The following is a list of mortals in Greek mythology, including heroes, mythical kings, and notable women. In Greek mythology, humans are created by the TitanPrometheus, who fashions them in the likeness of the gods.[1] While the Greek gods are immortal and unaffected by aging, the mortality of humans forces them to move through the stages of life, before reaching death.[2] The group of figures referred to as "heroes" (or "demigods"), unique to Greek religion and mythology, are (after the time of Homer) individuals who have died but continue to exert power in the world,[3] and who were worshipped in hero cults.[4]
Bouzyges, a hero credited with inventing agricultural practices such as yoking oxen to a plough
Castor, the mortal Dioscuri twin; after Castor's death, his immortal brother Pollux shared his divinity with him in order that they might remain together
Odysseus (Ὀδυσσεύς or Ὀδυσεύς), a hero and king of Ithaca whose adventures are the subject of Homer's Odyssey; he also played a key role during the Trojan War
Orpheus (Ὀρφεύς), a legendary musician and poet who attempted to retrieve his dead wife from the Underworld
Pandion (Πανδίων), the eponymous hero of the Attic tribe Pandionis, usually assumed to be one of the legendary Athenian kings Pandion I or Pandion II
Perseus (Περσεύς), son of Zeus and the founder-king of Mycenae and slayer of the Gorgon Medusa
Rhadamanthys, a king of Crete; after his death, he became a judge of the dead in the Underworld
Rhesus, a king of Thrace who sided with Troy in the Trojan War
Sarpedon, a king of Lycia and son of Zeus who fought on the side of Troy during the Trojan War
Sisyphus, a king of Thessaly who attempted to cheat death and was sentenced to an eternity of rolling a boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down
The Danaïdes, the forty-nine daughters of Danaus who murdered their husbands on their wedding night, were condemned to an eternity of carrying water in leaky jugs.
Ixion, king of the Lapiths, who attempted to rape Hera, was bound to a flaming, ever-spinning wheel in Tartarus as eternal punishment.
Sisyphus, a king of Thessaly who tried to cheat death, was condemned to an eternity of rolling a boulder uphill, only to watch it roll back down each time.
Tantalus, a king of Anatolia who butchered his son Pelops and served him as a meal to the gods, was punished with eternal starvation—food and drink forever dangling just out of reach.
Pirithous, king of the Lapiths and the closest companion of Theseus, attempted to kidnap Persephone to make her his wife. As punishment, he was either bound to a chair by snakes for eternity or devoured by Cerberus, depending on the version of the myth.
"...book 18 (84-87): [...] "If this man beats you and proves himself the stronger, I will send you toward the mainland, having thrown you on a black ship, to King Echetos, a scourge for all men, who will cut off your nose and ears with pitiless bronze and, tearing off your genitals, give them raw to the dogs to divide among themselves."
"I agree with Malkin (1998: 153) that the "mainland" here must refer to mainland Greece."
References
Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 6, Hat – Jus, edited by Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider, Brill, 2005. ISBN9004122699.
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