If the mythological stories of the Greek gods enthrall, the adventures and exploits of the legendary Greek heroes prove even more exciting. Greek mythology identifies heroes as a race superior to men but inferior to gods , enjoying exceptional qualities like courage, strength, cunning and prestige. Do not miss their stories and their exploits.
Who are the heroes of Greek mythology?
Since ancient times, Greek mythology has involved heroes alongside the gods, characters attached to a race superior to humans but inferior to the gods. Descendants of a god and a mortal, they are thus considered as demi-gods.
Some can even become gods and enjoy the privileges attached to this status, as is the case for Heracles who, after completing twelve labors, reaches Olympus. Basically, heroes are mortals who perform exceptional feats whose stories ensure posterity.
Heroes often sit on the border between fact and legend, especially when it comes to kings or military leaders and their exploits consist of combat. Most of the Greek heroes are children of Zeus , a real womanizer each time he comes to Earth, who is thus credited with an important offspring.
The 10 Most Legendary Greek Heroes in Mythology, Their History and Attributes
Most of the legendary Greek heroes are related to the Homeric cycles which constitute a set of stories from Greek mythology relating to the Trojan War. But in the Olympus of heroes there is also room for other heroes and heroines.
1. Heracles
Figure of the Greek hero par excellence, Heracles (Hercules in Roman mythology) was born of the union between Zeus and a mortal, Alcmene, daughter of King Electryon of Mycenae. In mythology, Alcmene, seduced by Zeus who has taken on the appearance of her husband, gives birth to an extraordinary being, named Alcide.
In the service of Hera, wife of Zeus, Alcide takes the name of Heracles. From an early age, he shows an impetuous and angry character, with fits of rage where he can lose all control of himself. Thus, in a moment of madness, he kills his wife and children, condemning him to overcome 12 titanic trials:
Kill the Nemean Lion, Kill the Lernaean Hydra, Capture the Cerynian Doe, Capture the Erymanthian Boar, Clean the Stables of Augeas, Kill the Stymphalian Lake Birds, Capture the Cretan Bull, Steal the Mares of Diomedes, bring back Hippolyte’s belt, steal Geryon’s herd, take the golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides and capture Cerberus.
Heracles finally reaches Olympus where he embodies the values ​​of the male Greek hero: virility, courage, strength, pride, courage in battle and sexual vigor.
2. Ulysses
Ulysses (or Odysseus) is the most famous hero of Greek mythology, immortalized in The Odyssey and The Iliad of Homer. King of Ithaca, an island in the Ionian Sea, son of Laertes and Anticleia, Odysseus embodies cunning, intelligence, strategy and the ability to adapt.
The legend describes him as a just and honest sovereign who, having reached adulthood, married Penelope, daughter of King Icarios of Sparta where Helen broke her engagement with her husband, Menelaus, to flee to Troy with Paris and his most valuable possessions. These facts are at the origin of a war whose outcome is attributed to the genius of Ulysses.
According to legend, after having besieged Troy for ten years in vain, the Greeks had a giant wooden horse built on the initiative of Ulysses, inside which there were about twenty Greek warriors led directly by Ulysses. After the episode of Troy, the Odyssey recounts the return of Odysseus to Ithaca at the end of a long ten-year journey full of dangers which he manages to overcome thanks to cunning.
3. Achilles
The Oracle of Delphi had revealed to Odysseus that the Trojan War could not be won without the help of Achilles, one of the greatest heroes of Greek mythology. Achilles was indeed one of the main protagonists of the Illiad, considered invincible, except at the level of the heel, and the fastest man.
In fact, Achilles was killed during the Trojan War by an arrow in his heel, thus giving his name to this anatomical part and to an expression that refers to a person’s weak point. Achilles also enjoys the privilege of being celebrated as the finest and most attractive hero of his time.
The myth of Achilles’ heel is part of the legend of his birth. Son of King Peleus and the nymph Thetis, Achilles was immersed by his mother in the waters of the Styx to make him immortal. In doing so, she held him by the heel which, not submerged, remained the only vulnerable part of Achilles’ body.
4.Hector
Hector, Trojan prince in charge of the defense of the city besieged by the Achaeans, is one of the victims of Achilles whom he faces in a duel to the death, the most spectacular in Greek mythology.
According to a legend, Pontos would have brought Hector back to life in Tartarus, where the Titans have been imprisoned since their defeat against the gods of Olympus, but with a body of stone. Son of Priam, King of Troy, and his second wife, Hecuba, Hector is married to Andromache, a symbol of love and fidelity beyond the cruelty of war.
In the Trojan cycle, Hector is like Achilles, but unlike the latter, he is more human: he suffers, he is afraid and doubts whether to sacrifice his life for his people or to remain faithful to his wife and his family.
5. Theseus
Theseus is the son of Aegeus, ninth king of Athens, and Ethra, daughter of Pittheus, king of Troezene, although some stories say he was born of the union between Poseidon and Thetis, a sea nymph. In the most common version, Pitthée would have drunk Aegeus before making him spend the night with his daughter so that she could father a hero, as announced by the oracle of Delphi.
Once an adult and the name of his father has been revealed to him, Theseus arms himself with courage to go to Athens and claim his right to the throne. On the way, he lives many adventures and has to face many dangers, imitating in this Heracles whom he admires. He thus fights giants and must undergo initiatory ordeals.
However, its place in Greek mythology is primarily due to the myth of the Minotaur. According to legend, Aegeus killed the son of Minos, king of Crete, who in revenge besieged the city of Athens. As a price for its defeat, Athens must deliver part of its youth each year to feed the Minotaur locked in a labyrinth.
Theseus becomes a hero when he decides to put an end to this humiliation by entering the labyrinth to kill the Minotaur. Upon arriving in Crete, the king’s daughter falls in love with the hero and offers him an invisible thread so that he can find his way once the monster is eliminated.
6. Perseus
Warned by the oracle of Delphi that he would die by the hand of his grandson, Acrisios, king of Argos, locks up his daughter Danae in a tower where all contact with a man is impossible for him. This does not prevent Zeus from seducing her in the form of golden rain falling from the roof. Pregnant, Danae gives birth to Perseus.
The legend attributes to Perseus the foundation of the city of Mycenae as well as the values ​​of courage and strength. Wanting to get rid of Perseus to marry his mother, Polydectus instructs him to bring her the head of Medusa as a gift, a sea monster with hair formed of snakes, capable of petrifying men with a simple look.
But Athena helps him defeat the monster by entrusting Perseus with a shield through which he can see Medusa without looking directly at her. Hades’ helmet also allows him to turn invisible and thus escape the vengeance of Medusa’s immortal sisters.
Perseus is also credited with freeing Andromeda, chained to a rock as a sacrifice to Keto, a sea monster. After defeating Keto, Perseus frees the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, marries her and bears her seven children.
7. Persephone
If Greek mythology makes the hero an essentially male figure, it also reserves a place, alongside the gods of Olympus, for certain heroines. Daughter of Zeus and Demeter , Persephone is thus one of the most popular heroines of Greek mythology.
According to legend, Persephone, of rare beauty, was raised by her mother apart from the world, dismissing all her suitors one by one (Hermes, Ares, Apollo and Hephaestus). One day, while she is busy picking flowers in the forest with nymphs, she is noticed by Hades who emerges from the bowels of the Earth.
While Hades abducts Persephone, Demeter searches in vain for several days throughout Olympus, plunging into a great depression. No longer supporting the pain of his beloved, Zeus sends Hermes to free Persephone. Hades agrees after feeding Persephone six pomegranate seeds.
In doing so, a curse falls on her who must stay in the underworld with Hades for a month for each pip eaten. Thus, Demeter finds her daughter six months a year, during which time the earth becomes fertile again. This compromise is at the origin of the revelation of the Eleusinian mysteries.
Since then, the Eleusinian Mysteries have become one of the most important initiation rites in classical Greek culture. The myth of Persephone’s abduction is also important because it mythologizes this heroine as the goddess of the underworld.
8. Agamemnon
Agamemnon is one of the greatest heroes of Greek mythology. Son of Atreus, king of Mycenae and Aéropé, Cretan princess, and brother of Menelaus, he is one of the central characters of the Trojan War.
According to legend, Atreus entrusts Aegisthus with the mission of killing Thyestes, who is locked up in a dungeon. But Thyestes recognizes in Aegisthus his son who finally kills Atreus. The children of Atreus, Agamemnon and Menelaus, are then banished from Mycenae and wander aimlessly until they reach Sparta. It was there that Agamemnon married Clytemnestra, with whom he had several children, including Iphigenia, while Menelaus married Helen.
After his return to Mycenae, Agamemnon dethrones Thyestes and takes the crown. When Paris abducts Helen, the Achaean rulers choose Agamemnon as commander-in-chief of an army which, after seven years of preparation, embarks on war against Troy. Back home, he is treacherously murdered by Aegisthus, who has seduced his wife.
Although inferior in strength and courage to Achilles, Agamemnon stands out as one of the most important Greek heroes in terms of his dignity, his power and his prestige.
9. Clytemnestra
Clytemnestra is the result of the union between a mortal, Leda, and Zeus who took on the appearance of a swan. Having mated the same night with her husband Tyndareus, Leda lays two eggs, giving birth for one to Clytemnestra and Castor, children of Tyndareus and for the other, Pollux and Helena, children of Zeus.
In Greek mythology, Clytemnestra embodies a tragic character who symbolizes both passion and pride. After having been faithful to her husband, she is blinded by rage when the latter, placed at the head of the Achaean army, decides to sacrifice their daughter, Iphigenia, so that the gods may favor her in battle.
To take revenge on him, she takes her enemy Aegisthus as her lover throughout the ten years of the Trojan War. They take advantage of this period to plan the murder of Agamemnon, which is for Clytemnestra a sweet and cold revenge.
During this long period when Clytemnestra and her lover reigned in Mycenae, some sources indicate that the three remaining children of her marriage knew of their mother’s betrayal. Electra then convinces Orestes to avenge their father Agamemnon.
10. Iphigenia
A figure in the works of Euripides and cyclical epics, this tragic character from Greek mythology personifies the victim of human errors, the anger of the gods and the misfortunes born of hatred and war.
Iphigenia is the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Agamemnon’s companions having hunted a sacred deer by mistake, Artemis, goddess of the hunt, prevents the fleet of the king and his companions from leaving for Troy. When questioned, the oracle replies that the anger of the goddess can only be appeased if Agamemnon sacrifices Iphigenia.
Agamemnon accepts and brings his daughter under the pretext of marrying her to Achilles. According to one version, at the fateful moment of the sacrifice, Artemis replaces Iphigenia with a deer and then transforms her into a priestess. According to other versions, the murder is committed and later avenged by Clytemnestra.
