This course was run at the City Lit on 19 November 2011 as a follow up to the course on the Trojan War. Below are the notes I made to run the course. I repeated the course on Saturday 21st June 2014 with some further handouts.
For those who missed the tour at the museum the following might help you to self guide.
Greek Heroes in the British Museum
Heracles
Heracles was the son of Zeus by Alcmene (daughter of Electryon, son of Perseus and Andromeda) whose husband Amphitryon tried to burn her alive for her infidelity. Rescued by Zeus with shower of rain. Twin brother Iphicles sired by Amphitryon on the same night was father of Iolaos Heracles’s charioteer. Zeus declared baby about to be born would be king of Mycenae so Hera delayed Heracles’s birth and made Eurystheus be born 2 months early. Athena took infant to Hera to suckle and she did not recognise him. He sucked so hard Hera pushed him off and the escaping milk formed the Milky Way. Athena returned him to Alcmene. Changed name from Alcides to Heracles.
At 8 months old Heracles was nearly killed by 2 serpents sent by Hera but he strangled and knotted them. Tending cattle he was visited by two nymphs representing virtue and pleasure offering alternatives lives. He chose virtue. At 18 killed the Cithaeron lion. Educated in sports by Amphitryon, Castor, Autolycus and others. Lyre lessons from Lynus whom he killed after being chastised. Presents include sword from Hermes, Bow from Apollo, breastplate from Hephaestus and robe from Athena.
King Thespius entertained Heracles for 50 days (or one day) and let him sleep with each of his 50 daughters each of whom had a son, most of whom helped Iolaos found colony in Sardinia. King Erginus demanded a tribute from the Thebans but Heracles defeated him and forced them to pay a tribute. Amphitryon was killed in the fighting. As a reward married Megara daughter of King Creon of Thebes. Creon was killed by Lycus whom Heracles killed.
Hera sent Heracles mad and he killed Megara and their children. He went to Delphi where the Pythia told him to serve Eurystheus for 12 years. He undertook 12 labours for Eurystheus. Firstly he killed the Nemean lion with his bare hands as his weapons were useless. He used the lion’s claws to flay it to make a cloak. Secondly killed the Hydra quarterising 8 heads with a brand handed by Iolaos and buried the ninth immortal head. Thirdly he captured Artemis’s sacred Kerynitian hind with gold horns. Captured Erymanthian boar and terrified Eurystheus. On the way he was entertained by Pholus the centaur but a fight broke out and he sought refuge with Chiron. Unfortunately, he killed him by accident. Next he cleaned the cattle stables of King Augeas of Elis by diverting 2 rivers and breaching the stable wall. Augeas refused to pay him agreed price when he learned it was being done for Eurystheus. Killed another centaur Eurytion when he tried to abduct Mnesimache. Next killed the man-eating Stymphalian birds scaring them with castanets provided by Athena and shooting them. He then captured the mad Cretan bull but Eurystheus freed it. He captured the man eating horses of Diomedes in Thrace after he turned them on their master and brought them to Eurystheus. Eurystheus’s daughter Admete wanted the belt of Ares worn by Hippolyta queen of the Amazons. Heracles obtained it by killing her and defeating the Amazons. On the way he had stopped at Paros and killed the sons of Minos. Also defeated King Mygdon of the Bebrycians for his host King Lycus of Mysia.
King Laomedon of Troy failed to pay Apollo and Poseidon who had fortified his city disguised as mortals. Poseidon sent a sea monster as punishment and Laomedon chained his daughter Hesione as a sacrifice. Heracles rescued her but as Laomedon failed to pay him he killed him (to be succeeded by Priam) and gave Hesione to Telamon (one of Argonauts and father of Ajax). On another occasion killed Sarpedon son of Poseidon. Later he killed the sons of Proteus in a wrestling contest. The tenth labour was to capture the cattle of three-bodied Geryon. They were guarded by two-headed dog Orthrus and Eurytion both of whom Heracles killed followed by Geryon. On journey erected 2 pillars where Europe and Africa meet – pillars of Heracles. To sail the ocean he used the golden goblet given by Helios. Two sons of Poseidon tried to take the cattle but he killed them. King Eryx challenged Heracles to a wrestling contest over Geryon’s bull and lost. Hera dispersed the herd with a gadfly. The penultimate labour was to get the apples of the Hesperides. Heracles held the heavens up for Atlas so he could get the apples guarded by a 100-headed dragon. On this mission Heracles was challenged by Cycnus son of Ares but were parted by a thunderbolt. Also on this journey Heracles did battle with Nereus who kept changing shape but eventually told him where to find the apples. In Libya he was challenged by Antaeus son of Gaia whose strength came from the earth so Heracles lifted him off the earth to kill him. In Egypt he killed Busiris and went to Ethiopia where he killed King Emathion and freed Prometheus who was being punished for having given Man fire and killed the eagle who daily ate his liver. The last labour was to fetch Cerberus from the Underworld. Before going he went to Eleusis to be initiated and found the entrance near Laconia, southern Peloponnese. In Hades he freed Theseus but not Pirithous. Hades agreed to let him take Cerberus if he did not use a weapon to subdue him. Took Cerberus back to Eurystheus but returned him to Hades.
Heracles returned to Thebes. Some say he gave Megara to Iolaos. Heracles won heart of Iole through archery contest. King Admetus was spared death if someone took his place and his wife Alcestis volunteered. Heracles went down to the Underworld again to rescue her. Next Autolycus stole some cattle and Iphitus invited Heracles to help him look for them but Heracles went mad and threw Iphitus off the walls of Tiryns. Neleus refused to cleanse Heracles but Deiphobus agreed. Heracles went to Delphi but disliked the oracle so stole the tripod to start his own oracle. Apollo pursued him and Zeus separated them by a thunderbolt. Heracles heard an oracle to become a slave for 3 years. Hermes sold him to Omphale queen of Lydia. She wore his cloak and he did women’s work. She freed and married him eventually. During this period he punished the Cercopes at Ephesus, killed Syleus in Aulis, buried Icarus and possibly joined Calydonian boar hunt and Argonauts whom he abandoned when he lost Hylas to the nymphs. He returned to Troy under attack by Hera and went via Cos where he killed King Eurypylus. After this he helped the gods in the battle against the giants who could only be killed by a mortal. Also attacked and killed Augeas, attacked Elis, Pylos killing shape changing Periclymenus and Neleus, wounded Hades, Hera and Ares and others. He seduced Auge at Tegea and had a son called Telephos, then wrestled Achelous for hand of Deianira and even though Achelous changed into a bull Heracles won. At the river Evenus Heracles crossed but left Deianira to be ferried by centaur Nessus who tried to violate her. Heracles shot him and as he died he told Deianira to dip cloak in his blood which would act as love potion. She learnt of Iole and decided to use the cloak and Hydra’s poison which had been on arrow which killed Nessus started to kill him. Heracles built his funeral pyre and gave his bow to Poeas who agreed to light it. Philoctetes later inherited it. In heaven Heracles married Hera’s daughter Hebe.
Equals Etruscan Hercle and Roman Hercules. Similar figure also appears in Mesopotamian and Indian cultures.
Sources
The most complete surviving account is by Apollodorus of Athens writing in the C2nd BC using earlier sources.
Homer Odyssey – Odysseus meets him in the Underworld; Iliad – mentioned several times in passing.
Euripides Heracles – his madness and killing of Megara’s children; Heracleidae – his children threatened by Eurystheus; Alcestis – Heracles helps rescue her from Death
Aristophanes Frogs and Birds – in the Frogs Dionysus asks Heracles the quickest way to Hades to fetch Cerberus. Heracles suggests various ways of committing suicide; In the Birds Heracles is a comic figure easily getting fooled.
Plato refers to him in 14 of his dialogues
There are mentions in Herodotus, Pausanias, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Strabo, Plutarch, Virgil, Diodorus Siculus, Ovid and others.
Theseus
Theseus was the son of Aegeus or Poseidon who both lay with his mother Aethra on the same night. She was the daughter of Pittheus of Troezen where she lay with Aegeus when her father made him drunk. He returned to Athens but buried his sword, shield and sandals under a rock which he told Aethra to tell her son about when he was strong enough to lift them. Back in Athens Aegeus took Medea as his consort after she had fled from Corinth. Theseus grew up in Troezen and when he retrieved his father’s sandals, sword and shield he decided to go to Athens. Before that he was one of the Argonauts.
Pirithous king of the Lapiths wanted to test Theseus’s prowess so rustled his cattle. They met in battle and were so impressed with each other that they became best friends. They took part in the Calydonian boar hunt together. At Pirithous’s wedding to Hippodemia the centaurs got drunk and carried off the women. Theseus helped the Lapiths to defeat the Centaurs, killing the fiercest, Eurytus. Theseus and Pirithous also swore to marry daughters of Zeus so abducted Helen when still a child for Theseus. She was brought up by Aethra until she was rescued by her brothers, the dioscuri. Pirithous wanted Persephone so they went to the Underworld to abduct her but they became stuck to a rock in Tartarus. Heracles rescued Theseus on his way to get Cerberus but was unable to rescue Pirithous. Theseus decided to marry Hippolyta (or Antiope according to Plutarch) queen of the Amazons instead and abducted her. This caused a war but Hippolyta gave birth to Hippolytus. Theseus later abandoned her for Phaedra.
On the way to Athens he encountered several hazards include six at the entrances to the Underworld. The first at the Epidaurus entrance was the bandit Periphetes who clubbed passers-by and robbed them. Theseus took his club and used it on him. Second at the Isthmian entrance was the robber Sinis who bent pine trees and asked passers-by to help him and then released them springing them in the air to come crashing to earth. Theseus tied him to two trees which tore him in half. He then took his daughter Perigune and fathered Melanippus by her. Next he killed the Crommyon sow who was possibly the mother of the boar in the Calydonian boar hunt. Near Megara the elderly robber Sciron asked passers-by to wash his feet and whilst they were off guard he kicked them over the cliff to be eaten by a giant turtle. Theseus tipped him off the cliff. At Eleusis he was challenged to wrestle by King Cercyon but Theseus won and killed him. This seems to have been based on an archaic succession ritual whereby the king was challenged every year. The last bandit was Procrustes who had two beds, one short, one long. Every traveller was given the wrong one and either stretched or shortened by two feet. Theseus cut off his feet and head with his own axe.
Once in Athens Theseus did not reveal himself but Medea recognised him and to save her son Medusa’s position suggested he prove his worth by killing the Marathonian bull. He brought it back to Athens for sacrifice where Aegeus recognised his sandals, sword and shield and stopped Medea from poisoning him. She and her son fled to Asia. Aegeus’s heirs were his great nephews who now decided to ambush Theseus but he was informed and trapped and killed them.
In Crete Minos had been given a white bull by Poseidon that he was supposed to sacrifice but he thought was too beautiful to do so. In punishment Aphrodite made Pasiphae, his queen, fall in love with the bull. Daedalus built her a cow suit so she could mate with the bull. The result was the Minotaur. The bull went mad and was captured by Heracles but released at Marathon. Daedalus built the labyrinth to keep him safe but he fed on young people. Minos got these from Athens in punishment for killing his son Androgeus after his successes at the Panathenaic festival. 7 men and 7 girls every nine years. Theseus volunteered to go on the third voyage and would put up a white sail if he won. On Crete Minos’s daughters Ariadne and Phaedra fell in love with Theseus. Ariadne helped him find his way in the Labyrinth where he killed the Minotaur with his father’s sword. He took both sisters with him but abandoned Ariadne on Naxos where the god Dionysus found her and fell in love. Theseus forgot to raise the white sail so Aegeus committed suicide. Theseus succeeded him. According to Plutarch the ship was preserved and used for a mission to Delphi to honour Apollo each year so as planks decayed they were replaced so eventually none of the original ship remained.
Theseus and Phaedra had two sons, Demophon and Acamas and when they were still children Phaedra fell in love with Hippolytus. He scorned Aphrodite for Artemis so she made Phaedra love him. Being rejected Phaedra denounced Hippolytus who was killed on his father’s orders. One myth says he was resurrected by Asclepius and became a cult figure for girls about to marry. Acamas was one of those in the wooden horse at Troy and rescued his grandmother from being a slave to Agamemnon. Demophon also fought in Troy and on the way home fell in love with the king’s daughter Phyllis in Thrace but abandoned her and she committed suicide. He was in Cyprus and when he found out about Phyllis he panicked causing his horse to stumble and he fell on his sword. Theseus welcomed Odysseus on his wanderings. He also helped with the burial of the Seven against Thebes. He was killed when Lycomedes of Skyros threw him off a cliff. His body was discovered in the C5th and an elaborate tomb erected in Athens.
Homer mentions Theseus in the Iliad as a hero worthy of fame.
Euripides Phaedra has her accusing Hippolytus of attempted rape and Theseus cursing him with Poseidon’s help. He sent a sea monster to frighten the horses.
Seneca’s Phaedra has Theseus killing his son and Phaedra committing suicide. Racine used elements of both versions in his Phedre.
Aristophanes The Frogs – invented Athenian institutions
Plutarch Life based on earlier sources
Dante encountered the Minotaur in the Seventh Circle of Hell
Shakespeare used the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta as the start for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Titania derived her name from the Titans. Oberon and Puck have a similar relationship to Zeus and Hermes. He also used them in the Two Noble Kinsmen.
There have been a number of plays and films about Theseus and the Minotaur. The 2011 film The Immortals is about Theseus leading a battle against the Titans.
Jason
Theseus was the son of Aegeus or Poseidon who both lay with his mother Aethra on the same night. She was the daughter of Pittheus of Troezen where she lay with Aegeus when her father made him drunk. He returned to Athens but buried his sword, shield and sandals under a rock which he told Aethra to tell her son about when he was strong enough to lift them. Back in Athens Aegeus took Medea as his consort after she had fled from Corinth. Theseus grew up in Troezen and when he retrieved his father’s sandals, sword and shield he decided to go to Athens. Before that he was one of the Argonauts.
Pirithous king of the Lapiths wanted to test Theseus’s prowess so rustled his cattle. They met in battle and were so impressed with each other that they became best friends. They took part in the Calydonian boar hunt together. At Pirithous’s wedding to Hippodemia the centaurs got drunk and carried off the women. Theseus helped the Lapiths to defeat the Centaurs, killing the fiercest, Eurytus. Theseus and Pirithous also swore to marry daughters of Zeus so abducted Helen when still a child for Theseus. She was brought up by Aethra until she was rescued by her brothers, the dioscuri. Pirithous wanted Persephone so they went to the Underworld to abduct her but they became stuck to a rock in Tartarus. Heracles rescued Theseus on his way to get Cerberus but was unable to rescue Pirithous. Theseus decided to marry Hippolyta (or Antiope according to Plutarch) queen of the Amazons instead and abducted her. This caused a war but Hippolyta gave birth to Hippolytus. Theseus later abandoned her for Phaedra.
On the way to Athens he encountered several hazards include six at the entrances to the Underworld. The first at the Epidaurus entrance was the bandit Periphetes who clubbed passers-by and robbed them. Theseus took his club and used it on him. Second at the Isthmian entrance was the robber Sinis who bent pine trees and asked passers-by to help him and then released them springing them in the air to come crashing to earth. Theseus tied him to two trees which tore him in half. He then took his daughter Perigune and fathered Melanippus by her. Next he killed the Crommyon sow who was possibly the mother of the boar in the Calydonian boar hunt. Near Megara the elderly robber Sciron asked passers-by to wash his feet and whilst they were off guard he kicked them over the cliff to be eaten by a giant turtle. Theseus tipped him off the cliff. At Eleusis he was challenged to wrestle by King Cercyon but Theseus won and killed him. This seems to have been based on an archaic succession ritual whereby the king was challenged every year. The last bandit was Procrustes who had two beds, one short, one long. Every traveller was given the wrong one and either stretched or shortened by two feet. Theseus cut off his feet and head with his own axe.
Once in Athens Theseus did not reveal himself but Medea recognised him and to save her son Medusa’s position suggested he prove his worth by killing the Marathonian bull. He brought it back to Athens for sacrifice where Aegeus recognised his sandals, sword and shield and stopped Medea from poisoning him. She and her son fled to Asia. Aegeus’s heirs were his great nephews who now decided to ambush Theseus but he was informed and trapped and killed them.
In Crete Minos had been given a white bull by Poseidon that he was supposed to sacrifice but he thought was too beautiful to do so. In punishment Aphrodite made Pasiphae, his queen, fall in love with the bull. Daedalus built her a cow suit so she could mate with the bull. The result was the Minotaur. The bull went mad and was captured by Heracles but released at Marathon. Daedalus built the labyrinth to keep him safe but he fed on young people. Minos got these from Athens in punishment for killing his son Androgeus after his successes at the Panathenaic festival. 7 men and 7 girls every nine years. Theseus volunteered to go on the third voyage and would put up a white sail if he won. On Crete Minos’s daughters Ariadne and Phaedra fell in love with Theseus. Ariadne helped him find his way in the Labyrinth where he killed the Minotaur with his father’s sword. He took both sisters with him but abandoned Ariadne on Naxos where the god Dionysus found her and fell in love. Theseus forgot to raise the white sail so Aegeus committed suicide. Theseus succeeded him. According to Plutarch the ship was preserved and used for a mission to Delphi to honour Apollo each year so as planks decayed they were replaced so eventually none of the original ship remained.
Theseus and Phaedra had two sons, Demophon and Acamas and when they were still children Phaedra fell in love with Hippolytus. He scorned Aphrodite for Artemis so she made Phaedra love him. Being rejected Phaedra denounced Hippolytus who was killed on his father’s orders. One myth says he was resurrected by Asclepius and became a cult figure for girls about to marry. Acamas was one of those in the wooden horse at Troy and rescued his grandmother from being a slave to Agamemnon. Demophon also fought in Troy and on the way home fell in love with the king’s daughter Phyllis in Thrace but abandoned her and she committed suicide. He was in Cyprus and when he found out about Phyllis he panicked causing his horse to stumble and he fell on his sword. Theseus welcomed Odysseus on his wanderings. He also helped with the burial of the Seven against Thebes. He was killed when Lycomedes of Skyros threw him off a cliff. His body was discovered in the C5th and an elaborate tomb erected in Athens.
Homer mentions Theseus in the Iliad as a hero worthy of fame.
Euripides Phaedra has her accusing Hippolytus of attempted rape and Theseus cursing him with Poseidon’s help. He sent a sea monster to frighten the horses.
Seneca’s Phaedra has Theseus killing his son and Phaedra committing suicide. Racine used elements of both versions in his Phedre.
Aristophanes The Frogs – invented Athenian institutions
Plutarch Life based on earlier sources
Dante encountered the Minotaur in the Seventh Circle of Hell
Shakespeare used the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta as the start for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Titania derived her name from the Titans. Oberon and Puck have a similar relationship to Zeus and Hermes. He also used them in the Two Noble Kinsmen.
There have been a number of plays and films about Theseus and the Minotaur. The 2011 film The Immortals is about Theseus leading a battle against the Titans.
Perseus
Perseus was the son of Zeus and Danae. Danae’s father Acrisius of Argos leant that he would be killed by his grandson so locked her in a bronze tower of underground chamber. Zeus visited her as a shower of gold. Acrisius locked Danae and Perseus in a chest and set out to sea. They landed at Seriphus ruled by King Polydectes. Perseus was raised by Dictys, brother of Polydectes. He fell for Danae and Perseus offered a gift. Polydectes asked for Medusa’s head. Medusa had lain with Poseidon in the temple of Athena and in punishment she had her hair turned to snakes and her gaze was petrifying.
On the way Perseus had to ask the Graiae, three crones with one eye and one tooth. He stole the eye so they had to tell him the way via the Hesperides who had weapons for him. He was given winged sandals by Hermes, an invisibility helmet by Hades, reflective shield by Athena and scythe and bag. He found the three sisters (Medusa, Stheno and Euryale) asleep. He cut off Medusa’s head and escaped her sisters using the helmet. Pegasus and Chrysaor, Poseidon’s children, leapt from their mother’s neck.
On the way back to Seriphos he went to Ethiopia and found the daughter of King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia, Andromeda, had been chained to a rock as a sacrifice to Cetus, a monster sent by Poseidon as her mother had boasted her beauty exceeded the Nereids. Perseus killed Cetus either with his scythe or the gorgon’s head flying either with his sandals or on Pegasus. Andromeda had been promised to her uncle Phineas but agreed to marry Perseus. When Phineas interrupted the feast Perseus turned him to stone.
Back in Seriphos Perseus also turned Polydectes to stone and Dictys became king. Perseus gave Medusa’s head to Athena who set it on her shield or Zeus’s shield. Having heard the prophecy that he might kill his grandfather he then went to Larissa for the funeral games where he took part in the discus event and accidentally killed another competitor who turned out to be Acrisius. Instead of becoming king of Argos he swapped with his uncle King Proteus or cousin Megapenthes Tiryns. Said to have founded Mycenae.
Bellerophon
Bellerophon was the son of King Glaucus, the son of Sisyphus. His grandson Sarpedon fought in the Trojan War. He accidentally killed his brother Deliades and was exiled to Tiryns where King Proteus accepted him. His wife Stheneboea or Anteia tried to seduce Bellerophon and when he rejected her she denounced him Proteus sent him to Lycia to his father-in-law Iobates hoping he would avenge his daughter. Instead he sent him to kill the Chimera in Caria. On the way he defeated a warlike tribe the Solymi and fought the Amazons. He was also told he needed to tame Pegasus and Athena came to him in a dream and gave him a magic bridle. To kill the fire-breathing Chimera he put lead on his spear. This melted in the fire and choked the beast. He undertook further deeds including defeating a pirate and married Iobates’s daughter Philonoe.
Bellerophon suffered from hubris and tried to fly to Olympus to join the gods. Zeus sent a thunderbolt and he fell off Pegasus and became blind and crippled.