searching for the labours of

hercules 2nd Short-term

student exchange

some things to

about our hero

Who was heracles?

Heracles was the son of Zeus by Alcmene of Thebes in Boeotia, and the favourite of his father.

His stepfather was Amphitryon. Amphitryon was the son of Alcaeus, the son of Perseus, and Alcmene was a grand-daughter of Perseus. So Heracles belonged to the family of Perseus.

Alcmene was King Electrion´s

daughter.While Amphitryon, her husband, was absent from Thebes, Zeus one night, to which he gave the duration of three other nights, visited Alcmene, and assuming the appearance of Amphitryon, he seduced her and she became pregnant.

Spanish word ANFITRIÓN : HOST

Alcmene brought into the world two boys, Heracles, the son of Zeus, and Iphicles, the son of Amphitryon, who was one night younger than Heracles.

HÉRCULES as a child killing the serpents s. II d.C.

Roma, Musei Capitolini

Heracles was only a few months old when Hera sent two serpents into the apartment where Heracles and his brother Iphicles were sleeping, but the former killed the serpents with his own hands. Heracles was brought up at Thebes.

The Birth of the Milky Way

Though loved and protected by his father, he was repudiated by Zeus´ wife,

HERA. To insure his son's immortality, ZEUS placed him in the goddess's arms so that he could suckle while she was sleeping next to her chariot pulled by peacocks. When, in his enthusiasm, Hercules bites her, HERA awakens and brusquely pulls him away from her. The milk spilling out of her breast turned into the Milky Way. On the left, ZEUS looks on. He is identified by his eagle and lightening bolts.

RUBENS (1577-1640)

The Origin of the Milky Way.

El Prado Museum, Madrid

His childhood

Hercules’ youth was spent in the hands of the best teachers in Greece. His father taught him to ride chariots and tame horses. His music teacher was Linus, son of Apollo, although Hercules’ quick temper was demonstrated when he killed Linus with a blow from his stool (or lute).

Being charged with murder, Heracles exculpated himself by saying that the deed was done in self-defence. He was then sent to live with centaurs in the mountains and there he came into contact with the wise centaur Chiron.

Heracles attacks Lino, his music teacher

(c. 480 a.C.)

Why was he punished to do the labours?

In a fit of madness, induced by Hera, he killed his own children by Megara and two of Iphicles. In his grief he sentenced himself to exile.He then consulted the oracle of Delphi as to where he should settle. The Pythia first called him by the name of Heracles (glory of Hera)-- his name had been Alcides or Alcaeus,--and ordered him to serve Eurystheus, the king of Tiryns and Mycenae for the space of twelve years, after which he should become immortal.

Asteas Painter, 4th century

BC Madrid Museum

Mycenae

Reconstruction Aerial view

10 or 12 labours? Eurystheus, who had become King in his stead and was his enemy, ordered him to carry out ten tasks . Heracles successfully carried them all out, but Eurystheus considered that two of the tasks had been failed because Heracles had been helped, and allocated two more, which Heracles also completed, making 12.

Mosaic with the Labours of Hercules,

3rd Century AD,

National Archaeological Museum , Madrid

Δωδέκαθλος

δώδεκα (12): dodecagon,

dodecasyllable…

ἀθλητής , from ἀθλέω “compete

for a prize”, from ἆθλον , “prize”)

or ἆθλος ( “competition”):

Athlete, athletics…

His struggles made Hercules the perfect embodiment of an idea the Greeks called pathos (any kind of passion,

feeling), the experience of virtuous struggle and suffering which would lead to fame and, in Hercules' case,

immortality.

antipathy

apathy

Empathy

pathetic

Sympathy

telepathy

Homeopathy

osteopathy

Psychomachia

Ψυχομαχία psychomachy conflict of the

soul

Herakles Between Virtue And Vice

Emmanuel Michel Benner

After killing his music tutor Linus with a lyre, Hercules was sent to take care of cattle on a mountain by Amphitryon. Here, according to an allegorical parable, "The Choice of Heracles", invented by the sophist Prodicus (ca. 400 BCE), he was visited by two nymphs - Pleasure and Virtue - who offered him a choice between a pleasant and easy life or a severe but glorious life: he chose the latter.

The Choice of Hercules , Annibale Carracci, 1596

Capodimonte Gallery, Naples

It is also one of the most common conventional themes in literature, and is sometimes considered to be a universal part of the human condition: the inner struggle in characters (and by extension, humans in reality) between good and evil. Joseph Conrad defined all humans as having an "inner evil" or Heart of Darkness in his novel of the same name.

Some of the locations across

Greece that Heracles

visited

Some of the places in Europe

mentioned in the stories of Hercules

1. The fight with the Nemean lion.

2. Fights against the Lernean hydra.

3. The stag of Ceryneia in Arcadia.

4. The Erymanthian boar.

Erymanthos Ερύμανθος

also Olonos (Ωλονός)

is a mountain range in the southern part of Achaea and the northeastern part of Elis. With an elevation of 2,224 meters, it is the fourth-tallest mountain in the Peloponnese peninsula..

On his way to hunt the boar, Hercules stopped to visit his friend Pholus, who was a centaur and lived in a cave near Mount Erymanthus. Chiron was the leader of the Centaurs. These creatures - half-man, half-horse were aggressive and warlike, Chiron and Pholus being the only exceptions.

HERAKLES DRIVING CENTAUROS CHARIOT

Musée du Louvre, Paris,

Attic Red Figure

Attributed to the Nikias Painter

ca 410 - 400 BC High Classical period

Heracles at Pholus',

520–510 BC.

After eating a good meal, and despite warnings from Pholus, Hercules opened a cask of wine belonging to all of the Centaurs. They got angry and furiously attacked Hercules but he managed to overcome them and chased them to Malea, the home of Chiron.

Engraving. Hercules fighting against the

Centaurs, Hans Sebald Beham,1542

Chiron was accidentally struck on the knee by one of Hercules' poisoned arrows. Hercules tried to help his friend, former master, but the wound would not heal, and Chiron seemed doomed to an eternal life of suffering, because he was inmortal. However Zeus agreed that Prometheus should take over Chiron's immortality, so the Centaur was freed from his agony and died.

He was then placed by Zeus in the heavens.

Chiron's name, Χείρων was derived from the Greek word for hand (χείρ), which also meant "skilled with the hands." The name was also closely associated in myth with kheirourgos or surgeon. (χείρ): hand quiropractor, quiromancy, Quirófano (surgery room)

While Hercules was gone, Pholus examining one of the poisonous arrows let it fall on his foot and died. So when Hercules returned, he found Pholus dead. He buried his centaur friend, and proceeded to hunt the boar.

CUP OF PHOLUS The drinking cup of the the centaur Pholos. It and its owner were placed amongst the stars as the adjacent constellations Crater and Centaurus. (Hyginus 2.38)

To gain advice on how to catch the boar, Chiron had told him to drive it into thick snow, which sets this Labour in mid-winter.

Having successfully caught the Boar, Heracles bound it and carried it back to Eurystheus.

Musée du Louvre, Paris,

Attic Black Figure

Shape: Amphora, Neck

Painter: Attributed to the Manner of

Lysippides Painter or to the Mastos Group

Date: ca 510 BC

A favourite subject for the vase-painters: Heracles delivers the Erymanthian boar to Eurystheus who cowers inside a buried pithos vase, begging Heracles to get rid of the beast. Athene observes the scene.

Pithos (Greek: πίθος ) is the Greek

name of a large storage container.

Here Hercules brings him the boar alive and Eurystheus hides in a bronze vase. He has a, opposite to Hercules, weak character.

Temple of Zeus, Olympia (ca. 468-456 BC), Reconstruction of Metope with the 12 labours of Heracles (Hercules).

5. The stables of Augeas.

The fifth Labor of Heracles was to clean the Augean stables. This task was intended to be both humiliating (rather than impressive, as had the previous labors) and impossible, since the livestock were divinely healthy (immortal) and therefore produced an enormous quantity of dung.

Augeas (or Augeias, Ancient Greek: Αύγείας), whose name means “bright”, was king of

Elis. Some say that Augeas was one of the Argonauts. He is best known for his stables, which housed the single greatest number of cattle in the country and had never been cleaned .

a British weekly magazine of humour and satire

Although this may seem a minor or less known work, the truth is that it has been represented in the most varied media, especially with a humorous or satirical purpose:

magazines…

Children´s drawings, illustrations

caricatures

Coins and stamps

Relief in Rome Detail of The Twelve Labours Roman mosaic from

Llíria (Valencia, Spain), 3rd century AD.

Heracles had a brilliant idea and succeeded by rerouting the rivers Alpheus and Peneus to wash out the filth.

Augeas was irate because he had promised Heracles one tenth of his cattle if the job was finished in one day. He refused to fulfill the agreement, and Heracles killed him after completing the task. Heracles gave his kingdom to Augeas’ son Phyleus, who had been exiled for supporting Heracles against his father.

According to the Odes of the poet Pindar, Heracles then founded the Olympic Games:

Ολυμπιακοί αγώνες, Olympiakoi Agones

“The games which by the ancient tomb of Pelops the mighty Heracles founded, after that he slew Kleatos, Poseidon’s godly son, and slew also Eurytos, that he might wrest from tyrannous Augeas against his will reward for service done.”

Temple of Zeus,

Olympia

(ca. 468-456 BC),

Reconstruction of

Metope

Herakles sacked the city of Elis and instituted the Olympic Games in honor of his father, Zeus. He taught men how to wrestle and measured out the stadium, or the length of the footrace. At the first Games Hercules was the only contestant ( Well a rather boring competition). This was possible for the running and throwing events but it was a problem for boxing or wrestling and Zeus who was present at this first Games finally entered the wrestling match against Hercules and they ended in a draw.

The Olympic stadium course length was over

192 meters or 600 Hercules foot lengths that

provides an idea of Hercules foot size. The

length of the stadium was said to be the

distance that he could run in one breath.

6. The Stymphalian birds

7. The Cretan bull

8. The mares of the Thracian Diomedes

The Mares of Diomedes, also called the Mares of Thrace, were four man-eating horses,called Podargos (the swift), Lampon (the shining), Xanthos (the yellow) and Deinos (the terrible).

Διομήδους ἵπποι, hippoi (horses)

hippocampus, hippodrome, hippogriff, hippology, hippopotamus,

The mares of Diomedes, John

Borglum 1904 Sculptor of Mount

Rushmore

Magnificent, wild, and

uncontrollable, they belonged

to the giant Diomedes , king

of Thrace, son of Ares and

Cyrene who lived on the

shores of the Black Sea.

Detail of The Twelve Labours Roman mosaic from Llíria

(Valencia, Spain), 3rd century AD.

Βουκέφαλος, Bucephalus de

βούς (bus), "bull" y κεφαλή

(kephalē), “head", Alexander

the Great's horse, was said to

be descendant from these

mares.

Bucephalos & Alexander the

Great statue in Edinburgh

The modern boundaries of Thrace in Bulgaria,

Greece and Turkey

Thrace Θρᾴκη

is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe, centered on the modern borders of Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey. As a geographical concept,the name comes from the Thracians, an ancient Indo-european people inhabiting Southeastern Europe.

Diomedes was king of the Bistones, a very warlike Thracian people and he fed his mares a diet of human flesh.

Temple of Zeus, Olympia (ca. 468-456 BC)

Reconstruction of Metope

According to Apollodorus, Hercules sailed with a band of volunteers across the Aegean to Bistonia. There he and his companions overpowered the grooms who were tending the horses, and drove them to the sea. But by the time he got there, the Bistones had realized what had happened, and they sent a band of soldiers to recapture the animals. To free himself to fight, Hercules entrusted the mares to a youth named Abderos.

But during his absence the boy was devoured. Herakles then fed the beasts with Diomedes, stilling their unnatural appetite with a meal of their master's flesh.

Heracles built the town of Abdera, in

honour of his unfortunate friend.

Abdera,Overall view of city gate from outside

Heracles returned to Mycenae, with

the horses which had become tame

after eating the flesh of their

master. The hero took the mares

back to Eurystheus, but Eurystheus

set them free.

The mares wandered around until eventually they came to Mount Olympos, the home of the gods, where they were eaten by wild beasts.

:

Όλυμπος

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson in Hercules, 2014

Euripides gives a different version of the story, which differs from Apollodorus's in that Hercules performed the labour alone, rather than with a band of followers. The four horses were joined to a chariot, and Hercules has to bring back the chariot as well as the horses.

9. The girdle of the queen of the Amazons

10. The oxen of Geryon in Erytheia

These ten labours were performed by Heracles in the space of eight years and one month; but as Eurystheus declared two of them to have been performed unlawfully,

he commanded him to accomplish two more.

11. The golden apples of the Hesperides

12. Cerberus.

Sebastiano Conca, Hercules Crowned by Fame

In ancient Greek Archaic and Classical art Hercules is often depicted carrying a knotted club, a quiver full of arrows, and wearing a lion’s pelt with sometimes also a lion’s head helmet. He is usually bearded (until the late 5th and 4th centuries BC when he is more often depicted beardless) and has very large eyes.

Representation in art

Glykon, reproduced from the original by Lysippos c. 216 AD (4th century BCE for original)

Location Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples

The earliest complete depiction of Hercules’ twelve labours is from the metopes of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia (completed in 457 BC).

In Greek Classical comic plays he is often somewhat parodied as a party reveller.

"Phlyax" scene (Zeus as

Amphitryo) — (source:

Vatican Museum). Aestas

painted a scene from a

phlyax farce: Zeus

carries a ladder in an

attempt to visit Alcmene,

wife of Amphitrion, who

appears at a window.

Hermes holds up a lamp

at the right.

On Greek coins (notably 5th century BCE Theban ones)

the infant Hercules strangling two snakes was a frequent design.

BOEOTIA. Thebes (c.425-395 B.C.), Silver

Stater, 11.80g. infant Herakles.

Hercules was particularly esteemed in Athens, which is reflected in his frequent depiction on Attic black- and red-figure pottery in a multitude of mythological scenes, but his presence on pottery from all over Greece is evidence of his popularity.

Heracles & the Nemean Lion, Athenian

red-figure stamnos C5th B.C., University

of Pennsylvania Museum

Heracles & the Hind, Athenian

black-figure

amphora C6th B.C., British

Museum

The promontories that flank the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar in Spain, the farthermost limits reached by

Heracles.

The Pillars of hercules

Hercules in coats of arms

Andalucía Cádiz

Hercules in coats of arms

España Melilla

Hercules and Theseus. House of warriors.Alcaraz, Albacete, Spain

Heracles in films and tv series

Arnold Schwarzenegger Steven Reeves

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Heracles gives name to many gyms

Mercedes Casuso Quesada DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICAL LANGUAGES

JANDULA HIGH SCHOOL, Andújar (Jaén) SPAIN