Maze D: Delphi

Delphi, Mount Parnassus -The Navel of the Earth

Olympic Oracle of Delphi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXM5h9ZK4hk 00:35

Delphi

Temple of Apollo - Where oracles are given during ancient times.  While walking through the ruins, I asked the priestess living underneath temple the future of my family and friends, American politics and the world in general.  In ancient times the age of these priestesses called the Oracle of Delphi were about 13-year-old.  Young but full of wisdom.  I was told I'll continue to have the good life and good health.  Opa!

Temple of Apollo

 Ruins of Delphi

The Treasury

Delphi Museum

The Muses

Hercules

Hercules (Heracles) was one of the most famous heroes in Greek mythology.  His father was Zeus, and his mother was Princess Alcmene.  Hera, wife of Zeus, was jealous of Alcmene and hated Hercules.  When Hercules married his first wife Megara, a Theban Princess, Hera made him insane, and he burned his house, killing his wife and children.  When Hercules recovered from his sanity, he sought the help from the Oracle of Delphi.  The Oracle told him to serve his cousin Eurystheus, the King of Argos, for 12 years. 

The Twelve Labors of Hercules:
1.  He killed the Nemean Lion by thrusting his arm down its throat.  He removed the tough skin and wore it as armor.
2.  He killed the Hydra, a serpent with nine venomous heads, by burning off eight of its head, but the ninth was immortal so he buried it under a stone.  He then dipped his arrows in the Hydra's venom to make them deadly venomous.
3 & 4.  He captured a stag and a wild boar in the Arcadian Mountains and showed them to Eurystheus.
5.  He drove away a great flock of destuctive birds that lived near Lake Stymphalus in Arcadia.
6.  He cleaned the dirty stables of King Augeas of Elis in one day by turning rivers through them.
7.  He went to Crete and caught the savage bull of Minos, the Cretan king.
8.  He captured the man-eating mares of King Diomedes of Thrace.  He then killed Diomedes, fed his flesh to the horses, which then became gentle.
9.  He obtained the girdle of Hippolyta, the Queen of the Amazon.  Fighting broke out, killing Hippolyta and Hercules escaped with the girdle.
10.  He got the cattle of the monster Geryon living far to the west, past the Pillars of Hercules (Strait of Gibraltar).
11.  He carried the Apples of the Hesperides to Eurystheus.  Hesperides were the daughters of Atlas and Hesperus (Evening), and they lived at the western end of the world.  They guarded the golden apples which Gaea (Earth) gave to Hera (Juno) when she married Zeus (Jupiter).  A sleepless dragon helped them.
12.  He seized Cerberus, the monster watchdog of the Lower World, and showed it to Eurystheus.  Then Hercules returned to the Lower World.

The last three labors were ways of winning immortality: Geryon and Cerberus represent Death, and the apples were the fruit of the Tree of Life.

Hercules was traveling with second wife Deianira, and he allowed a centaur named Nessus to carry her across a flooded stream.  Nessus was nasty to her, and Hercules shot him with a poisoned arrow.  As Nessus died, he told Deianira to save his blood to use as a love potion.  When Hercules fell in love with Iole, a woman he had captured, Deianira was jealous and dipped a robe in the blood and sent it to him.  When he put it on, the poison ate away his flesh, and in agony, begged his friends to place him on a funeral pyre and light it.  His burned body was taken up into Olympus and welcomed as one of the gods.  At the end of his life, Hercules won immortality.

Click photo to enlarge

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