Category: Greek Mythology
Theseus’ closest friend, Peirithous, who fought with him against the Amazons, played a prominent role in another incident, which seared itself into Athens’ psyche and was depicted on the …
To sail to Colchis, Jason commissioned a ship, the Argo, named after its builder, Argus, who constructed it from pine trees felled on Pelion, while Athene fitted to its …
With his wife Pasiphae (the daughter of Helios) Minos had many children, including two daughters, Ariadne and Phaedra, and a son, Androgeus. But Minos was a tireless womanizer, and …
The Centaurs of Mount Pelion were the hybrid children of Centaurus, the son of Ixion. Wishing to marry princess Dia, Ixion invited her father to bring her to his …
Athens was inhabited from the fifth millennium bc onwards, with evidence of settlements around the Agora and Acropolis dating to the fourth millennium bc. It began to flower in …
Cecrops was the first king to rule from Athens (his father-in-law, Actaeus, had his capital elsewhere in Attica). His torso, arms and head were human, but being earth-born his …
Minos’ craftsman Daedalus was also an Athenian, but he had fled to Knossos when he murdered one of his apprentices. Now that the labyrinth’s security was breached, he desperately …
Originally from Thrace, Sisyphus travelled to the Peloponnese with his brother Salmoneus. Both were overbearing; each hated the other; and, when Sisyphus seduced his brother’s daughter Tyro, it was …
The people of Argos were celebrating the Festival of Hera and it was vital that the priestess be driven to the temple by a yoked team of oxen. However, …
With Heracles dead, Eurystheus seized his chance to wreak vengeance on his hated cousin’s children. For some time Heracles’ mother Alcmene had been living in Tiryns with many of …
Tiryns was occupied from the mid-sixth millennium bc. Then the sea lapped close to the rocky outcrop, which rises abruptly from the plain to a height of just under …
As he passed over Ethiopia, Perseus saw a beautiful young girl tied naked to a stake beside the seashore. Even as he approached, the waves frothed and parted and …
Returning in triumph after dispatching the monster, Theseus discovered Athens plunged in mourning. Aegeus, convinced that his son had died, had leapt to his death either from Athens’ Acropolis …
Thanks to its position, Corinth was one of the richest cities in mainland Greece. Sited just south of the Isthmus, it possessed two ports – one providing access to …
Alerted, Aeetes ran to the shore, ordering his men to launch his fleet in pursuit of the pirates who had stolen his daughter and the fleece. At last, near …