Summary, from companion site to Classical Mythology.

Commentary, from companion site to Classical Mythology.

• His association with Argos and Thebes
• The conception of Heracles and his brother Iphicles by the visitations of Zeus and Amphitryon to Alcmena.
• Study the family tree on p. 417.
• Heracles' birth was delayed by Hera. In the Iliad, 19, 102-105, Agamemnon tells the story of Zeus, blinded by Ate to swear that the son born that day would rule the Argolid. Hera delayed the birth by having Eileithyia sit with her arms crossed around her knees before the door. The grandson of Zeus, Sthenelus, also awaited a child, and by Hera's machinations it was born instead. This child, Eurystheus, ruled Mycenae instead of Heracles.
• Heracles' first feat: Hera sent snakes to kill him, but he wrestled and killed them in his cradle.
• He was called Alcides, a patronymic from his ancestor Alcaeus
• Educated in chariot driving by Amphitryon, wrestling by Autolycus, archery by Eurytus, music by Linus. When Linus criticized his playing, he killed him with his lyre. He simply doesn't know his own strength.
• For killing Linus he was sent to Mt. Cithaeron, where he performed the following exploits:
  • killed a lion preying on Amphitryon's and Thespius' cattle
  • feasted by Thespius for 50 days and lay with his 50 daughters
  • freed the Thebans from tribute to the Minyans of Orchomenos
  • married Megara, daughter of Creon, king of Thebes
• Madness: Hera visited him with a fit of madness in which he killed his wife and the children
• Thespius purified him
• The Delphic oracle advised him to serve Eurystheus for 12 years, performing his labors. She called him Heracles (glory of Hera), for the first time.
• Heracles' shade said to Odysseus in the Nekyia: I was a slave to a far inferior mortal, though I am a son of Zeus.

Labors

Heracles performed 12 labors or athloi, a word meaning contests. The prize is immortality. He was aided by Athena, as well as by Iolaus, his nephew and faithful friend. The first six labors take place in the Peloponnese, the second six all over the world. The list varies, but the one given in your book is traditional

1. Nemean Lion. He had to bring the skin to Eurystheus. Differing versions of how he killed it and skinned it, usually with its own claws. The club and lionskin are his attributes from this point on. He is shown with them in most artistic representations.
2. Lernaean Hydra. Serpent with 9 heads, accompanied by a huge crab. He was aided by Iolaus. He dipped his arrows in the hydra's poison blood; the crab became the constellation Cancer.
3. The Cerynean Hind. A hind, or female deer, with golden antlers, probably sacred to Artemis. He chased it for a year and finally caught it.
4. Erymanthian Boar. He brought it back alive to Eurystheus, who cowered in his jar. A side labor or parergon occured here: the battle with the drunken centaurs in which Chiron is wounded.
5. Augean Stables. Augeas, whose name means sunshine, was son of Helios and king of Elis. He owned large herds of cattle. Heracles cleaned his stables, by diverting rivers through them, for the reward of 1/10th of the cattle. Augeas did not pay up, and was eventually killed by Heracles. The parergon of this labor was the establishing of the Olympic games, held every four years in honor of Zeus. Heracles marked out the stadium.
6. Stymphalian Birds. Man-eating or bronze, in differing versions. He frightened them out of their hiding by clashing brazen castanets given him by Athena.
7. Cretan Bull. Heracles caught the bull Poseidon had given to Minos to sacrifice (Minos did not; this failure brought about the passion of Pasiphaë for the bull).
8. Mares of Diomedes. Diomedes, son of Ares and king in Thrace, owned man-eating mares. Heracles fed them Diomedes and took them to Argos, where Eurystheus dedicated them to Hera. On the way to this labor, Heracles performed a parergon: he forced Death to release Alcestis, wife of Admetus, king of Pherae.
9. Girdle or belt of Hippolyta. Heracles killed Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, and took her magic girlde back to Argos. On the return trip from this athlos, Heracles freed Hesione, daughter of king Laomedon, from a sea monster. He was denied his reward, and later returned to sack the city, leaving the infant Podarces or Priam as king. He gave Hesione to his friend Telamon; they became the parents of Teucer, half brother of Telamonian Ajax and important Greek archer in the Trojan war.
10. Cattle of Geryon. In a golden cup given to him by Helios, Heracles had to travel to the far west (Spain) and retrieve the cattle of Geryon, who had three bodies, a giant herdsman, and a two-headed dog. He killed Geryon, retrieved the cattle, and took them back to Greece.
11. Apples of the Hesperides. Heracles took the apples from the Hesperides, three daughters of Night, who lived in the far west. He killed the serpent Ladon that guarded the apples. He was aided by Atlas in some versions. The apples seem to symbolize immortality; Heracles has conquered death. Parerga:
    • Busiris: Egyptian king who sacrificed strangers to Zeus
    • Antaeus: Giant whose mother Earth renewed his strength every time he was thrown. Heracles crushed him in the air.
12. Cerberus: The last labor was to fetch Cerberus from Hades, show him to Eurystheus, and return him. This too is seen as a conquering of death. Parerga:
    • Released Theseus from his seat in Hades
    • Met Meleager and offered to marry his sister

Further Adventures

• In the Voyage of the Argo, Heracles lost Hylas in Asia Minor and the Argonauts abandoned him
• In the Gigantomachy, Heracles fought and killed Alcyoneus
• Heracles sacked both Troy, leaving only Priam, and Pylos, leaving only Nestor

• Having completed his labors for Eurystheus, Heracles married Deďanira, sister of Meleager, daughter of king Oeneus of Calydon
• Heracles fought the river god Achelous, with a horn like a bull, to win her (see artwork). He could change shapes. Heracles broke the horn of Achelous. In return for it, Heracles received the cornucopia, horn of plenty of Almathea.
• Heracles and Deďanira went to Tiryns. They had to cross the river Evenus on their way. When the centaur Nessus offered to carry Deďanira across but attempted to abduct her, Heracles shot Nessus with one of his arrows poisoned by the blood of the Hydra.
• As he died, Nessus told Deďanira to save his blood to use as a love potion on Heracles if he ever strayed.
• Heracles and Deďanira lived in Tiryns and had 2 children.
• When Heracles pursued Iole, daughter of Eurytus, whom he won as a prize in an archery contest, Eurytus refused to give her up, and Heracles killed her brother Iphitus, in Tiryns searching for his lost mares.
• Nestor refused to purify him for this deed; he was absolved at Amyclae. He went to Delphi for further instructions, but the priestess would not reply. Heracles attempted to carry off the sacred tripod. He and Apollo wrestled (see the picture, p. 438).
• Zeus stopped the quarrel. Heracles learned he had to be a slave for a year.
• Heracles was auctioned to Omphale, queen of the Lydians, for one year. Sometimes this servitude is depicted seriously, sometimes comically.
• The death of Heracles is preserved in Sophocles' Trachiniae.
• Learning of Heracles love for Iole, Deďanira soaked a shirt in the blood of Nessus and sent it to Heracles, hoping to win him back. Instead, it burned him terribly.
• Heracles had himself returned to Trachis and his funeral pyre built for him on Mt. Oeta. He gave his bow to Poeas in return for lighting the pyre, who in turn gave them to his son Philoctetes, who used them to help the Achaeans take Troy.
• Deďanira committed suicide when she learned what she had done.
• Heracles' mortal part burned away, but he became immortal and was received on Mt. Olympus, where he was married to Hebe.

Interpretations of the Heracles Saga

• He is associated with Argos, Mycenae, and Tiryns, and may have been a prince of Tiryns who served the more powerful but less talented king of Mycenae.
• He is also associated with Boeotia and Trachis, so his either he legends were local and spread or he was brought into Greece by early Greeks and his legends spread.
• Walter Burkert (in Structure and History in Greek Mythology and Ritual) thinks that Heracles is a very early figure in Greek mythology; because of his connections with the Indian hero Indra (he killed the 3-headed monster Visvarupa), with early artistic representations of Mesopotamian and Sumerian heroes overcoming monsters Heracles also foungt, with Marduk in the Babylonian Creation Epic, and with Gilgamesh, Heracles may be considered an Indo-European god/hero. Further, because of the many tasks involving cattle and horses -- Geryon, Cacus, the Bull, the Augean Stables, Diomedes even the fight in Pylos and with Alcyoneus involve cattle -- Burkert suggests that Heracles may be linked with iconography and stories, deriving from the Neolithic period, of a shaman who helps mankind to free animals from a supernatural "Master of Animals" and so to ensure food from the hunt. After animals are domesticated, this role becomes less prominent; in each of these stories, Heracles captures the animals for good. Perhaps he is a linking figure for primitive and more advanced cultures.
• The stories associated with Heracles change with each era of Greek history; finally, for the philosophers, he becomes a figure who achieves immortality through his labors. Heracles at the crossroads is important for this view; Heracles standing at a crossroads had to choose between two women, Vice with ease and Virtue with hardship. He of course chose the latter.

• Remember that although Heracles leads some military expeditions and sacks cities, he is not depicted in the same way as Homeric heroes, either in myth or in artwork. He weapon is the club and his bare hands; his armor is a lionskin.

The Heraclidae or Descendants of Heracles

• What you should remember about the Heraclidae is that they are the mythological form given to legitimate the Dorian takeover of the Peloponnese after the fall of Mycenae. The Heraclidae become the founders of the Dorian ruling families in Sparta and Argos.

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