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Heracles and Theseus

Heracles and Theseus. Pan-hellenic/Dorian and Athenian Wild beasts and criminals Servant and king.

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Heracles and Theseus

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  1. Heracles and Theseus Pan-hellenic/Dorian and Athenian Wild beasts and criminals Servant and king

  2. Homeric Hymn 15 I will sing of Heracles, the son of Zeus and much the best (aristos) of those on earth. Alcmene bore him in Thebes, the city of lovely dances, when the dark-clouded Son of Cronos had lain with her. Once he used to wander over unmeasured tracts of land and sea [5] at the bidding of King Eurystheus, and himself did many reckless (ata-sthala) deeds and endured many; but now he lives happily in the glorious home of snowy Olympus, and has neat-ankled Hebe for his wife.

  3. Homer, Iliad 19. 95 Once Hera blinded Zeus, although men say that he is the greatest among men and gods; yet even him Hera, though feminine, beguiled in her craftiness on the day when Alcmene in fair-crowned Thebe was to bring forth the mighty Heracles. [100] Zeus indeed spoke proudly among all the gods: ‘Listen to me, all you gods and goddesses, that I may speak what the heart in my breast bids me. This day shall Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, bring to the light a man who shall be the lord (anax) of all them that dwell round about, [105] even one of the race of those men who are of me by blood.’ But with crafty mind the queenly Hera spoke to him:‘You will play the cheat, and not bring your word to fulfillment. Come, Olympian, swear to me now a mighty oath that in very truth that man shall be lord of all them that dwell round about, [110] whoever this day shall fall between a woman's feet, even one of those men who are of the blood of your stock.’ So she spoke; and Zeus in no way noticed her craftiness, but swore a great oath, and in so doing was blinded sore.

  4. But Hera darted down and left the peak of Olympus, [115] and swiftly came to Achaean Argos, where she knew was the stately wife of Sthenelus, son of Perseus, that carried a son in her womb, and the seventh month was come. This child Hera brought forth to the light even before the full tale of the months, but stayed Alcmene's bearing, and held back the Eileithyia. [120] And she spoke to Zeus, son of Cronos: ‘Father Zeus, lord of the bright lightning, a word will I speak for your heeding. Look, even now, there is born a valiant man that shall be lord over the Argives, even Eurystheus, son of Sthenelus, the son of Perseus, of your own lineage; not improper is it that he be lord over the Argives.’ [125] So she spoke, and sharp pain struck him in the deep of his heart, and he quickly seized Ate by her brightly clad head, angry in his soul, and swore a mighty oath that never again to Olympus and the starry heaven should Ate come, she that blinds all. [130] So said he, and whirling her in his hand flung her from the starry heaven, and quickly she came to the tilled fields of men. At thought of her would he ever groan, when he beheld his dear son in unseemly labour beneath Eurystheus' tasks.

  5. Birth of Hercules Met. 9. 310 Whoever you may be, congratulate our mistress, Lady Alcmena is delivered. Met. 9.66 Mastering snakes is child’s play, Achelous!

  6. Od. 11.269 And Megara I saw, daughter of Creon, high-of-heart, [270] whom the son of Amphitryon, ever stubborn in might, had to wife.Pausanias 9.11.2 They show also the tomb of the children of Heracles by Megara. Their account of the death of these is in no way different from that in the poems of Panyassis and of Stesichorus of Himera. But the Thebans add that Heracles in his madness was about to kill Amphitryon as well, but before he could do so he was rendered unconscious by the blow of the stone. Athena, they say, threw at him this stone, which they name Chastiser.Euripides, Heracles

  7. Amphitryon, Eurystheus, Athloi, ponoi Nemean lion Lernaean Hydra Ceryneian hind Erymanthian boar Augean stables Stymphalian birds Cretan bull 9.75 “my third shape still remained, a savage bull.” Horses of Diomedes Alcestis Girdle of Hippolyta Cattle of Geryon Apples of the Hesperides Cerberus

  8. Metope

  9. 9.132 “I’ll not die unavenged,” he thought and gave his shirt soaked in warm gore to Deianira. Hercules, Nessus and Deianira

  10. Apotheosis of Hercules: the labours 9.180-205 9.270 The almighty father carried him away, swept in his four-horse chariot through the clouds, and stationed him among the shining stars.

  11. Alcestis 438 BC 4th play A Satyr play?1-76 Prologue 1. Apollo 2. Death77-135 Parodos136-212 3. Maid213-243 Ode244-434 1. Admetus 2. Alcestis 3. Boy435-475 Ode476-568 1. Admetus 2. Heracles569-605 Ode606-740 1. Admetus 2. Pheres741-746 Ode 747-860 2. Heracles 3. Servant861-934 Kommos Admetus935-961 1. Admetus962 -1007 Ode1008-end 1. Admetus 2. Heracles [445] Poets shall sing often of you both on the seven-stringed mountain tortoise-shell and in songs unaccompanied by the lyre when at Sparta the month of Carnea comes circling round [450] and the moon is aloft the whole night long, and also in rich, gleaming Athens. Such is the theme for song that you have left for poets by your death.

  12. Euripides, Alcestis 438 BCMythology of the playApollo Asclepius CyclopesZeus Heracles DeathZeus was the cause: he killed my son Asclepius, striking him in the chest with the lightning-bolt, [5] and in anger at this I slew the Cyclopes who forged Zeus's fire. [65] The man to make you do so is coming to the house of Pheres sent by Eurystheus to fetch the horses and chariot from the wintry land of Thrace. I see that Death (Thanatos), the priest of the dead, is already drawing near. [25] He is about to take her down to the house of Hades.

  13. the MythApollodorus 1.9.15 When Admetus reigned over Pherae, Apollo served him as his labourer while Admetus wooed Alcestis, daughter of Pelias. Now Pelias had promised to give his daughter to whoever yoked a lion and a boar to a car, and Apollo yoked and gave them to Admetus, who brought them to Pelias and so obtained Alcestis. But in offering a sacrifice at his marriage, he forgot to sacrifice to Artemis; therefore when he opened the marriage chamber he found it full of coiled snakes. Apollo bade him appease the goddess and obtained as a favour of the Fates that, when Admetus should be about to die, he might be released from death if someone chose voluntarily to die for him. And when the day of his death came neither his father nor his mother would die for him, but Alcestis died in his stead. But the Maiden (Kore) sent her up again, or, as some say, Hercules fought with Hades and brought her up to him.[850] But if I fail to catch this quarry and he does not come to the blood offering, I shall go down to the sunless house of Persephone and her lord in the world below and shall ask for Alcestis, and I think I shall bring her up and put her in the hands of my friend. Iliad 2 And they that dwelt in Pherae . . . and well-built Iolcus, these were led by the dear son of Admetus with eleven ships, Eumelus, whom Alcestis, queenly among women, [715] the most beautiful of the daughters of Pelias, bore to Admetus.

  14. Folktale Orpheus[965] I have found nothing stronger than Necessity, nor is there any cure for it in the Thracian tablets set down by the voice of Orpheus nor in all the drugs which Phoebus [970] harvested in aid of trouble-ridden mortals and gave to the sons of Asclepius.If I had the voice and music of Orpheus so that I could charm Demeter's daughter or her husband with song and fetch you from Hades, [360] I would have gone down to the Underworld, and neither Pluto's hound nor Charon the ferryman of souls standing at the oar would have kept me from bringing you back to the light alive.Death as inevitable vs. death as deceivable Only Phoebus' son, if he still looked upon the light of the sun, [125] would cause her to leave behind the gloomy realm and the portals of Hades. For he used to raise the dead, until the two-pronged goad of the lightning-fire killed him.

  15. Alcestis Best (aristos) of women Thucydides, 2.45.2 If I must say anything on the subject of female excellence (arete) to those of you who will now be in widowhood, it will be all comprised in this brief exhortation. Great will be your reputation (doxa) in not falling short of your natural character; and greatest will be hers about whom there is the least talk (kleos) among the men whether for good or for bad. [1000] Someone walking a winding path past her tomb shall say, ‘This woman died in the stead of her husband, and now she is a blessed divinity. Hail, Lady, and grant us your blessing!’ Best (aristê) indeed! Who will say she is not? What should we call the woman who surpasses her? How could any woman give greater proof [155] that she gives her husband the place of honor than by being willing to die for him?

  16. Plato, Symposium Only those in love (eros) will consent to die for others; not merely men will do it, but women too. Sufficient witness is borne to this statement before the people of Greece by Alcestis, daughter of Pelias, who alone was willing to die for her husband, though he had both father [179c] and mother. So high did her love exalt her over them in philia, that they were proved alien to their son and but nominal relations; and when she achieved this deed, it was judged so noble by gods as well as men that, although among all the many doers of noble deeds they are few and soon counted to whom the gods have granted the privilege of having their souls sent up again from Hades, hers they thus restored in admiration of her act. Aeschylus, Eum. 723 You (Apollo) did such things also in the house of Pheres, when you persuaded the Fates to make mortals free from death.[420] I understand that, and this sorrow did not fall upon me unexpected. I have long been worn down with the knowledge of it.

  17. Xenia and mourningHeracles I shall go to the house of some other guest-friends.Admetus No no, my lord! Heaven avert such a misfortune!Heracles [540] To mourners the arrival of a guest is vexing.If I had driven from my house and city a guest (xenos) who had just arrived, would you have praised me more? [555] No, indeed, since my misfortune would have been in no way lessened, and I would have been less hospitable. And in addition to my ills we would have the further ill that my house would be called inhospitable. I myself find in this man the best host (xenos) [560] whenever I go to thirsty Argos.857 What Thessalian is more hospitable than he, what Greek?

  18. Admetus - adamastos[10] I am myself holy (hosios), and in Admetus, son of Pheres, I found a holy man. And so I rescued him from death by tricking the Fates.823 Yes, for his modesty (aidos) kept him from thrusting you from his house.Aristotle Eudemian Ethics 1233b he who regards the opinion of those who appear fair is modest.And anyone who is my enemy will say, [955] ‘Look at this man who lives on in disgrace! He did not have the courage to die but in cowardice escaped death by giving his wife in his place. And after that can we think him a man? He hates his parents though he himself is unwilling to die.’ Beside my sorrows I will have to endure this kind of repute (kleos).For his noble nature runs towards modesty. Among the good everything is possible. I marvel at his wisdom. And sure confidence sits in my heart [605] that the god-fearing man will prosper. I, who ought not to be alive and have escaped my fate, [940] shall now live out my life in pain. Now I understand. 1093 I commend you, truly. But you deserve the name of fool.

  19. Pheres and the agon (629-738)Admetus Pheres no friend (philos) no slave bad timing excessive hybrisnot truly parents no patroos nomoscowardice: you should have died your wife outdared youno thanks (charis) everyone likes his own lifeno burial for you you are her murdereryour mistake no mistake

  20. Melodrama?Admetus [527] The one doomed to die is gone, has died and is no more.Heracles To be and not to be are deemed to be separate things.Admetus You have your view on this, Heracles, and I have mine.You have touched my heart, you have touched my soul.When the noble are afflicted, [110] those who all their lives have been deemed loyal must mourn.An image of you shaped by the hand of skilled craftsmen shall be laid out in my bed. [350] I shall fall into its arms, and as I embrace it and call your name I shall imagine, though I have her not, that I hold my dear wife in my arms, a cold pleasure, to be sure, but thus I shall lighten my soul's heaviness.Pygmalion and Galatea Met. 10

  21. HeraclesBut never yet have I welcomed [750] a worse guest to our hearth than this one. [840] For I must save the woman who has just died and show my gratitude (charis) to Admetus by restoring Alcestis once more to this house. One should speak freely to a friend, Admetus, and not silently store up reproaches in the heart. [1010] I thought it right that I should stand by you in your misfortune and give proof that I was your friend. Yet you did not tell me your wife was laid out for burial but feasted me in the house, saying that you were busy with a grief not your own.

  22. Hamartia342 Do I make a mistake to mourn when I have lost such a wife as you? [615] For you have lost, as no one will deny, a noble and virtuous wife..709 But if it pains you to hear the truth, you should not be wronging me. [710] If I were dying on your behalf, I would be more mistaken. What greater sorrow can a man have than the loss [880] of his faithful wife? 1099 And yet you will be making a mistake if you do not.

  23. I do not hate you, although it is you alone that cause my death: [180] it is because I shrank from abandoning you and my husband that I now die. Some other woman will possess you, luckier, perhaps, than I but not more virtuous.’ I need not have died in your place [285] but could have married the Thessalian of my choice and lived in wealth in a royal house. But I refused to live torn from your side with orphaned children and did not spare my young life, though I had much in which I took delight.Keep them as lords of my house [305] and do not marry again, putting over them a step-mother, who will be less noble than I and out of envy will lay a hostile hand to your children and mine.

  24. [1050] For she is young, as is evident from her clothing and adornment. Shall she stay in the men's quarters? And how, moving among young men, shall she remain untouched? 1072 I wish I had the power to convey your wife to the light from the halls below and could do you this service (charis).Admetus My lord, you compel me to do this against my will.Heracles Have the courage to stretch out your hand and touch the stranger.Admetus There, I stretch it out, as if I were cutting off a Gorgon's head.

  25. You are not yet allowed to hear her speak to you, [1145] not until she becomes purified in the sight of the nether gods when the third day comes. But take her in. Continue, Admetus, to show your guests the piety of a righteous man.

  26. 1-57 Prologue: Aphrodite summarizes the plot58-120 Hippolytus and Servants worship Artemis121-69 Parodos: women of Troezen show concern for Phaedra170-266 Phaedra and Nurse267-524 Chorus, Phaedra and Nurse525-64 First Stasimon: the power of Eros565-600 Phaedra and Chorus601-668 Hippolytus and Nurse669-731 Phaedra, Nurse and Chorus732-775 Second Stasimon: desire for escape776-901 Theseus, Nurse and Chorus902-1101 Hippolytus and Theseus: the agon1102-52 Third Stasimon: the injustice of Hippolytus’ exile1153-1267 Messenger and Theseus1268-1282 Fourth Stasimon: Reverence for Aphrodite1283-1341 Artemis and Theseus1342-1466 Hippolytus, Artemis and Theseus

  27. Euripides’ Hippolytus24 One day when he came from Pittheus' house [25] to the land of Pandion to see and celebrate the holy mysteries of Demeter, his father's high-born wife Phaedra saw him, and her heart was seized with a dreadful longing by my design.

  28. Athenian mythology Auto/chthony - from the land itselfCecrops - serpent lower half34-5 “since Theseus has left the land of Cecrops, fleeing the blood-guilt he incurred for the murder of the Pallantidae”Erichthonius/Erechtheus - born from Hephaestus’ semen wiped off Athena by a piece of wool (erion) and given to daughters of Cecrops in a basket, which they look into1095 “Now farewell, city and land of Erechtheus!”

  29. Erechtheon

  30. 1284 “Nobly-born son of Aegeus!” Aegeus, son of Pandion, identified with Poseidonconsultation with oracle and trick by Pittheus of TroezenTheseus born from Aethra, sword and sandals 794-6 “Has anything happened to old Pittheus? He is far on in years, and yet his going from this house would be a grief to me.” Athens 1318-19 Your father, the sea-lord, kindly disposed as he was towards you, granted what he had to grant since he had made this promise. Pittheus Poseidon/Aegeus Aethra Theseus Troezen

  31. 978-80 “For if I am to be bested by you when you have done this to me, Isthmian Sinis shall no longer attest that I killed him but say it was an idle boast, and the Skironian rocks near the sea [980] shall deny that I am a scourge to evil-doers.”

  32. Cercyon at Eleusis, wrestling match Periphetes at Epidaurus armed with club Procrustes’ bed sow of Crommyon Sinis the Pine bender at Corinth Sciron at cliffs, Megaran hero Bull of Marathon

  33. recognition, Medea’s plot, Pallas’ revoltMarathonian bull, Minos and PasiphaëMinotaur - help of Amphitrite, abandonment of Ariadne at Naxosblack sail unchangeddeath of Aegeus 337-9 Phaedra Unhappy mother, what a love you felt! Nurse For the Cretan bull? Or what is this you mean? Phaedra And you, poor sister, Dionysus' bride.

  34. synoecism, refounding of Isthmian Gamesjoins Heracles against Amazons Amazonomachy fathers Hippolytus by Hippolyte/AntiopeCentauromachy Pirithous and the Centaurskidnaps Helen, who is rescued by the Dioscouri

  35. Folk-tale motif: Potiphar’s wife Genesis 39 6 So Potiphar left in Joseph's care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, "Come to bed with me!” 8 But he refused. . . . “My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?" 10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. 11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come to bed with me!" But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. 13 When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, 14 she called her household servants. "Look," she said to them, "this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. 15 When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” 16 She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. 17 Then she told him this story: "That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. 18 But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” 19 When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, "This is how your slave treated me," he burned with anger. 20 Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined.

  36. Euripides’ first Hippolytus: veiledPhaedra a shameless woman, she kills herself after Hippolytus’ death and she is exposed; action at AthensSophocles’Phaedra:Theseus presumed dead, Phaedra makes advances, is rejected, Hippolytus drives off in horror and is killed, Action at Athens

  37. [10] Hippolytus, Theseus' son by the Amazon woman and ward of holy Pittheus, alone among the citizens of this land of Trozen, says that I am the basest of divinities. He shuns the bed of love and will have nothing to do with marriage.Yet for his sins against me I shall punish Hippolytus this day. the poor woman, groaning and struck senseless by the goad of love, means to die [40] in silence, and none of her household knows of her malady. But that is not the way this passion is fated to end.Lady, lady most revered, daughter of Zeus, my greeting, daughter [65] of Leto and of Zeus, of maidens the fairest by far, who dwell in the broad heaven in the court of your good father, the gilded house of Zeus.

  38. Aidos tends this garden with streams of river-water, for those to pluck who have acquired nothing by teaching but rather in whose very nature [80] sophrosyne in all things has ever won its place: the base may not pluck.Servant The rule observed by mortals — do you know it?Hippolytus No. What is the law you question me about?Servant To hate what's semnon and not friend to all. 93102 Hippolytus I greet her from afar, for I am hagnos.Servant Yet she's revered and famous among mortals.

  39. Oh, oh! How I long to draw a drink of pure water from a dewy spring [210] and to take my rest lying under the poplar trees and in the uncut meadow!248 For to be right in my mind is grievous pain, while this madness is an ill thing. Best is to perish in unconsciousness.283 Aren't you then applying force, trying to find out her malady, what is causing her wits to wander?327 Phaedra To learn the truth, poor woman, will be your doom!Nurse What doom is worse for me than losing you? [380] we know and understand what is noble but do not bring it to completion.Life's pleasures are many, long talks and leisure — a pleasant evil — [385] and aidos. Yet they are of two sorts, one being no bad thing, another a burden upon houses. Cf.335 your suppliant hand compels my reverence

  40. 433-7 Mistress, just now the troubles of your heart gave mine a sudden pang of senseless fear, but second thoughts show me how dull I was - and everyone knows that second thoughts are wiser.612 It was my tongue that swore it, not my mind.730 By sharing with me in this sickness he will learn sophrosyne.

  41. But, father Poseidon, with one of the three curses you once promised me kill my son, and may he not live out [890] this day, if indeed you have granted me curses I may rely on. Merciful gods! So you were after all truly my father, Poseidon, [1170] since you have heard my prayer. How did he perish? Tell me, how did Zeus's cudgel strike him for dishonoring me? 1321-3 You waited for no proof or prophetic utterance, you conducted no investigation and allowed no long time for an injury, but with reckless haste you hurled a curse upon your son and killed him

  42. Charter MythsAnd before she came to this land of Troezen, [30] she built, hard by the rock of Pallas Athena, a temple to Aphrodite overlooking this land since she loved a foreign love. After ages shall call this foundation Aphrodite-Beside-Hippolytus. To you, unhappy man, I shall grant, in recompense for these sorrows, supreme honors [1425] in the land of Troezen. For unmarried girls before their marriage will cut their hair for you, and over the length of ages you will harvest the deep mourning of their tears. The practiced skill of poetry sung by maidens will for ever make you its theme, and Phaedra's love for you [1430] shall not fall nameless and unsung.

  43. Adonis and Aphrodite 1416-22 “You who were Hippolytus shall now be Virbius”, Ovid, Me. 15.542

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