Helicaon
Husband of Laodice, the unfortunate sister of Cassandra who, following the fall of Troy, was swallowed up by the earth, thus being saved from falling into Greek hands.
Helicon
A lofty mountain in Boeotia that was sacred to Apollo and the home of the Muses, hence Heliconiades and Heliconides. The special haunt of the Muses was the grove of the River Termessus or Permessus that was situated below the sacred spring Hippocrene, which sprung from the earth at the strike of Pegasus’s hoof. The sacred spring/fountain Aganippe was also to be found on Mount Helicon.
Hel~ios, ~ius
Ancient god and personification of the sun, the all-seeing god of light who daily rides his golden chariot across the sky. The son of Hyperion and Theia, brother to Eos and Selene, Helios married Perse or Perseis, the mother of Aeetes, Circe, and Pasiphae; Neaera; Rhode, the mother of seven sons and one daughter; Gaea; Iphinoe; and Clymene, the mother of Phaethon.
When Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades decided who should rule the three regions of Heaven, Earth, and the Underworld, Helios was absent. To make amends for this omission Zeus awarded Helios the newly arisen island of Rhodes, of which he became patron and where his worship especially flourished. The bronze Colossus of Rhodes was a huge statue of the god. His wife Rhode was the eponym of this island, which, appropriately, claims to receive more hours of sunshine than any other in the Mediterranean. One of Helios’s seven sons by Rhode had three sons of his own. These grandsons of Helios were named Lindos, Ialysos, and Camiros, after whom the three major cities of Rhodes were named.
His all-seeing aspect was clearly illustrated when he reported such incidents as the rape and subsequent abduction of Persephone as well as Aphrodite’s faithlessness. He, however, failed to notice the theft of his own cattle by the companions of Odysseus. Helios was the father of the Graces by Aegle and successfully seduced Leucothea by disguising himself as her mother. When her father buried her alive as punishment, Helios transformed her into the frankincense bush. Clytie, who was in love with Helios and had revealed the seduction out of jealousy, was turned into a heliotrope.
Helios was frequently confused with Apollo in his guise of Phoebus, but his attributes are purely spiritual, whereas Helios was a tangible deity, the charioteer driving the four winged horses that pulled his chariot from east to west, ferried back to the east at night by Oceanos. His sacred animal was the cock; his sacrifices included white horses, rams, and honey.
The Roman equivalent of Helios was Sol, who had a shrine on the Quirinal Hill, and was later equated with Sol Invictus—"the Invincible"—a special protector of the emperors.
Helle
Daughter of Athamas and Nephele; sister of Phrixus. When she and her brother were being mistreated by their stepmother, Ino, Phrixus about to be sacrificed at Ino’s insistence, Zeus sent a winged ram, Aries, to substitute for Phrixus. It flew off with the two children on its back, bound for Colchis. Helle, however, fell into the sea and was drowned—or, some say, became a bride of Poseidon. The stretch of water into which she fell became known as the Hellespont, the modern Dardanelles. Phrixus completed the journey, sacrificed the ram Aries, and hung the fleece in a grove sacred to the god Ares. There it turned to gold, this Golden Fleece subsequently becoming the object of the quest undertaken by Jason and the Argonauts.
Hellen
Grandson of Prometheus, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, and eponym and mythical ancestor of the Hellenes. The king of Phthia in Thessaly, Hellen was the father of Dorus, Aeolus, and Xuthus.
Hellenes
Named after the mythical Hellen, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, the Hellenes or Greeks were an Indo-European people who entered Greece from the north in three main waves, the first, of Minyans and Ionians, beginning c.2000 B.C. Their mastery of horses and wheeled vehicles made conquest of the indigenous peoples extremely easy.
Penetrating far to the south, the Hellenes soon became excellent navigators, traveling to Sicily, southern Italy, Asia Minor, and throughout the Greek islands. Landing on Crete, they became much influenced by the Minoan culture they found there; they brought it to the mainland, and it began to have a considerable effect after c. 1580 B.C.
However, about 1400 B.C. the Minoan civilization fell, either through invasion or earthquake, and the second wave of Hellenes, the Achaeans, rose to prominence. They remained the prominent force within the Greek world until about 1100 B.C., when Mycenae, the center of civilization during this time, fell, and the third wave, the Dorians, named after Hellen’s son, Dorus, entered Greece.
Hellespont
The ancient name of the Dardanelles, the 50-mile strait that connects the Aegean Sea with the Sea of Marmara. It was named after the legendary Helle, who fell into this stretch of water from the back of the winged ram Aries, which was carrying her and her brother, Phrixus, from Thebes to Colchis.
At its narrowest point, on opposing banks, lay the settlements of Abydos, in Phrygia, and Sestos. Nightly Leander swam from Abydos to visit the priestess Hero in Sestos, but one stormy night Leander drowned and Hero threw herself into the sea.
Hephaist~os, ~us
Also: Hephaest~os, ~us
One of the 12 great Olympian deities, Hephaistos—identified by the Romans with Vulcan—possibly originated as a pre-Hellenic fire god near the Mount Olympus of Lycia in Asia Minor, where gaseous vapors, seeping through fissures in the ground, ignited. The Lycians migrated to Lemnos, where they became known as Pelasgians, taking with them their mysterious fire god, and they once again found fire issuing from the ground. This fire became the symbol of their god, who had now become known as Hephaistos. From there the cult spread to Athens, c. 600 B.C., where he achieved great status. His Olympian status appears to reflect the importance of the smith in Bronze Age society, where weapons and tools were held to have magical properties. He was, like other smith gods, represented as lame.
Legend says that he was the brother of Ares and Hebe, the son of Zeus and Hera, though some held that he was the parthenogenous son of Hera alone, springing from that goddess in the same way as his fire springs from earth. Born lame and weak, he was so disliked by his mother that she threw him from Olympus into the sea. There he was cared for in a grotto under the sea by the sea goddesses Thetis and Eurynome. After nine years Hera welcomed him back to Olympus, where he set up his smithy. However, he was once again flung from Olympus, this time by Zeus after he had taken Hera’s side. He took a whole day to fall, finally landing at nightfall on the island of Lemnos. Later writers say that it was this second fall from Olympus that was the cause of his lameness, the impact permanently dislocating his hip.
Hephaistos once again returned to Olympus and acted as a mediator between Zeus and Hera, and even though he was the constant butt of the gods’ jokes he made each of their palaces. He also made robot tables for the gods that went wherever the gods wanted them, Zeus’s throne and scepter, Agamemnon’s scepter, the gold and silver dogs of Alcinous, the magnificent armor of Achilles as ordered by Thetis, the necklace of Harmonia, the fire-breathing bulls of Aeetes with brazen feet, the bow and arrows of Artemis, the golden dog of Rhea, which had been set to guard the cradle of the infant Zeus, and the first woman, Pandora. He also made a golden throne for Hera, but when she sat on it she was bound fast. Hephaistos then left Olympus and refused to return until Dionysos made him drunk and brought him back to release Hera. This story is obviously of later origin due to the appearance of Dionysos.
Later accounts place his workshop well away from Olympus, saying it lay on Sicily, where he was helped by the Cyclopes, either under Mount Etna or Mount Stromboli, where he forged the thunderbolts of Zeus and weapons for the other Olympian deities. His favorite spots on earth were Lemnos and volcanic islands such as Lipara, Hiera, Imbros, and Sicily. An annual festival, the Hephaistia, was held in Athens at which three men carrying torches competed in a race.
Homer says that Hephaistos was married to Aphrodite and fathered Eros by her, but she was constantly unfaithful to him. On one humorous occasion Hephaistos trapped Aphrodite and Ares in bed together under an almost invisible net he had made, then displayed the couple to the ridicule of the other gods and goddesses. Iliad, however, says that his wife was Charis; other sources name his wife as Aglaea (Aglaia), the youngest of the Graces.
While Hephaistos walked on the shore of Lake Triton with Zeus and Hermes, Zeus complained of a severe headache. Persuaded by Hermes to cleft open Zeus’s skull, Hephaistos released the cause of discomfort, for Athene sprung from the wound, fully grown and fully armed. Hephaistos’s lust for Athene and attempted rape of her on the Acropolis at Athens led to the birth of Erichthonius.
Hephaistos, god of fire and patron of smiths, was not a popular subject in Greek art, though he is usually portrayed as a vigorous, bearded man carrying a hammer or similar instrument, normally situated near an anvil and wearing an oval cape or chiton. His lameness does not appear to have been portrayed, but then, given the emphasis on perfection of Greek artisans, this does not surprise greatly. The Theseum, a magnificent temple overlooking the agora in Athens, built in 449 B.C. as the first monument in Perikles’ Athenian rebuilding program, was dedicated to him and Athene. It is the best preserved of all Greek temples and was built in the metalworkers’ quarter of the city.
Her~a, ~e
One of the 12 elite Olympian deities; daughter of Cronos and Rhea; sister of Poseidon, Zeus, Hades, Demeter, and Hestia. Identified by the Romans as Juno, Hera was worshipped as queen of the heavens and goddess of power and riches, the patroness of marriage and of women in general. In cult she was often worshipped in her aspect of Hera Teleia—"the Fulfilled"—a reflection of her most important role, that of goddess of marriage, the fulfillment of womanhood. She reluctantly became the second wife of her brother, Zeus, who sought her out at either Knossos or Argos in the form of a cuckoo, their wedding night being spent on Samos. As a wedding gift from her new husband, Hera received the tree with the golden apples that was later to be guarded by the Hesperides. A virgin goddess, she annually renewed her virginity by bathing in a spring near Argos, even though her virginity was compromised on several occasions. As she was, properly speaking, the only married goddess among the Olympians, some sources named the Ilithyiae as her daughters, though in classical times she was often equated with Eileithyia, the goddess of birth.
Though Hera was not a popular subject in classical art, several of the earliest Greek temples were dedicated to her, notably those at Olympia, Perachora, Samos, and above all Argos, where she was worshipped as patroness of the city. She also received cult in Athens. It was at Argos that she was said to have vied with Poseidon for mastery of the land. The river gods of the region decreed in favor of Hera, a decision that made Poseidon exact his revenge by drying up the springs that fed the rivers. The ruins of the Heraeum at Argos are extensive, and excavation has shown that the cult of Hera was well established by the eighth century B.C. Dating from about the same period are the remains of a temple and precinct at Samos, where Hera was once again considered patroness. At Olympia her worship vied with that of Zeus. A magnificent (though thoroughly ruined) temple of Hera can be visited at Agrigento (ancient Acragas) in southwest Sicily.
Hera’s origin has sometimes been explained as lying with a Mycenaean palace goddess, but her name has not been found in the Linear B texts. Others say that she is a remembrance of a pre-Olympian goddess of Mother Earth, her tempestuous marriage to Zeus marking her absorption into the Indo-European system in which the male sky god is dominant. Cows were often sacrificed to her, leading to her being awarded the epithet Boopis, or "cow-faced," though some have sought to connect this with the fact that she always seemed disagreeable, and would thus have carried a surly look. She may also have been later awarded the surname Argiva, as there is a temple to Hera Argiva in Italy that was built c. 460 B.C., though this is probably simply an epithet added to indicate the region from which the cult was brought to Italy.
When Typhon made his assault on Olympus, Hera fled to Egypt, along with the other gods and goddesses, Hera taking the form of a white cow. This story once again reflects the association of cows to Hera. The messengers of Hera were the four winds, which she entrusted to Aeolus since Zeus was likely to forget his duties and allow them to blow the earth and sea away. She, like Zeus, had the power to bestow the art of prophecy.
At one stage she conspired with Apollo and Poseidon to lead the Olympians against Zeus. Zeus having been put in chains, he was freed by Thetis and Briareus. Hera was then punished when Zeus bound anvils to her ankles and hung her out of Heaven by her wrists.
Several attempts were made on her virtue, notably by the giant Porphyrion; by Ixion, who was condemned to be bound to a fiery wheel revolving unceasingly through Tartarus; and by Endymion. However, Hera is best remembered for the persecution of Zeus’s lovers—Leto, Io, Semele, and the daughters of Proteus—and for her general unkindly demeanor toward gods and heroes alike. When Leto was due to give birth to Apollo and Artemis, the twin children of Zeus, Hera made Leto wander from place to place until she gave birth to Artemis under a palm tree on Ortygia and Apollo on Delos. She then sent the giant Ityus to violate Leto as she was approaching Delphi with Artemis, but Tityus was killed by the arrows of Apollo and Artemis.
When Semele was pregnant six months with Dionysos, Hera disguised herself as an old woman and persuaded Semele to ask her mysterious lover, Zeus, to appear to her in his true form. Zeus reluctantly consented, and Semele was consumed by the fire from his thunderbolt. The unborn infant was sewn up in Zeus’s thigh to be born three months later, but this did not stop Hera’s hostility. When the child had been entrusted to Athamas and Ino of Boeotia, Hera sent Athamas mad so that he killed his own son. Still Hera continued to hound Dionysos. Once he grew to manhood Hera sent him mad so that he wandered through the world.
She was the mother of Ares, Hebe, and Hephaistos, the first two by Zeus, and Hephaistos parthenogenetically. So disgusted was she with Hephaistos that she flung him from Olympus. She blinded the seer Tiresias when he settled an argument between Zeus and herself over which of the sexes gained the more pleasure from sexual intercourse. His reply that a woman enjoyed it nine times as much as a man angered Hera.
She did, however, support Jason and the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece. She and Athene also supported the Greeks, particularly Achilles, against Troy after Paris had awarded the Apple of Discord to Aphrodite in favor of herself and Athene even though she had offered Paris rule in Asia. At one stage she helped the Greeks by persuading Zeus to lie with her on Mount Gargarus while Posedion egged on the Greeks.
Her hostility reached new bounds, however, with regard to the hero who bears her name, Heracles. When Zeus boasted that he was about to become the father of a son who would be called Heracles, or "Glory of Hera," and who would be the ruler of the house of Perseus, Hera exacted from him a promise that any son born that day to the house of Perseus should be king. Having made Zeus promise, Hera brought on the birth of Eurystheus, a grandson of Perseus, and delayed Alcmene’s labor, so that Heracles and his twin brother Iphicles (though one day younger through the complex conception of Heracles) were born later. Alcmene was greatly afraid of the retribution Hera might take on her, so she exposed Heracles. However, Hera saw the infant and nursed him in error, thus conferring on him his eventual right to immortality. Hera now returned the infant Heracles to Alcmene.
When the great hero reached manhood, Hera sent him mad so that he killed his own children and two of Iphicles’. Having been restored to sanity he sought purification and then went to consult the Delphic Oracle, and there the Pythia called him Heracles for the first time. She advised him to go to Tiryns and serve King Eurystheus for 12 years, doing whatever he asked without question. At the end of that time his due immortality would be conferred on him.
Hera continued to harry Heracles throughout these 12 years. During his second labor, which was to kill the Hydra, one of the monstrous offspring of Typhon and Echidne, Hera (who had raised the Hydra) sent a huge crab to hinder Heracles, but he simply crushed it. Hera placed its image in the heavens.
During his ninth labor, which was to fetch for Admete the golden girdle of Hippolyte, Hera roused the Amazons so that they attacked Heracles, but he easily fought them off, killing their leaders and completing his allotted task.
When Heracles and Telamon sailed from Troy, having sacked the city, Hera raised a terrible storm that shipwrecked Heracles on Cos, where faced more perils. However, after Heracles died and had ascended to Olympus, he and Hera were finally reconciled to the extent that Heracles married her daughter, Hebe.
Hera was usually depicted as a fully clothed and imposing, matronlike woman whose attributes were a diadem, veil, and scepter. She has close associations with the cow, which was often sacrificed to her, a possible reflection of her origin as an earth goddess. Also sacred to her was the cuckoo and, later, the peacock. She transferred the eyes of Argus to the tail of the peacock after Argus had been slain by Hermes. She also changed Argos, the builder of the Argo Navis, into a peacock before translating him to the heavens as the constellation Pavo, his ship joining him there as four other constellations.
Hera~cles, ~kles
Greco-Roman The most famous of all the Greek heroes; he is probably better known by the Roman form of his name, Hercules. At one time thought to be of Dorian origin, Heracles, it is now clear, belongs firmly within the Mycenaean period. He is the remarkable formulation heros theos (hero god), a semidivine mortal destined for apotheosis.
Legend says that Heracles was the son of Alcmene and Zeus, conceived when Zeus took the form of Alcmene’s husband, Amphitryon, while he was away doing battle with the Taphians to avenge the death of Alcmene’s brothers, for Alcmene refused to consummate their union until she had been avenged. Zeus visited Alcmene in Amphitryon’s form and told her that he had been victorious. Her actual husband returned the following day, and Alcmene’s surprise and delight at his sexual prowess led to her conception of twins, a concept common throughout classical Greek legend, indeed throughout Indo-European mythologies.
Nine months later Zeus boasted that he was about to become the father of a child who would one day rule the house of Perseus. Hera, continually jealous of her husband’s philandering ways, decided to thwart him. She first extracted a promise from Zeus that any son born that day into the house of Perseus would become king. She then dispatched the goddess of childbirth, Eileithyia, to delay Alcmene’s labor while she brought on the birth of Eurystheus, the son of Sthenelus, king of Tiryns, and also of Zeus’s line through Perseus. This child grew up to become the king of Tiryns and Mycenae.
Alcmene was in agonizing pain because of the delayed labor she was experiencing. To relieve her, Galanthis, her servant, rushed in and distracted Eleithyia, thereby allowing the birth to take place. Alcmene bore the semidi-vine Heracles and the wholly human Iphicles; Eileithyia turned Galanthis into a weasel. Fearing Hera, Alcmene exposed Heracles, but he was found and nursed, in error, by Hera, thus conferring on him the right to immortality. Returned to Alcmene, Heracles prospered and soon proved his prowess when Hera sent two snakes to attack the infant in his cradle. Heracles simply grasped one in each hand and squeezed the life out of them.
The young Heracles was taught how to drive a chariot by Amphitryon, fighting by Castor, how to sing and play the lyre by Eumolpus, wrestling by Autolycus, and archery by the king of Oechalia, Eurytus. Even though the Greeks normally scorned the bow and arrow as the weapon of a coward, they became Heracles’ characteristic weapon. His lyre lessons continued under Linus, but when Linus one day censured Heracles these lessons came to an abrupt halt (Heracles killed his teacher with his own lyre). Amphitryon sent Heracles away to herd cattle.
Soon after his eighteenth birthday Heracles visited the court of King Thespius of Thespiae, where he was asked to rid the land of a lion that had been terrorizing Mount Cithaeron. Heracles agreed on the condition that he was, on the 50 successive nights of the chase, to sleep with Thespius’s 50 daughters. One refused and was condemned to remain a virgin forever, becoming a priestess in Heracles’ temple. Heracles killed the lion with a club of wild olive, another of his well-known attributes. Some sources, notably Apollodorus, say that it was the skin of this lion that Heracles wore as his armor, the head becoming his helmet, but this is more usually said to have been the pelt and head of the Nemaean Lion.
Leaving Thespiae, Heracles now championed Thebes, marrying in the process Megara, the eldest daughter of King Creon of Thebes, Iphicles marrying her youngest sister. When Orchomenus, the Minyan king, sent his heralds to collect a tribute from Thebes, Heracles mutilated the heralds and then led an army against Orchomenus, a campaign that he won but during which Amphitryon was killed. Heracles then made Orchomenus a tributary to Thebes. When he returned from this war, however, he found that Creon’s throne had been usurped by Lycus, whom he killed. Hera then sent him mad so that he killed his own children and two of Iphicles’; some sources say he killed his wife, Megara, as well.
After he left Thebes, Heracles’ sanity was restored to him, and following purification he sought the advice of the Delphic Oracle. There the Pythia, who was the first to call him Heracles, advised him to travel to the court of King Eurystheus, King of Tiryns and Mycenae, and Argos, at least according to some. There Heracles was to serve him, doing whatever he bid without question for 12 years. If he completed this period of service immortality would be conferred upon him, as was his right. Reluctantly Heracles set out for Tiryns. His nephew, Iolaus, the eldest son of Iphicles, accompanied him as his charioteer and faithful companion.
This period of Heracles’ life forms the most famous part of his saga. Though all sources say that Eurystheus set Heracles 12 immense tasks or labors, some add the additional fact that originally there were only ten, but Eurystheus disallowed two after they had been completed, so Heracles had to perform 12 in all. These, the 12 Great Labors of Heracles, form the basis of innumerable works of art and contain some of the most notable fiends, beasts, and monsters of classical mythology. The most notable representations of Heracles’ labors are the series of metopes from the temple of Zeus at Olympia and those from the temple of Hephaistos at Athens. The order of the labors had become canonical by the sixth century B.C., but they are known from both art and literature that dates from the eighth century B.C. They very neatly carry Heracles from his center in the Argolid to all four quarters of the known world:
1. To kill and bring back the skin of the Nemaean Lion, or Cleonaean Lion, the son of Typhon, or Orthros, and Echidne, which lived in a cave on a hill at Nemea near Cleonae. This cave was still shown to travelers during the eighteenth century. As the lion’s pelt was impenetrable to any weapon, Heracles fought it bare-handed, strangled it, skinned it with its own claws, and thereafter wore its pelt as his armor. Eurystheus was so terrified by the amazing power Heracles possessed that he now took refuge in a brazen urn whenever the great hero approached. The Nemaean Lion itself was transferred to the heavens as the constellation Leo.
2. To kill the Hydra of Lerna, a huge serpent, another of the monstrous offspring of Typhon and Echidne (though raised by Hera), which had a doglike body and seven, or nine, snaky heads, one of them immortal. It lived at the sevenfold source of the River Amymone and haunted the malarial marshes of Lerna. Some commentators make it a representation of the noxious air to be found in those marshes. Heracles found that every time he cut off one of the heads, two grew from the stump. He was also harried by a huge crab, sent by Hera, which kept nipping at his toe. Crushing the crab, which subsequently became the constellation Cancer, Heracles called on his nephew, Iolaus, to cauterize each stump with a firebrand when he cut the head off. Finally, with all the heads removed in this manner, and having buried the immortal head underneath a huge rock, Heracles overcame the great beast. He then dipped his arrows in the Hydra’s gall to make them even more deadly. However, when Eurystheus learned of Iolaus’s help, he discounted the labor, so another had to be added to the cycle.
3. To capture alive, without causing blood loss, the Ceryneian Hind, a deer with brazen hooves and golden horns that was sacred to the goddess Artemis. Heracles pursued it tirelessly for a whole year before he caught it while crossing the River Ladon by firing an arrow that pinned the forelegs together without any loss of blood. He then brought it back to show Eurystheus, carrying it across his shoulders.
4. To capture the Erymantian Boar, a savage creature that lived on Mount Erymanthus in Arcadia and had come down to ravage Psophis. En route to kill this beast, Heracles was entertained by the centaur Pholus, who owned a cask of wine given to him by Dionysos. When this was opened other centaurs came and attempted to steal the divine drink. While Heracles was driving them away, Pholus accidentally poisoned himself on one of Heracles’ arrows. Additionally, Heracles accidentally wounded his old friend, the centaur Cheiron. Unable to die due to his immortality, Cheiron longed to be released from his agony, a release that mercifully he gained when he gave up his immortality to Prometheus. Heracles managed to capture the boar alive by driving it into a snowdrift and binding it in chains. He then carried it back to Eurystheus. Some sources say that Eurystheus was so afraid that he hid in a sunken oil jar until Heracles had taken it away again, though this would have been extremely difficult, for Eurystheus was normally considered to have taken to hiding in a brazen urn whenever Heracles approached following his successful completion of the first labor.
At this point there was a break in the 12 labors as Heracles heard of the expedition being mounted by Jason and rushed off, along with Hylas, to become one of the Argonauts. At one stage the Argonauts put into Mysia. There Hylas, while fetching water, was abducted by the Naiades, leaving nothing but an empty pitcher. Heracles left the Argo Navis for a while in a vain search for him. Heracles, however, returned to Eurystheus’s court on the successful completion of the quest, and the labors recommenced.
5. To clean, in one day, the Augean Stables, the cattle sheds of King Augeias of Elis, who had more sheep and cattle than any other man on earth. The stables had not been cleaned for so long that they were now clogged with dung. Having first agreed to the fee with Augeias—he would receive one-tenth of the cattle as payment for the heinous job, a bargain witnessed by Phyleus, Augeias’s son— Heracles cleaned them in the allotted single day by diverting the River Alpheus through them. Augeias refused to pay him when he discovered that Heracles had been acting on the instructions of Eurystheus; Phyleus’s loyalty to the contract led to his banishment. Subsequently, when Eurystheus heard that Heracles had intended to receive payment for the labor set him, he discounted the labor and added another, bringing the total to 12.
6. To kill the man-eating Stymphalian Birds sacred to Ares. With bronze beaks and claws and razor-sharp feathers, which they fired at pursuers, they haunted Lake Stymphalus or Lake Stymphalia in Arcadia. Heracles, with the help of Athene, hid in the rushes and, startling them with a rattle so that they flew into the air, shot them with his arrows. Some said that rather than being killed they simply flew off to the island of Aretius in the Black Sea, where they were later discovered by the Argonauts. This would, however, upset the chronology of the saga, for the expedition of the Argonauts is traditionally said to have taken place between the fourth and fifth labors.
7. To capture the Cretan Bull, a gift to Minos from Poseidon, the father of the Minotaur. It was Heracles’ first task set outside of the Peloponnesos, taking him south to the island of Crete. Heracles politely turned down the offers of help he received from Minos and single-handedly captured the bull and brought it back to Tiryns, where Eurystheus set it free again. It then wandered through Greece, settling in and terrorizing the area around Marathon, whereupon it became known as the Marathonian Bull. It was later captured by Theseus, who took it to Athens for sacrifice to Athene.
8. To capture the man-eating mares of Dio-medes, a task that was to take Heracles to Thrace. There the king of the Bistones, Diomedes, kept the four mares, which fed on human flesh. On his way to Thrace Heracles descended into the Underworld and persuaded Hades to return Alcestis to Admetus. Arriving in Thrace, Heracles, along with a few companions, drove the mares down to the sea, where they were left in the charge of Abderus while Heracles returned to repel the Bistones. However, Abderus was soon eaten by the horses, whereupon Heracles cured them of their man-eating trait by killing Diomedes and feeding him to them. He then returned to Tiryns with the mares before releasing them on Mount Olympus, where they were killed by wild beasts.
9. To fetch for Admete, the daughter of Eurystheus, the girdle of Hippolyte, a gift to the Amazon queen from Ares. Heracles was accompanied on this expedition, which took him to the land of the Amazons—who were said to live to the northeast on the southern shore of the Black Sea—by Telamon and Theseus. Hippolyte agreed to give Heracles her girdle, but Hera roused the Amazon warriors, who attacked them, and in the ensuing fray Hippolyte was killed along with many other Amazon leaders. It was on this expedition that Theseus abducted Antiope. On their return to Tiryns the party stopped at Troy, which was at that time being ravaged by a monster sent by Poseidon, as Laomedon, king of Troy, had refused to pay Poseidon and Apollo for building the city walls. The monster could only be appeased by the sacrifice of Hesione, Laomedon’s daughter, but Heracles killed it, thereby rescuing Hesione. Laomedon refused to reward Heracles with the white horses he had received from Zeus in exchange for Ganymede, thus storing up more trouble for himself later on.
10. To fetch, without making either demand or payment, the cattle of the three-bodied, three-headed King Geryon, who lived far to the west on the island of Erytheia. There the herd was guarded by the herdsman Eurytion, a son of Ares, and his two-headed dog, Orthros, another of the monstrous offspring of Typhon and Echidne. To reach the land of Geryon, Heracles was lent a golden bowl or vessel by Helios, the loan being made as a mark of Helios’s respect after Heracles had shot at him when he shone too brightly. Having reached his objective, Heracles killed Eurytion and Orthros with his wild olive club and made off with the cattle. When Geryon chased him, Heracles killed him as well. He returned the golden vessel to Helios when he first landed at Tartessus in Spain.
To mark his achievement, Heracles erected two pillars, Calpe and Abyla, at the western end of the Mediterranean. The Pillars of Heracles are said to lie on either side of the Strait of Gibraltar, though some sources say that they were originally joined, Heracles parting them to allow the waters of the Atlantic Ocean to mingle with those of the Mediterranean Sea. Another, more suspect story says that Heracles actually formed the Mediterranean when he parted the isthmus, which enclosed the bowl that was to be filled with water from the Atlantic. Heracles now traveled back to Tiryns, following the northern coastline of the Mediterranean. Near Marseilles he was attacked by the Ligurians but beat them off with huge stones, which still lie scattered on the plain around Marseilles. He then traveled down Italy, where, according to a later, Roman tradition he fought with and dispatched the giant Cacus, who lived in a cave near the future site of Rome. One of the cattle escaped from his care near Rhegium and fled to western Sicily, where it was commandeered by King Eryx. Heracles followed it, fought and killed Eryx, and then made his way back to Eurystheus.
11. To fetch the golden apples of the Hesperides, which grew on a tree that Hera had received from Ge at her wedding, and which she had planted in a garden on the slopes of Mount Atlas. There the tree was guarded by the Hesperides and the dragon Ladon, yet another of the offspring of Typhon and Echidne. As the actual location of the garden was not easy to find, Nereus, or Proteus, was consulted, but he, as was the way of sea gods, forced Heracles to wrestle him before he would divulge the necessary information. During the course of this contest Nereus, or Proteus, changed his form many times, but Heracles resolutely held on, and finally the sea god gave him what he required. The Hesperides were to be found in a land beyond the River Oceanus. To travel there Heracles followed a somewhat curious route that initially led him to the Caucasus, where he released the Titan Prometheus from his bonds; some say Heracles took further advice from Prometheus. The arrow Heracles used to shoot the vulture that was eternally feeding on Prometheus’s liver was placed in the heavens as the constellation Sagitta. The route then took him to the northern African coast. In the course of his journey Heracles had several adventures. He was very nearly sacrificed in Egypt by King Busiris, but Heracles killed him at the eleventh hour and so managed to escape. He then went on to wrestle the giant Antaeus, a contest that he won by lifting Antaeus from the ground.
Some sources say that the release of Prometheus, his eleventh-hour escape from Busiris, and his fight with Antaeus happened during his return to Tiryns after he had completed this eleventh labor. At the very edge of the world he found Atlas performing his eternal task—holding up the sky. Heracles persuaded the giant to fetch the apples for him while he held up the sky in his place. Atlas was only too happy to oblige, for he saw an opportunity to be rid of the task forever. When he returned he suggested that he should take the apples to Eurystheus for Heracles, but Heracles saw through the ruse and, pretending to agree, had Atlas once more take the sky while he adjusted his position. With Atlas once again burdened, Heracles snatched the apples and hurried back to Tiryns, leaving the hapless Atlas at his eternal task. Eurystheus made a gift of the apples to Heracles, who dedicated them to Athene. She then returned them to their rightful place.
12. To fetch Cerberus, the three-headed watchdog of the Underworld. In preparation for this, the most difficult of his labors, Heracles had himself initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries by Eumolpus or Mu-saeus. Then, guided by Hermes and Athene, he descended into the Underworld from Taenarum in Laconia, where after having freed Theseus and killed one of Hades’ cattle he persuaded Hades to let him "borrow" Cerberus on the proviso that he could capture the terrible beast without using any weapon. Heracles did so by simply grabbing Cerberus by the throat. When Heracles returned to Tiryns, Eurystheus was, as usual, so terrified that he ordered Heracles to immediately return the hound. Having done so, Heracles was freed from his obligation to Eurystheus, the last labor having been completed.
Upon leaving Tiryns, Heracles returned to Thebes and gave his wife, Megara, to his nephew, Iolaus. Heracles then heard that his friend Eurytus, king of Oechalia, was offering his daughter, Iole, as the prize in an archery contest to any man who could surpass him and his sons. Heracles won it with ease, but Eurytus refused the prize because Heracles had killed his own children, a position supported by all of Eurytus’s children. Heracles stole his cattle instead. Iphitus, Eurytus’s brother, invited Heracles to join the search for the cattle, not knowing that it was Heracles who had stolen them. When Iphitus became suspicious Heracles killed him by throwing him from a rooftop, a crime for which he was afflicted by a strange disease. He was purified by Deiphobus at Amyclae, but still the illness would not leave him, so he went to consult the Delphic Oracle. However, the Pythia refused to speak to him, so Heracles stole the tripod upon which the Pythia sat and fought Apollo for it. Their fight was broken up by Zeus with one of his thunderbolts. The Pythia now informed Heracles that to expiate his crime he must sell himself into slavery and give the price he received to the sons of Iphitus.
Heracles complied and was sold by Hermes to become the slave to Omphale, widow of Tmolus and the queen of Lydia. According to some, he swapped his clothes with the queen for the period of his enslavement, which varies between one and three years. While serving her he captured Cercopes, killed a snake that was terrorizing the lands around the River Sangarius, and killed the aggressive farmer Syleus, who forced strangers to work in his vineyard. Some authorities consider that
Heracles is, in his guise as the killer of the snake of Sangarius, depicted in the constellation Ophiuchus, though this is more usually associated with Asclepios.
Having served his years with Omphale, Heracles set out to avenge himself on those who had previously insulted him. Raising an army, and accompanied by Telamon, he marched against Troy. There he killed Laomedon and seized Hesione, giving her to Telamon, by whom she became the mother of Teucer. She did, however, secure the release of her brother, Podarces, by making a gift to Heracles, after which Podarces took the new name Priam.
Leaving Troy, Heracles’ ships were driven by foul winds—sent by the ever-hostile Hera—to Cos. There Heracles captured the city of Meropes, after which the gods sent Athene to bring him to Phlegra to help them in their war against the giants, which was fought on two fronts—on Earth and in Olympus. With his help—Heracles discovered a magic herb of invulnerability and always struck the final blow—they won this war, a remarkable achievement for Heracles, who was, after all, yet a mere mortal. He now raised another army, this time against Augeias, but was surprisingly defeated, due mainly to the participation of the Molionidae, the twin warrior-sons of Actor, who fought on the side of Augeias. Heracles later shot them with his poisoned arrows at Cleonae, and a second expedition mounted against Augeias was successful, though some sources say that Heracles spared Augeias.
Having destroyed Augeias, his sons, and his allies Heracles established the Olympic Games in celebration, fetching from the source of the River Danube the wild olive tree, its leaves to crown the victor. He then went on to destroy Pylos, which had fought on the side of Elis, killing Neleus and his sons, including Periclymenus (who had disguised himself as an eagle), but sparing Nestor. Heracles then attacked Hippocoon of Sparta with the help of Cepheus and his 20 sons. Having killed Hippocoon and all his sons, he restored Tyndareus to the throne of Sparta. He then seduced Auge, daughter of Aleus, king of Tegea, and she became the mother of Telephus. In the battle with Sparta, Cepheus and his sons were killed, but victory was ensured when Heracles killed Hippocoon.
After four years in Arcadia, Heracles traveled to Aetolia, and there fell in love with Deianeira, the daughter of Oeneus, king of Calydon and Pleuron. He fought with Achelous, the mighty river god son of Oceanos and Tethys, her other suitor, and won the right to her hand. He then sent Iolaus as the leader of his sons by the daughters of Thespius to settle in Sardinia. Three years later, at a banquet, he accidentally killed Oeneus’s cupbearer, Eunomus, and took his wife and their son Hyllus into voluntary exile.
While they were crossing the River Evenus the centaur Nessus, who was carrying Deianeira on his back, tried to run off with her. Heracles shot him through the breast with one of his poisoned arrows, and as Nessus lay dying the centaur gave Deianeira some of his poisoned blood, saying that it would act as a charm if Heracles should ever be unfaithful to her.
Traveling north Heracles did battle with Cycnus before he left Deianeira in Trachis while he went back to take Iole from Eurytus. Heracles killed Eurytus and all his family and sent Iole to Deianeira in Trachis while he visited Caenum in Euboea to prepare a thanksgiving to Zeus, sending Lichas to Deianeira to fetch a white robe to wear at the ceremony. Fearful that she might lose Heracles to Iole, Deianeira smeared some of Nessus’s blood onto the shirt. It proved deadly, for when Heracles put on the shirt it burned away his flesh. Trying to remove the shirt simply tore great chunks of his skin away with it. Dying an agonizingly slow death, Heracles threw Lichas into the sea and then returned to Trachis. When Deianeira realized what she had unwittingly done, she hanged herself. Heracles then took his son, Hyllus, to Mount Oeta and there, having made him promise to marry Iole, instructed him to build a funeral pyre. However, when he had climbed onto it, nobody could be persuaded to light it until Philoctetes agreed to do so. Heracles gave Philoctetes his bow and arrows in grateful thanks. The fire engulfed Heracles and he ascended to Olympus, thunderbolts from Zeus demolishing the pyre. Deified at last as was his right, and finally reconciled with Hera, Heracles married her daughter, Hebe.
Eurystheus was now determined to expel Heracles’ children from Greece. They found sanctuary in Athens, but Eurystheus attacked the city. He was, however, resisted by Theseus (or by his son, Demophoon), Iolaus, and Hyllus. An oracle foretold that Eurystheus would be defeated only if one of Heracles’ children should be sacrificed. Macaria, his daughter, willingly took her own life. Eurystheus was then duly defeated by either Iolaus or Hyllus, his mortal wound being inflicted by Alcmene.
The Heracleian cult was widespread in Greece, and, unlike other heroes, for obvious reasons, he has no single tomb. Rather he had a special type of heroon that consisted of a quadrilateral stone base supporting four pillars, one at each corner, the front one surmounted by a pediment, the space between them unroofed. This feature was especially common at Sicyon. He had but a few festivals and received none of the cult status of the Olympian deities. After his apotheosis, Heracles was identified with the gods Melqart of Tyre and Sandan of Tarsus, as both of these cults involved the ritual burning of images on a funeral pyre. Images of Heracles are to be found as far east as Persia, but he remains, without doubt, a character, whether mortal or god, of Greek derivation who later was absorbed almost unaltered into the Roman tradition, that tradition adding just minute detail to his already complex and complete life.
Heracles, Pillars of Greco-Roman Two rocks, identified with Abyla and Calpe, on either side of the Strait of Gibraltar that were supposedly set up as markers of the western limit of the known world by Heracles during the course of his tenth labor. One dubious story says that the two rocks were originally connected, forming an isthmus that cut across the entrance of the Mediterranean Sea joining Africa to Europe. Heracles was said to have split them apart to form the pillars named in his honor, thus allowing the waters of the Atlantic Ocean to mingle with those of the Mediterranean. An even more suspect story says that it was this division of the isthmus that formed the Mediterranean itself.
Heracles, 12 Great Labors of Greco-Roman The 12 Great Labors undertaken by Heracles for Eurystheus. The order in which the labors was undertaken sometimes varies, though the labors themselves remain constant. For a full description of the 12 labors see the entry for Heracles.
Heracl(e)idae
Collective name for the children of Heracles. They and their grandmother, Alcmene, where expelled from Tiryns and all other regions of Greece by Eurystheus, though they managed to find refuge in Athens (some say Marathon). Eurystheus attacked and was resisted by Theseus (or his son, Demophoon), Iolaus, and Hyllus. An oracle demanded the sacrifice of one of Heracles’ children in order to secure the safety of Athens. Macaria, Heracles’ daughter, committed suicide, and Eurystheus was duly defeated, being finally dispatched by Alcmene.
Nonetheless, the Heracleidae were driven out of the Peloponnesos and consulted the Delphic Oracle, which gave them the obscure instruction to try again at the third harvest. Literal translation of this prophesy failed, for three years later Hyllus attempted to return to the Peloponnesos. He was killed, and the remaining Heracleidae retreated to Doris. The oracle was finally understood by the great-grandsons—they were the third harvest. This time when they invaded the Peloponnesos they were successful, killing Tisamenus, Orestes’ successor. Argos fell to Temenus, Messenia to Cresphontes, and Laconia to the sons of Aristodemus. They gave Elis away and left the Arcadians their own land untouched.
This legend clearly derives from the conquest of the Achaeans by later invaders, though the so-called Dorian Invasion is now seen as a gradual seepage rather than a fullblown invasion. This succession of a new order to replace the Mycenaeans was known to the Greeks as the return of the Heracleidae.
Herce Romano-Etruscan The name given to Heracles by the Etruscans, with whom he was a most popular deity, the god of merchants and patron of military raids. He was also, somewhat curiously, considered as a chthonic fertility and water god.
