CHAPTER XVII.

MYTHS OF THE OLDER HEROES.

THE HOUSE OF DANAUS.

§ 132. The Older and the Younger Heroes. We have already narrated the adventures of certain demigods and heroes, such as Prometheus, Deucalion, Cadmus, Amphion, Orpheus. Others of importance were Perseus, Hercules, Minos, Edipus, Theseus, Jason, Meleager, Peleus, Pelops, Castor and Pollux. These and their contemporaries may be called the Older Heroes. They are renowned either for individual exploits or for the part played by them in one or more of three great expeditions, the War against Laomedon of Troy,' the Voyage for the Golden Fleece,2 and the Hunt of the Calydonian Boar.3

The Younger Heroes were of a later generation, which was concerned in four important enterprises, the War of the Seven against Thebes, the Trojan War," the Wanderings of Ulysses, and the Adventures of Æneas."

The exploits of the Older Heroes may be arranged in respect of their probable sequence in time, and of their grouping according to families of heroes. If we observe the principle of genealogy, one race, that of Inachus of Argos, attracts our notice in the heroes descended from Pelasgus, Belus, and Agenor. The family of Belus gives us the famous House of Danaüs; the family of Agenor, the Houses of Minos and Labdacus. Another race, that of Deucalion, gives us the heroes of the Hellenic