Hero Match Trivia Quiz

Answer: Heracles

Heracles is most well known for the 12 labours he had to complete as penitence for murdering his wife and child while in a state of madness induced by the goddess Hera. The 12 labours included tasks such as killing the Nemean lion, cleaning the Augean stables and capturing the three headed dog Cerberus from the underworld.

Heracles' second labour saw him defeat the Lernaean hydra, a multi-headed beast who grew more heads each time one was chopped off. Heracles eventually succeeded in slaying the beast by cauterizing the stumps after cutting off each head so a new one could not grow.

Answer: Jason

Jason was the son of King Aeson and was raised by the centaur Chiron. He was sent to capture the golden fleece by his uncle Pelias who had usurped Aeson as king. Pelias sent Jason on what he hoped would be an impossible task thus keeping Jason from potentially seizing the throne. Jason assembled a crew of heroes to help him in his quest; the group are known as the Argonauts after their ship, the Argo.

Answer: Perseus

Perseus was fathered by Danae, the daughter of King Acrisius. Acrisius had locked Danae away in a tower after receiving a prophecy that he would be killed by his grandson. However, Zeus infiltrated the tower as a shower of gold and fathered Perseus with Danae. Perseus was sent on the quest to kill the gorgon Medusa by Polydectes as an alternative to giving him a horse as a wedding gift.

The gorgon Medusa had snakes instead of hair and anyone who looked at her was turned to stone. Perseus succeeded in defeating Medusa by using a mirrored shield which meant he could see what he was doing in the reflection of the shield, without having to look directly at Medusa.

Answer: Theseus

The Greek hero Theseus was the subject of many stories but his most famous exploit is killing the Minotaur. The Minotaur was a half man half bull abomination that had been locked in a labyrinth by King Minos of Crete. The minotaur was placated by being fed on the youths of Athens as part of a treaty following a war between Crete and Athens.

Theseus volunteered to be one of the youths with the intention of defeating the minotaur. He was helped in his task by the daughter of King Minos, Ariadne, who gave him a ball of yarn to help him find his way out of the labyrinth.

Answer: Orpheus

Rather than being a great warrior, Orpheus was known for his prowess as a poet, musician and singer. Orpheus was married to Eurydice who was killed when she fell into a nest of vipers. A distraught Orpheus travelled to the underworld in an attempt to rescue Eurydice.

His music moved the king and queen of the underworld, Hades and Persephone, who permitted Eurydice to leave on the condition that Orpheus did not look back at her until they were out of the underworld. Bounding ahead, Orpheus looked back as soon as he left the underworld, but Eurydice had not left yet, and so disappeared back into the underworld forever.

Answer: Bellerophon

Bellerophon was the son of the god Poseidon and the human Eurynome who would become a queen of Corinth. Bellerophon was sent on a quest to kill the Chimera as atonement for accidentally killing a Corinthian citizen when practicing knife throwing. On his way he got advice from the fortune teller Polyeidos who told Bellerophon that to succeed against the Chimera he needed to tame the wild, winged horse Pegasus. Bellerophon was helped by the goddess Athena who provided him with a magic bridle with which to tame Pegasus.

He then went to take on the Chimera, eventually killing it by putting a block of lead at the end of his spear which the heat from the Chimera's breath melted, making it fall into the creature's mouth and suffocate it.

Answer: Atalanta

Atalanta was abandoned as a baby and was kept alive by a she-bear before being rescued and raised by hunters. Atalanta devoted herself to Artemis, goddess of the hunt. When a rampaging wild boar was sent to the region of Calydon as punishment when King Oeneus failed to honour Artemis, Atalanta was one of those who joined the hunt. Atalanta drew first blood and the boar was then killed by other members of the party.

Answer: Oedipus

Oedipus is perhaps best known in Greek mythology for fulfilling the prophecy that would see him murder his father and marry his mother. Fearing that this prophecy would apply to his foster parents (not realising they were not his biological parents) Oedipus left and headed for Thebes. On his way he killed an old man in a quarrel who turned out to be the King of Thebes and Oedipus' father.

When he arrived at Thebes the kingless city was being tormented by the Sphinx. By answering its riddle correctly Oedipus won the throne of Thebes and the widowed queen's hand in marriage and as a result Oedipus married his mother.

Answer: Odysseus

Odysseus was one of the heroes who fought in the Trojan War. It was Odysseus who came up with the idea of presenting the Trojans with a large wooden horse as a gift; however, unbeknownst to the Trojans, the horse was full of Greek soldiers who used the horse to breach the city.

As well as his exploits in the Trojan War, Odysseus is also the hero of the Odyssey, an epic poem recounting his long journey home from fighting in the Trojan War.

Answer: Achilles

Achilles was a hero for the Greek cause in the Trojan War. He was an immense warrior and slayed the Trojans' great warrior Hector during the Trojan War. The legend of Achilles says that as a baby his mother dipped him in the river Styx, rendering him invulnerable to attack everywhere on his body apart from the heel she held him by.

It is through this weak point on his heel that Achilles was fatally wounded. The legend of Achilles is the origin of the phrase 'Achilles' heel' to describe someone's weakness, and is also why the tendon running up the back of the heel is called the Achilles tendon.