full after their meal, he chained them to the chariot and returned to Mycenae with the mares.

The ninth labour: The belt of Hippolyte
Eurytheus had run out of monsters for Herakles to kill and capture. He therefore came up with a task unlike any other. Herakles was to get the belt of Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons. The Amazons were a group of female warriors who lived away from men. The belt was a gift from the god of war, Ares, and it was a symbol of power. Indeed, this task proved a challenge for Herakles, as he knew it would not be easy to get past the strong armies of the Amazons, lest they attack him. Furthermore, it was hard to get to the faraway land of the Amazons.

Eventually, Herakles gathered a number of people and together they sailed out to where the Amazons were found. Much to their surprise, the Amazons greeted them with hospitality rather than hostility. They entertained their visitors from afar, and the queen even agreed to lend Herakles her belt.

However, Hera would not let things pass so quickly. She came in the disguise of an Amazon, and convinced the warriors that Herakles was here to steal the queen. Enraged by the vile intentions of Herakles, the Amazons were soon up in arms against Herakles. Herakles, left with no other choice, killed Hippolyte and took her belt. Then, he gathered his party and they left the island for Mycenae.

The tenth labour: Geryon's Cattle
The next task for Herakles was to steal cattle from the Titan Geryon. Geryon lived on the island of Erytheia, at the end of the world. He had three bodies, three pairs of arms, and three heads. He also had a dog which had two heads, which looked after the cattle.

After an arduous journey, Herakles finally managed to make it to the island of Erytheia. Once he landed on the island, the dog of Geryon attacked him, but Herakles easily overpowered the dog, and killed it. The herdsman saw what had happened and immediately called for Geryon for help, who appeared quickly to attack Herakles. Herakles attacked Geryon, but try as he might, while he attacked one body, the other two healed, and Herakles never seemed to be able to hurt him.

Herakles finally managed to hurt Geryon by circling the Titan and finally taking an opportune moment to shoot a swift arrow at the Titan, which pierced through the Titan's three bodies, leaving it dead. Hera who had come to help Geryon too, got hurt by the arrow. Before she fled, however, she sent flies after the cattle so they ran in all directions, making it harder for Herakles to gather the flock. However, it was finally done, and Herakles took the long journey back to Mycenae with the cattle.

The eleventh labour: The Apples of the Hesperides
After the tenth labour, the Delphic oracle had promised Herakles salvation. However, Eurytheus would not let him go, reminding him that on two counts he had received help, and thus the task did not count. In place of those tasks, Eurytheus requested that Herakles perform two more tasks, which he unwillingly agreed to.

Eurtheus wanted Herakles to steal the apples of Hesperides, which were given to Hera by Gaia herself, as a wedding present. These apples were kept in the garden of Hesperides, and were guarded by the serpent, Ladon, who had a thousand heads. To start with, Herakles did not know where the garden was. He finally found the old man of the sea, Proteus, and managed to force an answer out of him. Eventually, under Proteus' direction, Herakles managed to find the garden.

Under Proteus' advice, Herakles approached the Titan Atlas, who held up the earth, to help him get the apples. Once Herakles had Ladon killed, Atlas passed the earth to Herakles before running off to get the apples. Of course, Atlas never intended to take back the earth. Herakles had expected this and when Atlas returned, he pretended he wanted to shift the earth to a more comfortable position, and therefore needed Atlas to hold it for a while. Atlas was taken in, and once Atlas held the world again, Herakles took the apples and returned to Eurytheus.

When Eurytheus got the apples, he was terrified that he might offend Hera, and immediately gave the apples back to Herakles. Herakles passed the apples to Athene, who later returned the apples back to the garden.

The twelfth labour: Cerberus
The last labour of Herakles was to bring Cerberus from the underworld to Mycenae, a task which Eurytheus thought impossible. Cerberus was the terrifying dog-like guard of the underworld. To get to the underworld itself, one had to cross the river Styx, and to bring Cerberus back to Mycenae would require the consent of Hades himself.

Athene guided Herakles to the end of the world and at the river Styx, Herakles threatened the boatman, Charon, to ferry him across. Once he was in the underworld, Herakles met Hades and explained what he had come for. Hades agreed to it, on condition that he would have to subdue Cerberus on his own.

Wearing the Nemean tiger's skin once again, Herakles wrestled with the dog for a long time, but Herakles managed to beat it. The creature's poison fell harmlessly onto the Nemean tiger's skin and finally when Cerberus knew he was beaten, and gave in, Herakles chained him up and brought him to Mycenae. Eurytheus was so terrified he ran away at the sight of the creature.

So the twelve labours were completed, and finally Herakles was free again. Now that he had been purged of the sin for killing his children, Herakles had proved himself to be a true hero, and a rightful son of Zeus. He would later take part in many more adventures, weaving many other tales of his heroic deeds.

The Tale of Perseus
A prophet once told King Acrisius that his grandson would kill him. Terrified that the prophet's advice might come true, he locked his daughter, Danae, in the deep dungeons of his castle not allowing her to have any male contact. Danae spent a long time in that dreary dungeon before Zeus, from his place in Olympus, noticed the beautiful creature. Immediately, she enchanted Zeus, and he entered the chamber in a shower of gold. Soon, Danae was pregnant.

When the guards reported that they heard a baby crying in the dungeon, King Acrisius was appalled. He immediately set out to getting rid of the mother and child. He did so by putting the two of them into a chest and floating it out into sea, hoping that they would die from hunger or thirst in the sea. When Zeus learnt about this, he was furious at the way his son was treated. He asked Poseidon to guide the chest safely to the town of Seriphus, where a fisherman found the chest.

Mother and child were taken to the king Polydectes, and Polydectes, learning of their plight, took the two in. Apart from that, Polydectes was also enchanted by Danae's beauty, and wanted to take her as his wife, but was refused by Danae repeatedly.

Danae's child was named Perseus, and he soon grew up to be a fine young man. The king's requests for marriage were getting impatient and more violent, but Perseus now defended his mother from the overbearing king. Finally, the king decided that once and for all he should get rid of Perseus so he could force Danae to marry him, and so he sent Perseus on a quest to kill the gorgon Medusa.

Medusa had once been a beautiful woman. However, when Poseidon seduced her and lay with her in Athene's temple, Athene was furious and turned her into a gorgon, to be with two other gorgons who lived at the world's end. Her beautiful locks of hair were turned into snakes, and her stare alone, would turn people into stone.

Perseus knew not how to get to the gorgon's lair. Thankfully, his father, Zeus, who sent the gods Athene and Hermes to help him, aided him. Perseus was led to the cave of three old witches where he would find directions to Medusa. The three old witches were blind and shared one eye between them. At first, the three witches refused to tell Perseus of the location of the gorgon, wishing more to devour Perseus by tricking him to approach them. Perseus was faster than them though, and he snatched the eye that they shared between them. Without the eye, the witches were completely blind, and Perseus managed to blackmail the witches to divulging the location of the gorgon.

Medusa dwelt near the River Styx, at the boundary of the underworld. The gods helped him again, by lending him a pair of winged sandals from Hermes, which would help him get to the lair. Athene lent him a shield that was smoother than any other, and that would allow him to slay the gorgon without looking at it, using the shield as a mirror. Hades lent him the cap of darkness, which would render him invisible. Perseus set out across the sea with his immortal gifts.

While entering the lair of the gorgon, Perseus saw many statues: the petrified bodies of valiant heroes that had come before him to kill Medusa, and who had failed. Perseus entered the lair quietly, with the cap of invisibility on and with his shield and sword. He found the gorgon sleeping alongside its two sisters. Looking into his shield, Perseus sliced off the head of Medusa, who let out a huge scream. When the blood of Medusa touched the floor, out came the winged horse Pegasus. Medusa's sisters woke up and were terrified by their invisible assailant, and tried to hit him but to no avail. Perseus took Medusa's head and put it into a pouch he had brought along for the purpose. He then rode the horse Pegasus into the sky.

Along the way back, he flew past the titan Atlas, who had been condemned to holding up the earth until the end of time by Zeus, after he led the rebellion of the Titans. Taking pity on the Titan, Perseus held up Medusa's head to him so that he might be relieved of his burden forever, and be turned into cold hard stone, forming the Atlas Mountain, as we know it today.

Continuing on his journey, Perseus found a beautiful woman chained to a rock beside the sea. Just as he would find out what was going on, a large sea monster rose out of the sea to take the woman. Perseus flew up on Pegasus and stabbed the monster repeatedly between its scales, eluding it with the aid of the swift Pegasus. After many deep strokes, the monster finally fell into the sea, and the woman was safe.

He later found out that the woman was the princess of the city, named Andromeda. Cassiopeia, Andromeda's mother, had the nerve to boast of her beauty even surpassing the sea nymphs. The sea nymphs were angry at the comparison, and they asked Poseidon to release the sea monster to destroy the city. The King was alarmed at learning of that, and he sought advice from an oracle, who told him that the only way to avert the crisis was to offer his daughter as sacrifice to the monster, to appease it.

Now that Perseus had saved Andromeda's life, the two fell in love. Their wedding was soon held, and a great feast was held in their honor. However, in the middle of the ceremony, in strode Phineus the betrothed of Andromeda, who claimed the bride for himself. The King reproached him for not saving her when the monster rose, but Phineus did not bother and he threw a javelin at Perseus, but it flew past him harmlessly.

What ensued next was a battle where those on the side of Perseus fought against those on the side of Phineus. However, the number on Perseus' side fell quickly as Phineus gained the upper hand. Finally, Perseus shouted 'Let all who are my friends turn away their eyes', whence he held up the head of Medusa, turning all those who looked upon it into stone.

So Perseus married Andromeda, and together they returned to Seriphus. There, Danae had been forced by Polydectes to be his wife. Perseus was enraged and killed the king, saving his mother from it. Time passed, and many years later, when Perseus took part in a series of athletic competitions, Perseus threw the discus way beyond its target and hit King Acrisius who had been in the spectator's stand. Perseus had finally fulfilled the prophecy that many years ago had been told to his grandfather- that Acrisius would die at the hands of his grandson.

The Cretan Labyrinth
In Athens, there lived the inventor Daidalos. He was an ingenious man who invented sails for ships amongst many other things. No task was too hard for him, with only competition from his young nephew. Jealous at his nephew's ability, Daidalos took his nephew on a walk one day, and pushed him over the steep rocks of the Acropolis. After the heinous act, he fled to Crete with his son Ikaros, where King Minos ruled.

In his earlier days, King Minos struggled with his brothers for the throne. Minos had prayed to the god Poseidon for a white bull, as an indication that the gods favoured him, and that he would sacrifice the bull as a sign of his subservience. However, when the white bull finally rose out of the sea, Minos instead sacrificed the best of his herd, while keeping the white bull for himself. Angry at the mortal's defiance, Poseidon made the wife, Queen Pasiphae fall in love with the bull. The Queen, reaching desperation, summoned Daidalos and asked him to get the bull to make love to her. Not wishing to offend the Queen, whose hospitality he was living on, he made the wooden frame of a cow, and had Pasiphae lie inside, with which the bull mated.

When King Minos found out, he was livid, and sentenced Daidalos to imprisonment, but Pasiphae was pregnant, and Minos had to hide her. Therefore, he had no choice but to enlist Daidalos' help once again, in exchange for his freedom, to hide Pasiphae from the world. Daidalos created an underground maze, in which passages ran like a spider web of tunnels. A labyrinth, whose secret only Minos and Daidalos knew.

So the pregnant Pasiphae was put into the centre of the maze, and there she bore a child- half bull, half human. It was the Minotaur, and its bellowing could be heard from time to time, from deep within the maze. No one who went in ever came out, for the Minotaur fed on flesh.

After the completion of the labyrinth, Daidalos wanted to leave, but Minos barred Daidalos from leaving Crete, for fear he might let out the secret of the labyrinth. That night, Daidalos made wings for himself and his son ,Ikaros. He fashioned it out of feathers stuck together by wax. The following morning, they rode on the first up currents of air as the sun warmed the earth, and flew away from Crete. Unfortunately, Daidalos' not his son, Ikaros, flew too near to the sun, and the wax in his wings melted and he plummeted towards the sea. Daidalos was distraught, but he flew on and finally landed in Sicily.

Back in Athens, King Aigeus was childless, and was wary of the many factions after his position. He seeked advice from an oracle, where the priest told him not to unfasten a wineskin's foot until he reached the Acropolis, or he would cause his own death. Not knowing what to make of it, he went to visit his friend, the King of Troizen, to see if he knew what it meant. Along the way, he visited Corinth where his friend Medea was furious because her husband had obtained a mistress. She told Aigeus if he gave her shelter in Athens, she would bear him a child, to which Aigeus readily agreed.

When he finally reached the city of Troizen, King Pittheus was overjoyed to see him and held a banquet in his honour that night. Wineskin after wineskin he drank. He had forgotten all about the oracle's advice. In a drunken stupor, he went to bed that night only to find himself sleeping with King Pittheus's daughter, Aithra. Ashamed of what he had done, he left the city in the morning, but not before burying a sword and a pair of sandals under a rock. He told Aithra if she bore a son, to tell him about the items when he was old enough. If he could lift the rock, he should go to Athens, and be welcomed as his heir.

Aithra did bear a son, and she named him Theseus. Throughout his childhood, Aithra refused to divulge who his father was, saying that he was a son of Poseidon. When Theseus did come of age, his mother told him about the rock. The rock was heavy and all who tried it were unable to lift it, but Theseus managed to lift it, and he set off for Athens with the sword and sandals, to find his father.

Meanwhile in Athens, Aigeus had taken Medea in, and she bore him a son named Medos. Medea knew the dark arts and she kept the factions contesting Aigeus' power at bay. When Theseus arrived at Athens, Aigeus did not yet know of his parentage, but Medea knew, and she wanted to kill Theseus to preserve her son's position as future King.

Medea thus convinced Aigeus that Theseus was a spy and laced his wine cup with poison during supper that night. However, just before he drank the wine, he drew out his sword to cut his meat. Aigeus immediately recognised the sword and threw the poisoned cup onto the floor. Angered, Theseus tried to kill Medea, but she cast a spell of invisibility and she and her son escaped.

With Medea and her magic gone, the fifty sons of Aigeus' brother immediately prepared an attack to usurp the throne. Theseus single-handedly killed half the brothers, which left the rest cowering. Poseidon gave Theseus the chance to prove himself as his son, and told him how to outwit the white bull. With this knowledge, he set out to capture the bull whom Minos had called forth. Thesues finally did so, and brought it to the Acropolis, where he sacrificed it, finishing what Minos should have done a long time ago.

After his sacrifice, he found a procession towards the port, and on further questioning he realised that these were sacrifices for the Minotaur. Theseus, having killed the father of the Minotaur, thought it simple enough to kill the Minotaur itself. He took the place of one of the young men and sailed to Crete. Aigeus did not want his newfound son to leave, and told him to hoist a white flag when he returned, if he had survived.

So the ship left the port, and when it arrived in Crete, the sacrifices were thrown into prison, to be led into the labyrinth the next day. Minos' daughter, princess Ariadne, had seen Theseus, and fallen in love with him. He went to his prison cell that night, and offered him the secret of the labyrinth in exchange for a promise to bring her back to Athens and to marry her. Theseus agreed, and so she gave him the secret of the labyrinth.

It was a spindle of thin, strong thread, made by Daidalos himself. Everyone had thought the maze to be a horizontal puzzle of passageways, but in fact it was vertical, spiralling down into the earth, when it finally reached the centre of the maze, where the Minotaur was. Gravity itself would guide the spindle to the centre of the maze, and to leave would be a matter of having tied the thread to the start of the maze, and following the thread back up.

So that night, Theseus set out along the labyrinth and used the spindle to find his way into the heart of the labyrinth, where the Minotaur was fast asleep. The chamber was filled with human bones and the stench of death. He took a club and hit the Minotaur so many times he was sure it was dead, before hurrying back to the entrance as a feeling of disgust filled him.

Once out of the maze, he ran to unlock all the Athenians with him. He brought Ariadne along, and they sank every Cretan ship at the port before getting on their own ship and sailing back to Athens. Along the way, they stopped over at an island for water, while everyone rested and Ariadne slept along the beach. The god, Dionysos, was enchanted by Ariadne's beauty, and made Theseus forgetful such that he forgot to wake the sleeping Ariadne and left the island without her.

Ariadne awoke, angry that Theseus had deserted her, but not long after appeared Dionysos, who filled her with love for him, and removed all memory of Theseus. Ariadne became his queen and they travelled the world together.

Theseus was afflicted with Dionysos' dose of forgetfulness, and forgot his promise to hoist a white flag if he survived. When Aigeus saw the ship sailing with a black flag, he was overcome with grief and jumped off the steep rocks of the Acropolis and killed himself. He had fulfilled the prophecy that the oracle told to him many years before: not to unfasten a wineskin's foot until he reached the Acropolis, lest causing his own death.

The Trojan War
The City of Troy has an uncertain past, but for sure, it was founded by Ilos, son of Zeus and Electra. Ilos drove a cow across the plains until it collapsed, and at that location he built the city of Troy. That same night, a statue of a goddess fell from Olympus into the city. It was the Palladion, and as long as it was in the city, Troy would never fall. Ilos had a son, Laomedon, who later succeeded him. When the gods, Poseidon and Apollo, rebelled against Zeus near the beginning of time, Zeus punished them by later turning them into servants of King Laomedon for a period of time. The king, during this brief period, commanded the two to build walls for the city, which no enemy could ever breach. The two gods, not wanting to endow invulnerability to the city, had a section of the wall built weaker than the rest, the only part of the wall liable to attack.

The king Laomedon was happy with the job, but when payment was due, Laomedon conveniently hid inside the city and refused payment, thinking that the walls would hold fast. Poseidon and Apollo were enraged, and they returned to Mount Olympus in a huff. Revenge was finally meted out to the Laomedon later when he tried to trick the hero, Herakles. Herakles stormed through the vulnerable section of the city walls, and killed Laomedon. Troy was left under the rule of Laomedon's baby son: Priam. Time passed, and Priam grew up, and had himself a son, Paris.

Then came the wedding of the gods, Thetis and Peleus. A golden apple was rolled between the goddesses Aphrodite, Athene and Hera, on it written 'for the fairest'. Each goddess wanting the apple for themselves, approached Zeus, who directed them to Paris, who was mortal and would thus be able to see clearer. Paris did not wish to offend any of the goddesses, and refused to judge, until he was threatened by Hera, and so he finally agreed.

The goddess' took their turn before Paris in private, and each one would offer Paris a bribe for his vote. Hera offered Paris royal power and Athene offered him wisdom. But Paris was finally swayed by Aphrodite's offer, the most beautiful woman in the world, Queen Helen of Sparta. Hera and Athene were furious, but there was nothing they could do. So to fulfill her promise, Aphrodite brought Paris to Greece. Helen was made to fall in love with Paris, and together they left for Troy.

The Greeks felt violated at the departure of their Queen, and many Greek princes like Aias, Diomedes and Nestor gathered to form a fleet of ships to attack Troy. Not everyone was without other considerations though. Achilles was the child of Zeus and Thetis, and Thetis had made Achilles immortal by dipping him into the River Styx- the river that marked the boundary of the underworld. Knowing from prophecies that Achilles would die if he fought in the war, she tried to hide it from him, but he finally found out, and he too joined the fleet along with Odysseus. Finally the contingent was ready to set out from Greece to attack Troy.

They had many obstacles and casualties along the way, but finally they reached Troy. On landing, they were attacked by defending soldiers. Achilles leapt off the ship and ran straight at the oncoming arrows unhurt, for his skin was immortal. He cleared the soldiers' encampment, and the Greeks proceeded to land safely on the shore and set up camp. The Siege of Troy had begun.

The war was not going to be a quick one, as Zeus had planned. The power on each side was perfectly balanced, with equal armies and heroes on both sides. Even the gods were split, with the spurned Hera and Athene, helping the Greeks against Paris, and with Ares and Apollo giving aid to Troy. Furthermore, Troy and Greece were not alone in the war. Allies from all around helped Troy attack the Greeks, while the Greeks themselves diffused their attention on Troy by pillaging nearby islands. At times, the gods were personally involved in the war, like Aphrodite who went raiding with her son, Aeneas. Diomedes hurt Aeneas, but Aphrodite took part of the blow, injuring her wrist, needing Apollo to save them.

After ten long years, neither side had scored any major victory. Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek contingent, grew weary, and gathered all his forces to concentrate on attacking Troy. With all the Greek leaders arriving outside the walls of Troy, there was much strife as quarrels between the heroes grew out of proportions. At one point, Achilles and Agamemnon had an argument, and eventually Achilles refused to fight for Greece anymore.

It was when the Trojans were gaining an upper hand, led by the hero Hector, that the gods decided to interfere again. Hera charmed Zeus to bed, as Poseidon guided a falling boulder, thrown by the Greek Hero Aias, towards Hector, whom it killed instantly. The Trojans retreated, and Zeus, realizing this, jumped out from bed and resurrected Hector, while warning Poseidon never to interfere again.

With Hector alive again, the Trojans were out to war again. Achilles, seeing this from his tent, had his friend Patroklos wear his armour and push back the Trojans. Patroklos rode out into the battlefield, and everyone mistook him for Achilles and rallied around him and the Trojans fled. The Greeks pursued them closely, and the Trojans retreated into their city and closed the gates.

The Greeks now set up ladders against the high city walls and started scaling it. Patroklos was the first to reach the time, and when Hector saw him, he was terrified, for he knew that once Achilles jumped into the city, Troy would fall. He prayed for intervention from the gods, and Apollo answered his prayer. Apollo tipped Patroklos from his position on the wall, with him falling backwards outside of the city. The impact of the fall threw the helmet off his head, and everyone then realized that he was not Achilles after all. The Trojans pushed forward again, and killed Patroklos, now without his helmet.

Patroklos' death spurred Achilles to fight again. His goddess mother, Thetis, had him made a new set of armour which he wore and strode onto the battlefield. He called Hector out for a duel. Any god would have easily settled the duel, but Zeus forbade all interference, and realizing this, Hector knew that the first to tire would be the first to lose. He tried to tire Achilles, weighed down by his armour, by running around the city, but eventually, on the third round, Achilles caught up with Hector and killed him. He fastened Hector's body to a chariot and drove round the city three times. All the soldiers stopped in their steps and grew afraid of the savagery of the hero.

Every morning thereafter, Achilles would drag Hector's body around Patroklos' grave three times, until finally when the Trojans could take it no more, Hector's father approached Achilles and demanded the body. Achilles would only give up the corpse for its equal weight in treasures, and so the exchange was made, and Hector was brought into Troy, and buried.

The prophecy of Achilles death was soon to be fulfilled, when Prince Memnon from Ethiopia arrived. Memnon was on the side of the Trojans, and he killed many Greek heroes. When he finally killed another of Achilles' friend, Achilles was enraged, and went out to do what he had done to Hector. However, after his savage slaughter of Memnon, he bent down to strip the body, and the gods took the opportunity to exploit Achilles' only vulnerability- his heel. When his mother Thetis ,Thetis, had rendered him immortal by dipping him into the River Styx, she had held him by his heel, which was not put into the river, thus leaving his heel mortal. Apollo guided Paris' hand to shooting a poisoned arrow towards his heel. The arrow hit, and poison filled Achilles' body. Achilles had finally died, and Thetis and the sea nymph mourned, as the Greeks did. His funeral was held for eighteen days and he was finally burned and his ashes kept in a golden urn made by the god Hephaistos.

Even Achilles, the immortal son of Thetis had fallen. The Greeks were disillusioned and weary after ten years of fighting. Many had left home for many years, and yearned to return home. The Prophet Kalchas beckoned them to hold on, for Troy was fated to fall soon enough. There were a few conditions that had to be in place first: another Greek hero Philoketes had to fire an arrow from the unerring bow of Herakles, which would spark the start of the Trojan defeat. Philoketes had been exiled to a faraway island, and troops were immediately sent to fetch him.

Philoketes soon arrived outside Troy where the Greeks attended to him quickly. When he was told what had happened, Philoketes was furious. He took Herakles bow and went to the gates of Troy and challenged Paris to a duel of bows, to which Paris agreed. Paris took the first shot, and missed. Philoketes took his turn and shot a poisoned arrow, which hit Paris in the ankle. The poison filled his body as Paris screamed in pain. The Trojans hastily dragged their prince into the city and shut the gates. Inside Troy, the soldiers tried to persuade the mountain nymph Oinone, who had been Paris' wife before he left for Helen, for herbs to cure the poison. In spite, she refused, asking him to get help from Helen instead, since he had left her for Helen. So Paris died, and Oinone later was overcome with grief and threw herself onto the funeral pyre and died together with Paris.

Once Paris was dead, his brothers started quarreling about who should have Helen. Helen wanted neither of them, and she tried to escape, but was discovered by one of the brothers and was eventually threatened into marriage. The other brothers were insanely jealous, and they started trying to find ways to betray the Trojans to the Greeks.

One of Paris' brother was Antenor. Antenor sought advice from a prophet of Apollo. The prophet told Antenor that the heavens had three conditions which had to be fulfilled for Troy to fall. Firstly, Pelop's ivory shoulder-bone had to be taken from Pisa. Secondly, Achilles' son had to arrive in Troy to avenge his father's death. Lastly, the Palladion had to be stolen from Troy. The Palladion was the statue that had fallen into the city the night it was founded, and as long as the statue was in Troy, Troy would never fall.

The Greeks found out about this, and they quickly set out to completing the tasks. The first two were relatively simple, but when it came to the stealing of the Palladion, they faced much frustration. The statue was locked in a citadel in the centre of the city, and was guarded by soldiers and shamans well versed in the way of defensive magics. After much futile planning, help came in the form of Antenor, who offered to help them steal the Palladion. Antenor guided them into the city, and bribed the shamans to giving the Palladion to Odysseus and Diomedes when they came for it. So with the three conditions fulfilled, the fall of Troy loomed just over the horizon.

At the end, Odysseus came up with the idea of building a hollow wooden horse to get into Troy. The Greeks hurried to construct a large hollow wooden horse, with a trapdoor concealed so well that only the carpenters knew how it opened. Twenty-four heroes were chosen to hide in the horse, while the rest of the Greeks got onto their ships and sailed away. Before that however, they had piled everything: weapons, tents, food and more, and burned it in one smouldering pile. The Greek ships sailed to a nearby island and moored the ships there, out of sight from the city.

The next morning when the sun lit the sky, the Trojans wandered out of the city in curiosity. They knew not what had driven the Greeks from their city, but what bewildered them more was the large wooden horse that stood outside the city. On the side of the horse was the word 'Offered to Athene, to grant the Greeks safe voyage home'. That was all there was left. There were no Greeks, only the debris which they had left behind, and the horse.

The Trojans were split over what to do with the horse. Some thought the horse sacred to Poseidon, and that they should burn it by the sea to sacrifice it to him. Others thought that the horse should be moved into the city itself where there was a large temple to Athene, since the horse, after all, was for Athene. The prophet Laokoon warned King Priam against moving the horse into the city, for he knew the Greeks had an ulterior motive he knew not of. He threw a spear at the horse, and the spear jabbed into the wood noisily, followed by the faint clanging of weapons from within. Priam was unmoved and decided to move the horse into the city.

Laokoon was not about to give up. He set up an altar by the sea, hoping to pray to Poseidon to know the true intent of the Greeks. Unfortunately, before he was able to carry out the ritual, sea snakes snatched Laokoon off the shore, leaving behind a bloody trail towards the sea. When the Trojans saw this, they thought Poiseidon was angry, and changed their mind to sacrificing the wooden horse to the sea. Just as the command was going to be given to drag the horse, along ran a Greek soldier. Like an actor on stage he had waited patiently for the right moment to deliver his act.

The soldier's name was Sinon, and he begged Priam to spare him, for the Greeks had been wanting to leave the city for a long time, but was unable to, due to unfavourable winds. Now that the winds had changed, they had left leaving him behind. Priam was taken in, and he inquired after the purpose of the horse. In a tone of total disdain for the Greeks, he told Priam that he the horse was to pacify Athene for stealing the Palladion. The horse was made so large so that the Trojans would not be able to pull it into their city, because if they did, and dragged the horse into Athene's temple, then the whole Greek fleet would sink beneath the waves.

Just as the Greeks had imagined, Priam was elated and immediately ordered a section of the city walls to be knocked down so that the horse could enter the city, for it was too high for the gates. They had forgotten all about Laokoon's warning, and the rattling within the horse.

That night was of celebration like no other since the war had started ten years ago. Drunk on wine and silly with relief, the Trojans slept soundly that night, as the trapdoor of the horse opened. Out streamed the Greeks who had hidden inside. They lit a beacon by the beach, which signalled to the fleets waiting at the nearby island, to come. The Greeks were merciless. They pillaged and killed the people of Troy, who awoke in shock to see Greeks throughout their city. Slowly, the people of Troy were rounded up, and the loot was brought back to Greece.

The war that was started ten years before by Helen had finally ended with Troy broken. Troy, which had taken many generations to build, and had been at war for ten years, was finally felled overnight. The walls of the city that had been built by the gods had crumbled, and all that the Greeks left behind was Antenor, to rule a small number of peasants who were spared by the Greeks.