Curated category
Kings in Greek mythology
- ZeusZeus is the supreme deity of the Greek pantheon, and yet even the gods rise from their seats when he enters the room. That detail, preserved in ancient…
- PriamPriam, the last king of Troy, kissed the hands of the man who killed his son. That act, described in book XXIV of Homer's Iliad, stands as one of the most…
- OdysseusOdysseus, the legendary king of Ithaca, spent ten years trying to get home after a war that had already lasted a decade.
- HadesHades is the god of the dead and the King of the underworld in ancient Greek religion and mythology. His name became so feared that by around the 5th century…
- PoseidonPoseidon is one of the twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and mythology, a god of such terrifying breadth that sailors prayed to him for safe passage…
- OedipusOedipus, the mythical king of Thebes, stands at the center of one of the most harrowing stories ever told. He killed his father without knowing it.
- CeleusIn the ancient city of Eleusis, King Celeus welcomed a weary old woman named Doso into his home. This stranger was actually Demeter, goddess of the harvest…
- CronusCronus, leader of the Titans and ruler of the mythological Golden Age, was the deity Greeks credited with bringing the harvest and feared for devouring his…
- Uranus (mythology)Uranus is one of the oldest divine figures in Greek religion, a being so ancient and so vast that he was not a god who ruled the sky but the sky itself.
- BellerophonBellerophon was ranked among the greatest heroes of ancient Greek mythology, placed alongside Cadmus and Perseus as one of "the greatest hero and slayer of…
- AtreusTantalus, son of Zeus and the maiden Pluto, sat at a dinner table with gods who understood his crime. He had slain his own son Pelops to test their…
- AnchisesAphrodite descended to the hills of Mount Ida while Anchises herded his cattle. The mortal man possessed beauty that rivaled an immortal god.
- 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…
- ThyestesPelops and Hippodamia gave birth to Thyestes in the city of Olympia. Their union carried a heavy burden from the moment Myrtilus died.
- TlepolemusTlepolemus stood as the son of Heracles and Astyoche, daughter of Phylas, king of Ephyra. Some ancient accounts claimed his mother was Astydameia, daughter…
- CadmusCadmus, the legendary Phoenician prince credited with founding Thebes, carried something far more consequential than a royal title: the alphabet.
- TantalusTantalus stands in a pool of water, chin-deep, beneath boughs heavy with fruit. Every time he reaches upward, the branches pull away.
- TelephusIn the Louvre, a marble statue from the mid second century AD shows Heracles holding an infant named Telephus alongside a deer.
- MemnonMemnon, the king of Aethiopia, arrived at Troy with an army so vast that ancient sources described it as too large to be counted. He was no ordinary ally.
- PentheusCadmus, the founder of Thebes, abdicated his throne to his grandson Pentheus due to old age. Pentheus was the son of Agave and Echion, the wisest of the…
- SisyphusSisyphus, the founder and king of Ephyra, now known as Corinth, is one of the most recognizable figures in all of Greek mythology.
- Nestor (mythology)Nestor of Gerenia was the son of King Neleus and Chloris, daughter of King Amphion. Some accounts name his mother Polymede instead.