...Hercules (Dwayne Johnson) is the leader of a band of mercenaries comprising the spear-wielding prophet Amphiaraus (Ian McShane) of Argos, the knife-throwing thief Autolycus (Rufus Sewell) of Sparta, the feral warrior Tydeus (Aksel Hennie) of Thebes, the Amazon archer Atalanta (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) of Scythiaand his nephew storyteller Iolaus (Reece Ritchie) of Athens. Hercules is said to be the demigod son of Zeus, who completed the legendary Twelve Labors, only to be betrayed by Hera, who drove him insane and caused him to murder his wife Megara (Irina Shayk) and their children during a visit to King Eurystheus(Joseph Fiennes). Though Hercules's demigod heritage and the truth behind his labors is questioned by everyone, he does display unusual strength and skill in combat. Hercules is frequently haunted by the memory of the deaths of his wife and daughters by his hand, as well as visions of Cerberus.After finishing a recent mission and saving his nephew, (on the MacedonianCoast in Northern Greece in 358 BC) Hercules and his team are celebrating and drinking at a tavern when they are approached by Ergenia (Rebecca Ferguson), on behalf of her father, Lord Cotys (John Hurt), who wants Hercules to train the armies of Thrace to defend the kingdom from bloodthirsty warlord Rhesus(Tobias Santelmann). Hercules accepts after he and his men are offered his weight in gold, and the band is welcomed to Thrace by King Cotys and General Sitacles (Peter Mullan), leader of the Thracian army. However...
Words: 1189 - Pages: 5
...“I'm a damsel, I'm in distress, I can handle this, have a nice day.” That was a quote from Meg in the movie. She was trying to be independent when she was talking to Hercules. One cultural difference between the movie and the myth is the family values they have. In the myth Zeus has many wives and the movie depicts him only having one wife. Disney probably did that because the movie was mainly meant for children and that’s why it’s rated G. Also in the myth Heracles killed his children, but in the movie it does not show him having any children at all. They changed it because they did not want kids watching other kids be killed on screen. In the movie Hera loved all of her children, especially hercules. In the myth she did not love her children...
Words: 419 - Pages: 2
...There are many Greek gods, far off tails of beings so great that they could only be described as ‘Gods’ or “goddesses” completely out of reach of mere humans. Each of these gods portrays something different, a mystical power or great beauty and brains. Three Gods that I find particularly interesting are Aphrodite, Heracles and Eros. They have the gifts of beauty, strength and love and we have heard many tales of them before. Aphrodite, or Venus in Roman, is the goddess of love and beauty, some say her parents are unknown, and that she was born from nothing but the foam of the sea. Aphrodite can be both a positive and a negative force; she is an essential part of many ancient myths. They say that she could be kind of merciless but she only caused havoc accidently, or if you did something to make her angry. Heracles, or Hercules in Roman, was known to be half man, half god. His mother was a mere mortal, but his father was the king of all gods. Hercules did not know he was half a god in childhood, he only realized this when he was a grown man. He had imaginable, magical strength even as a baby, and for his own protection was sent to live with a mortal family until he had grown. He did not fit in on earth, and eventually his human father told him he was part god, leaving him to earn his way into heaven and take his rightful place with the gods. Eros, otherwise known as our modern day Cupid, is also a Greek god. Cupid is the son of Aphrodite; cupid would shoot arrows of love...
Words: 387 - Pages: 2
...Hercules is thought to be one of the world’s greatest hero. There are children’s movies about him, but they all have a happy ending. Hercules, originally born “Heracles” lived a short cruel, yet heroic life. “The 12 Herculean tasks he performed over a period of 12 years have been immortalized in everything from classical poetry to Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion.” (French 1). Hercules, in Greek mythology, was a hero known for his strength and courage and for his legendary adventures. Hercules is the Roman name for the Greek hero Heracles. He was the son of the god Zeus and a human mother Alcmene, wife of the Theban general Amphitryon. Hera, Zeus' jealous wife, was determined to kill Hercules, and after Hercules was born, she sent two great serpents to kill him. Hercules, while he was still a baby, strangled the snakes. Hercules conquered a tribe that had been demanding money from Thebes. As a reward, he was given the hand in marriage of the Theben princess Megara and they had three children. Hera, still filled hatred of Hercules, sent him into madness, which made him kill his wife and children. In horror and remorse at what he did, Hercules was about to kill himself, but he was told by the oracle at Delphi that he should purge himself by becoming the servant of his cousin Eurystheus, king of Mycenae. Eurystheus, urged by Hera, planned as a punishment the 12 impossible tasks, the "Labors of Hercules." Eurystheus first ordered Hercules to kill the Nemean lion...
Words: 1842 - Pages: 8
...The monsters and men that Heracles killed some deserved to die and some didn’t, the Nemean Lion didn’t deserve to die because he didn’t do anything to Hercules but defend himself from Hercules, the Lernean Hydra did deserve to die because the Hydra was killing people and destroying stuff, the Ceryneian Hind didn’t deserve to die because it was an innocent deer with golden horns and bronze hooves Hercules had no right to hurt it or wound the stubborn and innocent little deer, the Erymanthian boar did deserve to die because the people of Mount Erymanthian lived in fear of this monster and Hercules was doing them a favor be capturing the beast, the Stymphalian birds did deserve to die because the birds were murderous and needed to be killed, the Amazon Queen didn’t deserve to die because she agreed to give Hercules the belt but Hera decided to make things complicated and disguise herself as one of the Amazon Queen’s female warriors and tell them that their queen is going with Hercules to Eurystheus the king of Tiryns and Mycenae, when the queen’s warriors were told this, the warriors put their armor on and grabbed their weapons to go after Hercules and the queen when Hercules saw the warriors he killed the queen, the queen had no idea that her warriors were planning to attack Hercules therefore, the queen didn’t deserve to die, Geryon didn’t deserve to die either because he was just trying to protect his herd from being stolen by Hercules....
Words: 303 - Pages: 2
...Of all the labours that Eurystheus had thought of, none of them had been able to defeat the mighty hercules. No matter how impossible the task seemed to be, Hercules had concurred all of them. There seemed to be no force in heaven nor earth that could defeat the brute. He could have told Hercules to fight Zeus himself, and still his strength would prevail. After days of pondering what could possibly defeat Hercules, Eurystheus realized that if Hercules was to fail, it could not be due due to a physical task. As everyone knew, Hercules was not the brightest by any means. Eurystheus thought of giving him an intellectual challenge that he could not solve, but while he would not be able to solve it, it would not defeat him. He realized that the...
Words: 350 - Pages: 2
...Rhea. Greece religion has changed over time especially in 300 AD. Later on it started to be a mixer of different religions into one. Throughout Greek myth are many stories of courageous heroes. These heroes were usually men that were said to have fought in wars between Greek city-states. On this page, we will discuss four of them; Achilles, Heracles, Theseus, and Hector. Achilles was a hero that fought in the Trojan war. He was the son of King Peleus of the Myrmidons and a nymph named Thetis. The most commonly known version of the story of Achilles states that his mother, Thetis, wanted to make Achilles immortal, so she took him to the river Styx as a baby and dipped him in. The magical water touched all of his small body except for the heel she held him by, causing his sole weakness. Another version claims that she covered his body...
Words: 498 - Pages: 2
...The hero archetype is almost always the main character of any creative work; although the archetype can be witnessed as a secondary character as well as the opponent if the main character is a villain. The hero archetype is comprised of a collective of characteristics which defines and sets the standards of the archetype. This hero archetype is very prominent in things such as big blockbuster hits and spans all the way to verbal traditions and myths. One example that captures greatly what it means to portray a hero archetype is Luke Skywalker; the main character of the Star Wars original trilogy. In support of this statement, Luke embellishes characteristics such as intrinsic goodness, courage, and ethical behavior. With these skill-sets...
Words: 338 - Pages: 2
...characteristics are only important because of how they add to the narrative and how props affect the characters. They do not have any real value in their own right. Theseus is the second self to Heracles. Due to this, as stated by Keppler, “The feelings and reactions of the first self are always in the foreground, those of the second self in the background.” Theseus’ purpose is not to necessarily entertain the audience, or add to the storyline as a prominent character. Instead, he exists only secondary to Heracles. For this reason, I would argue that Theseus, because he is Heracles’ second self, poses less as a character more as a prop in the Heracles of Euripides. Theseus...
Words: 1036 - Pages: 5
...Cl 100 Art Museum Reflection Introduction As a class assignment, I recently went to the Art Institute of Chicago last Friday. In hindsight, this was a little late to be going, but I found the trip to be enriching nonetheless. I browsed over several sections, like the Indian and Native American, but I spent most of my time in the Ancient Mediterranean area, chiefly the section displaying ancient Greek art. My task was to find several different items, each representing an aspect of Greek civilization. After a process of elimination, I chose four items that I felt best depicted the daily lives of Greeks in the past. In this paper I will attempt to briefly identify them. Part I- An item of custom The first item I chose was one that showcased Greek cultural norms. For this I chose a grave stele depicting a small child playing with his pets. According to the museum, this artifact was made sometime around 330 B.C.E., so it is from the transition time between the Classical and Hellenistic Periods. It was found in Athens and the museum identification number is 88.2012. It was donated anonymously (AI info). Relatively intact, the image on its front is very easy to interpret. It is very clearly a young Greek boy, playing with his pet dove and dog. He holds the dove outstretched in his right hand and the dog appears to be jumping towards it, perhaps out of excitement. This stele is about 3-4 feet high and maybe a foot and a half wide. At one point it was painted, because there is...
Words: 2048 - Pages: 9
...What is a Myth? Before defining the term "mythology" one needs to define the meaning of the word "myth". The word itself comes from the Greek "mythos" which originally meant "speech" or "discourse" but which later came to mean "fable" or "legend". So the word "myth" is defined as a story of forgotten or vague origin, basically religious or supernatural in nature, which seeks to explain or rationalize one or more aspects of the world or a society. Furthermore, all myths are, at some stage, actually believed to be true by the peoples of the societies that used or originated the myth. The definition is thus clearly distinguished from the use of the word myth in everyday speech which basically refers to any unreal or imaginary story. A myth is also distinctly different from an allegory or parable which is a story deliberately made up to illustrate some moral point but which has never been assumed to be true by anyone. Some myths describe some actual historical event, but have been embellished and refashioned by various story tellers over time so that it is impossible to tell what really happened. In this last aspect myths have a legendary and historical nature. Definitions of Mythology The word mythology has two related meanings. Firstly it refers to a collection of myths that together form a mythological system. Thus one can speak of "Egyptian Mythology", "Indian Mythology", "Maori Mythology" or "Greek Mythology". In this sense one is describing a system of myths which were...
Words: 2019 - Pages: 9
...Through his early years Alexander was educated by Aristotle in literature, art, and philosophy. At the forefront of Alexander’s studies was the book Iliad . This literature, among others, contributed to the formation of Alexander’s morals and more importantly, which figures he modeled himself after. In Aristotle’s Hymn to Excellence he speaks of Alexander’s ancestors: Heracles, Achilles, and Aias –who became Alexander’s heroic models . This was good for Alexander because it allowed him to relate himself to popular figures, however this was merely one of the root factors for his pursuit of deification. Additionally, Alexander forged friendships with individuals such as Hephaesion, who was a guard for the king Philip, Alexander’s father, and shaped his morals from the morals of those around him. Alexander had adopted from Aristotle not only his education, but also Aristotle’s morals, knowledge of politics, and additionally some...
Words: 1538 - Pages: 7
...King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) takes his army on a campaign across Greece, he seeks the Epirus Bow to punish the gods by unleashing the Titans for ignoring his prayers to save his wife and children. Theseus (Henry Cavill) follows the visions of Phaedra the sibylline oracle (Freida Pinto). Phaedra has a vision of Theseus that he is the savior of the world and is the only one who can stop King Hyperion. Important characters are Theseus (Henry Cavill), King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke), Phaedra (Freida Pinto), Stavros (Stephen Dorff), Old Man (John Hurt), Zeus (Luke Evans), Ares (Daniel Sharman), Athena (Isabel Lucas), Poseidon (Kellan Lutz), Heracles (Steve Byers), Apollo (Corey Sevier), and Dareios (Alan Van Sprang). King Hyperion in Greek myth...
Words: 1141 - Pages: 5
...For other meanings, see Perseus (disambiguation). Perseus | | Abode | Argos | Symbol | Medusa's head | Consort | Andromeda | Parents | Zeus and Danae | Children | Perses, Heleus | Mount | Pegasus | Topics in Greek mythology | Gods * Primordial gods and Titans * Zeus and the Olympians * Pan and the nymphs * Apollo and Dionysus * Sea-gods and Earth-gods | Heroes * Heracles and his Labors * Achilles and the Trojan War * Odysseus and the Odyssey * Jason and the Argonauts * Perseus and Medusa/Gorgon * Pirithous and the Centauromachy * Oedipus and Thebes * Orpheus and the Orphic Mysteries * Theseus and the Minotaur * Triptolemus and the Eleusinian Mysteries | Related * Satyrs, centaurs and dragons * Religion in Ancient Greece | Greek mythology portal | Perseus (Greek: Περσεύς), the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynastyof Danaans there, was the first of the heroes of Greek mythology whose exploits in defeating various archaic monsters provided the founding myths of the Twelve Olympians. Perseus was the Greek hero who killed the Gorgon Medusa, and claimed Andromeda, having rescued her from a sea monster sent by Poseidon in retribution for QueenCassiopeia declaring that her daughter, Andromeda, was more beautiful than the Nereids. Contents [hide] * 1 Etymology * 2 Origin at Argos * 3 Overcoming the Gorgon * 4 Marriage to Andromeda * 5 The oracle fulfilled * 6 King of Mycenae * 7 Descendants...
Words: 2863 - Pages: 12
...Dear Senior: In less than a year, you will be preparing for your freshman year of college. By that time, you should be familiar with a wide range of English, American, and Global literatures. The list of masterworks on the back of this sheet offers a guide for what are considered seminal works in the English-language tradition. We will read and discuss several of the texts during next year’s Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition course. (I AM NOT ASKING YOU TO READ THEM ALL – DON’T BE SILLY!) Reading ahead and reading a work twice is always advisable. In any case, a broad background of reading will benefit you on the AP English Literature test, as well as in your college English classes. Summer Reading: Bulfinch, Thomas The Age of Fable: Stories of Gods and Heroes^^ Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature Like a Professor* Hamilton, Edith Mythology^^ Shakespeare, William MacBeth Optional: Cotterell, Arthur & Storm, Rachel The Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Mythology# These books should all be available at your local library or bookstore (you may also order online). *If you do not already own a copy of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, you should get a copy. We will be referring to it throughout the year as we dissect and discuss literary works. ^^I have provided .PDF copies of these works through Edmodo. Please do NOT print copies of these works. #This book is a great resource to have for college, particularly if...
Words: 1254 - Pages: 6
