Who Is Who in Greek Legend?

A rare item in Greek mythology - a woman hero. Atalanta was the lone woman on the quest for the Golden Fleece and the Calydonian Boar Hunt.

• Atalanta's Race with Meleager
• Golden Fleece

Bellerophon was a Greek hero who rode on the winged horse Pegasus; killed the Chimera monster, and tried to fly Pegasus to Olympus.

• Bulfinch - Chapter XVI Monsters - Giants, Sphinx, Pegasus and Chimera, Centaurs, Griffin, and Pygmies
• A Goddess for Men

Cadmus was sent on a vain quest to find his sister Europa. He settled in Boeotia and founded the city of Thebes, instead.

• Article on Cadmus of Thebes
• Europa, the Bull, Harmonia, and Cadmus

Hercules or Heracles (Herakles) was a strong man and son of Zeus, who performed 12 labors; his nemesis was Hera.

• Hercules Labors Gallery
• Who Was Hercules?
• Hercules' Women and Children
• Hercules' Labors: Sources
• Hercules and Eurystheus
• Amazons
• Jason's Angels
• A Goddess for Men
• Olympics
• Homeric Geography
• Banned Books
• Odyssey Bk XI

Jason was the Argonaut leader who captured the golden fleece and married the witch Medea.

• Jason's Angels
• Medea
• The Olympics
• Medea in "Jason and the Argonauts"
• Medea Murders the Children
• Medea, a Victim and Victimizer (With Poll)

Perseus was the Greek hero who decapitated Medusa; founded Mycenae. His biological father was Zeus who impregnated Perseus' mother Danae in a shower of gold.

• Perseus Profile
• A Goddess for Men

Theseus was the Athenian hero who volunteered to be one of the victims of the Minotaur. With the help of one of the Minotaur's half-sisters, Theseus put an end to the Minotaur and found his way out of the labyrinth, built by Daedalus (of wax-wings fame), in which the Minotaur had been hidden. Theseus reorganized the country of Attica.

• Theseus Had a Hand in It
• The Play Within the Play
• Odyssey Bk XI

Achilles is the quintessential Greek hero. During the Trojan War, Achilles was the Greek's best warrior; his nymph mother held him by his heel when she dipped him in the River Styx making him immortal everywhere but there.

• Heroic Behavior Then
• Amazons
• Ghost Stories
• Achilles Basics
• Achilles' Genealogy
• Homeric Questions
• Olympics
• A Goddess for Men
• Jason's Angels
• Quotes
• Odyssey Bk XI

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Agamemnon was a Mycenean king, the brother-in-law of the infamous Helen, and the leader of all the Greek forces who went to Troy (to fight the Trojan War) for the purpose of recovering Helen for her Greek husband, Menelaus.

• Agamemnon Article
• Homeric Questions
• Homeric Questions
• Odyssey Bk XI
• Oresteia
• Children of Agamemnon
• Iphigenia
• Orestes
• Aegisthus
• Cassandra
• Aerope
• Aulis

This group of names you should know from Greek myth and legend is in two parts for heroes, divided chronologically, with a third part for names that do not belong to legendary heroes. The first alphabetical group consists of heroes from before the Trojan War. These are on page one. Next come Trojan War names beginning with Achilles, some of which are on page one and some on this, page two. After the Trojan War heroes come the legendary non-humans. Also see my ranking of the Top Heroes in Greek Mythology.

During the Trojan War, Ajax was the second best Greek warrior. When he was denied the honor of the armor of the dead Achilles, he tried to kill the Greek leaders but was driven mad, instead.

• Ajax Profile
• Sophocles
• Odyssey Bk XI

Hector was a son of King Priam of Troy and the best warrior of the Trojans in the Trojan War. He killed Patroclus and was killed by Achilles.

• Amazons
• Homeric Questions

Helen of Troy known as the face that launched a thousand ships for starting the Trojan War. Helen was married to King Menelaus of Sparta when Paris took her.

• Helen of Troy Basics
• Greek Tragedy
• Homeric Questions
• Helen of Troy
• Menelaus

The blind bard believed to have written at least one if not both of the Iliad and Odyssey.

• Homeric Questions
• Quotes
• The Odyssey
• Greek Tragedy

Set in the tenth year of the Trojan war the Iliad tells the story of Achilles' wrath. It ends with Achilles returning Hector's body.
Iliad Summary/Notes/Study Guides, Homeric Questions, Ghost Stories, Heroic Behavior, Quotes.

Odysseus was the cunning Greek who devised the Trojan Horse; subject of the Odyssey.

• Odysseus
• Odyssey XI
• The Odyssey
• Odysseus in the Underworld
• Homeric Questions
• Heroic Behavior

Odyssey The 10-year return voyage taken by Odysseus from the Trojan War to Ithaca.

• Odyssey Bk XI
• Odyssey
• Homeric Questions
• Ghost Stories
• A Goddess for Men
• Shipwreck Salvage
• A Goddess for Men
• Quotes

Paris (aka Alexander) was a Trojan prince who took Helen from Menelaus.

• A Goddess for Men
• Tale of Troy
• Homeric Questions
• Greek Tragedy

Patroclus was responsible for Achilles' rejoining the battle of the Trojan War, at first by proxy and then for revenge. While Achilles was still refusing to fight for the Greeks, he let his friend Patroclus wear his armor and lead his troops. The Trojans, who thought Patroclus was Achilles, killed him. To avenge the death of Patroclus, Achilles rejoined the battle.

• Ghost Stories
• Homeric Questions

The Trojan Horse was a device conjured by Odysseus to get the Greek troops inside the Trojan Walls. The Trojans took the horse as a gift not knowing it was filled with warriors. After the Trojans welcomed the gift into their city, they celebrated what they thought was the departure of the Greeks, but while they slept, the Greeks poured forth from the horse's belly and destroyed Troy.

• Homeric Questions
• Odyssey Story of the Horse

Chiron or Cheiron was the kindly centaur who tutored heroes. Hercules accidentally killed him.

• Jason
• Erymanthian Boar

Pegasus is the winged flying horse that sprang from the neck of the Gorgon Medusa More »

Medusa was a dreaded monster with snaky locks the sight of which turned men to stone More »