Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/760

726 HEKCULES daughter, Megara, to wife. Her children by him he killed in a frenzy induced by Hera. After purification he was sent by the Pythia to serve Eurystheus. The apologue of Prodicus on the Choice of Hercules between pleasure and virtue was founded on his obedience to the oracle. Thus began the cycle of the twelve labours : 1. Wrestling with the Nemean lion. 2. Destruction of the Lernean hydra. 3. Capture of the Arcadian hind (a stag in art). 4. Capture of the boar of Erymanthus, while chasing which he fought the Centaurs and killed his friends Chiron and Pholus, this homicide leading to Demeter s institution of mysteries. 5. Cleansing of the stables of Augeas. 6. Shooting the Stymphalian birds. 7. Capture of the Cretan bull subsequently slain by Theseus at Marathon. 8. Capture of the man-eating mares of the Thracian Dio- medes. 9. Seizure of the girdle of Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons. 10. Bringing the oxen of Geryones from Erythia in the far west, which errand involved many adventures in the coast lands of the Mediterranean, and the setting up of the " Pillars of Hercules" at the Straits of Gibraltar. 11. Bringing the golden apples from the garden of the Hespe- rides. 12. Carrying Cerberus from Hades to the upper world. Most of the labours lead to various adventures called -rrdpepya. Their common order and selection, due to Apol- lodorus and Diodorus Siculus, are later than Euripides, who omits 5, 6, and 7, and seems to count the victory over Cycnus in Phthiotis, the bearing of the heavens for Atlas, and the freeing of the seas from dangerous monsters. In Homer we read of unspecified labours for Eurystheus, of the struggle with the sea monster of the Troad, and of wars. Hesiod mentions labours 1, 2, and 10, and the freeing of Prometheus. It is a mistake to suppose that legends of Hercules s struggles with monstrous embodi ments of evil are not of high antiquity, though we cannot say positively which are old and which comparatively late. Some enumerations give only 10 labours. The late lists probably rest partly on astronomical ideas. On Hercules s return to Thebss he gave his wife Megara to his friend and charioteer lolaus, son of Iphicles, and by beating Eurytus of CEchalia and his sons in a shooting match won a claim to the hand of his daughter lole, whose family, however, except her brother Iphitus, withheld their consent to the union. Iphitus persuaded Hercules to search for Eurytus s lost oxen, but was killed by him at Tiryns in a frenzy. He consulted the Pythia about a cure for the consequent madness, but she declined to answer him. Whereupon he seized the oracular tripod, and so entered upon a contest with Apollo, which Zeus stopped by sending a flash of lightning between the combatants. The Pythia then sent him to serve the Lydian queen Omphale. He then with Telamon, Peleus, and Theseus took Troy. He next helped the gods in the great battle against the giants. He took part in the Argonautic voyage and the Calydonian boar hunt, made war against Augeas, and against Nestor and the Pylians, and restored Tyndareus to the sovereignty of Lacedoemon. He sustained many single combats, one very famous struggle being the wrestling with the Libyan Anteeus, son of Poseidon and Ge (Earth), who had to be held in the air, as he grew stronger every time he touched his mother, Earth. Hercules withstood Ares, Poseidon, and Hera, as well as Apollo. The close of his career is assigned to yEtolia and Trachis. He wrestles with Achelous for Deianeira ("destructive to husband"), daughter of (Eneus, king of Calydon, vanquishes the river god, and breaks off one of his horns, which as a horn of plenty is found as an attribute of Hercules in art. Driven from Calydon for homicide, he goes with Deianeira to Trachis. On the way he slays the centaur Nessus, who persuades Deianeira that his blood is a love-charm. From Trachis he wages successful war against the Dryopes and Lapithte as ally of ^Egimius king of the Dorians, who promised him a third of his realm, and after his death adopted Hyllus, his son by Deianeira. Finally Hercules attacks Eurytus, takes OZchalia, and carries off lole. Thereupon Deianeira, prompted by love and jealousy, sends him a tunic dipped in the blood of Nessus, and tho unsuspecting hero puts ife on just before sacrificing at the headland of Censeum in Euboea. Mad with pain, he seizes Lichas, the messenger who had brought the fatal garment, and hurls liim on the rocks ; and then he wanders. in agony to Mount (Eta, where he mounts a pyre, which, however, no one will kindle. At last Pceas, father of Philoctetes, takes pity on him, and is rewarded with the gift of his bow and arrows. The immortal part of Hercules passes to Olympus, where he is reconciled to Hera and weds her daughter Hebe. In one aspect Hercules is clearly a sun god, being identified, especially in Cyprus and in Thasos (as Makar), with the Tyrian Melkarth. He is again a representative of endurance and effort in the cause of Hellenic civilization and enterprise. Sundry of his exploits may be based on actual achievements of tribes and leaders of men, but it is impossible to unravel satisfactorily the tangled strands which make up this highly elaborate myth, though the separate existence of some is clearly discernible. The close connexion of the hero with both Thebes and Argos suggests actual relations between the two states. The Lydian episode shows traces of Eastern influence. Tl;e second, fifth, and sixth labours may be solar, but yet they suggest reclamation of marsh land. The third and twelfth are the most obviously solar, the horned hind representing the moon, and the carrying of Cerberus to the upper world an eclipse. It may be admitted as highly probable that the last episode of the hero s tragedy is a complete solar myth developed at Trachis. The winter sun is seen rising over the Cenaean promontory to toil across to Mount (Eta and disappear over it in a bank of fiery cloud. The fatality by which Hercules kills so many friends as well as foes recalls the destroying Apollo; while his career frequently illustrates the Delphic views on blood-guiltiness and ex piation. As Apollo s champion Hercules is Daphnephoros, and fights Cycnus and Amyntor to keep open the sacred way from Tempe to Delphi. As the Dorian tutelar he aids Tyndareus and yEgimius. As patron of maritime adventure (^ye/AoVios) he struggles withNereus and Triton, slays Eryx and Busiris, and perhaps captures the wild horses and oxen, which may stand for pirates. As a god of athletes he is often a wrestler (TraAatyuwv), and founds the Olympian games. In comedy and occasionally in myths he is depicted as voracious ((3ov<f>d-yo<;). He is also represented as the companion of Dionysus, especially in Asia Minor. The "Pasting" (avcnravofjicvos) Hercules is, as at Thermopylae and near Himera, the natural tutelar of hot springs in con junction with his protectress Athena, who is usually depicted attending him on ancient vases. The glorified Hercules was worshipped both as a god and a hero. In the Attic deme Melita he was invoked as aA.e/Ka.Ko? (" Helper in ills"), at Olympia as KaAAiviKos ("Nobly-victorious"), in the rustic worship of the (Etfeans as KopvoTnW (Kop-oTres, "locusts"), by the Erythrseans of Ionia as tVo/croVo?, ("Canker-worm-slayer"). In Italy he was, like Apollo, Musagetes ("Leader of the Muses"). He was a-wrr/p ("Saviour"), i.e., a protector of voyagers, at Thasos and Smyrna, and in Italy, where tithes were vowed to him to be spent in entertainment. Games in his honour were held at Thebes and Marathon. In early poetry, as often in art, he is an archer, afterwards a club-wielder and fully-armed warrior, In early art the adult Hercules is bearded, but not long-haired. Later he is sometimes youthful and beard

less, always with short curly hair and thick neck, the lower