The exile of Amphitryon
[IIB]
5. Heracles, and the Heraclids
Amphitryon in Thebes, and the war against the Teleboans
The birth and early life of Heracles
Heracles and the Minyans; his first marriage, and madness
First labour: the Nemean lion
Second labour: the Lernaean hydra
Third labour: the Cerynitian hind
Fourth labour: the Erymanthian boar
Fifth labour: the cattle of Augeias
Sixth labour: the Stymphalian birds
Seventh labour: the Cretan bull
Eighth labour: the mares of Diomedes
Ninth labour: the belt of Hippolyte
Tenth labour: the cattle of Geryon
Eleventh labour: the apples of the Hesperides
Twelfth labour: the capture of Cerberos
The murder of Iphitos and Heracles’ enslavement to Omphale
The first sack of Troy
Campaigns in the Peloponnese
Marriage to Deianeira; Heracles in northern Greece
The sack of Oichalia; the death and apotheosis of Heracles
The children of Heracles
The return of the Heraclids
BOOK III
6. Cretan and Theban mythology (the Inachids, Agenorid line)
The abduction of Europa to Crete, and dispersal of the sons of Agenor
Minos and his brothers
Minos, Pasiphae, and the origin of the Minotaur
Catreus and Althaimenes
Polyidos and the revival of Glaucos
[IID]
Cadmos and the foundation of Thebes
Semele and Dionysos; the death of Actaion
Successors and usurpers at Thebes
Amphion, Niobe, and their children
Laios and Oedipus
[IID]
7. The Theban Wars
Eteocles and the exile of Polyneices to Argos
Prelude in Argos: Amphiaraos and Eriphyle
The advance against Thebes and stationing of the champions
Excursus: the earlier history of Teiresias
The Theban victory and its aftermath
The Epigoni and the Second Theban War
The later history of Alcmaion
[IID]
8. Arcadian mythology (the Pelasgids)
Lycaon and his sons
Callisto and the birth of Areas; early Arcadian genealogies
Atalante
9. Laconian and Trojan mythology (the Atlantids)
The Pleiades
The birth and early exploits of Hermes
Early Lacedaimonian genealogies; the story of Asclepios
Tyndareus, Leda, and their children
Helen and her suitors
The fate of the Dioscuri
[IIIA]
Early Trojan mythology
Priam, Hecuba, and their children
[IIIB]
10. The Asopids
Aiacos in Aegina
The exile of Peleus and Telamon
Peleus in Phthia, Calydon, and Iolcos
The marriage of Peleus and Thetis, and early life of Achilles
[IV]
11. The kings of Athens
Cecrops and his descendants; the story of Adonis
Three early kings: Cranaos, Amphictyon, and Erichthonios
Pandion I and his children; Icarios and Erigone; Tereus, Procne, and Philomele
Procris and Cephalos; Oreithuia and her children
Eumolpos, and the war with Eleusis; the exile of Pandion II
Aigeus and the conception of Theseus
The war with Minos and the origin of the tribute to the Minotaur
The labours of Theseus, and his arrival at Athens
Epitome
Theseus, Ariadne, and the killing of the Minotaur
Excursus: Daidalos and Icaros, and the death of Minos
Theseus and the Amazons; Phaedra and Hippolytos
Theseus and Peirithoos
[V]
12. The Pelopids
Tantalos
Pelops and Hippodameia
Atreus and Thyestes
Agamemnon and Menelaos
[VI]
13. The Trojan War
The judgement of Paris and abduction of Helen
Agamemnon assembles the Greek army
The attack on Mysia; the Greeks assemble for a second time
The Greeks call in at Tenedos
The landing at Troy, and the first nine years of the war
The wrath of Achilles (a summary of the Iliad)
Penthesileia the Amazon; Memnon and the death of Achilles; the suicide of Aias
Philoctetes and the death of Paris; conditions for the fall of Troy
The wooden horse
The sack of Troy
14. The. Returns
Menelaos and Agamemnon quarrel; Calchas and Mopsos
Agamemnon sails with the main fleet; the storm at Tenos, and Nauplios the wrecker
The fate of Neoptolemos; various wanderings and returns
The later history of the Pelopids
The return of Odysseus (a summary of the Odyssey)
The later history of Odysseus
GENEALOGICAL TABLES
The following tables cover the six main families, as follows:
I The Deucalionids
A The early Deucalionids
B The Aetolian line
C The sons of Aiolos and their descendants
II The Inachids
A The early Inachids in Argos and the east
B The Belid line in Argos
C The Agenorid line: the descendants of Europa in Crete
D The Agenorid line: the descendants of Cadmos in Thebes
III The Atlantids
A The Laconian royal line, and the usurpers at Thebes
B The Trojan royal line
IV The Asopids (the family of Achilles and Aias)
V The Athenian royal line
VI The Pelopids (the family of Agamemnon and Menelaos)
Most of these tables depict the mythical royal line in one of the main centres in Greece. Only one of the six families covered by the tables, namely the Athenian, conforms to the simplest possible pattern, in which a single family provides the ruling line in a single city. Generally the genealogical system is more economical, and the ruling lines in two or more cities are traced to a common ancestor and so united within the same family. Thus separate branches of the Inachid family provide the royal families of both Argos and Thebes, the two greatest centres in mythical Greece, and also of Crete. Accordingly, the family trees of the first three families, which are the largest and are divided in this way between different centres, have been subdivided in the tables.
Although the adventures of various members of these families take them to many different parts of the Mediterranean world, it is natural that the main centres of rule associated with the great families should be located in the heartland of Greece. There are two major exceptions, namely, Crete, as would be expected since it was a very ancient centre of civilization which had connections with Mycenaean Greece, and Troy, in north-western Asia Minor, for its connection with the Trojan War, the culminating adventure in the mythical history of Greece. Although the Trojans themselves were usually regarded as a non-Hellenic people, the ruling family was traced back to Greek origins through an Atlantid ancestor. Otherwise the places associated with these various families can be located on the accompanying map.
The mainland of Greece is divided into two by the Gulf of Corinth, which separates the Peloponnese from the rest of Greece, being joined to it only by the narrow Isthmus of Corinth. Starting immediately north of the Gulf, the swathe of land extending from Aetolia across to Thessaly in the northeast is the area primarily associated with the first family, the Deucalionids. Although this was an important area in early myth, there were many separate centres, and these tended to be associated with major heroic myths for only a generation or two. Furthermore, many members of this family moved to fresh areas at various stages and established new dynasties, whether in the north, or in the western Peloponnese and the south. As a result, the structure of this family is rather complex, and we do not find extensive lines within individual centres as in most of the following families. The Aetolian royal line covered in the second table (IB) was descended from a daughter of Aiolos; the most important town in Aetolia was Calydon, the site of the first great adventure which drew heroes from all parts of Greece, the hunt for the Calydonian Boar. The descendants of the sons of Aiolos covered in the third table (IC) were primarily associated with Thessaly (but also with the western Peloponnese and elsewhere); here Iolcos, the home of Pelias and Jason, and Pherae, the home of Admetos and Alcestis, are the most significant towns.