Helena (hel´en-a), or Helene (hel´en-ē); commonly called Helen of Troy. Daughter of Jupiter and Leda, and sister of Castor and Pollux. She was the greatest beauty of her age, and her hand was sought by the noblest chiefs of Greece. She chose Menelaus (men-e-lā´us), and became by him the mother of Hermione. She eloped with [Paris] (q.v.) to Troy, and hence arose the Trojan war, as all the Greek chiefs, who had been former suitors of Helen, resolved to avenge her abduction, and sailed with Menelaus against Troy. After the death of Paris she married his brother Deiphobus (de-if´ob-us). On the capture of Troy, after a ten years’ siege, she became reconciled to Menelaus, and returned with him to Sparta, where they lived for a number of years in peace and happiness.
Helenus (hel´e-nus).—A celebrated soothsayer, son of Priam, king of Troy, and Hecuba. He deserted his countrymen and joined the Greeks—some say voluntarily, others that he was taken prisoner by the Greeks.
Heliades (hē´li-a-dēz).—Daughters of the Sun (Helios). They lamented the death of their brother Phaethon so bitterly that the gods, in compassion, metamorphosed them into poplar trees and their tears into amber.
Helicon (hel´i-kon).—A mountain in Bœotia, sacred to Apollo and the Muses. The famous fountains of the Muses, Aganippe and Hippocrene, sprang here.
Helios (hē´li-os).—The god of the sun. See “[Phœbus]” and “[Apollo].”
Helle (hel´lē).—Sister of [Phrixus] (q.v.). When she and her brother were riding through the air upon the ram with the golden fleece she fell into the sea, which was thence called the Hellespont—i. e. the sea of Helle; now called the Dardanelles.
Hephæstus (hē-fēs´tus).—The god of fire. See “[Vulcan].”
Hera.—See “[Juno].”
Hercules (her´kū-lēz); called Heracles (hē´ra-klēz) by the Greeks.—The most celebrated hero of antiquity, noted especially for his Twelve Labors. He was the son of Jupiter and Alcmene. He showed his prowess at a very early age, for when the jealous Juno sent two serpents to destroy him as he lay in his cradle, the infant hero strangled them with his own hands. His first great adventure happened while he was tending the oxen of his supposititious father, Amphitryon, the husband of Alcmene. A huge lion devastated the flocks of Amphitryon and Thespius, king of Thespiæ. Hercules slew the lion, and thenceforth wore the skin as a garment, although some state that the lion’s skin of Hercules was taken from the Nemean lion which Hercules killed as one of his labors. Next he defeated and killed King Erginus, to whom the Thebans paid tribute. Creon, king of Thebes, gave him his daughter Megara in marriage, and she bore him several children. Soon afterwards Juno drove him mad, and in this state he killed his children. His grief was so great that he went into voluntary exile and was purified by Thespius. He then consulted the celebrated oracle at Delphi as to where he should settle, and was ordered to live at Tiryns and to serve Eurystheus (ū-ris´thūs) for twelve years, after which he should become immortal. It was at the bidding of Eurystheus that he performed the following Twelve Labors. Hercules usually carried a huge club which he had cut for himself in the neighborhood of Nemea.
(i) The fight with the Nemean lion. Eurystheus ordered Hercules to bring him the skin of this monster. Finding his club and arrows useless, he strangled the animal with his own hands.