left no permanent traces of their settlements in Greece; and the
population of the country continued to be essentially Grecian,
uncontaminated by any foreign elements.

The age of the heroes, from the first appearance of the Hellenes
in Thessaly to the return of the Greeks from Troy, was supposed
to be a period of about two hundred years. These heroes were
believed to be a noble race of beings, possessing a superhuman
though not a divine nature, and superior to ordinary men in
strength of body and greatness of soul.

Among the heroes three stand conspicuously forth: Hercules, the
national hero of Greece; Theseus, the hero of Attica; and Minos,
king of Crete, the principal founder of Grecian law and
civilization.

Hercules was the son of Zeus (Jupiter) and Alcmena; but the
jealous anger of Hera (Juno) raised up against him an opponent
and a master in the person of Eurystheus at whose bidding the
greatest of all heroes was to achieve those wonderful labours
which filled the whole world with his fame. In these are
realized, on a magnificent scale, the two great objects of
ancient heroism, the destruction of physical and moral evil, and
the acquisition of wealth and power. Such, for instance, are the
labours in which he destroys the terrible Nemean lion and Lernean
hydra, carries off the girdle of Ares from Hippolyte, queen of
the Amazons, and seizes the golden apples of the Hesperides,
guarded by a hundred-headed dragon.

Theseus was a son of AEgeus, king of Athens, and of AEthra,