stories

Here are just a few stories I found on other sites on the web.

ZEUS

The Ages of Man:
The Race of Gold
Zeus, the father of the gods, was also the father of human beings. He created a race of man that was mortal, kind, respectful, and that lived comfortably in freedom, safety, and peace. They lived long lives and died peacefully in their sleep. Zeus, though, had neglected giving them the ability to procreate, so that eventually they all passed away. This race was known as the Gold Race.
The Race of Silver
Zeus created a second race of mankind (still without procreative abilities). This race was far less virtuous than the first and much more juvenile. They spent most of their time in the pursuit of childish pleasures. They never learned respect for each other, or for the gods. Zeus became angry at them, and changed the conditions on earth so that it was much harder to find food and shelter. When their attitudes remained unchanged, he brought their lives to an early end.
The Race of Bronze
Zeus then created a third race of mankind (still without procreative abilities). These mortals were far inferior to even the Silver Race. Although they were endowed with brute strength, they turned out to be a cruel and war-loving peoples. They also eventually all died off.
The Race of Heroes
Zeus now created a fourth race of mankind (still without procreative abilities). These beings were more noble and virtuous than the Silver or Bronze race, and those that did not die in the Trojan War, or other wars, were placed upon the islands of heroes at the ends of the earth, to be ruled over by Cronus whom Zeus freed for that purpose.
The Race of Iron
The fifth race created by Zeus is the one now inhabiting the earth. So far, this race shows the defects of all the races (except the Gold) that preceded it; this bodes ill for our continuing existence, as Zeus has shown he has little patience for this kind of behavior.

HERCULES

EARLY YEARS & EDUCATION

So what sort of education and guidance did virile young Heracles receive? Only the best! Amphitryon taught his step-son the finer points of chariot driving, showing Herc how to round corners without grazing the markers or tipping over. You should have seen my cocky nephew, once he got the hang of it, screeching at full speed around the corners, his chariot often precariously balancing on one wheel, as he leaned mightily to keep it from crashing! Drove his poor mother Alcmene into hysterics every time!

"At least put on your helmet and seatbelt!" she would scream.

From Castor, Herc received fencing lessons, was taught the use of weapons, cavalry and infantry tactics, and was introduced to the rudiments of battle strategy. His boxing teacher was one of Hermes' sons, either Autolycus or Harpalycus. Talk about tough! Harpolycus looked so grim and deadly when fighting that none dared face him! He could knock out his opponents simply by glowering at them!

No wonder my nephew Herc never had a problem kicking butt! Just look at his tutors!

Eurytus taught him archery, or perhaps one of Amphitryon's herdsmen, the Scythian Teutarus. Even Apollo got involved, just to make sure Heracles got nothing but the finest instruction. Soon Herc surpassed all other archers ever born, becoming even better than his companion Alcon, who was father of Phalerus the Argonaut, and who had a most unnerving practice method.

You see, to hone his skill, Alcon would align a bunch of his soldiers in a straight line and set a succession of rings on their helmets. He then would shoot his arrow through the rings, as his soldiers stood motionless and tried to control their bowels, hoping above all that Alcon wasn't paying homage to Dionysus the previous evening...

Once, the son of Alcon was attacked by a serpent, which wound its coils about him and was suffocating the boy. Alcon coolly took out an arrow and shot with such skill as to mortally wound the snake, without hurting a hair on his son. Eat your heart out William Tell!

Yes, Alcon didn't know how to miss, and he transferred this magic to Hercules. One night the three of us cruised down to one of those travelling carnivals, where the huckster Centaurs try to fleece your drachmas by having you shoot an arrow from a great distance through this impossibly small target. Ha! Let's just say the boys cleaned up! The carnies hastily broke camp and left town before dawn, their tails between their legs, having completely run out of stuffed toy Minotaurs, Chimeras, Griffins and Medusas.

The boys donated the toys to the Special Olympics. The grateful Greeks in Herc's honor held a foot race and called it the Olympic Games. They had such a blast that they decided to do it every four years. The rest is athletic history most glorious, today's OOC notwithstanding...

It's unclear who taught Heracles astronomy and philosophy, but he was well versed in both subjects. As educated and worldly as he was, however, my nephew remained the embodiment of physical strength, as opposed to mental. Only the Celts honored him as the patron of letters and the bardic arts.

Eumolpus taught Herc how to play the lyre and sing, and the handsome youth Linus, son of the River-god Ismenius, turned him on to books and the wonders found therein. One day, however, Eumolpus was away and Linus was substituting as Herc's lyre teacher. Linus kept trying to get Heracles to change his playing style, but Herc was loyal to Eumolpus, and refused to comply. Linus proceeded to brutally beat Herc for his stubbornness.

Bad, bad move, and had Linus lived, he would have regretted it. After tolerating a succession of hard blows from Linus without flinching, Hercules finally lost it and, picking up the heavy lyre, struck Linus upside the head, killing him instantly.

Heracles was brought up on murder charges but at his trial astutely quoted a law of Rhadamanthys, which justified forcible resistance to an aggressor. In other words, "In your famous 'Zeus vs. Python' ruling, you in essence decided that it's perfectly ok to crush your attacker's skull with a medium-sized harp, as long as it's done in self-defense, your Honor."

Hey, you want to get a Supreme Court judge's attention, cite one of their own rulings. Herc got an absolute discharge, with not even a mark on his record. Ever after, the killing of Linus was interpreted by the spin doctors as an attack against tyranny.

Still, Amphitryon now was concerned that the boy might commit further violent crimes and sent him away to a cattle ranch until his eighteenth birthday. Here Herc was a man among boys, outstripping his contemporaries in height, strength and courage.

Apollodorus liked telling how Heracles's eyes flashed fire, and he had an unerring aim, both with javelin and arrow. He ate sparingly at noon; for supper his favorite food was roast meat and Doric barley-cakes. His tunic was short-skirted and neat; and he preferred a night under the stars to one spent indoors.

Plutarch explains that Herc's profound knowledge of augury, which is the ability to interpret omens, led him to welcome the appearance of vultures, whenever he was about to undertake a new Labor. "Vultures," he would say, "are the most righteous of birds: they do not attack even the smallest living creature."

Heracles fashioned his famous club from the New Year tree of ancient Greece, the Wild Olive tree, even bringing a sapling to Olympia from the land of the Hyperboreans.

I never knew my nephew Hercules to pick a quarrel or start a fight, but he always gave aggressors tit for tat. He subscribed to the Cyclopes theory, "an eye for an eye," and all that...

But only fools dared come on to Herc! One such chump, named Termerus, used to kill travelers by challenging them to a head-butting match. Thick-skulled Termerus had the temerity to insist that he and Heracles have a go. That's using your head. Like grandpa Hesiod would say, "Now there's a prime candidate for natural deselection. If Termerus was any more stupid, we'd have to water him twice a week."

Heracles obliged Termerus. Faster than you can say "Termerus terminatus," the big lug lay dead, his head crushed like an egg, with nary a bump to mar Herc's fair cranium.

I'm here to tell you, however, that my nephew Hercules was naturally courteous, well-mannered, and the perfect gentleman. Except for the time he murdered his wife and kids. But we can blame Hera for that, as we'll see next.

HERA

Hera set in motion the events which led to his 12 Labors. During the course of the Labors, the goddess stepped in to make things harder, stirring up the Amazons against Hercules, or sending a gadfly to break up the herd of Geryon's cattle.

Even after Hercules finished the Labors, and went on to other adventures, Hera got in his way. When the hero sailed from Troy, Hera sent violent storms that tossed the boat around like a toy. Zeus got so mad at Hera for causing trouble that he hung her off the edge of Mount Olympus.

Hercules did try to smooth things over with the angry queen of the gods; when he noticed that she had not opposed him during his fight against Hippocoon, he sacrificed goats to her, in thanks. When Hercules died, Hera's anger finally cooled, and after the hero ascended to Olympus, he married Hera's daughter, Hebe.

MINATAUR

Ariadne and Theseus: The Labyrinth:
King Minos of Crete angered Poseidon, for he had promised to sacrifice to the Sea God his most beautiful bull, but when the time came he could not bring himself to do so. Queen Pasipha�, his wife, had also neglected the Rites of Aphrodite, thereby incurring that goddesses' wrath. Therefore Poseidon and Aphrodite caused Pasipha� to fall in love with the bull. Through the contrivance of Daidalos, a master craftsman from Athens, they were able to mate, and so was born the minotaur, who was named Asterios (Star). Minos, in shame, ordered that Daidalos build the labyrinth to house it so that his wife's perfidy not be seen by the public. The labyrinth was so designed that it was easy to go in, but difficult, if not impossible, to come out again. At this time Crete was in conflict with Athens, and when the Athenians, struck by a terrible drought, asked advice from the oracle they were told they must appease Minos. Whereupon Minos demanded that every nine years, seven youths and seven maidens, chosen from the noblest of Athenian families, were to be sacrificed to the minotaur. When Minos came for the sacrificial victims, Theseus was chosen to be among them. Theseus picked six valiant youths and seven brave maidens to go with him to try to slay the beast. Ariadne (means "Very Holy") was the daughter of Minos. She hoped for some means of escape from her father's tainted kingdom, where she was Mistress of the Labyrinth. When she beheld Theseus disembarking from the boat, she immediately fell in love with him. She consulted with Daidalos and he taught her that the only way to exit the labyrinth was by the exact same path by which one had entered into it. And so she came up with the method called Ariadne's Thread, the use of a string to mark the way, by which Theseus might escape after the monster was killed. The minotaur was slain by Theseus and his companions and the Athenians were able to return from the labyrinth by using the string. The Athenians then set sail back to Athens with Ariadne. However, an ill wind blew the ship off course to the isle of Dia. There, Theseus and Ariadne were drugged and put to sleep. While they slept, Dionysos came to Theseus in a dream and claimed Ariadne as his bride, and when Theseus awoke, Athena led him away and told him that his destiny was in Athens, and that he must leave Ariadne behind. Theseus sadly boarded his ship and sailed for home. Theseus forgot, either because he was consumed with sorrow for having to leave Ariadne behind, or because Athena or Dionysos made him forget, that he had promised his father that if he was successful and killed the Minotaur he would take down the black sail and put up a white one. When King Aigeus saw the black sail come over the horizon, he threw himself in grief from the Acropolis and drowned. Ariadne and Dionysos meanwhile ascended together into the heavens where her crown is still visible (the constellation Corona). She became a goddess and dwells with Dionysos. She bore him two boys, Oinopion (from oinos, means wine) and Staphulos (from staphul� means a bunch of grapes).

MEDUSA

The Myth of Medusa the Monster

In the Athenian myth of the Greek hero Perseus, Medusa's female wisdom along with the potential of women in general is silenced and the forces of nature are conquered in an ultimate act of domination and vengeance.

Perseus is sent on a quest, by King Polydictes of Seriphos and Athena herself, to retrieve the head of the Gorgon, a deed said to require the maximum of heroic-male courage and skill. He is given magic winged sandals, a cap and a pouch,(a kibisis), from Hermes. Guided by Athena the entire time, he flies over the ocean to Lake Tritonis in Libya where makes his way through rough, thick woods. On the way to Medusa's palace he sees several statues of men and beasts. There are also stone pillars erected in honor of her deceased lovers. Perseus comes upon the sleeping Gorgons. While Athena holds out a shield as a mirror, Perseus decapitates Medusa with his crescent sword,(a harpe). Enraged, the Gorgon sisters chase after him but to no avail as his cap makes him invisible.

Perseus could not have completed this task without the help of the traitor warrior goddess Athena. It is she who guides and instructs him throughout his journey and slaying. Since the myth symbolized the usurping of her powerful roots in a culture where she and Medusa were one, it is appropriate that only she would know the secrets to find and defeat Medusa. (Apollodorous's Perseus myth and Pausanias's rational version of the myth)

HADES

Demeter, the goddess of the grain had a beautiful daughter named Persephone. One day the god of the underworld, Hades, caught sight of her and fell in love immediately. He had been unable to find a wife, and nobody wanted to live with him where the sun never shone. So when Persphone was playing in the fields, Hades split the earth in half and she fell. Demeter was very upset when she realized her daughter was missing. She neglected the plants and the trees to search for her. When she found out what had happened she pleaded to Zeus to make Hades give back her daughter. Zeus promised to help her because if he didn't the crops wouldn't grow and everybody would starve. So, he decreed that Hades should let Persephone go, because she had not tasted the food of the dead while she had been in the underworld. When the day came to let Persephone go Hades told her to eat six pomegranates seeds. And because she ate these six seeds, Persephone has to return to the Underworld for six months. Demeter becomes sad and then all the plants die which causes winter. But, when she comes back, Demeter is happy so there is spring.