Ponos

Greatest of all Greek heroes

The son of Zeus and Alcmene who performed twelve impossible labours and was the only hero to achieve full godhood after death.

Poverty, need, want

The daimon of poverty and deprivation who drove mortals to industry through necessity

The twelve labours

Heracles performed twelve seemingly impossible labours as penance for killing his family in a madness sent by Hera — the most famous cycle of heroic tasks in mythology.

Hunger, famine, starvation

The daimon of famine and the gnawing hunger that devastated communities in the ancient world

Narrative

The twelve impossible tasks imposed upon Heracles as penance for killing his family in a divine madness

Language and effort

An English adjective meaning requiring enormous strength or effort, derived from Hercules, the Roman name for the Greek hero Heracles who performed twelve seemingly impossible labours

punishment

A Thessalian king cursed by Demeter with insatiable hunger after destroying her sacred grove — he devoured everything he owned, then consumed himself.

Underworld, death, riches

Roman god of the underworld and mineral wealth, derived from the Greek Plouton, a euphemistic title of Hades

King punished with eternal hunger and thirst

A king who offended the gods by serving them his own son as a meal. His punishment in Tartarus — standing in water that recedes when he tries to drink, beneath fruit that pulls away when he reaches for it — gave us the word "tantalize."

King of the dead

The ruler of the Underworld who received the dead, guarded by Cerberus and feared so deeply that Greeks avoided speaking his name.

Futility, endless repetition, pointless labour

An endlessly repetitive and futile task, from King Sisyphus who must roll a boulder uphill for eternity.

Heroism, mortality, glory

The mortal and semi-divine champions of Greek myth — warriors, wanderers, and tragic figures whose deeds earned them a fame that outlasted death itself.