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"You see?" sais Prometheus. "It is your fate to be Heracles the hero, burdened with labours, yet it is also your choice. You choose to submit it. Such is the paradox of living. we willingly accept that we have no will." After reading Mythos just a few months ago, which is one of my favorite reads of 2021 (I already posted my review about it if you want to check it), I read Heroes last July, which was a buddy read with the lovelies Meryem and Hind.
Mythos was an introduction to the titans and gods, the creation of humans and all the creatures living on earth, and the myths that we heard at some point in our lives. We follow in Heroes all the myths and tales about some Heroes that marked the Greek Mythology, some of them defied gods, others saved Greeks from terrible monsters, and of course there are some heroes who were suffering because of some injustices committed by gods.
From Perseus to Theseus, this book gives us a panoply of Greek myths. I had so much fun while reading this book, getting to know more about some myths I already knew like Oedipus’ one, and having an introduction to the ones I didn’t know. The myths I really enjoyed were without a doubt Heracles (and not Hercules :p) with his twelve Labours, and Theseus’ one.
Heracles was punished because of Hera, who was furious that Zeus had bedded another woman (obviously) because of a dream his wife had. We travelled with Heracles, witnessing all his Labours, from the Nemean lion, going through the Erymanthian boar and the golden apples of the Hesperides (the eleventh labour, and the one who apparently has a relation with the cave of Heracles in Tangier, there are different versions btw), to his twelfth Labour: Cerberus. His story was shattering, yet enjoyable. I never knew the whole story of Heracles, even now I have forgotten so many things, but I know that whenever I want to refresh my mind, I’ll go check Fry’s book.
Theseus’ story was heroic. He’s the one who saved Greeks from the Minotaur. The minotaur is a creature to who 7 men and 7 women were sent each year to satisfy his hunger. To stop this anarchy, Theseus volunteered to kill him.
I didn’t quite understand Jason’s myth, but one thing that marked me was the description of his vessel, the Argo. It was so mesmerizing, breath-taking, as the argonauts and Jason embarked to start their journey.
We also have so many stories: Oedipus, Perseus, Bellerophon, Orpheus and Atalanta. Btw I don’t know why Perseus was considered a Hero. He saved that girl but he also killed Medusa, who btw was the product of injustice. She’s a monster because of Athena, and yet they send Perseus to kill her just like that. And Orpheus’ story was more a love story than a heroic one. He went to the underworld to save his beloved, confronted Hades and charmed him with his voice. But comparing it with other stories, Orpheus’ one wasn’t as fascinating as the others.
The writing style was, like “Mythos”, so easy and uncomplicated. You can tell through Fry’s lines that he spent hours enlightening himself about Greek mythology, to give us a masterpiece where each Myth is told meticulously. He tried to stick to the original versions. For example, Oedipus’ myth was so familiar. It was recounted exactly like I already knew it, and being a med student, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard it while having our psychology’s courses. We also had a glimpse of Antigone’s story (to all our fellow Moroccan followers, the famous Antigone we had in our first year of baccalaureate), and it was so accurate. There were some differences between the story of Heracles and what I heard, especially the cave of Hercules’ part, but it didn’t impact my judgment for this book. I didn’t give “Heroes” five stars just because I enjoyed “Mythos” more.
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