Auge and Telephus

Heracles’ role as the father of Telephus involves significant elements for our understanding of the wider myth. The conception of Telephus is variously depicted as a “rape” or a “seduction” of Auge and starts a chain of events that portray Heracles as a caring father who rescues his abandoned child, providing a model for the Roman foundation myth. It also projects Heracles’ role in the First Trojan War into the Second. The story unfolds across several different locations in the Mediterranean, from Arcadia to king Teuthras’ kingdom in Mysia, and indicates Heracles’ role as a connecting figure for historical and cultural societies.

The Argonauts

This chapter considers the representation of Heracles in the Argonautic narratives of Apollonius Rhodius and Theocritus, Idyll 13. Particular attention is paid to the importance to the subsequent tradition of the divine Heracles of Odyssey 11 and to how the model of Heracles became important for ruler cult and Ptolemaic ideology. The chapter considers Heracles’ relations with Hylas, both of them being lost to the Argonautic expedition on the outward voyage, and to Heracles’ difference from the other Argonauts; whereas the expedition is presented as a model of Greek solidarity and homonoia, Heracles is both a civilizer and benefactor of mankind and a difficult, solitary hero who does not easily embody communal values.

Labor VII

The tradition of Heracles’ Cretan Bull Labor is reviewed, with attention to literary and iconographic sources, and the richest of the former supplied in quotation. After capturing the marauding fiery bull, Heracles rides it across the ocean back to Argos. As a fire-breather, the bull is aligned with others of Heracles’ Labor-animals, the Mares of Diomede and the Hydra, and also with the creatures faced by other quest-heroes, the fiery bulls of Colchis encountered by Jason, and the Lycian Chimaera encountered by Bellerophon. The tradition’s principal means of elaborating this Labor came via the bull’s identification with other great mythological bulls, namely those of Europa and Pasiphae, both variously associated with Crete, and also with the Marathonian bull captured by Theseus.

Introduction

The Introduction is principally addressed to the development of the canon of Heracles’ Twelve Labors. The canon is set in its Near Eastern context, with particular attention to the figure of Ninurta/Ningirsu, in the Akkadian epics Anzu and The Return of Ninurta to Nippur, and to the figure of Marduk in the Babylonian-Akkadian epic Enuma Eliš. Three chronologies are laid out: first, that of the development of the notion that Heracles had a special set of Labors as opposed to or in addition to a random series of adventures; second, that of the progression toward a more-or-less settled order for the twelve adventures eventually favored with Labor status; and, third, that of the expansion of the zone of the siting of the Labors, both within and beyond the Peloponnese. This discussion is preceded by brief material of a more general introductory nature: justification of the need for the volume and the interest of it, the articulation of its structure, and a review of recent books on Heracles.

Labor IX

Heracles’ ninth Labor, set by King Eurystheus and Princess Admete of Tiryns, was to obtain the war belt of Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons dwelling in Pontus on the Black Sea. Artistic and literary evidence suggests that his mission began peacefully but turned violent thanks to Heracles’ nemesis, the goddess Hera. The encounter between Heracles and his companions against the Amazons was one of the most popular subjects in ancient Greek vase painting and sculpture, second only to the Nemean Lion, with the earliest depiction on a terracotta shield of about 700 BC, found at Tiryns. The artistic and literary depictions reveal that Hippolyte and the Amazons were considered the equals of Greek males in courage and combat skills, although they were ultimately defeated and the Amazon queen’s precious war belt was won by Heracles.

Heracles, Macedon, and Alexander the Great

This chapter challenges the commonly held view that Alexander the Great’s emulation of Heracles was real, a notion based on a plethora of ancient material purporting to document a special relationship between the Macedonian king and the Greek hero. However, on closer inspection, it becomes clear that the major historiographical texts—by Diodorus, Curtius, Plutarch, and Arrian—develop the Heracles theme inconsistently and to very different degrees. Indeed, the review of relevant episodes and features demonstrates that the theme has an overwhelmingly literary nature, and that it extends beyond the historiographical tradition. The literary texts cannot be used as evidence for reconstructing an emulation of Heracles by the historical Alexander. This conclusion has consequences for how we understand Heracles’ broader role in the self-fashioning of the Argead dynasty to which Alexander belonged.

Labor VI

This chapter surveys the literary and visual treatments of Heracles’ encounter with the Stymphalian Birds. While some ancient accounts make the birds dangerous adversaries, in most they are merely pests that infest Stymphalus, hampering agriculture; this Labor is therefore less about the vanquishing of a mighty animal foe and more about the clearing of land for cultivation. It is argued that the Labor is part of a complex of local Arcadian myth in which the forces of nature have to be subdued and controlled so that human society can prosper. The birds themselves are an important part of the self-representation of the polis of Stymphalus, through cult and coinage.

Labor III

The Cerynean Hind serves to cast Heracles as a problematic hero. It is delicate and beautiful, and defeating it constitutes no great act of force or valor (though it does require fleetness of foot). Moreover, it is sacred to Artemis, and its capture therefore constitutes a serious religious transgression. This chapter examines the exploitation of this problematic quality in literature (such as Pindar) and art, and also discusses the localizations of the story, both in Hyperborea—the northern margin of Heracles’ travels—and the heartland of the Peloponnese. However, unlike the Stymphalian Birds, the Hind has no real place in the myth-historical identity of any Greek community.

Heracles and the Mastery of Geographical Space

The myth of Heracles was modified through the ages and rewritten in accordance with the needs of each period. Given that Heracles was a liminal hero, every time the limits of the world were extended, the spaces Heracles was believed to have reached changed too. Heracles is not satisfied with merely knowing and observing the inhabited world, with controlling it through knowledge; rather, he is a transformer and an alterer of spaces. More than an explorer of the world’s geography, he is a creator of it, and a force of nature in this regard. He is a symbol of Hellenism but also a unifier of Greeks with other peoples, and indeed a unifier of the Mediterranean world in particular.

Heracles as Ancestor

As he is ubiquitous in myth, Heracles is also ubiquitous in political myth-making, especially in his role as ancestor of communities and dynasties in the archaic through Hellenistic periods. Whether invoking his heroic qualities to enhance their own virtues or linking themselves to a Heraclid tradition to promote their own historical significance, such communities found Heracles to be useful in the context of political legitimization, kinship diplomacy, religion, and other areas. Examples include the creation and promotion of the Return of the Heraclidae by the Dorian regimes of the Peloponnese and attempts by individual Spartans to benefit personally from their putative Heraclid ancestry.