Herakles: PanHellenic Hero Flashcards
Describe Herakles’ family tree
Why was Herakles persecuted by Hera as an infant?
What does she do?
- Zeus’ oath: the next child born of his line would rule Argos
- Hera is angry and delays the labour of Alkmene, and brings on the labour of Sthenclus
- Still of his line as Perseus is her father
- Eurystheus is born and becomes king of Argos
- Hera is angry and delays the labour of Alkmene, and brings on the labour of Sthenclus
- Hera sends 2 snakes into Herakles and Iphinkles nursery, but Herakles strangles them
- Zeus wants to create a bond between Herakles and Hera so he makes Hera breast feed him
- Hera pushes the infant away and milk spills out creating the milky way
Describe Herakles’ education
- Herakles is bad at music and kills his music teacher Linus when scolded
- He is sent to the wilderness to be educated by Chiron (a wise centaur)
- He becomes a skilled archer
Describe Herakles’ heroic appetites and his first wife
- Sleeps with the 50 daughters of Thespius, they all give birth
- Amazing capacity to eat and drink
Tragedy:
- First wife Megara and children who he kills (deluded into believing attackers are coming by Hera)
- He wants to kill himself but his father says consult the oracle at Delphi
What does the oracle tell Herakles?
- Oracle says he must atone by serving his cousin (king of Argos) Eurystheus
- Euryhstheus is weak and afraid of Herakles
- He sends him on 12 labours designed to kill him
- Through the labours he wins glory (“Hera-kleos”)
Describe the Nemean lion labour
- Supernatural unbreakable skin
- Herakles wrestles the lion and skins it with its own claw
- He makes it into a cloak
Describe the Hydra labour
Cuts heads off with sickle
Friend cauterizes stump with fire to prevent regrowth
Describe the Cerynitian hind labour
Sacred to Artemis, needed her permission to kill it (deer-like creature)
Describe the Erymanthian boar labour
Close to his home, heroic to kill them as they destroy crops
Describe the Stymphalian birds labour
- Pooped a lot
- Feathers like knives
- Killed with a slingshot or bow
Describe the Amazon Queen labour
- Tasked with bringing back her belt
- Women in battle armour
- This labour re-established patriarchy
Describe the Geryon labour
- Three headed monster
- Needed to obtain cattle guarded by it
Describe the last labour
Tasked with bringing back Cerberus from the underworld, last of his tasks
Cured his miasma
How was Herakles enslaved?
- Herakles uses deception to kill a rival
- He was fighting over horses
- Deception incurs miasma
- He atones for the crime and cures his miasma by becoming a slave to Omphale, a foreign queen
- This is humiliating because foreigners & women had less status
What happened with Herakles second marriage?
- Deianeira (“man destroyer”)
- A centaur, Nessus, offers to carry her across a river but he attempts to assault her
- Killed by Herakles with an arrow dipped in Hydra blood
- Nessus’ trick: “take my blood as a love potion”
- Later, Herakles sacks Oichalia because he falls in love with princess Iole but her father refused his offer
- To keep Herakles faithful, Deianeira dips the cloak she made him in the love potion
- When the blood comes in contact with the sun Herakles melts alive and is in so much pain that he requests to be burned alive
- Deianeira kill herself
Describe Herakles’ apotheosis
Apotheosis: becoming immortal
- Herakles is burned alive on a funeral pyre
- His mortal elements are burned away and he is granted immortality (only known hero to do this)
- He ascends to Olympus, reconciles with Hera and is given Hebe (Youth) as his bride
- 3rd and final marriage
