Greek myth

The  myth of Hercules and Achelous battle

 

A large river called Acheloos dominates my place, a fertile plain in Aitoloakarnania. The river descends from the mountains of Epirus and Thessaly and has the shape of a snake because it passes through the mountains. Its significance for the ancient Greeks and the current residents of the area led to its deification. Besides, everybody knows that the greatest civilizations of the antiquity were created near the water.
Myth in a nutshell

Hercules descended the underworld to get Cerberus. There he met Meleager- Deianira’s brother and Oineas’s son- and begged him to go to Oineas and ask him to marry his daughter Deianira when he returns to the upper world. He kept his promise and when he went to Calydon, he requested Deianira from her father Oineas. However, river god Acheloos ,who also wanted Deianira and was transformed into a powerful and beautiful bull in order to impress her, heard this and asked Hercules to fight with him. The winner would get Deianira for his wife. So, the battle happened. The battle was fierce and Hercules was trying to scare Hercules with his transformations. While they were fighting, Hercules grabbed Acheloos’ horns as Acheloos had the head of a human with two loud horns. He broke the one horn and drops of blood dropped the earth and transformed into sirens( birds with human face, strong legs and nails of a lion).