Achilles Herakles
father is mortal: Peleus father is immortal: Zeus
mother is immortal: Thetis mother is mortal: Alcmena
(“foster” father is mortal: Amphitryon
cf. Aegeus, mortal father of Theseus, while Poseidon is his “biological” father)
The paradoxical Herakles
• Hounded by Hera, his name, “Herakles,” nevertheless means “glory of Hera”
Hera’s opposition to Herakles starts early on: she sends deadly
snakes, which baby Herakles chokes with his own hands
The incident also serves to highlight Herakles’ physical superiority over his twin and half brother Iphikles
Herakles as a Symbol of Excess … in all its
Forms
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Herakles is sold as slave to Omphale, Queen of Lydia (to atone for the murder of his guest, Iphitus)
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Herakles as a Symbol of the Human Condition
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Plan of Temple Zeus at OlympiaThe Labors of Herakles are depicted on the metopes,
six on the east end, six on the west
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Apollo and the Centauromachy on the West Pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia
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Zeus and the Fatal Chariot Race (between Pelops and Oinomaos) on the East pediment of the temple of Zeus
at Olympia
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The 12 Labors of Heraklesthe successful/victorious athlete IS a
CIVILIZING FORCE
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Herakles fights the Lernaean Hydra, whose hundred serpent heads he cuts with a sickle and cauterizes with
fire
The Keryneian Hind, whose horns were made of gold and who was sacred to Artemis. Entrusted not to kill the hind, Herakles tried to outrun it but failed, and ended up
wounding the animal with his arrow
The Erymanthian boar: Classic Heraklean tale about killing baneful animals who plague the land
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The Stymphalian birds, whom Herakles defeats with castanets (made by Hephaistos) given to
him by Athena
The defeat of the Cretan Bull is a bit like defeating the Minotaur (in some versions, this is the very bull, whom Minos refused to sacrifice to Poseidon and who mated
with his wife Pasiphae
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Herakles claims the war belt of Hippolyte, Queen of the Amazons:
the male culture hero symbolically defeats/subdues female anti-order
Herakles against the triple-bodied Geryon, whose cattle he has stolen (note the fallen dog, the 2-headed Orthos,
offspring of Typhon and Echidna)
The Golden Apples of the Hesperides (located in Hyperborea) guarded by a serpent: the impossible object of desire, the eternally young, virgin woman