Agamemnon
was one of the most distinguished Greek heroes who participated in the Trojan War
Agamemnon was the King of Mycenae and leader of the Greek forces at Troy. Agamemnon is mostly mentioned in Aeschylus’ play,"Agamemnon" and in Homer’s epos, the "Iliad".
Agamemnon was the son of the King Atreus, who got dethroned and murdered by his brother, Aegisthus. During this period, Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus were taking refuge with Tyndareus, king of Sparta. Agamemnon wanted Tyndareus’ daughter Clytemnestra for his wife and therefore killed her first husband and child. He then married Clytemnestra and Menelaus married Clytemnestra’s half sister, Helen.
Agamemnon and Clytemnestra had four children: Iphigenia, Electra, Chrysothemis and Orestes. In order toappease Artemis to calm the wings of the Greek sails and make them arrive safely in Troy, Agamemnon was told by the prophet Calchas to sacrifice his eldest daughter Iphigenia to Artemis. Agamemnon finally consented and Iphigenia was brought to Aulis,an ancient Greek town in Boeotia, in order to be sacrificed. In the end, however, Artemis decided to rescue Iphigenia and carried her away, placing a deer in her place.
Clytemnestra never forgave Agamemnon for sacrificing their daughter and by the time Agamemnon was fighting in the Trojan War, she fell for Agamemnon’s cousin, Aegisthus.
When he returned from Troy, Agamemnon took his mistress Cassandra with him. This made Clytemnestra even more angry and she slay both Agamemnon and Cassandra with an axe. Aegisthus was Clytemnestra‘s accomplice but was later on killed in revenge by Clytemnestra's son, Orestes.
Heracles was the strongest and most worshipped hero of Ancient Greece
Ever since he was a child, Heracles made it obvious that he was not a common mortal but was in possession of extraordinary strengths and divine gifts.
Heracles was born in Thebes, Greece , when Zeus managed to seduce his love, Alkmene, by transforming himself into her husband. The affair of Zeus with Alkmene resulted in thehatred of Hera , the jealous wife of Zeus, and her determination to destroy Heracles in any way possible.
By the time Heracles was only eight months old, Hera sent out two snakes to his cradle, where he was sleeping with his brother Iphicles, in order to destroy him. The strength of the boy, though, was so immense that he managed to strangle the snakes with his bare hands.
When he reached manhood, Heraclesmarried Megara, a princess of Thebes and together they had five children. Hera, however, who still hadn't got her revenge, armed Heracles with a destroying anger, which made him kill both his wife and his children.