Le Roi Midas, installé dans sa salle au trésor avec son chat, compte ses pièces d'or et souhaite en avoir encore plus. Il reçoit alors la visite d'un elfe nommé Goldie, qui lui offre sa faculté de changer tout ce qu'il touche en or. Enchanté par son don, le roi parcourt tout son château et transforme tout en or, mais sa joie se perd lorsqu'il tente de se restaurer. Les aliments se changeant en or et devenant incomestibles. Approché par la mort, il souhaite alors rendre le pouvoir ainsi que ses possessions contre un simple hamburger aux oignons.
Set in contemporary Paris, the story of the film is a variation of the classic Greek myth of Orpheus. The picture begins with Orpheus (Marais), a famous poet, visiting the Café des Poètes. At the same time, a Princess (Casares) and Cègeste (Edouard Dermithe), a handsome, young poet that she supports arrive. The drunken Cègeste starts a brawl. When the police arrive and attempt to take Cègeste into custody, he breaks free and flees,only to be run down by two motorcycle riders. The Princess has the police place Cègeste into her car in order to "transport him to the hospital." She also orders Orpheus into the car in order to act as a witness. Once in the car, Orpheus discovers Cègeste is dead and that the Princess is not going to the hospital. Instead, they drive to a chateau (the landscape through the car windows is presented in negative) accompanied by the two motorcycle riders as abstract poetry plays on the radio. This takes the form of seemingly meaningless messages, like those broadcast to the French Resistance from London during the Occupation.
When strange atmospheric events occur in the disunited city states of Ancient Greece, a forum debates what action to take. As there is no agreement, Androcles King of Thebes seeks the assistance of his friend, the legendary Hercules. Hercules, now married to Deianira with a son named Hylas does not wish to leave the comfort of his family, though Hylas is keen for adventure.
The treacherous court counselor Warkalla takes possession of the throne of Sulan and of the goods of Queen Mila, replacing her with the beautiful but insignificant Romilda. Samson joins Mila and the rebels to regain the kingdom of Sulan and to hunt Romilda and Warkalla.
Hercules is reached by the slave Daria, who informes him that his country has fallen into the hands of the tyrant Meniste. Hercules follows Daria in his homeland, where he discovers that Meniste enslaves the citizens of the city, and that a group of rebels are trying an insurrection. Meniste fears the power of Hercules, however he kills Daria. So Hercules puts himself in charge of the band of rebels, and destroys the power of Meniste.
A marble Greek bas relief explodes to reveal black men dancing the samba to drums in a favela. Eurydice (Marpessa Dawn) arrives in Rio de Janeiro, and takes a trolley driven by Orfeu (Breno Mello). New to the city, she rides to the end of the line, where Orfeu introduces her to the station guard, Hermes (Alexandro Constantino), who gives her directions to the home of her cousin Serafina (Léa Garcia).
Le colosse Ursus, de retour chez lui après avoir livré bataille, découvre que sa fiancée Attea a été déportée sur une île lointaine par des prêtres païens. Il part à sa recherche avec Doreide, une esclave aveugle qui devine qu'Attea a été enlevée par Setas, un ancien ami d'Ursus. Ce dernier se met en travers de leur chemin et capture Ursus qui arrive à briser ses liens et réussit à s'enfuir avec Doreide. Ils rencontrent la belle courtisane Magali qui se propose de les aider à traverser une zone désertique. Magali essaie de séduire Ursus et, ulcérée par son refus, tente de le piéger avec la complicité de Setas, mais elle meurt dans leur affrontement dont Ursus et Doreide sortent victorieux. Le couple arrive enfin dans l'île et découvre qu'Attea, soumise à l'emprise maléfique de Setas, est devenue la malfaisante prêtresse de l'île. Ursus essaie sans succès de la soustraire au pouvoir occulte de Setas et se retrouve dans une arène pour combattre un monstrueux taureau qu'il finit par tuer. Ursus dresse alors une révolte au cours de laquelle Attea et Setas trouvent la mort tandis que Doreide recouvre la vue à la suite d'une violente commotion. Elle s'embarque avec Ursus sur le chemin du retour.
When the King Agamemnon is murdered by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover and relative Aegisthus, the daughter Electra decides to get even, with the help of her brother Orestes. He helps his cousin Pylades to steal into Clytemnestra's house, and despite the fact that she is his mother, stabs her to death, then Aegisthus, as well.
A son is born to a young couple in pre-war Italy. The father, motivated by jealousy, takes the baby into the desert to be abandoned, at which point the film’s setting changes to the ancient world. The child is rescued, named Edipo by King Polybus (Ahmed Belhachmi) and Queen Merope (Alida Valli) of Corinth and raised as their own son. When Edipo (Franco Citti) learns of a prophecy foretelling that he will kill his father and marry his mother, he leaves Corinth believing that Polybus and Merope are his true parents.
Hercules, at Olympus, berates his father Zeus for not allowing him to leave the gods' abode to adventure on earth. Eventually Zeus sends Hercules, on a beam, to the land of men.
Une célèbre actrice grecque, Maya (Mélina Mercouri), après avoir passé de nombreuses années à l'étranger, rentre en Grèce pour y jouer Médée. Alors qu'elle prépare son rôle, elle devient fascinée par le cas d'une Américaine Brenda Collins (Ellen Burstyn) qui a assassiné ses trois enfants quelques années plus tôt à Glyfada pour se venger de son mari infidèle. Maya rend visite à Brenda à la prison de Korydallos. Un lien de plus en plus fort se tisse entre les deux femmes.
The king of Crete, Cadmos, has just murdered his wife in order to live with his scheming lover Ermione. For this deed, a prophetess curses him in the name of the gods, foretelling him that the man his infant daughter Antiope would one day fall in love with will eventually be his doom. Furious at the gods' judgement and unable to kill Antiope on the spot (lest the curse would fulfill itself immediately), megalomanic Cadmos renounces the gods and proclaims himself one. To this end, he and Ermione undergo a treatment with mystical vapors which render their bodies invulnerable (save for one critical spot on Ermione's chest uncautiously left covered).
Hélène, reine de Sparte, s'ennuie, son mari Ménélas lui montrant peu d'intérêt. Elle s'enfuit à Troie avec Pâris. Ménélas déclare alors la guerre à Troie. Après la victoire, Hélène revient à Sparte. La coutume voudrait que son mari la tue lui-même, mais son charme opère et il la laisse en vie. Toutefois il ne s'occupe pas plus d'elle qu'auparavant et Hélène flirte avec le prince d'Ithaque.
After a ship wreckage Hercules finds himself on an unknown coast. He is found by princess Virna which takes care of the wounded Hercules. After a nightly assault Virna disappeared. Hercules starts to search her and finally finds her in Atlantis where Virna had been selected to become the new heires after the current Queen Ming. Hercules gets captured by Ming's amazon guard.