Heracles (Ηρακλής) I. HERACLES' NAME, ORIGINS AND IN-FANCY Heracles was originally called Alcides, a patronym formed from the name of his grandfather Alceus (Table 7), or even Alceus, like his grandfather. His name evokes the idea of physical strength (αλκή). When the hero went to Delphi to atone for the murder of the children he had by Megara (1), the Pythia instructed him to take the name of Heracles, meaning 'Hera's Glory' — perhaps because the Labours he was about to undertake would result in the goddess' glorification. His mortal father was AMPHITRYON and his mother ALCMENE; his grand-fathers, Alceus and Electryon, were both sons of Perseus and Andromeda (Table 7). He therefore belonged to the Argive race and his birth at Thebes was quite fortuitous. He always considered the Argolid as his real fatherland and always wished to return there, and his descendants came back to settle there (see HERAC-LIDS). Heracles' real father was Zeus, who had profited by Amphitryon's absence on an expedition against the Teleboans (see ALCMENE).

Even before Heracles was born, Hera's wrath and her jealousy of Alcmene were apparent. Zeus had rashly stated that the first child to be born into the race of the Perseides would rule over Argos. Hera im-mediately arranged with Eilithyia, the goddess of childbirth, that the birth of Heracles should be held up, while that of his cousin EURYSTHEUS should be advanced. Eurystheus was born first (see also GALINTHIAS). While still a babe in arms, Heracles sucked at the breast of Hera, his bit-

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terest enemy. This was the condition which had to be fulfilled for him to achieve immortality. Trickery was necessary in order to achieve it. Hermes put the babe to the goddess' breast as she lay asleep. When she woke up, she pushed the child away, but it was too late: the milk that spurted from her breast formed a trail of stars in the sky, the Milky Way. Another tradition tells that Alcmene, fearing Hera's jealousy, exposed Heracles as soon as he was born. Athena and Hera happened to be passing by; Athena asked Hera to give him the breast. Hera did so, but Heracles sucked so hard that he hurt the goddess. She flung him away, but Athena took him back to Alcmene, telling her to bring her child up without any further fear.

When Heracles was eight or ten months old, Hera tried to destroy him. Heracles and Iphicles were asleep in their cradle. Towards mid-night, the goddess introduced two huge snakes into the room, which twined themselves around the babies. Iphicles started to cry, but Heracles grasped the animals, one in each hand, and strangled them. At Iphicles' screams, Amphitryon came running, but there was no need for him to take any action. It was clear that Heracles was indeed the son of a god. Heracles was given an educa-tion comparable to that of Greek children of the Classical era. His principal tutor was Linus (2), who taught him letters and music. Hera-cles was extremely undisciplined, so much so that Linus tried to beat him, but Heracles lost his temper, and killed his master (see LINUS (2)). Her-acles was accused of murder. He defended himself successfully by

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quoting a judgement of Rhada-manthys, which entitled one to kill an aggressor in self-defence. Amphi-tryon feared further fits of rage from his adopted son; so he sent him off to the country and put him in charge of his herds of cattle. It is generally agreed, however, that he received his education from other masters: Amphitryon taught him how to drive a chariot and EURYTUS (2) showed him how to use a bow — although Rhadamanthys or a Scyth-ian cowherd called Teutarus are also credited with this. He was taught how to handle arms by Castor (either one of the Dioscuri or a refugee from Argos, the son of Hip-palus). After the death of his tutor his lessons were continued by Eumolpus (2).

Meanwhile, Heracles was grow-ing up: he reached the extraordinary height of four cubits and one foot. When he was eighteen, he killed the lion of Cithaeron, a beast which caused havoc among the herds of Amphitryon and Thespius, who was ruler of a country close to Thebes (for subsequent events see THESPIUS). Some authors placed this first lion-hunt not on the slopes of Cithaeron but on Mount Helicon, or near Teu-messus. Pausanias accepted a legend which claimed that the lion of Cith-aeron was not slain by Heracles, but by ALCATHUS (who was more gener-ally considered to have slain the lion of Megara).

For the events which occurred as Heracles was approaching Thebes on his return from hunting the lion, see ERGINUS (1). In some traditions Heracles' father Amphitryon died at this time; in others he did not die until after the successful expedition

with Heracles against CHALCODON (1)·

Creon (2), wishing to reward Heracles for defeating the Minyans of Orchomenus, gave him his eldest daughter Megara (1) in marriage, while IPHICLES was given the second daughter to marry. They had several children: according to different authors there were between three and eight of them. Their names differ and are given variously as Therimachus, Deiocoon, Creon-tiades, Oneites, Oxeus, Aristodemus, Clymenus, Glenus, Polydorus, Ani-cetus, Mecistophonus, Patrocles, Toxoclitus, Menebrontes and Cher-sibius. The various names are grouped according to the various traditions. The marriage had a tragic ending, however. The version recounted by Euripides in Heracles Furens is the standard one. Euripides tells how when Heracles had gone to the Underworld to find Cerberus, Lycus (4) had come to Euboea to de-throne Creon and had killed him. Lycus was on the point of murdering Megara and her children when Her-acles returned. The hero began by killing Lycus and was about to offer a thanksgiving sacrifice to Zeus when he went mad and shot Megara and his children with his arrows, believing them to be Eurystheus' (in another tradition he threw them into the fire). He was on the point of doing the same with Amphitryon, who he thought was Eurystheus' father Sthenelus (4), when Athena hit him in the chest with a stone, which sent him into a deep sleep. When he awoke and realized what he had done, he wanted to commit suicide; but Theseus arrived, dis-suaded him and took him to Athens.

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Some mythographers claim that Megarus survived the massacre, and that Heracles then wanted to break up the marriage which he had stained with blood, and that he married Megara to his nephew Iolaus. Alternatively, after the kill-ing, Heracles left Thebes for a year in exile. He was recalled by Iphicles and Licymnius, but did not wish to return. Iphicles, Licymnius and Megara went in search of him and found him at Tiryns. Yet another version claims that children of Hera-cles and Megara were killed by Lycus.

The usual explanation for the murders is an attack of madness induced by Hera. Hera wanted to force Heracles to put his services at the disposal of Eurystheus, by making him commit some defile-ment which would necessitate expia-tion. Despite Zeus' oracle, Heracles was reluctant to go to Argos and acknowledge Eurystheus as his master; but now Hera had sent him a warning.

II. THE TWELVE LABOURS These were the exploits carried out by Heracles at the bidding of his cousin EURYSTHEUS. The traditions give different explanations of why the hero submitted to someone who was so far from being his equal. The Iliad describes the trickery of Hera, who turned Zeus' promise around to Eurystheus' advantage; but Heracles did not submit personally to his cousin, although the delaying of his own birth had in fact made him Eur-ystheus' 'subject'. According to Eur-ipides, Heracles expressed his wish to return to Argos and Eurystheus agreed to this - but on the condition

that Heracles should carry out for him certain Labours. This period of bondage was generally considered to be the expiation for Heracles' murder of his children. After the murder, Heracles went to consult the oracle at Delphi, where he was instructed to place himself at his cousin's disposal for twelve years. Apollo (and Athena) added that as a reward he would be granted immor-tality.

The mythographers of the Helle-nistic age established an authoritative list of the Twelve Labours, dividing them into two series of six. The first six took place in the Péloponnèse, while the other six took place in Crete, Thrace, Scythia; in the far West, in the land of the Hesperides; and in the Underworld. The estab-lished order of events is the one fol-lowed here. There are many variations on the order in which the Labours were carried out and on their number (Apollodorus, for example, recognized only ten).

Heracles' most distinctive weapon was his club, which he fashioned himself. In some versions he was said to have cut it in Nemea, and in others on Mount Helicon, or on the shores of the Saronic Gulf, from the trunk of a wild olive tree. The rest of his weapons were of divine origin — his sword was given to him by Hermes, his bow and arrows by Apollo, and his gilded breastplate was a present from Hephaestus. According to other traditions, Ath-ena furnished him with all his weapons except for his club. Finally, his horses were a gift from Poseidon.

The Nemean Lion Heracles' first task was to kill the Nemean lion, a

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monster, the son of Orthrus and ECHIDNA. Hera (or perhaps Selene) brought it up and set it in the region of Nemea, where it ravaged the land. The lion lived in a cave with two exits and was invulnerable. Her-acles shot at it with his bow, but this proved useless; then he threatened it with his club, drove it back into its cave, and blocked up one of the exits: then he seized it in his arms and strangled it. When the lion was dead, Heracles flayed it and clad himself in its skin, with the lion's head serving as a helmet. The lion's skin was impervious to both steel and fire, so Heracles used the monster's own claws to cut it. During the hunt for the Nemean lion Heracles met a peasant named MOLORCHUS. Heracles brought the lion's body back to Mycenae, where Eurystheus was so terrified by the courage of the hero who was able to slay such a monster that he forbade him to enter the city, and ordered him henceforth to leave the fruits of his Labours outside the gates. It is said that Zeus added the lion to the constellations to com-memorate Heracles' exploit.

The Lernaean Hydra The Lernaean Hydra was a monster, the daughter of Echidna and Typhon. It was reared by Hera under a plane-tree near the source of the River Amy-mone, to serve as a test for Heracles. This Hydra was depicted as a snake with several heads; the number varies from five or six up to a hundred; sometimes they were said to be human heads. The breath that issued from its mouths was so veno-mous that anyone who approached it invariably died. It used to ravage the countryside. Heracles used flam-

ing arrows against it, and was also said to have cut off its heads with a short curved sabre. He was helped in this by his nephew Iolaus, whose help was essential since every head he cut off immediately grew back again. To stop the heads growing back, Heracles asked Iolaus to set fire to the nearby grove of trees; he then used burning brands to cauterize the neck-stumps, making it impossible for heads to grow again. According to some authors, the central head was immortal; but Heracles cut it off, buried it, and then set a huge rock on top of it. He finally dipped his arrows in the Hydra's venom (or in its blood), and made them poison-ous (see PHILOCTETES). In her spite against Heracles, Hera sent an enormous crab to help the Hydra; this crab nipped the hero on the heel, but he crushed it. According to Apollodorus, Eurystheus refused to count this Labour on the grounds that Heracles had been helped by Iolaus.

The Erymanthian Boar The third Labour was to bring back alive a monstrous boar that lived on Mount Erymanthus. Heracles' shouts forced the animal to leave its lair; then he drove it into the deep snow which covered the countryside, keeping it on the run until it was exhausted, thus enabling him to capture it. He brought it back to Mycenae across his shoulders. When Eurystheus saw it, he hid himself in a big jar he had had prepared for himself as a refuge in time of danger. During this Labour, Heracles had his adventure with the Centaur Pholus (see CEN-TAURS).

The Hind of Ceryneia The fourth

Labour was the capture of a hind that lived at Oenoe. Euripides says that it was an animal of enormous size, which ravaged the crops. Hera-cles killed it and consecrated its horns in the temple of Oenoetian Artemis. However, this version is an isolated one. In Callimachus' account, this hind was one of five which Artemis had seen in earlier days grazing on Mount Lycaeus. They all had gilded horns, and were bigger than bulls. The goddess captured four of them. The fifth, guided by Hera, took refuge on Mount Ceryneia. The ani-mal was sacred to Artemis, and wore a collar round its neck with the in-scription: 'Taygete has dedicated me to Artemis' (see TAYGETE). It was therefore an act of impiety to kill it. This hind was very swift; Heracles hunted it for a year without catching it. It finally grew tired and sought refuge on Mount Artemisium. When Heracles continued his pur-suit, it tried to cross the river Ladon, in Arcadia. Heracles then wounded it with an arrow, after which he caught it quite easily. As he was returning he met Artemis and Apollo; the two deities sought to de-prive him of the animal, which belonged to them. They accused him of wanting to kill it, but Heracles put the blame on to Eurystheus, arguing his case so well that they gave him back the hind and allowed him to continue. According to Pindar, Her-acles hunted the hind towards the north, across the River Ister, into the land of the Hyperboreans, and as far as the Islands of the Blessed, where Artemis gave him a kindly welcome.

The Stymphalian Birds These birds lived in a forest on the shores of Lake

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Stymphalus in Arcadia, whither they had fled to avoid an invasion of wolves. They had become a plague to the surrounding territory; they ate the fruit of the fields and ravaged all the crops. Eurystheus ordered Hera-cles to destroy them. The difficulty lay in driving them out of the dense thickets; to achieve this the hero used castanets of bronze. Frightened by the noise of these castanets, the birds broke cover, and Heracles killed them with his arrows. Other tradi-tions portray these creatures as birds of prey, which even devoured men. In some accounts their feathers were of sharp metal, and they shot them at their enemies like arrows.

The Stables of Augias Wishing to humiliate Heracles by ordering him to do menial labour, Eurystheus ordered him to clean these stables, which he did (see AUGIAS). Augias refused to pay the agreed reward, but Heracles waged a successful war against him (see HERACLES, in, and MOLIONIDAE). According to Apollo-dorus, Eurystheus refused to count this Labour on the grounds that Her-acles had received, or at least asked for, a salary for cleaning the stables, and was therefore not in Eurystheus' service at the time.

The Cretan Bull The Cretan Bull, according to some versions, was the animal which abducted Europa (5), though this version does not agree that Zeus transformed himself into the bull; according to others, the Cretan Bull had been the lover of Pasiphae. Another account claims that it was a bull which rose from the sea after Minos had vowed to sacri-fice to Poseidon anything which

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appeared on the waters. When Minos saw the beauty of the bull, he sent it to his own herd and sacrificed a much less valuable animal to Posei-don, who retaliated by making the animal untameable. Eurystheus ordered Heracles to bring this animal to him alive. Heracles went to Crete and asked Minos to help him; Minos refused but gave him permission to catch the bull. Heracles did so and returned to Greece with it. He pre-sented the bull to Eurystheus, who wanted to dedicate it to Hera. How-ever, the goddess refused to accept an offering in the name of Heracles; she freed the bull, which wandered until it eventually reached Attica (see THESEUS, II) .

The Mares of Diomedes Diomedes (i), the king of Thrace, owned four mares, called Podargus, Lampon, Xanthus and Deinus, which fed on human flesh. They were tethered with iron chains to bronze mangers, and Heracles' task was to bring them back to Eurystheus alive. Heracles overpowered their grooms and led the animals away, but was attacked by the local inhabitants. Heracles entrusted the mares to Abderus, a son of Hermes, but they dragged him off and killed him. Heracles defeated the locals, slew Diomedes and founded a city called Abdera in Abderus' memory. He brought the mares back to Eurystheus who set them free, whereupon they were devoured by wild beasts on Mount Olympus. Another tradition claims that Heracles fed Diomedes to his own mares, which ate him. Then he brought the mares to Eurystheus, who consecrated them to Hera.

The Girdle of Queen Hippolyta At the order of ADMETE, the daughter of Eurystheus, Heracles set off to cap-ture the girdle worn by the Amazon Hippolyta. This girdle had belonged to Ares, who gave it to Hippolyta as a symbol of his power over her people. When Heracles arrived in the Amazons' country, Hippolyta willingly agreed to give him the belt, but Hera, disguised as an Ama-zon, provoked a quarrel between Heracles' followers and the Amazons and a battle ensued in which Hera-cles killed Hippolyta. Other legends claim that hostilities began as soon as Heracles landed with his followers. Melanippe (3) was captured in the battle and Hippolyta agreed to hand over her girdle in exchange for Melanippe's freedom.

The Cattle of Geryon Geryon had an immense herd of cattle which grazed on the island of Erythia, attended by his herdsman, Eurytion (4) and an enormous dog, Orthrus. The island was situated in the extreme west. Eurystheus ordered Heracles to go there to collect the precious herds. The first difficulty was to cross the ocean: to overcome this Heracles borrowed the Cup of the Sun (see HELIOS). During his pas-sage through the Libyan desert the hero had been so troubled by the heat that he had threatened to shoot the Sun with his arrows. Helios begged him not to shoot and Hera-cles agreed on condition that Helios lent him his Cup to enable him to cross the ocean and reach Erythia. Heracles had to threaten Oceanus with his arrows because he buffeted him with great waves. Oceanus became frightened and the waves

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subsided. At Erythia Heracles killed Orthrus with a single blow of his club and dealt with Eurytion in the same way. He then set off with the cattle. Menoetes, the herdsman of Hades, ran to warn Geryon, who met Heracles on the banks of the River Anthemus and was killed by the hero's arrows. Heracles then returned to Greece.

During his return Heracles had several adventures in the western Mediterranean. In memory of his passage to Tartessus he built two columns, one on each side of the strait which separates Libya from Europe, which became known as the Pillars of Heracles (the Rock of Gibraltar and the Rock of Ceuta). Heracles returned by the northern route, passing the coasts of Spain, Gaul, Italy and Sicily before arriving in Greece.

Heracles was attacked in Liguria by natives, and after he had killed many of them his supply of arrows ran out. The country was void of stones and Heracles appealed to Zeus who made stones rain from heaven. Using these missiles Heracles put his enemy to flight (see LIGYS). Sim-ilarly, in Liguria, two brigands, ALE-BION and Dercynus, wanted to rob him and he killed them both. He then travelled on through Tyrrhenia and had to fight CACUS; there he was also entertained by EVANDER (3) (see HERCULES).

At Rheggium in Calabria one of his bulls escaped and swam across the strait to Sicily. Some accounts claim that Italy owes its name to this bull (the Latin word vitulus means 'calf'). ERYX wanted to take possession of the bull but he was killed by Hera-cles. During this episode the rest of

the herd was in the charge of Hephaestus (see CROTON and LACI-NIUS). When they reached the Greek coast the herd was attacked by gad-flies sent by Hera; the herd scattered. Heracles chased them but could only round up some. During his pursuit of the bulls Heracles was impeded by the River Strymon, so he cursed it and filled it with stones, transform-ing it from a navigable river into an impassable torrent. At last, the voyage complete, Heracles gave the surviving bulls to Eurystheus, who sacrificed them to Hera. Some vari-ants of this story of the return of Heracles have been reported by vari-ous authors: Heracles is said to have crossed the Celtic countries, even Great Britain.

Cerberus Eurystheus instructed Hera-cles to descend to the Underworld and bring back Cerberus the dog. He first had to be initiated into the Mys-teries of Eleusis. Guided by Hermes and perhaps by Athena, Heracles fol-lowed the path of Taenarum for his descent into the Underworld. When the Dead saw him, they all fled except Medusa and Meleager. Hera-cles drew his sword against Medusa, but Hermes told him that she was nothing but an empty shade. He drew his bow against MELEAGER, but Meleager described his death so movingly that Heracles wept and promised to marry Deianeira, the sister he had left behind. Further on Heracles met Theseus and Pirithous, who were both still alive but who had been put in chains by Pluto (see THESEUS, vi). Heracles then released ASCALAPHUS (i) and overpowered MENOETES, whom he would have killed if Persephone had not

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demanded mercy. Heracles finally reached the presence of Pluto and asked for permission to take Cerber-us away. Pluto granted his request on condition that he mastered the dog without resorting to weapons. Heracles grasped the dog's neck with his hands and, although the dog had a forked tongue at the end of its tail, which stung Heracles several times, he overcame it. He returned to earth using the entrance at Troezen. When Eurystheus saw Cerberus he was so frightened that he hid himself in his jar. Because he did not know what to do with Cerberus, Heracles returned him to Pluto. An Olym-pian legend describes how Heracles brought the white poplar bark from the Underworld, the only wood allowed when sacrifices were being offered to Olympian Zeus.

The Golden Apples of the Hesperides When Hera married Zeus, Gaia gave her golden apples as a wedding present; Hera found them so lovely that she had them planted in her gar-den near Mount Atlas. The daughters of Atlas (i) used to come and steal from the garden, so Hera had it placed under the protection of an immortal dragon with one hundred heads, the offspring of Typhon and Echnida. Three Nymphs of the evening, the HESPER-IDES, also guarded the apples. Eurys-theus ordered Heracles to bring him these golden apples. He went north across Macedonia and on his way he first met CYCNUS (3). Then he reached the River Eridanus in Illyria where he met the river Nymphs who were the daughters of Themis and Zeus. They told him that the sea god Nereus was the only person

who could tell him about the country he sought. Although Nereus repeatedly assumed different shapes, Heracles tied him up and would not release him until he had revealed the position of the garden of the Hesper-ides. Apollodorus describes how from the banks of the Eridanus the hero reached Libya where he fought the giant ANTAEUS; he then crossed Egypt where he barely escaped being sacrificed by BUSIRIS. He passed through Asia and into Arabia where he killed Emathion, the son of Tith-onus. He embarked in Helios' cup and reached the other bank at the foot of the Caucasus. Whilst climb-ing the Caucasus he freed PROMETH-EUS, who told Heracles that he himself would not be able to collect the apples: this must be done by Atlas. Heracles finally reached the country of the Hyperboreans where he found Atlas, the giant who bore the whole weight of the sky on his shoulders. He offered to relieve Atlas of his burden while he went to the garden of the Hesperides to collect three golden apples. Atlas agreed to do this but on his return he told Her-acles that he himself would take the apples to Eurystheus if Heracles would continue to carry the weight of the vault of heaven. The hero pre-tended to agree to this but he asked Atlas to take the weight for a moment, while he put a cushion on his shoulders. Atlas agreed to do this but once relieved of the burden, Heracles picked up the apples and fled.

Other accounts claim that Hera-cles did not need Atlas' help but either killed the dragon of the Hes-perides or put it to sleep and took possession of the golden fruit him-

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self. The dragon was transported to the sky where it became the con-stellation of the Serpent. Heracles gave the golden apples to Eurystheus but he did not know what to do with them, so he gave them back to Heracles who presented them to Athena. She returned them to the garden of Hesperides.

III. THE CAMPAIGNS OF HERACLES It is generally agreed by mythogra-phers that the first of these great ex-peditions was against Troy. For the reasons behind Heracles' hostility towards Laomedon, king of Troy, see HESiONE (3). When Heracles had completed his Labours, he recruited a fleet and set sail for Troy. On his arrival, Heracles left Oecles to guard the fleet, while he attacked the city. Laomedon attacked Heracles' fleet and killed Oecles, but Heracles sub-sequently drove him back and besieged Troy, TELAMON was the first to enter the town: Heracles, angry to think that his bravery had been sur-passed, was about to kill Telamon when the latter knelt down and filled his hands with stones. Heracles asked him what he was doing; Telamon replied that he was building an altar to Heracles the Conqueror. Heracles spared him, but killed Laomedon and all his children except Podarces and Hesione (see PRIAM).

As Heracles was returning from Troy, Hypnus was incited by Hera to make Zeus fall into a very deep sleep. Hera then raised a storm which drove Heracles' fleet on to the coast of Cos. The inhabitants thought they were being attacked by pirates and opposed the landing, but Heracles and his men landed, cap-tured the town, and killed the king,

Eurypylus (3). Heracles then had an intrigue with Eurypylus' daughter Chalciope (1), who bore a son Thes-salus (2). A different account tells that Heracles was seriously wounded during the battle by Chalcodon (4) and that only the intervention of Zeus saved him. In another account Heracles lost all his fleet except his own ship in the storm. On Cos he met Eurypylus' son Antagoras. Her-acles was ravenous, but when he asked Antagoras to give him a ram, Antagoras challenged him to a wres-tling match with the ram as the reward for victory. During the con-test, the locals thought Antagoras was being attacked, and rushed to his aid and overpowered Heracles. Her-acles escaped to a woman's hut where he put on women's clothes to avoid being found. From Cos, Hera-cles went to Phlegra where he took part in the battle between the Gods and the Giants (see ALCYONEUS (I)) .

The War against Augias When Augias banished Heracles from Elis (see HERACLES, 11) Heracles gathered an army of Arcadians and marched against Elis. Augias put his two nephews the MOLIONIDAE in com-mand of his army. They annihilated Heracles' army and mortally wounded his brother Iphicles. Much later, the inhabitants of Elis sent the Molionidae to represent them at the third Isthmian games. Heracles laid an ambush for them at Cleonae and killed them both. He mounted a second expedition against Elis, cap-tured the town, killed Augias and made his son PHYLEUS king. After this expedition Heracles founded the Olympic Games and dedicated a sanctuary to Pelops.

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The Expedition against Pylos Hera-cles was angry with Neleus (i) because after IPHITUS' murder Neleus refused to purify him. Neleus' son Periclymenus (2) had helped to drive him out of the country, whereas Nestor, alone among Neleus' chil-dren, advised that the hero should be granted his request. During the war against the Minyans of Orchomenus Neleus fought against Heracles and the Thebans, because Orchomenus was his son-in-law. According to another account Neleus tried to steal some of Geryon's herds from Hera-cles. Heracles turned against Neleus. The main event of the war was the fight between Heracles and PERICLY-MENUS (2). During the same battle Heracles wounded several gods including Hera and Ares. According to Pindar, Poseidon and Apollo also took part in the fight. Heracles cap-tured Pylos soon after Periclymenus' death. He killed Neleus and all his sons except for Nestor, because he had favoured Heracles. Pausanias claims that he put Nestor in charge of Pylos, asking him to look after it until the Heraclids came to claim it.

The War against Sparta Hippocoon ruled Sparta with his twenty sons the Hippocoontides after expelling the rightful ruling family, Icarius (2) and Tyndareus, who were half-brothers of Hippocoon. Heracles took action against the usurpers, either to rein-state Icarius and Tyndareus, or, alternatively, to avenge the death of his great-nephew Oeonus. This child was passing Hippocoon's palace when a mastiff dashed out and tried to bite him; Oeonus hit the dog with a stone. At once the Hippocoontides rushed out and beat him to death.

According to another version the Hippocoontides had been Neleus' allies. Heracles asked CEPHEUS ( I ) and his twenty sons for help; they agreed to join him, but were killed in the course of the decisive battle. Heracles massacred Hippocoon and all his sons and gave the kingdom to TYN-DAREUS. During the fight one of Heracles' hands was wounded. It was healed by Asclepius in the temple of Demeter in Eleusis. To celebrate his victory Heracles built two temples in Sparta, one dedicated to Athena and the other to Hera to thank her for having done nothing to make things difficult for him during the war.

The Alliance with Aegimius The three separate wars, undertaken as a result of Heracles' alliance with Aegimius, the king of the Dorians, took place in Thessaly. The Lapiths, led by Coronus, pressed Aegimius so closely that he was forced to fall back on his alliance with Heracles, promising him a third of his king-dom if victorious. Heracles defeated the Lapiths but refused his reward, asking Aegimius to set it aside for his heirs. Heracles then reopened his old dispute with a neighbouring race, the Dryopes. This had arisen when Heracles and Deianeira were forced to leave Calydon, taking Hyllus, their eldest son, with them. Hyllus became hungry. Heracles saw Theiodamas, the king of the Dryopes, working with a pair of oxen. He asked him for food for his son but Theiodamas refused; Hera-cles unyoked one of the oxen and killed it for food. Theiodamas retreated to the town and returned with an armed party. At first the fight went against Heracles and

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Deianeira was forced to take part. Heracles eventually killed Theioda-mas. After the war with the Lapiths, Heracles attacked the Dryopes because they had been their allies, and killed their king, Laogoras. Her-acles took possession of the king-dom; the inhabitants split into three groups and fled: one group went to Euboea, the second group went to Cyprus and the third took refuge in the neighbourhood of Eurystheus who, because he hated Heracles, received them graciously. Finally Heracles captured the town of Orminion at the foot of Mount Pelion. The hero had been forbidden by its king, Amyntor, to cross his country but Heracles decided to seize the country and to kill the king. According to Diodorus, Heracles asked Amyntor for his daughter, Astydamia. When the king refused, Heracles captured the town and abducted Astydamia, who bore him a son called Ctesippus.

IV. THE MINOR ADVENTURES Pholus and the Centaurs For the adventures concerning Pholus, see CENTAURS.

Eurytion For Heracles' fight with the Centaur Eurytion (2), see CEN-TAURS.

The Resurrection of Alcestis See ADMETUS and ALCESTIS.

Cycnus The fight against CYCNUS (3) took place during the journey to the Hesperides, according to Apollo-dorus.

Busiris Heracles' encounter with

BUSiRis was fitted into the story of the search for the golden apples.

Antaeus Heracles' clash with ANTAEUS took place on his journey through Libya in his quest for the golden apples. Heracles killed Antaeus and then lived with Antaeus' wife, Iphinoe; she bore him a son named Palaemon (1). The PYG-MIES, a race of midgets, tried to take revenge on Heracles. They attacked him when he was asleep, but he awoke and laughed. He caught them all in one hand, imprisoned them in his lion skin, and took them all to Eurystheus.

Liberation of Prometheus While crossing the Caucasus Heracles freed PROMETHEUS.

The Fight with Lycaon LYCAON (3) was the son of Ares and Pyrene (2); he ruled over the Crestonians who lived in Macedonia on the border of Echedorus; this country was called Europe after Pyrene's grandfather, Europus. While he was looking for the golden apples, Heracles crossed a grove sacred to Pyrene. Lycaon attacked Heracles, who killed him.

The Battle with Alcyoneus See ALCYONEUS.

Slavery under Omphale Following the murder of Iphitus, Heracles had to sell himself as a slave and serve one owner for three years. He was bought by OMPHALE.

V. OTHER MYTHS There are a number of other myths in which Heracles played a part. He was included among the Argonauts,

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for example. The myth of Heracles seems to have been conflated with numerous other myths. As an example, there is a story that Hera-cles had killed the Boreades as re-venge for their advice to the Argonauts to abandon him. This later version may have been invented to unite the two originally independent cycles of Heracles and the Thessalian myths surrounding Boreas. Similarly, Heracles is sup-posed to have buried Icarus on the island of Doliche. In return Daedalus carved a statue of the hero which he consecrated at Pisa. Thus the myths of Heracles and Daedalus were con-flated.

VI. LATER YEARS, DEATH AND DEIFI-CATION The establishment of the myths con-cerning the events which led to Her-acles' deification on Mount Oeta was particularly the result of the work of tragic poets, and the Trachiniae of Sophocles is the most important source for Heracles' end. The con-necting thread is the love of Deia-neira. The marriage with Deianeira was settled during Heracles' meeting with Meleager in the Underworld, but first Heracles had to win her in a savage fight with ACHELOUS. Hera-cles lived with Deianeira at Calydon, close to his father-in-law Oeneus, but fate made him accidentally kill Oeneus's cup-bearer, EUNOMUS. Although Architeles, the father of Eunomus, forgave him for the murder, the hero went into exile with his wife and son, Hyllus. During this journey he had to fight the centaur Nessus, who lived on the bank of the Evenus, where he was a ferryman. When Heracles arrived

with Deianeira, Nessus ferried him over first and then returned for Deianeira, but while he ferried her, he tried to rape her. Heracles shot Nessus in the heart with an arrow as he landed; as he was dying, Nessus called Deianeira and told her that if Heracles ever stopped loving her, she could compel him to love her by giving him a love-potion made of the blood from Nessus' wound. Deianeira believed him and collected his blood. The myths about the composition of this so-called love-potion vary. Some versions say that it contained only Nessus' blood and others that it was mixed with the blood from the wounds of the Ler-naean Hydra or with the sperm ejected by Nessus during his attempted rape. After Heracles cap-tured Oechalia, he made IOLE his mistress. Deianeira was staying with Ceyx (i) and was told by Lichas, a follower of Heracles, that Iole might make Heracles forget her. Deianeira remembered the love-potion which Nessus had given her as he was dying and decided to use it. After his vic-tory over Eurytus (2), Heracles wished to consecrate an altar to Zeus and he sent Lichas to Trachis to ask Deianeira for a new cloak for this ceremony. Deianeira dipped a tunic in Nessus' blood and gave it to Lichas. Heracles put the tunic on and started to make the sacrifice. As the tunic was warmed by his body the poison which it contained became active and attacked his skin. The pain quickly became so great that Hera-cles, beside himself, threw Lichas into the sea. At the same time he tried to force the garment off, but the cloth stuck to his body and tore off strips of skin. In this condition he

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was taken to Trachis in a boat. When she realized what she had done, Deianeira committed suicide. Hera-cles made his final arrangements: he gave Hyllus control of Iole, asking him to marry her when he was old enough; he then climbed Mount Oeta, not far from Trachis and built a funeral pyre and climbed on to it. When these preparations were finished he ordered his servants to set fire to the wood, but no one would obey him. PHILOCTETES finally obeyed him, and as a reward Hera-cles gave him his bow and arrows. There was a clap of thunder and the hero was raised to the sky on a cloud.

Once among the gods Heracles was reconciled with Hera and she assumed the role of immortal mother. He married Hebe, the god-dess of Youth, and became one of the immortals thereafter.

Heraclids (Ήρακλειδαι) Heracles' descendants, particularly the direct descendants of Heracles and Deia-neira who colonized the Pélopon-nèse. After the apotheosis of Heracles, his children, fearing Eurys-theus' hatred, took refuge with Ceyx (1). However, when Eurystheus demanded their expulsion, Ceyx, who had always been afraid of Eurystheus, sent them away. They then went to Athens where Theseus, or his sons, agreed to protect them. Eurystheus declared war on Athens. In the battle Eurystheus' five sons were killed. Eurystheus fled but he was followed by Hyllus or IOLAUS and killed near the rocks of Sciron (see ALCMENE). The victory was ensured by the Athenians, who sacri-ficed one of Heracles' daughters, MACARIA.

When Eurystheus was beaten the Heraclids wanted to return to the Péloponnèse, their father's country of origin. With HYLLUS in command they established themselves there. After a year, however, a plague broke out, and the oracle revealed that it was the result of divine anger at the return of the Heraclids before the time fixed by fate. The Heraclids went back to Attica, but they always hoped to be able to return. Hyllus went in their name to consult the oracle at Delphi, which told him that their wish would be granted after 'the third harvest'. The Heraclids looked on Hyllus as their leader and they asked him to lead them to their homeland. Hyllus entered the Isth-mus of Corinth but there he ran into the army of ECHEMUS, the king of Tegea, who killed him.

Hyllus' grandson Aristomachus went to question the oracle again. The oracle replied: 'The gods will give you victory if you attack by the narrows' or 'by the narrow path'. The oracle's expression was ambigu-ous. Aristomachus thought this meant attacking by the narrow Isth-mus, but this was wrong and he was killed. When Aristomachus' sons were grown up, Temenus (3) went to consult the oracle, which only re-peated its two previous answers. Temenus remarked that his father and his grandfather had followed the advice of the god and that this had caused their deaths. The oracle re-plied that they did not know how to interpret the oracles; it added that 'third harvest' meant 'third genera-tion' and that the 'narrow path' meant the straits between the coast of mainland Greece and the Pélo-ponnèse. To conform to the oracle's