Right: Roman bronze statuette of infant Herakles wrestling snakes. Ephesus, 1st-3rd century CE.
© The Trustees of the British Museum / (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), background removed.
Herakles is the child of Zeus and the mortal Alkmene. Alkmene’s mortal husband was Amphitryon, and according to Apollodorus, they were originally from Argos on the Peloponnesus. Before Herakles was conceived, however, Amphitryon and Alkmene were banished from Argos and resettled at Thebes, a kingdom in central Greece (Boeotia). This shift is significant because it spreads the influence on, and claims to, Herakles’ myths throughout most of mainland Greece, from the Peloponnesus to Boeotia.
Image: MaryroseB54 / Wikimedia Commons Copyright: CC-4.
Argos is located in the northeastern quadrant of the Peloponnesus and was the center of power on the southern Greek mainland in myth and, as far as we can tell, history.
Boeotia is the tribal area in which the polis of Thebes was located in central mainland Greece. Thebes was a dominant polis in central Greece, portrayed as a rival with Athens from myth to the Classical era.
Amphitryon was a hero in his own right and was engaged in quests to cleanse the area of a “Cadmeian Fox” that Apollodorus describes as “a savage beast [that] was devastating the Cadmeia” (Cadmeia is the area around Thebes; Thebes was founded by Cadmos). Amphitryon then led an expedition of local heroes against the kingdom of Taphos, which could not be taken by force, but the princess of the Taphians, Comaitho, fell in love with Amphitryon and slew her father, according to Apollodorus:
Comaitho fell in love with Amphitryon [and] plucked the golden hair from her father’s head [killing him]. After Pteralaos died, Amphitryoon conquered all of the islands. He killed Comaitho and sailed off to Thebes with the plunder. He gave the islands to Heleios and Cephalos [his allies] who settled there and founded cities named after themselves. [1]
This episode ostensibly provides a reason for Amphitryon’s absence when Zeus impregnated Alkmene. However, it is instructive for us as it establishes what will become a familiar plot of heroic exploits in Greek myths:
Number 1: Slaying the savage threat to human civilization is a common thread in all of the hero stories, usually in the literal slaying of a savage beast. It is also accomplished figuratively by slaying barbarians and/or people who violate laws of human civilization – most commonly the laws of xenia (guest-friendship, hospitality to strangers). Almost all of the creatures Herakles slays in the 12 labors are savage beasts that prevent human civilization from utilizing the land that the beasts occupy. Perseus slays Medusa, a monstrous gorgon that turned men into stone, literally saved the kingdom of Aetheopia by slaying the ketos (sea-monster), and then brought justice to the duplicitous king of Seriphos. Theseus slew a handful of brigands on his way to Athens, the bull at Marathon that was terrorizing the plain, and then he famously slew the Minotaur of create, a half-man/half-bull monster that cannibalized Athenian youths. Bellerophon slew the Chimaera, a monstrous beast that terrorized the people of Lycia. The Trojan War was waged ostensibly to bring the justice of Zeus to the Trojans who aided in the violation of xenia, and Odyesseus’ trek back home in the Odyssey is littered with encounters in which he confronts savage figures who violate xenia. The Cadmein Fox is falls squarely into this template as a savage threat to civilizaiton.
Number 2: The Trojan War, The Kalydonian boar hunt, Herakles’ sack of Troy to punish Laomedon, and Jason’s quest with the Argonauts for the golden fleece, all represent groups of heroes coming together to accomplish a heroic task that either brought justice to unjust rulers or savage figures. The Cadmeian Fox is a representative example of these stories.
Numbers 3 and 4: Theseus was aided by Ariadne in escaping the Minotaur’s labyrinth and then abandoned her. He later set aside his Amazon bride, Antiope (whom he’d kidnapped/raped) in favor of a more “Greek” Cretan princess, Phaedra. Herakles (inadvertently) slew his first wife, Megara. He rescued, married, and later tried to discard Deianeira for a younger princess, Iole. And most famous of all (thanks to Euripides’ surviving tragedy?) Jason attempted to set aside his barbarian wife, Medea, who was integral to his successful procurement of the golden fleece and then again in avenging the murder of his father, in favor of the Corinthian princess Glauke. Similarly in story of Amphitryon, Comaitho falls in love with Amphitryon and aides him against her father, but she is set aside as soon as her usefulness to Amphitryon comes to an end.
As Apollodorus tells the story, Zeus lengthened the night of Amphitryon’s return from conquering Taphos by three. In that time, Zeus appeared before Alkmene and slept with her in the guise of Amphitryon. The miraculous nature of our hero's conception is common in Greek myth. Zeus regularly goes to great lengths to impregnate his object of affection, often involving fantastic transformations such as changing into a bull, a golden shower, etc. It was only the next night, when the real Amphitryon arrived back at Thebes, that Alkmene and Amphitryon suspected divine intervention, and after consulting the priest of Apollo at Thebes, Teiresias, they learned that Alkmene carried the seed of Zeus from that encounter. Thus, Alkmene would give birth to two children, one from Zeus’ seed and one from Amphitryon’s.
The very birth of Herakles was the first of many points at which Hera, jealous of Zeus’ infidelity with Alkmene, would cause the hero to suffer. According to the Iliad (Book 19.102-105), Zeus proclaimed that the first-born descendant of Perseus on the day that Herakles would be born, would rule over the Argolid (Mycenae, Tiryns, Argos, etc.). Hera then delayed Herakles’ birth by having her own daughter, Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, not bring forth Herakles until after his cousin, Eurystheus was born to another descendent of Perseus. By this means, Hera had manipulated Zeus’ proclamation to strip Herakles of his birthright to rule the most powerful kingdom of the Greek world at the time (Mycenae).
Eight months later, according to Apollodorus, Hera sent two serpents to kill the infant hero:
When Heracles was eight months old, Hera sent two enormous serpents into his bed because she wanted to destroy the infant. Alcmene called to Amphitryon for help, but Heracles stood up, throttled them, one in each hand, and killed them. But Pherecydes says that Amphitryon, wishing to know which of the boys was his son, put the serpents into the bed. When Iphicles fled and Heracles confronted them, Amphitryon knew that Iphicles was his. [2]
Both versions of this early exploit are interesting. They establish the unique strength of Herakles at a very young age. The version in which Hera is the instigator reinforces the common theme of divine persecution through which Herakles would suffer his entire life, but the very nature of that suffering is also the catalyst to the hero’s klea amphitron (“unending glory”). This dynamic is coded into his name: Hera-kles meaning “Glory [of] Hera.” Herakles’ fame or glory (kleos) is derived from his heroic exploits (e.g., slaying giant snakes at 8 months old). Without Hera’s wrath, the hero would never have accomplished such heroic tasks in the first place. Interestingly, although he is referred to as “Herakles” from the start in most narratives, Apollodorus notes that his birth name was Alceides, and it was only after consulting the Pythia (oracle of Apollo at Delphi) that he was named Herakles in anticipation of the great labors he would accomplish due to the machinations of Hera.
The second version of the tale is a bit less layered. Amphitryon’s ploy with the snakes served to identify the destined greatness of Herakles and to highlight the degree to which he was superior to normal humans (embodied by his brother, Iphikles, in the tale). This will be particularly important in the fourth section of this essay when we study the death and apotheosis (deification) of Herakles.
Attic red-figure hydria attributed to Nausicaa Painter (c. 460-450 BCE). Metropolitan Museum 25.28.
The infant Herakles strangling snakes sent by the goddess Hera. Herakles, the greatest of the Greek heroes, was one of twins conceived in a night when Alkmene, the wife of Amphitryon, was visited by both her husband and the god Zeus. Angered by his infidelity, Zeus's wife, Hera, tried to kill the infant Herakles with snakes. Here the child strangles them in the presence of his parents and Athena, his divine half-sister.
Apollodorus does not have much to say of Herakles’ youth, but there is one event of note: the slaying of Linos. As an aristocratic male, Herakles was trained in all facets of Greek life, and he was taught by the best instructors the land could produce:
Heracles was taught to drive chariots by Amphitryon, to wrestle by Autolycos, to shoot a bow by Eurytos, to fight in armor by Castor, and to play the lyre by Linos, who was Orpheus’ brother. [3]
Linos, like Orpheus, was a child of the Muse Kalliope and was especially gifted with the lyre. As far as music instructors went, one could not ask for a much greater résumé. However, Herakles proved not to excel at everything he did, despite his own divine parentage:
After Linos had come to Thebes and become a Theban, he was slain by Herakles, who hit him with his lyre (Heracles killed him in a fit of rage because Linos had punished him b striking him.... Afraid that Heracles would do something like that again, Amphitryon sent him out to tend his herd of cattle. Growing up there, Heracles surpassed everyone in size and strength. It was obvious from his appearance that he was Zeus’ son, for his body was four cubits tall, and a fiery radiance shone from his eyes. He also did not miss when he shot a bow or threw a javelin. [4]
As Apollodorus tells it, then, Herakles was superhuman in size, strength, and athletic endeavors, but he did not excel in all activities. He was not particularly skilled with a lyre, and he had a quick temper that could lead to trouble. Herakles was not, in other words, a philosopher. He was a man of action.
Photo: ArchaiOptix
Copyright: (CC BY-SA 4.0), background removed.
Attic red-figure kylix attributed to Douris (c. 470-460 BCE).
München, Staatliche Antikensammlungen 2646
Young (beardless) Herakles kills his music-teacher, Linos, by bludgeoning him with a broken leg from his chair or possibly his lyre. Linos, the only bearded adult in the scene, falls back with one hand outstretched to ward off Herakles and the other flailing backward holding his tortoise shell lyre. Four beardless youths surround the pair with arms up and running about in disarray during the unnerving scene.
