PART III.—THE HEROES.

I.—INTRODUCTORY.

On passing to heroic mythology, a world still more rich in marvels than

that with which we have already become acquainted presents itself to our

view. The greater extent of this department of mythic lore is easily

comprehensible, if we take into consideration the multitude of separate

existences into which Greek life was split up, even from the earliest

times. Each of the numberless countries, islands, cities, and towns

endeavoured to trace back its peculiar institutions to mythical founders

and ancestors; and as these were always described either as the sons or

as the favourites of the gods, there accordingly sprang up, in course of

time, a vast number of local heroic legends. These fabulous founders of

states, however, were not the only heroes of Greek mythology. The

attempt to pierce the clouds of obscurity which enveloped the early

history of mankind, and the desire of a more enlightened age to bridge

over the intervening gulf, and fill it with beings who should form a

connecting link between the sublime forms of the great inhabitants of

Olympus and the puny race of mortals, naturally gave rise to a whole

series of heroic legends. These were partly the property of entire

nationalities, or even of the whole Hellenic race, and partly of a local

or provincial character. Moreover, as the gods collectively were divided

into gods proper and dæmones—that is to say, spirits resembling the

gods, but inferior to them in wisdom and power, whose workings men saw

in air and earth and sea—even so the race of mortals was divided into

heroes and men, between whom a similar difference subsisted. The latter

are, in their nature, not different from the former—both are alike

mortal, and must at length fall a prey to inexorable death. But the

heroes are endowed with a degree of physical strength and dexterity,

courage and endurance under difficulties, such as never fall to the lot

of ordinary men. It was not, however, by any means all who lived in this

early mythical period who were accounted heroes; but, just as in Genesis

vi. 2 a distinction is made between the “sons of God” and the “daughters

of men,” so in the present instance the heroes were the mighty ones—the

ruling spirits of the age—those whose marvellous exploits contributed to

remove the obstacles to civilisation and culture, who delivered

countries from cruel robbers and savage beasts, who drained marshes,

made roads through untrodden forests, and regulated the course of

rivers. By their actions they proved themselves men of no ordinary

powers, endowed with divine strength, and, therefore, apparently of

divine origin. It appeared, at least, that such beings must have had an

origin different from that of ordinary men, who were made out of clay,

or sprang from trees or stones. Some of these heroes may perhaps have

had a real existence, having probably been the ancestors of the later

dominant races, to whom a dim tradition reached. Others were undoubtedly

a product of the imagination. To these may be added a third class, and

this is by far the most numerous, including those who were originally

personifications of various natural phenomena, and, as such, deified and

venerated in local forms of worship, but who were later, in consequence

of the birth of new political communities, expelled from their place in

public worship, and only continued to exist in the popular faith in the

inferior character of heroes. Many such heroes were afterwards again

promoted to the rank of gods, though with an altered meaning (_e.g._,

Heracles).

Any real veneration of heroes by prayers and sacrifices can scarcely be

said to have existed before the migration of the Heraclidæ—at least

there is no mention of it in Homer. Even later, except in the case of

those heroes who were raised to the rank of gods for their great deeds,

and who were, therefore, worshipped in temples of their own, the worship

of heroes is scarcely to be distinguished from that of the dead. Homer

makes no distinction between the fate of heroes after death and that of

ordinary mortals, all being doomed alike to the gloomy realms of Hades.

As we have already observed, it was only certain special favourites, or

sons of Zeus, who were excepted from this gloomy lot, and were

transported in their bodily shape to the Isles of the Blest. Hesiod, on

the other hand, says that all heroes—whom he, in the first instance,

terms demigods—were transported to the Isles of the Blest, where Cronus

ruled over them. Here, for the first time, the idea of a just

retribution in the other world takes a definite shape; for Hesiod

obviously conceives a residence in Elysium to be the reward of

meritorious actions performed in the upper world. This idea was

subsequently more fully developed, especially in the mysteries, and men

were gradually elevated to a belief in the immortality of the soul. The

spirits of the dead were believed, even after they were in their graves,

to exert continually a mysterious influence; on which account men strove

to gain their favour by means of offerings, thereby removing every real

distinction between the worship of heroes and that of the dead.

Amid the multitude of legends of this kind, we shall only dwell upon

those which occupy a prominent position either in poetry or in art. We

shall begin with those which relate to the creation and early

civilisation of mankind, after which we shall pass to the most

celebrated provincial legends, and conclude with those that refer to the

more important of the common undertakings of the later heroic age.

II.—THE CREATION AND PRIMITIVE CONDITION OF MANKIND.

The legends concerning the origin of the human race differ very widely.

The most ancient are undoubtedly those which describe men as springing

from the trees or rocks. Another tradition asserts that the human race

was of later growth, having been first called into existence by Zeus and

the gods of Olympus. A third account makes the Titan Prometheus, the son

of Iapetus, the creator of mankind, but leaves it uncertain whether this

took place before or after the flood of Deucalion. Prometheus, according

to this account, made men of clay and water, after which Athene breathed

a soul into them. There were likewise various accounts concerning the

primeval condition of mankind. According to one, the human race raised

itself, with the assistance of the gods, from a state of helpless

barbarism: this progress was the subject of numerous legends. Another

account represents men as living originally in a holy and happy

communion with the gods (the golden age), and asserts that they first

became savage after having lost this good fortune by their presumption.

Of the myths that relate to the introduction of the first elements of

civilisation among mankind by divine aid, there is none, except those

already mentioned concerning Dionysus and Demeter, more celebrated than

the story of Prometheus. The Titan Iapetus had, by Clymene, the daughter

of Oceanus, four sons—the stout-hearted Atlas, the presumptuous

Menœtius, the crafty Prometheus, and the foolish Epimetheus. With the

name of Prometheus is linked the idea of the first commencement of

civilisation among mankind by the introduction of fire. Prometheus is

said to have stolen fire from heaven, and to have taught its use to man.

By being employed for all the common purposes of daily life, however,

this pure celestial element became polluted; whereupon Zeus visited the

author of this sacrilege with a fearful punishment. He ordered

Prometheus to be chained to a rock, where, during the day-time, an eagle

devoured his liver (the seat of all evil desires), which always grew

again during the night.

It is very difficult to see the origin of this series of legends, but

the foundation seems to be the discovery of fire by man. At any rate,

one word, closely resembling the name Prometheus, appears in India as

the name of the stick used to produce fire by friction. If this be the

case, we shall see in parts of the Greek legend instances of the

ever-recurring principle, that when the real derivation of a word is

lost, men try to give it an explanation by attaching it to the nearest

word in the existing language (_cf._ the derivation of Pan mentioned p.

130). When the notion of “forethought” had once been attached to his

name, it would be natural to invent a complementary legend about his

brother Epimetheus (afterthought).

The legend of Prometheus appears in its grandest form in Æschylus’ play,

“Prometheus Bound.”

The idea that, together with the introduction of civilisation, many

evils which were before unknown to man came into existence, is expressed

in the myth of Pandora. Zeus determined to leave mankind in possession

of Prometheus’ gift; but he ordered Hephæstus to make an image of a

beautiful woman, which the gods then endowed with life and adorned with

all kinds of gifts, whence she was called Pandora. Aphrodite bestowed on

her the seductive charms that kindle love, Athene instructed her in

every art, Hermes endued her with a smooth tongue and a crafty

disposition, whilst the Seasons and Graces adorned her with flowers and

fine dresses. Zeus then sent her, under the guidance of Hermes, to the

foolish Epimetheus, who, in spite of the warning of his brother not to

accept any present from Zeus, received Pandora and made her his wife.

There was in the house of Epimetheus a closed jar, which he had been

forbidden to open, and which contained all kinds of diseases and ills.

Pandora removed the cover and these escaped, and men who had before been

free from disease and care have ever since been tormented. Pandora

closed the jar in time to keep in Hope. Thus both Greek legend and

Biblical tradition alike represent woman as the first cause of evil and

death.

The legend of the five ages of mankind transports us to quite another

region of tradition. According to this, the gods first created a golden

race of men, who lived free from care and sorrow, while the earth, of

its own accord, furnished them with all that was necessary to support

life. Subject neither to the infirmities of age nor to the pangs of

sickness and disease, men at last sank peacefully, as into a sweet

sleep, to death. In what manner the golden age disappeared is not

related; we are only told that this race, notwithstanding its

disappearance, still continues to exist in the upper world, in the shape

of good spirits, who guard and protect mortals. After this, the gods

created a second (silver) race of men, who were, however, far inferior

to their predecessors, both in mind and body. They passed their time in

idle and effeminate pursuits, and refused to pay the gods due honours.

Zeus, in his wrath, thereupon blotted them out from the face of the

earth, and created the third (brazen) race of mankind out of ash wood.

This race proved headstrong and violent. They were of giant stature and

great strength, and took pleasure in nothing but battle and strife.

Their weapons, houses, and utensils were of bronze, iron not yet being

known. Zeus was not compelled to destroy this evil race, since they

destroyed themselves in their bloodthirsty strife. According to another

account, they were destroyed by the flood of Deucalion.

Deucalion appears to have been a son of Prometheus, while his wife

Pyrrha was the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora. Zeus having

determined to destroy the corrupt race of the third or bronze age by a

flood, Prometheus warned his son, who built himself an ark, into which

he retired with his wife when the waters began to rise. Nine days and

nights he was tossed on the waters; at length his vessel rested on Mount

Parnassus in Bœotia. He disembarked, and immediately offered a sacrifice

of thanksgiving to Zeus the preserver. Pleased at his gratitude, Zeus

granted his prayer for the restoration of the human race; and Deucalion

and Pyrrha were commanded by Hermes to cast stones behind them, from

which sprang a new race of men. Such is the legend in its most ancient

form; later writers engrafted on it still farther incidents of Biblical

tradition, until at last the Greek Noah was represented as having taken

living animals with him into the ark, and as having let loose a dove

after his landing on Parnassus.

III.—PROVINCIAL HEROIC LEGENDS.

=1. The Lapithæ and the Centaurs.=—We shall commence with the Thessalian

legend of the Lapithæ and Centaurs, on account of its great antiquity

and its importance in sculpture. We read in the Homeric poems how the

hoary Nestor on one occasion boasts of having, in his younger days,

taken part with his friends Pirithoüs and Cæneus, and the other princes

of the Lapithæ, in their contest with the savage Centaurs. In Homer’s

account the Centaurs are merely depicted as an old Thessalian mountain

tribe of giant strength and savage ferocity, utterly unable to control

their rude, sensual nature. Nor do we find here any mention of their

being half horses and half men; they are merely said to have inhabited

the mountain districts of Œta and Pelion, in Thessaly, and to have been

driven thence by the Lapithæ into the higher mountain-lands of Pindus.

Their contest with the Lapithæ is sometimes conceived as a symbol of the

struggle of Greek civilisation with the still existing barbarism of the

early Pelasgian period. This may be the reason why Greek art, when in

its bloom, devoted itself so especially to this subject. The origin of

this contest is referred to the marriage feast of Pirithoüs and

Hippodamia, to which the principal Centaurs had been invited. On this

occasion the Centaur Eurytion, heated with wine, attempted to carry off

the bride; this gave rise to a contest which, after dreadful losses on

both sides, ended in the complete defeat of the Centaurs. The Centaurs,

however, since they were thus able to sit with the Lapithæ at meat, must

have been endowed with purely human forms.

Theseus and Nestor, the friends of Pirithoüs, both took part in the

battle. Another prominent warrior was the gigantic Cæneus (Slayer), who

had been rendered invulnerable by Poseidon, but whom the Centaurs slew

on this occasion by burying him beneath a mass of trees and rocks.

There is, however, also a natural explanation of the tales of these

strange beings. The father of the Centaurs is Ixion, who, as we have

already seen, may be interpreted to be the sun. The crime said to have

been the cause of his punishment was his love for Hera (the goddess of

the atmosphere). If we take these points, together with the legend that

Ixion begat the Centaurs of Nephele, the cloud, we may be prepared to

see in the horse-formed Centaurs a parallel to the cows of the sun, the

bright clouds which pass over the sky. There is the more ground for

this, as similar beings appear in Indian mythology, and their name has,

with much probability, been identified with that of the Centaurs.

[Illustration: Fig. 48.—Metope of the Parthenon.]

As we have already mentioned, the Centaurs play an important part in

art. The custom of depicting them half horse and half man came into

vogue after the time of Pindar, and was quickly adopted in

sculpture. In the representations of earlier art the face of a man

is joined to the body and hind legs of a horse. But in its higher

stage of development, after the time of Phidias, this was replaced

by a more elegant conception, and the body of a man from the navel

upwards was joined to the complete body of a horse, so that the

Centaurs of this period have the four feet of a horse and the hands

and arms of a man. Such is their appearance on numerous extant art

monuments, of which we shall mention the most important.

In the first place, there are the reliefs from the frieze of the

Theseum at Athens. This temple, which is still in a good state of

preservation, was converted during the middle ages into a chapel of

St. George. It is supposed to have been built at the instance of

Cimon, after he had brought back the bones of the Attic hero from

Scyros. Besides other important pieces, which we shall mention

hereafter, the temple has, on its western or hinder frieze, a

representation of the contests of the Centaurs and Lapithæ at the

wedding of Pirithoüs, done in Parian marble. It is executed in such

a manner that it is impossible to discover which party will get the

upper hand; and this has enabled the artist, whose name has not come

down to us, to introduce a lively variety into the different scenes

of the combat.

[Illustration: Fig. 49.—From the Frieze of the Temple at Bassæ.]

We have another series of most splendid representations from the

battle of the Centaurs, full of life and spirit, on some dilapidated

metopes[6] of the Parthenon at Athens. This splendid specimen of

Doric architecture is 227 feet in length and 101 feet in breadth. It

was ruined in 1687, during the war between the Venetians and Turks,

by a shell which broke through the midst of the marble roof. A large

part of the ninety-two metopes of the outer frieze contain a number

of the most beautiful and life-like scenes from the battle of the

Giants and that of the Centaurs. Of these metopes, thirty-nine still

remain on the temple, though they are all in a terribly mutilated

condition; seventeen are in the British Museum, and one in the

Louvre at Paris. Those from the south side are comparatively in the

best state of preservation; these are seventeen in number, the whole

number on the south side having been thirty-two. They represent,

exclusively, scenes from the battle of the Centaurs. Here a bearded

Centaur is carrying off a woman, whom he holds in his powerful

grasp; there, another is galloping away over the body of his fallen

enemy; another is engaged in a fierce contest with a human foe;

whilst a fourth lies slain on the field. The engraving we append may

give a faint idea of the beauty and bold design of this splendid

creation (Fig. 48). To these grand monuments of Greek art we must

add the frieze of the temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassæ, near

Phigalia in Arcadia, which was discovered in 1812, and is now in the

British Museum. It represents, likewise, a series of the most vivid

scenes from the battle of the Lapithæ and Centaurs. In the

individual groups and scenes of the battle, which is here completed

before our eyes, there is the same variety and animation, so that we

must ascribe it to some great artist (Fig. 49).

Footnote 6:

The squares between the triglyphs of the frieze which are intended

to support the gable, every one of which is generally adorned with

a separate sculpture in relief.

Besides these sculptures in relief, some splendid single statues of

Centaurs have come down to us from antiquity. Among these, the first

place must be assigned to the two Centaurs in the Capitoline Museum.

They are executed in black marble, and were found in the villa of

Hadrian at Tivoli, where so many ancient art treasures have been

brought to light.

Among the Centaurs, Chiron, who was famous alike for his wisdom and his

knowledge of medicine, deserves mention as the preceptor of many of the

heroes of antiquity. So far superior was he to his savage kindred, both

in education and manners, that he was commonly reported to have had a

different origin, and was therefore described as a son of Cronus and

Philyra, or Phyllira, one of the Oceanids. Homer, who knew nothing of

the equine shape of the Centaurs, represents him as the most upright of

the Centaurs, and makes him the friend of Peleus and the preceptor of

the youthful Achilles, whom he instructed in the art of healing and

gymnastic exercises. He was, moreover, related to both these heroes, his

daughter Endeïs having been the mother of Peleus. Subsequently, other

mythical heroes were added to the number of his pupils, such as Castor

and Polydeuces, Theseus, Nestor, Meleager, and Diomedes. Music, too, was

now represented as a subject of his instruction, though this is perhaps

due to a misinterpretation of the name of his mother. He inhabited a

cave on Mount Pelion; later mythology, however, transferred his

residence, after the Centaurs had been driven from Pelion by the

Lapithæ, to the promontory of Malea. Here, by an unlucky accident, he

was wounded with a poisoned arrow by his friend Heracles, and, the wound

being incurable, he voluntarily chose to die in the place of Prometheus.

[Illustration: Fig. 50.—Centaur teaching a Boy to play upon the Pipe.

Relief by Kundmann.]

The idea of the connection of the Centaurs with the arts and

sciences originated in the story of Chiron and Achilles, and has

since furnished modern art with the subjects for some of its most

valuable works. Fig. 50 represents a Centaur teaching a boy to play

on the flute, and is after an _alto-relievo_ of the Viennese

sculptor Kundmann.

=2. Theban Legend.=—_1. Cadmus._—Among Theban legends, none is more

celebrated than the founding of Thebes by Cadmus. Cadmus was a son of

the Phœnician king Agenor. After Zeus carried off his sister Europa to

Crete (_vide_ the _Cretan Legends_), he was despatched by his father in

search of her. Accompanied by his mother Telephassa, he came to Thrace

and thence to Delphi, where he was commanded by the oracle to relinquish

his quest. It further ordered him to follow a young heifer with the mark

of a crescent on either side, and to build a town on the place where the

heifer should lie down. Cadmus obeyed, and, finding the heifer in

Phocis, he followed her. She led him into Bœotia, and at length lay down

on a rising ground. On this spot Cadmus founded a town, which he called

Cadmea, after himself, though he had first to experience a perilous

adventure. Before sacrificing the heifer, he sent some of his companions

to fetch water from a neighbouring spring, where they were slain by a

dragon belonging to Ares which guarded the spring. Cadmus then went

himself, and slew the dragon, the teeth of which he sowed in the ground

by the advice of Pallas. Hereupon armed men sprang from the ground; they

immediately turned their arms against each other, and were all slain

except five. Cadmus built his new town with the assistance of these men,

who thus became the ancestors of the noble families of Thebes. In

expiation of the dragon’s death, Cadmus was obliged to do service to

Ares for eight years. At the end of this period Ares pardoned Cadmus and

gave him Harmonia—his daughter by Aphrodite—to wife. Harmonia became the

mother of four daughters—Autonoë, Ino, Semele, and Agave. After reigning

for a long time at Thebes, Cadmus was compelled in his old age to retire

to the Enchelians in Illyria; but whether he was driven out by Amphion

and Zethus (who appear in Homer as the founders of Thebes) or withdrew

from some other cause is not manifest. He and his wife were afterwards

changed into serpents, and transferred, by the command of Zeus, to the

Elysian fields.

In this story we see another form of the combat of the hero with the

monster, and can probably give it the same explanation. The dragon

guards the waters, and the hero, by killing it, frees them. Do we not

see in this the combat of the sun with the cloud; and in the armed men

who turn their weapons against one another, the clouds that seem to

fight with one another in the thunderstorm? Yet even admitting this

interpretation, it may be that we have in the name of Cadmus an allusion

to the civilisation and the arts received by the Greeks from the East.

So, too, with the alphabet, the invention of which Hellenic tradition

ascribed to him.

[Illustration: Fig. 51.—Actæon Group. British Museum.]

_2. Actæon._—We have already incidentally mentioned the fortunes of

three of the daughters of Cadmus—Ino, Semele, and Agave. The eldest,

Autonoë, married Aristæus, the son of Apollo, and became by him the

mother of Actæon. Actæon was handed over to Chiron to be reared as a

stout hunter and warrior; but he had scarcely reached the prime of youth

when he was overtaken by a lamentable fate. Whilst hunting one day on

Mount Cithæron, he was changed by Artemis into a stag, and was torn in

pieces by his own dogs. The cause of her anger was either that Actæon

had boasted that he was a more skilful hunter than Artemis, or that he

had surprised the virgin goddess bathing. The latter tradition

ultimately prevailed, and, in later times, even the rock whence he

beheld Artemis was pointed out on the road between Megara and Platæa. He

received heroic honours in Bœotia, and his protection was invoked

against the deadly power of the sun in the dog-days. The story of Actæon

is probably nothing but a representation of the decay of verdant nature

beneath an oppressive summer heat.

The story of Actæon’s transformation and death was a favourite

subject for sculpture. A small marble group, representing Actæon

beating off two dogs which are attacking him, was found in 1774, and

is now preserved in the British Museum (Fig. 51).

_3. Amphion and Zethus._—Besides the royal family of Cadmus, which was

continued in Thebes after his departure by his son Polydorus, we come

across the scions of another ruling family of Thebes which came from

Hyria, or Hysia, in Bœotia, in the persons of Amphion and Zethus.

Nycteus, king of Thebes, had a wonderfully beautiful daughter called

Antiope, whose favours Zeus enjoyed on approaching her in the form of a

Satyr. On becoming pregnant, she fled from the resentment of her father

to Sicyon, where the king, Epopeus, received her and made her his wife.

This enraged Nycteus, who made war on Epopeus in order to compel him to

deliver up his daughter Antiope. He was obliged to retire without

accomplishing his purpose, but, on his death, he entrusted the execution

of his vengeance to his brother Lycus, who succeeded him. Lycus defeated

and slew Epopeus, destroyed Sicyon, and took Antiope back with him as

prisoner. On the way, at Eleutheræ on Cithæron, she gave birth to the

twins Amphion and Zethus. These were immediately exposed, but were

subsequently discovered and brought up by a compassionate shepherd.

Antiope was not only kept prisoner in the house of Lycus, but had also

to submit to the most harsh and humiliating treatment at the hands of

his wife Dirce. At length she managed to escape, and by a wonderful

chance discovered her two sons, who had grown, on lonely Cithæron, into

sturdy youths. The story of her wrongs so enraged them that they

resolved to wreak a cruel vengeance on Dirce. After having taken Thebes

and slain Lycus, they bound Dirce to the horns of a wild bull, which

dragged her about till she perished. According to another story, Dirce

came to Cithæron to celebrate the festival of Bacchus. Here she found

her runaway slave, whom she was about to punish by having her bound to

the horns of a bull. Happily, however, Amphion and Zethus recognised

their mother, and inflicted on the cruel Dirce the punishment she had

destined for another. Her mangled remains they cast into the spring near

Thebes which bears her name.

[Illustration: Fig. 52.—Farnese Bull. Naples.]

The punishment of Dirce forms the subject of numerous pieces of

sculpture. The most important among them is the Farnese Bull (_Toro

Farnese_) in the museum at Naples (Fig. 52). This world-renowned

marble group is supposed, with the exception of certain parts which

have been restored in modern times, to have been the work of the

brothers Apollonius and Tauriscus, of Tralles in Caria, Apollonius

and Tauriscus belonged to the Rhodian school, which flourished in

the third century B.C. This colossal group—undoubtedly the largest

which has descended to us from antiquity—was first erected in

Rhodes, but came, during the reign of Augustus, into the possession

of Asinius Pollio, the great art-patron. It was discovered in 1547

in the Thermæ of Caracalla at Rome, and was set up in the Palazzo

Farnese. It was thence transferred to Naples in 1786, as a portion

of the Farnese inheritance. The following is a brief explanation of

the group, though, of course, the most complete account could give

but an imperfect idea of its beauty. The scene is laid on the rocky

heights of Cithæron. The position of the handsome youths on a rocky

crag is as picturesque as it is dangerous, and serves not only to

lend the group a pyramidal aspect pleasing to the eye, but also to

set before us their marvellous strength. There are several tokens

that the occurrence took place during a Bacchic festival: the wicker

_cista mystica_ in use at the festivals of Dionysus—the fawn skin

which Dirce wears—the ivy garland that has fallen at her feet—the

broken thyrsus, and, lastly, the Bacchic insignia which distinguish

the shepherd boy, who is sitting on the right watching the

proceedings with painful interest—all point to this fact. The lyre

which rests against the tree behind Amphion is a token of his

well-known love of music. The female figure in the background is

Antiope.

The story goes on to relate that the two brothers, after the expulsion

and death of Lyons, acquired the sovereignty of Thebes, though Amphion

always figures as the real king. The two brothers were widely different

in disposition and character. Zethus appears to have been rude and

harsh, and passionately fond of the chase. Amphion, on the other hand,

is represented as a friend of the Muses, and devoted to music and

poetry. He soon had an opportunity of proving his wondrous skill when

they began to enclose Thebes, which had been before unprotected, with

walls and towers; for whilst Zethus removed great blocks and piled them

one on another by means of his vast strength, Amphion had but to touch

the strings of his lyre and break forth into some sweet melody, and the

mighty stones moved of their own accord and obediently fitted themselves

together. This is why Amphion is always represented in sculpture with a

lyre and Zethus with a club. We can scarcely doubt that these Theban

Dioscuri, like the Castor and Polydeuces of Sparta, who are well known

to be only symbols of the morning and evening star, were originally

personifications of some natural phenomenon; though we are no longer in

a position to say what it was.

Amphion is further celebrated on account of the melancholy fate of his

sons and daughters. He married Niobe, the daughter of the Phrygian king

Tantalus, and sister of Pelops. Great was the happiness of this

marriage; the gods seemed to shower down their blessings on the royal

pair. Many blooming and lovely children grew up in their palace, the

pride and delight of their happy parents. From this paradise of purest

joy and happiness they were soon to pass into a night of the deepest

mourning and most cruel affliction through the presumption of Niobe—the

same presumption which had led her father Tantalus to trifle with the

gods and consummate his own ruin. The heart of Niobe was lifted up with

pride at the number of her children,[7] and she ventured to prefer

herself to Latona, who had only two; nay, she even went so far as to

forbid the Thebans to offer sacrifice to Latona and her children, and to

claim these honours herself. The vengeance of the offended deities,

however, now overtook her, and all her children were laid low in one day

before the unerring arrows of Apollo and his sister. The parents did not

survive this deep affliction. Amphion slew himself, and Niobe, already

paralysed with grief, was turned into stone by the pity of the gods, and

transferred to her old Phrygian home on Mount Sipylus, though even the

stone has not ceased to weep.

Footnote 7:

The number of Niobe’s children varies materially. Homer (_Il._ xxiv.,

602) gives her six sons and as many daughters. According to Hesiod and

Pindar, she had ten sons and ten daughters; but the most common

account, and that followed by the tragic poets, allows her fourteen

children. Everywhere the number of sons and daughters appears to be

equal. The story of Niobe was frequently treated of by the tragic

poets, both Æschylus and Sophocles having written tragedies bearing

her name.

Such is the substance of this beautiful legend, though its details vary

considerably in the accounts of the poets and mythologists. The most

circumstantial and richly-coloured account of it is contained in the

_Metamorphoses_ of Ovid. The poets have continually striven to impose a

purely ethical interpretation on the story, by representing the

destruction of the children of Niobe as the consequence of the great sin

of their mother; but it is more probably a physical meaning which lies

at the root of the legend. It is, in fact, a picture of the melting of

the snow before the hot scorching rays of the sun. This incident the

fertile imagination of the Greeks portrayed in the most beautiful

metaphors. But just as a subject so purely tragic as the history of

Niobe found its first true development in tragic poetry, so likewise it

only attained its proper place in sculpture after art had laid aside its

earlier and more simple epic character, and set itself to depict, in

their full force, the inward passions of the soul. This tendency towards

pathos and effect is characteristic of the age of Praxiteles and Scopas,

and the later Attic school.

To this age (4th century B.C.) belonged the group of Niobe, which

was so highly celebrated even among the ancients, and which was seen

by Pliny in the temple of Apollo Sosianus at Rome, although people

even then hesitated whether to ascribe it to Praxiteles or Scopas.

None but one of these great masters could have been the author of

this tragedy hewn in stone. Although the original figures of this

magnificent group have disappeared, yet copies of most of them are

still in existence. With regard to the celebrated Florentine Niobe

group, the dissimilarity of its treatment and the various kinds of

marble employed serve to show that it is not a Greek original, but a

Roman imitation. It was found at Rome in 1583, near the Lateran

Church, and was purchased by Cardinal Medici to adorn his villa on

the Monte Pincio. In 1775 it was brought to Florence, where it has

remained since 1794 in the gallery of the Uffizi.

There has never been but one opinion as to the beauty of this group.

First among the figures—not only in size, but also in artistic

perfection—is that of Niobe herself. The unhappy queen displays in

her whole hearing so majestic and noble a demeanour, that, even if

none of the other splendid results of Greek sculpture had come down

to us, this alone would bear ample testimony to the high perfection

and creative power of Greek art. The following description of the

arrangement of the group is taken from Lübke’s _History of Plastic

Art_:—

[Illustration: Fig. 54.—Niobe. Florence.]

“Apollo and Artemis are to be supposed outside the group; they have

accomplished their work of vengeance and destruction from an

invisible position in the heavens. This is denoted by each movement

of the flying figures, who either gaze upwards in affright towards

the heavens, or seek to cover themselves with their garments. One of

the sons is already stretched dead on the earth; another leans in

mortal agony against a rock, fixing his eyes, already glazed in

death, on the spot whence destruction has overtaken him. A third

brother is striving in vain to protect with his robe his sister, who

has fallen wounded at his feet, and to catch her in his arms;

another has sunk on his knees, and clutches in agony at the wound in

his back; whilst his preceptor is endeavouring to shield the

youngest boy. All the others are fleeing instinctively to their

mother, thinking, doubtless, that she who had so often afforded

protection could save them also from the avenging arrows of the

gods. Thus from either side the waves of this dreadful flight rush

towards the centre, to break on the sublime figure of Niobe as upon

a rock. She alone stands unshaken in all her sorrow, mother and

queen to the last. Clasping her youngest daughter, whose tender

years have not preserved her, in her arms, and bending over as

though to shield the child, she turns her own proud head upwards,

and, before her left hand can cover her sorrow-stricken face with

her robe, she casts towards the avenging goddess a look in which

bitter grief is blended with sublime dignity of soul (Fig. 54). In

this look there is neither defiance nor prayer for mercy, but a

sorrowful and yet withal lofty expression of heroic resignation to

inexorable fate that is worthy of a Niobe. This admirable figure,

then, is pre-eminently the central point of the composition, since

it expresses an atonement which, in a scene of horror and

annihilation, stirs the heart to the deepest sympathy.”

Zethus was not more fortunate than Amphion in his domestic affairs. He

married Aëdon (nightingale), the daughter of Pandareos. Pandareos was

the friend and companion of Tantalus, for whom he stole a living dog

made of brass from the temple of Zeus in Crete, and was on that account

turned into stone.

Aëdon was jealous of the good-fortune of Niobe in having so many

beautiful children; she herself having only one son, Itylus. She

resolved, one night, to slay the eldest son of Niobe, but she killed, in

mistake, her own child instead. Zeus took compassion on her, and changed

her into a nightingale. In this guise she still continues to bewail her

loss in long-drawn mournful notes. Tradition says nothing as to the

death of Zethus, although the common grave of the Theban Dioscuri was

pointed out in Thebes. After his death, Laius, the son of Labdacus and

grandson of Polydorus, restored in his person the race of Cadmus to the

throne of Thebes. (See the legend of the Labdacidæ later on.)

=3. Corinthian Legend.=—_1. Sisyphus._—Corinth, or Ephyra, as it was

formerly called, was said to have been founded by Sisyphus, the son of

Æolus. Its inhabitants, on account of the position of their city between

two seas, were naturally inclined to deify that element, and it is not

improbable that Sisyphus was merely an ancient symbol of the restless,

ever-rolling waves of the sea. This interpretation, however, is by no

means certain; and the idea of Sisyphus in the lower world ever rolling

a huge stone to the top of a mountain might equally well refer to the

sun, which, after attaining its highest point in the heavens at the time

of the summer solstice, glides back again, only to begin its career anew

on the shortest day. In any case, the rolling of the stone does not

appear to have been originally a punishment. It was only later—after

people had become familiar with the idea of retribution in the lower

world—that it assumed this character. In order to account for it, a

special crime had to be found for Sisyphus. According to some, he was

punished at the instance of Zeus, because he had revealed to the

river-god Asopus the hiding-place of his daughter Ægina, whom Zeus had

secretly carried off from Phlius. According to another tradition, he

used to attack travellers, and put them to death by crushing them with

great stones. The Corinthians being crafty men of business, it was

natural that they should accredit their mythical founder with a refined

cunning. Of the numerous legends which existed concerning him, none was

more celebrated than that of the cunning mode in which he succeeded in

binding Death, whom Ares had to be despatched to release.

_2. Glaucus._—Tradition describes Glaucus as a son of Sisyphus by

Merope. He also appears to have had a symbolic meaning, and was once

identical with Poseidon, though he was afterwards degraded from the rank

of a god to that of a hero. He is remarkable for his unfortunate end. On

the occasion of some funeral games, celebrated in Iolcus in honour of

Pelias, he took part in the chariot race, and was torn in pieces by his

own horses, which had taken fright.

_3. Bellerophon and the Legend of the Amazons._—The third national hero

of Corinth was Bellerophon, or Bellerophontes. Here the reference to the

sun is so obvious, that the signification of the myth is unmistakeable.

He was termed the son of Poseidon or Glaucus, and none could appreciate

this genealogy better than the Corinthians, who daily saw the sun rise

from the sea. We must first, however, narrate the substance of the

story. Bellerophon was born and brought up at Corinth, but was obliged

from some cause or other to leave his country. That he killed Bellerus,

a noble of Corinth, is nothing but a fable arising from an unfortunate

misinterpretation of his name. He was hospitably received by Prœtus,

king of Tiryns, whose wife at once fell in love with the handsome,

stately youth. Finding, however, that Bellerophon slighted her passion,

she slandered him to her husband, and Prœtus forthwith sent him to his

father-in-law, Iobates, king of Lycia, with a tablet, mysterious signs

on which bade Iobates put the bearer to death. At this juncture the

heroic career of Bellerophon begins. Iobates sought to fulfil the

command of Prœtus by involving his guest in all kinds of desperate

adventures. He first sent him to destroy the Chimæra, a dangerous

monster that devastated the land. The fore part of its body was that of

a lion, the centre that of a goat, and the hinder part that of a dragon.

According to Hesiod, it had three heads—that of a lion, a goat, and a

dragon. According to the same poet, the Chimæra was a fire-breathing

monster of great swiftness and strength, the daughter of Typhon and

Echidna. Bellerophon destroyed the monster by raising himself in the air

on his winged horse Pegasus, and shooting it with his arrows. Pegasus

was the offspring of Poseidon and Medusa, from whose trunk it sprung

after Perseus had struck off her head. Bellerophon captured this

wonderful animal as it descended at the Acro-Corinthus to drink of the

spring of Pirene. In this he was assisted by the goddess Athene, who

also taught him how to tame and use it. Here, then, he appears to have

already possessed the horse at Corinth; though another tradition relates

that Pegasus was first sent to him when he set out to conquer the

Chimæra. The origin of the story is ascribed to a fiery mountain in

Lycia; but, as all dragons and suchlike monsters of antiquity are

represented as breathing forth fire and flames, we are perhaps scarcely

justified in having recourse to a volcano. This characteristic is, in

fact, merely a common symbol of the furious and dangerous character of

these monsters. The contest of Bellerophon is far more likely to be a

picture of the drying up, by means of the sun’s rays, of the furious

mountain torrents which flood the corn-fields. Others, again, have

thought that the Chimæra represents the storms of winter conquered by

the sun.

The next adventure in which Iobates engaged Bellerophon was an

expedition against the Solymi, a neighbouring but hostile mountain

tribe. After he had been successful in subduing them, Iobates sent him

against the warlike Amazons, hoping that among them he would be certain

to meet his death. We here, for the first time, come across this

remarkable nation of women, with whom other Greek heroes, such as

Heracles and Theseus, are said to have fought; and it will not,

therefore, be foreign to our object to dwell here on their most

important features.

[Illustration: Fig. 55—Amazon. Berlin.]

The Amazons appear in legend as early as Homer, though he only mentions

them incidentally. They were said to be a nation of women, who suffered

no men among them, except so far as it was necessary to keep up the

race. The women, on the other hand, were trained from their earliest

years in all warlike exercises; so that they were not only sufficiently

powerful to defend their own land against foreign invaders, but also to

make plundering incursions into other countries. Their dominions, the

situation of which was at first indefinitely described as in the far

north or far west, were afterwards reduced to more distinct limits, and

placed in Cappadocia, on the river Thermodon, their capital being

Themiscyra in Scythia, on the borders of Lake Mæotis, where their

intercourse with the Scythians is said to have given rise to the

Sarmatian tribes. Later writers also speak of the Amazons in Western

Libya. Of the numerous stories rife concerning them, none is more

tasteless than that of their cutting off or burning out the right

breast, in order not to incommode themselves in the use of the bow. From

the Thermodon they are said to have made great expeditions as far as the

Ægean sea; they are even reported to have invaded Attica, and made war

on Theseus. They also play a prominent part in the story of Heracles, by

whom they were defeated; and in the Trojan war, when, under their queen

Penthesilea, they came to the assistance of Priam against the Greeks.

The Amazons were frequently represented in Greek art. They are here

depicted as fine, powerful women, resembling Artemis and her nymphs,

though with stouter legs and arms. They generally appear armed,

their weapons being a long double-edged battle-axe (_bipennis_) and

a semicircular shield. An anecdote related by Pliny proves what a

favourite subject the Amazons were with Greek artists. He says that

the celebrated sculptors, Phidias, Polycletus, Phradmon, and

Cresilas, made a wager as to who should create the most beautiful

Amazon. Polycletus received the prize, so that we may conclude that

he brought this statue—the ideal Amazon of the Greeks—to its highest

perfection. Unfortunately, we know nothing of it, except that it was

of bronze, and stood with the statues of the other artists in the

temple of the Ephesian Artemis. The Amazon of Phidias, we are told,

was represented as leaning on a spear; Cresilas, on the other hand,

endeavoured to portray a wounded Amazon. Besides these statues, we

hear a great deal of the Amazon of Strongylion, celebrated for the

beauty of her legs, which was in the possession of Nero.

We still possess a considerable number of Amazon statues, some of

which are supposed to be imitations in marble of the renowned statue

at Ephesus. There are, moreover, several statues of wounded Amazons,

some of which are believed to be copies of the work of Cresilas.

There is also another marble statue, considerably larger than life,

which takes a still higher rank. It was originally set up in the

Villa Mattei, but since the time of Clement XIV. it has been in the

Vatican collection. It is apparently a representation of an Amazon

resting after battle; she is in the act of laying aside her bow, as

she has already done her shield, battle-axe, and helmet. In doing so

she raises herself slightly on her left foot, an attitude which is

as charming as it is natural.

Lastly, we must not omit to mention a statue that has newly come

into the possession of the Berlin Museum, which is supposed to be

after a work of Polycletus (Fig. 55).

We must now return to the history of Bellerophon. After returning in

triumph from his expedition against the Amazons, the life of the young

hero was once more attempted by Iobates, who caused him to be surprised

by an ambuscade. Bellerophon, however, again escaped, slaying all his

assailants. Iobates now ceased from further persecution, and gave him

his daughter in marriage, and a share in the kingdom of Lycia.

Bellerophon, in full possession of power and riches, and surrounded by

blooming children, seemed to have reached the summit of earthly

prosperity, when he was overtaken by a grievous change of fortune. He

was seized with madness, and wandered about alone, fleeing the society

of men, until he at length perished miserably. Pindar says that he

incurred the enmity of the gods by attempting to fly to heaven on his

winged horse Pegasus; whereupon Zeus sent a gadfly to sting the horse.

Pegasus cast off Bellerophon, and flew of his own accord to the stables

of Zeus, whose thunder-chariot he has ever since drawn. The sad fate of

Bellerophon was the subject of a touching tragedy of Euripides, some

parts of which are still in existence. Heroic honours were paid to

Bellerophon in Corinth, and he also had a shrine in the celebrated

cypress-grove of Poseidon.

=4. Argive Legend.=—_1. Io._—The first personage who meets us on the

very threshold of the mythic age of Argos is Inachus, the god of the

Argive river of that name. Inachus was venerated by the inhabitants as

the first founder of Argive civilisation after the flood of Deucalion.

By his union with Melia, the daughter of Oceanus, he became the father

of Io, famed for her beauty, whose history, which is of great antiquity,

has been so greatly embellished by the poets and legendary writers. The

following is the substance of the story:—

Io was the priestess of Hera. Her great beauty attracted the notice of

Zeus. On remarking this, Hera, in her jealousy, changed Io into a white

heifer, and set the hundred-eyed Argus Panoptes (the all-seeing) to

watch her. Zeus, however, sent Hermes to take away the heifer. Hermes

first lulled the guardian to sleep with his wand and then slew him,

whence he is called Argiphontes (slayer of Argus). Hera avenged herself

by sending a gadfly to torment Io, who, in her madness, wandered through

Europe and Asia, until she at length found rest in Egypt, where, touched

by the hand of Zeus, she recovered her original form, and gave birth to

a son. This son, who was called Epaphus, afterwards became king of

Egypt, and built Memphis. The myth, as we have already remarked, has

received many embellishments, for the wanderings of Io grew more and

more extensive with the growth of geographical knowledge. The true

interpretation of the myth is due to F. W. Welcker, whose meritorious

researches in Greek mythology have proved of such great value. Io (the

wanderer) is the moon, whose apparently irregular course and temporary

disappearance was considered a most curious phenomenon by the ancients.

The moon-goddess of antiquity was very frequently represented under the

figure of a heifer; and Isis herself, the Egyptian goddess of the moon,

was always depicted with horns. The guardian of the heifer, the

hundred-eyed Argus, is a symbol of the starry heaven. Whether we see in

Hermes the dawn or the morning breeze, in either case the slaying of

Argus will simply mean that the stars become invisible at sunrise. There

is nothing extraordinary in representing the apparent irregularity of

the moon’s course, inexplicable as it was to the ancients, under the

guise of mental disorder. Similar representations occur in the stories

of the solar heroes, Bellerophon and Heracles. In the south-east—the

direction in which Egypt lay from Greece—Io again appears as full moon,

in her original shape.

_2. Danaüs and the Danaïds._—According to the legend, Danaüs was a

descendant of Io. Epaphus, the son of Io, had a daughter Libya, who bore

to Poseidon two sons, Agenor and Belus. The former reigned over

Phœnicia, the latter over Egypt. Belus, by his union with Anchinoë, or

Achiroë, the daughter of the Nile, became the father of Ægyptus and

Danaüs. Between these two brothers—the former of whom had fifty sons and

the latter fifty daughters—a deadly enmity arose; this induced Danaüs to

migrate from Egypt and seek the old home of his ancestress Io. He

embarked with his fifty daughters in a ship—the first that was ever

built—and thus came to Argos, where Gelanor, the reigning descendant of

Inachus, resigned the crown in his favour. As king of Argos, Danaüs is

said to have brought the land, which suffered from want of water, to a

higher state of cultivation by watering it with wells and canals. He is

also said to have introduced the worship of Apollo and Demeter. The

story proceeds to relate that the fifty sons of Ægyptus followed their

uncle to Argos, and compelled him to give them his fifty daughters in

marriage. Danaüs, in revenge, gave each of his daughters on the wedding

day a dagger, and commanded them to slay their husbands in the night.

All obeyed his command except Hypermnestra, who spared her husband

Lynceus, and afterwards even succeeded, with the assistance of

Aphrodite, in effecting his reconciliation with her father. Lynceus

succeeded Danaüs in the kingdom, and became, by his son Abas, the

ancestor of both the great Argive heroes, Perseus and Heracles. At a

later period, the fable sprang up that the Danaïds were punished for

their crimes in the lower world by having continually to pour water into

a cask full of holes. It has been frequently remarked that this

punishment has no conceivable connection with the crime. Neither must we

forget that the idea of retribution in the lower world was of a

comparatively late date. Originally, too, the idea prevailed that the

pursuits of the upper world were continued after death in the realms of

Hades. And herein lies the key to the interpretation of the myth, which

is evidently connected with the irrigation of Argos ascribed to Danaüs.

_3. Prœtus and his Daughters._—Acrisius and Prœtus were twin sons of

Abas, the son of Lynceus and Hypermnestra. Between these two brothers an

implacable hostility existed, which was said by the poets to have

commenced even in their mother’s womb. Prœtus received, as his share of

the patrimony, the kingdom of Tiryns; but he was subsequently expelled

by his brother, and took refuge at the court of Iobates, king of Lycia.

Iobates gave him his daughter Antea, or Sthenebœa, in marriage, and

afterwards restored him to his kingdom of Tiryns. Prœtus, with the aid

of the Lycian workmen whom he had brought with him (Cyclopes), built a

strong fortress, which enabled him not only to maintain peaceable

possession of Tiryns, but also to extend his dominion as far as Corinth.

The legend then passes to the history of his three daughters, the

Prœtides, whose pride was so excited by their father’s greatness and

their own beauty that they began to think themselves superior to the

gods. Their arrogance, however, was soon punished, for they were visited

with a foul disease and driven mad. They now fled the society of

mankind, and wandered about among the mountains and woods of Argos and

Arcadia. At length Prœtus succeeded in procuring the services of the

celebrated soothsayer and purifier Melampus, who undertook the

purification and cure of his daughters. It was reported of Melampus that

serpents had licked his ears whilst asleep, and that he acquired, in

consequence, a knowledge of the language of birds. He successfully

accomplished the cure of the Prœtides, and received, as a reward, the

hand of the princess Iphianassa, in addition to which both he and his

brother Bias received a share in the sovereignty of Tiryns. Thus it was

that the race of the Amythaonidæ, who all inherited the gift of seeing

into futurity, and from whom the celebrated soothsayer Amphiaraüs

himself was descended, came to Argos.

_4. Perseus._—Acrisius, the brother of Prœtus, had a daughter called

Danaë, whose fortune it was to gain the love of the great ruler of

Olympus. Her father, Acrisius, was induced by an oracle, which foretold

that he should be killed by his own grandson, to immure Danaë in a

subterraneous chamber. Zeus, however, in his love for her, changed

himself into a shower of golden rain, and thus introduced himself

through the roof of her prison. Thus was the god-like hero Perseus born.

There can be no doubt that this myth, too, is founded on the idea of the

bridal union of heaven and earth; this is one of the pictures of nature

which the mind most readily forms. Danaë represents the country of

Argos; her prison is the heaven, enveloped, during the gloomy months of

winter, with thick clouds. Her offspring by Zeus represents the light of

the sun, which returns in the spring-time and begins, like a veritable

hero, its contest with the powers of death and darkness. The Gorgon

Medusa has the same significance in the history of Perseus that the

hideous Python has in that of Apollo.

The legend then proceeds to relate that Acrisius, having heard of the

birth of his grandson, to avert the fate threatened by the oracle,

ordered mother and child to be confined in a chest and cast into the

sea. But human wisdom avails nought against the inevitable decrees of

heaven. The chest was cast by the waves on the rocky island of Seriphus,

where it was found by the fisherman Dictys; and Danaë and her child were

hospitably received and cared for by Dictys and his brother Polydectes,

the ruler of the island. The latter, however, subsequently wished to

marry Danaë, and on her rejecting his advances made her a slave. Fearing

the vengeance of Perseus, he despatched him, as soon as he was grown up,

on a most perilous adventure. This was no other than to bring him the

head of the Gorgon Medusa—a terrible winged woman, who dwelt with her

two sisters, the daughters of Phorcys and Ceto, on the farthest western

shore of the earth, on the border of Oceanus. Perseus set out, though he

was in the greatest perplexity how to accomplish so perilous a task.

Hermes, however, at this juncture came to his aid; and Athene, the

special patroness of heroes, inspired him with courage. These deities

first showed him how to procure the necessary means for accomplishing

his undertaking, which consisted of an invisible helmet, a magic wallet,

and a pair of winged sandals. All these were in the hands of the Nymphs,

by whom probably the water-nymphs are meant. The way to their abode he

could only learn from the Grææ. These creatures, who were likewise the

daughters of Phorcys and Ceto, were reported to have come into the world

as old women; their very appearance was appalling, and they had but one

eye and one tooth between them, of which they made use in turn. They,

too, dwelt on the outskirts of the gloomy region inhabited by the

Gorgons, whence they are called by Æschylus their sentinels. Under the

guidance of Apollo and Athene, Perseus came to the Grææ. He then robbed

them of their one eye and one tooth, and thus forced them to tell him

the way to the habitations of the Nymphs. From the latter he at once

obtained the objects he sought; and having donned his winged sandals, he

hastened to the abode of the Gorgons, whom he fortunately discovered

asleep. Athene then pointed out to him Medusa—the other two sisters,

Stheno and Euryale, being immortal—and enjoined him to approach them

carefully backwards, as the sight of their faces would infallibly turn

any mortal into stone. With the help of her mirror-like shield and the

sickle of Hermes, Perseus succeeded in cutting off the head of Medusa

without looking round; and having placed the head in his wallet, he

hastened away. His helmet, which rendered him invisible, enabled him to

escape the pursuit of the other Gorgons, who had meanwhile awaked. From

the trunk of Medusa sprang the winged horse Pegasus, and Chrysaor, the

father of Geryones. On his return to Seriphus, Perseus turned the

unrighteous Polydectes into stone by means of the Gorgon’s head, which

he then presented to Athene; and after making his benefactor, Dictys,

king of the island, he turned his steps towards his native place, Argos.

Such are the essential features of the myth—concerning which, in spite

of its antiquity, we have no earlier sources of information—such is the

original framework on which was afterwards built up the history of the

further adventures of the hero. The most celebrated of these was the

rescue of Andromeda, which formed the subject of a drama of Euripides,

and was also highly popular among artists and poets. The following is a

brief account of this exploit:—Cassiopea, the wife of Cepheus, king of

Æthiopia, ventured to extol her own beauty above that of the Nereids,

who thereupon besought Poseidon to avenge them. He granted their

request, and not only overwhelmed the land with disastrous floods, but

sent also a terrible sea-monster, which devoured both man and beast. The

oracle of Ammon declared that the land could only be saved by the

sacrifice of the king’s daughter, Andromeda, to the monster. Cepheus,

after some time, yielded to the entreaties of his people, and Andromeda

was chained to a rock close to the sea. In this situation she was found

by Perseus, on his return from his adventure with the Gorgons. He

forthwith attacked and slew the sea-monster, and released the trembling

maiden, who soon after married her preserver. Later writers, not

satisfied with this adventure, added that Perseus was also obliged to

vanquish a rival in Phineus, the king’s brother, to whom Andromeda had

been already promised. Phineus, together with his warriors, was changed

into stone by means of the Gorgon’s head.

The legend concludes with the return of the hero to Argos, where he was

reconciled to his grandfather Acrisius, who had at first fled in terror

to Larissa. On the occasion, however, of some games which the people of

Larissa had instituted in his honour, Perseus was unfortunate enough to

kill Acrisius with his discus, thus involuntarily fulfilling the

prophecy of the oracle. In this feature of the story we recognise an

unmistakeable reference to the symbolic meaning of Perseus; for the

discus here represents, as in the story of the death of Hyacinthus, the

face of the sun. Perseus, unwilling to enter on the inheritance of the

grandfather he had slain, exchanged the kingdom of Argos for that of

Tiryns, which was handed over to him by its king, Megapenthes, the son

of Prœtus. He here founded the cities of Midea and Mycenæ, and became,

through his children by Andromeda, the ancestor of many heroes, and,

among others, of Heracles. His son Electryon became the father of

Alcmene, whilst Amphitryon was descended from another of his sons.

According to Pausanias, heroic honours were paid to Perseus, not only

throughout Argos, but also in Athens and the island of Seriphus.

Perseus occupies a prominent position in Greek art. His common

attributes are the winged sandals, the sickle which he made use of

to slay Medusa, and the helmet of Hades. In bodily form, as well as

in costume, he appears very like Hermes.

[Illustration: Fig. 56.—Perseus and Andromeda. Marble Relief in the

Museum at Naples.]

Among the art monuments which relate to his adventures is a marble

relief from the Villa Pamfili, now in the Capitoline Museum at Rome,

depicting the rescue of Andromeda. The sea-monster lies dead at the

feet of Perseus, who is assisting the joyful Andromeda to descend

from the rock. The attitude and expression of both figures are very

striking: on the one side, maidenly modesty; on the other, proud

self-reliance. It is worth remarking that Perseus, in addition to

his winged shoes, has also wings on his head. The same conception is

perceptible, with a few minor points of difference, in several

Pompeian paintings, and on a marble relief of the Naples Museum

(Fig. 56). Representations of Medusa are mostly confined to masks,

which are often found on coats of mail, shields, leaves of folding

doors, and instruments of all kinds. There are two types,

representing an earlier and a later conception of Medusa. Earlier

art set itself to depict the horrible only in the head of Medusa;

and artists, therefore, strove to impart to the face as strong an

expression of rage and ferocity as was possible, representing her

with tongue lolling forth, and boar-like tusks. It is worthy of

remark that, in the earlier examples of these masks—which are

frequently met with on coins, gems, and pottery—the hair generally

falls stiff and straight over the forehead, serving to render the

horrible breadth of the face still more striking, while the snakes

appear to be fastened round the neck like a necklace. Very different

is the conception adopted by the later and more sensuous school.

This laboured principally to give expression to the gradual ebbing

away of life in the countenance of the dying Gorgon, an effect which

was rendered still more striking by transforming the hideous Gorgon

face of earlier times into an ideal of the most perfect beauty. The

most splendid example of this later conception, which had been

creeping in since the age of Praxiteles, is to be found in the

Medusa Rondanini of the Munich collection—a marble mask of most

beautiful workmanship, which was brought from the Rondanini Palace

at Rome (Fig. 57). This Medusa, like many others of the later type,

has wings on the head.

[Illustration: Fig. 57.—Rondanini Medusa. Munich.]

=5. The Dioscuri.=—On passing to Laconia and Messenia, the southern

districts of the Peloponnesus, we come in contact with the legend of the

Dioscuri. Tyndareüs and his brother Icarius were said to have founded

the most ancient sovereignty in Lacedæmon. They were driven thence,

however, by their half-brother Hippocoön, and were kindly received by

Thestius, the ruler of the ancient city of Pleuron in Ætolia, who gave

Tyndareüs his daughter Leda in marriage. Icarius received the hand of

Polycaste, who bore him Penelope—afterwards the wife of Odysseus; while

Leda was the mother of the Dioscuri, Castor and Polydeuces (Pollux).

Tyndareüs was afterwards reinstated in his Lacedæmonian kingdom at

Amyclæ by Heracles. Besides these two sons, Leda had also two daughters,

Clytæmnestra and Helene (Helen), who are celebrated in connection with

the Trojan war. An ancient legend also existed to the effect that Leda

had been beloved by Zeus, who had approached her under the guise of a

swan. The greatest incongruity prevails as to which of the children

could claim a divine origin. In Homer, Helen alone is represented as the

daughter of Zeus; while Clytæmnestra, together with Castor and

Polydeuces, appear as the children of Tyndareüs. At a subsequent period,

the name of “Dioscuri” (sons of Zeus) and a belief in their divine

origin arose simultaneously. Later still, Castor was represented as a

mortal, and the son of Tyndareüs; and Polydeuces as immortal, and the

son of Zeus. After Castor, however, had fallen in the contest with the

sons of Aphareus, his brother Polydeuces, unwilling to part from him,

prevailed on Zeus to allow them to remain together, on condition of

their spending one day in Olympus and the next in Hades. They thus led a

life divided between mortality and immortality. The following is an

account of their heroic deeds:—On attaining manhood, Castor

distinguished himself by his skill in the management of horses; whilst

Polydeuces became renowned as a skilful boxer, though he too had skill

in riding. They first made war on Theseus, who had carried off their

sister Helen, then ten years old, and set her free by the conquest of

Aphidnæ. They next took part in the expedition of the Argonauts, in

which Polydeuces gained still further renown by his victory with the

cestus over the celebrated boxer Amycus. They were also present at the

Calydonian boar hunt. Their last undertaking was the rape of the

daughters of Leucippus, king of Messenia. This was the cause of their

combat with their cousins Idas and Lynceus, the sons of Aphareus, to

whom the damsels had been betrothed. According to others, however, it

sprang from a quarrel as to the division of some booty that they had

carried off together. Castor was slain by Idas, whereupon Polydeuces in

his wrath slew Lynceus, while Idas himself was overwhelmed by a

thunderbolt from Zeus.

The interpretation of this myth is by no means void of difficulty. It is

commonly supposed that they were ancient Peloponnesian divinities of

light, who, after the Dorian invasion, were degraded to the rank of

heroes. They are often interpreted as personifications of the morning

and evening star, or of the twilight (dawn and dusk). This view died out

after the second deification that they underwent. They were venerated,

not only in their native Sparta, but throughout the whole of Greece, as

kindly, beneficent deities, whose aid might be invoked either in battle

or in the dangers of shipwreck. In this latter character they are lauded

by an Homeric hymn, in which they are represented as darting through the

air on their golden wings, in order to calm the storm at the prayer of

the terror-stricken mariner. It has often been remarked, and with a

great appearance of truth, that these Dioscuri flitting about on their

golden wings are probably nothing more than what is commonly called St.

Elmo’s fire—an electric flame which, is often seen playing round the

tops of the masts during a storm, and which is regarded by the sailors

as a sign of its speedy abatement; indeed the name Elmo has been

supposed a corruption of Helene. In Sparta, the Dioscuri were regarded

as the tutelary deities of the state, as well as an example of warlike

valour for the youth of the country. Their shrines here were very

numerous. Their ancient symbol, which the Spartans always took with them

on a campaign, consisted of two parallel beams joined by cross-bars.

They had other festivals and temples besides those of Sparta; in

Mantinea, for instance, where an eternal fire was kept burning in their

honour; also in Athens, where they were venerated under the appellation

of Anaces. Their festival was here celebrated with horse-racing. The

Olympic games also stood under their special protection, and their

images were set up in all the palæstra. They were, in fact, everywhere

regarded as extremely benevolent and sociable deities, who foster all

that is noble and beautiful among men.

The Dioscuri were believed to have assisted the Romans against the

Latins at the Lake Regillus; and the dictator, A. Postumius, vowed a

temple to them, which was erected in the Forum, opposite the temple of

Vesta. In commemoration of this aid, the Equites made a solemn

procession from the temple of Honos, past the temple of the Dioscuri, to

the Capitol every year on the Ides of July.

In art the Dioscuri are represented as heroic youths of noble mien

and slim but powerful forms. Their characteristic marks are conical

caps, the points of which are adorned with a star. They generally

appear nude, or clothed only with a light chlamys, and nearly always

in connection with their horses, either riding, standing by and

holding them, or leading them by the bridle. The most celebrated

representation of the Dioscuri that has come down to us from

antiquity consists of the marble statues called the Colossi of Monte

Cavallo, in Rome. These are eighteen feet in height, and the

proportions of the figures, together with those of the horses, are

exquisite. They are set up on the Quirinal, which has received from

them the name of Monte Cavallo. They are not, indeed, original

works, but are probably imitations of bronzes of the most

flourishing period of Greek art, executed in the time of Augustus.

=6. Heracles (Hercules).=—Of all the myths of the countries originally

inhabited by the Æolians the myth of Heracles is the most glorious. This

hero, though his fame was chiefly disseminated by means of the Dorians,

was yet by birth the common property of the Æolian race—their national

hero, in fact, just as he afterwards became the national hero of the

whole of Greece. No other Greek myth has received so many subsequent

additions—not only from native, but also from foreign sources—as this;

which is, in consequence, the most extensive and complicated of all

Greek myths. We shall, therefore, have to confine ourselves to the

consideration of its most characteristic features, and those which are

the most important in the history of art.

In Homer, who is here again our most ancient authority, the leading

features of the myth are traced—the enmity of Hera towards the hero; his

period of subjection to Eurystheus, and the labours by which he

emancipated himself (though special mention is made only of his seizure

of Cerberus); his expeditions against Pylus, Ephyra, Œchalia, and Troy.

The verses in the _Odyssey_ (xi. 602–4), which refer to his deification

and subsequent marriage with Hebe, are probably a later insertion. In

the _Iliad_, Heracles is spoken of as a great hero of olden time, “whom

the Fates and the grievous wrath of Hera subdued.” In Homer, too, he

appears as a purely Grecian hero, his warlike undertakings having never

yet led him beyond Troy, and his armour differing in no respect from

that of other heroes. The description of him in Hesiod’s _Theogony_ and

in the _Shield of Heracles_ is somewhat more minute, but is otherwise

essentially the same. From what source the deification of Heracles

sprang—whether it was due to Phœnician influences or not—has hitherto

remained an undetermined question; we only know that it appears as an

accomplished fact about 700 B.C.

I. THE BIRTH AND YOUTH OF HERACLES.—This portion of the legend found its

chief development in Bœotia. Amphitryon, a son of Alcæus and grandson of

Perseus, was compelled to flee from Tiryns with his betrothed

Alcmene—likewise a descendant of Perseus by her father Electryon—on

account of a murder, and found an asylum at the court of Creon, king of

Thebes. From this place he undertook an expedition against the robber

tribes of the Teleboæ (Taphians), in consequence of a promise made to

Alcmene, whose brother they had slain. After the successful termination

of this expedition, the marriage was to have been celebrated at Thebes.

But, in the meanwhile, the great ruler of Olympus himself had been

smitten with the charms of Alcmene, and, taking the form of the absent

Amphitryon, had left her pregnant with Heracles, to whom she afterwards

gave birth at the same time with Iphicles, the son of Amphitryon. The

sovereignty over all the descendants of Perseus, which Zeus had destined

for Heracles, was snatched from him by the crafty jealousy of Hera, who

prolonged the pains of Alcmene and hastened the delivery of the wife of

Sthenelus, the uncle of Amphitryon, by two months. Not content with

having subjected the hero to the will of the weak and cowardly

Eurystheus, Hera, according to a subsequent account of the poets, sent

two serpents to kill the child when he was about eight months old.

Heracles, however, gave the first proof of his divine origin by

strangling the serpents with his hands. An account of this scene has

descended to us in a beautiful poem of Pindar. In Thebes, the boy grew

up and was put under the care of the best preceptors. But, though he

excelled in every feat of strength and valour, he made no progress in

musical arts, and even slew his master Linus on account of a somewhat

harsh reproof which his inaptitude entailed on him. As a punishment,

Amphitryon sent him to Mount Cithæron to mind the flocks, a mode of life

which Heracles continued until he had completed his eighteenth year. It

was to this period that the sophist Prodicus, a contemporary of

Socrates, referred his beautiful allegory of the _Choice of Heracles_.

After attaining his full growth (according to Apollodorus he was four

cubits in height) and strength, the young hero performed his first great

feat by killing the lion of Cithæron. Whether it was this skin or that

of the Nemean lion which he afterwards used as a garment is not certain.

His next act was to free the Thebans from the ignominious tribute which

they were compelled to pay to Erginus, king of Orchomenus, by a

successful expedition, in which Amphitryon, however, lost his life.

Creon, the king of Thebes, in gratitude gave the hero his daughter

Megara in marriage, while Iphicles married her sister.

II. HERACLES IN THE SERVICE OF EURYSTHEUS—THE TWELVE LABOURS.—We now

come to the second epoch in the life of the hero, in which he performed

various labours at the bidding of Eurystheus, king of Mycenæ or Tiryns.

The number of these was first fixed at twelve in the Alexandrian age,

when Heracles was identified with the Phœnician sun-god, Baal; probably

from the analogy afforded in the course of the sun through the twelve

signs of the Zodiac. The subjection of Heracles to his unmanly cousin

Eurystheus is generally represented as a consequence of the stratagem by

which Hera obtained for the latter the sovereignty over all the

descendants of Perseus. At a later period Heracles was said to have

become insane, in consequence of the summons of Eurystheus to do his

bidding. The following is an account of the labours of Heracles:—

_1. The Fight with the Nemean Lion._—The district of Nemea and Cleonæ

was inhabited by a monstrous lion, the offspring of Typhon and Echidna,

whose skin bade defiance to every weapon. Heracles, after using his

arrows and club against the animal in vain, at last drove it into a

cave, and there strangled it with his hands. He afterwards used the head

of the lion as a helmet, and the impenetrable skin as a defence.

_2. The Lernæan Hydra._—This was a great water-serpent, likewise the

offspring of Typhon and Echidna. The number of its heads varies in the

accounts of poets, though ancient gems usually represent it with seven.

It ravaged the country of Lerna in Argolis, destroying both men and

beasts. In this adventure Heracles was accompanied by Iolaüs, the son of

his brother Iphicles, who, on this as on other occasions, appears as his

faithful companion. After driving the monster from its lair by means of

his arrows, he advanced fearlessly, and, seizing it in his hands, began

to strike off its heads with his sword. To his amazement, in the place

of each head he struck off two sprang up. He then ordered Iolaüs to set

on fire a neighbouring wood, and with the firebrands seared the throats

of the serpent, until he at length succeeded in slaying it. He then

dipped his arrows in its gall, thus rendering the wounds inflicted by

them incurable.

_3. The Erymanthian Boar._—This animal inhabited the mountain district

of Erymanthus in Arcadia, from which place it wasted the corn-fields of

Psophis. Heracles drove the boar up to the snow-covered summit of the

mountain, and then caught it alive, as Eurystheus had commanded him.

When he arrived at Mycenæ with the terrible beast on his back,

Eurystheus was so terrified that he hid himself in a vessel. This comic

scene is frequently depicted on vases. It was on this occasion that

Heracles destroyed the Centaurs. On the road the hero, hungry and

thirsty, was hospitably received by the friendly Centaur Pholus, who

holds the same place among the Arcadian Centaurs as Chiron does among

those of Thessaly. Pholus broached, in honour of his guest, a cask of

wine lying in his cave, which was the common property of all the

Centaurs. The fragrance of the wine attracted the other Centaurs living

on Mount Pholoë, and they immediately attacked the tippling hero with

pieces of rock and trunks of trees. Heracles, however, drove them back

with arrows and firebrands, and completely vanquished them after a

terrible fight. On returning to the cave of Pholus, he found his friend

dead. He had drawn an arrow out of a dead body to examine it, but

accidentally let it fall on his foot, from the wound of which he died.

_4. The Hind of Cerynea._—This animal, which was sacred to the Arcadian

Artemis, had golden horns and brazen hoofs, the latter being a symbol of

its untiring fleetness. Heracles was commanded to bring it alive to

Mycenæ, and for a whole year he continued to pursue it over hill and

dale with untiring energy. At length it returned to Arcadia, where he

succeeded in capturing it on the banks of the Ladon, and bore it in

triumph to Mycenæ.

_5. The Stymphalian Birds._—These voracious birds, which fed on human

flesh, had brazen claws, wings, and beaks, and were able to shoot out

their feathers like arrows. They inhabited the district round Lake

Stymphalis in Arcadia. Heracles slew some, and so terrified the rest by

means of his brazen rattle that they never returned. This latter

circumstance is apparently an addition of later times, to explain their

reappearance in the history of the Argonauts.

_6. Cleansing of the Stables of Augeas._—The sixth task of Heracles was

to cleanse in one day the stables of Augeas, king of Elis, whose wealth

in cattle had become proverbial. Heracles repaired to Elis, where he

offered to cleanse the stables, in which were three thousand oxen, if

the king would consent to give him a tenth part of the cattle. Augeas

agreed to do so; Heracles then turned the course of the Peneus or the

Alpheus, or, according to some, of both rivers, through the stalls, and

thus carried off the filth. Augeas, however, on learning that Heracles

had undertaken the labour at the command of Eurystheus, refused to give

him the stipulated reward, a breach of faith for which Heracles, later,

took terrible vengeance on the king.

_7. The Cretan Bull._—In the history of Minos, king of Crete, we find

that Poseidon once sent up a bull out of the sea for Minos to sacrifice,

but that Minos was induced by the beauty of the animal to place it among

his own herds, and sacrificed another in its stead; whereupon Poseidon

drove the bull mad. The seventh labour of Heracles consisted in

capturing this bull and bringing it to Mycenæ. It was afterwards set

free by Eurystheus, and appears later, in the story of Theseus, as the

bull of Marathon.

_8. The Mares of Diomedes._—Diomedes was king of the Bistones, a warlike

tribe of Thrace. He inhumanly caused all strangers cast upon his coasts

to be given to his wild mares, who fed on human flesh. To bind these

horses and bring them alive to Mycenæ was the next task of Heracles.

This, too, he successfully accomplished, after inflicting on Diomedes

the same fate to which he had condemned so many others.

_9. The Girdle of Hippolyte._—Admete, the daughter of Eurystheus, was

anxious to obtain the girdle which the queen of the Amazons had received

from Ares; and Heracles was accordingly despatched to fetch it. After

various adventures he landed in Themiscyra, and was at first kindly

received by Hippolyte, who was willing to give him the girdle. But Hera,

in the guise of an Amazon, spread a report that Heracles was about to

carry off the queen, upon which the Amazons attacked Heracles and his

followers. In the battle which ensued Hippolyte was killed, and the

hero, after securing the girdle, departed. On his journey homewards

occurred his celebrated adventure with Hesione, the daughter of

Laomedon, king of Troy. This king had refused Poseidon and Apollo the

rewards he had promised them for their assistance in building the walls

of Troy. In consequence of his perfidy, Apollo visited the country with

a pestilence, and Poseidon sent a sea-monster, which devastated the land

far and wide. By the advice of the oracle, Hesione, the king’s daughter,

was exposed to be devoured by the animal. Heracles offered to destroy

the monster, if Laomedon would give him the horses which his father Tros

had received as a compensation for the loss of Ganymedes. Laomedon

agreed, and Heracles then slew the monster. Laomedon, however, again

proved false to his word, and Heracles, with a threat of future

vengeance, departed.

_10. The Oxen of Geryones._—The next task of Heracles was to fetch the

cattle of the three-headed winged giant Geryones, or Geryoneus (Geryon).

This monster was the offspring of Chrysaor (red slayer) and Callirrhoë

(fair-flowing), an Oceanid, and inhabited the island of Erythia, in the

far West, in the region of the setting sun, where he had a herd of the

finest and fattest cattle. It was only natural that Heracles, in the

course of his long journey to Erythia and back, should meet with

numerous adventures; and this expedition has, accordingly, been more

richly embellished than any other by the imagination of the poets. He is

generally supposed to have passed through Libya, and to have sailed

thence to Erythia in a golden boat, which he forced Helios (the sun) to

lend him by shooting at him with his arrows. Having arrived in Erythia,

he first slew the herdsman who was minding the oxen, together with his

dog. He was then proceeding to drive off the cattle, when he was

overtaken by Geryon. A violent contest ensued, in which the three-headed

monster was at length vanquished by the arrows of the mighty hero.

Heracles is then supposed to have recrossed the ocean in the boat of the

sun, and, starting from Tartessus, to have journeyed on foot through

Iberia, Gaul, and Italy. We pass over his contests with the Celts and

Ligurians, and only notice briefly his victory over the giant Cacus,

mentioned by Livy, which took place in the district where Rome was

afterwards built, because Roman legend connected with this the

introduction of the worship of Hercules into Italy. At length, after

many adventures, he arrived at Mycenæ, where Eurystheus sacrificed the

oxen to the Argive goddess Hera.

Heracles has now completed ten of his labours, but Eurystheus, as

Apollodorus relates, refused to admit the destruction of the Lernæan

Hydra, because on that occasion Heracles had availed himself of the help

of Iolaüs, or the cleansing of the stables of Augeas, because of the

reward for which he had stipulated; so that the hero was compelled to

undertake two more. This account does not, however, harmonise with the

tradition of the response of the oracle, in deference to which Heracles

surrendered himself to servitude, and which offered the prospect of

twelve labours from the first.

_11. The Apples of the Hesperides._—This adventure has been even more

embellished with later and foreign additions than the last. The golden

apples, which were under the guardianship of the Hesperides, or nymphs

of the west, constituted the marriage present which Hera had received

from Gæa on the occasion of her marriage with Zeus. They were closely

guarded by the terrible dragon Ladon, who, like all monsters, was the

offspring of Typhon and Echidna. This, however, was far less

embarrassing to the hero than his total ignorance of the site of the

garden of the Hesperides, which led him to make several fruitless

efforts before he succeeded in reaching the desired spot.

His first object was to gain information as to the situation of the

garden, and for this purpose he journeyed through Illyria to the

Eridanus (Po), in order to inquire the way of the nymphs who dwelt on

this river. By them he was referred to the treacherous sage Nereus, whom

he managed to seize whilst asleep, and refused to release until he had

obtained the desired information. Heracles then proceeded by way of

Tartessus to Libya, where he was challenged to a wrestling match by the

giant Antæus, a powerful son of Earth, who was, according to Libyan

tradition, of a monstrous height (some say sixty cubits). He was

attacked by Heracles, but, as he received new strength from his mother

Earth as often as he touched the ground, the hero lifted him up in the

air and squeezed him to death in his arms.

From Libya Heracles passed into Egypt, where the cruel king Busiris was

in the habit of seizing all strangers who entered the country and

sacrificing them to Zeus. Heracles would have suffered a similar fate,

had he not broken the chains laid upon him, and slain the king and his

son. His indulgence at the richly-furnished table of the king was a

feature in the story which afforded no small amusement to the comic

writers, who were especially fond of jesting on the subject of the

healthy and heroic appetite of Heracles. From Egypt the hero made his

way into Æthiopia, where he slew Emathion, the son of Tithonus and Eos,

for his cruelty to strangers. He next crossed the sea to India, and

thence came to the Caucasus, where he set Prometheus free and destroyed

the vulture that preyed on his liver. After Prometheus had described to

him the long road to the Hesperides, he passed through Scythia, and came

at length to the land of the Hyperboreans, where Atlas bore the pillars

of heaven on his shoulders. This was the end of his journey, for Atlas,

at his request, fetched the apples, whilst Heracles supported the

heavens. Here again the comic poets introduced an amusing scene. Atlas,

having once tasted the delights of freedom, betrayed no anxiety to

relieve his substitute, but offered, instead, to bear the apples himself

to Eurystheus. Heracles, however, proved even more cunning than he, for,

apparently agreeing to the proposition, he asked Atlas just to relieve

him until he had arranged more comfortably a cushion for his back. When

Atlas good-humouredly consented, Heracles of course left him in his

former position, and made off with the apples. Another account states

that he descended himself into the garden and slew the hundred-headed

dragon who kept guard over the trees.

_12. Cerberus._—The most daring of all the feats of Heracles, and that

which bears the palm from all the others, and is in consequence, always

put at the end of his labours, was the bringing of Cerberus from the

lower world. In this undertaking, which is mentioned even by Homer, he

was accompanied by Hermes and Athene, though he had hitherto been able

to dispense with divine aid. He is commonly reported to have made his

descent into the lower world at Cape Tænarum in Laconia. Close to the

gates of Hades he found the adventurous heroes Theseus and Pirithoüs,

who had gone down to carry off Persephone, fastened to a rock. He

succeeded in setting Theseus free, but Pirithoüs he was obliged to leave

behind him, because of the violent earthquake which occurred when he

attempted to touch him. After several further adventures, he entered the

presence of the lord of the lower world. Hades consented to his taking

Cerberus, on condition that he should master him without using any

weapons. Heracles seized the furious beast, and, having chained him, he

brought him to Eurystheus, and afterwards carried him back to his place

in the lower world. The completion of this task released Heracles from

his servitude to Eurystheus.

III. DEEDS OF HERACLES AFTER HIS SERVICE.—_1. The Murder of Iphitus and

Contest with Apollo._—The hero, after his release from servitude,

returned to Thebes, where he gave his wife Megara in marriage to Iolaüs.

He then proceeded to the court of Eurytus, king of Œchalia, who had

promised his beautiful daughter Iole in marriage to the man who should

vanquish himself and his sons in shooting with the bow. The situation of

Œchalia is variously given; sometimes it is placed in Thessaly,

sometimes in the Peloponnesus, on the borders of Arcadia and Messenia,

and sometimes in the island of Eubœa, close to Eretria. Heracles gained

a most complete victory; but Eurytus, nevertheless, refused to give him

his daughter, reproaching him with the murder of his children by Megara,

and with his ignominious bondage to Eurystheus. Heracles, with many

threats of future vengeance, withdrew, and when, not long afterwards,

Iphitus, the son of Eurytus, fell into his hands, he cast him from the

highest tower of his citadel in Tiryns. This somewhat treacherous action

being at variance with the general character of the hero, the story

subsequently arose that Iphitus was a friend of Heracles, and had

advocated his cause with Eurytus, and that Heracles only treated him

thus in a fit of insanity. The bloody deed was fraught with the gravest

consequences. After seeking purification and absolution in vain among

men, Heracles came to Delphi, in order to seek the aid and consolation

of the oracle. But Apollo, with whom the royal family of Œchalia stood

in high favour, rejected him; whereupon Heracles forced his way into the

temple, and was already in the act of bearing away the holy tripod, in

order to erect an oracle of his own, when he was confronted by the angry

deity. A fearful combat would doubtless have ensued, if the father of

gods and men himself had not interfered to prevent this unnatural strife

between his favourite sons by separating the combatants with his

lightning. Heracles was now commanded by the Pythian priestess to allow

himself to be sold by Hermes into slavery for three years, to expiate

the murder of Iphitus.

_2. Heracles in the Service of Omphale._—This portion of the story is of

Lydian origin, but was cleverly interwoven with the Greek legend. The

Lydians, in fact, honoured a sun-hero called Sandon, who resembled

Heracles in many respects, as the ancestor of their kings. The oriental

character of the Lydian Heracles at once manifests itself in the fact

that he here appears as entirely devoted to sensual pleasures, becoming

effeminate in the society of women, and allowing himself to be clothed

in female attire, whilst his mistress Omphale donned his lion-skin and

club, and flaunted up and down before him. He did not always linger in

such inactivity, however; sometimes the old desire for action urged him

forth to gallant deeds. Thus he vanquished and chastised the Cercopes, a

race of goblins who used to trick and waylay travellers. He also slew

Syleus, who compelled all passing travellers to dig in his vineyard;

which formed the subject of a satyric drama of Euripides.

_3. His Expedition against Troy._—After performing several other feats

in the service of Omphale, Heracles again became free. He now appears to

have undertaken an expedition against the faithless Laomedon, king of

Troy, in company with other Greek heroes, such as Peleus, Telamon, and

Oïcles, whose number increased as time went on. The city was taken by

storm: Oïcles, indeed, was slain, but, on the other hand, Laomedon and

all his sons except Podarces fell before the arrows of Heracles.

Hesione, the daughter of the king, was given by Heracles to his friend

Telamon, and became by him the mother of Teucer. She received permission

from Heracles to release one of the prisoners, and chose her brother

Podarces, who afterwards bore the name of Priamus (the redeemed), and

continued the race of Dardanus in Ilium.

_4. The Peloponnesian Expeditions of Heracles._—The legend relates that

the hero now undertook his long-deferred expedition against Augeas,

which was the means of kindling a Messenian and Lacedæmonian war. After

assembling an army in Arcadia, which was joined by many gallant Greek

heroes, he advanced against Elis. Heracles, however, fell sick; and in

his absence his army was attacked and driven back with great loss by the

brave Actoridæ or Molionidæ, the nephews of Augeas. It was only after

Heracles had slain these heroes in an ambuscade at Cleonæ, as they were

on their way to the Isthmian games, that he succeeded in penetrating

into Elis. He then slew Augeas, and gave the kingdom to his son Phyleus,

with whom he was on friendly terms. It was on this occasion that he

instituted the Olympic games. He then marched against Pylus, either

because its king, Neleus, had given assistance to the Molionidæ, or else

because Neleus had refused to purify him from the murder of Iphitus.

This expedition against Pylus was subsequently greatly embellished by

the poets, who made it into a great battle of the gods, one part of whom

fought for Neleus, and the other part for Heracles. The chief feature

was the combat between Heracles and Periclymenus, the bravest of the

sons of Neleus, who had received from Poseidon, the tutelary deity of

the Pylians, the power of transforming himself into any kind of animal.

The result of the combat was of course a complete victory for Heracles.

Neleus, with his eleven gallant sons, was slain, and only the youngest,

Nestor, remained to perpetuate the celebrated race. The Lacedæmonian

expedition of Heracles, which follows close on that against Pylus, was

undertaken against Hippocoön, the half-brother of Tyndareüs, whom he had

expelled. Hippocoön was defeated and slain by Heracles, who gave his

kingdom to Tyndareüs. On this occasion Heracles was assisted by Cepheus,

king of Tegea, with his twenty sons, a circumstance which is only

mentioned on account of a remarkable legend connected with his stay in

Tegea. Heracles is here said to have left Auge, the beautiful sister of

Cepheus, and priestess of Athene, pregnant with Telephus, whose wondrous

adventures have occupied artists and poets alike. Auge concealed her

child in the grove of Athene, whereupon the angry goddess visited the

land with a famine. Aleüs, the father of Auge, on discovering the fact,

caused the child to be exposed, and sold the mother beyond the sea. Auge

thus came into Mysia, where the king Teuthras made her his wife.

Telephus was suckled by a hind. He grew up, and ultimately, after some

wonderful adventures, succeeded in finding his mother. He succeeded

Teuthras, and, later, became embroiled with the Greeks when they landed

on their expedition against Troy, on which occasion he was wounded by

Achilles. Telephus, among all the sons of Heracles, is said to have

borne the greatest resemblance to his father.

_5. Acheloüs, Nessus, Cycnus._—The next episode in the history of the

hero is his wooing of Deïanira, the daughter of Œneus, king of Ætolia.

Œneus is celebrated as the first cultivator of the vine in that country,

and as the father of the Ætolian heroes, Meleager and Tydeus. The

river-god Acheloüs was also a suitor for the hand of Deïanira, and as

neither he nor Heracles would relinquish their claim, it was decided by

the combat between the rivals[8] so often described by the poets. The

power of assuming various forms was of little use to Acheloüs, for,

having finally transformed himself into a bull, he was deprived of a

horn by Heracles, and compelled to declare himself vanquished. Heracles

restored him his horn, and received in exchange that of the goat

Amalthea. After his marriage with Deïanira, Heracles lived for some time

happily at the court of his father-in-law, where his son Hyllus was

born. In consequence of an accidental murder, he was obliged to leave

Ætolia and retire to the court of his friend Ceÿx, king of Trachis, at

the foot of Mount Œta. On the road occurred his celebrated adventure

with the Centaur Nessus. On coming to the river Evenus, Heracles

entrusted Deïanira to Nessus to carry across, whilst he himself waded

through the swollen stream. The Centaur, induced by the beauty of his

burden, attempted to carry off Deïanira, but was pierced by an arrow of

Heracles, and expiated his attempt with his life. He avenged himself by

giving Deïanira some of his blood to make a magic salve, with which he

assured her she could always secure the love of her husband.

Footnote 8:

The most beautiful description exists in a chorus in the _Trachiniæ_

of Sophocles, and in Ovid’s _Metamorphoses_.

On reaching Trachis they were hospitably received by Ceÿx. Heracles

first defeated the Dryopes, and assisted the Dorian king Ægimius in his

contest with the Lapithæ. He next engaged in his celebrated combat with

Cycnus, the son of Ares, which took place at Iton, in the neighbourhood

of the Gulf of Pagasæ. Heracles not only slew his opponent, but even

wounded the god of war himself, who had come to the assistance of his

son. This contest is the subject of the celebrated poem called the

_Shield of Hercules_, which goes under the name of Hesiod.

IV. DEATH AND APOTHEOSIS.—The death of Heracles, of which we learn most

from the masterly description of Sophocles in the _Trachiniæ_, is

generally supposed to have been connected with his expedition against

Eurytus. The hero, who could not forget the ignominious treatment he had

received at the hands of Eurytus, now marched with an army from Trachis

against Œchalia. The town and citadel were taken by storm, and Eurytus

and his sons slain; whilst the beautiful Iole, who was still unmarried,

fell into the hands of the conqueror. Heracles now withdrew with great

booty, but halted on the promontory of Cenæum, opposite the Locrian

coast, to raise an altar and offer a solemn sacrifice of thanksgiving to

his father Zeus. Deïanira, who was tormented with jealous misgivings

concerning Iole, thought it was now high time to make use of the charm

of Nessus. She accordingly sent her husband a white sacrificial garment,

which she anointed with the ointment prepared from the blood of the

Centaur. Heracles donned the garment without suspicion, but scarcely had

the flames from the altar heated the poison than it penetrated the body

of the unhappy hero. In the most fearful agony he strove to tear off the

garment, but in vain, for it stuck like a plaster to his skin; and where

he succeeded in rending it away by force, it tore out great pieces of

his flesh at the same time. In his frenzy he seized the herald Lichas,

the bearer of the unfortunate present, and violently dashed him in

pieces against a rock of the sea. In this state Heracles was brought to

Trachis, where he found that Deïanira, full of sorrow and despair on

learning the consequences of her act, had put an end to her own life.

Convinced that cure was hopeless, the dying hero proceeded from Trachis

to Œta, and there erected a funeral pile on which to end his torments.

None of those around him, however, would consent to set the pile on

fire, until Pœas, the father of Philoctetes, happened to pass by, and

rendered him the service, in return for which Heracles presented him

with his bow and arrows. As the flames rose high, a cloud descended from

heaven, and, amid furious peals of thunder, a chariot with four horses,

driven by Athene, appeared and bore the illustrious hero to Olympus,

where he was joyfully received by the gods. He here became reconciled to

Hera, who gave him the hand of her beauteous daughter Hebe in marriage.

V. HERACLES AS GOD.—We have already laid before our readers the most

characteristic features of the myth. To interpret it and trace it back

in all its details to the original sources would be, amid the mass of

provincial and foreign legends with which it is amalgamated, almost

impossible. Thus much is certain, however, that, apart from the

conceptions which were engrafted on the story from Tyrian and Egyptian

sources, even in the case of the Greek Heracles, myths based on natural

phenomena are mixed up with historical and allegorical myths. The

historic element, for instance, is apparent in the wars of Heracles

against the Dryopes—against Augeas, Neleus, and Hippocoön. Here the

exploits of the whole Dorian race are personified in the actions of the

hero. On the other hand, in most of his single combats a symbolic

meaning, derived from natural phenomena, is unmistakeable. Heracles, in

fact, appears to have been, originally, a symbol of the power of the sun

triumphing over the dark powers in nature. Driven from Argos by the

worship of the Argive Hera, he first sank to the level of a hero, but

was, subsequently, again raised to the dignity of a god. This occurred

at a time when the gods of Greece had altogether cast aside their

physical meaning; so that he was now regarded principally from an

ethical point of view. He appears as a symbol of that lofty force of

character which triumphs over all difficulties and obstacles. Poets and

philosophers alike vied with each other in presenting him to the youth

of their country in this character, pointing to his career as a

brilliant example of what a man might accomplish, in spite of a thousand

obstacles, by mere determination and force of will. The well-known

allegory of the sophist Prodicus,[9] called “The Choice of Hercules,” is

an instance of the mode in which the history of the hero was used to

inculcate moral precepts.

Footnote 9:

Prodicus, a native of the island of Ceos, was an elder contemporary of

Socrates. Like the latter, he taught in Athens, and met with a similar

fate, having been condemned to death as an enemy of the popular

religion and a corruptor of the Athenian youth.

In the religious system of the Greeks, Heracles was specially honoured

as the patron of the gymnasia; the gymnasium of Cynosarges in Athens

being solely dedicated to him. After his deification, Heracles was also

regarded in the character of a saviour and benefactor of his nation; as

one who had not only merited the lasting gratitude of mankind by his

deeds throughout an active and laborious life—in having rid the world of

giants and noxious beasts, in having extinguished destructive forces of

nature, and abolished human sacrifices and other barbarous institutions

of antiquity—but also as a kindly and beneficent deity, ever ready to

afford help and protection to mankind in the hour of need. In this

character he was known by the names of Soter (Saviour) and Alexicacus

(averter of evil). He had temples and festivals in various parts of

Greece. In Marathon, which boasted of being the first seat of his

worship, games were celebrated in his honour every four years, at which

silver cups were given as prizes. The fourth day of every month was held

sacred to him, this day being regarded as his birthday.

We have already mentioned the legendary introduction of his worship into

Rome.[10] Hercules, as he was called in Italy, was identified with the

Italian hero Recaranus. He had an altar in the _Forum Boarium_,

established, according to tradition, by Evander. The Roman poets, of

course, devoted especial attention to the stories of his journey through

Italy, and his fight with Cacus.

Footnote 10:

There seems ground for thinking that the Italian Hercules was properly

a rural deity confounded with Heracles on account of the similarity of

their names; while Recaranus properly corresponded with the great

Heracles in meaning.

In Heracles ancient art sought to portray the conception of gigantic

bodily strength. He is, therefore, generally represented as a

full-grown man—rarely as a child or youth. We may observe the manner

in which the prominent idea of physical force is expressed by

regarding the formation of the neck and throat in the statue of

Heracles. Nothing can express better a bull-like strength than the

short neck and the prominent muscles, especially if associated with

a broad, deep chest. We shall be able to appreciate this distinctive

character still more clearly if we compare the form of Heracles with

that of the ideal god Apollo, whose neck is especially long and

slender. The figure of Heracles is, moreover, characterised by a

head small in comparison with the giant body; by curly hair, bushy

eyebrows, and muscular arms and legs. This conception was

principally developed by Myron and Lysippus. A statue of Heracles by

the former artist played a part in connection with the art robberies

of Verres in Sicily. Lysippus erected several celebrated statues of

Heracles, the most remarkable of which was the bronze colossus in

Tarentum, which the Romans, after the capture of that town,

transferred to the Capitol. Thence it was brought, by order of

Constantine, to his new capital of Constantinople, where it remained

until the Latin crusade of 1202, when it was melted down. Lysippus

portrayed in this statue a mourning Heracles, which no one had ever

attempted before him. The hero appeared in a sitting posture,

without his weapons, his left elbow resting on his left leg, while

his head, full of thought and sorrow, rests on the open hand. The

same artist, in a still greater work, depicted the twelve labours of

Heracles. These formed a group which was originally executed for

Alyzia, a seaport town of Acarnania, but which was, subsequently,

likewise transferred to Rome.

[Illustration: Fig. 58.—Farnese Hercules.]

First among existing statues is the Farnese Hercules (Fig. 58). This

celebrated colossal statue, now in the Naples Museum, was discovered

in 1540, on the site of the Thermæ of Caracalla. The hero is

standing upright, resting his left shoulder on his club, from which

hangs his lion’s skin. This attitude, as well as the head drooping

towards the breast, and the gloomy gravity of his countenance,

clearly show that the hero feels bowed down by the burden of his

laborious life. Even the thought that he is soon to be released from

his ignominious servitude (he holds behind him, in his right hand,

the three apples of the Hesperides, the fruit of his last labour) is

unable to cheer him, and his thoughts seem to revert only to the

past. On account of the conception of the piece, and the existence

of another copy bearing the name of Lysippus, the Farnese Hercules

is supposed to be a copy of a work of Lysippus, of which nothing

further is known.

Still more important as a work of art, though it has reached us in a

terribly mutilated condition—minus head, arms, and legs—is the

celebrated Torso of Hercules, in the Vatican. This was found in Rome

during the reign of Pope Julius II., on a spot where the theatre of

Pompey, of which it was probably an ornament, once stood.

_Groups._—Heracles in action was a still more favourite subject with

artists, who delighted to portray the different scenes of his

versatile life. Numberless representations of such scenes occur, not

only in the form of statues and works in relief, but more especially

on ancient vases. We mention here, in the chronological order of the

events, some of the most important.

_1. Heracles and the Serpents._—This scene was early depicted by the

celebrated painter Zeuxis, who represented Heracles as strangling

the serpents, whilst Alcmene and Amphitryon stood by in amazement.

There are also several statues representing this feat, among which

that at Florence takes the first rank. There is also a painting from

Herculaneum in the Naples Museum.

_2. The Twelve Labours._—These have naturally been treated of times

out of number. We have already mentioned the groups of Lysippus,

which he executed for the town of Alyzia. A still existing bronze

statue in the Capitoline Museum, representing Heracles battling with

the Hydra, appears to belong to this series. Among interesting

remains are the metope reliefs on the Theseum at Athens. Ten on the

east side of the temple represent scenes from the life of Heracles.

Nine of them belong to the twelve labours, viz., the Nemean lion,

the Hydra, the Arcadian hind, the Erymanthian boar, the horses of

Diomedes, Cerberus, the girdle of Hippolyte, Geryon, and the

Hesperides; whilst the tenth tablet represents his contest with

Cycnus. The remains of the splendid temple of Zeus at Olympia, which

was completed about 435 B.C., are less important. The metopes of the

front and back of the temple contained six of the labours of

Heracles. Those representing the contest with the Cretan bull, the

dying lion, a portion from the fight with Geryon, and some other

fragments, were found in 1829, and conveyed to the museum of the

Louvre at Paris. The only one which is perfect, however, is the

spirited and life-like representation of the struggle with the

Cretan bull.

_3. Parerga_ (_Subordinate Deeds_).—First among these come the

scenes from his contest with the Centaurs, which were frequently

treated of in art. Groups of these exist in the museum at Florence;

there are also various representations to be found on vases. His

adventure with Nessus is represented separately on a Pompeian

painting in the Naples Museum; Nessus crouches in a humble posture

before Heracles, who has the little Hyllus in his arms, and he

appears to be asking permission to carry Deïanira across the stream.

There is also an interesting representation of the release of

Prometheus on the Sarcophagus of the Capitol, from the Villa

Pamfili, which is, in other respects, also worthy of mention. The

seizure of the tripod at Delphi is also frequently portrayed in art.

_4. Heracles and Omphale._—Of the monuments referring to Heracles’

connection with Omphale, the most important is the beautiful Farnese

group in marble in the Naples Museum. Omphale has thrown the lion’s

skin round her beautiful limbs, and holds in her right hand the

hero’s club. Thus equipped, she smiles triumphantly at Heracles, who

is clothed in female attire, with a distaff in his hand.

_5. Heracles and Telephus._—The romantic history of Telephus was

also frequently treated of in art. The Naples Museum possesses a

fine painting, representing the discovery of the child after it has

been suckled by the hind, on which occasion, strange to say,

Heracles himself is present. In the Vatican Museum there is a fine

marble group, representing Heracles with the child Telephus in his

arms.

=7. Attic Legend.=—_1. Cecrops._—Cecrops, the first founder of

civilisation in Attica, plays a similar part here to that which Cadmus

does in Thebes. Like Cadmus, he was afterwards called an immigrant;

indeed he was said to have come from Sais in Lower Egypt. In his case,

however, we are able to trace the rise of the erroneous tradition with

far greater distinctness. Pure Attic tradition recognises him only as an

autochthon—that is, an original inhabitant born of the earth; and

further adds, that, like the giants, he was half man and half serpent.

As the mythical founder of the state, he was also regarded as the

builder of the citadel (Cecropia); and marriage, as well as other

political and social institutions, were ascribed to him. Perhaps he is

only a local personification of Hermes. The probability of this view is

greatly enhanced by the fact that his three daughters, Herse, Aglaurus,

and Pandrosus, received divine honours. It was under Cecrops that the

celebrated contest occurred between Poseidon and Athene for the

possession of Attica, and was by his means decided in favour of the

goddess. We have already given an account of it, and need only here

remark that the story is purely the result of the observation of natural

phenomena. In Attica, in fact, there are only two seasons—a cold, wet,

and rainy winter (Poseidon), and a warm, dry, genial summer (Pallas).

These seem to be continually striving for the supremacy of the land.

Cecrops was succeeded in the government by Cranaüs, who is represented

by some as his son. The common mythological account places the flood of

Deucalion in his reign. After the expulsion of Cranaüs, Amphictyon, one

of the sons of Deucalion, succeeded to the sovereignty of Attica, of

whom nothing more is known than that he was deprived of the government

by Erechtheus.

_2. Erechtheus, or Erichthonius._—Erechtheus, or Erichthonius, is really

only a second Cecrops—the mythical founder of the state after the flood,

as Cecrops was before it. Being also earthborn, he is, like Cecrops,

endowed with a serpent’s form. There was another very sacred legend

concerning him, which stated that Gæa (Ge), immediately after his birth,

gave him to the goddess Pallas to nurse. The latter first entrusted him

to the daughters of Cecrops, her attendants and priestesses, enclosed in

a chest. The latter, however, prompted by curiosity, opened the chest,

contrary to the commands of the goddess, and were punished in

consequence with madness. Erichthonius was now reared by the goddess

herself in her sanctuary on the citadel, and was subsequently made king

of Athens. The same stories are then related of him as of Cecrops—that

he regulated the state, introduced the worship of the gods, and settled

the dispute between Poseidon and Athene.

The tomb of Erechtheus was shown in the Erechtheum, the ancient temple

dedicated to Athene Polias, where the never-dying olive tree created by

the goddess was also preserved.

Two among the daughters of Erechtheus are celebrated in legend. The

first is Orithyia, who was carried off by Boreas, and became the mother

of Calaïs and Zetes, whom we come across again in the story of the

Argonauts; the other is Procris, the wife of the handsome hunter

Cephalus, who was said to be a son of Hermes by Herse, the daughter of

Cecrops. Cephalus was carried off by Eos, who was unable to shake his

fidelity to his wife. It served, however, to excite the jealousy of the

latter, which ultimately proved fatal to her. Procris had hidden herself

among the bushes, in order to watch her husband, when Cephalus, taking

her for a wild animal, unwittingly killed her. After the death of

Erechtheus, the tragic poets relate that Ion, the mythical ancestor of

the Ionians, ruled in Athens. This means nothing more than that the

primitive Pelasgian age in Attica had now come to an end, and the

dominion of the Ionians commenced.

_3. Theseus._—Theseus is the national hero of the Ionians, just as

Heracles is of the Æolians. He has not unjustly been called the second

Heracles; and he has, indeed, many features in common with the Æolian

hero, since the national jealousy of the Ionians led them to adopt every

possible means of making their own hero rival that of their neighbours.

They therefore strove to represent him, likewise, as a hero tried in

numberless contests—generous, unselfish, and devoted to the interests of

mankind—and of course ascribed to him a multitude of adventurous

exploits. There is no great undertaking of antiquity in which Theseus is

not supposed to have taken part, and he was even sent on an expedition

to hell, in imitation of Heracles.

He was the son of the Athenian king Ægeus, whom mythological tradition

made a great-grandson of Erechtheus. After his father Pandion had been

driven out by his relations, the sons of Metion, Ægeus betook himself to

Megara, where he was hospitably received by the ruler, Pylas. From

Megara, Ægeus, Pallas, Nisus, and Lycus, the sons of Pandion, undertook

an expedition against Athens, which ended in the expulsion of the

Metionidæ, and the restoration of the former royal family in the person

of Ægeus. Such, at least, is the tradition; although it is more probable

that Athens never had a king of this name, and that Ægeus (wave-man) is

only a surname of Poseidon, the chief deity of the seafaring Ionians.

Ægeus, though twice married, had no heir, and now undertook a journey to

Delphi to seek the advice of the oracle. On his way back he stopped at

the court of Pittheus, king of Trœzen, and became, by his daughter

Æthra, the father of Theseus. Before his departure, he placed his sword

and sandals beneath a heavy stone, and commanded Æthra to send his son

to Athens as soon as he was able to move the stone and take his father’s

sword. Theseus was carefully trained in music and gymnastics by the

sagacious Pittheus, and soon developed into a stately youth. He is also

supposed to have been educated by the Centaur Chiron, whose instruction

had now become a necessary item in the education of a real hero.

When Theseus was sixteen, his mother took him to the stone beneath which

lay his father’s sword and sandals. With a slight effort he raised the

stone, and thus entered on his heroic career. His earlier adventures

consisted in overcoming a series of obstacles that beset him in his

journey from Trœzen to Athens. They are generally supposed to have been

six in number.

1. Between Trœzen and Epidaurus he slew Periphetes, the son of

Hephæstus—who was lame, like his father—because he was in the habit of

murdering travellers with his iron club; whence he is called Corynetes,

or club-bearer.

2. He next delivered the Isthmus from another powerful robber called

Sinis. He used to fasten travellers who fell into his hands to the top

of a pine tree, which he bent to the earth, and then allowed to recoil;

after which, on their reaching the ground, he would kill them outright;

whence he is called Pityocamptes, or pine-bender. Theseus inflicted the

same fate on him.

3. In the woody district of Crommyon he destroyed a dangerous wild sow

that laid waste the country.

4. Not far from this, on the rock of Sciron, on the borders of Megara,

dwelt another monster, called Sciron, who compelled travellers to wash

his feet, and then kicked them into the sea. Theseus served him in a

similar fashion.

5. In the neighbourhood of Eleusis he vanquished the giant Cercyon, who

compelled all who fell into his hands to wrestle with him.

6. His last combat awaited him on the confines of Eleusis, where dwelt

the inhuman Damastes. This monster used to lay his victims in a bed: if

this was too short, he would hack off their projecting limbs; if too

long, he would beat out and pull asunder their limbs, whence he is

called Procrustes. He was also slain by Theseus.

On reaching Athens, he found his father Ægeus in the toils of the

dangerous sorceress Medea, who had fled from Corinth to Athens. She was

on the point of making away with the newcomer by poison, when Ægeus,

fortunately, recognised him by the sword he bore, and preserved him from

his impending fate.

Medea was compelled to flee; but a new danger awaited the hero from the

fifty sons of Pallas, who had reckoned on succeeding their childless

uncle Ægeus. Theseus, however, slew some in battle and expelled the

rest.

He now undertook his greatest and most adventurous feat, in order to

free his country from its shameful tribute to Minos, king of Crete,

whose son, the youthful hero Androgeos, had been treacherously murdered

by the Athenians and Megareans. Another account says that he was sent by

Ægeus against the bull of Marathon, and thus slain. At any rate, Minos

undertook a war of revenge. He first marched against Megara, of which

Nisus, the brother of Ægeus, was king. Minos conquered him by means of

his own daughter Scylla, who became enamoured of Minos, and cut off from

her father’s head the purple lock on which his life depended. After

having taken Megara and slain Nisus, Minos marched against Athens. Here

he was equally successful, and compelled the vanquished Athenians to

expiate the blood of his son by sending, every eight or (according to

the Greek method of reckoning) every nine years, seven youths and seven

maidens to be devoured by the Minotaur. This was a monster, half man and

half bull. Twice already had the bloody tribute been sent, and the third

fell just after Theseus’ arrival in Athens; he at once bravely offered

to go among the allotted victims. He was resolved to do battle with the

Minotaur, and to stake his life on the liberation of his country from

the shameful tribute. Under the guidance of Aphrodite he passed over to

Crete, and soon discovered the efficacy of her protection. The goddess

kindled a passionate love for the hero in the breast of Ariadne, the

daughter of Minos. Ariadne rendered him every possible assistance in his

undertaking, and especially presented him with a clew of thread, by

means of which Theseus, after having slain the Minotaur, was enabled to

find his way out of the Labyrinth. We have already narrated how Ariadne

was deserted by Theseus on the isle of Naxos, only to become the bride

of Dionysus, the divine son of Semele. Theseus also landed at Delos,

where he instituted the festival of the Delia in honour of the divine

children of Leto. On reaching Athens, he showed his gratitude to his

divine protectress by the institution of the worship of Aphrodite

Pandemus. In honour of Dionysus and Ariadne, he instituted the

Oschophoria, in which festival Athene also had a share. Lastly, in

honour of Apollo, he instituted the Pyanepsia, a festival which was

celebrated on the seventh day of the month Pyanepsion (end of October).

The happy return of Theseus from his Cretan expedition, however, proved

the death of his aged father. Ægeus, as he stood on the coast looking

for his son’s return, perceived that the ships had black sails instead

of white, which were to have been hoisted in the event of his son’s

success; and believing that all was lost, he cast himself headlong into

the sea. This story was perhaps only invented to account for the name of

the Ægean Sea.

With regard to the other exploits of Theseus, there exists the greatest

variety of accounts as to the order in which they took place. As king,

he is said to have been the first to unite the separate districts of

Attica into one political community, with one state Prytaneum, and to

have instituted the festival of the Panathenæa in commemoration of this

event. The following, among his later exploits, are worthy of mention:—

1. He captured the bull of Marathon (said to have been the same which

Heracles brought alive from Crete), and sacrificed it in Athens to

Apollo Delphinius.

2. He assisted his friend Pirithoüs, the prince of the Lapithæ, in his

contest with the Centaurs.

3. He undertook with Pirithoüs an expedition to Lacedæmon, in which they

carried off Helen, the sister of the Dioscuri.

4. At the request of Pirithoüs, he accompanied him to the lower world to

carry off Persephone; but Hades, enraged at their audacity, caused them

both to be bound in chains and fastened to a rock. Theseus was rescued

from this plight by Heracles, but during his absence the Dioscuri had

released their sister from Aphidnæ, where she was confined.

5. He next joined Heracles in his expedition against the Amazons, and

received, as the reward of victory, their queen Antiope, or Hippolyte.

Another tradition asserts that Antiope followed him of her own free will

to Athens, where she was married to him, and became the mother of

Hippolytus, famed for his unhappy fate. His great beauty caused his

step-mother Phædra, a later wife of Theseus, and a sister of Ariadne, to

fall in love with him. As he withdrew himself from her dishonourable

proposals by flight, she accused him to his father of attempts on her

virtue. Theseus, in his wrath, besought Poseidon to punish his faithless

son; and the god, who had sworn to grant any request of Theseus, sent a

wild bull (_i.e._, a breaker) out of the sea as Hippolytus was driving

in his chariot along the sea-shore. This so terrified his horses that

Hippolytus was thrown from his chariot, and dragged along the ground

till he was dead. This story—the scene of which was afterwards

transferred to Trœzen, whither Theseus was supposed to have fled on

account of a murder—was dealt with in a touching manner by the tragic

poets. The _Hippolytus_ of Euripides is still extant.

6. As a result of the carrying off of Antiope, a second contest with the

Amazons was subsequently invented, in which Theseus was engaged alone,

and which took place in the immediate neighbourhood of Athens. The

Amazons are supposed to have invaded Attica, in order to release their

queen. Antiope, however, was so enamoured of Theseus that she refused to

return, and fought at her husband’s side, against her kindred, until she

was slain.

Lastly, Theseus is said to have taken part in the Calydonian boar hunt,

and also in the expedition of the Argonauts, of which we shall have more

to say hereafter.

[Illustration: Fig. 59.—Elgin Theseus. British Museum.]

The death of Theseus is commonly agreed to have taken place in the

following manner:—He had been deprived of the sovereignty of Athens by

Menestheus, who was aided by the Dioscuri; and then withdrew to the

island of Scyros. Here he was at first hospitably received, but

subsequently murdered in a treacherous manner by Lycomedes, the ruler of

the island. Demophoön, the son of Theseus, is said to have afterwards

recovered his father’s kingdom. At a still later period the bones of the

hero were brought to Athens by Cimon, at the command of the Delphic

oracle. Cimon is also supposed to have caused the erection of the temple

of Theseus, which still exists in Athens, and serves as an art museum.

The eighth day of every month was held sacred to Theseus, besides which

he had a special festival, called the Thesea, on the eighth of

Pyanepsion.

[Illustration: Fig. 60.—Theseus Lifting the Rock. Relief in the Villa

Albani.]

Art has followed the example of the poets and mythologists in

depicting Theseus as a second Heracles. Here, however, the

characteristic differences that existed between the Doric and Ionic

races become apparent. Just as the latter race surpassed the former

in elasticity, both of mind and body, so their national hero gives

token not only of a higher intellectual being, but also of a body

more lithe, and capable of greater swiftness and dexterity, than

that of the Doric hero. The slighter and more elegant form of

Theseus lacks, perhaps, the sheer brute strength of Heracles, but is

compensated by the possession of a far greater degree of activity

and adroitness. The expression of face is more amiable and the hair

less bristling than that of Heracles, while there is generally no

beard. Such is Theseus as depicted by Greek art at the epoch of its

full development; later art strove to render the form of the body

still more lithe and graceful. The costume of Theseus consists, like

that of his prototype Heracles, of a lion’s skin and club; sometimes

also of the chlamys and petasus of the Attic youth. Existing art

monuments are far less numerous in his case than in that of

Heracles. If the explanation is correct, the British Museum

possesses a Theseus of priceless value. Among the statues of the

Parthenon which have been preserved, there is one of a figure

negligently reclining on a lion’s skin, which, with the exception of

the nose, hands, and feet, is in a tolerably good state of

preservation (Fig. 59). It belonged to the great group of the east

gable, which represented the first appearance of the new-born Athene

to the astonished gods. It is the figure of a youth in his prime,

somewhat larger than life, and altogether a perfect ideal of manly

beauty.

A representation of the conflict of Theseus with the invading army

of the Amazons still exists on a large piece of frieze-work, which,

together with the representations of the battle of the Lapithæ and

Centaurs (which have been already mentioned), formerly decorated the

walls of the shrine of Apollo’s temple in Phigalia, and is now the

property of the British Museum. Among the Greek warriors Theseus may

be easily recognised by his lion’s skin and the club, which he is in

the act of swinging against a mounted Amazon, probably the leader of

the hostile army. We give an engraving of the scene where Theseus

obtained the sword and sandals of his father from beneath the rock,

after a relief in the Villa Albani (Fig. 60).

=8. Cretan Legend.=—_1. Minos and the Minotaur._—Cretan myths are both

obscure and difficult of interpretation, because Phœnician and Phrygian

influences made themselves felt at a very early period, and native

sources fail us. Minos is commonly supposed to have been the first king

of the country. He was the son of Zeus and Europa, who is called in

Homer a daughter of Phœnix. This Phœnix was subsequently made into

Agenor, a Phœnician, king of Sidon; and the story then arose that Zeus,

in the form of a white bull, had carried off Europa, and arrived with

his lovely prey in Crete. Europa is there said to have given birth to

Minos, Rhadamanthys (Rhadamanthus), and some say Sarpedon. She

afterwards married Asterion, who brought up the sons of Zeus as his own

children, and, at his death, left the kingdom to Minos. He, after

expelling his brothers Sarpedon and Rhadamanthus, became sole king of

Crete. Of his brothers, Sarpedon went to Lycia, whilst the pious

Rhadamanthus found a refuge in Bœotia. Minos next married Pasiphaë, a

daughter of Helios and Perseïs, by whom he became the father of Catreus,

who succeeded him, Deucalion, Glaucus, and Androgeos, besides several

daughters, of whom the most celebrated are Ariadne and Phædra. Minos

gave wise laws to his people, and became supreme at sea among the isles

of the Ægean Sea, and even as far as Attica. In his name we find the

same root (meaning “to think”) which we have seen in Minerva, and which

appears in the name of the Indian lawgiver Manu.

In order to vindicate his right to the crown, Minos besought Poseidon to

send him a bull out of the sea, which he was then to sacrifice to the

god. Poseidon granted his prayer, but Minos was induced by the beauty of

the animal to place it among his own herds. As a punishment of his

perfidy, Poseidon kindled in the breast of Pasiphaë an unnatural love

for the bull, and the fruit of their connection was the Minotaur. This

was a monster, half man and half bull, which Minos shut up in the

labyrinth that had been made by the skill of Dædalus. The food of the

monster consisted of human beings, who were partly criminals and partly

youths and maidens, sent as tribute from the subjugated countries. This

lasted until Theseus came to Crete, and, with the aid of Ariadne and

Dædalus, destroyed the Minotaur. Such is the substance of this

perplexing mythical tradition, of which the simplest interpretation is

that the Minotaur was originally an ancient idol of the Phœnician

sun-god Baal, which had the form of a bull, and to which human

sacrifices were offered. The destruction of the Minotaur by Theseus is a

symbol of the triumph of the higher Greek civilisation over Phœnician

barbarism, and the consequent abolition of human sacrifices.

Closely connected with the royal family of Crete we find Dædalus, the

most celebrated artist of the legendary period. He is said to have been

a son of Metion, and a descendant of Erechtheus, and to have fled from

Athens to Crete after murdering his nephew Talus in a fit of

professional jealousy. During his residence in Crete he constructed the

Labyrinth, an underground building with an endless maze of passages, as

a dwelling-place for the Minotaur; besides many other wonderful works of

art. For having aided Theseus in his combat with the Minotaur, Dædalus

and his son Icarus were both imprisoned in the Labyrinth of Minos. The

story of his flight, which he accomplished by means of the artificial

wings that he made for himself and his son, is well known from the

_Metamorphoses_ of Ovid. Icarus fell into the sea that is named after

him, and was drowned, but Dædalus reached Cumæ in safety. From this

place he passed over to Sicily, where he was hospitably received by

Cocalus. When Minos, however, pursued the fugitive and demanded his

surrender, not only was his request refused, but he was even put to

death by the contrivance of the king’s daughters.

Of the other sons of Minos, Deucalion is celebrated as having taken part

in the Calydonian boar hunt, and also as the father of the hero

Idomeneus, who fought against Troy. Glaucus was killed, while yet a boy,

by falling into a cask of honey as he was pursuing a mouse. He is

reported, however, to have been restored to life by the Corinthian augur

Polyidus, or, according to others, by Asclepius himself.

_2. Talos._—The legend of Talos, the brazen man, betrays likewise a

Phœnician origin, and refers to the cruel practice of offering human

sacrifices. This Talos was made of brass, and was invulnerable.

Hephæstus, or, as others say, Zeus gave him to Minos as guardian of the

island of Crete, round which he travelled thrice a-day. If he perceived

any strangers approach he would spring into the fire, and, after

becoming red-hot, he would clasp them to his breast, until they expired

beneath the sardonic chuckle of the demon. He attempted to drive off the

Argonauts with stones, but was destroyed by the skill of Medea. Talos

had a single vein, which ran from his head to his feet, and was closed

at the top with a nail. This nail Medea cleverly succeeded in

extracting, in consequence of which Talos bled to death.

IV.—COMBINED UNDERTAKINGS OF THE LATER HEROIC AGE.

=1. The Calydonian Hunt.=—The story of Meleager and the Calydonian boar

hunt was undoubtedly, in its origin, nothing more than a provincial myth

based on natural phenomena, like other myths that we have already

explained. In this case the physical significance involved in the myth

soon disappeared, owing to the treatment it received at the hands of the

epic and dramatic poets. The poets, in fact, succeeded in introducing

some striking ethical conceptions, which absorbed all higher interest.

Œneus, king of Calydon in Ætolia, on the occasion of a great festival

which was celebrated after a successful vintage, had accidentally or

purposely omitted to sacrifice to Artemis. To punish this neglect she

sent a huge wild boar, which devastated the fields of Calydon, and

seemed invincible by any ordinary means on account of its vast size.

Meleager, the brave and heroic son of Œneus, therefore assembled men and

hounds in great number to slay it. The boar was slain; but Artemis

stirred up strife over the head and hide between the Ætolians and the

Curetes of Pleuron. At first the former were victorious; but when

Meleager withdrew in wrath from the battle because his mother had cursed

him for the death of her brother, they were no longer able to keep the

field, and soon saw their city closely invested by their enemies. In

vain did the elders and priests of Calydon beseech Meleager; in vain did

his father, sisters, and even mother beseech him to aid his hard-pressed

countrymen. Like Achilles in the Trojan war, when he was wroth with

Agamemnon on account of the loss of Briseis, Meleager long refused to

stir. At last his wife—the beautiful Cleopatra—succeeded in moving him.

He donned his armour, and put himself at the head of his countrymen for

a sally against the besiegers. Brilliant, indeed, was the victory of the

men of Calydon; but the hero Meleager did not return from the battle,

for the cruel Erinyes, who had heard his mother’s curse, destroyed him

with the arrows of Apollo.

Such is the earliest form of the legend, as it exists in the _Iliad_. In

time, however, Meleager was said to have called together against the

boar all the renowned heroes of Greece. Among others there came the

Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux; Theseus and his friend Pirithoüs; Idas and

Lynceus, the sons of Aphareus; Admetus of Pheræ; Jason, from Iolcus;

Iphicles and Iolaüs, from Thebes; Peleus, the father of Achilles;

Telamon, from Salamis; Ancæus and the beautiful huntress Atalante

(Atalanta), from Arcadia; besides the soothsayer Amphiaraüs, from Argos.

After Œneus had entertained his guests royally for nine days, the hunt

began, and the huge beast, which was as large as an ox, was surrounded

and driven from its lair. Atalante, the swift huntress, was the first to

inflict a wound. Ancæus then advanced with his battle-axe, but the

enraged beast, with one stroke of his dreadful tusks, tore open his body

and killed him on the spot. At length the monster received a mortal

wound from a spear hurled by the powerful arm of Meleager, and was soon

despatched by the rest. Meleager received as his due the head and hide

of the slaughtered animal, but resigned the prize to Atalante, of whom

he was enamoured, on the ground that she was the first to wound the

boar. This act excited the bitter jealousy of Plexippus and Toxeus, the

sons of Thestius, king of Pleuron, and brothers of Althæa, the mother of

Meleager. They accordingly lay in wait for Atalante, and robbed her of

the present. Enraged at this, Meleager slew them both. But Meleager’s

death, though caused by the wrath of his mother, was worked out

differently in the time of the tragic poets. The Fates had appeared to

Althæa, soon after the birth of Meleager, and informed her that her son

would only live until a certain brand, which was then burning on the

fire, was consumed. Althæa immediately snatched the brand from the

flames and carefully treasured it up. After Meleager had slain her

brothers, in the first outburst of grief and indignation against her

son, she placed the brand again in the fire, and thus cut off the noble

hero in the prime of his youth and beauty. Althæa, on learning the

unhappy fate of her son, full of sorrow for her hasty deed, put an end

to her own life.

=2. The Argonauts.=—The story of the Argonauts experienced a similar

fate to that of the Calydonian hunt. It was originally nothing but a

myth based on natural phenomena; but in the hands of the poets it

swelled to a mass of legends common to all the tribes of Greece, the

nucleus of which was the history of the golden fleece. Athamas, the son

of Æolus, was king of the Minyæ. He put away his first wife, Nephele

(cloud), in order to marry Ino, the daughter of Cadmus; though he still

kept Phrixus (rain-shower) and Helle (ray of light), his children by

Nephele, with him. By Ino he had two other children, Learchus and

Melicertes, whom their mother naturally preferred to her stepchildren,

and for whose sake she endeavoured to drive the latter from their

father’s house. Soon afterwards, either at the command of Nephele, whom

some represent as a goddess, or in consequence of her prayers for the

punishment of Athamas, the land was visited with a long drought, and Ino

persuaded her husband to sacrifice Phrixus as a sin-offering to Zeus, in

order to put an end to the calamity. Whether Helle was to have shared

her brother’s fate we cannot tell, for, before Ino could accomplish her

purpose, Nephele came to the assistance of her children, and gave them a

winged ram with a golden fleece, which Hermes had presented to her for

that purpose. Seated on this ram they fled over the sea to Colchis. On

the way Helle fell into that part of the sea which bears her name, and

was drowned, but Phrixus arrived safely in Colchis (Æa), where he

sacrificed the ram to Zeus, who had preserved him in his flight. The

fleece he hung up in the grove of Ares as a sacred treasure, setting

over it a terrible, ever-watchful dragon as its guardian. To fetch this

treasure from a foreign land, and thereby to release the country and

people of the Minyæ from the calamity with which they were oppressed,

was the task of the heroes of the race of Æolus. Athamas was so grieved

at the evil he had brought on his country that he became insane, and

sought to slay Ino and her children. He did, indeed, kill Learchus by

dashing him against a rock, but Ino succeeded in saving herself and her

younger child Melicertes by leaping into the sea (_cf._ Ino Leucothea).

Athamas then fled to Epirus, and the kingdom devolved on his brother

Cretheus. Cretheus married Tyro, the daughter of his younger brother

Salmoneus, king of Elis. Tyro bore him three sons, the eldest of whom,

Æson, succeeded his father in the kingdom, but was soon after expelled

by his step-brother Pelias, who is described as a son of Tyro and

Poseidon. Æson with difficulty managed to rescue his little son Jason

from the hands of Pelias, and brought him to the Centaur Chiron to be

educated. In Chiron’s cave the young hero grew up, a favourite with gods

and men. After completing his twentieth year, he betook himself to

Iolcus to demand of his uncle his rightful inheritance. Pelias, not

daring to use violence to the sturdy youth, endeavoured to get rid of

his unwelcome guest by involving him in a most dangerous adventure. He

declared that he would gladly resign the crown if Jason would recover

the golden fleece from Colchis. Jason, like a true hero, at once

accepted the perilous adventure. In the harbour of Iolcus he caused a

large ship with fifty oars to be constructed, which he called the

“Argo,” after its builder, Argus. He then called together the heroes,

who had consented at his invitation to take part in the expedition. In

the original version of the story, the expedition was stated to have

been undertaken only by the heroes of the race of the Minyæ—such as

Acastus, Admetus, and Periclymenus. At a later period, however—when the

date of the expedition had been fixed at one generation before the

Trojan war—no hero of any note was allowed to be absent from the

undertaking. In this manner were added the Dioscuri, the sons of Boreas,

Calaïs and Zetes, Telamon, Peleus, Meleager, Tydeus, Iphitus, Theseus,

Orpheus, Amphiaraüs, and even Heracles. In the last case, the

incongruity of allowing the hero to play only a subordinate part was

soon felt, and his name was withdrawn. He was said to have been left

behind in Mysia, where he had landed in order to search for his

favourite Hylas, who had been carried off by the Naiads. The number of

the Argonauts was finally computed at fifty, tallying with the number of

oars.