Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard

292 Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard

abducting their queen. The Amazons instantly

attacked. Thinking Hippolyta had betrayed him,

Heracles killed her and took her girdle back to

Eurystheus.

10. The Oxen of Geryon: Eurystheus ordered
    Heracles to bring him the oxen of Geryon, a three-
    bodied monster living in Spain. The oxen were
    guarded by the giant Eurytion and his two-headed
    dog, but Heracles killed them both and brought
    back the oxen.


11. The Golden Apples of the Hesperides: Heracles
    went to Africa, where Atlas, father of the
    Hesperides, was condemned to
    bear on his shoulders the
    weight of the heavens.
    Heracles took the sky upon his
    own shoulders and sent Atlas
    to get the apples. He returned
    with them, took up his burden
    again, and Heracles carried the apples back to
    Eurystheus. On the way, he freed Prometheus.


12. Cerberus: Heracles descended into the
    Underworld and obtained permission
    from Hades to carry off Cerberus, the
    three-headed guard dog, provided he
    could do it unarmed. He seized
    the struggling beast, carried him
    off to Eurystheus, and afterwards
    brought him back to Hades.

The Argosy (c. 1264 BCE)

Because of a prophecy that Jason would someday

do him harm, King Pelias of Iolcus sent him away on a

seemingly impossible quest to bring back the legendary

Golden Fleece from distant Colchis, at the eastern end

of the Black Sea. Jason assembled a crew of the

greatest heroes from all over Greece, and the

shipwright Argus built for them the largest ship ever

constructed, the Argo. Thus the voyagers were called

the Argonauts (“sailors on the Argo”). These included

Heracles, Theseus, Atalanta, Castor, and Pollux, and

many others.

On the voyage to Colchis, the Argonauts had

many adventures. The Sirens (lovely bird-women whose

singing was irresistibly seductive) lured some of the crew

to leap into the sea. Jason freed the blind seer Phineus

from the curse of the Harpies—disgusting bird-women

who tormented him and befouled his meals. In gratitude

for driving the creatures off, Phineus told Jason how to

pass safely through the Symplegades (“clashing rocks”),

which smashed anything caught between them. They

released a dove, which flew between the rocks faster

than they could clash, and when they opened again, the

Argonauts rowed swiftly through.

When they arrived at Colchis, King Aeetes agreed

to let Jason have the Fleece, provided he could accom-

plish a series of impossible tasks. First, he must yoke a

team of savage, fire-breathing bulls to plow a field.

Then he must sow dragon’s teeth in the field and defeat

the armed warriors who sprouted from these “seeds.”

Finally, he must overcome the never-sleeping dragon

who guarded the Golden Fleece itself. Jason accom-

plished all these tasks with the magic aid of the sorcer-

ess princess Medea, who had fallen in love with him.

Having won the Fleece, Jason sailed back to

Iolchus with Medea. On their return voyage, the

Argonauts overcame Talos, the giant bronze guardian

of Crete, by removing a plug at his ankle, letting his

animating fluids drain out.

The Odyssey (1210–1200 BCE)

After the plunder and burning of Troy, Odysseus

set sail for his far-off home on the island of Ithaca. But

unfortunately he offended Poseidon, god of the sea.

His homeward journey was to last 10 years, and it has

been mapped around the eastern Mediterranean

according to the descriptions of various places. The

ship was first blown off course to North Africa, land

of the Lotus-Eaters, whose opium-drugged food

caused all who ate it to forget home and family.

Odysseus had to drag his men back to the ship.

In Crete, they sought sanctuary in the cave of the

one-eyed Cyclops, Polyphemus, son of Poseidon, to

whom Odysseus gave his name as Nemo (“no-one”).

But Polyphemus rolled a huge boulder across the cave

entrance, trapping the crew and eating two of them.

Odysseus got him drunk, and when the Cyclops passed

out, Odysseus blinded him with a spear. When his

Cyclopean neighbors came in response to his screams,

Polyphemus cried out: “No one has wounded me!” so

they went away. Odysseus and his remaining men clung

to the bellies of Polyphemus’ sheep, escaping when he

rolled the boulder aside to let them out in the morning.

(Heraclion, Crete (AP-1/29/2003)—

Researchers on the southern Greek island

of Crete have unearthed the fossilized

tusk, teeth and bones of a Deino-

therium Gigantisimum, a fearsome

elephant-like creature that might

have given rise to ancient legends

6. Spectrum 2.p65 292 1/15/2004, 9:31 AM