The Myths of Hercules and Atalanta

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The Myths of Hercules and Atalanta
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Hercules
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Background

• Greatest hero of Greece
• Helped the gods conquer the Giants
• Had the supreme self confidence magnificent
  strength gives (Mythology 160)
• Wasnt very intelligent (threatened to shoot the
  sun, wanted to punish tossing waves, etc.)
• Controlled by his emotions (outbursts of anger
  followed by completing any punishment as penance)
• Only the gods/goddesses could defeat him

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Background

• Born in Thebes
• Son of Zeus and Alcmena (Zeus took the shape of
  Alcmenas husband to seduce her)
• Had twin brother Iphicles
• 2 snakes attacked Hercules and his brother
• While Iphicles screamed, Hercules killed them
• Hera was mad at Zeus and became determined to
  kill Hercules
• Teiresias (blind prophet) told Alcmena that her
  son would be the hero of all mankind

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Stories

• Accidentally killed his music teacher
• By 18 years old, he had killed the great lion
  that lived in the woods of Cithaeron
• He defeated the Minyans (enemies of Thebes), and
  the Thebans gave him Princess Megara as a reward.
  They had 3 children but, in a fit of rage brought
  on by Hera, he killed them as well as Megara.
• When he came to his senses, his (earthly) father
  told him what he had done
• Was told by oracle to go serve King Eurystheus to
  redeem himself
• Known as the 12 Labors of Hercules

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The 12 Labors of Hercules

• 1st Labor Kill the Nemian Lion (lion that no
  weapon could kill) He killed it with his bare
  hands
• 2nd Labor Fight the Hydra (immortal monster with
  9 heads) He defeated it with the help of Iolaus.
  As Hercules cut the heads, Iolaus would burn the
  stump so no new head would emerge.
• 3rd Labor Bring back a stag with horns of gold
  ALIVE (that was the tricky part) He spent a year
  hunting it down.

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12 Labors of Hercules

• 4th Labor Capture a great boar on Mount
  Erymanthus. He chased it until it was tired and
  then drove it into snow to trap it.
• 5th Labor Clean the Augean stables in a single
  day. (Augeas had thousands of cattle) He changed
  the courses of two rivers to make them flow
  through the stables to clean them out.
• 6th Labor To drive away the Stymphalian birds (a
  plague to the people of Stymphalus) Athena helped
  drive the birds out of the coverts. As the birds
  flew up, Hercules shot them.

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12 Labors of Hercules

• 7th Labor Capture the Cretan bull. Hercules
  brought it to Mycenae but let it go later.
• 8th Labor Capture King Diomedes man-eating
  horses. Hercules killed the king to control the
  horses.
• 9th Labor Get the girdle of the Amazon queen
  Hippolyte. The Amazons thought Hercules was going
  to try to carry off their queen and attacked his
  ship. Hercules (thinking it had been Hippolytes
  idea) killed her.

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12 Labors of Hercules

• 10th Labor Bring back cattle of Geyron (a
  monster with 3 bodies). On his way there he set
  up the Pillars of Hercules. Then he got the
  cattle and brought them back to Mycenae
• 11th Labor To bring back the Golden Apples of
  the Hesperides. Hercules traded places with Atlas
  (holds up the sky) so that Atlas would get the
  apples for him.
• 12th Labor Bring back the three-headed dog,
  Cereberus, which guarded Hades. While in the
  underworld he also freed his friend Theseus from
  the Chair of Forgetfulness.

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More Stories

• Fought with the river god Achelous over the
  Princess Deianira. Hercules won and she became
  his wife.
• Freed Prometheus from the eagles torture.
• Deianira, hearing that Hercules had fallen in
  love with another, sent him a robe soaked in the
  blood of a centaur. This caused Hercules extreme
  pain when he put it on, until he asked to be
  burned alive to stop it.

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Lessons

• One trait is not above all others (e.g. strength,
  confidence, intelligence)

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Allusions

• Herculean strength comparing someone as having
  Hercules's strength.
• Wrestlers/Boxers basically continue on Herculess
  tradition of showing that those he beat were
  beneath him.

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Questions

• Why do you think Hera took out all her rage on
  Hercules instead of both Hercules and his mother
  for having the affair with Zeus?
• Because of his strength, do you think he was more
  loved or feared by the people?
• Do you think Hercules could have accomplished his
  12 Labors had he not been as strong, but more
  intelligent?

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Atalanta
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How Atalanta Came To Be

• Atalantas father was disappointed because he had
  wanted a boy, but instead got a girl Atalanta.
• He decided she was not worthy enough to be raised
  and abandoned her at a mountainside somewhere in
  Arcadia to die.
• A mother bear found her and took her in as one of
  her own (brought up by bears)

• When she was a little girl hunters found her and
  took her in.
• She became a better huntress than all the rest of
  the hunters.
• She worshipped Artemis the most
• Once two centaurs, Rhoecus and Hylaeus, had tried
  to attack her, but she shot both down with her
  bow and arrows.

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The Calydonian Boar Hunt

• At the beginning of the harvest season, the first
  fruits were to be sacrificed to the gods and
  goddesses.
• Oeneus, king of Calydon, had forgotten to give a
  sacrifice to Artemis. To punish him, she sent a
  giant boar to the crops, cattle, and people.
• The King asked for all the bravest young heroes
  to kill the boar.
• Meleager, Oeneus son (one of the men in the
  group), fell in love with Atalanta and convinced
  them to let her join the hunt.
• When they found the boar, it quickly killed two
  men and another died from a misdirected javelin.

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The Calydonian Boar Hunt

• Atalanta was the first to wound the boar and
  mortally wounded it with her arrow.
• Meleager then took his spear and finished off the
  boar.
• Meleager got the skin of the boar, but he gave it
  to Atalanta to honor her part in the kill.
• Meleagers uncles, who were part of the hunt,
  became enraged that a women would get the skin
  and demanded that they get it. Meleager refused
  and killed them when they tried to take it from
  Atalanta.
• Meleagers mother had then become furious at the
  news of her brothers deaths and killed Meleager
  by burning the log that the Fates had magically
  tied his life to.

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Marriage of Atalanta

• After the boar hunt, Atalantas next achievement
  was when she competed in the funeral games
  honoring Pelias (Jasons Uncle)
• This is where she won a wrestling match against
  Peleus, the father of the future hero, Achilles.
• At this event, she found out who her parents
  were. She lived with them under the condition
  that she stayed a virgin.
• Her father agreed but after many suitors coming
  over to marry her, he started changing his mind.
  The two compromised that whichever suitor could
  beat Atalanta in a foot race could marry her but
  if they lost they would be executed.

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Marriage of Atalanta

• However, one man, Hippomenes, was clever.
• He was a great racer, but knew he was no match
  for Atalanta. So, he asked Aphrodite to help him
  and she did.
• She gave him 3 golden apples that were
  irresistible to anyone who saw them.
• He prayed to Aphrodite before the race and kept
  the 3 apples handy. When they started he was in
  the lead, but Atalanta soon passed him.
• He threw one apple a little off track. She
  couldnt help but stop to go pick it up.

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Marriage of Atalanta

• When she was in the lead again he threw the
  second apple a little farther off track this time
  and she again stopped to grab it.
• When she was about to beat him a golden apple
  cross her path again. Hippomenes crossed the
  finish line and married her.
• After his victory, he went to a temple of Zeus to
  thank him for his victory, forgetting it was
  Aphrodite who had helped him
• Aphrodite became jealous and made the two desire
  each other uncontrollably. They made love in
  Zeus's temple.
• Zeus was horrified by this and changed both of
  them into lions, where they will hunt together
  for the rest of their lives.

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Lessons

• Being a hero does not depend on the gender of the
  person.

• Brute strength is not always the winning key
  against intelligence.

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Allusions

• Atalanta and the Arcadian Beast by Jane Yolen and
  Robert J. Harris

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Questions

• Usually myths explain why something happens. Why
  do you think the Greeks would make up this myth?
• What do you think was the major cause for
  Atalanta not wanting to ever marry?
• Back then, women were expected to tend to the
  household. Which is more probable to who made up
  this myth, a man or a women? Explain.

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References (pictures and book)

• http//undertheblacksky.com/wp-content/uploads/200
  9/05/hercules.jpg
• http//www.shoshone.k12.id.us/greek/images/hercule
  s.jpg
• http//www.freewebs.com/miss_megara/Hercules-areal
  slice.JPG
• http//www.myartprints.co.uk/UK/artist/-Greek-1129
  114525456675.html
• http//www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/AtalantaPe
  leusSA596.html
• http//www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/Atalanta.h
  tml
• http//www.paleothea.com/Myths/Atalanta.html
• http//poseidon.strategyplanet.gamespy.com/images/
  wallpaper/herculesvshydra_1024.jpg
• https//www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/dictionary/Dict/image
  /stymphalian-birds2.jpg
• http//www.gutenberg.org/files/22529/22529-h/image
  s/t-0017-1.jpg
• http//blogs.reuters.com/reuters-dealzone/files/20
  07/12/cerberusallison.jpg
• Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. New York Little,
  Brown, and Company, 1998. Print
• http//www.in2greece.com/english/historymyth/mytho
  logy/names/heracles.htm