Who was he?A prince from Iolcos, best known for leading the Argonauts.
We like to imagine he was running some kind of hero-school.
Medea betrayed her family to help Jason get the Fleece and they sailed back to Iolcos together.
Jason hung around for a while, but eventually died and was worshipped as a hero in several places.
In Greek myth, he fought men who sprang from stones in the ground.
Who was he?Greeces greatest hero (Heracles in Greek, Hercules in Latin).
As penance, he had to perform ten Labours for King Eurystheus of Mycenae.
Hercules eventually got remarried, to Deianeira.
His divine half went off to spend eternity with the gods though, so hes okay.
*There is a depressingly enormous amount of rape in Greek mythology.
Read more:The Madness of Heracles, by Euripides.
The part where Hercules goes mad and murders Meg and all their children, however, is left out.
- Athena was having none of that, so she turned Medusas luxurious hair into writhing snakes.
Again, we assume this is not the angle Atlantis will go for.
Medusas stare turned anyone who looked her in the face into stone.
The winged horse Pegasus sprang from her bloody neck because, well, why not?
Read more:Metamorphoses, by Ovid, Book 4, Lines 774-801. Who was he?King of Crete.
Read more:The Library of Greek Mythology, by Apollodorus, Book 3, Section 1.2-3. Who was she?Minos wife.
Read more:The Library of Greek Mythology, by Apollodorus, Book 3, Section 1.4.
Dont see:2006 horror filmMinotaurappears to bear little resemblance to Greek mythology.
Who was she?Minos and Pasiphaes daughter.
Read more:Metamorphoses, by Ovid, Book 8, Lines 152-182.
Read more:The Histories, by Herodotus, includes many of the Delphic Oracles most famous prophecies.
The Delphic Oracle almost certainly wore clothes that concealed her nipples from view.
Who was he?Pythagoras was a real person; a philosopher who lived in the sixth century BC.
He also made important discoveries in the area of music, concerning what makes the best harmonies.
He suggested that everything comes down to numbers, in the end.
Pythagoras was also the founding figure of a cult religion/philosophical school, Pythagoreanism.
He believed in the transmigration of souls, i.e.
in reincarnation, and, presumably as a result of this, advocated vegetarianism.
He also hated beans and forbade his followers to eat them.
Some have suggested this is because he thought the souls of the dead lived in beans.
That would rule the musical fruit right out.
Walter Burkerts academic studyLore and Science in Ancient Pythagoreanismis probably a (slightly) easier read.
Dont see:Pythagoras probably wasnt quite as obsessed with triangles asRed Dwarfs Meltdownmakes out.
Shell be exploring Atlantis use of Greek mythology more thoroughly at her blog,Pop Classics.
For a searchable online guide to Greek mythology, seewww.theoi.com.
