Daedalus & Icarus
- King Minos' wife births the minotaur and he hides it in the labyrinth created by Daedalus.
- Theseus destroys the minotaur and used string to mark his path and follows it out.
- He then takes Ariadne with him, but being a man abandons her later on an island.
- Daedalus wants to escape Crete and makes his infamous winged invention. His son Icarus flies to close to the sun and the wax melts causing him to fall to his death.
- They were a poor couple in a town, but they were the only people in the entire town to welcome Zeus and Hermes (disguised as travelers) into their home.
- They gave them anything they could offer and as a result the gods told them of their town facing destruction. They saved the couple and then transformed their house into a beautiful temple.
- They were offered a granted wish and they asked to be priests in his temple and to die together so that they would not have to live seeing the others grave.
- This was granted and when they died they were transformed into trees that still stand side-by-side.
Ceres & Erysichthon (Ery)
- Dry cuts down a sacred oak of the goddess of harvest Ceres. A nymph that was special to Ceres lived in this oak.
- Ceres was angered and asked Famine to destroy Ery.
- Famine came and breathed into Ery and he could not eat or drink anything and be satisfied. This caused Ery to sell everything he had, even his daughter, in order to purchase more food.
- It got so bad that he finally began to eat himself!
- Achelous wanted to marry Deianira, but so did Hercules.
- Achelous being a god-like being made fun of Hercules and called him a son of shame due to Zeus' indiscretions.
- This angered Hercules and they began to fight. Achelous could not surpass Hercules' strength and he transformed into a bull.
- Hercules beat him in battle and ripped off one of his horns forever shaming him.
- The centaur Nessus offered to help Hercules by carrying Deianira across a raging river. Hercules led the way and when he made it to the other side saw Nessus trying to run away with his bride.
- Hercules shot an arrow containing Hydra venom into Nessus' chest and it killed him. However, before he died Nessus gave his blood and poison soaked tunic to Deianira as a token of his love.
- Rumor spread lies that Hercules loved another and Deianira sent Lichas to bring the tunic to Hercules as a token of her love before she killed the rumored lover.
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| (Hercules shooting the Centaur Nessus) |
- The poison evaporated in the heat when Hercules put it on in the temple and began to eat away at Hercules. His blood turned to acid and his skin began to peel off.
- Hercules left the temple and found Lichas and blamed him for his death. He threw him into the ocean, where he was transformed into a rock the shape of a man in the Euboean Gulf.
- Hercules dies and is burnt at the funeral. Zeus then brings his immortal side and places it among the stars.
- His mother describes how it hurt like nothing she's ever felt.
- Lucina, goddess of birth, held her birth back to make Hera happy.
- However, the servant Galanthis distracted Lucina and when Lucina realized what had happened she was turned into a weasel.
Oh, this is super, Justin - I still owe you comments on your story (horses! such a great idea), but I wanted to comment here to say thanks for choosing this option, and I am glad the instructions made sense. Doing the extra reading option was an idea that a student proposed last year, and I tried it out last spring but it was kind of confusing, so I tried to make the essay/reading option more clear now. Anyway, I am glad that worked and there is SO MUCH good stuff to read. I am glad you found something you like already in this first week of reading! :-)
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