I.—INTRODUCTORY.

On passing to heroic mythology, a world still more rich in marvels than that with which we have already become acquainted presents itself to our view. The greater extent of this department of mythic lore is easily comprehensible, if we take into consideration the multitude of separate existences into which Greek life was split up, even from the earliest times. Each of the numberless countries, islands, cities, and towns endeavoured to trace back its peculiar institutions to mythical founders and ancestors; and as these were always described either as the sons or as the favourites of the gods, there accordingly sprang up, in course of time, a vast number of local heroic legends. These fabulous founders of states, however, were not the only heroes of Greek mythology. The attempt to pierce the clouds of obscurity which enveloped the early history of mankind, and the desire of a more enlightened age to bridge over the intervening gulf, and fill it with beings who should form a connecting link between the sublime forms of the great inhabitants of Olympus and the puny race of mortals, naturally gave rise to a whole series of heroic legends. These were partly the property of entire nationalities, or even of the whole Hellenic race, and partly of a local or provincial character. Moreover, as the gods collectively were divided into gods proper and dæmones—that is to say, spirits resembling the gods, but inferior to them in wisdom and power, whose workings men saw in air and earth and sea—even so the race of mortals was divided into heroes and men, between whom a similar difference subsisted. The latter are, in their nature, not different from the former—both are alike mortal, and must at length fall a prey to inexorable death. But the heroes are endowed with a degree of physical strength and dexterity, courage and endurance under difficulties, such as never fall to the lot of ordinary men. It was not, however, by any means all who lived in this early mythical period who were accounted heroes; but, just as in Genesis vi. 2 a distinction is made between the “sons of God” and the “daughters of men,” so in the present instance the heroes were the mighty ones—the ruling spirits of the age—those whose marvellous exploits contributed to remove the obstacles to civilisation and culture, who delivered countries from cruel robbers and savage beasts, who drained marshes, made roads through untrodden forests, and regulated the course of rivers. By their actions they proved themselves men of no ordinary powers, endowed with divine strength, and, therefore, apparently of divine origin. It appeared, at least, that such beings must have had an origin different from that of ordinary men, who were made out of clay, or sprang from trees or stones. Some of these heroes may perhaps have had a real existence, having probably been the ancestors of the later dominant races, to whom a dim tradition reached. Others were undoubtedly a product of the imagination. To these may be added a third class, and this is by far the most numerous, including those who were originally personifications of various natural phenomena, and, as such, deified and venerated in local forms of worship, but who were later, in consequence of the birth of new political communities, expelled from their place in public worship, and only continued to exist in the popular faith in the inferior character of heroes. Many such heroes were afterwards again promoted to the rank of gods, though with an altered meaning (e.g., Heracles).

Any real veneration of heroes by prayers and sacrifices can scarcely be said to have existed before the migration of the Heraclidæ—at least there is no mention of it in Homer. Even later, except in the case of those heroes who were raised to the rank of gods for their great deeds, and who were, therefore, worshipped in temples of their own, the worship of heroes is scarcely to be distinguished from that of the dead. Homer makes no distinction between the fate of heroes after death and that of ordinary mortals, all being doomed alike to the gloomy realms of Hades. As we have already observed, it was only certain special favourites, or sons of Zeus, who were excepted from this gloomy lot, and were transported in their bodily shape to the Isles of the Blest. Hesiod, on the other hand, says that all heroes—whom he, in the first instance, terms demigods—were transported to the Isles of the Blest, where Cronus ruled over them. Here, for the first time, the idea of a just retribution in the other world takes a definite shape; for Hesiod obviously conceives a residence in Elysium to be the reward of meritorious actions performed in the upper world. This idea was subsequently more fully developed, especially in the mysteries, and men were gradually elevated to a belief in the immortality of the soul. The spirits of the dead were believed, even after they were in their graves, to exert continually a mysterious influence; on which account men strove to gain their favour by means of offerings, thereby removing every real distinction between the worship of heroes and that of the dead.

Amid the multitude of legends of this kind, we shall only dwell upon those which occupy a prominent position either in poetry or in art. We shall begin with those which relate to the creation and early civilisation of mankind, after which we shall pass to the most celebrated provincial legends, and conclude with those that refer to the more important of the common undertakings of the later heroic age.

The legends concerning the origin of the human race differ very widely. The most ancient are undoubtedly those which describe men as springing from the trees or rocks. Another tradition asserts that the human race was of later growth, having been first called into existence by Zeus and the gods of Olympus. A third account makes the Titan Prometheus, the son of Iapetus, the creator of mankind, but leaves it uncertain whether this took place before or after the flood of Deucalion. Prometheus, according to this account, made men of clay and water, after which Athene breathed a soul into them. There were likewise various accounts concerning the primeval condition of mankind. According to one, the human race raised itself, with the assistance of the gods, from a state of helpless barbarism: this progress was the subject of numerous legends. Another account represents men as living originally in a holy and happy communion with the gods (the golden age), and asserts that they first became savage after having lost this good fortune by their presumption.

Of the myths that relate to the introduction of the first elements of civilisation among mankind by divine aid, there is none, except those already mentioned concerning Dionysus and Demeter, more celebrated than the story of Prometheus. The Titan Iapetus had, by Clymene, the daughter of Oceanus, four sons—the stout-hearted Atlas, the presumptuous Menœtius, the crafty Prometheus, and the foolish Epimetheus. With the name of Prometheus is linked the idea of the first commencement of civilisation among mankind by the introduction of fire. Prometheus is said to have stolen fire from heaven, and to have taught its use to man. By being employed for all the common purposes of daily life, however, this pure celestial element became polluted; whereupon Zeus visited the author of this sacrilege with a fearful punishment. He ordered Prometheus to be chained to a rock, where, during the day-time, an eagle devoured his liver (the seat of all evil desires), which always grew again during the night.

It is very difficult to see the origin of this series of legends, but the foundation seems to be the discovery of fire by man. At any rate, one word, closely resembling the name Prometheus, appears in India as the name of the stick used to produce fire by friction. If this be the case, we shall see in parts of the Greek legend instances of the ever-recurring principle, that when the real derivation of a word is lost, men try to give it an explanation by attaching it to the nearest word in the existing language (cf. the derivation of Pan mentioned p. 130). When the notion of “forethought” had once been attached to his name, it would be natural to invent a complementary legend about his brother Epimetheus (afterthought).

The legend of Prometheus appears in its grandest form in Æschylus’ play, “Prometheus Bound.”

The idea that, together with the introduction of civilisation, many evils which were before unknown to man came into existence, is expressed in the myth of Pandora. Zeus determined to leave mankind in possession of Prometheus’ gift; but he ordered Hephæstus to make an image of a beautiful woman, which the gods then endowed with life and adorned with all kinds of gifts, whence she was called Pandora. Aphrodite bestowed on her the seductive charms that kindle love, Athene instructed her in every art, Hermes endued her with a smooth tongue and a crafty disposition, whilst the Seasons and Graces adorned her with flowers and fine dresses. Zeus then sent her, under the guidance of Hermes, to the foolish Epimetheus, who, in spite of the warning of his brother not to accept any present from Zeus, received Pandora and made her his wife. There was in the house of Epimetheus a closed jar, which he had been forbidden to open, and which contained all kinds of diseases and ills. Pandora removed the cover and these escaped, and men who had before been free from disease and care have ever since been tormented. Pandora closed the jar in time to keep in Hope. Thus both Greek legend and Biblical tradition alike represent woman as the first cause of evil and death.

The legend of the five ages of mankind transports us to quite another region of tradition. According to this, the gods first created a golden race of men, who lived free from care and sorrow, while the earth, of its own accord, furnished them with all that was necessary to support life. Subject neither to the infirmities of age nor to the pangs of sickness and disease, men at last sank peacefully, as into a sweet sleep, to death. In what manner the golden age disappeared is not related; we are only told that this race, notwithstanding its disappearance, still continues to exist in the upper world, in the shape of good spirits, who guard and protect mortals. After this, the gods created a second (silver) race of men, who were, however, far inferior to their predecessors, both in mind and body. They passed their time in idle and effeminate pursuits, and refused to pay the gods due honours. Zeus, in his wrath, thereupon blotted them out from the face of the earth, and created the third (brazen) race of mankind out of ash wood. This race proved headstrong and violent. They were of giant stature and great strength, and took pleasure in nothing but battle and strife. Their weapons, houses, and utensils were of bronze, iron not yet being known. Zeus was not compelled to destroy this evil race, since they destroyed themselves in their bloodthirsty strife. According to another account, they were destroyed by the flood of Deucalion.

Deucalion appears to have been a son of Prometheus, while his wife Pyrrha was the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora. Zeus having determined to destroy the corrupt race of the third or bronze age by a flood, Prometheus warned his son, who built himself an ark, into which he retired with his wife when the waters began to rise. Nine days and nights he was tossed on the waters; at length his vessel rested on Mount Parnassus in Bœotia. He disembarked, and immediately offered a sacrifice of thanksgiving to Zeus the preserver. Pleased at his gratitude, Zeus granted his prayer for the restoration of the human race; and Deucalion and Pyrrha were commanded by Hermes to cast stones behind them, from which sprang a new race of men. Such is the legend in its most ancient form; later writers engrafted on it still farther incidents of Biblical tradition, until at last the Greek Noah was represented as having taken living animals with him into the ark, and as having let loose a dove after his landing on Parnassus.

III.—PROVINCIAL HEROIC LEGENDS.

1. The Lapithæ and the Centaurs.—We shall commence with the Thessalian legend of the Lapithæ and Centaurs, on account of its great antiquity and its importance in sculpture. We read in the Homeric poems how the hoary Nestor on one occasion boasts of having, in his younger days, taken part with his friends Pirithoüs and Cæneus, and the other princes of the Lapithæ, in their contest with the savage Centaurs. In Homer’s account the Centaurs are merely depicted as an old Thessalian mountain tribe of giant strength and savage ferocity, utterly unable to control their rude, sensual nature. Nor do we find here any mention of their being half horses and half men; they are merely said to have inhabited the mountain districts of Œta and Pelion, in Thessaly, and to have been driven thence by the Lapithæ into the higher mountain-lands of Pindus.

Their contest with the Lapithæ is sometimes conceived as a symbol of the struggle of Greek civilisation with the still existing barbarism of the early Pelasgian period. This may be the reason why Greek art, when in its bloom, devoted itself so especially to this subject. The origin of this contest is referred to the marriage feast of Pirithoüs and Hippodamia, to which the principal Centaurs had been invited. On this occasion the Centaur Eurytion, heated with wine, attempted to carry off the bride; this gave rise to a contest which, after dreadful losses on both sides, ended in the complete defeat of the Centaurs. The Centaurs, however, since they were thus able to sit with the Lapithæ at meat, must have been endowed with purely human forms.

Theseus and Nestor, the friends of Pirithoüs, both took part in the battle. Another prominent warrior was the gigantic Cæneus (Slayer), who had been rendered invulnerable by Poseidon, but whom the Centaurs slew on this occasion by burying him beneath a mass of trees and rocks.

There is, however, also a natural explanation of the tales of these strange beings. The father of the Centaurs is Ixion, who, as we have already seen, may be interpreted to be the sun. The crime said to have been the cause of his punishment was his love for Hera (the goddess of the atmosphere). If we take these points, together with the legend that Ixion begat the Centaurs of Nephele, the cloud, we may be prepared to see in the horse-formed Centaurs a parallel to the cows of the sun, the bright clouds which pass over the sky. There is the more ground for this, as similar beings appear in Indian mythology, and their name has, with much probability, been identified with that of the Centaurs.

As we have already mentioned, the Centaurs play an important part in art. The custom of depicting them half horse and half man came into vogue after the time of Pindar, and was quickly adopted in sculpture. In the representations of earlier art the face of a man is joined to the body and hind legs of a horse. But in its higher stage of development, after the time of Phidias, this was replaced by a more elegant conception, and the body of a man from the navel upwards was joined to the complete body of a horse, so that the Centaurs of this period have the four feet of a horse and the hands and arms of a man. Such is their appearance on numerous extant art monuments, of which we shall mention the most important.

In the first place, there are the reliefs from the frieze of the Theseum at Athens. This temple, which is still in a good state of preservation, was converted during the middle ages into a chapel of St. George. It is supposed to have been built at the instance of Cimon, after he had brought back the bones of the Attic hero from Scyros. Besides other important pieces, which we shall mention hereafter, the temple has, on its western or hinder frieze, a representation of the contests of the Centaurs and Lapithæ at the wedding of Pirithoüs, done in Parian marble. It is executed in such a manner that it is impossible to discover which party will get the upper hand; and this has enabled the artist, whose name has not come down to us, to introduce a lively variety into the different scenes of the combat.

We have another series of most splendid representations from the battle of the Centaurs, full of life and spirit, on some dilapidated metopes^[6] of the Parthenon at Athens. This splendid specimen of Doric architecture is 227 feet in length and 101 feet in breadth. It was ruined in 1687, during the war between the Venetians and Turks, by a shell which broke through the midst of the marble roof. A large part of the ninety-two metopes of the outer frieze contain a number of the most beautiful and life-like scenes from the battle of the Giants and that of the Centaurs. Of these metopes, thirty-nine still remain on the temple, though they are all in a terribly mutilated condition; seventeen are in the British Museum, and one in the Louvre at Paris. Those from the south side are comparatively in the best state of preservation; these are seventeen in number, the whole number on the south side having been thirty-two. They represent, exclusively, scenes from the battle of the Centaurs. Here a bearded Centaur is carrying off a woman, whom he holds in his powerful grasp; there, another is galloping away over the body of his fallen enemy; another is engaged in a fierce contest with a human foe; whilst a fourth lies slain on the field. The engraving we append may give a faint idea of the beauty and bold design of this splendid creation (Fig. 48). To these grand monuments of Greek art we must add the frieze of the temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassæ, near Phigalia in Arcadia, which was discovered in 1812, and is now in the British Museum. It represents, likewise, a series of the most vivid scenes from the battle of the Lapithæ and Centaurs. In the individual groups and scenes of the battle, which is here completed before our eyes, there is the same variety and animation, so that we must ascribe it to some great artist (Fig. 49).

Besides these sculptures in relief, some splendid single statues of Centaurs have come down to us from antiquity. Among these, the first place must be assigned to the two Centaurs in the Capitoline Museum. They are executed in black marble, and were found in the villa of Hadrian at Tivoli, where so many ancient art treasures have been brought to light.

Among the Centaurs, Chiron, who was famous alike for his wisdom and his knowledge of medicine, deserves mention as the preceptor of many of the heroes of antiquity. So far superior was he to his savage kindred, both in education and manners, that he was commonly reported to have had a different origin, and was therefore described as a son of Cronus and Philyra, or Phyllira, one of the Oceanids. Homer, who knew nothing of the equine shape of the Centaurs, represents him as the most upright of the Centaurs, and makes him the friend of Peleus and the preceptor of the youthful Achilles, whom he instructed in the art of healing and gymnastic exercises. He was, moreover, related to both these heroes, his daughter Endeïs having been the mother of Peleus. Subsequently, other mythical heroes were added to the number of his pupils, such as Castor and Polydeuces, Theseus, Nestor, Meleager, and Diomedes. Music, too, was now represented as a subject of his instruction, though this is perhaps due to a misinterpretation of the name of his mother. He inhabited a cave on Mount Pelion; later mythology, however, transferred his residence, after the Centaurs had been driven from Pelion by the Lapithæ, to the promontory of Malea. Here, by an unlucky accident, he was wounded with a poisoned arrow by his friend Heracles, and, the wound being incurable, he voluntarily chose to die in the place of Prometheus.

The idea of the connection of the Centaurs with the arts and sciences originated in the story of Chiron and Achilles, and has since furnished modern art with the subjects for some of its most valuable works. Fig. 50 represents a Centaur teaching a boy to play on the flute, and is after an alto-relievo of the Viennese sculptor Kundmann.

2. Theban Legend.—1. Cadmus.—Among Theban legends, none is more celebrated than the founding of Thebes by Cadmus. Cadmus was a son of the Phœnician king Agenor. After Zeus carried off his sister Europa to Crete (vide the Cretan Legends), he was despatched by his father in search of her. Accompanied by his mother Telephassa, he came to Thrace and thence to Delphi, where he was commanded by the oracle to relinquish his quest. It further ordered him to follow a young heifer with the mark of a crescent on either side, and to build a town on the place where the heifer should lie down. Cadmus obeyed, and, finding the heifer in Phocis, he followed her. She led him into Bœotia, and at length lay down on a rising ground. On this spot Cadmus founded a town, which he called Cadmea, after himself, though he had first to experience a perilous adventure. Before sacrificing the heifer, he sent some of his companions to fetch water from a neighbouring spring, where they were slain by a dragon belonging to Ares which guarded the spring. Cadmus then went himself, and slew the dragon, the teeth of which he sowed in the ground by the advice of Pallas. Hereupon armed men sprang from the ground; they immediately turned their arms against each other, and were all slain except five. Cadmus built his new town with the assistance of these men, who thus became the ancestors of the noble families of Thebes. In expiation of the dragon’s death, Cadmus was obliged to do service to Ares for eight years. At the end of this period Ares pardoned Cadmus and gave him Harmonia—his daughter by Aphrodite—to wife. Harmonia became the mother of four daughters—Autonoë, Ino, Semele, and Agave. After reigning for a long time at Thebes, Cadmus was compelled in his old age to retire to the Enchelians in Illyria; but whether he was driven out by Amphion and Zethus (who appear in Homer as the founders of Thebes) or withdrew from some other cause is not manifest. He and his wife were afterwards changed into serpents, and transferred, by the command of Zeus, to the Elysian fields.

In this story we see another form of the combat of the hero with the monster, and can probably give it the same explanation. The dragon guards the waters, and the hero, by killing it, frees them. Do we not see in this the combat of the sun with the cloud; and in the armed men who turn their weapons against one another, the clouds that seem to fight with one another in the thunderstorm? Yet even admitting this interpretation, it may be that we have in the name of Cadmus an allusion to the civilisation and the arts received by the Greeks from the East. So, too, with the alphabet, the invention of which Hellenic tradition ascribed to him.

2. Actæon.—We have already incidentally mentioned the fortunes of three of the daughters of Cadmus—Ino, Semele, and Agave. The eldest, Autonoë, married Aristæus, the son of Apollo, and became by him the mother of Actæon. Actæon was handed over to Chiron to be reared as a stout hunter and warrior; but he had scarcely reached the prime of youth when he was overtaken by a lamentable fate. Whilst hunting one day on Mount Cithæron, he was changed by Artemis into a stag, and was torn in pieces by his own dogs. The cause of her anger was either that Actæon had boasted that he was a more skilful hunter than Artemis, or that he had surprised the virgin goddess bathing. The latter tradition ultimately prevailed, and, in later times, even the rock whence he beheld Artemis was pointed out on the road between Megara and Platæa. He received heroic honours in Bœotia, and his protection was invoked against the deadly power of the sun in the dog-days. The story of Actæon is probably nothing but a representation of the decay of verdant nature beneath an oppressive summer heat.

The story of Actæon’s transformation and death was a favourite subject for sculpture. A small marble group, representing Actæon beating off two dogs which are attacking him, was found in 1774, and is now preserved in the British Museum (Fig. 51).

3. Amphion and Zethus.—Besides the royal family of Cadmus, which was continued in Thebes after his departure by his son Polydorus, we come across the scions of another ruling family of Thebes which came from Hyria, or Hysia, in Bœotia, in the persons of Amphion and Zethus. Nycteus, king of Thebes, had a wonderfully beautiful daughter called Antiope, whose favours Zeus enjoyed on approaching her in the form of a Satyr. On becoming pregnant, she fled from the resentment of her father to Sicyon, where the king, Epopeus, received her and made her his wife. This enraged Nycteus, who made war on Epopeus in order to compel him to deliver up his daughter Antiope. He was obliged to retire without accomplishing his purpose, but, on his death, he entrusted the execution of his vengeance to his brother Lycus, who succeeded him. Lycus defeated and slew Epopeus, destroyed Sicyon, and took Antiope back with him as prisoner. On the way, at Eleutheræ on Cithæron, she gave birth to the twins Amphion and Zethus. These were immediately exposed, but were subsequently discovered and brought up by a compassionate shepherd. Antiope was not only kept prisoner in the house of Lycus, but had also to submit to the most harsh and humiliating treatment at the hands of his wife Dirce. At length she managed to escape, and by a wonderful chance discovered her two sons, who had grown, on lonely Cithæron, into sturdy youths. The story of her wrongs so enraged them that they resolved to wreak a cruel vengeance on Dirce. After having taken Thebes and slain Lycus, they bound Dirce to the horns of a wild bull, which dragged her about till she perished. According to another story, Dirce came to Cithæron to celebrate the festival of Bacchus. Here she found her runaway slave, whom she was about to punish by having her bound to the horns of a bull. Happily, however, Amphion and Zethus recognised their mother, and inflicted on the cruel Dirce the punishment she had destined for another. Her mangled remains they cast into the spring near Thebes which bears her name.

The punishment of Dirce forms the subject of numerous pieces of sculpture. The most important among them is the Farnese Bull (Toro Farnese) in the museum at Naples (Fig. 52). This world-renowned marble group is supposed, with the exception of certain parts which have been restored in modern times, to have been the work of the brothers Apollonius and Tauriscus, of Tralles in Caria, Apollonius and Tauriscus belonged to the Rhodian school, which flourished in the third century B.C. This colossal group—undoubtedly the largest which has descended to us from antiquity—was first erected in Rhodes, but came, during the reign of Augustus, into the possession of Asinius Pollio, the great art-patron. It was discovered in 1547 in the Thermæ of Caracalla at Rome, and was set up in the Palazzo Farnese. It was thence transferred to Naples in 1786, as a portion of the Farnese inheritance. The following is a brief explanation of the group, though, of course, the most complete account could give but an imperfect idea of its beauty. The scene is laid on the rocky heights of Cithæron. The position of the handsome youths on a rocky crag is as picturesque as it is dangerous, and serves not only to lend the group a pyramidal aspect pleasing to the eye, but also to set before us their marvellous strength. There are several tokens that the occurrence took place during a Bacchic festival: the wicker cista mystica in use at the festivals of Dionysus—the fawn skin which Dirce wears—the ivy garland that has fallen at her feet—the broken thyrsus, and, lastly, the Bacchic insignia which distinguish the shepherd boy, who is sitting on the right watching the proceedings with painful interest—all point to this fact. The lyre which rests against the tree behind Amphion is a token of his well-known love of music. The female figure in the background is Antiope.

The story goes on to relate that the two brothers, after the expulsion and death of Lyons, acquired the sovereignty of Thebes, though Amphion always figures as the real king. The two brothers were widely different in disposition and character. Zethus appears to have been rude and harsh, and passionately fond of the chase. Amphion, on the other hand, is represented as a friend of the Muses, and devoted to music and poetry. He soon had an opportunity of proving his wondrous skill when they began to enclose Thebes, which had been before unprotected, with walls and towers; for whilst Zethus removed great blocks and piled them one on another by means of his vast strength, Amphion had but to touch the strings of his lyre and break forth into some sweet melody, and the mighty stones moved of their own accord and obediently fitted themselves together. This is why Amphion is always represented in sculpture with a lyre and Zethus with a club. We can scarcely doubt that these Theban Dioscuri, like the Castor and Polydeuces of Sparta, who are well known to be only symbols of the morning and evening star, were originally personifications of some natural phenomenon; though we are no longer in a position to say what it was.

Amphion is further celebrated on account of the melancholy fate of his sons and daughters. He married Niobe, the daughter of the Phrygian king Tantalus, and sister of Pelops. Great was the happiness of this marriage; the gods seemed to shower down their blessings on the royal pair. Many blooming and lovely children grew up in their palace, the pride and delight of their happy parents. From this paradise of purest joy and happiness they were soon to pass into a night of the deepest mourning and most cruel affliction through the presumption of Niobe—the same presumption which had led her father Tantalus to trifle with the gods and consummate his own ruin. The heart of Niobe was lifted up with pride at the number of her children,^[7] and she ventured to prefer herself to Latona, who had only two; nay, she even went so far as to forbid the Thebans to offer sacrifice to Latona and her children, and to claim these honours herself. The vengeance of the offended deities, however, now overtook her, and all her children were laid low in one day before the unerring arrows of Apollo and his sister. The parents did not survive this deep affliction. Amphion slew himself, and Niobe, already paralysed with grief, was turned into stone by the pity of the gods, and transferred to her old Phrygian home on Mount Sipylus, though even the stone has not ceased to weep.

Such is the substance of this beautiful legend, though its details vary considerably in the accounts of the poets and mythologists. The most circumstantial and richly-coloured account of it is contained in the Metamorphoses of Ovid. The poets have continually striven to impose a purely ethical interpretation on the story, by representing the destruction of the children of Niobe as the consequence of the great sin of their mother; but it is more probably a physical meaning which lies at the root of the legend. It is, in fact, a picture of the melting of the snow before the hot scorching rays of the sun. This incident the fertile imagination of the Greeks portrayed in the most beautiful metaphors. But just as a subject so purely tragic as the history of Niobe found its first true development in tragic poetry, so likewise it only attained its proper place in sculpture after art had laid aside its earlier and more simple epic character, and set itself to depict, in their full force, the inward passions of the soul. This tendency towards pathos and effect is characteristic of the age of Praxiteles and Scopas, and the later Attic school.

To this age (4th century B.C.) belonged the group of Niobe, which was so highly celebrated even among the ancients, and which was seen by Pliny in the temple of Apollo Sosianus at Rome, although people even then hesitated whether to ascribe it to Praxiteles or Scopas. None but one of these great masters could have been the author of this tragedy hewn in stone. Although the original figures of this magnificent group have disappeared, yet copies of most of them are still in existence. With regard to the celebrated Florentine Niobe group, the dissimilarity of its treatment and the various kinds of marble employed serve to show that it is not a Greek original, but a Roman imitation. It was found at Rome in 1583, near the Lateran Church, and was purchased by Cardinal Medici to adorn his villa on the Monte Pincio. In 1775 it was brought to Florence, where it has remained since 1794 in the gallery of the Uffizi.

There has never been but one opinion as to the beauty of this group. First among the figures—not only in size, but also in artistic perfection—is that of Niobe herself. The unhappy queen displays in her whole hearing so majestic and noble a demeanour, that, even if none of the other splendid results of Greek sculpture had come down to us, this alone would bear ample testimony to the high perfection and creative power of Greek art. The following description of the arrangement of the group is taken from Lübke’s History of Plastic Art:—

“Apollo and Artemis are to be supposed outside the group; they have accomplished their work of vengeance and destruction from an invisible position in the heavens. This is denoted by each movement of the flying figures, who either gaze upwards in affright towards the heavens, or seek to cover themselves with their garments. One of the sons is already stretched dead on the earth; another leans in mortal agony against a rock, fixing his eyes, already glazed in death, on the spot whence destruction has overtaken him. A third brother is striving in vain to protect with his robe his sister, who has fallen wounded at his feet, and to catch her in his arms; another has sunk on his knees, and clutches in agony at the wound in his back; whilst his preceptor is endeavouring to shield the youngest boy. All the others are fleeing instinctively to their mother, thinking, doubtless, that she who had so often afforded protection could save them also from the avenging arrows of the gods. Thus from either side the waves of this dreadful flight rush towards the centre, to break on the sublime figure of Niobe as upon a rock. She alone stands unshaken in all her sorrow, mother and queen to the last. Clasping her youngest daughter, whose tender years have not preserved her, in her arms, and bending over as though to shield the child, she turns her own proud head upwards, and, before her left hand can cover her sorrow-stricken face with her robe, she casts towards the avenging goddess a look in which bitter grief is blended with sublime dignity of soul (Fig. 54). In this look there is neither defiance nor prayer for mercy, but a sorrowful and yet withal lofty expression of heroic resignation to inexorable fate that is worthy of a Niobe. This admirable figure, then, is pre-eminently the central point of the composition, since it expresses an atonement which, in a scene of horror and annihilation, stirs the heart to the deepest sympathy.”

Zethus was not more fortunate than Amphion in his domestic affairs. He married Aëdon (nightingale), the daughter of Pandareos. Pandareos was the friend and companion of Tantalus, for whom he stole a living dog made of brass from the temple of Zeus in Crete, and was on that account turned into stone.

Aëdon was jealous of the good-fortune of Niobe in having so many beautiful children; she herself having only one son, Itylus. She resolved, one night, to slay the eldest son of Niobe, but she killed, in mistake, her own child instead. Zeus took compassion on her, and changed her into a nightingale. In this guise she still continues to bewail her loss in long-drawn mournful notes. Tradition says nothing as to the death of Zethus, although the common grave of the Theban Dioscuri was pointed out in Thebes. After his death, Laius, the son of Labdacus and grandson of Polydorus, restored in his person the race of Cadmus to the throne of Thebes. (See the legend of the Labdacidæ later on.)

3. Corinthian Legend.—1. Sisyphus.—Corinth, or Ephyra, as it was formerly called, was said to have been founded by Sisyphus, the son of Æolus. Its inhabitants, on account of the position of their city between two seas, were naturally inclined to deify that element, and it is not improbable that Sisyphus was merely an ancient symbol of the restless, ever-rolling waves of the sea. This interpretation, however, is by no means certain; and the idea of Sisyphus in the lower world ever rolling a huge stone to the top of a mountain might equally well refer to the sun, which, after attaining its highest point in the heavens at the time of the summer solstice, glides back again, only to begin its career anew on the shortest day. In any case, the rolling of the stone does not appear to have been originally a punishment. It was only later—after people had become familiar with the idea of retribution in the lower world—that it assumed this character. In order to account for it, a special crime had to be found for Sisyphus. According to some, he was punished at the instance of Zeus, because he had revealed to the river-god Asopus the hiding-place of his daughter Ægina, whom Zeus had secretly carried off from Phlius. According to another tradition, he used to attack travellers, and put them to death by crushing them with great stones. The Corinthians being crafty men of business, it was natural that they should accredit their mythical founder with a refined cunning. Of the numerous legends which existed concerning him, none was more celebrated than that of the cunning mode in which he succeeded in binding Death, whom Ares had to be despatched to release.

2. Glaucus.—Tradition describes Glaucus as a son of Sisyphus by Merope. He also appears to have had a symbolic meaning, and was once identical with Poseidon, though he was afterwards degraded from the rank of a god to that of a hero. He is remarkable for his unfortunate end. On the occasion of some funeral games, celebrated in Iolcus in honour of Pelias, he took part in the chariot race, and was torn in pieces by his own horses, which had taken fright.

3. Bellerophon and the Legend of the Amazons.—The third national hero of Corinth was Bellerophon, or Bellerophontes. Here the reference to the sun is so obvious, that the signification of the myth is unmistakeable. He was termed the son of Poseidon or Glaucus, and none could appreciate this genealogy better than the Corinthians, who daily saw the sun rise from the sea. We must first, however, narrate the substance of the story. Bellerophon was born and brought up at Corinth, but was obliged from some cause or other to leave his country. That he killed Bellerus, a noble of Corinth, is nothing but a fable arising from an unfortunate misinterpretation of his name. He was hospitably received by Prœtus, king of Tiryns, whose wife at once fell in love with the handsome, stately youth. Finding, however, that Bellerophon slighted her passion, she slandered him to her husband, and Prœtus forthwith sent him to his father-in-law, Iobates, king of Lycia, with a tablet, mysterious signs on which bade Iobates put the bearer to death. At this juncture the heroic career of Bellerophon begins. Iobates sought to fulfil the command of Prœtus by involving his guest in all kinds of desperate adventures. He first sent him to destroy the Chimæra, a dangerous monster that devastated the land. The fore part of its body was that of a lion, the centre that of a goat, and the hinder part that of a dragon. According to Hesiod, it had three heads—that of a lion, a goat, and a dragon. According to the same poet, the Chimæra was a fire-breathing monster of great swiftness and strength, the daughter of Typhon and Echidna. Bellerophon destroyed the monster by raising himself in the air on his winged horse Pegasus, and shooting it with his arrows. Pegasus was the offspring of Poseidon and Medusa, from whose trunk it sprung after Perseus had struck off her head. Bellerophon captured this wonderful animal as it descended at the Acro-Corinthus to drink of the spring of Pirene. In this he was assisted by the goddess Athene, who also taught him how to tame and use it. Here, then, he appears to have already possessed the horse at Corinth; though another tradition relates that Pegasus was first sent to him when he set out to conquer the Chimæra. The origin of the story is ascribed to a fiery mountain in Lycia; but, as all dragons and suchlike monsters of antiquity are represented as breathing forth fire and flames, we are perhaps scarcely justified in having recourse to a volcano. This characteristic is, in fact, merely a common symbol of the furious and dangerous character of these monsters. The contest of Bellerophon is far more likely to be a picture of the drying up, by means of the sun’s rays, of the furious mountain torrents which flood the corn-fields. Others, again, have thought that the Chimæra represents the storms of winter conquered by the sun.

The next adventure in which Iobates engaged Bellerophon was an expedition against the Solymi, a neighbouring but hostile mountain tribe. After he had been successful in subduing them, Iobates sent him against the warlike Amazons, hoping that among them he would be certain to meet his death. We here, for the first time, come across this remarkable nation of women, with whom other Greek heroes, such as Heracles and Theseus, are said to have fought; and it will not, therefore, be foreign to our object to dwell here on their most important features.

The Amazons appear in legend as early as Homer, though he only mentions them incidentally. They were said to be a nation of women, who suffered no men among them, except so far as it was necessary to keep up the race. The women, on the other hand, were trained from their earliest years in all warlike exercises; so that they were not only sufficiently powerful to defend their own land against foreign invaders, but also to make plundering incursions into other countries. Their dominions, the situation of which was at first indefinitely described as in the far north or far west, were afterwards reduced to more distinct limits, and placed in Cappadocia, on the river Thermodon, their capital being Themiscyra in Scythia, on the borders of Lake Mæotis, where their intercourse with the Scythians is said to have given rise to the Sarmatian tribes. Later writers also speak of the Amazons in Western Libya. Of the numerous stories rife concerning them, none is more tasteless than that of their cutting off or burning out the right breast, in order not to incommode themselves in the use of the bow. From the Thermodon they are said to have made great expeditions as far as the Ægean sea; they are even reported to have invaded Attica, and made war on Theseus. They also play a prominent part in the story of Heracles, by whom they were defeated; and in the Trojan war, when, under their queen Penthesilea, they came to the assistance of Priam against the Greeks.

The Amazons were frequently represented in Greek art. They are here depicted as fine, powerful women, resembling Artemis and her nymphs, though with stouter legs and arms. They generally appear armed, their weapons being a long double-edged battle-axe (bipennis) and a semicircular shield. An anecdote related by Pliny proves what a favourite subject the Amazons were with Greek artists. He says that the celebrated sculptors, Phidias, Polycletus, Phradmon, and Cresilas, made a wager as to who should create the most beautiful Amazon. Polycletus received the prize, so that we may conclude that he brought this statue—the ideal Amazon of the Greeks—to its highest perfection. Unfortunately, we know nothing of it, except that it was of bronze, and stood with the statues of the other artists in the temple of the Ephesian Artemis. The Amazon of Phidias, we are told, was represented as leaning on a spear; Cresilas, on the other hand, endeavoured to portray a wounded Amazon. Besides these statues, we hear a great deal of the Amazon of Strongylion, celebrated for the beauty of her legs, which was in the possession of Nero.

We still possess a considerable number of Amazon statues, some of which are supposed to be imitations in marble of the renowned statue at Ephesus. There are, moreover, several statues of wounded Amazons, some of which are believed to be copies of the work of Cresilas. There is also another marble statue, considerably larger than life, which takes a still higher rank. It was originally set up in the Villa Mattei, but since the time of Clement XIV. it has been in the Vatican collection. It is apparently a representation of an Amazon resting after battle; she is in the act of laying aside her bow, as she has already done her shield, battle-axe, and helmet. In doing so she raises herself slightly on her left foot, an attitude which is as charming as it is natural.

Lastly, we must not omit to mention a statue that has newly come into the possession of the Berlin Museum, which is supposed to be after a work of Polycletus (Fig. 55).

We must now return to the history of Bellerophon. After returning in triumph from his expedition against the Amazons, the life of the young hero was once more attempted by Iobates, who caused him to be surprised by an ambuscade. Bellerophon, however, again escaped, slaying all his assailants. Iobates now ceased from further persecution, and gave him his daughter in marriage, and a share in the kingdom of Lycia. Bellerophon, in full possession of power and riches, and surrounded by blooming children, seemed to have reached the summit of earthly prosperity, when he was overtaken by a grievous change of fortune. He was seized with madness, and wandered about alone, fleeing the society of men, until he at length perished miserably. Pindar says that he incurred the enmity of the gods by attempting to fly to heaven on his winged horse Pegasus; whereupon Zeus sent a gadfly to sting the horse. Pegasus cast off Bellerophon, and flew of his own accord to the stables of Zeus, whose thunder-chariot he has ever since drawn. The sad fate of Bellerophon was the subject of a touching tragedy of Euripides, some parts of which are still in existence. Heroic honours were paid to Bellerophon in Corinth, and he also had a shrine in the celebrated cypress-grove of Poseidon.

4. Argive Legend.—1. Io.—The first personage who meets us on the very threshold of the mythic age of Argos is Inachus, the god of the Argive river of that name. Inachus was venerated by the inhabitants as the first founder of Argive civilisation after the flood of Deucalion. By his union with Melia, the daughter of Oceanus, he became the father of Io, famed for her beauty, whose history, which is of great antiquity, has been so greatly embellished by the poets and legendary writers. The following is the substance of the story:—

Io was the priestess of Hera. Her great beauty attracted the notice of Zeus. On remarking this, Hera, in her jealousy, changed Io into a white heifer, and set the hundred-eyed Argus Panoptes (the all-seeing) to watch her. Zeus, however, sent Hermes to take away the heifer. Hermes first lulled the guardian to sleep with his wand and then slew him, whence he is called Argiphontes (slayer of Argus). Hera avenged herself by sending a gadfly to torment Io, who, in her madness, wandered through Europe and Asia, until she at length found rest in Egypt, where, touched by the hand of Zeus, she recovered her original form, and gave birth to a son. This son, who was called Epaphus, afterwards became king of Egypt, and built Memphis. The myth, as we have already remarked, has received many embellishments, for the wanderings of Io grew more and more extensive with the growth of geographical knowledge. The true interpretation of the myth is due to F. W. Welcker, whose meritorious researches in Greek mythology have proved of such great value. Io (the wanderer) is the moon, whose apparently irregular course and temporary disappearance was considered a most curious phenomenon by the ancients. The moon-goddess of antiquity was very frequently represented under the figure of a heifer; and Isis herself, the Egyptian goddess of the moon, was always depicted with horns. The guardian of the heifer, the hundred-eyed Argus, is a symbol of the starry heaven. Whether we see in Hermes the dawn or the morning breeze, in either case the slaying of Argus will simply mean that the stars become invisible at sunrise. There is nothing extraordinary in representing the apparent irregularity of the moon’s course, inexplicable as it was to the ancients, under the guise of mental disorder. Similar representations occur in the stories of the solar heroes, Bellerophon and Heracles. In the south-east—the direction in which Egypt lay from Greece—Io again appears as full moon, in her original shape.

2. Danaüs and the Danaïds.—According to the legend, Danaüs was a descendant of Io. Epaphus, the son of Io, had a daughter Libya, who bore to Poseidon two sons, Agenor and Belus. The former reigned over Phœnicia, the latter over Egypt. Belus, by his union with Anchinoë, or Achiroë, the daughter of the Nile, became the father of Ægyptus and Danaüs. Between these two brothers—the former of whom had fifty sons and the latter fifty daughters—a deadly enmity arose; this induced Danaüs to migrate from Egypt and seek the old home of his ancestress Io. He embarked with his fifty daughters in a ship—the first that was ever built—and thus came to Argos, where Gelanor, the reigning descendant of Inachus, resigned the crown in his favour. As king of Argos, Danaüs is said to have brought the land, which suffered from want of water, to a higher state of cultivation by watering it with wells and canals. He is also said to have introduced the worship of Apollo and Demeter. The story proceeds to relate that the fifty sons of Ægyptus followed their uncle to Argos, and compelled him to give them his fifty daughters in marriage. Danaüs, in revenge, gave each of his daughters on the wedding day a dagger, and commanded them to slay their husbands in the night. All obeyed his command except Hypermnestra, who spared her husband Lynceus, and afterwards even succeeded, with the assistance of Aphrodite, in effecting his reconciliation with her father. Lynceus succeeded Danaüs in the kingdom, and became, by his son Abas, the ancestor of both the great Argive heroes, Perseus and Heracles. At a later period, the fable sprang up that the Danaïds were punished for their crimes in the lower world by having continually to pour water into a cask full of holes. It has been frequently remarked that this punishment has no conceivable connection with the crime. Neither must we forget that the idea of retribution in the lower world was of a comparatively late date. Originally, too, the idea prevailed that the pursuits of the upper world were continued after death in the realms of Hades. And herein lies the key to the interpretation of the myth, which is evidently connected with the irrigation of Argos ascribed to Danaüs.

3. Prœtus and his Daughters.—Acrisius and Prœtus were twin sons of Abas, the son of Lynceus and Hypermnestra. Between these two brothers an implacable hostility existed, which was said by the poets to have commenced even in their mother’s womb. Prœtus received, as his share of the patrimony, the kingdom of Tiryns; but he was subsequently expelled by his brother, and took refuge at the court of Iobates, king of Lycia. Iobates gave him his daughter Antea, or Sthenebœa, in marriage, and afterwards restored him to his kingdom of Tiryns. Prœtus, with the aid of the Lycian workmen whom he had brought with him (Cyclopes), built a strong fortress, which enabled him not only to maintain peaceable possession of Tiryns, but also to extend his dominion as far as Corinth. The legend then passes to the history of his three daughters, the Prœtides, whose pride was so excited by their father’s greatness and their own beauty that they began to think themselves superior to the gods. Their arrogance, however, was soon punished, for they were visited with a foul disease and driven mad. They now fled the society of mankind, and wandered about among the mountains and woods of Argos and Arcadia. At length Prœtus succeeded in procuring the services of the celebrated soothsayer and purifier Melampus, who undertook the purification and cure of his daughters. It was reported of Melampus that serpents had licked his ears whilst asleep, and that he acquired, in consequence, a knowledge of the language of birds. He successfully accomplished the cure of the Prœtides, and received, as a reward, the hand of the princess Iphianassa, in addition to which both he and his brother Bias received a share in the sovereignty of Tiryns. Thus it was that the race of the Amythaonidæ, who all inherited the gift of seeing into futurity, and from whom the celebrated soothsayer Amphiaraüs himself was descended, came to Argos.

4. Perseus.—Acrisius, the brother of Prœtus, had a daughter called Danaë, whose fortune it was to gain the love of the great ruler of Olympus. Her father, Acrisius, was induced by an oracle, which foretold that he should be killed by his own grandson, to immure Danaë in a subterraneous chamber. Zeus, however, in his love for her, changed himself into a shower of golden rain, and thus introduced himself through the roof of her prison. Thus was the god-like hero Perseus born. There can be no doubt that this myth, too, is founded on the idea of the bridal union of heaven and earth; this is one of the pictures of nature which the mind most readily forms. Danaë represents the country of Argos; her prison is the heaven, enveloped, during the gloomy months of winter, with thick clouds. Her offspring by Zeus represents the light of the sun, which returns in the spring-time and begins, like a veritable hero, its contest with the powers of death and darkness. The Gorgon Medusa has the same significance in the history of Perseus that the hideous Python has in that of Apollo.

The legend then proceeds to relate that Acrisius, having heard of the birth of his grandson, to avert the fate threatened by the oracle, ordered mother and child to be confined in a chest and cast into the sea. But human wisdom avails nought against the inevitable decrees of heaven. The chest was cast by the waves on the rocky island of Seriphus, where it was found by the fisherman Dictys; and Danaë and her child were hospitably received and cared for by Dictys and his brother Polydectes, the ruler of the island. The latter, however, subsequently wished to marry Danaë, and on her rejecting his advances made her a slave. Fearing the vengeance of Perseus, he despatched him, as soon as he was grown up, on a most perilous adventure. This was no other than to bring him the head of the Gorgon Medusa—a terrible winged woman, who dwelt with her two sisters, the daughters of Phorcys and Ceto, on the farthest western shore of the earth, on the border of Oceanus. Perseus set out, though he was in the greatest perplexity how to accomplish so perilous a task. Hermes, however, at this juncture came to his aid; and Athene, the special patroness of heroes, inspired him with courage. These deities first showed him how to procure the necessary means for accomplishing his undertaking, which consisted of an invisible helmet, a magic wallet, and a pair of winged sandals. All these were in the hands of the Nymphs, by whom probably the water-nymphs are meant. The way to their abode he could only learn from the Grææ. These creatures, who were likewise the daughters of Phorcys and Ceto, were reported to have come into the world as old women; their very appearance was appalling, and they had but one eye and one tooth between them, of which they made use in turn. They, too, dwelt on the outskirts of the gloomy region inhabited by the Gorgons, whence they are called by Æschylus their sentinels. Under the guidance of Apollo and Athene, Perseus came to the Grææ. He then robbed them of their one eye and one tooth, and thus forced them to tell him the way to the habitations of the Nymphs. From the latter he at once obtained the objects he sought; and having donned his winged sandals, he hastened to the abode of the Gorgons, whom he fortunately discovered asleep. Athene then pointed out to him Medusa—the other two sisters, Stheno and Euryale, being immortal—and enjoined him to approach them carefully backwards, as the sight of their faces would infallibly turn any mortal into stone. With the help of her mirror-like shield and the sickle of Hermes, Perseus succeeded in cutting off the head of Medusa without looking round; and having placed the head in his wallet, he hastened away. His helmet, which rendered him invisible, enabled him to escape the pursuit of the other Gorgons, who had meanwhile awaked. From the trunk of Medusa sprang the winged horse Pegasus, and Chrysaor, the father of Geryones. On his return to Seriphus, Perseus turned the unrighteous Polydectes into stone by means of the Gorgon’s head, which he then presented to Athene; and after making his benefactor, Dictys, king of the island, he turned his steps towards his native place, Argos. Such are the essential features of the myth—concerning which, in spite of its antiquity, we have no earlier sources of information—such is the original framework on which was afterwards built up the history of the further adventures of the hero. The most celebrated of these was the rescue of Andromeda, which formed the subject of a drama of Euripides, and was also highly popular among artists and poets. The following is a brief account of this exploit:—Cassiopea, the wife of Cepheus, king of Æthiopia, ventured to extol her own beauty above that of the Nereids, who thereupon besought Poseidon to avenge them. He granted their request, and not only overwhelmed the land with disastrous floods, but sent also a terrible sea-monster, which devoured both man and beast. The oracle of Ammon declared that the land could only be saved by the sacrifice of the king’s daughter, Andromeda, to the monster. Cepheus, after some time, yielded to the entreaties of his people, and Andromeda was chained to a rock close to the sea. In this situation she was found by Perseus, on his return from his adventure with the Gorgons. He forthwith attacked and slew the sea-monster, and released the trembling maiden, who soon after married her preserver. Later writers, not satisfied with this adventure, added that Perseus was also obliged to vanquish a rival in Phineus, the king’s brother, to whom Andromeda had been already promised. Phineus, together with his warriors, was changed into stone by means of the Gorgon’s head.

The legend concludes with the return of the hero to Argos, where he was reconciled to his grandfather Acrisius, who had at first fled in terror to Larissa. On the occasion, however, of some games which the people of Larissa had instituted in his honour, Perseus was unfortunate enough to kill Acrisius with his discus, thus involuntarily fulfilling the prophecy of the oracle. In this feature of the story we recognise an unmistakeable reference to the symbolic meaning of Perseus; for the discus here represents, as in the story of the death of Hyacinthus, the face of the sun. Perseus, unwilling to enter on the inheritance of the grandfather he had slain, exchanged the kingdom of Argos for that of Tiryns, which was handed over to him by its king, Megapenthes, the son of Prœtus. He here founded the cities of Midea and Mycenæ, and became, through his children by Andromeda, the ancestor of many heroes, and, among others, of Heracles. His son Electryon became the father of Alcmene, whilst Amphitryon was descended from another of his sons. According to Pausanias, heroic honours were paid to Perseus, not only throughout Argos, but also in Athens and the island of Seriphus.

Perseus occupies a prominent position in Greek art. His common attributes are the winged sandals, the sickle which he made use of to slay Medusa, and the helmet of Hades. In bodily form, as well as in costume, he appears very like Hermes.