HEROES

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UNIT 03

• HEROES

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The Mediterranean World, 600 BC
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Nature of the Heroic, The

• Bridge between humans and the divine
• Euhemerus gods were first humans and then
  heroes
• Obviously less than divine, but somehow more than
  human
• Still bound by human limitations, such as injury
  and death
• Appeal of the local hero
• Provides community engagement through service
  to city
• Sometimes intervene between the gods and their
  home city
• Goes to far off places, meets weird creatures,
  kills them
• Does things that you and I might never dream of
  (wish fulfillment)
• Still does things wrong but makes up for them in
  a superhuman way
• Makes people proud to be from their home city

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Famous Greek Local Heroes

• Heroes and their locales
• Heracles Argos (then pan-Hellenic)
• Theseus - Athens
• Perseus - Argos
• Jason - Iolcus
• Bellerophon Corinth
• Peleus - Phthia
• Public Affairs Mission and Heroes
• Hero was considered a leader of his town (often a
  king)
• Hero was a source of civic pride
• Hero killed monsters, fought wars for his town
• Also Trojan War heroes, similar in some ways but
  not others

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Entertainment Value of the Heroic

• Why do these stories need to be entertaining?
• Remember that Greek civilization was largely
  non-literate
• Who wants to remember a boring old list of facts?
• Exaggeration is fun!
• Soap Opera Theory (Oprah, Brangelina)
• We all wish we could be rich and/or beautiful too
• We also enjoy watching rich and/or beautiful
  people suffer
• Wish Fulfillment Theory (Rambo, Madonna, Chuck
  Norris)
• We all wish we could go crazy and live like rock
  stars or cowboys
• We also want to avoid the risks of illness and
  death
• Who are some modern individual heroes?

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Random modern INDIVIDUAL heroes

• Military heroes
• George Washington
• George S. Patton
• Dwight D. Eisenhower
• Culture heroes
• Steve Jobs
• Lady Gaga
• Oprah Winfrey
• Dalai Lama
• Sports heroes
• Serena Williams
• LeBron James

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THE HEROMETER

• Divine birth on one side
• Weird events from birth onward
• Hero faced with opposition (0 or 100 chance of
  success)
• Proves heroic stature by overcoming opposition
  (or not)
• Love interest (sometimes more than one)
• Helper, human or Divine (sometimes more than one)
• Labors (one big labor, several canonical labors,
  or both)
• Confrontation with death (katabasis, immortality)

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Heracles
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Young Heracles

• Birth of Heracles
• fathered by Zeus (disguised as Amphitryon) and
  Alcmena.
• Amphitryon gone to avenge Alcmenas brothers
  deaths from war.
• Zeus boasts Hera speeds up Eurystheuss birth
• Alcmena has twins Heracles (Zeuss son) and
  Iphicles (Amphis).
• Heracles's Trials by Hera
• Eurystheus - cousin of Heracles for whom he
  performs his labors, becomes king of Mycenae
  (whomever born first, got to be king)
• Snakes, beast master/demigod,-sent by Hera,
  strangled. Now identities of children are known
• Saves Thebes, king gives him daughter, Megara,
  for wife. Hera strickens him w/ madness and he
  kills family.
• Goes to Oracle and must perform 12 labors for
  Eurystheus.

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Heracless Personality

• Negative traits
• Homicidal tendences kills his music teacher
  Linus. Kills his first wife Megara.
• Regret and Atonement - exiled to Thebes. On mt.
  w/ shepherds. Kills threatening lion.
• Sexual Promiscuity 50 daughters of Thespius.
  Cheats on Deianeira.
• Positive Traits
• Sense of humor Cercopes, Omphale
• Work ethic does his labors without complaining
• Loyalty Hylas, keeps promise to Meleager

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50 Daughters of King Thespius
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Heracless First Six Labors

• Nemean Lion - invincible skin. Taken by beating
  and using own claw. Provides armor.
• Lernaean Hydra - Many headed dragon w/ immortal
  head. Cauterizes others, buries immortal head
  under rock. Dips his arrows in the Hydras blood
  to make them poisonous
• Cerynean Hind - Artemis's sacred (rein)deer with
  gold horns. Has to catch and bring back. (w/
  permission).
• Erymanthian Boar - chases into deep snow,
  catches.
• Augean Stables - dirty for 10 years, clean in
  one day by having 2 rivers run through stables.
  Refused to pay Heracles.
• Stymphalian Birds - dirty, man eating, scared
  them w/ bronze rattle, shoots to get out of
  area.

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I Kissed A Bull
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Heracless Second Six-Pack

• Cretan Bull - father of Minotaur.
• Mares of Diomedes -flesh eating horses. Killed
  Diomedes and fed to horses. Change to nice
  ponies.
• Girdle of Hippolyta (Queen of Amazons) to take
  off means to undress for intercourse. Kills after
  Hera intervenes.
• Cattle of Geryon - Go edge of world to take
  cattle from 3 headed monster Geryon. Brings them
  back in the cup of sun god Helios.
• Apples of Hesperides - tree of life guarded by
  dragon "Ladon". Nereus prophet instructs w/ Atlas
  help. Apples immortality
• Cerberus - 3 headed hound of hell-captured w/
  permission from Hades Heracles promises to marry
  Meleagers sister Deianeira.

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The Quest for Lingerie
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Heracles and Cerberus
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Heracless Side Labors (parerga)

• Antaeus (son of Gaea, wrestled and choked to
  death)
• Atlas (tricked into taking the world back)
• Busiris (cruel Ancient Egyptian king, killed)
• Centaurs (gets them drunk and kills them)
• Cercopes (beware the man with the black bottom)
• Olympian Games (to honor his daddy Zeus)
• Prometheus (freed from his rock)

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Atlas, the Genius
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Centaurs
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Centaurs

• Definition of Centaurs
• Half-men, half horse
• Reaction of a culture which doesnt ride horses
  to one that does
• Aztecs thought this way about the Spaniards
• Seldom very sweet-tempered
• Ancient Greek Centaurs
• Children of Centaurus (son of Ixion and
  cloud-Hera)
• Chiron tutor of young Jason
• Nessus tried to carry off Deianeira
• Famous battle with the Lapiths (their cousins)

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Battle of Centaurs and Lapiths
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Death of Heracles

• Deianeira man killer, sister of Meleager
• Nessus the centaur offers her a honeymoon ride,
  gets killed
• Heracles tires of family life with Deianeira,
  wins Princess Iole in an archery contest in
  Trachis
• Kills Ioles brother, incurring miasma, has to be
  auctioned to Omphale (Lydian Queen) dress up as
  maid for a year.
• Returns to claim Iole, Deianera hears about this,
  sends favorite cloak w/ potion on it..he dies.
• Philoctetes lights funeral pyre and receives bow
  and arrows.
• Mortal part goes to underworld, immortal part
  goes to Mt. Olympus
• He marries Hebe, Goddess of youthful bloom
  (daughter of Zeus and Hera (Hera finds him now
  worthy).

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Death of Heracles
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Heracles Wrestles Death
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Heracles through the ages

• Heracles in the Iliad (shoots Hera in the breast
  with a three pronged arrow) and Odyssey (whines
  to Odysseus in the Underworld)
• Heracles at the Crossroads of Vice and Virtue
• Heracles in the Aeneid one big long Public
  Affairs Mission
• The Emperor Commodus as Heracles Marcus
  Aureliuss son declared that he was Heracles,
  dammit. The cultural elite were aghast but the
  common folk of Rome found it very cool
• TV shows and cartoons beyond belief

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Commodus as Heracles 192 AD
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Hercules the TV show
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Heracles on YouTube

• The Adventures of Hercules https//www.youtube.co
  m/watch?vdFprRniNlqQ
• Steve Reeves Version https//www.youtube.com/watc
  h?vxWSoeEDKuIU
• Disneys Hercules https//www.youtube.com/watch?v
  bqUw2mXBVow
• Kevin Sorbo Tribute https//www.youtube.com/watch
  ?vVBwMTznv2eI

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Theseus and the Minotaur
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All About Athens
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Legends of Athens

• King Erichthonius -1st king of Athens.
• When Athena born, Heph runs after to claim prize,
  
• his seed spills on Athenas thigh and she wipes
  it on Gaia
• autochthony - a creature w/ body of snake, head
  of human
• Daughters of Cecrops saw it and went crazay
• Cephalus and Procris
• Cephalus dresses in disguise to prove his wife
  Procris.
• Wife unveils herself and Cephalus curses her.
• Artemis gives her dog and spears that always get
  target.
• Cephalus gets spear, lies under tree and asks
  wind (aura) to come.
• Procris hears this and rustles bush behind himhe
  kills her.

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Erichthonius
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Legends of Crete

• Queen Pasiphae asks Poseidon to send beautiful
  bull for sacrifice
• Poseidon sends bull as ordered, but Pasiphae does
  not kill it.
• Pasiphae made to fall in love for punishment.
  Daedalus builds wood cow for her to entice the
  bull
• Pasiphae gives birth to Minotaur bull-headed
  baby boy
• Daedalus builds the Labyrinth to keep the
  Minotaur out of sight
• Labyrinth actually the magnificent palace at
  Knossos
• Daedalus gets seriously weirded out in the
  process
• He builds wings for himself and his son Icarus,
  who flew too high and drowned in the Icarian sea.
  Hubris!

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History of Crete

• Center of Eastern Mediterranean trade and culture
• Established by King Minos in legend, hence
  Minoan
• Culture dates back to before 2000 BC
• Wrote in Linear A and Linear B did the writing
  for Greeks
• Worshipped a Snake Goddess
• Beautiful palace at Knossos, built around 1700 BC
• Knossos destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 1450
  BC
• Minoan culture faded away around 1200 BC

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Palace of Knossos (artists version)
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Bull Jumping in Crete
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Cretan Snake Goddess
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Birth of Theseus

• King Aegeus could not impregnate wife. Oracles
  said not to undo hanging foot of the wine skin.
• Pittheus knows what this means and gets him to
  bed his daughter Aethra.
• Alternate explanation Aethra raped by Poseidon
  (Aegeus may originally have been a sea god, not a
  king)
• Aegeus buries sandals and sword underneath rock.
• If the child is a son, he should claim the
  sandals and sword and come to Athens
• Theseus becomes a young man and leaves to meet
  dear old dad.

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The Hero, the sword, and the sandals
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Theseuss Highly Inventive Early Labors

• Periphetes (clubman) beat upside of head w/ club
  to punish (reversed)
• Sinis (Pine Bender) bend trees, put man in
  middle-thwap (reversed)
• Man Eating Sow -Theseus eats it
• Sciron (hero of Megara) Sits on cliff, tells
  strangers to wash feet and push over edge for
  giant turtle to eat.
• Cercyon (wrestler) lifted off the Earth and
  crushed to death just as Heracles did to
  Antaeus
• Procrustes (the stretcher) stretches/cuts of
  protruding/smaller bodies on bed. (reversed)

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Procrustean Bed
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Theseus vs. Minotaur

• Aegeus is married to Medea (Thinking Woman) and
  does not recognize Theseus.
• Medea recognizes Theseus and tries to poison w/
  wine.
• He recognizes his old sword and hits the cup out
  of Theseuss hand.
• Theseus goes to prove himself in ship with black
  sail. He will sail back with a white sail if he
  makes it.
• Ariadne gives him magic to get thru maze and kill
  her half-brother, the Minotaur
• Theseus leaves her on way back to Athens on
  island of Naxos, where Dionysus picks her up
• Aegeus sees the black sail on the horizon
  (Theseus forgot to change it)
• Aegeus jumps in sea, giving it the name of Aegean
  Sea.

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Theseus and Ariadne
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Ariadne auf Naxos
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Return of Theseus
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Not without Theseus

• Divine birth on one side
• Weird events from birth onward
• Hero faced with opposition (0 or 100 chance of
  success)
• Proves heroic stature by overcoming opposition
  (or not)
• Love interest (sometimes more than one)
• Helper, human or Divine (sometimes more than one)
• Labors (one big labor, several canonical labors,
  or both)
• Confrontation with death (katabasis, immortality)

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Help me up, Herc!
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Perseus
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Perseuss Childhood

• King Acrisius of Argos was told by an oracle that
  his grandson would kill him
• He imprisoned his only child, his daughter Danae,
  in a forest
• Zeus enters in shower of gold sunlight-conceives
  baby Perseus.
• Acrisius puts Danae and Perseus into a box which
  he throws in the sea (assuming they will drown)
• Washed up on island of Seriphus, ruled by evil
  king Polydectes, who covets Danae.
• Perseus has to satisfy Poly w/ gift to gain
  admission to party of rich (usually one horse).
• Perseus says he could just as easily bring back
  the head of Medusa the Gorgonette.
• Polydectes said Youre On!
• Perseuss chances are either 0 or 100,
  depending on how you look at it.

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Shower of Gold
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Boxing Danae and Perseus
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Medusa
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Midas and Medusa
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Perseuss Excellent Adventure

• Perseus befriends Athena (lends shield) and
  Hermes (gives Cap of Darkness, winged sandals,
  magic bag) to help him conquer.
• Graeae (3 goddesses of Old Age sharing one eye
  and tooth) tell him how to win after he takes
  their eye.
• Walking backwards, using shield as a mirror, cuts
  Medusa's head off (out come Pegasus and
  Chrysaor).
• On his way back, saves and marries Andromeda (her
  mother said she was prettier than Goddesses) from
  a sea monster
• Shows Polydectes the head and turns him to stone
• Gives magical stuff to Hermes and shield to
  Athena-Medusas head on shield).
• Goes back to Argos King Acrisius flees in fear.
• Goes to discus contest, hits Acrisius in foot,
  incurring miasma
• Wanders around, eventually founds Mycenae.

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Clash of the Titans

• 1981 theatrical trailer 1https//www.youtube.com/
  watch?vPxaz9SX3vns
• 1981 theatrical trailer 2
• https//www.youtube.com/watch?v9jBIxkYqtks
• Perseus and Danae 1981 https//www.youtube.com/wat
  ch?v_7dHf6msbG0
• Battle with Medusa 1981 https//www.youtube.com/wa
  tch?v8X7W-oPhY48
• Battle with Medusa 2010 https//www.youtube.com/wa
  tch?vPBfe9uX0Xk0
• Riding Pegasus 2010 https//www.youtube.com/watch?
  v79SvfQVCP74

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Jason
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and the ARGONAUTS
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Background of the Argonauts

• Jasons early years
• Aeson is the son of King Cretheus and Queen Tyro
  of Iolcus.
• Pelias is Tyros inglourious basterd of a son,
  fathered by Poseidon.
• Imprisoned Aeson but did not kill him
• Sent Jason to Mt Pelion, raised by Centaur
  Chiron.
• Went back to Iolcus to claim throne from Uncle
  King PeliAS.
• Lost shoe carrying Hera in disguise thru river
  (fulfilling prophesy of Pelias getting killed by
  man w/ one shoe).
• Goes to town, Pelias tells him he has to go get
  golden fleece.

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Jason and Chiron
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Origin of the Golden Fleece

• King Athamas and Queen Nephele had two
  childrenPhrixus and Helle. He tired of her, got
  2nd wife Ino, who bribed an oracle to order
  Athamas to sacrifice Phrixus.
• Nephele goes back to her previous career as a
  cloud.
• Gold ram appeared before sacrifice, Phrixus and
  Helle soared away on its back.
• Helle lost grip and fell to Hellespont to death
  over sea.
• Phrixus landed in Colchis, sacrificed ram to
  Zeus, and gave skin to Aeetes (son of the sun god
  Helios) for thanks.

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The Travels of the Argonauts
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Countless Screaming Argonauts

• Jason sails on the Argo, a ship built by Argus
  and Athena.
• Best fighters (B-Movie Heroes) go on trip,
  recruited by Hera.
• Orpheus ancient Greeces greatest musician
• Peleus eventually became the father of Achilles
• Castor and Pollux twin brothers of Helen of Troy
• Calais and Zetes winged twin sons of the wind
  god Boreas
• Poeas owner of the Bow of Heracles and dad of
  Philoctetes
• Nestor future Trojan War hero
• Oileus father of Trojan War hero Ajax the
  Greater
• Heracles hero of song and story
• Hylas Heracless close friend and assistant

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Hylas
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Jason cures Phineus of his Harpies
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Farther On Down The Road

• Island of lonely Lemnian women who offended
  Aphrodite and made stinky. Argonauts stay and
  heroically beget children.
• Next island they meet King Cyzicus, mistakenly
  killed after being swept back into harbor.
• Stop on Cios after Heracles broke oar, loses
  Hylas (Hercs boyfriend) to sea nymphs. Hercules
  goes away too.
• Island of Phineus- cursed w/ harpies taking food
  for revealing too much of divine plan. Harpies
  (1/2 woman and bird) befoul food. Drive off
  Harpies
• Pass through Symplegades (clashing rocks), and
  send a dove through to confirm passage.

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Medea, Jason, and the Golden Fleece
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Adventures in Colchis

• On Colchis, King Aeetes of Aea received the
  Argonauts.
• Hera makes Aeetess daughter Medea fall in love
  with Jason
• Aeetes tells Jason he can have fleece if
• he yokes 2 fire breathing bronzed hooved bulls
  and plows earth
• sowed the dragons teeth left over from Thebes
• destroy warriors springing from their teeth.
• Medea helps Jason accomplish the labors and take
  the fleece.
• Medea chops up her brother for Aeetes to pick up
  en route.kill son.
• Back in Iolcus, Pelias is unwilling to step down.
  
• Jason kills the other menfolk and Medea tricks
  Peliass daughters into chopping him up and
  killing him.
• Town people drove Jason and Medea away to Corinth.

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Medea Escapes
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The Medea of Euripides

• Plot
• Medea and Jason have moved to Corinth
• Local king Creon wants Jason to marry his
  daughter Creousa
• Medea offers to go along with the plan does she
  mean it?
• Questions
• Is this a typical midlife crisis story?
• Is Jason heroic or sleazy?
• Is Medea a crusader or a witch?
• Who do the gods blame?
• What is Aegeus doing here?

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Mixin up the medicine
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Bellerophon
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Bellerophon

• While in Corinth he incurs miasma, goes to Argos.
  
• Purified by King Proetus whose wife Sthenoboea
  falls in love with him.
• He refuses, She writes note accusing him of
  trying to rape her.
• King Iobates has him perform labors, trying to
  kill him.
• Labor 1 Solymi
• Labor 2 Amazons
• Labor 3 Chimera
• Iobates relents and reconciles with him
• gets big head, tries to fly to Olympus on Pegasus
  
• Thunderbolt kills him -- HUBRIS!!!!
• Pegasus stays on Mt. Olympus

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Chimaera
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The Amazons
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The Amazons

• Lineage
• Name comes from amazon Greek for no breast
• Supposedly chopped their right breasts off to
  make them better archers
• Total matriarchy under Queen Hippolyta
• Supposedly male children were exposed at birth
  and only female babies raised
• Purpose of the Amazons in Greek Myth
• Get beat by various Greek heroes
• Heracles
• Theseus
• Bellerophon
• Somebody has to be the bad guys (or girls) in
  these legends
• Also, a possible lesson for uppity females

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Atalanta
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Atalanta

• Father abandons Atalanta to be raised by hunters
  and a she-bear.
• Atalanta becomes a famous runner her dad becomes
  proud and holds race for her hand in marriage.
• Hippomenes (aka Milanion) brings 3 golden apples
  to the race
• Every time she gets ahead, he throws an apple and
  she stops to pick it up.
• Atalanta and Hippomenes get married and
  consummate marriage in Artemiss temple.
• Artemis changes them into a lion and a lioness
  (supposedly could not procreate)

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Calydonian Boar Hunt, The
79
Calydonian Boar Hunt, The

• Sent by Artemis to ravage Calydon after she is
  dissed
• Meleager and men go to hunt it.
• Atalanta (either the famous runner or not) hits
  it first,
• Meleager finishes it off.
• Uncles tease him about giving skin to a
  girrrrrlllll
• He kills his uncles
• Mom takes log from box (when it burns, Meleager
  dies)
• Throws it into the fire, killing Meleager
• In the underworld, Meleager fixes up Heracles
  with his sister Deianeira

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Death of the Calydonian Bore
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Peleus
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Peleus as hero

• Peleus in Phthia. King Eurytion purifies him from
  miasma and joins him in Calydonian boar hunt.
• Peleus misses boar and kills King. Goes to Iolcus
  for purification.
• Queen Astydamia falls in love with young Peleus,
  who rejected her.
• Astydamia writes a note claiming Peleus had
  raped Peleus gets sent on labors
• Peleus is taken out on a snipe hunt and
  abandoned. His sword is hidden in a pile of poop.
• Wakes up surrounded by centaurs. Chiron, nice
  centaur, tells Peleus where sword is.
• Also one of the countless screaming Argonauts.
• Awarded wife Thetis (the nymph destined to bear
  a son who is greater than his father) for his
  display of good behavior.

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The Judgement of Paris
84
Wedding of Peleus and Thetis

• Thetis the famous nymph destined to bear a son
  who is greater than his father.
• All deities invited to her wedding with Peleus
  except Eris, Goddess of Discord.
• Eris came w/ golden apple "for the fairest."
• Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena each claim it. Zeus
  wisely declines the role of judge
• Paris (a handsome but duuuumb Trojan prince)
  selected judge
• He chooses Aphrodite, and is rewarded with the
  most beautiful woman in the world.
• Paris claims Helen, wife of Menelaus (king of
  Sparta), starting Trojan war.
• Thetis gives birth to Achilles and dips him by
  the heel in the river Styx to make him
  invulnerable.

85
Retellable Heroic Tales

• Pyramus and Thisbe (Ovid) Romeo and Juliet
• Wall separates houses, forbidden to see one
  another.
• Thisbe sees lion w/ bloody teeth and leaves,
  dropping scarf.
• Pyramus sees veil, stabs himself in side. Thisbe
  falls on his sword.
• Hero and Leander
• Hero, a priestess of Aphrodite, lives in tower.
• Hero turns lamp on every night to guide Leander
  on thru water.
• Rainy night it goes out and Leander loses his
  way.
• She sees him on beach dead next morning-jumps
  off.
• Philemon and Baucis
• Zeus and Hermes in disguise. Everyone mean except
  P and B.
• P and B pray to gods before meal, and about to
  kill goose for dinner.
• Gods reveal themselves, spare P and B from flood
• Wind up as Oak and Linden tree w/intertwining
  branches.

86
Dinner with Philemon and Baucis
87
Pyramus and Thisbe