The Story of Echidna
Fast Facts
Pronunciation:
Origin: Greek
Home: Phrygia, Tartarus
Role: Guardian of Earth’s Treasures, Mother of All Monsters
Parents: Gaia and Tartarus, or Keto and Phorkys
Spouse: Typhon
Children: Cerberus, Chimera, Colchian Dragon, Gorgon, Hydra, Ladon, Nemean Lion, Orthrus, Sphinx (Possibly also: Caucasian Eagle, Phaea, Scylla)
Who is Echidna?
Echidna is a guardian, goddess, monster, or mother of the sprits that are the alternative to the Olympians, dependent on the source. Regardless of how one views her, as the mother of many of the creatures that Heracles was tasked with killing, her importance to the Greeks is without question.
Origin
Echidna was the daughter of either Gaia and Tartarus, or Keto and
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Most of them were overcome or killed by them. Bellerophon killed Chimera, the three-headed monster that appears to be made of leftover bits from a dragon, a goat, and a lion. Echidna’s child the Colchian Dragon was shown more mercy, and merely lulled to slumber in Jason’s effort to retrieve the Golden Fleece that it guarded. Her half-human, half-lion daughter the Sphinx killed herself, either by throwing herself from a cliff or devouring her own body, when Oedipus was able to answer her riddles. There is very little information on her daughter Gorgon, other than as some point she became three daughters and not one. Regardless, Euryale, Medusa, and Stheno all shared hideous faces and hair consisting of writhing, angry, serpents. Of the three, only Medusa was mortal, which is probably the origin of why her being a child of Echidna is sometimes questioned. It is probably also why only her death is noted, at the hands of Perseus.
One Hero, Many Deaths
Surely the most hated hero by Echidna would be Heracles, though. In his twelve labors he bested or killed six of her children. The victim in his first labor was the Nemean Lion, who would become the constellation Leo. His second labor brought him face to face with the Lernaean Hydra, and again, another child of Echidna was slain. In his fourth labor, on a side portion of his quest, Hercules killed the Caucasian Eagle, who may or may not
Hercules was the child of Zeus and Alcmena, who was the wife of a well respected Greek warrior. Hera, Zeus's wife despised Hercules because he was living proof of her husband's infidelity. When he was a baby she sent snakes to kill Hercules, which because of his incredible strength he was able to strangle. Hera eventually drove Hercules insane and caused him to kill his family.
Hercules life was a struggle from the beginning. He is the son of the Zeus and Alcmene. Because Hera was Zeus’s wife, not Alcmene, Hera was infuriated when she heard of her husband’s affair. She took revenge upon Hercules before he was even born by preventing him from becoming the ruler of Mycenae. After he was born she sent two snakes to Hercules’s crib to kill him.
After Medusa's affair with Poseidon she got pregnant with two children, Pegasus a winged horse, and Chrysaor, he of the Golden sword. They were sprang from Medusa's neck when Perseus cut her head. This myth of Medusa and Perseus is one of the most famous ones. Perseus was the
There were countless of kings that ruled over Thebes. The most significant being Zethus. When Zethus died the role of the king was passed on to Laius. Laius later finds out that according to the oracle in Delphi his own son would kill him in the future. Laius attempts to prove the oracle wrong by abandoning his son at a very young age. Laius percies his son's ankles as well as ties him up leaving him for dead. Unfortunately for Laius his son is discovered by a shepherd and was later given to the Corinthian king who named the baby Oedipus. As the oracle predicted Oedipus did end up killing Laius. Oedipus travels to Thebes where he marries queen Jocasta, who is his own mother. Now being the ruler of Thebes Oedipus was in charge of finding the man who killed Laius. ("Theban Saga." Theban Saga. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.). Forced to admit his crime Oedipus blinded himself and Jocasta committed suicide. Oedipus cursed his two sons, Eteocles and Polyneices, to fight against each other for the spot to become the next ruler of Thebes. This fight between the two brothers ended by both of them killing each other and handing the throne to Creon who was the brother of Jocasta. Creon disapproves of the burial of Polyneices claiming that he has betrayed his
Hercules is one of the heroes whose flaws and strengths are distinct and obvious. He's strong and powerful, as well as brave. However he also murdered his family . He was very reckless and had an explosive rage. He was quite daft as well. In fact,
1) Agamemnon - (ag - uh - mem - non) He was the king of Mycenae , when Odysseus encounters Agamemnon’s spirit in Hades. He was murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus, upon his return from the war. 2) Alcinous - (Al - KIN - oh - us) He was the happy ruler of the island, and was on one of his magical ships when it finally returned him to Ithaca.
Hercules was favored by the gods from few quest and even a labor. For the sixth labor the goddess Athena helped Hercules by scaring off the Stymphalian bird he had to do this because the birds were causing a plague with their numbers. Hercules shot arrows at the birds when Athena scared them. Hercules had many terrible experiences with love because of Hera. ”He was helped by Athena to drive them out of their converts. ”(Hamilton 172) Hercules was considered the greatest hero of gods because he had the most strength out of all and great emotion. When he was a baby Hera sent two snakes to kill him but Hercules held them both up and killed them. Even though he is called the greatest this didn't mean he was necessarily good most of the times when he did bad things it was hera controlling his mind. He killed his wife and three children when he was being controlled. “When Megara had borne three sons he went mad.” Later he killed his wife and children.
I am doing my western hero on the great Hercules. Hercules was the son of Zeus, the supreme Greek god, and Alcmena, the Queen of Tiryns. Because Zeus' wife Hera was jealous of his affairs with earthly women, she was determined to destroy Hercules. When Hercules was one year old, Hera sent two serpents into his crib to kill him. Hercules grasped the snakes with his bare hands and killed them. Fast forward to adulthood while married to his wife Megera, Hera could not tolerate the situation and so sent upon him a madness in which he killed his children(and, in some versions, his wife as well). For his punishment, twelve labors were given to him by King Eurystheus of Tiryns. They were to slay the Nemean Lion and bring back its skin, slay the
The Story of the Nemean Lion Fast Facts Pronunciation: Origin: Greek Home: Nemea Role: Monster Parents: Echidna and Typhon Spouse: None Siblings: Cerberus, Chimera, Colchian Dragon, Gorgon, Hydra, Ladon, Orthrus, Sphinx (Possibly also: Caucasian Eagle, Phaea, Scylla) Who is the Nemean Lion? The Nemean Lion is the child of Echidna, the half-snake half-woman known as the mother of monsters, and Typhon, the child of Gaia that challenged Zeus for dominion over the cosmos.
Heracles, son of Zeus and Alcemena was a strong baby ever since he was born. His stepmother, Hera, was tremendously jealous of him, because Zuse had an affair with Hercules mom. So she would always try to make his life miserable. She made him go crazy, to the point that Heracles murdered his wife and kids. When Heracles was little, Hera tried to kill him by putting two snakes in his crib. But Hercules being the tough baby he was, killed the snakes by choking them. Later on Heracles asked king Eurystheus to make him immortal so that he can clear his sins. So heracles had to do some labor, that in my opinion did not make him a hero. Because when he was doing his 3rd labor heracles knew that the hind was a special pet to Diana, but he still shot it either way. Also Heracles killed a lot of centaurs with his poisonous arrows in his 4th labor. Then Heracles killed Hippolyte in labor 9 for her belt.
Heracles Classical Mythology in Contemporary Culture Heracles or Hercules, is one of the most popular mythological heroes used in popular culture such as film, television series, video games, plays and other forms of media. A hero that is often associated with brute strength and having many adventures across the Greek land. Heracles is always shown as a large man with such great strength, someone who was born to be a great hero. Though his character often changes across media, not having a true distinct personality about him, whether he is arrogant, prideful or good-hearted. Though he is often a hero not correlated with his personality unlike other Greek heroes such as Achilles, but rather Heracles is mostly well known in pop culture for his great strength and the 12 labours.
For a hero all what matters the most is fame and undying glory. In general all men including heroes face the same fate no matter how great they were in the human world. Very few exceptions occur like Hercules who is considered the greatest of the Heroes. In his trip to the underworld Odysseus encounters many people not just Agamemnon, Achilles and Heracles. However, these three are special. Agamemnon and Achilles before their death claimed that they were the best Achaeans. While Heracles was a Hero from the Old Age when Man was and the world of the gods was still interconnected. Unlike the other two, he held the title of the greatest hero of all time.
She had made his life miserable because she was overflowing of jealousy. One night, she drives Hercules to complete insanity that has leaded him to kill his own wife (Megara) and children. After the incident Hercules prayed to the god Apollo to guide him and tell him what he should do, the god’s oracle told him to serve the king of Tiryns, Eruystheus for twelve years and each year he had to complete a labor. The labors were very difficult but Hercules had some help from Hermes and Athena.
Hera, the Greek goddess of childbirth and marriage, was the wife and sister of Zeus. She was the Queen of Olympian Deities. People knew her as the most beautiful and powerful goddess, but she had a bad side to her.
Hercules, or better known as Heracles, was a Greek demigod that is the Son of Zeus and a mortal woman that was named Alcmene. When he was an infant, Zeus's wife Hera was really jealous of Heracles, so she sent two snakes to kill him. She was unsuccessful however, as he enjoyed strangling the snakes to death with one in each arm. He grew to become proficient in the bow and arrow, became a great wrestler, and possess superhuman strength. He later married and had five children. But, Hera tried to strike Heracles with madness and was successful. While Heracles was full with madness, he killed his five children all at once, in one day. When he recovered from his madness, he ventured to Delphi to consult the Oracle. He ordered Heracles to serve