Part Three. The Great Heroes before the Trojan War - Perseus, Theseus, Hercules and Atalanta Summary and Analysis

Perseus was the son of Zeus and a mortal woman. He was famous for killing Medusa, a Gorgon whose gaze could turn a man to stone. To defeat her he used a sword given to him by Hermes and a polished shield from Athena which he used to see Medusa's reflection. On his return, he flew over Ethiopia where the maiden Andromeda was being sacrificed to a sea-monster to appease the anger of the sea-god and his nymphs. He slew the monster and married Andromeda. One of their descendants was the hero Hercules.

Theseus was the son of Aegeus, king of Athens, but was brought up in a city in southern Greece. When...