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If the myths surrounding the Greek gods are already interesting, the deeds and exploits around the most legendary Greek heroes are even more exciting. Greek mythology has consolidated them as a race superior to men though inferior to the gods, with attributes such as courage, strength, cunning and majesty. Do not miss their stories and their exploits.
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What are the heroes of Greek mythology?
In the stories of Greek mythology, from very ancient times the heroes appear together with the gods as a race superior to humans but inferior to the gods. In fact, as a product of the union between a god and a mortal, or a goddess and a mortal, Greek heroes can be considered demigods.
In some cases, they could even be crowned as gods and enjoy all their privileges, such as the paradigmatic case of Heracles who, after overcoming the twelve tests, entered Olympus. If anything, heroes are based on mortal human beings whose deeds and extraordinary life deserved to be narrated for posterity.
Often the figure of the hero is found on the border between reality and legend, especially in those heroes based on kings, military leaders and battles. Most of the Greek heroes come from Zeuswho used to come down to earth from time to time and, due to his fame as a womanizer, dozens of relationships and their respective fruits were attributed to him.
The 10 most legendary Greek heroes of mythology, their history and their attributes
Many of the most legendary Greek heroes are linked to the Homeric cycles, a series of stories from Greek mythology that focus on the Trojan War. But in the Olympus of heroes there is also a place for other heroes and heroines.
1. Heracles
The Greek hero par excellence is called Heracles (Hercules in Roman mythology), and he was the fruit of the union between Zeus and the mortal Alcmene, daughter of King Electryon of Mycenae. The mythological story says that the god Zeus adopted the figure of her husband, her Host, to lie with her, and from the fruit of her copulation, an extraordinary being was born, Alcaeus.
Over time he became the servant of Hera, wife of Zeus, and from there he took the name of Heracles. Since he was little he showed an impetuous and angry character, with outbursts of anger that could lead him to lose control, and when prisoner of this madness he killed his wife and children he was sentenced to overcome 12 works.
Kill the Nemean Lion, Kill the Lernaean Hydra, Capture the Cerinea Hind, Kill the Erymanthian Boar, Clean the Augean Stables, Kill the Stymphalian Birds, Capture the Cretan Bull, Steal the Mares of Diomedes , steal Hippolyta’s girdle, steal Geryon’s cattle, pick the golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides and capturing Cerberus were the twelve titanic tests that Heracles managed to overcome.
Heracles has since been able to enter Olympus and harbors the archetypal traits of the male Greek hero: virility, fearlessness, strength, pride, courage in battle and sexual vigor.
2. Odysseus
Odysseus (or Ulysses) is the most famous hero of Greek mythology in literature thanks to his immortalization in The odyssey Y The Iliad by Homer. Odysseus was the king of Ithacaan island in the Ionian Sea, descended from Laertes and Anticlea, and the repository of the values of cunning, brilliance, strategy and versatility.
The legend of this hero presents him as a just and honest ruler. that in his manhood he joins in marriage to Penelope, daughter of King Icarius of Sparta and sister of Helena, who despite being engaged to Menelaus flees with Paris to Troy taking the riches of Sparta. This unleashes a war whose outcome is attributed to the genius of Odysseus.
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According to legend, after ten years of unsuccessful siege of Troy, Odysseus built a giant wooden horse in whose bowels some twenty Greeks led by Ulysses himself hid. After the Trojan deed, The odyssey recounts the return of Ulysses to Ithaca in a long journey of ten years full of dangers that he will avoid thanks to his cunning.
3. Achilles
The oracle at Delphi had revealed to Odysseus that the Trojan War would not be won without the help of Achilles, one of the great heroes of Greek mythology. Indeed, this is one of the great protagonists of the Iliadconsidered the fastest of men and who is credited with invulnerability throughout the body, except for the heels.
That is why, according to some sources, he died in the Trojan War being hit by an arrow in the heel, and that story gives rise to the name of a muscle in anatomy, and of an expression that refers to the weak point of a person. On top of all that, Achilles is credited with the honor of being the most handsome and handsome hero of his time.
The myth of Achilles’ heel is, in fact, based on the legend of his birth. Achilles was the son of King Peleus and the nymph Thetis, and when his mother was born, she submerged him in the Styx to make him immortal, but the waters permeated his entire body except the heel where he held it, leaving this point as a vulnerable focus.
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4. Hector
One of the victims of Achilles was precisely Hector, another of the Greek heroes, who in this case was a Trojan prince in charge of defending the city against the siege of the Achaeans. Star in the most spectacular duel in Greek mythology when facing Achilles in a battle to the death.
The most legendary version says that Pontos had rescued him from Tartaros, where the Titans had been imprisoned since their defeat before the Olympian gods, and brought him to the world in a body of stone. In his genealogical line He is the son of Priam, King of Troy, and his second wife, Hecuba.and is married to Andrómaca, a symbol of love and fidelity in the face of the cruelty of war.
In the Trojan cycle, Hector represents the counterpart of Achilles. You are both infused with the great qualities of the Greek warrior, but unlike Achilles, Hector is the most humane of the Homeric heroes, and thus suffers, is afraid, and doubts whether to give his life for his people or remain faithful to his wife and family.
5. Theseus
Son of the ninth king of Athens, Aegeus, and Etra, daughter of Pitheus, king of Troezen, in some accounts he is considered the son of the union of Poseidon with an Oceánid daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. In the most accepted version, Aegeus was made drunk by Pittheus’s father to to beget in his daughter the heir to the throne of Athens predicted by the oracle of Delphi.
When his father’s name is revealed to him as an adult, he musters his virtues of strength and courage to embark on a journey to Athens and claim his right to the throne. On his journey to Athens, Theseus face many adventures and dangers trying to emulate his great idol, the hero Heracles. Along the way he defeats various giants and overcomes tough trials.
However, his role in Greek mythology becomes relevant in the myth of the labyrinth of the minotaur. According to legend, Aegean had killed Minos, king of Cretewhich in revenge had besieged the city of Athens and every year sacrificed its young to feed the minotaur, a monster that lived in a labyrinth.
Theseus becomes a hero when he decides to put an end to such humiliation by introducing himself into the labyrinth to kill the minotaur. When he arrives in Crete, the king’s daughter falls in love with the hero and offers him an invisible thread. so that, once the monster is dead, it can find its way out.
6. Perseus
The oracle of Delphi had foreseen that Acrisio, king of Argos, would die at the hands of his grandson. To avoid this, he locked his daughter Danae in a tower where she would not have contact with other men. Nevertheless, Zeus turned into golden shower that falling from the roof left Danae pregnant, from whose womb Perseus was born.
Tradition attributes the founding of the city of Mycenae to Perseus, but also attributes such as courage and strength. On one occasion, Polydectes tries to get rid of Perseus to marry his motherand orders him to bring as a present the head of Medusa, a sea monster that had snakes for hair and that turned men to stone with its gaze.
Athena offers him a shield with which he can see Medusa without looking directly at her., and thus manages to defeat her. Hades’ helmet made him invisible to Medusa’s immortal sisters, who sought him out for revenge.
Perseus is also credited with freeing Andromeda, who had been chained to a rock and offered as a sacrifice to Ceto, a sea monster. After defeating Ceto, Perseus frees the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeiamarries her and fathers seven children.
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7. Persephone
Although the figure of the hero was consolidated in Greek mythology linked to the male figure, some famous heroines also cohabit with the gods on Olympus. One of the most popular heroines of Greek mythology is Persephone, daughter of Zeus and Demeter.
According to legend, Persephone’s mother was extremely beautiful, but one by one she rejected all her suitors (Hermes, Ares, Apollo and Hephaestus) and stayed away from the rest. On one occasion, her daughter was picking flowers in the forest with the nymphs when Hades appeared emerging from a crack in the ground.
Hades kidnapped Persephone and for many days Demeter searched for her daughter all over Olympus without success, which plunged her into a deep depression. Zeus, no longer bearing the pain of his beloved, he sent Hermes to free Persephone. Hades handed her over, but first forced the demigoddess to eat six pomegranate seeds.
Since then, Persephone was under a curse: every year she had to return to the underworld with Hades, one month for each seed she had eaten. A) Yes, Demeter lived six months a year with her daughter, during which the earth was filled with fertility. He finally rescued Persephone from her punishment by revealing the Eleusinian mysteries.
Since then, the Eleusinian Mysteries have become one of the most important initiation rites in classical Greek culture. The myth of the abduction of Persephone is also important because mythologize this heroine as goddess of the underworld.
8. Agamemnon
One of the most outstanding heroes of Greek mythology is Agamemnon, son of King Atreus of Mycenae and the Cretan princess Aerope. He is also the brother of Menelaus, a key figure in the legend of the Trojan War.
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According to legend, Atreus ordered his sons to find Thyestes, son of Aegisthus, to lock him in a dungeon. Atreus ordered Thyestes to kill Aegeus, but he recognized his father and, killing Atreus, banished Agamemnon and Menelaus, who they wandered aimlessly until they reached Sparta. Agamemnon married Clymnestra and had several children, including Iphigenia, and Menelaus married Helen.
Returning to Mycenae, he dethroned Thyestes and crowned himself king.