The daughter of the king of Crete Minos and Pasiphae, Ariadne played a key role in the killing of the Minotaur by the hero of Athens, Theseus. However, although he promised to marry her, Theseus later abandoned Ariadne on the island of Naxos.

Theseus arrived in Crete as one of the 14 young men and women who were sent by Athens every year as a blood tax for the murder of a Cretan prince. All of them became a sacrifice in the Minotaur. This monster, half a man and half a bull, was the result of the unnatural pairing of Pasiphae with the white bull of god Neptune. He was kept hidden in a palace with complex corridors and hidden rooms, called the Labyrinth that was built by the architect Daedalus. None of the young victims ever managed to kill the Minotaur or escape from the Labyrinth.

Ariadne had a plan

When Ariadne saw Theseus, who had just arrived in Crete, she fell in love with him. She promised him to show him the way out of the Labyrinth if he agreed to marry her and take her back to Athens. Theseus agreed, and Ariadne gave him a string of twine (or golden thread) that Daedalus had given her. Having tied one end of the skein to the entrance of the Labyrinth, he began to unravel it as he walked through the corridors. Thus Theseus could follow the path to the exit if he managed to kill the Minotaur.

When he finally came out, Ariadne led Theseus and the other Athenian survivors to the harbor where they boarded his ship and sail for Athens. At this point there are various versions of the myth about the continuity of the story. In the most widespread version, the Athenian ship arrived on the island of Naxos, where Ariadne fell asleep on the beach. Theseus with his companions sailed away, leaving her there. When Ariadne woke up, she found herself abandoned by her beloved, for whom she had betrayed her homeland and her family. However, Dionysus, the god of wine, had fallen in love with her and descended from his palace to take her as a wife.

Variations of myth

Another version of the myth says that Dionysus himself ordered Theseus to leave Ariadne, since the god had chosen her to be his bride. Other variations of the story say that Ariadne despaired so much when she realized she was alone, that she was hanged. Another version of the story reports that Theseus and pregnant Ariadne were led in a tornado in Cyprus, where she eventually died during childbirth.

Historical framework

The story of Ariadne and Theseus portrays the process in which Athens was liberated from Crete, which in 1200 BC was The leading power throughout the Mediterranean. Athenian Theseus puts an end to tax demands and earns the princess for his bride as a prize.

Ariadne itself, whose name derives from the words "aria" and "agne", that is, very pure or very pleasant, for a time was worshiped as the goddess of fertility in Crete and the Eastern Mediterranean. Its association with Bacchus (Dionysus), which was not only a god of wine, but also of dance, entertainment and abundance, seems to link the early Eastern with the later deities of renewal and fertility. A circle dance about the fertility that Theseus leads, is described in the "DIMON" hymn of Kallimachus, written in the 3rd century BC. And Ariadne may be leading such a dance on Crete, on a labyrinth floor that was built by Daidalos for this reason.

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The story of Arachne is about a woman that was transformed into a spider by the goddess Athena, as a warning to the ancient Greeks to respect the gods.
Arachne  was the daughter of Idmon, who some say he was aristocrat, while others claim he was a painter. They lived in the ancient Greek city of Colophon in Lydia. The area was known for its woven fabrics, and Arachne was raised as an excellent weaver.
It was rumored that she owed her talent to the goddess Athena, who was the protector of weaving art. The arrogance of Arachne displeased Athena, so the goddess was disguised as an elderly woman who warned the girl to recognize the supremacy of Athena. 
Arachne, however, refused to do so, and told the old woman that she could defeat Athena in a weaving contest. Listening to this, Athena revealed herself to Arachne, and they both immediately started working on different textiles. Athena's embroidery depicted her own triumphant achievements and showed in detail the fortunes of the mortals who dared to challenge the gods. The work of Arachne satirized the gods, especially the lust for the mortal women that had Poseidon, Apollo, Dionysus, and above all Zeus himself, who often tricked his victims before seduce them.

Outraged by the insolence of Arachne, as well as by her unparalleled aptitude, Athena touched the front of the girl, forcing her to feel such guilt, that she hang herself. Shocked by this development, Athena sprouted the body of Arachne with the acorn (which is a poisonous plant), turning her into a spider.
From there, the spider took its name(in greek Arachne means spider), but also the excellent art that it exhibits when weaving its web.

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Antigone was one of the four children born of the hereditary relationship of Oedipus, the king of Thebes, with his mother, Iokaste. In Greek mythology and drama, Antigone's greatest virtue was devotion: she led her father after his blindness and self-exile, while in the case of the burial of her brother Polyneices, she chose the duty to the family and the laws of the gods over the laws of the state.
When King Oedipus went to exile, Antigone accompanied him to Kolonos, Attica. Her two brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, stayed in Thebes under the regency of their uncle, Creon. When Oedipus died, Antigone returned to Thebes to live with her brothers and uncle, as well as her sister Ismene. Until then, the brothers had matured and competed for the throne of Thebes. They decided to take over the administration of the city in turn: one year  would rule Eteocles, Polyneices next year, and so on. However, at the end of the first year, Eteocles did not show any willingness to deliver the throne to his brother. Polyneikes was forced into exile and resorted to Adrastus, king of Argos and married his daughter, Argyia.  Adrastos helped Polyneikes assemble a huge army with seven leaders attacking Thebes - the army was known as Seven against Thebes.
 

 

The Seven failed miserably, but not before the two sons of Oedipus confronted each other and killed each other in the battle. As a result, Creon, their uncle, became the king. He made an honorary funeral to Eteocles, but forbade the burial of Polyneices, for whom he felt he had betrayed his people with the siege of the city. This was a very harsh punishment: the ancient Greeks believed that without a burial, a human soul could not enter Hades and as a result would roam unceasingly upon the earth. Antigone could not accept this treatment of her brother's body by Creon, and so with a handful of soil he gave him a symbolic burial. She also asked Ismene to help her, but her sister was too scared. Antigone’s action was a direct violation of the king's orders, and so Creon condemned her to death. He locked her in a tomb room and sealed its entrance. But the old prophet Tiresias warned the king that he would be cursed for the murder of Antigoni. Eventually, Creon regretted it. He allowed a proper burial for Polyneices and opened the entrance of Antigone's tomb, but it was too late: to avoid death from hunger, Antigone hung herself. The son of Creon, Ammon, who had been engaged to Antigone, committed suicide over his beloved dead body. His death led the wife of Creon, Eurydice, to also commit suicide. Only Creon himself stayed alive to suffer the curse that Tiresias had prophesied.

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Andromeda plays an important role in the Perseus myth. Her father was Cepheus, king of Ethiopia and her mother Cassiopea, who was famous throughout Greece for her beauty.

Andromeda ended up being as beautiful as her mother. Cassiopea, who was always bragging for her appearance, was too proud of her daughter's beauty. One day, the often jealous goddess Hera heard Cassiopea boast that her daughter and her were more beautiful than all the Nereids, the nymphs of the sea who were the daughters of God Neptune. Greek mythology is full of stories of gods who punish the sin of hubris or pride in people, and Cassiopea was to be an example to avoid.

Hera and the Nereids complained to Poseidon, who sent a flood to destroy Ethiopia. He also sent a dreadful female monster of the sea to haunt the coasts of the country. The creature was devastating and had an insatiable appetite for the human flesh.

Cepheus, after great consideration, asked for an oracle, who told him that the only way to get rid of the sea monster forever was to sacrifice his daughter Andromeda.  Cepheus protested to the gods, but they were adamant that this was the only way to be redeemed for the vanity of Cassiopea.

Andromeda was chained to a rock overlooking the sea, naked, wearing only her jewels, as the gods commanded. As she stood there, striking her tragic fate, she saw a young man passing by flying and tearing the air apart with a pair of winged sandals.
This was Perseus, the hero who had just killed the mermaid Medusa, with a magical sharp sword  returning to Argos with the monster's head on a ribbon. The bag, the sickle, the winged sandals, and a magic helmet that made him invisible had been given to him by the gods, to use them to kill the Gorgon, whose gaze turned anyone who looked into stone.

Perseus was surprised to see a beautiful woman chained to a rock. As he descended from the sky to take a closer look, he saw Andromeda's parents in despair watching her from the shore. They promised him he could marry Andromeda if he managed to save her from the monster. They did not finish their words, and the monster emerged from the sea and moved to Andromeda with its mouth open, ready to swallow her.

Perseus immediately flew in the air, pulled out Medusa's head from his bag and turned it over to the monster. The look of Medusa turned to stone the monster who stood unable to cope with the mermaid curse. Perseas then freed Andromeda from her chains and led her back to her parents who were crying with joy. Lastly, he sacrificed to all gods as a repentance for refusing them revenge. Poseidon later transformed the dead body of the monster into the first coral of the sea.
Andromeda, deeply impressed by the bravery of Perseus, fell in love with him. She asked her parents to let her marry him right away. They agreed with reluctance, but then Cassiopea secretly spoke to Agenor, who was already engaged to Andromeda, but had done nothing to help her when she was in grave danger. On the wedding day, Agenor arrived uninvited with a group of his friends, interrupting the ceremony and demanding that Andromeda canceled the union with Perseus. Cepheus and Cassiopea took the part of Agenor because he was the prince of a strong neighboring kingdom. When Perseus refused to put an end to the marriage, Agenor tried to take Andromeda away by force, while his friends launched a fierce attack against Perseus with their weapons.

Perseus had predicted the betrayal of Cassiopeia, and so he brought with him the magic bag containing the head of Medusa. He took it out and used it to turn Agenor and his friends to stone. He did the same to Cepheus and Cassiopea, so Cassiopea was punished for the sin of pride.

The gods decided to exemplify Cepheus and Cassiopea. So they set them up among the stars as constellations and as a warning to the wicked. At certain times of the year, the constellation of Cassiopea is turning upside down, so it is said to be punished even more.

As for Andromeda, Perseus flew back to Argos holding her in his arms. He then won his kingdom from his uncle, who had usurped the throne in his absence, and had many more adventures. Perseus and Andromeda eventually reigned in Tiryns, an ancient city in the Peloponnese, and their children ruled after them

When they died, Perseus and Andromeda also became constellations, but in their case, it was a great honor, not a terrible warning. One of the most well-known features of the Andromeda constellation is the nebula of Andromeda, the closest galaxy to our own.

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He was a hero from Argos. His father was called Oeklis and his mother Hypermnestra. He married the sister of Adrastos, Erifili, and acquired Alkmaion, Amphilochus, Eurydice and Iphianassa with her. He was an oracle, and so he knew that if he took part in the campaign against Thebes that Adrastos had prepared, he would be killed.

That's why he refused to take part. He was convinced by his wife Erifili, for they bribed her with the notorious necklace of Harmony. So Amphiaraus was forced to unite with the other leaders. But before he left, he had his son Alkmaion take an oath that he would avenge his death. When they arrived at Thebes, they besieged it and followed a terrible battle. Amphiaraos almost fell into the hands of the enemy. But Zeus intervened and suddenly split the earth open. The hero was drowned along with his chariot and thus avoided humiliation. In many cities of Greece he was worshiped as a hero and his famous temple in Oropos, Attica, Amphiaraeo is also well-known.

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He was a twin brother of Zethos. The two children were born from Zeus and Antiope, the daughter of the god river Asopos . Their mother gave birth to mount Kithairon and they were raised by shepherds.

Ancient Greeks considered him one of the greatest musicians of the time. They were saying that his brother Zithos had brought huge stones to Thebes. Amphion began playing his seven-string lyre with such an enchanting way that the stones were assembled on their own. Thus, the famous walls of Thebes with the seven gates, as well as the strings of the lyre, were built.

The two brothers killed the king of Thebes Lykos, because he tortured their mother, and they took his kingdom. Amphion married Niobe and had six sons and six daughters. They were both very proud, because they had many children and they spoke contemptuously about Leto, who only had two children with Zeus, Apollo and Artemis. For their arrogance they were severely punished. Apollo killed their boys and Artemis the girls.

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He was the son of the oracle Amphiaraus and Erifili. He was one of the Epigoni, one of the children of the Seven Generals, who had also campaigned against Thebes.

In this campaign he took part to avenge the death of his father. He excelled in the battlefield and killed the King of Thebes, Laomedon, son of Polyneikes.

When he returned from this campaign, he killed his mother to punish her for her double treason, betrayal against him and against his father. Polyneikes son of Oedipus wanted to campaign against Thebes. His purpose was to claim the throne from his brother Eteocles. So he asked for the help of the Seven Generals, among them Amphiaraos. He initially refused to take part, because, as an oracle , he knew that from all the leaders only Adrastos would return alive. But his wife, Erifili, persuaded him, and here’s why: Polyneikes had promised that if she could persuade her husband to take part in the campaign, he would give her the famous necklace of Harmony. So it happened. Amphiaraus was persuaded, but ordered his sons to kill their mother after the unfortunate end of the war and to campaign against Thebes. But in this case Erifili also betrayed her own. This time, she received the veil of Harmony from the son of Polyneikes Thersandros to persuade her sons to take part in the Epigonian campaign. After the fall of Thebes, Alkmaion killed her, when he learned of the bribe. It was natural for Erinyes to persecute him for this murder. That is why he had to resort to the king of Arkadia, Phigeas. He helped him to purify himself from the murder of his mother and gave him his daughter  Alphesivoea or Arsinoe for wife. Erinyes , however, continued to persecute him.

He then asked for a sign from the oracle. He was advised to go to a country that had not seen the sunlight when he killed his mother. Thus it was found in the estuary of Acheloos River, where the land around was formed by the floods of the river after his crime. There, he was purified for the second time and Acheloos gave him his daughter Kalliroe for wife. She begged him to bring her the veil and necklace of Harmony, taken by his mother Erifili, as a reward for her double betrayal. Alkmaion, however, had given them to Alphesivoea, the daughter of Fygeas. On the pretext that he wanted to dedicate them to Apollo, he took them back. But Fygea's sons killed him in ambush. However soon enough they also found death from the sons of Alkmaion, Acarnanas, and Amphoteros, who suddenly became men.

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Actaeon had been trained as an excellent hunter by the wise and courageous centaur Chiron. The story of Actaeon is known, however, not for his skills as a hunter, but because he ended up prey to his dogs when he was transformed into a male deer.

Actaeon's father was Aristaeus, the son of Apollo, and his mother Autonoe, the daughter of the first king of the Thebes, Cadmus. There are four basic versions of the myth of Actaeon. The most famous is found in the "Transformations" of the Roman poet Ovid. It is a collection of stories and myths, many of which relate to the transformation of humans into animals and plants.

According to Ovid, Actaeon hunted one day in the woods when he met the goddess Artemis and her nymphs following her bathing in a secret spring on Mount Kithairon. Artemis was a strict protector of the purity and virginity of her followers, so when she caught Actaeon looking at her naked body, she was outraged.

To avenge him,the goddess threw at him a few drops of water, turning him into a male deer. His own dogs did not recognize him, they got him into the hunt, and when they caught him, they tore him apart. After his death, the hunter's dogs were constantly screaming about their lost master.

Their cries made the Centaur Chiron to feel sorry for them. He made a statue out of his old student, which looked so alive that the dogs believed he was really their master, so they stopped howling.

In the second of the four most popular versions of story, the king of the gods of Zeus killed Actaeon because he flirted with his aunt Semeli, whom Zeus wanted for himself. In a third variation of the myth, Actaeon caused Artemis's wrath when he claimed to be a more capable hunter than her, while in the fourth version he asked Artemis to become his wife. The result in the last two cases was the same as the first: The goddess transformed Actaeon into a male deer, making him a prey and causing his death.

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Aeneas was a Trojan hero of Greek mythology, a prince son of mortal Anchises and goddess Aphrodite. In addition, Aeneas was the legendary founder of the Roman race.

Though Troy was in Asia Minor, it was fully influenced by Greece, Greek culture, as it was an old commercial colony of Greeks in the region. So although many of the Trojans were not considered Greeks, they married Greeks, had Greek cus, spoke Greek, worshiped the same gods, even their royal generation was descended from the king of gods, Zeus. Aeneas is said to be the son of the goddess Aphrodite. The main source of Aeneas' stories is Eneada, written by the Roman poet Virgil, but there were many other legends in the Greek world.

Venus did not choose Anchises as a lover. Their union was arranged by Zeus as a punishment because he accused her of using her power on him to fall in love with mortal women. Aphrodite was ashamed of her union. She forbade Anchises to talk about it, but she vowed that their son would become a great hero. After the birth of Aeneas, nymphs took care of him, and brought him up until he grew up enough to become a warrior.

Aeneas matured at the beginning of the Trojan War. There is the opinion that Aeneas as well as other heroes, including Achilles and Odysseus, are transient figures standing at the brink of a change in people's culture. After the Trojan War, the demigods such as Aeneas and Achilles would cease to influence the fate of the nations, and also the world would no longer be "inhabited" by the supernatural monsters and witches Aeneas and Odysseus were facing on their journeys.

When the Achaeans besieged Troy, Aeneas helped defending the city as the leader of a group of Trojan allies called the Dardans. He was one of the most prolific defenders of Troy, although he was forced to flee by the supreme Greek warrior, Achilles, when in more than one cases he escaped death with the intervention of the gods. Although Aeneas and Priam were on the same side, there was a friction between them. The antipathy between them is due to the suggestion that Aeneas made, that the Trojans should capitulate with the Achaeans. In any case, when the Achaeans invaded Troy, Aeneas, unlike other Trojan warriors, either escaped or was allowed to leave. The hero, taking his elderly father to his shoulders, and his little son Ascanio by hand, led a group of survivors away from the ruined city. But in confusion he lost his wife, Kresa.

Wandering in the Mediterranean

The Trojan fugitives wandered for years in search of a new homeland. As during the Trojan War, goddess Aphrodite helped them, while goddess Hera continued the war against the Trojans. During these voyages the Trojans suffered, some died because of the storms and hardships, and failed several times to establish a new city. They met other survivors from Troy, but they could not escape its tragic fate.

According to the stories, the Trojans initially tried to establish the city of Aenea in Thrace, but they were prevented from doing so by terrifying omens. When they were sailing again they arrived at the island of Delos. There they were advised by the oracle of Apollo, to find their "first Mother". Anchises concluded that he probably meant the island of Crete, the original homeland of the royal generation of the Trojans. When they arrived there, the Trojans attempted to establish a town called Pergamon, as Troy had previously been called. However, when the Trojans were hit by a plague, they realized that this was probably the first homeland of another part of the royal family, originating in Italy.

Traveling to the west, the Trojans stopped on the islands where they encountered the Arpiyes, the frightened female monsters that had fought with Jason and the Argonauts. Continuing their journey, they were found in Aktio, on the west coast of Greece, where they held athletic games in honor of Apollo. The next step of their journey brought them to Bouthroto, northwestern Greece, where they met the oracle lord Elenos, the only living son of Priam. Elenos gave Aeneas important information about the rest of his trip. Sailing for Sicily, the Trojans tricked the Cyclops and avoided Scylla and Charybdis, who had caused problems in Odysseus. At the next stop  Drepanos, Anchises died of natural causes. As they sailed to the mainland of Italy, the goddess Hera sent a terrible storm that plunged many Trojan ships, while the rest were drifted to Carthage on the shores of modern Tunisia.

In North Africa, the Trojans were invited to join a colony of the Phoenicians, governed by Queen Dido.
Aeneas fell in love with Dido, but the gods reported to him that the fate of the Trojans was not to unite with the Phoenicians, but with the Italians. So Aeneas with great reluctance sailed away. He left in the middle of the night, and when Dido learned it, she swore an eternal struggle between the Carthaginians and the future Romans, and then committed suicide.

The Trojans arrived again in Italy. Returning initially to Sicily, they conducted racing games to honor Anchises. After the games, the Trojans, tired of wandering, set fire on the ships, but Aeneas prayed in Zeus to send rain so that only four boats were burned. Arriving in Kymi (near modern Naples), Aeneas consulted the fortune-teller Sivilla who sent him to the Under World after leading him to bring a golden branch from a sacred forest. In the Under World, Aeneas faced the ghosts of his former rivals and allies, as well as the shadow of his father, who showed him the glorious future of Rome. Guided by Anchises and other divine oes, the Trojans insisted until they found the estuary of the Tiber River.

Approaching the end of the journey

Though they had reached the promised land, the Trojan suffering was not over. Aeneas tried to make a treaty with the inhabitants of the Tiber region, the Latins, whose King Latino was of Greek descent. Latin initially agreed to an alliance, and promised his daughter Lavinia to Aeneas. However, he had earlier called it to Turnos, prince of the Rutylons, who led by Hera threatened with war. Then Aeneas found an ally, king Evander, of another Greek colony of Arcadians who had settled near the future location of Rome.

The war broke out. On one side, Tournos led an alliance of Latins, Rutyls and Etruscans under the Tyrant Mezentius. Against them was Aeneas with the Trojans and their allies, including the Arcadians of Evander and another group of Etruscans with King Tarchon. Many were killed on both sides, such as the son of Evander Pallas and the two brave brothers Nisos and Euryalus from the Trojans. Mezentios and Camilla, a Latin female warrior, were also killed. During the battles Turnos tried to set fire to the Greek ships. However, Hera, enraged because the ships were made of sacred woods from her forests, pleaded with Zeus, who transformed the ships into water nymphs.

The Death of a Hero

Enraged at Pallas' death, Aeneas killed Turno in battle. With their supreme warrior dead, the Latin alliance was dissolved and begged for peace. Hera finally accepted the Trojan presence in Tiber. Aeneas married Lavinia, who for some became Jules' mother. Perhaps she was also the mother of Aeneas’ daughter, Ilias. Aeneas reigned a people mixed with the Trojans and Italians and founded a new city called Lavinio, near the future location of Rome, which was later established by the descendants of Aeneas, Rome and Romulus.

Aeneas died just three years after arriving in Italy. Some versions say he was killed in the battle, while others, he just disappeared after his victory. After his death, Aphrodite pleaded with the other gods and made her son immortal, as did other heroes like Hercules.

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 Agamemnon was the king of Mycenae. His father was Atreus and his mother, Aerope, the daughter of King Minos. His Brothers were Menelaus and Anaxives.

Because Thyestes killed his brother Atreus, the boys of Atreus, Agamemnon and Menelaus, fled to Sparta. There they married the daughters of King Tyndareus, Agamemnon wedded  Clytemnestra and Menelaos the Beautiful Helen. Homer says Agamemnon acquired three daughters and a son, namely Chrysostomi, Laodice, Afianassa and Orestes. Other writers after Homer, instead of his last two daughters, mention Iphigenia and Electra.

Agamemnon managed to drive his uncle Thyestes from Mycenae and reign himself while Menelaus became King of Sparta. Later, when Paris stole the beautiful Helen from Sparta, the Greeks, led by Agamemnon, campaigned against Troy. The troops assembled in Aulis, Viotia. There, during a hunt, Agamemnon accidentally killed a deer, dedicated to the goddess Artemis. The goddess was angry and ordered no wind to blow. So the fleet could not start from the port, as the ships were sailing. Agamemnon then asked for help from oracle Calhas, who advised him to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia. When "the sacrifice" took place, then only the Trojan campaign was possible.

During the siege of Troy, Agamemnon had a slave, Cressida, daughter of Chryssis, who was the priest of Apollo. Achilles had a slave, Briseida. But Agamemnon was forced to give Cressida back to her father, because Apollo had sent a bad illness (plague) to the camp of the Greeks. To replace her, he grabbed Briseida from Achilles. This was the reason for the two leaders to argue and to “split” the greek camp in half. Eventually they were reconciled.

When Troy finally fell, Agamemnon returned to Mycenae, bringing with him as a slave, Kassandra, the daughter of King Priam. There he found death from the hand of Clytemnestra and his cousin Aegisthus. Later, Orestes' son, with the help of Electra, avenged his death.

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With this name there are two heroes of ancient Greek mythology.

1. Ajax of Telamon, the son of the king of Salamis and Perivia, brother of Teykros. Because he was huge in stature, he was named the Great. He is considered with Diomedes the second heroic heroes of the Trojan war after Achilles. He alone removed the Trojans when they approached the Greek ships and almost burned them. He also faced Hector in a duel. After the death of Achilles he demanded to be given the hero's weapons. Eventually, however, Odysseus won them with the help of Athena. Ajax felt insulted, throw himself on his sword, and committed suicide. There is also the view that he was crazy and thinking that he was killing his enemies, he rushed over the sheep of the Greeks and strangled them. When he came along, he felt so shameful that he was thrown on his sword and committed suicide.

2. Ajax of Locris, son of Oileas, king of Locris. It was also called Ajax the Little, unlike the Great one. He was also an excellent warrior and after Achilles, fastest runner on his feet. He was defeated by Poseidon because of his insolence. Another variation of the myth says he insulted the daughter of Priam Kassandra in the sanctuary of Athena and caused the goddess to wrath.

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Hector is one of the key characters in the history of the Trojan War. He was the eldest brother of the Trojan Prince Paris, and is regarded by the ancient Greeks as gentle, fair and fearless in battle.

Hector was the oldest of many children of the king of Troy, Priamos. Although he was yet another son of Priam, responsible for the Trojan War, the ancient Greeks saw Hector with respect and admiration. Although he was an enemy, he was a figure of authority and enormous courage. They also believed that Hector did not approve of the actions of Paris, although dedication to the brother made him fight for him.
During the Trojan War, Hektor was the leader of the Trojan forces in their battles against the Achaeans (Greek) invaders. But the story of Hector is not just a story of war and battle. On the contrary, emphasis is placed on the importance that ancient Greeks gave to the institution of the family. In Homer's Iliad, dating back to the 8th century BC, there is a particular emotional scene where Hector, having just finished a tough fight, enjoys happy moments with his wife, Andromachi and their little son, Astyanax . Later in history, Homer describes the deep suffering of Andromachi and the Trojans in general, when knowing the death of Hector.

Greece, Troy and the Trojan War

The ancient city of Troy was part of the network of city states with which Greece traded and had relations around the Mediterranean. According to myth, King Priam, who was descended from Zeus, heard a prophecy that Newborn Paris would bring about the destruction of Troy. Thus Priam abandoned him on a slope, but there was found a shepherd who saved the baby and raised him as his own child. When he grew up, Paris returned to Troy and reunited with the royal family. Priam sent him to Greece where he visited King Menelaus of Sparta. The goddess of love, Aphrodite, had promised Paris that she would marry him with the most beautiful woman in the world, who was Menelaus' wife and her name was Helen. Helen and Paris were eloped and settled in Troy. When the Greeks learned of the insult to King Menelaos, they gathered the greatest army of that time, and they fought against Troy to take Helen back. So the Trojan War began.

King Priam was already old when the war began, so Hector was chosen to lead the troops of the Troy. Hector was the obvious choice to take the lead, not only because he was a prince, but also because he was renowned for his superiority in battle. The Greeks knew that if they could not kill him, they probably would not be able to conquer Troy. Hector was a terrible adversary, and he often had the help of God Apollo. It was one of the reasons that, according to myth, the Trojan War lasted for ten whole years. Although Hector was a skillful fighter and killed many of the best Greek warriors, he did not enjoy the war but saw the defense of the city as a sacred task. "Fight for one’s country is best" were the words with which he coached his co-operatives. In one case he tried to end the war by judging him with a duel between Paris and Menelaus, but Aphrodite fought in the battle to help Paris, and so the outcome of the duel was not clear.

The death of Hector.

The best warrior of the Greeks but also of the Trojan War was Achilles. However, because of a dispute with Agamemnon, the commander-in-chief of the Greeks, Achilles refused to fight and the Trojans had taken the upper hand. At that point, Patroclus, Achilles' best friend, decided to go to battle with Achilles' chariot, wearing Achilles' armor. He considered that if the Greek soldiers thought they had Achilles with them, they would fight with greater courage. He was right, so the Greeks led the battle back to the city. Hector, seeing that Achilles was also involved, was afraid to enter the battle. He knew that Achilles was a better warrior and could not confront him. Hector, however, overcame his fear and encountered the enemy in the battlefield, and as it turned out he was not Achilles, Ektor easily killed but Patroclus. Then he took the armor of Achilles from the body of Patroklos and wore it himself.

When he realized that Hector had killed his friend Patroclus, Achilles  decided to avenge his death and so he went back to battle. When Priam saw the danger of Achilles' raid, he ordered the Trojan army to retreat through the walls of the city. But Hector refused. He stayed outside the walls to face Achilles, but after a while he lost his courage and began to run away from him. Achilles chased him around the walls, until the goddess Athena, who supported the Greeks, tricked Hector. He appeared in front of him in the form of his brother, Deiphobus, and encouraged him to stand and fight. With the illusion that he had his brother beside him, Hector turned to face Achilles. In the battle that followed, Achilles killed him,  running his spear through Hector’s neck.
Without being satisfied with the death of Hector, Achilles tied his opponent's corpse behind his chariot and circled it around the battlefield before returning back to the camp. Zeus encouraged the death struck Priam to visit Achilles to ask him to give him his son's body. Achilles pitied the old king and handed him over the body. Then Priam returned to Troy with the body of Hector and prepared it for the funeral.

Soon after the death of Hector, the Greeks finally tricked the Trojans with the Trojan Horse and entered the city. They burned Troy, and they took Helen back to Greece. Hector's son, Astyanax, was thrown out of the battlements and killed, in order not to try and take revenge when he would grew up, while Andromachi was enslaved.

Hector and Troy

In the history of the Trojan War, especially in the version of Homer's Iliad, Hector is not just a great hero, but a symbol associated with the fate of Troy. Like Troy, he is strong, intact, and standing proud against the Greek invaders for a long time. The hopes of Troy rely on him, and as long as he endures, so does the city. As the Hector is lost, in the same way Troy is condemned. The trick that cheated Hector to fight Achilles and the humiliating way Achilles treated his body was the act of the Greeks against Troy. They tricked them with the hollow Trojan Horse, carrying concealed warriors headed by Odysseus, then burning the city and humiliating its inhabitants. The weakness of Troy, like Hector, was her refusal to do anything but to fight. Instead of negotiating to find a compromise solution that would end the war, Troy relies solely on its military power, such as the Hector in his own power, and as a result he falls victim to the prominence of the Greeks.



The admiration of the Greeks

Although Hector was Trojan, the ancient Greeks respected him and considered him a model military leader. They admired the virtue, the courage, the sense of duty, and believed that these virtues were more useful in the battle than the brutal, unpredictable violent behavior of his opponent, Achilles.

Despite all his virtues, Ektor was a tragic figure. Homer connects Hector with his family and describes in detail his wife's sorrow after his death, demonstrating that the victims of a war are not just the warriors but also their families.

Sources

Homer's Iliad is considered to be the primary major work around the Trojan War. A large part of the epic focuses on Hector's life during the last events of the war, and ends with the funeral of the hero. The Iliad, however, does not contain the end of the war, even though Homer refers it to his other great epic, the Odyssey. The tragic poet Euripides, in his work Troads, refers to the wife of Hector, Andromache, after the fall of Troy. Other classical writers such as Pindar, Apollodorus and Ovidius added elements with their works in the Trojan War. Of those, we know more about the end of the war and the fate of the Hector family.

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Alcestis was the daughter of Pelias, the same king of Iolkos, who sent his nephew Jason to recover the Golden fleece. The most famous version of her myth was revived in the tragedy of Euripides "Alcestis". Alcestis was the most beautiful of Pelia's three daughters and she received many wedding offers from various princes and kings. Pelias knew that his daughter's constant refusals to all those powerful suitors could threaten his position, and he devised a feat that the suitor would have to accomplish before he married his daughter. The challenge for the aspiring groom was to tame a wild boar and a lion together in a chariot and ride around a track.
These two animals were symbols of the different halves of the year in ancient Greece. The inclusion of these animals in myth has been interpreted as representing the peaceful division of a kingdom through marriage.

The king of Faerre Admetus had an advantage over other Alkistis suitors: the favor of god Apollo, who had once served as a sentence imposed on him by Zeus, whom he had outraged. His punishment was to become a servant of the Admetus. But Admetus did well and helped him even though he could humiliate the god without risking being punished. With the help of Apollo, Admetus completed the feat of Pelias and married Alcestis. Some time later, however, Admetus  became ill and seemed to be dying. Once again Apollo came to help him. The god intervened in the three Fates, Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, and persuaded them to save the life of Admetus, provided that someone else should die in his place. He did not think much about the implications of this agreement and agreed immediately. However, neither his friends nor his parents were enthusiastic to sacrifice their life for him. Only Alcestis offered herself as the replacement.

When Death, the god of the underworld arrived to take Alcestis away, he was neutralized after a raging battle with Hercules. Armed with a bat from a wild olive branch, Hercules forced Death to deliver Alcestis to her husband, and to restore happiness to their lives.

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In the most widely known version of the myth, Adonis was the son of Kinyras, the king of Cyprus. The goddess Aphrodite was the one who had led Myrra, King's daughter, or Smyrna, to an affectionate love for her father. Myra went to the King's bed in the dark, hiding her identity, and as a result Adonis was conceived. Kinyras felt horrified by the mistake he had made and wanted to kill his daughter. However, Venus was filled with guilt for her involvement in cheating, so fortunately she turned the girl into a tree later named after her: the myrrh. Adonis was miraculously born of the tree that had become his mother. He was incredibly handsome, and Aphrodite fell in love with him. She saved Adonis from Kinyras by placing the child on a carved chest and giving it to Persephone, the goddess of the Under World to take care of him. However, Persephone also fell in love with the beautiful boy-with a love that never ended. She refused to give him back to Aphrodite, and the two goddesses had a fierce controversy. Zeus was called upon to judge their rival claims. He believed that the boy would have to spend one third of the year on the earth with Aphrodite, one third of the year in the underworld with Persephone, and the other third in whatever way he chose. Adonis spent his free time in hunting.

Aphrodite had warned Adonis to be careful when hunting, but he was a stubborn young man who paid no attention. So when his dogs had a wild boar, he hurled his spear into the animal, only to strike it on the sides and then the boar rushed to attack him. With his teeth the animal took out the spear and run after the fleeing Adonis. When the animal caught the young man, he nailed one of the tusks into his groin. As Adonis was dying, Aphrodite heard his moans and turned her chariot in his direction. She took his amputated body in her arms and decided that a memorial would be held every year to honor her beloved one and that his blood every spring would turn into the flowers of the anemone. So the anemone that flourished with her command is a beautiful flower that is almost as beautiful as Adonis himself but with a short life.

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