2. HERCULES
Hercules is a hero of ancient
Greek mythology. It was
obvious he would be
extremely strong since he
was very young. He was
just an infant when he
strangled two huge snakes
in his cradle. He was an
expert at variety of
technical and other skills.
He was …
a great coachman,
very good at arms training,
wrestling, using the bow,
music and science as well
able to choose the easy
way through life, the way
of Malice. However,
He preferred the way of
Virtue, the hard one.
He was sentenced to serve the king
of Troizina, Eurustheus, for
twelve years by the oracle at
Delphi, in order to expiate a
hideous crime: he murdered his
three children in a moment of
insanity that Hera caused to him.
She wanted to pay her husband,
Zeus, out for cheating on her.
White he was serving
Eurustheus, he achieved twelve
labors, which nobody else could
3. • He killed Nemea’s lion
• He chocked Lernaia
Hydra
• He killed the wild doer of
Erymanthos
• He cleaned up Augeias
stalls
• He caught the deer of
Keryneia
• He caught the will bull of
• He killed the hens of
Stymfalis (actually he
chased them out)
• He stole Diomidis’ will
horses
• He took the belt of
Amazon’s queen,
Ippolyti
• He brought
Giryonis’oxes to
Eurustheus
• He stole the apples of
Esperides
• He went down, to
Adis’ and brought
Kerberos, Adis dog
and guard, to Earth
4. Ancient Greeks thought and portrayed
Hercules as a giant man, vigorous and
young, who wore a lion’s hid and carried a
cudgel. In addition to his labours, Greeks
know wishes till nowadays, he has
achieved other legendary exploits that
glorified him and robustness. Moreover,
he is said to be the founder of the Olympic
Games.
5. Socrates
(470 BC-399 BC)
Athenian philosopher
At first he was a sculptor, following in his
father’s footsteps. He met the
philosopher Archelaos when he was it
and followed the path of philosophy. He
considered his passion with philosophy
as a living mandate as he believed that
an inner impulse, a voice didacted his
actions.
He discussed a wide range of issues
namely, social, political and
philosophical in the market and
streets of the city. He had a large
circle of followers most of which
were young men. He taught in his
peculiar way without a fee in
contrast to other philosophers of
his time
One o f the m o st influe ntial
pe rso n o f the He lle nic civilizatio n
and o f we ste rn philo so phy.
His life
Soon he had become acquainted with
the notable intellectuals and
politicians. He didn’t support any
political party despite being
involved in politics. He loved his
country and has always willing to
6. WORKS
Socrates left no written work. Whatever we know about his work is based on
other philosophers, especially Plato.
The essence of his philosophy was the meaning of good, virtue and wisdom.
He always remained consistent to his beliefs and proved it in his daily life.
Σωκράτης ο δημιουργός
7. S o me o f S o c ra t
e s’ sayings
“Nobody is evil on purpose”
“The only fact I know is that
I do not know anything’’
“Wise men’s
opinions
enrich virtue”
“When man is ornated
in education, he is the
most divine of
creatures” “Under no
circumstances
should anybody be
unfair, nor should
they be unfair in
revenge”
8. ALEXANDER THE GREAT
(356 B.C. – 323 B.C.)
Omiros w as his favor it e poet . In Iliada he found his
absolut e idol in Achilleas, w hom Alexander w ant ed t o
equal and out do.
Due t o cer t ain cir cum st ances, Alexander ascended
t he t hr one at a ver y young age.
Alexander ’s per sonalit y and achievem ent s had
becom e a r eal legend ever since he w as st ill alive. He w as
bor n dur ing a t er r ible aut um n st or m , in a day w hen ver y
im por t ant t hings t ook place. These event s w er e a sign of
his lat er br illiant car eer .
He w as t he king of Macedonia, one of t he gr eat est officer s
of t he ancient t im es. He w as gift ed w it h r ar e st am ina
and st r engt h and even r ar er spir it . He loved history and
poetry. His t eacher w as Aristotelis, t he philosopher .
Alexander with his teacher Aristotelis
9. LEGENDS
Al exander’s personal i ty and ach i evements created a l ot of
l egends, some of wh i ch are th e fol l owi ng:
• Wh en h e was sti l l a baby i n h i s cri b h e strangl ed a bi g
snake.
• Wh en h e was 12 years ol d h e tamed a wi l d h orse. Th i s
h orse h ad a wh i te mark on i ts foreh ead and anoth er one
wh i ch l ooked l i ke a bul l and th at’s wh y i t was cal l ed
“ bu l l h eaded” . Al exander noti ced th at th i s h orse was
afrai d of i ts own sh adow so h e tu rned i ts h ead towards
th e sun and very swi ftl y h e got on i t and h el d on i t
ti gh tl y.
10. Alexander is taming the horse he called
“bullheaded”.
He looked for the immortal water at the end of the
world. The spring, though, was guarded by a
big dragon with a hundred eyes around its
head. When the dragon closed half of them the
other half were left wide open to watch around.
No one had managed to kill it. Alexander
riding his horse arrived at the spring, quickly
pulled his sword and killed the dragon.
The Gordian knot. In 333BC Alexander and his
army arrived in the Gordian of Asia. In front
of Gordian’s palace there was a chariot which
had a tight knot made from dry tree bark and
having no end or beginning. Legend had it
that whoever managed to untie that knot would
become the king of Asia. Alexander managed to
do it by removing the part that held the knot.
There is also a legend concerning Alexander’s
“sisters”. One of them was called “ The
Mermaid” It was a beautiful woman who was
sitting on a sea beast.
the mermaid
11. Digenis Akritas
His name denotes his double
origin. His mother was the
daughter of a Byzantine general
while his father was Syrian.
He had exhibited amazing abilities
since he was very young. For
example when he was 12 he
strangled two bears and killed a
lion.
A whole epic poem
has been written for
Digenis Akritas to
glorify his strength,
his intelligence, his
virtue and his great
military skills.
He was so unique and bold
that his achievements are
well-known all over the
world. Digenis Akritas
became a legend and
people thought he had
supernatural powers.
12. Before his
death he
gathered all his
comrades and
talked to them
about his
achievements.
Finally, it is
also said that he
was ambushed
by “Death” .
Dig e nis is playing with
the tailo f a lio n.
His death
caused
people’s grief.
No one could
believe that the
most fearless
man on Earth
had died.
It is believed that he
strangled his wife just
before his death so
that no one else could
marry her.
It is also
mentioned that
he didn’t die in
his palace but
after a fight he
had with “Death”.
Lots of legends
surroundhis
death
13. St Georgios
He was born in Cappadocia
and he went throught a
lot of tortures due to his
religious beliefs. At the
same tim ea lot of
legends and traditions
were written around his
name.
St Georgios is one of the most popular
Greek saints
St G e o rg io s is killing the
drag o n
One of the most well-known
legends is that of the killing of
a dragon for the sake of a
queen. Legend has it that this
dragon guarded a spring of
water and used to eat all those
going there to take water. St
Georgios saved the queen by
14. Another legend says that a
woman wanted to send to Rome a
column to be used for the building
of St Georgios church. In her dream
she saw that St Georgios lifted the
column together with her and they
dropped it in the sea. The column
was found in Rome.
St Georgios went
through a lot of
persecution and
tortures. However, he
was always saved.
Once a Roman
emperor ordered his
soldiers to dig a big
hole with water and
and drop inside St
Georgios for 3 days
and nights so that his
bones would
disintegrate. Three
days later the soldiers
were ordered to open
the hole and they
found St Georgios
standing and praying.
Legend also has it that in Paflagonia St Georgios was greatly
honored and the families there used to name their sons after him.
The name George is very common and every Greek family has got at
least a member with this name.
