Defintion: Heracles is the greatest hero in Greek mythology and the most well known. He is the son of Zeus and Alcmene. His Roman counterpart is Hercules.

When he became older he married Megara, the daughter of King Creon. Hera, who had still been spiteful of Heracles, cursed him to madness and he ended up killing his children. Afterwards when his curse was over, he fled to the Oracle of Delphi; since Hera is the one who guides the Oracle he was forced to serve his enemy King Eurystheus for ten years and perform labors for him to become free of his crimes for killing his children. There were 12 total labors that he had to complete:

Death of Heracles: When he was married to Deianira, was tricked by a former enemy of Heracles and accidently poisoned her husband by giving him a shirt that had been dipped in venom. Since Heracles was a demigod he suffered a slow and painful demise; he climbed up Mount Etna, built himself a funeral pyre and layed down with his head on his club and Nemean Lion skin over him. Zeus then enveloped him in a cloud and put him among the constellations.

Definition: In Irish mythology, Cu Chulainn is a mythical hero. He is the son of Deichtine and the god Lugh.


Background: His name means Culann’s Hound, but, it is not his original name. His original name is actually Setanta but got the new name after killing a guard dog of Culann. After Cu Chulainn killed the dog, he offered to take its place until a replacement could be found. When he was 7 he overheard a druid named Cathbad talking to pupils and telling them how anyone who took arms that day would receive everlasting fame. When he took arms, he unfortunately did not hear all that Cathbad had to say which was that anyone who took arms would have everlasting fame and a short life.


When he is older he wanted to marry Emer, daughter of Forgall Monach. However, Forgall opposes and suggests that he train with a warrior woman named Scáthach, but, Forgall’s true hope is that Cu Chulainn will be killed by Scáthach during training so that he doesn't marry his daughter. After training Cu Chulainn eventually fights Scáthach’s rival Aife, and although they are well-matched he eventually defeats Aife and demands that she bare him a son. Once Aife is pregnant he returns to take Emer’s hand in marriage but is still turned down by her father. In a moment of rage Cu Chulainn storms the fortress of Forgall, kills 24 of his men, kidnaps Emer and steals Forgall’s treasure. When the son of Cu Chulainn and Aife’ son, Connla, is 8 he sets off to find Cu Chulainn. Unfortunately, when Connla denies telling his father who he is, Cu Chulainn kills him.


Many years later, as he heads out to go against a group of men who wished to kill him (all of which are sons of the men he has killed) he comes across 3 one-eyed hags that are eating a roasted dog. This is now a conflict that he must overcome because he has taboos that, if broken, will lead to his downfall. Those taboos are that he must never refuse hospitality, and he must never eat dog meat. At this point he has no choice but to break one of the taboos and decides to eat the dog meat with them. After he took the bite from the dog meat he put it under his thigh, and that hand he used and that thigh were both weakened from that point onward. Cu Chulainn died in the battle later on and tied himself to a post before he died so that he could die standing up.

Definition: In Polynesian mythology, Māui is a demigod hero and trickster. He has done many different things good and bad in many different polynesian cultures.

Māui Creates New Zealand: In Māori myth, it is said that Māui's older brothers would never let him go fishing with them. So one day, Māui made himself a fishing line and enchanted it to give it strength; which he then attacked to a magic fish hook made from a jawbone that was given to him by his grandmother. Māui then hid inside his brother's Waka (Canoe) and emerged when they were too far out to turn around. His brother's then rejected to give him any bait to fish with so he hit himself in the nose and used his blood as bait. When he cast out the fishing hook he caught a giant fish that would become the north island of New Zealand. The mountains and islands were created by the brothers chopping the fish up for themselves.

Māui Slows Down the Sun: In Māori myth, the sun used to travel much faster than it does now. This meant that there wasn't enough time in the day for people to get their work done. Māui then said that he would catch it and slow it down. He went with his brothers to the east where the sun God (Tama-nui-re-rā) slept at night. They tied a rope around the sun God and Māui proceeded to beat him with his hook until he agreed to travel slower.

Māui Lifts the Sky: In Hawaiian myth, the heavens and the earth used to be very close together which didn't leave enough room for plants to grow among other things. So Māui lifted up the heavens so there was more room (Similar to Atlas from the Greek myths).

Māui Steals Fire: In Hawaiian myth, Māui had been in a land of volcanoes and decided that he didn't want to keep travelling many miles just to get embers when he could bring fire to himself. So he went to a tribe of birds that had mastered fire and made them tell him their secrets. Their leader told him to rub certain sticks together that would make fire. He also shared this secret with humanity.