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Category: Mortal

Ordinary people caught up in the stories.

Phaethon
Son of Helios who begged to drive the sun chariot for a day, lost control and scorched the earth. Zeus struck him down with a thunderbolt.

Strength 4/10 · Wisdom 2/10 · Courage 9/10 · Divinity 3/10 · Fame 6/10

The story

Teased that the Sun was not really his father, Phaethon went to Helios, who swore to grant him any wish to prove it. Phaethon asked to drive the sun chariot for one day.

How it ends

He could not control the horses. The chariot scorched Africa into desert and froze the north, until Zeus struck him with a thunderbolt and he fell into the river Eridanus. His grieving sisters became poplar trees.

Still with us today

A light horse-drawn carriage was called a “phaeton”. His fall is a favourite subject for painters.

Family
- Parents: Helios
- Siblings: Circe, Pasiphae, Aeetes
Appears in

Other famous tales

Read about them in the Library
- Metamorphoses 2: Phaethon, Callisto and Europa
Ancient sources
- Ovid, Metamorphoses
3 November 2026
Poeas
Father of Philoctetes. Stories differ on whether he or his son lit Heracles‘ funeral pyre and received the famous bow.

From Meliboea. Today: the coast of Magnesia, Greece.
Strength 5/10 · Wisdom 5/10 · Courage 6/10 · Divinity 1/10 · Fame 2/10

Family
- Children: Philoctetes
Appears in

The Trojan War, Jason and the Argonauts

Ancient sources
- Apollodorus, The Library
3 November 2026
Astyanax
The baby son of Hector and Andromache, frightened by the plume on his father’s helmet in the Iliad.

From Troy. Today: Hisarlik, near Çanakkale, Turkey.
Strength 1/10 · Wisdom 1/10 · Courage 1/10 · Divinity 1/10 · Fame 5/10

Family
- Parents: Hector, Andromache
Appears in

The Trojan War

Read about them in the Library
- Iliad 6: Hector and Andromache
Ancient sources
- Homer, Iliad
- Euripides (tragedies)
3 November 2026
Deucalion
Son of Prometheus. Warned by his father, he built a chest and survived Zeus‘s great flood with his wife Pyrrha.

Strength 5/10 · Wisdom 7/10 · Courage 6/10 · Divinity 3/10 · Fame 5/10

Family
- Parents: Prometheus
- Partners: Pyrrha
Appears in

Creation and the Titans

Read about them in the Library
- Library of Apollodorus 3: Prometheus, the flood and the first peoples
- Metamorphoses 1: Creation, the flood, Daphne and Io
Ancient sources
- Apollodorus, The Library
- Ovid, Metamorphoses
3 November 2026
Eumaeus
The loyal swineherd who sheltered Odysseus, disguised as a beggar, and helped him win back his house.

From Ithaca. Today: Ithaki, Greece. Some scholars think Homer’s Ithaca was nearby Kefalonia.
Strength 4/10 · Wisdom 7/10 · Courage 8/10 · Divinity 1/10 · Fame 5/10

Family

The sources do not agree on, or do not name, Eumaeus’s family.

Appears in

The Odyssey

Read about them in the Library
Ancient sources
- Homer, Odyssey
3 November 2026
Sinon
Greek who let himself be captured and told the Trojans the Horse was an offering to Athena. They believed him and pulled it into the city.

Strength 2/10 · Wisdom 8/10 · Courage 5/10 · Divinity 1/10 · Fame 5/10

Family

The sources do not agree on, or do not name, Sinon’s family.

Appears in

The Trojan War, The Aeneid

Read about them in the Library
- Aeneid 2: The fall of Troy
Ancient sources
- Virgil, Aeneid
3 November 2026
Antenor
Wise Trojan elder who advised giving Helen back. In Roman legend he later founded Padua.

From Troy. Today: Hisarlik, near Çanakkale, Turkey.
Strength 4/10 · Wisdom 9/10 · Courage 5/10 · Divinity 1/10 · Fame 4/10

Family
- Partners: Theano
- Children: Acamas, Archelochus, Laodocus, Agenor
Appears in

The Trojan War

Read about them in the Library
- Iliad 7: Hector and Ajax
Ancient sources
- Homer, Iliad
3 November 2026
Antinous
The most arrogant of Penelope‘s suitors, the first to be shot by Odysseus.

From Ithaca. Today: Ithaki, Greece. Some scholars think Homer’s Ithaca was nearby Kefalonia.
Strength 5/10 · Wisdom 5/10 · Courage 4/10 · Divinity 1/10 · Fame 4/10

Family

The sources do not agree on, or do not name, Antinous’s family.

Appears in

The Odyssey

Read about them in the Library
Ancient sources
- Homer, Odyssey
3 November 2026
Icarus
Son of Daedalus. Flying from Crete, he went too close to the sun, the wax on his wings melted and he fell into the sea.

From Knossos, Crete. Today: near Heraklion, Crete.
Strength 3/10 · Wisdom 2/10 · Courage 8/10 · Divinity 1/10 · Fame 9/10

The story

Imprisoned on Crete with his father Daedalus, who made wings of feathers and wax so they could escape. Daedalus warned him not to fly too low, where the sea would soak the feathers, or too high, where the sun would melt the wax.

How it ends

Thrilled by flying, Icarus soared too high. The wax melted and he fell into the sea, now called the Icarian Sea, near the island of Ikaria.

Still with us today

He stands for over-ambition. Pieter Bruegel’s painting Landscape with the Fall of Icarus shows the world carrying on, barely noticing his splash.

Family
- Parents: Daedalus
Appears in

Theseus and Crete, Other famous tales

Read about them in the Library
- Library of Apollodorus 16: Epitome: Theseus, Tantalus and the house of Atreus
- Metamorphoses 8: Daedalus, Meleager and Baucis
Ancient sources
- Ovid, Metamorphoses
3 November 2026
Epeius
The Greek carpenter who built the Wooden Horse with Athena‘s help.

Strength 6/10 · Wisdom 7/10 · Courage 4/10 · Divinity 1/10 · Fame 4/10

Family

The sources do not agree on, or do not name, Epeius’s family.

Appears in

The Trojan War, The Odyssey

Ancient sources
- Homer, Odyssey
- Virgil, Aeneid
3 November 2026

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