[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
consumed by fire.
The Iliad is full of references to flashing bronze armour.
193
Q-CD vol 12: KA, Ch. 16: Herakles and Heroes
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
HERAKLES AND HEROES
HERODOTUS writes about Egypt in the second book of his
history. In Chapters 42 and 43 he discusses Herakles, reporting
that the Egyptians regarded him as one of the twelve gods.
Greeks, he says, took the name Herakles from Egypt, that is,
those Greeks who gave the name Herakles to the son of
Amphitryon. Amphitryon and Alkmene were of Egyptian
parentage. Seventeen thousand years before the reign of
Amasis, the twelve gods came from the eight, and Herakles was
one of them. Such is the Egyptian story.
Herodotus went to Phoenicia and talked to the priests of the
temple of Herakles in Tyre, where there were two obelisks, or
pillars (stelae). The priests said that the temple was as old as
Tyre, at least 2,300 years.
At Thasos, he says, there was a temple dedicated to the Thasian
Herakles, built by the Phoenicians who founded Thasos after
sailing in search of Europe. This was five generations before
Herakles, son of Amphitryon, was born in Greece. There was a
story, he says, of Herakles allowing the Egyptians to bring him
in bonds to a sacrifice, and exerting his strength (alke) and
killing them all.
Herakles as hero is a link not only between god and man, but
between sky and earth. From the details of his life story we may
learn a little of what was happening in the sky in ancient times,
just as his links with Troy may help in the reconstruction of the
chronology of the times.
194
Q-CD vol 12: KA, Ch. 16: Herakles and Heroes
The birth stories contradict each other. We read that he was the
son of Amphitryo, but we also read that he was the son of Zeus,
and incurred thereby the jealousy of Hera. Later in his life she
sent Lyssa, madness, to afflict him, and epilepsy was known as
the nosos Herakleie, Herakles' sickness. The connection with
electricity accounts for the magnet being called the Heraklean
stone.
Although the Latin poet speaks of the 'ternox', the threefold
night of Herakles' conception, it was still thought necessary to
carry out an adoption process when Herakles was finally taken
up into heaven. Frazer, The Golden Bough, describes such rites.
Hera got into bed, clasped Herakles, pushed him down through
her clothes, and let him fall to the ground, imitating a real birth.
Such a procedure was usual in Greece.
Just before the annual festival of Herakles at Thebes, offerings
were made to Galinthias, daughter of Proteus and a priestess of
Hecate. She had been turned into a weasel by the Moirai, who
were annoyed that she had assisted at the birth of Herakles.
Mayani, in 'The Etruscans Begin to Speak', quotes an Etruscan
mirror engraving. Juno is giving the adult Herakles milk from
her breast. Mayani refers to a legend recorded by Diodorus
Siculus, that Juno once fed the infant Hercules.
While still in his cradle he killed two snakes sent by Hera.
When he grew up, he was given a choice between Pleasure and
Virtue. His choice of Virtue accords with his life of struggle
against monsters, and against death itself.
In a fit of madness he killed his wife, Megara, and his children.
The Delphic oracle told him to serve Eurystheus, lord of Tiryns,
for twelve years, and it was Eurystheus who imposed the twelve
labours. It was on his journey to fetch the golden apples of the
Hesperides that Herakles killed the Egyptian king Busiris. He
also killed the dragon Ladon that guarded the apples.
195
Q-CD vol 12: KA, Ch. 16: Herakles and Heroes
When the labours had been accomplished, Herakles led an
expedition against Laomedon, king of Troy, which was being
attacked by a monster sent by Poseidon. Laomedon promised
Herakles a gift of marvellous horses if he rid Troy of the
monster. When Herakles was successful, Laomedon refused the
reward. Herakles attacked and captured the city. His army
included Telamon, father of Ajax, and Peleus, father of
Achilles.
To revert to one of his labours: when he killed the Hydra, he
dipped his arrows in the blood, and was from then on able to
kill opponents with poisoned arrows. He used one to kill the
centaur Nessus. The dying centaur told Deianira, wife of
Herakles, that his blood, smeared on a garment, would win back
the love of Herakles if ever he was unfaithful. Herakles'
reputation was such that Deianira kept some of the blood.
When Herakles carried off Iole, Deianira sent him a robe
smeared with the blood of Nessus. Herakles suffered so terribly
from the burning of his flesh, that he had himself carried to the
top of Mount Oeta, and put on a funeral pyre. Poias, father of
Philoktetes, was persuaded, by the gift of his bow and arrows,
to light the pyre. Herakles was carried up to heaven, where he
married Hebe, daughter of Hera.
Euripides' play, The Madness of Herakles, puts the twelve
labours before the madness. Herakles is absent in Hades,
bringing up Kerberos. Kreon, king of Thebes and father of
Herakles' wife Megara, has been killed by Lykus (wolf) and his
Theban supporters. Lykus is about to kill Megara and the
children at the altar when Herakles returns just in time to save
them and kill Lykus.
Hera now sends Lyssa, madness, to attack Herakles, who kills
his family. When he recovers his sanity, Theseus takes him to
Athens for purification.
At line 1104, Athene hurls a stone to prevent Herakles killing
Amphitryon. The blow of the stone causes sleep. This stone
196
Q-CD vol 12: KA, Ch. 16: Herakles and Heroes
was named Sophronister, that which makes sane and wise. It
was exhibited in the Herakleion in Thebes.
In line 131 ff., we learn that nobody would buy Herakles as a
slave because he had fierce eyes that flashed fire. His children's
eyes have augai, flashing beams. He has golden hair.
Although Herakles was famous for his strength, he is described
by Pindar as not being a large man. Odysseus meets his ghost in
the underworld, Odyssey X1:601, Herakles himself being with
the immortals, married to Hebe.
To the first Herakles, the Egyptian god, belongs the story of the
infant killing the two snakes sent by Hera. He crossed the sea in
a cauldron. There may be here a reference to Okeanos, the
waters in the sky. To the same Herakles we must refer the story
that he broke off a horn of Achelous, and that he shot Hera in
the right breast, inflicting a wound that never healed.
To the second Herakles, son of Amphitryon, we can attribute
the attack on Troy. He also attacked Pylos (Pausanias III:26);
Nestor took refuge in Enope, or Gerenia when Herakles
captured Pylos.
Herakles and many other heroes at times seem to be quite
plausible historical characters, leaders of migrations and general
benefactors, yet at other times they rescue maidens in distress
by killing monsters, fly through the sky, and defy what are
thought to be the laws of nature and physics.
The confusion may be caused by the fact that terrestrial kings
and princes imitated the apparent behaviour of objects in the
sky, with a view to increasing their control over their subjects,
and found it helpful to blur the distinction between man and
god.
197
Q-CD vol 12: KA, Ch. 16: Herakles and Heroes
HERO WORSHIP
The cult of heroes differs from the worship of gods, but in the
case of Herakles there is some confusion.
Sacrifices were made to the shade of a hero at his tomb. Such a
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]