Curated playlist
Deeds of Athena
- OdysseusOdysseus, the legendary king of Ithaca, spent ten years trying to get home after a war that had already lasted a decade. By the time he arrived, his wife had been fending off suitors for years, his son was grown, and the only creature to…
- HephaestusHephaestus refused to come home. The Greek god of artisans, blacksmiths, and fire had been thrown out of heaven by his own mother, Hera, and his answer was to forge her a golden throne. When she sat on it, invisible fetters locked her in…
- MedusaMedusa is a figure so potent that her name alone has come to mean monster in common usage, even as the details of her story are largely forgotten. She was one of three Gorgon sisters, the only mortal among them, and her appearance was said…
- PerseusPerseus, the legendary founder of Mycenae and slayer of the Gorgon Medusa, occupies a place in Greek myth unlike almost any other hero. He stood alongside Cadmus and Bellerophon as the greatest monster-killers before the age of Heracles.…
- Trojan WarThe Trojan War began, according to Greek mythology, not with an army or a fleet, but with a wedding invitation that was never sent. When Eris, the goddess of discord, was excluded from the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, she arrived anyway,…
- HeraclesHeracles, born Alcaeus and later known to Rome as Hercules, is the son of Zeus and a mortal woman named Alcmene. His birth alone was the product of divine manipulation: Zeus ordered the sun god Helios to hold off rising for three days so…
- DiomedesA young boy named Diomedes stood four years old when his father Tydeus died in the battle against Thebes. His grandfather Oeneus ruled Calydon, but Tydeus had been exiled for killing relatives before finding refuge at Argos. King Adrastus…
- CadmusCadmus, the legendary Phoenician prince credited with founding Thebes, carried something far more consequential than a royal title: the alphabet. The ancient historian Herodotus credited him with introducing Phoenician letters to the…
- Judgement of ParisThe Judgement of Paris begins not with armies or heroes, but with a snub at a wedding. Eris, the goddess of discord, was left off the guest list for the marriage of Peleus and Thetis. Her response was to arrive uninvited, carrying a golden…
- PrometheusPrometheus is a Titan from Greek mythology whose name may mean "forethought" -- and whose story has never stopped being told. He defied the Olympian gods by taking fire from them and delivering it to humanity in the form of technology,…