Legendary Heroes - Hercules, Achilles, Theseus and more

Who Is the Greatest Greek Hero?

When you're reading the literature and history of Ancient Greece, there are a few names that should be as familiar to you as Shakespeare, the Bible, Kennedy, or Hitler. Here they are....

A self-grading trivia quiz testing your knowledge of information on the Greek heroes provided by this site.

Read about the top heroes from Greek myth and legend.

A quick look at the identity of the Argonauts.

Homer writes about Bellerophon and Proteus in Book VI of the Iliad.

Find out about the hero Bellerophon.

Find out about the hero Cadmus.

Cecrops was the early king who civilized the people of what became Athens.

Deiphobus was a Trojan leader.

Meleager (Meleagros) was a great Greek hero involved in the Calydonian boar hunt in which he yielded the prize to Atalanta, and the voyage of the Argonauts.

The leader of the Trojan War was Agamemnon. His brother and fellow king was Menelaus, the aggrieved husband of Helen of Troy. Learn more about Menelaus, a pivotal figure in the stories about the Trojan War.

Orion is one of the heroes of Greek mythology known better for his place among the stars.

Because of his great musical talent, the mythological Orpheus was given the singular privilege of having the opportunity to rescue his wife, Eurydice, from death.

Heroes feature prominently in the wars, myths, and literature of the ancient world. Not all these people would be heroes by today's standards, and some wouldn't be by Classical Greek standards. What makes a hero changes with the era, but it's often tied up with concepts of bravery and virtue. Incidentally, although there are women here, "virtue" comes from the word for man.

Contents of the Etext of The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles by Padraic Colum

The Heroes or Greek Fairy Tales for My Children, by Charles Kingsley Contents.

"The Tanglewood Tales," by Nathaniel Hawthorne Contents.

An online e-text of tales from Greek mythology, written by Thomas Bulfinch. Bulfinch covers most of the stories of Greek mythology and provides an introduction to the world of the Greek gods.

Atreus and Thyestes were sons of Pelops who were mutually guilty of betrayal.

Philoctetes inherited Hercules' bow and arrows, was abandoned by Odysseus at Lemnon, slew Paris, and was one of the few Greeks who came back home from the Trojan War.