Greek Mythology This section presently contains the story of Hercules. I will add other stories in the near future. To the right is a picture of Antonio Canova's "Cupid and Psyche" which I think is beautiful. Cupid is the son of Aphrodite, the goddess of love who rose from the lake and was so beautiful, king Zeus gave her a throne on Mt. Olympus among the other ruling gods.

The Story Starts long before Hercules' time. Mother Earth (Gaea) was very lonely. Back then, she was the only one around and had been for a very long time. One day Mother Earth looked up and saw Uranus the Sky stretching out above her. Mother Earth fell in love with the Sky and they married and had many children together. The first of these children were the six mighty Titans and the six Titanesses who they took as their wives. The Titans were very large and powerful. They resembled present day man (despite Disney's portrayal of them as "gigantic brutes"). The next children of Gaea and Uranus were not as beautiful as their first children. They were Three cyclopses and the hundred armed beasts. Uranus was very upset with the new children and threw them into the depths of Tartarus (the deepest darkest pit under the earth). Mother Earth was very upset with her husband. She loved all of her children despite their appearance. She spoke to her sons the Titans and offered them a scithe to kill their father with. Five of the Titans were afraid and refused, but the youngest whose name was Cronus took the scithe from his mother and attacked his father Uranus who fled, never to return. Cronus was now the ruler of the universe, but he was troubled because he feared he would lose his throne to one of his children as Uranus had to him.

So every time his Titaness wife gave birth to a child, he would swallow it down whole. With all of his offspring tucked away neatly inside of him, his throne was safe from takeover. But Cronus' wife was very sad. She desperatly wished for a child but every time she gave birth her Titan husband would gobble it up! She went to Mother Earth and told her about her problem. Mother said to her, "Soon you will have a baby and you must take him away to the island of Crete and I will protect him there. Give your husband a rock dressed in baby clothes to swallow instead." One day she gave birth to a new son. Cronus' wife did as her mother had told her and was surprised and happy to see that her husband suspected nothing. Safe on the island of Crete, the baby boy (whose name was Zeus) was raised by gentle nymphs and fed ambrosia and nectar until he was a strong fulgrown young god, ready to overtake his estranged fathers throne. Cronus was given a special potion that made him cough up not only the stone he had swallowed but Zeus' brothers and sisters who had grown up inside their father Cronus. They were the gods Poseiden and Hades and the godesses Hestia, Hera, and Demeter. Zeus freed the three cyclopses from tartarus and the grateful cyclopses made powerful thunderbolts for Zeus and a great trident for Poseiden and a staff for Hades. Together the brothers and sisters stood up to their father and

the other Titans and led by Zeus, succesfully took over the kingdom of the universe.The three cyclopses made golden thrones for the gods who made their palace on mt. Olympus. Zeus did not like to rule alone, so he made places for all his brothers and sisters and seven of his children (Athena, Dionysus, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Hephaestus and Ares) and the godess of love, Aphrodite, who had no mother or father. Except, Hades who preferred to stay away from the other Olympian gods decided to rule over the underworld in a grand palace of his own. Zeus chose his sister Hera for his Queen, but Hera was very jealous and hated all of Zeus' other wives and their children. One of Zeus' mortal wives name was Alcmena. Alcmena's son was born with incredible superhuman strength. His name was Hercules. As always, Hera was very angry that her husband had married Alcmena and fathered a son for her. Hera hated Alcmena and Hercules terribly and when Hercules was still just a baby, she sent two serpents to his cradle. Hercules squeezed the life out them with his bare hands. This made Hera even more angry. Hercules grew up and married the princess Megara who he loved very much and together, they had three children and were very happy.

One day, Hera, who still hated Hercules made him insane and he killed Megara and their three children. When Hercules came to his senses, he realized what he had done and mourned their loss greatly. For his crime Hercules was given ten tasks to perform succesfully so he could be forgiven by the Olympian gods. Among these tasks were the slaughter of the Nemean Lion and the Hydra (a thirty headed beast with poisonous blood and breath who grew a new head when one was chopped off) also, he had to steal three golden apples from the little tree Mother Earth had given to Hera for her wedding presant which grew in Hera's secret garden and was guarded by a great monster. Of course, Hercules performed these ten tasks easily, but he was given two additional labors to do because he had help for two of the ten original labors. Hercules did these last two tasks and was finally forgiven for his crime of murder. Hercules was taken up to Mt. Olympus where he lived the rest of his life in luxury. He married Hera's daughter Hebe, and was very happy once again. That is the story folks, hope you enjoyed it!