1. CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION: The Value of Myths
ARGUS
CERBERUS
CHIMERA
CYCLOPS
LERNAEAN HYDRA
LION NEMEAN
MEDUSA
MINOTAUR

2. INTRODUCTION:
Most of us formed our first impressions of Greek myths as children from the summaries and
illustrated handbooks, movies, and cartoons that simplified and sanitized the doings of the gods
and heroes. The stories were fun, and they impressed us as something uncomplicated, or
frivolous. How, after all, could anyone take seriously such fantasy as Zeus's turning himself into a
bull or Kronos' swallowing his children? In time, youthful skepticism was reinforced by the
common opinion that myths are false and misleading. Commercial advertisements and political
speeches abound with claims of exploding the "myth" of this or that by telling the truth. In the way
of language, the word has become confused with the thing, and the meaningful place of Greek
myths in the society that created them has become distorted, if not lost, through our own culture's
estimation of myths. The Greek word mythos denoted "anything said by the mouth" and thereby
simply opposed the spoken word to the physical deed. In Homer, mythos also means a story or
tale— without any implication of truth or falsity. And Plato (c. 429-347), the first to employ the
term mythologia, meant by it only the telling of stories. As narratives, myths consist of words that
relate events and actions. The narrative begins with one situation, passes through a middle in
which the situation is elaborated upon or altered, then ends in quite another situation. The myth of
Daphne, for example, tells how Daphne, daughter of the river god Peneus, was pursued by
Apollo; she fled his embrace, praying for aid, and was changed into a laurel tree. Those stories
which we know today as Greek myths were a vital, working, and formative medium in Greek
society. For that reason, the study of Greek mythmaking, no less than the study of Greek history
or philosophy, provides insights into a civilization which has value for itself and for our own.
.

3. ARGUS PANOPTES or ARGOS (Ἄργος Πανόπτης)
PARENTS: ARGOS & ISMENE
ENCYCLOPEDIA:
Argus (Argos), surnamed Panoptes. His parentage is stated differently, and his father is called
Agenor, Arestor, Inachus, or Argus. He derived his surname, Panoptes, the all-seeing, from his
possessing a hundred eyes, some of which were always awake. He was of superhuman strength,
and after he had slain a fierce bull which ravaged Arcadia, a Satyr who robbed and violated
persons, the serpent Echidna, which rendered the roads unsafe, and the murderers of Apis. In a
classical case of mythological inconsistency, some say he had four eyes - two in the standard
placement and two in the back of his head - while others claim he had up to a hundred eyes all
over his body. This excess ocular equipment made Argus an excellent watchman, a talent which
the goddess Hera used to good effect in the case of Io. Io was a young priestess with whom
Hera's husband Zeus had fallen in love. Needless to say, Hera was jealous and angry, so she
changed Io into a cow. Or maybe Zeus himself brought about the transformation to hide the
object of his passion from Hera. In any case, once Io had become a heifer, Hera asked Argus to
keep an eye on her and let Hera know if Zeus came near. Argus was able to perform this watch
around the clock since he could always keep a lid or two peeled while the rest caught a little shut
eye. But Zeus told Hermes, god of thieves, to snatch Io away, and Hermes resorted to a clever
ruse. Disguising himself as a shepherd, he bored Argus with long-winded stories, beguiled him
with song and eventually lulled him to sleep by playing tunes on a shepherd's pipe, recently
invented by Pan. Or so, at least, goes one version of the tale. In another, Hermes killed Argus
with the cast of a stone.
MYTH:
There was once a maiden named Io, a priestess of Hera, who had disturbing dreams. Through
them she learned Zeus wished to deprive her of her virginity. She was the daughter of Inachus,
one of the River Gods and king of Argos. In time, Io told her father, Inachus, who consulted the
oracle. Told by the oracle that the king of the gods would show his wrath if not satisfied, Inachus
forced his daughter Io to leave his protection. One day, great god Zeus saw her and fell madly in
love with this maiden. Io was constantly avoiding his amorous attempts, until Zeus took the form
of clouds, surrounded her and made love to her.
Zeus in his seduction of Io had fore-sensed his spouse’s [Hera's] visit and transformed
poor Io into a sleek white cow, lovely still although a cow. Hera against her will, admired the
creature and asked whose she was, and whence she came and to what herd belonged,
pretending not to know the truth. He lied--`The earth had brought her forth’--so to deflect

4. questions about her birth. Then Hera begged the cow as a gift. What should he do? Too cruel to
give his darling! Not to give--suspicious; shame persuades but love dissuades. Love would have
won; but then--if he refused his wife so slight a gift, a cow, it well might seem no cow at all! The
goddess won her rival, but distrust lingered and still she feared her husband’s tricks, till, for safe-
keeping, she had given the cow to Argos of the hundred eyes, all watching and on duty round his
head, save two which took in turn their sleep and rest.
Whichever way he stood he looked at Io, Io before his eyes behind his back! By day he
let her graze, but when the sun sank down beneath the earth he stabled her and tied--for shame!-
-a halter round her neck. She browsed on leaves of trees and bitter weeds, and for her bed, poor
thing, lay on the ground, not always grassy, and drank the muddy streams; and when, to plead
with Argus, she would try to stretch her arms, she had no arms to stretch. When she complained,
a moo came from her throat, a startling sound. She nevertheless managed to reveal herself to her
father and sisters but as they thus grieved, Argus, star-eyed, drove off daughter from father,
hurrying her away to distant pastures. Then himself, afar, high on a mountain he sat up high to
keep his scrutiny on every side. But now heaven’s master Zeus could no more endure Io’s
distress, and summoned his son Hermes, whom the bright shining Maia bore, and charged him to
accomplish Argus’ death. Promptly he fastened on his ankle-wings, grasped in his fist the wand
that charms to sleep, put on his magic cap, and thus arrayed Zeus’ son Hermes sprang from his
father’s citadel down to earth. There he removed his cap, laid by his wings; only his wand he
kept. A herdsman now, he drove a flock of goats through the green byways, gathered as he went,
and played his pipes of reed. The strange sweet skill charmed Hera’s guardian. `My friend’, he
called, `whoever you are, well might you sit with me here on this rock, and see how cool the
shade extends congenial for a shepherd’s seat.’ So Hermes joined him, and with many a tale he
stayed the passing hours and on his reeds played soft refrains to lull the watching eyes. But
Argus fought to keep at bay the charms of slumber and, though many of his eyes were closed in
sleep, still many kept their guard. He asked too by what means this new design (for new it was),
the pipe of reeds, was found. Then the god told this story of Pan and his pursuit of the Nymphe
Syrinx . . . The tale remained untold; for Hermes saw all Argus’ eyelids closed and every eye
vanquished in sleep. He stopped and with his wand, his magic wand, soothed the tired resting
eyes and sealed their slumber; quick then with his sword he struck off the nodding head and from
the rock threw it all bloody, spattering the cliff with gore. Argus lay dead; so many eyes, so bright
quenched, and all hundred shrouded in one night. Hera retrieved those eyes to set in place
among the feathers of her bird, the peacock and filled his tail with starry jewels.

5. CERBERUS or KERBERUS (Κέρβερος)
PARENTS: TYPHOEUS & EKHIDNA
ENCYCLOPEDIA:
Cerberus was the gigantic hound which guarded the gates of Haides. He was posted to prevent
ghosts of the dead from leaving the underworld. Cerberus was described as a three-headed dog
with a serpent's tail, a mane of snakes, and a lion's claws. Some say he had fifty heads, though
this number might have included the heads of his serpentine mane. Hercules was sent to fetch
Cerberus forth from the underworld as one of his twelve labours, a task which he accomplished
through the grace of Persephone. Cerberus also appears in the story of Orpheus, who managed
to make him sleep by playing his music. This way, Orpeus was able to get into the underworld, in
order to look for Eurydice.
CE′RBERUS (Kerberos), the many-headed dog that guarded the entrance of Hades, is
mentioned as early as the Homeric poems, but simply as "the dog," and without the name of
Cerberus. (Il. viii. 368, Od. xi. 623.) Hesiod, who is the first that gives his name and origin, calls
him (Theog. 311) fifty-headed and a son of Typhaon and Echidna. Later writers describe him as a
monster with only three heads, with the tail of a serpent and a mane consisting of the heads of
various snakes. (Apollod. ii. 5. § 12; Eurip. Here. fur. 24, 611; Virg. Aen. vi. 417; Ov. Met. iv. 449.)
Some poets again call him many-headed or hundred-headed. (Horat. Carm. ii. 13. 34; Tzetz. ad
Lycoph. 678; Senec. Here. fur. 784.) The place where Cerberus kept watch was according to
some at the mouth of the Acheron, and according to others at the gates of Hades, into which he
admitted the shades, but never let them out again.
MYTH:
The most dangerous labor of all was the twelfth and final one. Eurystheus ordered Hercules to go
to the Underworld and kidnap the beast called Cerberus (or Kerberos). Eurystheus must have
been sure Hercules would never succeed at this impossible task! The ancient Greeks believed
that after a person died, his or her spirit went to the world below and dwelled for eternity in the
depths of the earth. The Underworld was the kingdom of Hades, also called Pluto, and his wife,
Persephone. Depending on how a person lived his or her life, they might or might not experience
never-ending punishment in Hades. All souls, whether good or bad, were destined for the
kingdom of Hades. Cerberus' parents were the monster Echinda (half-woman, half-serpent) and
Typhon (a fire-breathing giant covered with dragons and serpents). Even the gods of Olympus
were afraid of Typhon.
Among the children attributed to this awful couple were Orthus (or Othros), the Hydra of
Lerna, and the Chimaera. Orthus was a two-headed hound which guarded the cattle of Geryon.

6. With the Chimaera, Orthus fathered the Nemean Lion and the Sphinx. The Chimaera was a
three-headed fire-breathing monster, part lion, part snake, and part goat. Hercules seemed to
have a lot of experience dealing with this family: he killed Orthus, when he stole the cattle of
Geryon, and strangled the Nemean Lion. Compared to these unfortunate family members,
Cerberus was actually rather lucky.
Before making the trip to the Underworld, Hercules decided that he should take some
extra precautions. This was, after all, a journey from which no mortal had ever returned. Hercules
knew that once in the kingdom of Hades, he might not be allowed to leave and rejoin the living.
The hero went to Eleusis and saw Eumolpus, a priest who began what were known as the
Eleusinian Mysteries. The mysteries were sacred religious rites which celebrated the myth of
Demeter and her daughter Persephone. The ancients believed that those who learned the
secrets of the mysteries would have happiness in the Underworld. After the hero met a few
conditions of membership, Eumolpus initiated Hercules into the mysteries.
Hercules went to a place called Taenarum in Laconia. Through a deep, rocky cave,
Hercules made his way down to the Underworld. He encountered monsters, heroes, and ghosts
as he made his way through Hades. He even engaged in a wrestling contest! Then, finally, he
found Hades and asked the god for Cerberus. The lord of the Underworld replied that Hercules
could indeed take Cerberus with him, but only if he overpowered the beast with nothing more
than his own brute strength.
A weaponless Hercules set off to find Cerberus. Near the gates of Acheron, one of the
five rivers of the Underworld, Hercules encountered Cerberus. Undaunted, the hero threw his
strong arms around the beast, perhaps grasping all three heads at once, and wrestled Cerberus
into submission. The dragon in the tail of the fierce flesh-eating guard dog bit Hercules, but that
did not stop him. Cerberus had to submit to the force of the hero, and Hercules brought Cerberus
to Eurystheus. Unlike other monsters that crossed the path of the legendary hero, Cerberus was
returned safely to Hades, where he resumed guarding the gateway to the Underworld.
Presumably, Hercules inflicted no lasting damage on Cerberus, except, of course, the wound to
his pride!
Hercules returning to earth with Kerberos tells of his journey to the Underworld :
`Whoever of the gods from on high looks down on things of earth, and would not be defiled by a
strange, new sight, let him turn away his gaze, lift his eyes to heaven, and shun the warning. Let
only two look on this monster [Cerberus]--him who brought and her who ordered it. To appoint me
penalties and tasks earth is not broad enough for Hera's hate. I have seen places unapproached
by any, unknown to Phoebus [the sun], those gloomy spaces which the baser pole hath yielded to
infernal Haides; and if the regions of the third estate pleased me, I might have reigned. The chaos
of everlasting night, and something worse than night, and the grim gods and the fates--all these I
saw and, having flouted death, I have come back. What else remains? I have seen and revealed

7. the lower world. If aught is left to do, give it to me, O Hera; too long already dost thou let my
hands lie idle. What dost thou bid me conquer? Here the savage Stygian dog frightens the
shades; tossing back and forth his triple heads, with huge bayings he guards the realm. Around
his head, foul with corruption, serpents lap, his shaggy man bristles with vipers, and in his twisted
tail a long snake hisses. His rage matches his shape. Soon as he feels the stir of feet he raises
his head, rough with darting snakes, and with ears erect catches at the onsped sound, he is to
hear even the shades. When Hercules stood closer, within his cave the dog crouches hesitant
and feels a touch of fear. Then suddenly, with deep bayings, he terrifies the silent places; the
snakes hiss threateningly along all his shoulders. The clamour of his dreadful voice, issuing from
triple throats, fills even the blessed shades with dread.
Then from his left arm the hero looses the fierce-grinning jaws, thrusts out before him the
Cleonaean head and, beneath that huge shield crouching, plies his mighty club with victorious
right hand. Now here, now there, with unremitting blows he whirls it, redoubling the strokes. At
last the dog, vanquished ceases his threatenings and, spent with struggle, lowers all his heads
and yields all wardship of his cavern. Both rulers [Haides and Persephone] shiver on their throne,
and bid lead the dog away. Me also Theseus trapped in Haides they give as boon to Alcides’
prayer. Then, stroking the monster’s sullen necks, he binds him with chains of adamant. Forgetful
of himself, the watchful guardian of the dusky realm droops his ears, trembling and willing to be
led, owns his master, and with muzzle lowered follows after, beating both his sides with snaky
tail. But when he came to the Taenarian borders, and the strange gleam of unknown light smote
on his eyes, though conquered he regained his courage and in frenzy shook his ponderous
chains. Almost he bore his conqueror away, back dragging him, forward bent, and forced him to
give ground. Then even to my aid Alcides looked, and with our twofold strength we drew the dog
along, mad with rage and attempting fruitless war, and brought him out to earth. But when he saw
the bright light of day and viewed the clear spaces of the shining sky, black night rose over him
and he turned his gaze to ground, closed tight his eyes and shut out the hated light; backward he
turned his face and with all his necks sought the earth; then in the shadow of Hercules he hid his
head."
OTHER VERSION ( may incorporate a bit of both)
The descent of Heracles to the underworld is his twelfth and ultimate labor. Like most other
heroes of the descent, he must struggle with the forces of death, and, also like the others, he
rescues a fellow human being, Theseus, from these forces. 5 10 15 20 25 30 Now had come the
time for the twelfth and last of the labours that Hercules did for his master Eurystheus. This labour
would seem to anyone by far the hardest; for the hero was commanded to descend into the lower
world, and bring back with him from the kingdom of Proserpine the terrible three-headed watch-
dog Cerberus. Hercules took the dark path which before him had been trodden only by Orpheus

8. and Theseus and Pirithous. Orpheus had returned. Theseus and Pirithous, for their wicked
attempt, were still imprisoned. Hercules passed the Furies, undaunted by the frightful eyes
beneath the writhing serpents of their hair. He passed the great criminals, Sisyphus, Tantalus and
the rest. He passed by his friend, the unhappy Theseus, who was sitting immovably fixed to a
rock, and he came at last into the terrible presence of black Pluto himself, who sat on his dark
throne with his young wife Proserpine beside him. To the King and Queen of the Dead Hercules
explained the reason of his coming. "Go," said Pluto, "and, so long as you use no weapon, but
only your bare hands, you may take my watch-dog Cerberus to the upper air." Hercules thanked
the dreadful king for giving him the-permission which he had asked. Then he made one more
request which was that Theseus, who had sinned only by keeping his promise to his friend, might
be allowed to return again to life. This, too, was granted him. Theseus rose to his feet again and
accompanied the hero to the entrance of hell, where the huge dog Cerberus, with his three heads
and his three deep baying voices, glared savagely at the intruders. Even this tremendous animal
proved no match for Hercules, who with his vice-like grip stifled the breath in two of the shaggy
throats, then lifted the beast upon his shoulders and began to ascend again, Theseus following
close behind, the path that leads to the world of men. They say that when he carried Cerberus to
Mycenae, Eurystheus fled in terror to another city and was now actually glad that Hercules had
completed what might seem to have been twelve impossible labours. Cerberus was restored to
his place in Hell and never again visited the upper world. Nor did Hercules ever go down to the
place of the dead, since, after further trials, he was destined to live among the gods above. (Rex
Warner, The Stories of the Greeks, pp. 101-102.)

9. CHIMERA or KHIMAIRA (Χίµαιρα)
PARENTS: TYPHOEUS & EKHIDNA
ENCYCLOPEDIA:
THE KHIMAIRA (or Chimera) was a monstrous beast which ravaged the countryside of Lykia in
Anatolia. It was a composite creature, with the body and maned head of a lion, a goat's head
rising from its back, a set of goat-udders, and a serpentine tail.
The hero Bellerophon was commanded to slay it by King Iobates. He rode into battle against the
beast on the back of the winged horse Pegasos and, driving a lead-tipped lance down the
Khimaira's flaming throat, suffocated it. The Khimaira may have once been identified with the
winter-rising Constellation Capricorn (the serpent-tailed goat). The constellation Pegasos appears
to drive her from the heavens in spring. Late classical writers represent the beast as a metaphor
for a Lycian volcano.
CHIMAERA (Chimaira), a fire-breathing monster, which, according to the Homeric
poems, was of divine origin. She was brought up by Amisodarus, king of Caria, and afterwards
made great havoc in all the country around and among men. The fore part of her body was that of
a lion, and the hind part that of a dragon, while the middle was that of a goat. (Hom. Il. vi. 180,
xvi. 328 ; comp. Ov. Met. ix. 646.) According to Hesiod (Theog. 319, &c.), she was a daughter of
Typhaon and Echidna, and had three heads, one of each of the three animals before mentioned,
whence she is called trikephalos or trisômatos. (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 634; Eurip. Ion, 203, &c.;
Apollod. i. 9. § 3, ii. 3. § 1.) She was killed by Bellerophon, and Virgil (Aen. vi. 288) places her
together with other monsters at the entrance of Orcus. The origin of the notion of this fire-
breathing monster must probably be sought for in the volcano of the name of Chimaera near
Phaselis, in Lycia (Plin. H. N. ii. 106, v. 27; Mela. i. 15), or in the volcanic valley near the Cragus
(Strab. xiv. p. 665, &c.), which is described as the scene of the events connected with the
Chimaera. In the works of art recently discovered in Lycia, we find several representations of the
Chimaera in the simple form of a species of lion still occurring in that country.
MYTH:
Glaucus was an excellent horseman and taught his son all he knew about horses (we shouldn’t
forget that Bellerophon had in his genes, too, a passion for horses, from his real father, god
Poseidon).
His life was more or less normal, until he killed by accident another man (whose name differs,
according to different authors. Sometimes the man who was killed is called Bellerus, which also
explains the origin of the name Bellerophon - to me it looks more like a nickname - that is,
"Bellerus' killer". Another explanation for his name is “bearing darts”.)

10. At that time, when someone comitted murder, he had to leave his city and find someone who
would purify his sin. That’s why Bellerophon left his city, Corynth, and went to Tyrins, where king
Proetus purified him (I found his name also spelled Proteus). Our hero was young and valiant,
that’s why Proetus’ wife, Stheneboea, fell in love with him. She made a pass at him, but he
refused, so she got very angry and told her husband that Bellerophon had tried to seduce her.
The king should have killed him, in order to wash away the offence, but the laws of hospitality
forbade killing a person you ate with, or else it would be a horrible offence to the gods. (The laws
of hospitality were finally something nice in those cruel times).
So Proetus asked Bellerophon to deliver a letter to his father-in-law, Iobates, king of
Lycia, in which he asked a big favour: to put the bearer to death. Our hero was not as shrewd as
Hamlet (who, in a similar situation, read the letter and replaced it with a forged one), so he never
thought of reading it. When he arrived at king Iobates’ court, he was well received and invited to
dinner. This created a problem for the king, when he read the letter: now he was in the same
position as his son-in law, he couldn’t kill his guest because they had eaten together. To say
nothing about this absurd situation: having in front of you someone who brings a letter which
requests his own death.
But soon he had a brilliant idea: his country was devastated by a horrible fire-breathing
monster, the Chimera. He [ordered Bellerophon to slay the Chimera, assuming that he would
instead be destroyed himself by the beast, since not even a quantity of men could subdue it with
ease, let alone one. For it was a single being that had the force of three beasts, the front part of a
lion, the tail of a dragon, and the third (middle) head was that of a goat, through which it breathed
out fire. It despoiled the countryside and ravaged the herds. This way, Iobates could do what his
son-in-law-asked, without getting his hands dirty.
Bellerophon was pleased to show what a valiant hero he was... but he needed a special
horse for such a special enterprise. He thought the most appropriate one was Pegasus, the
winged horse. A wise man and a seer, Polyeidus (or Polyidus), told him to bring gifts to Athena’s
temple and sleep there for one night. In his dream, Bellerophon saw goddess Athena who
brought him a golden bridle. When he woke up in the morning, he found the golden bridle next to
him. He took it and went to the well Pirene, where Pegasus would come and drink.
The hero managed to harness the horse and to get on his back, and ever since Bellerophon and
Pegasus were inseparable. So off they went to kill the Chimera. But each time the hero
would shoot his arrows, the fire breath would just melt them and transform them into match sticks.
So how did Bellerophon slay the Chimera? He had a brilliant idea: he attached a lump of lead to
his spear and threw it into the monster’s mouth. Chimera’s fire made the lead melt, and it went
down its throat, killing it. You can imagine Iobates disappointment when he saw Bellerophon and
Pegasus come back. He still wanted to do what he had been asked, so he sent the hero to fight

11. against the enemy tribe of the Solymi. Bellerophon managed to kill them all and to come back, so
Iobates sent him to fight against the Amazons. Needless to say, he came back successful again.
When the king saw that nothing worked, he gathered an army of Lycians and told them to
ambush Bellerophon. Guess what? The hero killed them all (sort of Van Damme). At his point,
Iobates had to acknowledge the fact that Bellerophon was protected by the gods, so maybe he
wasn’t guilty of the accusations after all. That’s why the king gave up his attempts of killing the
hero and gave him in marriage his daughter, Philonoe. Later, he also showed him the
incriminating letter.
The hero decided to go back to Tyrins and prove his innocence. When Stheneboea saw
Bellerophon and Pegasus arrive, she knew she was in trouble. Some say Bellerophon took her
for a ride on Pegasus and pushed her from the horse, into the sea (but this is not a nice thing to
do for a hero). Some others say she stole the winged horse and tried to flee, but Pegasus threw
her into the sea. Others yet say she committed suicide when she found out that her sister was
going to marry Bellerophon (this time, Pegasus and Bellerophon had nothing to do with her
death). You can imagine Iobates disappointment when he saw Bellerophon and Pegasus come
back. He still wanted to do what he had been asked, so he sent the hero to fight against the
enemy tribe of the Solymi. Bellerophon managed to kill them all and to come back, so Iobates
sent him to fight against the Amazons. Needless to say, he came back successful again.
When the king saw that nothing worked, he gathered an army of Lycians and told them to
ambush Bellerophon. Guess what? The hero killed them all (sort of Van Damme). At his point,
Iobates had to acknowledge the fact that Bellerophon was protected by the gods, so maybe he
wasn’t guilty of the accusations after all. That’s why the king gave up his attempts of killing the
hero and gave him in marriage his daughter, Philonoe. Later, he also showed him the
incriminating letter. The hero decided to go back to Tyrins and prove his innocence. When
Stheneboea saw Bellerophon and Pegasus arrive, she knew she was in trouble. Some say
Bellerophon took her for a ride on Pegasus and pushed her from the horse, into the sea (but this
is not a nice thing to do for a hero). Some others say she stole the winged horse and tried to flee,
but Pegasus threw her into the sea. Others yet say she committed suicide when she found out
that her sister was going to marry Bellerophon (this time, Pegasus and Bellerophon had nothing
to do with her death).

12. CYCLOPS (Κύκλωψ)
PARENTS: OURANOS & GAIA
ENCYCLOPEDIA:
THE ELDER KYKLOPES (or Cyclopes) were the three, orb-eyed, immortal giants who forged the
lightning-bolts of Zeus. As soon as they were born, their father Ouranos (the Sky) locked them
away inside the belly of Earth, along with their stormy brothers, the Hekatonkheires. When the
Titanes overthrew him, they then drove the giants into the pit of Tartaros. Zeus and his brothers
eventually released them and in return they provided the god with his thunderbolt, Poseidon with
his storm-raising trident, and Haides with a helm of invisibility. Some say there were a total of
seven forging Kyklopes. The additional four, sons of the first, were slain by Apollon to avenge the
death of his son Asklepios, who was struck down by lightning. The tribe of younger Kyklopes
which Odysseus encountered on his travels were a different breed altogether, probably born from
the blood of the castrated sky-god Ouranos.
CYCLO′PES (Kuklôpes), that is, creatures with round or circular eyes. The tradition about
these beings has undergone several changes and modifications in its development in Greek
mythology, though some traces of their identity remain visible throughout. According to the
ancient cosmogonies, the Cyclopes were the sons of Uranus and Ge; they belonged to the
Titans, and were three in number, whose names were Arges, Steropes, and Brontes, and each of
them had only one eye on his forehead. Together with the other Titans, they were cast by their
father into Tartarus, but, instigated by their mother, they assisted Cronus in usurping the
government. But Cronus again threw them into Tartarus, and as Zeus released them in his war
against Cronus and the Titans, the Cyclopes provided Zeus with thunderbolts and lightning, Pluto
with a helmet, and Poseidon with a trident. (Apollod. i. 1; Hes. Theog. 503.) Henceforth they
remained the ministers of Zeus, but were afterwards killed by Apollo for having furnished Zeus
with the thunderbolts to kill Asclepius. (Apollod. iii. 10. § 4.) According to others, however, it was
not the Cyclopes themselves that were killed, but their sons. (Schol. ad Eurip. Alcest. 1.)
In the Homeric poems the Cyclopes are a gigantic, insolent, and lawless race of
shepherds, who lived in the south-western part of Sicily, and devoured human beings. They
neglected agriculture, and the fruits of the field were reaped by them without labour. They had no
laws or political institutions, and each lived with his wives and children in a cave of a mountain,
and ruled over them with arbitrary power. (Hom. Od. vi. 5, ix. 106, &c., 190, &c., 240, &c., x. 200.)
Homer does not distinctly state that all of the Cyclopes were one-eyed, but Polyphemus, the
principal among them, is described as having only one eye on his forehead. (Od. i. 69, ix. 383,

13. &c.; comp. Polyphemus.) The Homeric Cyclopes are no longer the servants of Zeus, but they
disregard him. (Od. ix. 275; comp. Virg. Aen. vi. 636 ; Callim. Hymn. in Dian. 53.)
A still later tradition regarded the Cyclopes as the assistants of Hephaestus. Volcanoes were the
workshops of that god, and mount Aetna in Sicily and the neighbouring isles were accordingly
considered as their abodes. As the assistants of Hephaestus they are no longer shepherds, but
make the metal armour and ornaments for gods and heroes; they work with such might that Sicily
and all the neighbouring islands resound with their hammering. Their number is, like that in the
Homeric poems, no longer confined to three, but their residence is removed from the south-
western to the eastern part of Sicily (Virg. Georg. iv. 170, Aen. viii. 433; Callim. Hymn. in Dian.
56, &c.; Eurip. Cycl. 599; Val. Flacc. ii. 420.) Two of their names are the same as in the
cosmogonic tradition, but new names also were invented, for we find one Cyclops bearing the
name of Pyracmon, and another that of Acamas. (Calim. Hymn. in Dian. 68; Virg. Aen. viii. 425;
Val. Place. i. 583.)
The Cyclopes, who were regarded as skilful architects in later accounts, were a race of
men who appear to be different from the Cyclopes whom we have considered hitherto, for they
are described as a Thracian tribe, which derived its name from a king Cyclops. They were
expelled from their homes in Thrace, and went to the Curetes (Crete) and to Lycia. Thence they
followed Proetus to protect him, by the gigantic walls which they constructed, against Acrisius.
The grand fortifications of Argos, Tiryns, and Mycenae, were in later times regarded as their
works. (Apollod. ii. 1. § 2; Strab. viii. p. 373; Paus. ii. 16. § 4; Schol.ad Eurip. Orest. 953.) Such
walls, commonly known by the name of Cyclopean walls, still exist in various parts of ancient
Greece and Italy, and consist of unhewn polygones, which are sometimes 20 or 30 feet in
breadth. The story of the Cyclopes having built them seems to be a mere invention, and admits
neither of an historical nor geographical explanation. Homer, for instance, knows nothing of
Cyclopean walls, and he calls Tiryns merely a polis teichioessa. (Il. ii. 559.) The Cyclopean walls
were probably constructed by an ancient race of men--perhaps the Pelasgians--who occupied the
countries in which they occur before the nations of which we have historical records; and later
generations, being struck by their grandeur as much as ourselves, ascribed their building to a
fabulous race of Cyclopes.
In works of art the Cyclopes are represented as sturdy men with one eye on their forehead, and
the place which in other human beings is occupied by the eyes, is marked in figures of the
Cyclopes by a line. According to the explanation of Plato (ap. Strab. xiii. p. 592), the Cyclopes
were beings typical of the original condition of uncivilized men ; but this explanation is not
satisfactory, and the cosmogonic Cyclopes at least must be regarded as personifications of
certain powers manifested in nature, which is sufficiently indicated by their names.
MYTH:

14. Ouranos (Sky) was the first to rule over the entire world. He married Ge (Earth) and sired first the
Hekatonkheires, who were names Briareos, Gyes and Kottos . . . After these he sired the
Kyklopes, by name Arges (Flash), Steropes (Lightning), and Brontes (Thunder), each of whom
had one eye in his forehead. For of all the children that were born of Gaia and Ouranos, these
were the most terrible and they were hated by their own father from the first. And he used to hide
them all away in a secret place of Gaia (Earth) so soon as each was born, and would not suffer
them to come up into the light: and Ouranos rejoiced in his evil doing. Ouranos (Sky) bound these
and threw them into Tartaros, a place in Haides’ realm as dark as Erebos, and as far away from
the earth as the earth is from the sky. Now Ge (Earth), distressed by the loss of her children into
Tartaros, persuaded the Titanes to attack their father, and she gave Kronos a sickle made of
adamant. But vast Gaia (Earth) groaned within, being straitened, and she made the element of
grey flint and shaped a great sickle, and told her plan to her dear sons the Titans. And she spoke,
cheering them, while she was vexed in her dear heart : `My children, gotten of a sinful father, if
you will obey me, we should punish the vile outrage of your father; for he first thought of doing
shameful things.' So she said; but fear seized them all, and none of them uttered a word. But
great Kronos the wily took courage and answered his dear mother : `Mother, I will undertake to do
this deed, for I reverence not our father of evil name, for he first thought of doing shameful things.'
So he said : and vast Gaia rejoiced greatly in spirit, and set and hid him in an ambush,
and put in his hands a jagged sickle, and revealed to him the whole plot " So all of them except
Okeanos set upon Ouranos (Sky), and Kronos cut off his genitals, tossing them into the sea . . .
Thus having overthrown Ouranos’ rule the Titanes retrieved their brothers from Tartaros and gave
the power to Kronos. But Kronos once again bound the Kyklopes and confined them in Tartaros."
Cronus then placed them back in Tartarus, where they remained, guarded by the female dragon
Campe, until freed by Zeus. They fashioned thunderbolts for Zeus to use as weapons, and
helped him overthrow Cronus and the other Titans. The thunderbolts, which became Zeus' main
weapons, were forged by all three Cyclopes, in that Arges added brightness, Brontes added
thunder, and Steropes added lightning. These Cyclopes also created Poseidon's trident, Artemis'
bow and arrows of moonlight, Apollo's bow and arrows of sun rays, and the helmet of darkness
that Hades gave to Perseus on his quest to kill Medusa. According to a hymn of Callimachus,
they were Hephaestus' helpers at the forge. The Cyclopes were said to have built the "cyclopean"
fortifications at Tiryns and Mycenae in the Peloponnese. The noises proceeding from the heart of
volcanoes were attributed to their operations.
Apollo slew the Cyclopes in revenge when Zeus killed his son, Asclepius, with a
Cyclopes-forged thunderbolt.

15. LERNAEAN HYDRA (Λερναία Ὕδρα)
PARENTS: TYPHOEUS & EKHIDNA
ENCYCLOPEDIA:
HYDRA LERNAIA was a gigantic, nine-headed water-serpent, which haunted the swamps of
Lerna. Herakles was sent to destroy her as one of his twelve labours, but for each of her heads
that he decapitated, two more sprang forth. So with the help of Iolaos, he applied burning brands
to the severed stumps, cauterizing the wounds and preventing regeneration. In the battle he also
crushed a giant crab beneath his heel which had come to assist Hydra. The Hydra and the Crab
were afterwards placed amongst the stars by Hera as the Constellations Hydra and Cancer. This
monster, like the lion, was the offspring of Typhon and Echidna, and was brought up by Hera. It
ravaged the country of Lernae near Argos, and dwelt in a swamp near the well of Amymone: it
was formidable by its nine heads, the middle of which was immortal. Heracles, with burning
arrows, hunted up the monster, and with his club or a sickle he cut off its heads; but in the place
of the head he cut off, two new ones grew forth each time, and a gigantic crab came to the
assistance of the hydra, and wounded Heracles. However, with the assistance of his faithful
servant Iolaus, he burned away the heads of the hydra, and buried the ninth or immortal one
under a huge rock. Having thus conquered the monster, he poisoned his arrows with its bile,
whence the wounds inflicted by them became incurable. Eurystheus declared the victory
unlawful, as Heracles had won it with the aid of Iolaus. (Hes. Theog. 313, &c.; Apollod. ii. 5. § 2;
Diod. iv. 11; Eurip. Herc. Fur. 419, 1188, Ion, 192; Ov. Met. ix. 70; Virg. Aen. viii. 300; Paus. ii. 36.
§ 6, 37. § 4, v. 5. § 5; Hygin. Fab. 30.)
THE NEMEAN LION (Λέων της Νεµέας)
PARENTS: ORTHROS & KHIMAIRA
ENCYCLOPEDIA:
THE LEON NEMEIOS (or Nemean lion) was a large lion, whose hide was impervious to
weapons, which plagued the district of Nemea in the Argolis. King Eurystheus commanded
Herakles to destroy the beast as the first of his twelve Labours. The hero cornered the lion in its
cave and seizing it by the neck wrestled it to death. He then skinned its hide to make a lion-skin
cape, one of his most distinctive attributes. Hera afterwards placed the lion amongst the stars as
the constellation Leo. NEMEAN LION. The mountain valley of Nemea, between Cleonae and
Phlius, was inhabited by a lion, the offspring of Typhon (or Orthrus) and Echidna. (Hes. Theog.

16. 327; Apollod. ii. 5. § 1; comp. Aelian, H. A. xii. 7, Serv. ad Aen. viii. 295.) Eurystheus ordered
Heracles to bring him the skin of this monster. When Heracles arrived at Cleonae, he was
hospitably received by a poor man called Molorchus. This man was on the point of offering up a
sacrifice, but Heracles persuaded him to delay it for thirty days until he should return from his fight
with the lion, in order that then they might together offer sacrifices to Zeus Soter; but Heracles
added, that if he himself should not return, the man should offer a sacrifice to him as a hero. The
thirty days passed away, and as Heracles did not return, Molorchus made preparations for the
heroic sacrifice; but at that moment Heracles arrived in triumph over the monster, which was
slain, and both sacrificed to Zeus Soter. Heracles, after having in vain used his club and arrows
against the lion, had blocked up one of the entrances to the den, and entering by the other, he
strangled the animal with his own hands. According to Theocritus (xxv. 251, &c.), the contest did
not take place in the den, but in the open air, and Heracles is said to have lost a finger in the
tru=ggle. (Ptolem. Heph. 2.) He returned to Eurystheus carrying the dead lion on his shoulders;
and Eurystheus, frightened at tile gigantic strength of the hero, took to flight, and ordered him in
future to deliver the account of his exploits outside the gates of the town. (Diod. iv. 11; Apollod.,
Theocrit. ll. cc..)
MYTH:
The story of the twelve labors of Heracles is one of the world's most famous symbolic records of
the trials and glories of adult life. Here the hero travels to all corners of the earth in search of the
tasks which will "make his name." Before he was eighteen he had done many famous deeds in
the country of Thebes, and Creon, the king, gave him his daughter in marriage. But he could not
long escape the anger of Juno, who afflicted him with a sudden madness, so that he did not know
what he was doing and in a fit of frenzy killed both his wife and his children. When he came to his
senses, in horror and shame at what he had done, he visited the great cliffs of Delphi, where the
eagles circle all day and where Apollo's oracle is. There he asked how he could be purified of his
sin and he was told by the oracle that he must go to Mycenae and for twelve years obey all the
commands of the cowardly king Eurystheus, his kinsman. It seemed a hard and cruel sentence,
but the oracle told him also, that at the end of many labours he would be received among the
gods. Hercules therefore departed to the rocky citadel of Mycenae that looks down upon the blue
water of the bay of Argos. He was skilled in the use of every weapon, having been educated, like
Jason was, by the wise centaur Chiron. He was tall and immensely powerful. When Eurystheus
saw him he was both terrified of him and jealous of his great powers. He began to devise labours
that would seem impossible, yet Hercules accomplished them all. First he was ordered to destroy
and to bring back to Mycenae the lion of Nemea which for long had ravaged all the countryside to
the north. Hercules took his bow and arrows, and, in the forest of Nemea, cut himself a great
club, so heavy that a man nowadays could hardly lift it. This club he carried ever afterwards as

17. his chief weapon. He found that his arrows had no effect on the tough skin of the lion, but, as the
beast sprang at him, he half-stunned it with his club, then closing in with it, he seized it by the
throat and killed it with his bare hands. They say that when he carried back on his shoulders to
Mycenae the body of the huge beast, Eurystheus fled in terror and ordered Hercules never again
to enter the gates of the city, but to wait outside until he was told to come in. Eurystheus also built
for himself a special strong room of brass into which he would retire if he was ever again
frightened by the power and valiance of Hercules.
Hercules himself took the skin of the lion and made it into a cloak which he wore ever
afterwards, sometimes with the lion's head covering his own head like a cap, sometimes with it
slung backwards over his shoulders. The next task given to Hercules by Eurystheus was to
destroy a huge water snake, called the Hydra, which lived in the marshes of Argos, was filled with
poison and had fifty venomous heads. Hercules, with his friend and companion, the young Iolaus,
set out from Mycenae and came to the great cavern, sacred to Pan, which is a holy place in the
hills near Argos. Below this cavern a river gushes out of the rock. Willows and plane-trees
surround the source and the brilliant green of grass. It is the freshest and most delightful place.
But, as the river flows downwards to the sea, it becomes wide and shallow, extending into
pestilential marshes, the home of stinging flies and mosquitoes. In these marshes they found the
Hydra, and Hercules, with his great club, began to crush the beast's heads, afterwards cutting
them off with his sword. Yet the more he laboured, the more difficult his task became. From the
stump of each head that he cut off two other heads, with forked and hissing tongues, immediately
sprang. Faced with an endless and increasing effort, Hercules was at a loss what to do. It
seemed to him that heat might prove more powerful than cold steel, and he commanded Iolaus to
burn the root of each head with a red-hot iron immediately it was severed from the neck. This
plan was successful. The heads no longer sprouted up again, and soon the dangerous and
destructive animal lay dead, though still writhing in the black marsh water among the reeds.
Hercules cut its body open and dipped his arrows in the blood. Henceforward these arrows would
bring certain death, even if they only grazed the skin, so powerful was the Hydra's poison.
Eurystheus next ordered Hercules to capture and bring back alive a stag, sacred to Diana and
famous for its great fleetness of foot, which lived in the waste mountains and forests, and never
yet had been approached in the chase. For a whole year Hercules pursued this animal, resting for
the hours of darkness and pressing on next day in its tracks. For many months he was wholly
outdistanced; valleys and forests divided him from his prey. But at the end of the year the stag,
weary of the long hunt, could run no longer. Hercules seized it in his strong hands, tied first its
forelegs and then its hind legs together, put the body of the beast, with its drooping antlered
head, over his neck, and proceeded to return to the palace of King Eurystheus. However, as he
was on his way through the woods, he was suddenly aware of a bright light in front of him, and in
the middle of the light he saw standing a tall woman or, as he immediately recognized, a

18. goddess, grasping in her hands a bow and staring at him angrily with her shining eyes. He knew
at once that this was the archer goddess Diana, she who had once turned Actaeon into a stag
and who now was enraged at the loss of this other stag which was sacred to her. Hercules put his
prey on the ground and knelt before the goddess. "It was through no desire of my own," he said,
"that I have captured this noble animal. What I do is done at the command of my father Jupiter
and of the oracle of your brother Apollo at Delphi." The goddess listened to his explanation,
smiled kindly on him and allowed him to go on his way, when he had promised that, once the stag
had been carried to Eurystheus, it would be set free again in the forests that it loved.
So Hercules accomplished this third labour. He was not, however, to be allowed to rest.
Eurystheus now commanded him to go out to the mountains of Erymanthus and bring back the
great wild boar that for long had terrorized all the neighbourhood. So Hercules set out once more
and on his way he passed the country where the centaurs had settled after they had been driven
down from the north in the battle that had taken place with the Lapiths at the wedding of Pirithous.
In this battle they had already had experience of the hero's strength, but still their manners were
rude and rough. When the centaur Pholus offered Hercules some of the best wine to drink, the
other centaurs became jealous. Angry words led to blows, and soon Hercules was forced to
defend himself with his club and with his arrows, the poison of which not only caused death, but
also the most extreme pain. Soon he scattered his enemies in all directions, driving them over the
plains and rocks. Some he dashed to the ground with his club; others, wounded by the poisoned,
arrows, lay writhing in agony, or kicking their hooves in the air. Some took refuge in the house of
the famous centaur Chiron, who had been schoolmaster to Hercules and who, alone among the
centaurs, was immortal. As he pursued his enemies to this good centaur's house, shooting
arrows at them as he went, Hercules, by an unhappy accident, wounded Chiron himself. Whether
it was because of grief that his old pupil had so injured him, or whether it was because of the
great pain of the wound, Chiron prayed to Jupiter that his immortality should be taken away from
him. Jupiter granted his prayer. The good centaur died, but he was set in Heaven in a
constellation of stars which is still called either Sagittarius or else The Centaur. Hercules mourned
the sad death of his old master. Then he went on to Erymanthus. It was winter and he chased the
great boar up to the deep snow in the passes of the mountains. The animal's short legs soon
grew weary of ploughing through the stiff snow and Hercules caught it up when it was exhausted
and panting in a snowdrift. He bound it firmly and slung the great body over his back. They say
that when he brought it to Mycenae, Eurystheus was so frightened at the sight of the huge tusks
and flashing eyes that he hid for two days in the brass hiding place that he had had built for him.
The next task that Hercules was ordered to do would have seemed to anyone impossible. There
was a king of Elis called Augeas, very rich in herds of goats and cattle. His stables, they say, held
three thousand oxen and for ten years these stables had never been cleaned. The dung and
muck stood higher than a house, hardened and caked together. The smell was such that even

19. the herdsmen, who were used to it, could scarcely bear to go near. Hercules was now ordered to
clean these stables, and, going to Elis, he first asked the king to promise him the tenth part of his
herds if he was successful in his task. The king readily agreed, and Hercules made the great river
Alpheus change his course and come foaming and roaring through the filthy stables. In less than
a day all the dirt was cleared and rolled away to the sea. The river then went back to its former
course and, for the first time in ten years, the stone floors and walls of the enormous stables
shone white and clean. Hercules then asked for his reward, but King Augeas, claiming that he
had performed the task not with his own hands, but by a trick, refused to give it to him. He even
banished his own son who took the side of Hercules. and reproached his father for not keeping
his promise. Hercules then made war on the kingdom of Elis, drove King Augeas out and put his
son on the throne. Then, with his rich reward, he returned to Mycenae, ready to undertake
whatever new task was given him by Eurystheus. Again he was ordered to destroy creatures that
were harmful to men. This time they were great birds, like cranes or storks, but much more
powerful, which devoured human flesh and lived around the black waters of the Stymphalian lake.
In the reeds and rocky crags they lived in huge numbers and Hercules was at a loss how to draw
them from their hiding places. It was the goddess Minerva who helped him by giving him a great
rattle of brass. The noise of this rattle drove the great birds into the air in throngs. Hercules
pursued them with his arrows, which rang upon their horny beaks and legs but stuck firm in the
bodies that tumbled one after the other into the lake. The whole brood of these monsters was
entirely destroyed and now only ducks and harmless water-fowl nest along the reedy shores.
Hercules had now accomplished six of his labours. Six more remained. After the killing of the
Stymphalian birds he was commanded to go to Crete and bring back from there alive a huge bull
which was laying the whole island waste. Bare-handed and alone he grappled with this bull, and,
once again, when he brought the animal back into the streets of Mycenae, Eurystheus fled in
terror at the sight both of the hero and of the great beast which he had captured. From the
southern sea Hercules was sent to the north to Thrace, over which ruled King Diomedes, a strong
and warlike prince who savagely fed his famous mares on human flesh. Hercules conquered the
king in battle and gave his body to the very mares which had so often fed upon the bodies of the
king's enemies. He brought the mares back to King Eurystheus, who again was terrified at the
sight of such fierce and spirited animals. He ordered them to be taken to the heights of Mount
Olympus and there be consecrated to Jupiter. But Jupiter had no love for these unnatural
creatures, and, on the rocky hillsides, they were devoured by lions, wolves, and bears. Next
Hercules was commanded to go to the country of the Amazons, the fierce warrior women, and
bring back the girdle of their queen Hippolyte. Seas and mountains had to be crossed, battles to
be fought; but Hercules in the end accomplished the long journey and the dangerous task. Later,
as is well known, Hippolyte became the wife of Theseus of Athens and bore him an ill-fated son,
Hippolytus. Hercules had now travelled in the south, the north and the east. His tenth labour was

20. to be in the far west, beyond the country of Spain, in an island called Erythia. Here lived the giant
Geryon, a great monster with three bodies and three heads. With his herdsman, and his two-
headed dog, called Orthrus, he looked after huge flocks of oxen, and, at the command of
Eurystheus, Hercules came into his land to lift the cattle and to destroy the giant. On his way, at
the very entrance to the Atlantic he set up two great marks, ever afterwards to be known by
sailors and called the Pillars of Hercules. Later, as he wandered through rocks and over desert
land, he turned his anger against the Sun itself, shooting his arrows at the great god Phoebus
Apollo. But Phoebus pitied him in his thirst and weariness. He sent him a golden boat, and in this
boat Hercules crossed over to the island of Erythia. Here he easily destroyed both watchdog and
herdsman, but fought for long with the great three-bodied giant before he slew him, body after
body. Then he began to drive the cattle over rivers and mountains and deserts from Spain to
Greece.
As he was passing through Italy he came near the cave where Cacus, a son of Vulcan,
who breathed fire out of his mouth, lived solitary and cruel, since he killed all strangers and nailed
their heads, dripping with blood, to the posts at the entrance of his rocky dwelling. While Hercules
was resting, with the herds all round him, Cacus came out of his cave and stole eight of the best
animals of the whole herd. He dragged them backwards by their tails, so that Hercules should not
be able to track them down. When Hercules awoke from his rest, he searched far and wide for
the missing animals, but, since they had been driven into the deep recesses of Cacus's cave, he
was unable to find them. In the end he began to go on his way with the rest of the herd, and, as
the stolen animals heard the lowing of the other cattle, they too began to low and bellow in their
rocky prison. Hercules stopped still, and soon out of the cave came the fire-breathing giant,
prepared to defend the fruits of his robbery and anxious to hang the head of Hercules among his
other disgusting trophies. This, however, was not to be. The huge limbs and terrible breath of
Cacus were of no avail against the hero's strength and fortitude. Soon, with a tremendous blow of
his club, he stretched out Cacus dead on the ground. Then he drove the great herd on over
mountains and plains, through forests and rivers to Mycenae. Hercules' next labour again took
him to the far west. He was commanded by Eurystheus to fetch him some of the golden apples of
the Hesperides. These apples grew in a garden west even of the land of Atlas. Here the sun
shines continually, but always cool well-watered trees of every kind give shade. All flowers and
fruits that grow on earth grow here, and fruit and flowers are always on the boughs together. In
the centre of the garden is the orchard where golden apples gleam among the shining green
leaves and the flushed blossom. Three nymphs, the Hesperides, look after this orchard, which
was given by Jupiter to Juno as a wedding present. It is guarded also by a great dragon that
never sleeps, and coils its huge folds around the trees. No one except the gods knows exactly
where this beautiful and remote garden is, and it was to this unknown place that Hercules was
sent. He was helped by Minerva and by the nymphs of the broad river Po in Italy. These nymphs

21. told Hercules where to find Nereus, the ancient god of the sea, who knew the past, the present
and the future. "Wait for him," they said, "until you find him asleep on the rocky shore, surrounded
by his fifty daughters. Seize hold of him tightly and do not let go until he answers your question.
He will, in trying to escape you, put on all kinds of shapes. He will turn to fire, to water, to a wild
beast or to a serpent. You must not lose your courage, but hold him all the tighter, and, in the
end, he will come back to his own shape and will tell you what you want to know." Hercules
followed their advice. As he watched along the sea god's shore god Phoebus Apollo. But
Phoebus pitied him in his thirst and weariness. He sent him a golden boat, and in this boat
Hercules crossed over to the island of Erythia. Here he easily destroyed both watchdog and
herdsman, but fought for long with the great three-bodied giant before he slew him, body after
body. Then he began to drive the cattle over rivers and mountains and deserts from Spain to
Greece. As he was passing through Italy he came near the cave where Cacus, a son of Vulcan,
who breathed fire out of his mouth, lived solitary and cruel, since he killed all strangers and nailed
their heads, dripping with blood, to the posts at the entrance of his rocky dwelling. While Hercules
was resting, with the herds all round him, Cacus came out of his cave and stole eight of the best
animals of the whole herd. He dragged them backwards by their tails, so that Hercules should not
be able to track them down. When Hercules awoke from his rest, he searched far and wide for
the missing animals, but, since they had been driven into the deep recesses of Cacus's cave, he
was unable to find them. In the end he began to go on his way with the rest of the herd, and, as
the stolen animals heard the lowing of the other cattle, they too began to low and bellow in their
rocky prison. Hercules stopped still, and soon out of the cave came the fire-breathing giant,
prepared to defend the fruits of his robbery and anxious to hang the head of Hercules among his
other disgusting trophies. This, however, was not to be. The huge limbs and terrible breath of
Cacus were of no avail against the hero's strength and fortitude. Soon, with a tremendous blow of
his club, he stretched out Cacus dead on the ground. Then he drove the great herd on over
mountains and plains, through forests and rivers to Mycenae. Hercules' next labour again took
him to the far west. He was commanded by Eurystheus to fetch him some of the golden apples of
the Hesperides. These apples grew in a garden west even of the land of Atlas. Here the sun
shines continually, but always cool well-watered trees of every kind give shade. All flowers and
fruits that grow on earth grow here, and fruit and flowers are always on the boughs together. In
the centre of the garden is the orchard where golden apples gleam among the shining green
leaves and the flushed blossom. Three nymphs, the Hesperides, look after this orchard, which
was given by Jupiter to Juno as a wedding present. It is guarded also by a great dragon that
never sleeps, and coils its huge folds around the trees. No one except the gods knows exactly
where this beautiful and remote garden is, and it was to this unknown place that Hercules was
sent. He was helped by Minerva and by the nymphs of the broad river Po in Italy. These nymphs
told Hercules where to find Nereus, the ancient god of the sea, who knew the past, the present

22. and the future. "Wait for him," they said, "until you find him asleep on the rocky shore, surrounded
by his fifty daughters. Seize hold of him tightly and do not let go until he answers your question.
He will, in trying to escape you, put on all kinds of shapes. He will turn to fire, to water, to a wild
beast or to a serpent. You must not lose your courage, but hold him all the tighter, and, in the
end, he will come back to his own shape and will tell you what you want to know." Hercules
followed their advice. As he watched along the sea god's shore.
MEDUSA (Μέδουσα)
PARENTS: PHORKYS & KETO
ENCYCLOPEDIA:
GORGO and GO′RGONES (Gorgô and Gorgones). Homer knows only one Gorgo, who,
according to the Odyssey (xi. 633), was one of the frightful phantoms in Hades: in the Iliad (v.
741, viii. 349, xi. 36; comp. Virg. Aen. vi. 289), the Aegis of Athena contains the head of Gorgo,
the terror of her enemies. Euripides (Ion, 989) still speaks of only one Gorgo, although Hesiod
(Theog. 278) had mentioned three Gorgones, the daughters of Phorcys and Ceto, whence they
are sometimes called Phorcydes or Phorcides. (Aeschyl. Prom. 793, 797; Pind. Pyth. xii. 24; Ov.
Met. v. 230.) The names of the three Gorgones are Stheino (Stheno or Stenusa), Euryale, and
Medusa (Hes. l. c.; Apollod. ii. 4. § 2), and they are conceived by Hesiod to live in the Western
Ocean, in the neighbourhood of Night and the Hesperides. But later traditions place them in
Libya. (Herod. ii. 91; Paus. ii. 21. § 6.) They are described (Scut. Here. 233) as girded with
serpents, raising their heads, vibrating their tongues, and gnashing their teeth; Aeschylus (Prom.
794. &c., Choëph. 1050) adds that they had wings and brazen claws, and enormous teeth. On
the chest of Cypselus they were likewise represented with wings. (Paus. v. 18. § 1.) Medusa, who
alone of her sisters was mortal, was, according to some legends, at first a beautiful maiden, but
her hair was changed into serpents by Athena, in consequence of her having become by
Poseidon the mother of Chrysaor and Pegasus, in one of Athena's temples. (Hes. Theog. 287,
&c.; Apollod. ii. 4. § 3; Ov. Met. iv. 792; comp. Perseus.) Her head was now of so fearful an
appearance, that every one who looked at it was changed into stone. Hence the great difficulty
which Perseus had in killing her; and Athena afterwards placed the head in the centre of her
shield or breastplate. There was a tradition at Athens that the head of Medusa was buried under
a mound in the Agora. (Paus. ii. 21. § 6, v. 12. § 2.) Athena gave to Heracles a lock of Medusa
(concealed in an urn), for it had a similar effect upon the beholder as the head itself. When
Heracles went out against Lacedaemon he gave the lock of hair to Sterope, the daughter of
Cepheus, as a protection of the town of Tegea, as the sight of it would put the enemy to fight.
(Paus. viii. 47. § 4; Apollod. ii. 7. § 3.)

23. The mythus respecting the family of Phorcys, to which also the Graeae, Hesperides, Scylla, and
other fabulous beings belonged, has been interpreted in various ways by the ancients
themselves. Some believed that the Gorgones were formidable animals with long hair, whose
aspect was so frightful, that men were paralysed or killed by it, and some of the soldiers of Marius
were believed to have thus met with their death (Athen. v. 64). Pliny (H. N. iv. 31) thought that
they were a race of savage, swift, and hair-covered women; and Diodorus (iii. 55) regards them
as a race of women inhabiting the western parts of Libya, who had been extirpated by Heracles in
traversing Libya.
MYTH:
The three Gorgon sisters were daughters of ancient Sea Gods, Ceto and Phorcys. Two, Stheno
and Eluryah were immortal, but the third, Medusa was not. She had been a female of absolute
beauty, mostly her long, silky hair. She bragged at being more beautiful than the Goddess
Athena, and one day, while in her temple, she was ravished by the Sea God Poseidon. Athena
was outraged by this and turned Medusa into the Gorgon she became famous for being. She
turned her beautiful hair into snakes and let it be that she could no longer see the handsome men
who came to court her, as they would instantly be turned to stone if they looked into her eyes.
PERSEUS AND MEDUSA
Argos, the oldest city in Greece, was founded by Danaus, who came from Egypt. The inhabitants,
his descendants, were called the Danaids. The next ruler was his nephew and son-in-law,
Lynceus, followed by Lynceus's son Abas. Abas, in turn, had twin sons, Acrisius and Proetus.
These two, like the biblical brothers Jacob and Esau, quarreled with each other while still in the
womb. When they grew up, they fought each other for the kingdom of Argos, and in the course of
this war they invented shields. Acrisius ultimately won, driving Proetus from the city. Proetus later
became king of Tiryns, and the two brothers divided the Argolid plain between them. Acrisius had
a daughter named Danae (the name probably means "woman of the Danaans"), but he wanted
sons to continue his royal line. He asked an oracle how he could get sons, but he was given the
unexpected message that his daughter would beget a son who would in time kill him. As always
in such myths, Acrisius strove against this grim fate. His first attempt was to see that Danae never
had a son. He shut her up in an underground bronze chamber, so that she would not even
encounter any men. This plan did not, of course, succeed. According to some, Proetus somehow
managed to seduce her. According to the more fanciful and popular form of the story, Zeus came
to her in the form of a shower of gold, slipping easily through the gaps in her bronze cell. Finding
his daughter with child, but not wishing to kill her directly, Acrisius shut her and her newborn child
into a chest and cast it into the sea. A surviving fragment from a poem by Simonides of Keos
(556-467 B.C.E.), usually called "The Lament of Danae," has the chest-borne Danae speaking to

24. the infant Perseus and asking Zeus for help. Danae and Perseus drifted out of the Bay of Argos
and into the open Mediterranean. They were driven toward the island of Seriphos, one of the
westernmost of the scattered islands called the Cyclades, about a hundred miles to the southeast
of Argos. None of the Cyclades is large. Seriphos itself encompasses only about thirty square
miles and today has a population of eleven hundred people, a third of whom live in the main city,
also named Seriphos. The name means "denuded,". which is appropriate, since, like the rest of
the Cyclades, it is a bare and barren rock. The inhabitants today live by the tourist industry. In
classical times they lived by fishing, or by scratching out iron ore from the veins in the island. The
chest was pulled from the sea by Diktys, a fisherman whose name appropriately means "net."
Danae and Diktys discovered that they were distantly related, and so Perseus and Danae stayed
with the fisherman, and Perseus grew up in his house. Now Diktys was brother to the king,
Polydektes. This might seem like one of those fortuitous and unlikely coincidences that pop up in
legend, but on an island as small as Seriphos it is probable that the relatives of the king were
indeed fishermen. In this case the relationship was to prove a problem, because the king saw
Danae and fell in love with her. One assumes that this affection was not returned (perhaps
because the family ties between them made it inappropriate), but Polydektes was determined to
have Danae. What stood in his way was Perseus, who had now grown to manhood and
apparently opposed Polydektes (although this is nowhere stated). Polydektes called together
many friends, including Perseus. Everyone was to bring a gift. "What sort of gift?" asked Perseus.
"A horse," replied Polydektes. "The Gorgon's head," retorted Perseus. It was a fateful reply,
because Polydektes saw in it his chance to eliminate Perseus. When all the guests (including
Perseus) brought horses, Polydektes would not accept those of Perseus. Instead he held the
young man to his word and insisted upon the head of the Gorgon. There never seems to have
been any question that Perseus could substitute something else for the head, or not appear at the
gathering at all. This, apparently, was a matter of honor, and Perseus would have to succeed in
bringing back the head of the Gorgon or die in the attempt. 1 Perseus now lamented his fate,
because the Gorgon was a deadly creature, and he would likely die in an expedition to separate
one from its head. He went off by himself to the far side of the island. Here the god Hermes
appeared to him and asked why he was so sad. After hearing the story, he told Perseus not to
worry. Under the direction of Hermes and the goddess Athena, Perseus began his quest by first
making an expedition to visit the Graiae. The Graiae were three sisters named Enyo, Pemphredo,
and Dino. They were the daughters of Ketos the sea monster and Phorkys, the Old Man of the
Sea (and were therefore called the Phorkides). They had the forms of old women (although the
poet Pindar calls them "swanlike") and had only one eye and one tooth among them. They
passed these around from one to another, so that each could use them in turn. Perseus managed
to sneak into their midst, where he waited until one removed the eye and the tooth, then
intercepted them as they were to pass from one hand to another. As soon as the Graiae realized

25. what had happened, they cried aloud and begged for him to return the precious objects. Perseus
said that he would on condition that the Graiae direct him to the Nymphs. The Graiae, over a
metaphorical barrel, told Perseus what he wanted to know. In some later sources, he still doesn't
return the eye and tooth but throws them down into Lake Tritonis, an African lake near the
Mediterranean. The Nymphs had the magical devices he would need to defeat the Gorgon. From
them he received winged sandals that enabled him to fly. They also gave him the cap of Hades,
the ruler of the underworld, which would make him invisible. Finally, there was the kibisis. This
last gift was apparently a bag of some kind, into which Perseus was to place the Gorgon's head.
2 The word is not Greek and must have puzzled readers. In Apollodorus there is a note that looks
suspiciously like one of those marginal scholia, explaining the word as derived from KeioGai and
eoOfji;, since food and clothes were kept in the bag. It's a bad case of guessing at etymology,
and the origin of the word is still not known. In translations, kibisis is almost always rendered as
"wallet," a translation I find unacceptable. Whatever meanings "wallet" may have had for Sir
James George Frazier (who translated Apollodorus in 1921), to a late-twentieth-century American
it conjures up an image of Perseus cramming Medusa's head in among his tens and twenties. In
Apollodorus we find Hermes also contributing a gift of a harpe, a sickleshaped sword. This is the
traditional weapon of Perseus, and he is more often shown using a curved weapon than he is a
straight sword to decapitate the monster. Thus formidably armed (or overarmed), Perseus sought
out the Gorgons. These monsters lived on the shore of Ocean, which was seen as the great,
world-encircling salt stream. This means that their actual location is somewhat hazily defined.
Other writers have placed them to the north, the east, or the west. One said they lived on an
island called Sarpedon. Pherekydes did not describe the Gorgons, but Apollodorus did, taking his
information from the very old fragment of "The Shield of Hercules." There were three Gorgons,
named Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa. They were the daughters of Ketos and Phorkys, as were
the Graiae, making the two sets of monstrous triplets sisters. Of the Gorgons, only Medusa was
mortal. No reason is ever given for this odd fact. The Gorgons had scaly heads, boar's tusks,
brazen hands, and wings. They had protruding tongues, glaring eyes, and serpents wrapped
around their waists as belts. All of this agrees with depictions of the Gorgon in Greek art (see the
next chapter). Note that the description does not include snakes in the hair, or snakes in place of
hair. What we take as the defining feature of Medusa's appearance didn't enter the story until
much later, making its literary debut in Ovid's Metamorphoses. The appearance of the Gorgons
was so awful that anyone who looked on them was turned into stone, so Perseus was warned by
the gods to look at them only in a mirror (Apollodorus states quite definitely that the mirror
Perseus used was his highly polished shield). For some reason, viewing a Gorgon in the mirror
attenuated her petrifying power. Fighting three monsters while looking in a mirror would be a
daunting task, indeed. Fortunately, all the Gorgons were asleep when Perseus flew down toward
them. Somehow he identified Medusa among the three and used his mirror to view her head as

26. he swiped it off with his harpe. Apollodorus says that, even so, Athena guided his hand. When
Perseus cut off the head a peculiar thing happened: Medusa's two children were born from her
neck. These were Chrysaor, the warrior with the golden sword, and Pegasus, the flying horse.
The incident appears in the ancient and venerable Theogeny of Hesiod, so Apollodorus dutifully
included it in his own account, but almost no one else recounts the scene. It is rarely depicted in
art, probably because it is so clumsy an image. According to Hesiod, the father of Medusa's
children was "the dark-haired one" (Poseidon, god of the sea and earthquakes). Pegasus went on
to roles as the bearer of Zeus's lightning and as the steed who bore Bellerophon in his adventure
with the Chimera. Chrysaor, however, played no large part in mythology. He married Callirhoe,
Ocean's daughter, and by her had the monstrous Geryones, who had three heads each. (Triplets
apparently ran in the family.) According to another, no doubt very confused, account, Geryones
had one head and three bodies. Awakened by the noise and commotion of Medusa's death,
Stheno and Euryale, the surviving Gorgon sisters, attacked Perseus. But he put on the cap of
Hades and, becoming invisible, was able to escape. The next part of the story is not in the
surviving portion of Pherekydes (or in the works of some who copy him) but is referred to in many
old sources, including the Histories of Herodotus. As usual, Apollodorus gathered the important
parts into his narrative. Perseus was flying back to Seriphos on his magical sandals and was
passing over Ethiopia (the part of Africa along the coast of the Red Sea south of Egypt, not
necessarily the modern country of that name; later accounts set the following events in Joppa, on
the coast of present-day Israel) when he saw Andromeda chained to a rock as a sacrifice to the
sea monster, Ketos. Andromeda was the daughter of Kepheos, the king of Ethiopia, and
Cassiepeia (or Cassiopeia), the queen. Cassiepeia had insulted Poseidon by boasting that her
beauty was greater than that of the Nereids, the daughters of the sea god. In his wrath, Poseidon
threatened to send a flood to devastate the city and to follow this with a visit from the sea
monster. Ammon, a priest, announced that the disaster could be avoided if the princess
Andromeda were chained to a rock as a sacrifice to the monster. This her parents reluctantly did.
Perseus fell in love with Andromeda as soon as he saw her. He promised Cepheos that he would
kill the sea monster, if he could have Andromeda as his wife. Cepheos agreed, and Perseus
promptly killed Ketos. One would think that the obvious way to do this would be to expose the
Gorgon's head to the sea monster, since Perseus had it with him in the kibisis. In later versions of
the story, that is just what he does, and the petrified monster becomes a rock in the harbor. But in
older versions he kills the monster in more mundane fashion (if killing a monster can ever be said
to be mundane). In the oldest surviving depiction, for instance, he is shown throwing rocks at
Ketos. Now, however, a new crisis developed. Phineus, to whom Andromeda had originally been
betrothed, opposed her engagement to Perseus and raised an army against his rival. In some
accounts, Cepheos and Cassiepeia support Phineus against Perseus. (In Hyginus, the competing
suitor is named Agenor.) This time, Perseus did defeat his attackers by using the Gorgon's head,

27. petrifying the lot. Perseus returned to Seriphos with Andromeda. There he found Danae and
Diktys at the temple, where they had taken sanctuary against the advances of Polydektes and his
forces. Once again, Perseus used the head of Medusa against his enemies, and Polydektes and
his men were turned to stone. Afterward, Perseus left Diktys as king of Seriphos and returned to
Argos with Danae and Andromeda. Acrisius fled when he learned of Perseus's return. He came
to Larissa, an important city in Thessaly, lying near the bases of Mount Olympus and Mount
Ossa. (Larissa was also the name of the acropolis at Corinth, which might be the site intended.)
The old king there had died, and his son, the new king Teutamides, was holding the athletic
funeral games. Perseus, who came to attend and to take part in the games, came upon Acrisius
there. As Perseus was participating in the pentathlon, his thrown discus struck Acrisius on the
foot, killing him. Perseus was shamed by the death and did not wish to rule over a city because
he had killed the former ruler. He arranged to trade dominions with Megapenthes, his cousin and
the ruler of Tiryns. And thus Perseus became ruler of the fortified city of Tiryns. He and
Andromeda had the sons Alcaeus, Sthenelus, Heleus, Mestor, and Electryon and a daughter
named Gorgonphone. An earlier son, Perses, remained with Kepheos and eventually became the
eponymous founder of Persia (according to Herodotus). The name of Perseus's daughter is
interesting, because Gorgophone means "Gorgon-slayer." It is also the name of Perseus's aunt,
the mother of Megapenthes (and a peculiar name it is since, by this canonical myth, no Gorgon
had yet been slain when that grand old lady was named). Perseus returned his magical gifts of
cap, sandals, and kibisis to the gods, who returned them to the Nymphs. He gave the head of
Medusa to Athena, who placed it on her shield. This is the basic myth of Perseus, Medusa, and
Andromeda. There are minor variations among many of the versions, but this form agrees in most
particulars with references to the story in other places and with depictions of the story in vase
paintings, wall paintings, and sculpture. Before we go further, I'd like to make a few observations
here. Apollodorus's version is the work of a compulsive completist trying to set down all the facts
he has at hand. It is likely that this version is actually too complete. Hesiod, for example, tells the
story of the birth of Chrysaor and Pegasus from Medusa's severed neck, but nothing of the rest of
the tale. Pherekydes tells the bulk of the story, but omits this monstrous birth. It is probable that
Apollodorus joined the accounts together himself, creating a version that contained all the strands
from past accounts but that had not previously existed as a single story. Similarly, our existing
fragments of Pherekydes make no mention of Andromeda. It could just be that we lack the portion
of the story in which she appears, but Andromeda is also missing from Pherekydes's later ac
count of Perseus's return to Argos. The side trip to rescue the chained maiden interrupts the story
of Perseus and Polydektes, and it is likely that in the oldest versions such an adventure did not
occur at that point in the story, or perhaps it did not even happen to this Perseus. Apollodorus's
version— which, by virtue of its appearing in what we now consider the standard reference on
myths, became the canonical version of the story— represents only one snapshot of time in the

28. history of this myth. Apollodorus's and Ovid's versions became the standards upon which later
writers based their own tellings and effectively froze the myth in that form, as Mallory's Le Morte
d'Arthur crystallized the story of King Arthur. Nevertheless, there existed both competing earlier
versions and later, noncanonical variations. In the oldest, most revered source, there is no
mention of the story as we have it above. Homer knows of Perseus as a son of Danae and Zeus
but says nothing further of him or his adventures. He describes the Gorgon only as a monster of
the underworld. When Odysseus speaks to the spirits of the dead, he is threatened with the
prospect of meeting with the head of the Gorgon, and the mere threat frightens him. The monster
does not have a body, nor does it turn anyone to stone. No history of the frightening head is
given. In The Iliad, Homer says that the Gorgon's likeness appears on the aegis of Athena and
the shield of Agamemnon. This variant history of the Gorgon was also repeated by Apollodorus.
How did he reconcile this nonpetrifying monster of hell with the petrifying sister in the story of
Perseus? He dealt with the question in the myth of Hercules. When that hero, in the course of his
famous twelve labors, went down to Hades to fetch back Cerberus, the guardian hound of the
underworld, most souls fled from him. One of the few exceptions was Medusa. Hermes (the
helper of Hercules, as he had been of Perseus) told Hercules that the Gorgon he saw in Hades
was the soul of the dead Gorgon, implying that after death Medusa had lost her power of
petrification. Virgil placed plural Gorgons in the underworld in his Aeneid. The tradition seems to
have drifted into obscurity after that— no medieval visions of hell feature Gorgons. But the
classically minded poets of the Enlightenment brought the image to life again. Milton, drawing on
Virgil, places Gorgons in hell again. The tradition also seems to have invaded the British stage,
because Pope, in his Dunciad, refers disparagingly to the Gorgons represented in theatrical hells.
But after this brief revival, the tradition died out again. No modern writer or artist pictures Gorgons
in hell, although they'd be perfect inhabitants. Gorgons have a longer and more hellish pedigree,
in fact, than horned demons or burning fires. But all that's left today is a dim echo of the tradition
first preserved in Horner.
ANOTHER VARIANT OF the myth presents Medusa not as one monstrous sister of three, but as
a cursed beauty who, like Cassiepeia, unwisely compared herself to the Nereids in beauty. In
retaliation, she was first made ugly, then beheaded. Apollodorus briefly alludes to this variant, but
Ovid tells it at slightly greater length. In Ovid's version, however, Athena is angered because
Medusa is raped in Athena's temple by Poseidon (perhaps inspired by Hesiod's claim that
Medusa had children by Poseidon), and changes her beauty to ugliness. The playwright
Sophocles and the Roman writer Hyginus both conflate events from the longer story, having
Perseus kill Acrisius at funeral games for Polydektes on the island of Seriphos. Sophocles, at
least, probably altered the story for the sake of dramatic cohesion. Euripides, in his play Ion, says
that Athena, rather than Perseus, killed the Gorgon. The monster in this instance seems to be an

29. unnamed creation of Gaia, but Hyginus notes the same tradition and cites Euhemerus as his
authority. Yet another tradition hints that Zeus himself may have done the deed. Perhaps the
oddest tradition is one cited by that archrationalist, Pausanias. Not for him the fancies of myth. In
his guidebook, he points out that there is an earthen mound near the market square in Argos, and
here the head of Medusa was supposed to be buried. Pausanias is determined to give his
readers what he considers to be the real story. "Leaving aside the myth," he says, "this is what
has been said about her." He goes on to relate that she was a queen of her people, who lived
near Lake Tritonis in Africa; she ruled after the death of her father, King Phorkys. She lead the
Libyans in battle and in hunting. She stood up to Perseus, who had invaded her country with a
force of men from Greece. She died, not honorably in battle, but treacherously murdered by night.
Nevertheless, Perseus was struck by the beauty of the dead queen and had her head removed
and preserved so that he could display it in Greece. Pausanias undoubtedly took his account
from the work of Dionysius Skytobrachion, a novelist living in the second century B.C.E. in
Alexandria. Skytobrachion, whose name means "leather arm," constructed his works by linking
together originally unrelated bits of mythology. He is therefore about as trustworthy a source for
myth as E. L. Doctorow's novels are reliable accounts of modern history. Skytobrachion's works
are no longer extant, but they have been cited at length by other writers. Diodorus Siculus, a
Sicilian historian of the first century B.C.E., cribbed extensively from Skytobrachion. Among the
stories he derived was a fanciful one of Amazons living in Africa (previous accounts located them
near the Black Sea), where they battled a tribe called the Gorgons. Skytobrachion's tales, as
funneled to posterity through Pausanias and Diodorus Siculus, would form the basis for
occasional attempts to prove that the myth of Medusa was a distorted account of Greek conflicts
with a matriarchal society. Pausanias also cites the work of an otherwise unknown writer named
Prokles, who lived in Carthage. Prokles had seen what he called "human savages" who had been
captured and exhibited in Rome. He imagined it was possible that one such savage woman was
responsible for wreaking havoc around Lake Tritonis, until Perseus killed her. It is interesting to
note that Pausanias still credits Athena with helping the hero in this undertaking; there were limits
to even his rationalizations.
MINOTOUR (Μῑνώταυρος)
PARENTS: THE KRETAN BULL & PASIPHAE
ENCYCLOPEDIA: THE MINOTAUROS (or Minotaur) was a bull-headed monster born to Queen
Pasiphae of Krete after she had coupled with a bull.

30. The creature resided in the twisting maze of the labyrinth, where he was offfered a regular
sacrifice of youths and maids to satisfy his cannibalistic hunger. He was eventually destroyed by
the hero Theseus. The Minotauros' proper name Asterion, "the starry one," suggests he was
associated with the constellation Tauros. MINOTAURUS (Minôtauros), a monster with a human
body and a bull's head, or, according to others, with the body of an ox and a human head; is said
to have been the offspring of the intercourse of Pasiphaë with the bull sent from the sea to Minos,
who shut him up in the Cnossian labyrinth, and fed him with the bodies of the youths and
maidens whom the Athenians at fixed times were obliged to send to Minos as tribute. The
monster was slain by Theseus. It was often represented by ancient artists either alone in the
labyrinth, or engaged in the struggle with Theseus. (Paus. i. 24. § 2, 27, in fin. iii. 18. § 7; Apollod.
iii. 1. § 4, 15. § 8.)
MYTH: NEED TO FIND.

31. INTRODUCTION
Tyrrell, William B.; Brown, Frieda S.. Athenian Myths and Institutions : Words in Action. Cary, NC,
USA: Oxford University Press, 1991. p 16.
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/oculyork/Doc?id=10086839&ppg=16
Copyright © 1991. Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
ARGUS
http://www.mythweb.com/encyc/entries/argus_%282%29.html
http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/myths/a/seductionofio.htm
CERBERUS
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Herakles/cerberus.html
Leeming, David A.. Mythology : The Voyage of the Hero. Cary, NC, USA: Oxford University
Press, 1998. p 196. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/oculyork/Doc?id=10279375&ppg=213 Copyright ©
1998. Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
CHIMERA
http://www.greek-gods-and-goddesses.com/bellerophon.html
MEDUSA
Wilk, Stephen R.. Medusa : Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon. Cary, NC, USA: Oxford University
Press, 2000. p 38. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/oculyork/Doc?id=10273223&ppg=38
Copyright © 2000. Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.