ORACLE OF DIONE AND ZEUS

 

Oracle of Dione and Zeus

At Dodona in Epirus

Apollo’s temple at Didyma

On the coast of Asia Minor,

Or at Corinth and Bassae

In the Peloponnese,

And Delos and Aegina

In the Aegean Sea

THE PYTHIA

 

The Pythia, oracle

Of Greek antiquity,

Oracular high Priestess

To Apollo at Delphi

THE SIBYLLINE ORACLES

 

The Sibylline Oracles,

Oracular utterances scribed

In Greek hexameters

Ascribed to the Sibyls,

Prophetesses who uttered

The divine revelations

In a state of frenzy

THE ORACLES OF ANTIQUITY

 

The Oracles of antiquity,

Were portals to the Olympians

So, the Gods could speak

Directly to those in their dominions

ORACLES

 

Inspired by the Gods

In Classical Antiquity,

Oracles gave wise counsel

Prophetic predictions

Or precognition of the future

As they performed their Oracular

Form of divination

In temples to the Gods

THE ORACLES OF ANTIQUITY

 

The Oracles of antiquity,

Were portals to the Olympians

So, the Gods could speak

Directly to those in their dominions

ORACLES

 

Inspired by the Gods

In Classical Antiquity,

Oracles gave wise counsel

Prophetic predictions

Or precognition of the future

As they performed their Oracular

Form of divination

In temples to the Gods

CREATURES OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY – ORTHRUS

 

There was a dreadful union between the giant immortal Typhon

And the black fearful eyed Echidne, Half serpent, half woman

The terrible result of this unnatural union was the dog Orthrus

A two headed dog almost as vicious as his brother Cerberus

The Drakon Chimaera was in love With Orthrus her own brother

And spawned the deadly Sphinx and the Nemean Lion together

Used by the giant Geryon to guard his fabulous herds of cattle

Who at the hands of Heracles, was stuck with a club dying in battle

CREATURES OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY – GERYON

 

Geryon was a triple-bodied giant who dwelt in the land of Erytheia at the ends of the earth

As one of his labors Heracles who was sent to fetch Geryon's herds of cattle of great worth

His parents were the powerful-minded Khrysaor and Kallirhoe daughter of glorious Okeanos

While he guarded his fabulous cattle herds Geryon was accompanied by the hound Orthrus

With a single blow from his mighty club Heracles dispatched Orthrus the two-headed hound

And then with one poisoned arrow the giant three bodied Geryon fell dead to the ground.

CREATURES OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY – THE CRETAN BULL

 

As a punishment for not making a promised sacrifice to the Olympian god

The Cretan Bull a majestic creature was sent up to Crete by Poseidon

It impregnated Pasiphae the wife of King Minos producing the Minotaur

After it was captured by Heracles it was slain by Theseus at Marathon

CREATURES OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY - STYMPHALIAN BIRDS

 

The Ornithes Stymphalides were birds of a fierce and man-eating breed

Who used as arrows their metallic feathers, which were sharp indeed

The sixth Labor of Heracles was to drive these birds out of Arcadia

But because of their deadly metal arrowed feathers could not get near

But to scare the birds of lake Stymphalus he used a rattle that was brazen

Once in the air he brought them down in a hail of his arrows by the dozen

CREATURES OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY – THE CERYNITIAN HIND

 

The Cerynitian hinds were five golden-horned immortal deer

Sacred to the goddess Artemis whose golden horns shone clear

Larger than bulls four of them pulled Artemis in her chariot

Hera helped the fifth one to escape as part of a devious plot

And it crossed the river Kelodon into the mountains of arcadia

Heracles was tasked as a labor to capture the golden hind later

And without shedding a drop of its blood Heracles did this 

Afterwards he set the hind free to placate the goddess Artemis

CREATURES OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY – THE NEMEAN LION

There was a dreadful union between the giant immortal Typhon

And the black fearful eyed Echidne, Half serpent, half woman

The terrifying result of this unnatural union was a huge Lion

No ordinary Lion but a supernatural monster called the Nemean

Its skin was impenetrable to the arrows or spear of Heracles

Who had been sent to kill it so he then adopted other strategies

Finally strangling it with his bare hands and then skinning it

Ever after wearing the hide as a cloak and its jaws as a helmet 

CREATURES OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY – CERBERUS

There was a dreadful union between the giant immortal Typhon

And the black fearful eyed Echidne, Half serpent, half woman

The result of this unnatural union was a huge hound of hell

Three headed with a serpent’s tail and snakes as a main as well

The vicious Cerberus with razor teeth and lion claws on its feet   

Laid in wait at the gates of the underworld for people to eat

Heracles brought Cerberus up on his twelfth labor for his sins

He choked it into submission and dragged it home to Tiryns

CREATURES OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY – LADON

 

There was a dreadful union between the giant immortal Typhon

And the black fearful eyed Echidne, Half serpent, half woman

The terrifying result of this unnatural union was a huge Drakon

A great multi headed creature with hot fiery breath called Ladon

It was appointed to guard the golden apples of the Hesperides

But with just a single flaming arrow it was slain by Heracles

CREATURES OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY – THE ERYMANTIAN BOAR

 

There was a dreadful union between the giant immortal Typhon

And the black fearful eyed Echidne, Half serpent, half woman

The terrifying result of this unnatural union was a huge boar

A great strong beast whose capture was Heracles fourth labor

The gigantic boar ravished farmland in the west of Arcadia 

And Heracles had to capture it alive, or he would fail his labor

So, he had to force it into a snowdrift on mount Erymanthus

And snared it with a noose and took it to his cousin Eurystheus

CREATURES OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY – HYDRA

 

There was a dreadful union between the giant immortal Typhon

And the black fearful eyed Echidne, half serpent, half woman

The terrifying end result of this unnatural union was the hydra

A great many headed Drakon who inhabited the swamps of Lerna

It was the second labor of Heracles to kill the water Drakon

And the hero drew the great creature out to fight in the open

Then with his bronze sword he hacked off heads from the hydra

But for every head he severed two grew in place of the other

If that wasn’t bad enough the Hydra's breath was itself lethal

And even to smell its footprints was enough to kill any mortal

Very Soon the beast’s heads tangled around him like serpents

Iolaus his nephew comes to his aid and his death he prevents

As Heracles cut off its heads and to prevent new ones sprouting 

Iolaus with a flaming torch sealed the wounds by cauterizing

Finally, Heracles lopped off the last one and Hydra was dead

He buried deep below a boulder the Hydras one immortal head

THE LABORS OF HERACLES # 12: THE CAPTURE OF CERBERUS

 

Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera

Murdered his three children and his wife Megara

The Delphic oracle punished him for the murders

By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors

The labors were set by his cousin king Eurystheus

Heracles final labor was the capture of Cerberus

He was instructed to bring the up the hellhound

From Hades the kingdom of the dead underground

You must first cross the river Styx to reach Hades

Which for the first problem for our hero Heracles

In order to cross the river, you must first be dead

If not, have a bribe for Charon the boatman instead

Heracles met neither condition aggravating Charon

But He simply glowered fiercely at the ferryman

And Charon meekly conveyed him across the river

The greater challenge was yet to come however

Cerberus had three heads, and all had razor teeth  

Covered with snakes on its back and underneath

It also had another great venomous snake for a tail

And over this hellhound Heracles had to prevail

The venomous snakes lashed out at Heracles wildly

While Cerberus lunged at the heroes’ throat directly

Fortunately, he was wearing his lion's skin cape

The impenetrable hide and helmet with jaws agape

He eventually choked Cerberus into submission

And dragged it to Tiryns for his due recognition

THE LABORS OF HERACLES # 11: THE APPLES OF THE HESPERIDES

 

Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera

Murdered his three children and his wife Megara

The Delphic oracle punished him for the murders

By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors

The labors were set by king Eurystheus his cousin

Get the apples of the Hesperides was labor eleven

The Hesperides or even the Daughters of Evening

Were nymphs assigned by Hera to do the guarding

They were a special type of apples that’s evident

Which the goddess received as a wedding present

They were kept in a grove in the Far Western lands

In the mountains named after Atlas of the Titans

The grove was guarded by a many-headed dragon

A most fearsome babbling creature named Ladon

Each head had its own tongue making no sense at all

And finally, the grove was surrounded by a high wall

In order for his eleventh labor to be of any success

Heracles was told he would need help from Atlas

Atlas the Titan was brother to Zeus’s father Cronus

But in the war against Zeus backed the wrong horse

And so for all time Atlas must support the heavens

By means of a pillar on his shoulders as a penance 

So, he asked Atlas to get the apples from the garden

The Titan agreed, as it relieved him of his burden

He told Heracles to hold the pillar while he went

Into the grove to retrieve Hera’s wedding present

Heracles first needed to deal with the dragon, Ladon

This he did with an arrow over the wall to the garden

Then Heracles took the pillar while Atlas was gone

He returned with the apples and the job was done

But atlas had forgotten how pleasant life could be

Without keeping heaven and earth apart for eternity

So, he told Heracles he would have to fill in for him

For an indeterminate period of time just on a whim

Heracles feigned agreement to the Titans suggestion

But said that he needed for his shoulder a cushion

So, he asked if Atlas would take back the burden

While he went to fetch one and come back again

The Titan graciously obliged him without concern

And Heracles then strolled away never to return

THE LABORS OF HERACLES # 10: THE CATTLE OF GERYON

 

Heracles when driven mad by the goddess Hera

Murdered his three children and his wife Megara

The Delphic oracle punished him for the murders

By ordering him to perform the Twelve Labors

The labors were set by king Eurystheus his cousin

His tenth labor was stealing the cattle of Geryon

The three headed Geryon owned the herd of cattle

It was he and two headed Orthrus he had to battle

After clubbing the hound with just a single blow

Heracles stole the cattle dispatching Geryon also