(62) Greek mythology is full of terrible tales, and the story of the brothers Atreus and Thyestes includes murder, adultery, incest and cannibalism. These two cursed sons of Pelops were exiled from their homeland. Later, they fought against eac...

(61) When the Seven Against Thebes were killed, they left behind children - Epigoni/Epigonoi. Athena assigned these Sons of the Seven the task of destroying Thebes and avenging their fathers.Some, like Thersander, Aegialeus, and Diomedes...

The battle between Eteocles and Polynices is over and the sons of Oedipus are dead. The fate of Oedipus’s daughters – Antigone and Ismene – is a less epic more personal tragedy story and is told in a handful of plays by the Greek playwright Sop...

(59) Eteocles and Polynices were the sons of Oedipus and like their father they were cursed. In their case, they were doomed to kill each other. Eteocles and Polynices fought over their father’s throne and Polynices was eventually exiled from T...

Oedipus is probably the one Greek hero who has broken free from Greek mythology and become something else entirely. That of course is all thanks to psychologist Sigmund Freud. Many people today are familiar with the hero, who is cursed with kil...

(57) The great hero twins Castor and Polydeukes (Roman Pollux) were known as the Dioscuri / Dioskouroi ‘ which means Sons of Zeus”. Considered by the ancient Greeks to be two of the greatest heroes, there are surprisingly not a whole lot of sto...

 In Greek mythology, centaurs were dangerous. Numerous heroes got into fights with them and there was even a centaur war. In it, the half-horse creatures fought against an equally fierce human tribe called the Lapiths, led by a hero named ...

(55) Theseus was one of the heroic monster-slayers of ancient Greece. This episode covers his most famous deed – the slaying of the Minotaur. As a punishment for the Athenian king’s involvement in the murder of his son, Minos of Crete demanded ...

(54) Theseus was one of the heroic monster-slayers of ancient Greece. This episode covers his beginnings. The Athenian king Aegeus was childless and worried about his hold on the throne. The fairly unhelpful advice he got from the Oracle of Del...

(53) Peleus is a Greek hero who is not well known today but was important during ancient times. He was an Argonaut searching for the Golden Fleece, and a hunter for the Calydonian Boar. Peleus enjoyed a special relationship with the centaur Chi...

(52) A few special events in Greek mythology have multiple heroes from different parts of Greece all come together to get a certain job done. One of these was the Hunt for the Calydonian Boar. The boar was sent by an angry Artemis, and the hero...

(51) Orpheus was a hero from the Greek region of Thrace. The the ancient Greeks considered Thrace a wild and barbarous place full of warring tribes. Surprisingly though, Orpheus was not warlike. He was a talented musician and a keeper of strang...

In the last four episodes, I covered the story of Jason and the Argonauts. In the poem the Argonautika, which was the basis of my retelling, the success of their adventure mostly revolved around the actions of the young woman Medea. In this epi...

(49) With the Golden Fleece secured, Jason and his crew of heroes made the long voyage back home to Greece. Along the way, they were chased by fleets of angry and vindictive enemies, and made their way through a series of dangerous trials. The ...

The Golden Fleece was possessed by Aeetes, king of the faraway land of Colchis. This episode (48) will cover Jason and the Argonaut’s arrival in Colchis, what happened there with Aeetes, and their departure. Find out if the actions of goddesses...

(47) Last episode began a retelling of the Greek hero Jason’s quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece. This task was given to him by his cruel half-uncle Pelias who hoped the dangerous quest would kill his nephew. Fortunately for Jason, the gods we...

(46) The next few episodes will cover the myths surrounding not just one hero but a whole crew of them. This group – called the Argonauts – are lead by a man named Jason. They all go on a quest to retrieve a fabulous treasure called the Golden ...

Chiron is a hero not like other Greek heroes. First, he isn’t human. He’s a centaur. But unlike, most Greek centaurs who are wild, unpredictable, and dangerous; Chiron is wise and patient. Second, Chiron doesn’t go on his own adventures. Instea...

(44) The end of the famous 12 Labours was not the end of Heracles’s heroic career. He went on plenty of other exploits afterwards. The event that triggered the Labours was when Heracles went into an insane rage – sometimes according to the will...

Continuing on with the Labours of Heracles, Eurystheus was determined to ensure the hero failed. Previous Labours occurred in the regions of Greece near Mycenae, but it was time to send Heracles further away and hope he never returned. These ne...

What do you do when you accidentally murder your entire family? Well, when Heracles went to the Oracle of Delphi to ask that very same question, he was instructed to go to his relative, King Eurystheus of Mycenae, and complete a series of terri...

Amphitryon, Alkmene, Alcaeus & IphiklesThis episode (41) begins a multi-parter on the Greek hero Herakles, and this first part deals with the hero's legendary origins. First, I cover the adventures of the less well-known hero Amphit...

(40) Minos of Crete was a powerful king in Greek mythology. He was sometimes considered the first king to build a navy, and used this fleet to make himself master of the sea. Minos ruled according to the will of Zeus and listened to him when ma...

(39) Bellerophon or Bellerophontes as he was also known, was one of the most celebrated heroes in Greek myth. He was a son of the god Poseidon and a human woman named Eurynome. He is the famous Greek hero who rides the winged horse Pegasus. On ...

The focus of this episode (38) is the Gorgon Perseus killed two episodes back. In that story, the Gorgon Medusa was presented as a threatening monster. In this episode I drill down a bit more into the mythology of Medusa and how conceptions of ...