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Classics 2200 > Term 2 - Lec 9 (Heracles) > Flashcards

Term 2 - Lec 9 (Heracles) Flashcards

1
Q

What kind of hero is heracles?

A

a panhellenic hero

= different city states all laid some claim to relationship with the hero (i.e. came through the city etc.)

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2
Q

What hero is Heracles descended from?

A

Perseus

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3
Q

Genealogy of Perseus

A

Perseus + Andromeda –> 3 sons:

  • Alcaeus –> Amphitryon
  • Electryon –> Alkmene
  • Sthenelus

Alkmene –>
Heracles (Zeus) and Iphikles (Amphitryon)

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4
Q

How is Heracles conceived?

A
  • Zeus comes to Alkmene in disguise as her husband Amphitryon who’s away at battle and sleeps with her
  • Amphitryon also sleeps with Alkmene later that night
  • therefore, Alkmene gives birth to twins: Heracles (Zeus) and Iphikles (Amphitryon)
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5
Q

What kind of inheritance does Heracles have?

A

both divine and political (because a son of Zeus but also technically a son of Amphitryon)

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6
Q

What is Zeus’ oath? How does Hera interfere?

A

The child who’s born on that day will inherit the crown

Hera delays the labour of Alkmene and pushes forward the labour of Sthenelus, therefore Eurystheus is born first and fulfills Zeus’ oath and becomes king

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7
Q

How does Hera try to kill the newborn twins?

A

sets 2 snakes into the twin’s nursery when they’re born

Heracles stranger two snakes in each hand while his brother screams in terror (therefore early demonstration of his super powers)

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8
Q

What does Zeus try to do to reconcile Heracles with Hera?

What etiological explanation does this lead to?

A
  • he puts Heracles against sleeping Hera’s breast so he can nurse at the breast of a goddess
  • Hera realizes and pushes Heracles away, and milk spurts out

–> Milky Way etiology

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9
Q

What are the two ways that Hera interferes in the early life of Heracles (out of jealousy)?

A
  1. delaying labour with Heracles

2. trying to kill the twins with snakes

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10
Q

How was Heracles educated? What struggles were faced during his education?

A
  1. By his music teacher LINUS
    - but he accidentally kills him and is therefore sent away by his parents to…
  2. By centaur CHIRON
    - educated in the wilderness
    - chiron = only centaur who’s wise; he’s also taught other heroes music/med/warfare etc
    - Heracles learns to be a skilled archer
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11
Q

Examples of his heroic appetites

A

SEXUAL APPETITE

  • slept with 50 daughters of Thespius (in one night or over 50 days) –> they all have sons of Heracles
  • just like his father

Huge capacity to EAT and DRINK

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12
Q

Heracle’s first tragic marriage?
How does he atone for this?

Which story is this described in?

A
  • first wife = Megara
  • driven mad by Hera, he thinks he’s defending his family against invaders and kills his wife/kids
  • he comes to senses and wants to commit suicide
  • Amphitryon tells him instead to go to Oracle and find out how to atone
  • atones via serving his cousin, King Eurystheus (12 labours)
  • described in Euripides’ Herakles
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13
Q

How does he atone for his crime of domestic violence?

What does he gain through this atonement?

A
  • by serving his cousin King Eurystheus
  • performs 12 labours = each is an impossible task
  • first 6 are local, then he goes further and further until databases
  • results in confrontations with death and taming of nature
  • makes the world safer through this + gains kleos (technically all this glory is due to Hera –> hera-kleos)
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14
Q

List the 12 labours

A
  1. Killing Nemean Lion
  2. Killing Hydra
  3. Capturing Golden/Cerynitian Hind
  4. Capturing Erymanthian boar
  5. Cleaning Augean Stables
  6. Removing Stymphalian birds
  7. Capturing Cretan Bull
  8. Capturing Thracian horses
  9. Bringing back Girdle (belt) of Hippolyte
  10. Bringing back Cattle of Geryon
  11. Bringing back Gold Apples of the Hesperides
  12. Capturing Cereberus
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15
Q

How does Heracles slay the Nemean lion?

What weapon and trademark does he gain through this labour?

A
  • no weapon can penetrate his skin
  • Heracles wrestles and strangles the lion with his bare hands
  • uses lion’s claws to skin it
  • wears the skin of the lion as a cloak
    (way of manifesting his animal nature)
  • makes his famous club at this point
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16
Q

How does he kill the Hydra?

What weapon does he gain through this labour?

A
  • hydra = remale, reptilian creature
  • as Heracles cuts off a head, he gets a friend to cauterize it so another head can’t grow in
  • uses a sickle not knife to cut body part of a child of earth-mother
  • he takes arrows and dips them into blood of Hydra (lethal)
17
Q

How does Heracles capture the Cerynitian Hind?

A

= a golden horn deer sacred to Artemis and Heracles must break a horn off of it
- because sacred to Artemis, has to reconcile himself with Artemis and win her favour (not easy)

–> Therefore demonstrate ability to find favour with difficult goddess

18
Q

How does Heracles remove the Stymphalian birds?

A
  • feathers fall off like arrows –> death and destruction
  • Heracles uses a sling shot
  • rouses the birds with little percussion instruments associated with mother goddess of the East
    (he was initiated into her cult - therefore once again, gained favour of female goddess for a quest)
19
Q

How does Heracles bring back the girdle of Hippolyte?

A
  • Hippolyte = Amazon queen
  • getting her girdle from her means that he’s killed her or slept with her (therefore proves mastery of her)
  • she gives it to him willingly (but ends up being killed by Heracles later due to Hera’s interference)
20
Q

How does Heracles retrieve the cattle of Geryon?

A
  • Geryon = monster with 3x as many of things: i.e. 3 heads, 3 shields etc.
  • herdsman of the dead
  • Heracles goes into the underworld to battle for this –> “travels to the land where the sun sets”
  • KATABASIS
21
Q

How does Heracles capture Cerberus?

A
  • cerberus = multiple-headed hound of Hades, guards the gates of Hell
  • KATABASIS
22
Q

During which two quests does Heracles go through databases?

A
  1. bringing back cattle of Geryon

2. capturing Cerberus

23
Q

What is the cause for Heracle’s second atonement?

How did he atone?

A
  • the treacherous murder of a rival
  • enslavement to Omphale (a foreign queen) –> this is very embarrassing
  • she is seen wearing the lions skin and club, which is representative of Heracles = “ownership”
24
Q

Heracles second marriage?
How was it tragic?

Who wrote about this?

A
  • to Deianeira = “man-destroyer”
  • they’re crossing a river, pays a centaur Nessus to ferry Deianeira across the river
  • in the middle of the river, Nessus assaults her, and Heracles turns around and shoots Nessus after hearing her scream
  • Nessus’ trick: he apologizes and in return tells her to take a vial of his blood as a ‘love potion’ if she ever needs to win back Heracle’s love
  • Deianeira + Heracles live happily for many years
  • years later, heracles destroys city Oichalia for the love of princess Iole for her hand in marriage, but Iole’s father/sons disagree —> therefore Heracles takes her captive instead
  • Deianeira learns this and makes a robe with her own hands and rubs the love potion onto it
  • Heracles puts the robe on, and it melts/burns his skin when sun touches it (because blood of Nessus was mixed with potion from lethal Hydra arrow)
  • Deianeira commits suicide via sword after (because it was unintentional murder)
  • -> HERACLES PAST COMING BACK/REPEATING AT HIM
  • -> END OF HIS LIFE ON EARTH
  • Sophocles wrote about this in Women of Trachis
25
Q

What is Apotheosis? How did Heracles achieve this?

A

= becoming a god

  • in agony while dying, Heracles asks his son to burn him on a funeral pyre
  • his son refuses
  • Heracles finds another man (Philoktetes) to do this in return for Heracle’s bow/arrow
  • burned alive on the pyre, he ascends to olympus
26
Q

What is Heracles fate on Olympus?

A
  • reconciled with Hera

- given Hebe (Youth) as his bride –> therefore gets immortality and eternal youth

27
Q

Who are Heracles’ three wives?

A
  1. Megara
  2. Deianeira (‘man-destroyer’)
  3. Hebe (Youth)

Classics 2200 (17 decks)

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