THE MYTH OF HERACLES Heracles (also known by his Roman name, Hercules) was the strongest of the mortals. This was because he was the son of Zeus and a mortal woman. He was even stronger than some of the gods!

Hera was very jealous of Heracles. She didn’t like that Zeus had been unfaithful to her, and had Heracles with a mortal woman. When he was an infant, she sent two snakes to kill him in his crib. When she went to check on the child, she found him holding a strangled serpent in each hand.

Heracles grew to become a great hero and performed many great deeds. He is famous for the series of labours he performed. Hera had an evil King think up these quests for Heracles, with the hope that he would be killed while completing them. He was promised immortality if he could complete all the tasks.

The first labour that Heracles completed involved the Nimean Lion. Heracles was THE MYTH OF HERACLES challenged to kill it, which was no easy task. It was challenging because the beast was supernatural, and had skin that could not be pierced by spears or arrows. Despite the difficulty of the task, Heracles was able to corner the lion and use his great strength to kill it with his bear hands. Heracles wore the lion’s head as a helmet, to show everyone his strength and bravery.

Another labour of Heracles involved the many headed Hydra. The Hydra was a nine headed serpent. If one of the Hydra’s heads was cut off, two more would grow back in its place. The Hydra also had poisonous breath; if anyone smelled the breath of the Hydra, they would die. This made the Hydra very hard to defeat. Heracles, however, was able to defeat this horrible beast by eventually burying it under a pile of boulders.

Heracles completed 10 other labours, as well as many other brave deeds. His last deed involved rescuing his wife, Deianara from being attacked by a centaur. Seeing her peril, Heracles shot the centaur with an arrow dipped in poisonous Hydra blood. After the rescue, Heracles instructed his wife to save a bit of the centaur’s blood to use as a love potion.

Before giving the love potion to her husband, Deianara decided to dab a little bit onto one of his tunics, with the hope of keeping him faithful. Little did she know, the blood of the centaur had become contaminated, as it had been killed by an arrow dipped in poisonous Hydra blood. When Heracles put on the tunic, he was killed by the poison. THE MYTH OF HERACLES MYTH SUMMARY

WHO WERE THE MAIN CHARACTERS? WHERE DID IT TAKE PLACE?

WHAT WERE THE MAIN EVENTS?

USE THE INFORMATION YOU GATHERED TO SUMMARIZE THE STORY HERE. THE MYTH OF ICARUS Icarus was the son of the great inventor and architect, Daedalus.

Daedalus and his son were asked by King Minos to build the labyrinth for the Minotaur. After building it, King Minos banished Daedalus and Icarus to a tall tower in the castle.

Not wanting his son to grow up imprisoned, Daedalus created a new invention. Using candle wax and feathers from birds that had flown in the tower window, THE MYTH OF ICARUS Daedalus was able to create two pairs of wings.

Daedalus and his son strapped on the wings and escaped like birds out the tower window. Before leaving, Daedalus warned his son to not fly too close to the sun, as the wings would melt from the heat.

Icarus found flying exciting. He was so excited to be flying free, that he forgot his father’s warning. As he slowly flew closer and closer to the sun, his wings began to melt. Eventually, the wings fell apart, and Icarus fell from the sky. Icarus landed in the sea below and drowned. THE MYTH OF ICARUS MYTH SUMMARY

WHO WERE THE MAIN CHARACTERS? WHERE DID IT TAKE PLACE?

WHAT WERE THE MAIN EVENTS?

USE THE INFORMATION YOU GATHERED TO SUMMARIZE THE STORY HERE.