Heracles unwittingly sets up his later death when he thinks the centaur Nessus is trying to abduct his wife Deianira, and shoots him in the back with one of his arrows poisoned with the blood of the Lernean hydra.
Rubens
Heracles pays the penalty for multiple murders, as he is subjugated, stripped of his lion-skin and club, dressed in women’s clothing, and forced to serve Queen Omphale.
He has to steal the belt of the Queen of the Amazons, then steal the cattle of the monster Geryon. As a bonus, he gets two extra tasks, to steal the golden apples of the Hesperides, and finally to fetch Cerberus, guardian of the gates to the underworld.
1. Kill the Nemean Lion, by stunning it with his club then strangling it with his bare hands. 2. Kill the Lernean Hydra, by cutting off its heads and searing the wounds, then removing its remaining immortal head. 3. Capture the Ceryneian Hind.
The son of Zeus when he raped Alcmene, Hera delayed his birth to trap Heracles into being forced to undertake his 12 labours, then tried to kill the infant by putting serpents into his cradle.
King of Ithaca, he first feigns madness to dodge going to war against Troy, but then uses his cunning and ingenuity to design the Trojan Horse and conquer the city. Runs into trouble with Polyphemus during the return journey to Ithaca.
El Greco’s uniquely painterly brushstrokes, the oil sketches and studies of Rubens, and Rembrandt, the first major artist to intentionally leave brushstrokes in prominent passages.
The son of Thetis, he was dipped in the water of the River Styx to make him invulnerable, apart from his left heel. He went missing from the thousand ships, when he went into hiding, but was recovered by Ulysses.
Collaborated with Jan Brueghel the Elder in early paintings, created his own landscapes from 1625, and a wonderful series of landscapes during his retirement in 1635-1640.
After feasting with Achelous, he got involved in the battle between Lapiths and centaurs. then struck disaster with incest, suicide and violent death, before abducting Helen, and being thrown from a cliff.
