Greek Mythology - F to S

F is for the Fates, otherwise known as the Moirai. The role of the Moirai was to ensure that every being, mortal and divine, lived out their destiny as it was assigned to them by the laws of the universe. For mortals, this destiny spanned their entire lives, and was represented as a thread spun from a spindle. Clotho would spin the thread, Lachesis would measure it to the allotted length, and Atropos (from which we get the word atrophy) would cut it off at the right point.

G is for Geryon. For the 10^th labour of Heracles, the hero was sent to obtain the cattle of Geryon. Geryon was represented as a monster with a tripartite nature – either with three heads and one body, three bodies and three heads, or three bodies and one head. Heracles defeated the monster, in at least one version using his arrows that he had dipped in the venomous blood of the Hydra during an earlier task.

H is for Heracles. Heracles was the greatest hero of Greek Mythology. The son of Zeus and Alcmene, he showed his tremendous strength when just hours old. Hera, Queen of the Gods, sent snakes to kill him, and he strangled them. Heracles is most famous for performing 12 tasks for his cousin Eurystheus. Prior to this he had been driven temporarily mad by Hera, and killed his wife, Megara. The Twelve Tasks were a penance for the murder. Upon his death, Heracles was taken to Olympus, where it transpired that he was the prophesied hero who would defeat the Giants that Mother Earth had been nurturing to overthrow the Olympians. The sketch is based on a statue showing Herakles fighting the centaur, Nessus, who tried to abduct Herakles’ second wife, Deinara.

I is for Icarus. Icarus was a young man when he was taken to Crete by his father Daedalus, when he was hired by King Minos to build the labyrinth to house the Minotaur. Afraid that Daedalus would tell people the secrets of the labyrinth, Minos treacherously imprisoned him and Icarus in a tall tower. Daedalus managed to fashion wings from wax and from feathers from birds alighting on their windowsill. He warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun or the wax would melt. Icarus became too exhilarated in the joy of flight, and forgetting his father’s warning, swooped up to the sun, where his wings melted, and he fell to the sea where he drowned.

J is for Jason. Jason was the hero of the quest for the Golden Fleece. With the help of Hera, he commissioned the building of the ship The Argo, and, crewed with the mightiest heroes of the day, the ship sailed to Colchis through unimaginable perils. There he enlisted the help of the sorceress Medea, who had fallen in love with him, and together they managed to take the fleece. In later years Jason fell out of love with Medea and sought to marry the daughter of the King of Corinth. In acts of revenge, Medea killed his wife to be, and the two sons she, Medea, had borne Jason. Because of his faithless actions towards Medea, Hera withdrew her support for Jason, and one day, while sleeping n the shadow of the Argo, the ship’s prow rotted away and fell on his head, killing him. This is based on the poster for the 1960s film “Jason and the Argonauts” which is a film I absolutely loved as a kid. Now its monsters look jerky and unrealistic, but it was absolutely state of the art when it was made.

K is for Kronos, or Cronus. He overthrew his father, Ouranos (Uranus) and ruled the Titans. He had heard a prophecy that he would be overthrown by his children, and so every time that his wife Rhea gave birth, he ate the child alive. When Rhea gave birth to Zeus, her youngest child, she hid him, and presented Cronus with a stone, wrapped in blankets. His grandmother, the Earth, hid Zeus under Mount Ida, where he was fed by a she-goat, Amalthea. Once of age, Zeus forced Cronus to vomit up his brothers and sisters, and they waged war upon the Titans, imprisoning many of them in Tartarus in the depths of the Underworld. There are different versions of the fate of Cronus, but some believe that he was the original of the allegorical figure of Old Father Time.

L is for Laocoon. Laocoon was the high priest of Troy. When the Greeks departed from the shore below Troy, leaving the figure of a gigantic wooden horse behind them, Laocoon begged the Trojans to set fire to it, in case it was a trick – which indeed it was. Poseidon, God of the Sea, at the request of the Goddess Athena, sent two gigantic sea serpents that strangled Laocoon and his two sons. The Trojans interpreted this as divine retribution for his disrespect towards the Greeks’ gift, and sealed their own doom by opening the gates and pulling the horse – full of hidden Greek soldiers- into the city.

M is for Minotaur. King Minos of Crete prayed to the God Poseidon to send him a white bull so he could sacrifice it to him. When the bull appeared, it was such a perfect creature that Minos kept it, and offered a different sacrifice. In revenge, Poseidon made Minos’ wife Pasiphae fall in love with the bull. She had the builder Daedalus manufacture a hollow cow, which she hid inside so that the bull would copulate with her. The product of their tryst was the minotaur, a monster with the head and neck of a huge bull, and the body of a man. Minos had Daedalus build the labyrinth as a prison for the minotaur. He dared not offend Poseidon further by killing it. He fed it upon Athenian youths, collected in annual tribute, until Theseus, with the help of Minos’ daughter Ariadne, killed it.

N is for Nike. Nike is the Goddess of Victory – hence the adoption of the name by the sports company. She is very closely associated with the Goddess Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and Learning, and of War, and Athena was often depicted holding a much smaller Nike in her right hand. This was the case in the famous statue by Phidias, which was housed in the Parthenon.

O is for Oedipus. Oedipus is one of the most tragic figures in Greek Mythology. As a young man he was on his way to Thebes, and found a sphinx blocking the path onto a bridge over a ravine, forbidding passage to anyone who refused to answer its riddle. Those who did not provide the right answer would be cast to their deaths. Oedipus answered the riddle, and the sphinx had to cast itself to death in the ravine. Before he could enter the city he met an older man and they fell into a quarrel, in which the older man was killed. When he entered Thebes he found that the king, Laius had recently been killed. Fresh from his victory over the Sphinx, Oedipus was hailed as a hero. When he met the queen, Jocasta, they fell in love, married, and Oedipus became king. Years later, when they had had several children, the Blind Prophet Tiresias revealed that when Oedpius was born, it was prophesied that he would kill his father. As a result his parents, Laius and Jocasta, had sent him to be left on a mountainside by a shepherd to die. But the shepherd had raised him as his own. Jocasta committed suicide on hearing this, while Oedipus blinded himself and went into exile.

P is for Poseidon. Poseidon is one of the older brothers of Zeus, King of the Heavens. Poseidon, who helped defeat his father Cronus, became the God of the Sea. Normally depicted with a trident, Poseidon is also the God of Earthquakes. Although he fathered fewer of the great heroes than his brother Zeus, Poseidon was the father of one of the greatest of them all, Theseus. He is also the father of the cyclops Polyphemus, and Poseidon makes sure that Odysseus cannot return home for 10 years as revenge for the blinding of Polyphemus.

Q is for Queen Hippolyta. The Ninth Labour of Heracles was to fetch the belt, or girdle belonging to Hippolyta so that Eurystheus could give it to his daughter. Hippolyta was queen of the Amazons, a race of fierce warrior women. In most versions of the myth, Hippolyta falls in love with Heracles and gives him the girdle willingly. However, after this the enraged Hera, Queen of the Gods, spread a rumour that Heracles was going to abduct Hippolyta and they attacked. Some versions of the myth have Hippolyta killed here, some have him taking her captive, and eventually giving her to his friend Theseus, whom she eventually married. Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is set in Athens, in the run up to the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta.

R is for Rhodes. The Colossus of Rhodes was a huge, bronze, torch bearing statue standing by Mandraki Harbour on Rhodes, built by Chares of Lindos. It was one of the Ancient Seven Wonders of the World, and represented the sun god Helios. The Colossus was a direct inspiration for the Statue of Liberty, which also bears a crown of sun rays and a lit torch. Helios was often depicted as a young man driving the chariot of the sun across the sky. The statue only stood for about 54 years before being destroyed in an earthquake of 226 BC.

S is for Silenus. Silenus, often represented as a satyr, was a tutor and companion of Dionysus. He was seen as a minor deity of wine and drinking, representing the intoxicating effects of wine and alcohol. He is usually shown drunk and supported by either other satyrs or a donkey. When drunk – which was most of the time, Silenus was said to have the gift of prophecy. For entertaining Silenus with great kindness for five days, Dionysus granted King Midas his wish that everything he touched would turn to gold. Be careful what you wish for.