Heracles and Theseus
Pan-hellenic/Dorian and Athenian
Wild beasts and criminals
Servant and king
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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.
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.
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.
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!
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
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
Metope
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Hercules, Nessus and Deianira
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9.132 “I’ll not die
unavenged,” he thought and
gave his shirt soaked in warm
gore to Deianira.
Apotheosis of Hercules: the labours 9.180-205
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9.270 The
almighty
father carried
him away,
swept in his
four-horse
chariot
through the
clouds, and
stationed him
among the
shining stars.
Alcestis 438 BC
1-76 Prologue
77-135
136-212
213-243
244-434
435-475
476-568
569-605
606-740
741-746
747-860
861-934
935-961
962 -1007
Ode
1008-end
4th play A Satyr play?
1. Apollo
2. Death
Parodos
3. Maid
Ode
1. Admetus
Ode
1. Admetus
Ode
1. Admetus
Ode
2. Alcestis
2. Heracles
2. Pheres
2. Heracles
Kommos Admetus
1. Admetus
1. Admetus
3. Boy
3. Servant
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.
Euripides, Alcestis 438 BC
Mythology of the play
Apollo
Zeus
Asclepius
Heracles
Cyclopes
Death
Zeus 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.
the Myth
Apollodorus 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.
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.
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?
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.
Xenia and mourning
Heracles 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?
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.
Pheres and the agon (629-738)
Admetus
no friend (philos)
bad timing
not truly parents
cowardice: you should have died
no thanks (charis)
no burial for you
Pheres
no slave
excessive hybris
no patroos nomos
your wife outdared you
everyone likes his own life
you are her murderer
your mistake
no mistake
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
Heracles
But 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.
Hamartia
342 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.
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.
[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.
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.
1-57
Prologue: Aphrodite summarizes the plot
58-120
Hippolytus and Servants worship Artemis
121-69 Parodos: women of Troezen show concern for Phaedra
170-266
Phaedra and Nurse
267-524
Chorus, Phaedra and Nurse
525-64 First Stasimon: the power of Eros
565-600
Phaedra and Chorus
601-668
Hippolytus and Nurse
669-731
Phaedra, Nurse and Chorus
732-775 Second Stasimon: desire for escape
776-901
Theseus, Nurse and Chorus
902-1101
Hippolytus and Theseus: the agon
1102-52Third Stasimon: the injustice of Hippolytus’ exile
1153-1267
Messenger and Theseus
1268-1282 Fourth Stasimon: Reverence for Aphrodite
1283-1341
Artemis and Theseus
1342-1466
Hippolytus, Artemis and Theseus
Euripides’ Hippolytus
24 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.
Athenian mythology
Auto/chthony - from the land itself
Cecrops - serpent lower half
34-5 “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 into
1095 “Now farewell, city and land of Erechtheus!”
Q u ic k T im e ™
an d a
TI FF ( Un c o m p r e s s e d ) d e c o m p r e s s o r
a r e n e e d e d t o s e e t h is p ic t u r e .
Erechtheon
1284 “Nobly-born son of Aegeus!”
Aegeus, son of Pandion,
identified with Poseidon
consultation with oracle and
trick by Pittheus of Troezen
Theseus 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 sealord, 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
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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.”
Periphetes at Epidaurus
armed with club
Cercyon at Eleusis, wrestling match
Procrustes’ bed
sow of
Crommyon
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Sinis the Pine
bender at
Corinth
Sciron at cliffs,
Megaran hero
Bull of Marathon
recognition, Medea’s plot, Pallas’ revolt
Marathonian bull, Minos and Pasiphaë
Minotaur - help of Amphitrite,
abandonment of Ariadne at Naxos
black sail unchanged
death 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.
synoecism,
refounding of Isthmian Games
joins Heracles against Amazons
Amazonomachy fathers Hippolytus
by Hippolyte/Antiope
Centauromachy Pirithous and the
Centaurs
kidnaps Helen, who is rescued by
the Dioscouri
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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.
Euripides’ first Hippolytus: veiled
Phaedra a shameless woman, she kills herself after
Hippolytus’ death and she is exposed; action at Athens
Sophocles’ Phaedra:
Theseus presumed dead, Phaedra makes advances, is
rejected, Hippolytus drives off in horror and is killed,
Action at Athens
[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.
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. 93
102 Hippolytus I greet her from afar, for I am hagnos.
Servant Yet she's revered and famous among mortals.
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
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.
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
Charter Myths
And 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.
Adonis and Aphrodite 1416-22
“You who
were
Hippolytus
shall now be
Virbius”,
Ovid, Me.
15.542