How well you know Hercules?

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A quiz created to test your knowledge about Hercules.

The prophecy

The ending of story of Perseus

The prophecy is fulfilled

      Perseus was a great athlete . He excelled in the discus , in running, in the javelin and wrestling. Some years, the regionals were held on the island of his grandfather , he decided to take part .

The stage was full of athletes and the sports watching crowd, erupted into cheers oftenly .

      First the runners and the wrestlers competed . Then came the turn of discus . Perseus stepped forward , holding tight his disk . First he got the right position and then he threw the disc as hard as he could. The disk hurled away, but a strong wind took it out of its path leading it to hit the King Acrisius and kill him . So finally , a prophecy which was saying that the king would be killed one day by his grandson, was fulfilled,  .

Andromeda

Andromeda in Greek mythology

 With the bag draped on his shoulder, Perseus took the way home, flying over the sea to the southern regions. At some point, looking down he saw a beautiful girl chained to rocks.
Being curious immediately dove as a bird and landed near her. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" he asked.
      "My name is Andromeda," answered the girl and immediately burst into tears. "My mother, the queen, boasted that she is even more beautiful by the Nereids, the Nymphs of the sea. But when the Nereids learned about that, were not happy at all.
So they, complained, to the god of the sea, Poseidon, and he angered so much that he sent a flood and destroyed the country of my father. The only way to stop the evil, is my father to sacrifice me to a sea monster, which can be revealed at any moment".
      Perseus, looked Andromeda dazzled by her beauty and then he glanced the sea beneath his feet. There in the waves he picked out a monster which looked like a serpent, with enormous eyes and mouth wide open.
      Perseus was raised in the air, approached  flying the monster and hit it with his sword. The monster swooped to grab Perseus with its claws, but he avoid it and prepared for a new attack. This time, the blow was fatal. The monster fell in the sea with horrible pains. Perseus gave it a final strike and killed it, and it was lost  forever in the waves.
      Then Perseus flew again near Andromeda, broke the chains that had tied down and freed her. Then he escorted her to the palace of her father, king Cepheus. The king rejoiced so much that his daughter escaped from the monster and turned back safe, that he gave a great feast in honor of Perseus. He also promised to give Andromeda as his wife .
      Then the two young returned to Serifos and Perseus took Andromeda to meet his mother. She was so happy that her son came back hale and strong, but looked to be sad. "What is wrong?" Perseus asked her. "When you were away, Polydectes forced me to agree to marry him. Tomorrow is the wedding," she replied.
      Perseus outraged,ran into the palace to meet the king. Polydekctes was surprised because he did not expect that Perseus would return. "Here!I brought you the head of Medusa," said Perseus and carefully took the head out of the bag, and held it before the king. Immediately Polydectes and his friends were transformed into stone statues.
      Then, Perseus gave the throne to the king's brother, who ruled the island wisely. Finally, he returned the helmet, the winged sandals, the sword and the bag, back to the gods, after having thanked them for their useful gifts. Once everything had finished, he married Andromeda and they lived happily for many, many years.

Medusa's head

Medusa's head

Polydektes knew that many people had tried but none managed to kill Medusa , that awful monster instead of hair had snakes and anyone who dared to look at her ,  became stone. So the king was sure that neither Perseus could do it .

      Perseus did not hear the words of Polydektes without fear. But he could not refuse the challenge. " I'll go and bring you the head of Medusa " he said.

      The gods were watching Perseus and decided to help him. While he was getting started to find Medusa,  appeared before him, the goddess Athena .She gave him a shield and showed him how to use it . Hermes gave him a couple winged sandals to travel quickly , a helmet that made him invisible a sickle and a bag .

Perseus accepted all these gifts and flew over the sea to the mountains of the north, where lived the Gorgon Medusa. Finally he landed in a valley full of rocks and followed the path which was leading to the cave where the monster was . Statues of brave men, were raised around,they had looked Medusa and became turned into stone. Silence prevailed around. Neither animals or birds were approaching these places.

      Once arrived in the cave, Perseus did what he was advised by Athena. He looked through the sparkling shield trying to use it as a mirror. Then he distinguished Medusa.

The monster had such a horrible look that he started shivering from fright. She heard the footsteps, but did not see him because he was wearing the helmet that made him invisible. She came crawling out of the cave, while the snakes on her head whistled tremendously through their forked tongues.

      With eyes fixed on the shield, Perseus made ​​a leap forward. Then he raised his scythe and cut off the head of Medusa. A terrible scream was heard and the monster fell dead.

Perseus lifted her head without looking at it, because even now it could transform him into stone. Then he dropped her head into the bag and for greater security, tightly tied the bag with a rope.

Perseus the beginning

 The begin of the adventures of Perseus

 On the island Seriphos, a day that the wind blew strongly, washed ashore a wooden chest.It was found by a fisherman, when he open the lid he was surprised to see inside a woman with a baby in her arms. She was the royal Danae with her ​​son, Perseus.
      Danae was locked up by her father to prevent her by getting pregnant.However,Zeus transformed into goldern shower managed to get her pregnant.
       King Acrisius,the king of Argos, closed them in a chest, because he was told by an oracle that he would be killed someday by his grandson. Because he could not bear to kill his daughter and his grandson, Perseus, so he put them in a chest and threw them into the sea.
      The fisherman took Danae and Perseus to the king of the island, Polydektes, who treated them very kindly and generous. When Perseus grew up he became a clever and strong young man. But he was not happy, because Polydektes wanted to marry his mother.

      But she did not want him at all for her husband, although she felt very grateful to him.
Polydektes believed that if he could get rid of Perseus, Danae would change her mind. Well he called Perseus and told him friendly: "Perseus, you live  many years in my palace and you have grown up. It is time to prove how brave and strong man you have become. I want you to bring me the head of the Gorgon  Medusa."

Bellerophon

Bellerophon and the winged horse

      Bellerophon was a prince, who had been banished from his country and lived in the court of King Proetus. He was having a  well and good time, until the day the queen complained to her husband, that the young and charming prince had insulted her. The king, who did not know that this was a lie, got furious. At first he wanted to kill him, but then he thought if he hurt a guest, the gods would be angry with him and he would have terrible consequences.
      Then he found another way to get rid of him. Asked  him to deliver a letter to the king of Lycia, Iobates. Bellerophon willingly accepted to go, without knowing what was within this letter, Proetus demanded Iobates to kill him.

      When after a long and dangerous journey, Bellerophon arrived in Lycia, Iobates welcomed him very warmly. He  put aside the letter of  Proetus and remembered it after nine whole days. When he read it, realised that he also could not kill  Bellerophon.
He was his guest. Besides, in the meantime they became friends.
      Then he thought to send him to face Chimera, a monster with lion's head, body of a goat and serpent's tail. "I need your help," said to Bellerophon. "Go, please, release my kingdom from the Chimera.It  kills my people and destroys their fields. None of the men i sent so far, could kill that monster.  I'm sure you will succeed."
      However, inside him, he was confident that Chimaera would kill Bellerophon even before he could stretch his bow, as  it had killed all the others, .
      The young prince, wanting to thank Iobates, while he was preparing to go to fight Chimera, he was approached by a wise old man. "If you want to kill this monster," he said, "You must ride Pegasus, the horse with the long white wings. Nobody until now was able to tame it."
      Bellerophon did not know if he had to believe the words of the wise old man,so he was standing undecided, when was presented in front of him the goddess Athena. "Take these," she said, and put in his hand a pair of golden reins and disappeared before he could thank her.
      One afternoonm,while it was getting dark, Bellerophon saw Pegasus drinking water in a creek. He approached it very carefully, passed the reins and hold it tight. The animal began to wheeze, started bouncing and kicking but could not escape.
      When he finally calmed down, Bellerophon jumped spry on his back and Pegasus immediately opened his wings and was lifted into the air.
They began to fly all over the country, passing mountains and plains, lakes and rivers, until Bellerophon saw Chimera. He pulled the reins and Pegasus landed immediately.
      Secured on the horse's back, Bellerophon dodged the fire that gushed from the mouth of the monster and the poison that dripped its tail. He stretched nippy his bow and shot an arrow at the side and one in the mouth. And the monster, Chimera, was instantly killed.
When Bellerophon turned back, everyone greeted him as a hero and Iobates to thank him, wed him with his daughter and gave them ​​as gifts many good estate. In subsequent years, he continued to be known for his brave acts and everyone worshiped and admired him, saying that he looked like a god.
      He started  to believe it also, then he had an idea, because he looked like a god, to go and visit the gods. So he jumped on the back of Pegasus and flew to Olympus. But Zeus, the father of the gods became very angry with the arrogance of Bellerephon and he sent a gadfly which sting Pegasus, making ​​him go rampage and threw Bellerophon from his back. Certainly, Zeus saw him falling, but did nothing to help him. Bellerophon was not killed, only wounded. Alone now and unhappy, wandered the country without anybody paying him any attention at all. Who dared to approach someone, who had made Zeus so much angry?

Echo and Narcissus

Echo and Narcissus in Greek mythology

      Echo was a nymph, a forest fairy,she was speaking endlessly and walked among the trees, laughing loudly.One day the goddess Hera was annoyed by the noise she was making and commanded her to be quiet, but she could not obey. Thus, when Hera discovered that apart from her chatter Echo was also telling to many lies,she got very angry.
      Shaking her finger menacingly told her curtly "I am very angry with the noise you do. Henceforth,you  will not be able to talk anymore.
You will only be able to repeat what the others say." Echo opened her mouth to complain but she could not say anything. Could no longer speak at all.
      "Now you are free to go",Hera commanded her."To go" repeated Echo.
Terrified she wandered in forests lonely and unhappy, since no longer anyone wanted to be her friend.
One day as she walked there, she met Narcisse. Echo hide behind some bushes to observer him better. The young man was so beautiful that she fell in love with him at first sight.
      From that day she followed him everywhere, became his shadow. At first he did not gave importance, because he was used to girls to fall in love with him and had learned their antics. Sometime, however he got flustered, because wherever he went, he met Echo in front of him.
      "Go away, i dont love you", he shouted. "I love you, i love you", repeated Echo. "Leave me alone", continued Narcissus. "Alone,alone", she replied.
      Sad and unhappy,she wandered in the forests and as the time passed, she was getting weaker and paler. Nothing had left from the old Echo, except her voice, which was repeating only the words of the others.
      Narcissus didn't even notice her absence even though he heard sometimes,her voice .Then the goddess Artemis decided to punish him for his cruelty and his arrogance. One day while he was sitting at the shore of a lake,the goddess made him bend over and look at himself. His face mirrored at the dark water of the lake, but he didn't realise that it was he, because never before he had looked in the mirror. And because he had not seen before such a beautiful face, he fell in love with it.
      The days were passing and Narcissus could not take his eyes from his reflection, which was mirrored at the lake.
      Neither he understood, because every time he was speaking, the lips of the other face were also moving. One day he tried to kiss his reflection, but once he touched the water, his image disappeared behind the playful wavelets.Once the water calmed , he saw his image again. Many times he requested his reflection to get out and love him as he did. But nothing ever happened.
      Narcissus could not stand it anymore. And he was not used to be rejected,so one day being downhearted, commited suicide. There where his body fell, a beautiful,white and tall flower grew. That flower we call it Narcissus, and it always blooms in spring.