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Ancient / Classical History

Greek Heroes

Pictures of the Greek Heroes from Ancient Mythology and Legend

By , About.com Guide

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.

Ancient Greek Picture Gallery

Greek Mythology in Pictures

Images 1-12 of 12

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  1. PerseusPerseus Followed by the Gorgons, by the Gorgon Painter c. 580 B.C. Louvre.
  2. CadmusCadmus and the Dragon. At the Louvre. Side A of a black-figured amphora from Euboea, c. 560-550 B.C.
  3. BellerophonBellerophon on Pegasus spears the Chimera, on an Attic red-figure epinetron 425-420 B.C.
  4. Heracles (Hercules)Heracles, Deianira and Nessus. Attic black-figured hydria, ca. 575–550 BC.
  5. TheseusTheseus and the Minotaur
  6. JasonJason brings Pelias the Golden Fleece. Apulian red-figure calyx crater, 340 BC–330 B.C.
  7. OrpheusOrpheus and Eurydice, by Federico Cervelli
  8. AtalantaPeleus and Atalanta wrestling, black-figured hydria, ca. 550 BC, Staatliche Antikensammlungen
  9. AjaxNekuia with Ajax Persephone and Sisyphus, by the Swing Painter.
  10. AchillesAchilles tending Patroclus' wounds from a red-figure kylix by the Sosias Painter from about 500 B.C.
  11. The Greek Hero OdysseusOdysseus and the Sirens. Detail from an Attic red-figured stamnos, ca. 480-470 BC. From Vulci.
  12. HectorHector Visits Andromache With Astyanax on Her Lap. Apulian Red-figure Column-krater. c. 370-360 B.C.

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