1 / 22

Chapter Fourteen, Lecture One

Chapter Fourteen, Lecture One. Heracles. Heracles. Strong man and primitive tough guy But still admired and venerated for “heroism” – dangerous tasks done with physical strength for a good purpose. Heracles. Panhellenic hero Adventures take him throughout the Greek world and beyond

kibo-nelson
Download Presentation

Chapter Fourteen, Lecture One

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Chapter Fourteen, Lecture One Heracles

  2. Heracles • Strong man and primitive tough guy • But still admired and venerated for “heroism” – dangerous tasks done with physical strength for a good purpose

  3. Heracles • Panhellenic hero • Adventures take him throughout the Greek world and beyond • Principal hero for colonists • “Washington slept here” • Enormous body of myth and tales • Complete picture must be pieced together from many sources

  4. The Birth of Heracles

  5. The Birth of Heracles • Perseus • King of Tiryns and founded Mycenae • Electryon • Alcaeus • Sthenelus

  6. The Birth of Heracles • Electryon (Mycenae) • Nine sons • Alcmena • Alcaeus • Amphitryon • Sthenelus • Eurystheus

  7. The Birth of Heracles • Pirates kill all but one of Electryon’s sons. • Prepares a campaign against them • Gives Amphitryon Alcmena to watch over • But he and Amphitryon get into a fight and Amphitryon kills him. • Amphitryon escapes to Thebes with Alcmena and marries her.

  8. The Birth of Heracles • Alcmena won’t have sex with him until Amphitryon avenges the death of her brothers. • Meanwhile, Zeus sneaks in. • Amphitryon comes later. • Thus, there are divine and human seed in her and she gives birth to twins. • Heracles (Alcides) • Iphicles

  9. The Birth of Heracles • Zeus’s boast about Eileithyia delivering a ruler on that day • Hera holds up his birth and advances Eurystheus’s birth • Ovid • Galanthis untangles Eileithyia through a trick.

  10. Twin and Divine Births

  11. Twin and Divine Births • Twins viewed with superstition • Simultaneous intercourse with divine and mortal male from Egypt and widespread • Ammun and Ahmes, wife of Tutmosis, I => Hatshepsut

  12. Heracles’s Youthful Deeds

  13. Madness and Murder

  14. Madness and Murder • Married to Megara, daughter of Creon, the new king of Thebes • Driven mad by Hera and kills Megara and their three children • As punishment, Heracles must serve Eurystheus, his cousin. • In Euripides’s play, the murders take place after the labors (athloi).

  15. The Twelve Labors

  16. The Twelve Labors

  17. Other tasks interspersed with them: the Side-Deeds

  18. Side-Deeds

  19. Observations: The Twelve Labors

  20. Observations • Like Gilgamesh, struggles against beasts and journeys to the land of the dead • When did labors become organized into twelve? • Not in Hesiod • Perhaps in 470 BC on the Temple of Zeus at Olympia • 12 metopes available

  21. Observations • Labors grouped into thematic units • Early adventures around Mycenae • Six of the first seven largely against animals • The Augean stables the exception • Later adventure farther out, and final adventures in the underworld • Popular with Greeks living abroad, Sicily and Italy in particular

  22. Next Lecture

More Related