Heroic Age
In the mythical past in Greece, heroes were quite common. These heroes undertook strange quests, sailed on fantastic voyages, killed villains and monsters, saved beautiful princesses in distresses, and fought in titanic wars.
The Greek writer Hesiod called this period the Heroic Age — the time between the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age. Here the heroes were demi-gods who claimed kinship or direct descent to the gods. They were a race of noble warriors who lived during the time of wars in Thebes and Troy.
Follow the adventures of Heracles, especially the Twelve Labours, as he fights his enemies, whether they were men or monsters. Sail with Jason and the Argonauts, or follow the fabulous voyage of Odysseus. Fight alongside with Achilles and Ajax, or Hector and Aeneas in the Trojan War.
Prepare yourself to relive the exciting adventures of these mythical heroes.
I would like to welcome you to the Heroic Age.
Please read the notes for those of you who have problems finding particular articles.
Please select one of the choices below:
Perseus fleeing from the Gorgons.
Red-figured Greek amphora, 490 BC
Munich
Other useful information includes:
Bibliography (Classical sources)
Notes
I have received some e-mails concerning difficulties in finding stories on particular heroes and events, particularly the Trojan War.
On this menu page (Heroic Age), you can navigate to a particular story by simply clicking one of the above choices.
Each of these pages contains more links near the top of the page. They are sort of like a Table of Contents. These links may take you to a section of the page, or it may link to a separate (external but related) page.
Note also that Heroes I contains information on heroes before the Trojan War, including links to three major heroes – Perseus, Heracles and Theseus. However, these three great heroes have their own separate pages due to the sheer size of their stories.
Of course, Heroes II contains information on heroes who fought in the Trojan War.
Full treatment of the Trojan War is told on a separate page. More adventures of Odysseus can be found in the Odyssey. The full story of the Trojan hero Aeneas can be found in the Tales of Rome.
Speaking of the Tales of Rome, there are semi-historical accounts of the seven ancient kings of Rome and how Rome became a republic.
War between two powerful cities, Argos and Thebes, can be found in Seven Against Thebes. This also includes the Epigoni.
The story of Jason and the Quest for the Golden Fleece can be found in Argonauts.
Finally, the war between the Lapiths and Centaurs is part of the story within Theseus; while the Calydonian Boar Hunt can be found within the story of Atalanta (see Heroes I).
There are even tales about lovers. I wasn't too sure of where to put this page, but finally decided that it belonged to this section in Classical myths.
The latest addition to the Heroic Age is the new Mythical Creatures section. The mythical creatures found in Classical myths included giants, nymphs, spirits, magical animals and monsters.
By Jimmy Joe
