Ancient / Classical History

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Greek Heroes

Pictures of the Greek Heroes from Ancient Mythology and Legend

From N.S. Gill, About.com

All the Greek heroes worked hard and generally they played equally hard. They were beloved of the gods and sometimes equally hated. They didn't get a reputation as heroes because they rescued people from burning buildings, but because they showed divine assistance and incredible, seemingly superhuman abilities. Many were too big for their hometowns and so set off on what we now think of typically heroic quests. Others fought in the Trojan War. Just as the gods were popular ancestors for the ancient Greeks, so were the heroes. Likewise, the stories of neither gods nor heroes are entirely consistent and there is overlap.

This picture gallery is divided into three groups. The first is the early heroes, the founders Perseus and Cadmus, and Bellerophon, who sometimes overlaps with Perseus. The next group, roughly 3-4 generations later, all counted as Argonauts in one story or another. The final group is from the Trojan War, roughly a generation later.

Images 1-12 of 12

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Perseus Followed by the Gorgons, by the Gorgon Painter c. 580 B.C. Louvre.The Greek Hero PerseusCadmus and the Dragon. At the Louvre. Side A of a black-figured amphora from Euboea, c. 560-550 B.C.The Hero CadmusBellerophon on Pegasus spears the Chimera, on an Attic red-figure epinetron 425-420 B.C.The Greek Hero BellerophonHeracles, Deianira and Nessus. Attic black-figured hydria, ca. 575–550 BC.The Greek Hero Heracles (Hercules)
Theseus and the MinotaurThe Greek Hero Theseus of AthensJason brings Pelias the Golden Fleece. Apulian red-figure calyx crater, 340 BC–330 B.C.The Greek Hero JasonOrpheus and Eurydice, by Federico CervelliThe Greek Hero OrpheusPeleus and Atalanta wrestling, black-figured hydria, ca. 550 BC, Staatliche AntikensammlungenThe Greek Hero Atalanta
Nekuia with Ajax Persephone and Sisyphus, by the Swing Painter. The Greek Hero AjaxAchilles tending Patroclus' wounds from a red-figure kylix by the Sosias Painter from about 500 B.C.The Greek Hero AchillesOdysseus and the Sirens. Detail from an Attic red-figured stamnos, ca. 480-470 BC. From Vulci.The Greek Hero OdysseusHector Visits Andromache With Astyanax on Her Lap. Apulian Red-figure Column-krater. c. 370-360 B.C.The Trojan Hero Hector

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