Heracles

Heracles (also Herakles, Latin Hercules) Etymology of name Heracles: "glory (kleos) of/from Hera". But why should he be called this? (Note story in Apollodorus p.34 of his previous name, Alceides [alkê, “strength”]) Parentage: Alcmene and double father, Amphitryon and Zeus. Myth about birth of Heracles and Iphicles, connection with the birth of cousin Eurystheus, and the role of Hera.

Heracles as hero What is a hero? What does Hesiod (Works and Days) say about the Age/Race of Heroes? Heracles as an unusual hero: simultaneously a god, panhellenic as opposed to local

Heracles in Homer’s Odyssey (Book 11): hero or god? And next I caught a glimpse of powerful Heracles— His ghost I mean: the man himself delights in the grand feasts of the deathless gods on high... Around him cries of the dead rang out like cries of birds scattering left and right in horror as on he came like night…

Herodotus (Greek, 5th c. BCE) on the two kinds of cult for Heracles (2 “So I think those Greeks did just right who established two kinds of cult for Heracles, in one of which they sacrifice [thuein] to Heracles as an immortal god—Olympian Heracles, as he is known—while in the other they make offerings [enagizein] to him as a hero [hêrôs].”

Heroes and Hero cult (Cf. G Heroes and Hero cult (Cf. G. Nagy, The Best of the Achaeans and Greek Mythology and Poetics) Distinct feature of Greek religion; cult practices (e.g. sacrifice) different from those for the gods Nagy: “A highly evolved transformation of the worship of ancestors” Long history, definitive shaping in 8th century BCE

“A key part to the narrative of the hero's life is that s/he undergoes some sort of ordeal. The hero, who is mortal, not immortal like the gods, must suffer during his or her lifetime, and, significantly, must die. Only after death can the hero receive immortalization in cult and in song.” -Hero undergoes ordeals, toils, labors (one term in Greek is athla [plural]), either performing deeds or suffering ordeals (or both) -In cult, ordeals of the hero may be recreated by worshippers (e.g. in athletic competition – which are called athla) in order to compensate and honor the hero

Some typical features of Greek heroes Extreme and larger than life (in good and bad ways) Unseasonal (untimely death and other untimeliness) Often in myth has antagonistic relationship with a god, often the god or goddess most like him/her. In cult they may be worshipped together, reconciliation.

Etymology of the word: hora, Hera, hero and seasonality Greek hôra: natural time, natural life, natural life-cycle, 'season, seasonality; time; timeliness'. (The English word hour is connected with Greek hôra.) Connected with hôra (note plural Hôrai, goddesses of seasons, things growing and reproducing at correct time, youth, beauty) is the name of the goddess Hêra. Role as goddess of seasons, family, marriage, in charge of making everything happen on time, happen in season, happen in a timely way. Term for hero in Greek is hêrôs, same root. Connection with seasonality/unseasonality: during lifetime (myth) is unseasonal, after death in cult facilitates seasonality of community (fertility of crops, animals, humans, safe transition to adulthood)

Types of heroes Male Female Children (often celebrated for sufferings rather than actions) Often figures from the remote mythical past, but heroes possible in contemporary times too. Mostly local, observed and worshipped by their own community but sometimes panhellenic (worshipped in all Greece) – e.g. Heracles Comparison with cult of saints and martyrs in Christianity?

Heracles and Hera Hera’s malevolence: snakes sent into Heracles’ cradle; madness that makes him kill his family; winds that blow him off course at sea; gadfly that scatters the cattle of Geryoneus On Olympus, after his death and apotheosis (“becoming a god”), Heracles marries Hera’s daughter Hebe (“youth”) Builds a shrine to Hera in Sparta Fights alongside Hera in the battle of gods and Giants “Adopted” by Hera after marrying Hebe Hera nurses Heracles ( in some versions in her sleep)

Apulian red figure lekythos (oil flask), mid 4th c. BCE Apulian red figure lekythos (oil flask), mid 4th c. BCE. Baby Heracles at the breast of Hera (version in which she is tricked by Zeus into looking after him; when she finds out, she removes her breast quickly, spurting milk across the sky (origin of Milky Way!))

Etruscan bronze mirror back showing an adult ( Etruscan bronze mirror back showing an adult (?) Heracles and Hera [called “Uni” in Etruscan, cf. Latin “Iuno” (Juno)] as she suckles him. How might we interpret this scene?

Heracles and Iphicles as babies. Heracles strangles snakes sent by Hera. Athena on left, Alcmene on right.

Childhood, adolescence, first marriage Myth about killing of music teacher, Linus. First marriage to Megara in Thebes Madness sent by Hera and destruction of wife and children Servitude to (cousin) King Eurystheus of Mycenae and the 12 labors

Heracles attacks (and kills) his music teacher, Linus, after being struck by the latter during a lesson. Athenian red figure drinking cup, 1st half 5th c. BCE, attributed to Douris. Heracles kills Linus

The Labors of Heracles Greek athla (“struggles, contests, toils”) erga (“works, deeds”) ponoi (“pains”, “sufferings”, “toils”) cf. “athlete”, “athletics”. How many are there? How many does Apollodorus say there are? How many were shown on the metopes on the temple of Zeus at Olympia? Concept of the canon (Greek kanôn, “measure, ruler, standard”) and tendency for grouping and listing, favouring of 9, 10, 12 How can we group the labors of Heracles?

What is a metope. (lit. Gr. “forehead) What is a metope? (lit. Gr. “forehead). Reconstruction of temple of Zeus at Olympia (472-456 BCE)

Twelve labors of Heracles on metopes from temple of Zeus at Olympia

Map showing first 6 labors in Peloponnese

1st labor: Nemean Lion. Athena stands on the right.

2nd labor: Lernaean Hydra Note the crab and the help of Iolaos (H’s nephew). One of the nine heads is immortal, buried on the road to Lerna.

3rd labor: Ceryneian/Cerynitian Deer (or “Hind”)

4th labor: Erymanthian Boar

Heracles and Pholos (centaur) and the pithos of wine Heracles and Pholos (centaur) and the pithos of wine. Athenian black figure hydria (kalpis), c. 520-510 BCE.

Heracles brings the Erymanthian boar to Eurystheus

5th labor: Augean Stables Heracles cleaning Augeias' Stables (Athena on the left), Metope from Zeus temple, 460 BCE, Olympia

6th labor: Stymphalian Birds

Labors 7-12 Move beyond the Peloponnese to other parts of Greece (Crete, Thrace), to edges of world (Amazons, Cattle of Geryon, Apples of Hesperides), to beyond (Cerberus and underworld)

Map of subsequent labors of Heracles outside Peloponnese

7th labor: Cretan Bull NB. The one Theseus will eventually kill at Marathon, as he will also kill the Minotaur.

8th labor: Flesh-eating Horses of Diomedes Heracles Steals Diomedes' Mares, Stone relief, 2nd century BCE, Museum of Delphi

9th labor: Girdle of Hippolyta Queen Hippolyte had a special piece of armor. It was a leather belt that had been given to her by Ares, the war god, because she was the best warrior of all the Amazons. She wore this belt across her chest and used it to carry her sword and spear. Eurystheus wanted Hippolyte's belt as a present to give to his daughter, and he sent Hercules to bring it back.

Heracles fighting the Amazons

10th labor: Cattle of Geryon

Heracles in the Cup of the Sun

Cattle of Geryon Lengthy travel to western edge of world, surrounded by Ocean stream, and connection with immortality, cattle of the Sun – theme of conquering death? Adventures on journey back, myths of Heracles’ passage with cattle through non-Greek territory (e.g. future site of Rome) as means of connection with Greek tradition (slaying of local monsters, robbers, sleeping with local nymphs, subsquent offspring) Heracles as hero beyond Greece proper

11th labor: Apples of the Hesperides (note variants on where these are located – Apollodorus)

12th labor: Cerberus In some sources, Heracles gets initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries before this labor.

Heracles and the house of Eurytos Bow contest for the hand of Iole Eurytos refuses to give her up Heracles kills a guest, Eurytos’ son Iphitos Hospitality Slavery at the court of Omphale Return, sack of Oichalia, capture of Iole

Heracles and Deianeira Heracles marries Deianeira (after battling for her with Acheloos) Centaur Nessus and his parting gift Heracles sacks Oichalia and captures Iole The robe The apotheosis

Heracles and Achelous

Heracles and Acheloos

Heracles, Nessus, Deianeira

Apotheosis of Heracles

Heracles brought to Olympus. Heracles, Athena, Zeus