Heroic Quests: Hercules and His Labors

What are the political, economic, sexual, and cultural boundaries a community is organized around? What are they violated by?

What does a hero do to the boundaries of a community when he defeats a monster?

Which of these are famous heroes linked to monsters?

Who are Heracles' parents?

Who is Alcmene's husband?

Zeus disguised himself as Alcmene's husband, becoming pregnant with fraternal twins: Heracles and Amphitryon's son Iphicles.

Who was born the same day as Heracles and is descended from Zeus, yet becomes king of Tiryns?

Zeus is solely responsible for the myths and cults devoted to Heracles.

Who is the Delphic oracle to Heracles?

What, according to Propp, are the seven types of characters in folktales?

How many labors does Heracles have?

Heracles defeats the Nemean lion and wears its skin, making him unique among Greek heroes.

What are the five labors of Heracles that are often associated with noxious animals?

Why does Heracles's victory over animals at Olympia become the model for athletic games?

Heracles' struggles with animals challenge the social norms and provide a foundation story for athletic competitions.

Heracles's defeat of the Lernaean hydra reinforces the boundary between human and beast, as well as male and female.

The Lernaean hydra challenges Heracles at the behest of Hera.

Heracles' victory over the hydra limits the power of female reproduction and reaffirms Zeus's rule.

What does Heracles's victory over the Amazons signify?

Heracles' defeat of Geryon, a three-headed and three-bodied monster, emphasizes the contested boundaries between Greeks and non-Greeks in foreign lands.

Heracles' journey to Erytheia is seen as a link between the Red Sea and the indigenous population of Sicily.

What does the theft of the apples of the Hesperides, guarded by nymphs and a snake, symbolize?

What creature does Heracles defeat in the underworld to blur the boundaries between mortality and immortality? What is this creature's role?

Greek tragedies often present Heracles in domestic settings, where his strength is a threat to his family and community.

What are the events that lead to Heracles's madness in Euripides’s The Madness of Heracles? What happens as a result?

It is considered that the gods had a hand in Heracles's actions that led to his madness and his desire to commit suicide.

What event in Sophocles’ Trachiniae leads to Heracles's death?

What is the final outcome of Heracles's life and his apotheosis into godhood?

How does Perseus encounter Medusa, and how does he ultimately defeat her?

How does the encounter with Medusa impact Perseus’s reputation?

It is said that Perseus is a distant descendant of Heracles

What does Acrisius do out of fear for his life and to avoid the prophecy that his grandson will kill him?

Who finds Danae and Perseus when they are washed ashore on Seriphos and shelters them? What is their relationship?

Polydectes, in order to marry Danae, sends Perseus to retrieve the head of Medusa.

The Graeae, Medusa’s sisters, refuse help to Perseus and instead put up a challenge that he needs to overcome to receive the information about Medusa.

What are the gifts that the Graeae bestow upon Perseus in order to aid him on his journey?

Medusa is a mortal woman, and her gaze turns mortal men to stone.

How does Perseus protect himself from Medusa’s gaze during his encounter?

Perseus uses Medusa’s head to protect himself from monsters, including the Titan Atlas.

Perseus encounters and defeats the sea monster, Cetus, and rescues Andromeda from being sacrificed.

What is the name of Andromeda’s would-be suitor, who is ultimately turned to stone by Perseus?

When King Polydectes sends him on a perilous quest for the head of Medusa, what does Perseus do upon returning to Seriphos?

The Delphic oracle predicting Acrisius’s death at the hands of his grandson comes true.

How does Acrisius meet his end?

What is the defining feature of Medusa that most separates her from humanity?

The monster Medusa is associated with Athena’s temple and is said to have been violated by Poseidon.

Medusa’s death and the emergence of Chrysaor and Pegasus from her neck emphasizes the idea that death can lead to new life.

What is Nostos?

It is considered that the return of the hero to his wife, the homecoming husband, is a significant aspect of the Greek heroic tradition.

Achilles, however, accepts that he will only return to his homeland in stories and that he will likely die in the Trojan War.

The return of the hero to his homeland, wife, and family symbolizes the idea that life can be a cycle and that despite the challenges, there is always a chance to revert to the familiar.

What is the significance of the hero's wife in the homecoming husband narratives?

The return of the hero, who is often disguised, is recognized first by the animals of his household, who are untouched by his transformation.

Why is Odysseus compared with Achilles in the Iliad?

In the Odyssey, Odysseus is described as deceptive and cunning, what does this suggest about his nature?

Why does Agamemnon send Odysseus to enlist Achilles in the war effort? What does this say about Odysseus’s character?

Odysseus's father Laertes is said to be a descendant of Zeus.

Odysseus’s mother, Anticleia, is the daughter of Autolycus who is known for his ability to shape-shift and steal.

What are the qualities of Odysseus that are often associated with Athena?

Odysseus’s skills include ship-building, farming, and athleticism.

Ajax is considered as cunning as Odysseus.

Odysseus utilizes his skilled rhetoric to persuade the Greeks to accept his Trojan Horse.

Odyssey is considered a self-serving mentor to Neoptolemus, who is the son of Achilles, and ultimately advises Neoptolemus to seek revenge against the Greeks.

Odysseus is portrayed as cunning in the tragedies of Euripides.

Odysseus’s character is considered 'passive' since he often adopts an attitude of silence and chooses to avoid conflict.

Odysseus is a master strategist, capable of strategizing and planning in difficult situations.

What does Odysseus’s encounter with the sirens suggest about his character?

Odysseus’s encounter with the Phaeacians is the last part of his long journey before he finally returns home to Ithaca.

Odysseus’s story, the Odyssey, is considered a testament to the power of intelligence and wisdom.

The Cyclops are described as lawless and brutish people who lack the characteristics of a civilized Greek society.

What is xenia?