Demigods Role In Greek Mythology

Demigods Demigods, who are half man and half God, played a major role in the progression of Greek Mythology and how it is perceived by the world today. “Greek heroes were extraordinary individuals who possesses great skills and strength or they simply stood out of the rest of the people by their ingenuity, intelligence and charisma” (“Greek Heroes”). “It is true that some of these heroes had an advantage of being born with divine qualities” (“Greek Heroes”). Those heroes are called demigods, meaning that one of their parents was a god or goddess. That gives them an advantage of having human blood and immortal blood. This does not make them immortal though, for they can still die. Demigods can be seen as some of the most famous heroes like

“Perseus was a heir to the Argive throne through his great grandfather, Abas, and queen Aglaia and his grandfather Acrisius” (Mary Ellen Snodgrass 339). Since Acrisius knew that one day Danae’s son would kill him, he decided to lock Danae is a tower so that she would never have any kids. “One day Acrisius saw light coming out of the small window. He told his men to tear down one of the walls. When he entered, he saw Danae smiling and holding a baby on her lap, which was Perseus” (“Perseus”). At the command of Acrisius’s, both Perseus and Danae were forced into a wooden box and set afloat since Acrisius feared that the oracle would come true. “With Zeus’s assistance, the chest beached itself on the island of Seriphos, one of Cyclades in the Aegean Sea, Dictys, a well-intentioned fisher, caught the floating ark in his net, broke the lock, and freed the mother and infant, for whom he provided a home” (Mary Ellen Snodgrass

He was the sun of Zeus and Aegina, who was the daughter of the ricer god Asopus. (“Aeacus”). He was born on an island which was inhabited by any human at the time. So Zeus transformed all the ants into men which led to a new race being called the Myrmidons. (“Aeacus”). All the men only had one man to follow which was Aeacus, which made him the ruler of the land. Altough Aeacus was the ruler of his people, he was also called to judge disputes of both men and gods all over Greece. The inhabitants of the island also started to believe that Aeacus had created the cliffs that surrounded the island, which protected them from pirates or enemies (“Aeacus”). The inhabitants started to believe that Aeacus was a god, which angered Zeus. When Aeacus died, he went to the underworld and became one of the three judges, the other ones being Minos and Rhadamanthus