Among the art monuments which relate to his adventures is a marble relief from the Villa Pamfili, now in the Capitoline Museum at Rome, depicting the rescue of Andromeda. The sea-monster lies dead at the feet of Perseus, who is assisting the joyful Andromeda to descend from the rock. The attitude and expression of both figures are very striking: on the one side, maidenly modesty; on the other, proud self-reliance. It is worth remarking that Perseus, in addition to his winged shoes, has also wings on his head. The same conception is perceptible, with a few minor points of difference, in several Pompeian paintings, and on a marble relief of the Naples Museum (Fig. 56). Representations of Medusa are mostly confined to masks, which are often found on coats of mail, shields, leaves of folding doors, and instruments of all kinds. There are two types, representing an earlier and a later conception of Medusa. Earlier art set itself to depict the horrible only in the head of Medusa; and artists, therefore, strove to impart to the face as strong an expression of rage and ferocity as was possible, representing her with tongue lolling forth, and boar-like tusks. It is worthy of remark that, in the earlier examples of these masks—which are frequently met with on coins, gems, and pottery—the hair generally falls stiff and straight over the forehead, serving to render the horrible breadth of the face still more striking, while the snakes appear to be fastened round the neck like a necklace. Very different is the conception adopted by the later and more sensuous school. This laboured principally to give expression to the gradual ebbing away of life in the countenance of the dying Gorgon, an effect which was rendered still more striking by transforming the hideous Gorgon face of earlier times into an ideal of the most perfect beauty. The most splendid example of this later conception, which had been creeping in since the age of Praxiteles, is to be found in the Medusa Rondanini of the Munich collection—a marble mask of most beautiful workmanship, which was brought from the Rondanini Palace at Rome (Fig. 57). This Medusa, like many others of the later type, has wings on the head.

5. The Dioscuri.—On passing to Laconia and Messenia, the southern districts of the Peloponnesus, we come in contact with the legend of the Dioscuri. Tyndareüs and his brother Icarius were said to have founded the most ancient sovereignty in Lacedæmon. They were driven thence, however, by their half-brother Hippocoön, and were kindly received by Thestius, the ruler of the ancient city of Pleuron in Ætolia, who gave Tyndareüs his daughter Leda in marriage. Icarius received the hand of Polycaste, who bore him Penelope—afterwards the wife of Odysseus; while Leda was the mother of the Dioscuri, Castor and Polydeuces (Pollux). Tyndareüs was afterwards reinstated in his Lacedæmonian kingdom at Amyclæ by Heracles. Besides these two sons, Leda had also two daughters, Clytæmnestra and Helene (Helen), who are celebrated in connection with the Trojan war. An ancient legend also existed to the effect that Leda had been beloved by Zeus, who had approached her under the guise of a swan. The greatest incongruity prevails as to which of the children could claim a divine origin. In Homer, Helen alone is represented as the daughter of Zeus; while Clytæmnestra, together with Castor and Polydeuces, appear as the children of Tyndareüs. At a subsequent period, the name of “Dioscuri” (sons of Zeus) and a belief in their divine origin arose simultaneously. Later still, Castor was represented as a mortal, and the son of Tyndareüs; and Polydeuces as immortal, and the son of Zeus. After Castor, however, had fallen in the contest with the sons of Aphareus, his brother Polydeuces, unwilling to part from him, prevailed on Zeus to allow them to remain together, on condition of their spending one day in Olympus and the next in Hades. They thus led a life divided between mortality and immortality. The following is an account of their heroic deeds:—On attaining manhood, Castor distinguished himself by his skill in the management of horses; whilst Polydeuces became renowned as a skilful boxer, though he too had skill in riding. They first made war on Theseus, who had carried off their sister Helen, then ten years old, and set her free by the conquest of Aphidnæ. They next took part in the expedition of the Argonauts, in which Polydeuces gained still further renown by his victory with the cestus over the celebrated boxer Amycus. They were also present at the Calydonian boar hunt. Their last undertaking was the rape of the daughters of Leucippus, king of Messenia. This was the cause of their combat with their cousins Idas and Lynceus, the sons of Aphareus, to whom the damsels had been betrothed. According to others, however, it sprang from a quarrel as to the division of some booty that they had carried off together. Castor was slain by Idas, whereupon Polydeuces in his wrath slew Lynceus, while Idas himself was overwhelmed by a thunderbolt from Zeus.

The interpretation of this myth is by no means void of difficulty. It is commonly supposed that they were ancient Peloponnesian divinities of light, who, after the Dorian invasion, were degraded to the rank of heroes. They are often interpreted as personifications of the morning and evening star, or of the twilight (dawn and dusk). This view died out after the second deification that they underwent. They were venerated, not only in their native Sparta, but throughout the whole of Greece, as kindly, beneficent deities, whose aid might be invoked either in battle or in the dangers of shipwreck. In this latter character they are lauded by an Homeric hymn, in which they are represented as darting through the air on their golden wings, in order to calm the storm at the prayer of the terror-stricken mariner. It has often been remarked, and with a great appearance of truth, that these Dioscuri flitting about on their golden wings are probably nothing more than what is commonly called St. Elmo’s fire—an electric flame which, is often seen playing round the tops of the masts during a storm, and which is regarded by the sailors as a sign of its speedy abatement; indeed the name Elmo has been supposed a corruption of Helene. In Sparta, the Dioscuri were regarded as the tutelary deities of the state, as well as an example of warlike valour for the youth of the country. Their shrines here were very numerous. Their ancient symbol, which the Spartans always took with them on a campaign, consisted of two parallel beams joined by cross-bars. They had other festivals and temples besides those of Sparta; in Mantinea, for instance, where an eternal fire was kept burning in their honour; also in Athens, where they were venerated under the appellation of Anaces. Their festival was here celebrated with horse-racing. The Olympic games also stood under their special protection, and their images were set up in all the palæstra. They were, in fact, everywhere regarded as extremely benevolent and sociable deities, who foster all that is noble and beautiful among men.

The Dioscuri were believed to have assisted the Romans against the Latins at the Lake Regillus; and the dictator, A. Postumius, vowed a temple to them, which was erected in the Forum, opposite the temple of Vesta. In commemoration of this aid, the Equites made a solemn procession from the temple of Honos, past the temple of the Dioscuri, to the Capitol every year on the Ides of July.

In art the Dioscuri are represented as heroic youths of noble mien and slim but powerful forms. Their characteristic marks are conical caps, the points of which are adorned with a star. They generally appear nude, or clothed only with a light chlamys, and nearly always in connection with their horses, either riding, standing by and holding them, or leading them by the bridle. The most celebrated representation of the Dioscuri that has come down to us from antiquity consists of the marble statues called the Colossi of Monte Cavallo, in Rome. These are eighteen feet in height, and the proportions of the figures, together with those of the horses, are exquisite. They are set up on the Quirinal, which has received from them the name of Monte Cavallo. They are not, indeed, original works, but are probably imitations of bronzes of the most flourishing period of Greek art, executed in the time of Augustus.

6. Heracles (Hercules).—Of all the myths of the countries originally inhabited by the Æolians the myth of Heracles is the most glorious. This hero, though his fame was chiefly disseminated by means of the Dorians, was yet by birth the common property of the Æolian race—their national hero, in fact, just as he afterwards became the national hero of the whole of Greece. No other Greek myth has received so many subsequent additions—not only from native, but also from foreign sources—as this; which is, in consequence, the most extensive and complicated of all Greek myths. We shall, therefore, have to confine ourselves to the consideration of its most characteristic features, and those which are the most important in the history of art.

In Homer, who is here again our most ancient authority, the leading features of the myth are traced—the enmity of Hera towards the hero; his period of subjection to Eurystheus, and the labours by which he emancipated himself (though special mention is made only of his seizure of Cerberus); his expeditions against Pylus, Ephyra, Œchalia, and Troy. The verses in the Odyssey (xi. 602–4), which refer to his deification and subsequent marriage with Hebe, are probably a later insertion. In the Iliad, Heracles is spoken of as a great hero of olden time, “whom the Fates and the grievous wrath of Hera subdued.” In Homer, too, he appears as a purely Grecian hero, his warlike undertakings having never yet led him beyond Troy, and his armour differing in no respect from that of other heroes. The description of him in Hesiod’s Theogony and in the Shield of Heracles is somewhat more minute, but is otherwise essentially the same. From what source the deification of Heracles sprang—whether it was due to Phœnician influences or not—has hitherto remained an undetermined question; we only know that it appears as an accomplished fact about 700 B.C.

I. The Birth and Youth of Heracles.—This portion of the legend found its chief development in Bœotia. Amphitryon, a son of Alcæus and grandson of Perseus, was compelled to flee from Tiryns with his betrothed Alcmene—likewise a descendant of Perseus by her father Electryon—on account of a murder, and found an asylum at the court of Creon, king of Thebes. From this place he undertook an expedition against the robber tribes of the Teleboæ (Taphians), in consequence of a promise made to Alcmene, whose brother they had slain. After the successful termination of this expedition, the marriage was to have been celebrated at Thebes. But, in the meanwhile, the great ruler of Olympus himself had been smitten with the charms of Alcmene, and, taking the form of the absent Amphitryon, had left her pregnant with Heracles, to whom she afterwards gave birth at the same time with Iphicles, the son of Amphitryon. The sovereignty over all the descendants of Perseus, which Zeus had destined for Heracles, was snatched from him by the crafty jealousy of Hera, who prolonged the pains of Alcmene and hastened the delivery of the wife of Sthenelus, the uncle of Amphitryon, by two months. Not content with having subjected the hero to the will of the weak and cowardly Eurystheus, Hera, according to a subsequent account of the poets, sent two serpents to kill the child when he was about eight months old. Heracles, however, gave the first proof of his divine origin by strangling the serpents with his hands. An account of this scene has descended to us in a beautiful poem of Pindar. In Thebes, the boy grew up and was put under the care of the best preceptors. But, though he excelled in every feat of strength and valour, he made no progress in musical arts, and even slew his master Linus on account of a somewhat harsh reproof which his inaptitude entailed on him. As a punishment, Amphitryon sent him to Mount Cithæron to mind the flocks, a mode of life which Heracles continued until he had completed his eighteenth year. It was to this period that the sophist Prodicus, a contemporary of Socrates, referred his beautiful allegory of the Choice of Heracles. After attaining his full growth (according to Apollodorus he was four cubits in height) and strength, the young hero performed his first great feat by killing the lion of Cithæron. Whether it was this skin or that of the Nemean lion which he afterwards used as a garment is not certain. His next act was to free the Thebans from the ignominious tribute which they were compelled to pay to Erginus, king of Orchomenus, by a successful expedition, in which Amphitryon, however, lost his life. Creon, the king of Thebes, in gratitude gave the hero his daughter Megara in marriage, while Iphicles married her sister.

II. Heracles in the Service of Eurystheus—The Twelve Labours.—We now come to the second epoch in the life of the hero, in which he performed various labours at the bidding of Eurystheus, king of Mycenæ or Tiryns. The number of these was first fixed at twelve in the Alexandrian age, when Heracles was identified with the Phœnician sun-god, Baal; probably from the analogy afforded in the course of the sun through the twelve signs of the Zodiac. The subjection of Heracles to his unmanly cousin Eurystheus is generally represented as a consequence of the stratagem by which Hera obtained for the latter the sovereignty over all the descendants of Perseus. At a later period Heracles was said to have become insane, in consequence of the summons of Eurystheus to do his bidding. The following is an account of the labours of Heracles:—

1. The Fight with the Nemean Lion.—The district of Nemea and Cleonæ was inhabited by a monstrous lion, the offspring of Typhon and Echidna, whose skin bade defiance to every weapon. Heracles, after using his arrows and club against the animal in vain, at last drove it into a cave, and there strangled it with his hands. He afterwards used the head of the lion as a helmet, and the impenetrable skin as a defence.

2. The Lernæan Hydra.—This was a great water-serpent, likewise the offspring of Typhon and Echidna. The number of its heads varies in the accounts of poets, though ancient gems usually represent it with seven. It ravaged the country of Lerna in Argolis, destroying both men and beasts. In this adventure Heracles was accompanied by Iolaüs, the son of his brother Iphicles, who, on this as on other occasions, appears as his faithful companion. After driving the monster from its lair by means of his arrows, he advanced fearlessly, and, seizing it in his hands, began to strike off its heads with his sword. To his amazement, in the place of each head he struck off two sprang up. He then ordered Iolaüs to set on fire a neighbouring wood, and with the firebrands seared the throats of the serpent, until he at length succeeded in slaying it. He then dipped his arrows in its gall, thus rendering the wounds inflicted by them incurable.

3. The Erymanthian Boar.—This animal inhabited the mountain district of Erymanthus in Arcadia, from which place it wasted the corn-fields of Psophis. Heracles drove the boar up to the snow-covered summit of the mountain, and then caught it alive, as Eurystheus had commanded him. When he arrived at Mycenæ with the terrible beast on his back, Eurystheus was so terrified that he hid himself in a vessel. This comic scene is frequently depicted on vases. It was on this occasion that Heracles destroyed the Centaurs. On the road the hero, hungry and thirsty, was hospitably received by the friendly Centaur Pholus, who holds the same place among the Arcadian Centaurs as Chiron does among those of Thessaly. Pholus broached, in honour of his guest, a cask of wine lying in his cave, which was the common property of all the Centaurs. The fragrance of the wine attracted the other Centaurs living on Mount Pholoë, and they immediately attacked the tippling hero with pieces of rock and trunks of trees. Heracles, however, drove them back with arrows and firebrands, and completely vanquished them after a terrible fight. On returning to the cave of Pholus, he found his friend dead. He had drawn an arrow out of a dead body to examine it, but accidentally let it fall on his foot, from the wound of which he died.

4. The Hind of Cerynea.—This animal, which was sacred to the Arcadian Artemis, had golden horns and brazen hoofs, the latter being a symbol of its untiring fleetness. Heracles was commanded to bring it alive to Mycenæ, and for a whole year he continued to pursue it over hill and dale with untiring energy. At length it returned to Arcadia, where he succeeded in capturing it on the banks of the Ladon, and bore it in triumph to Mycenæ.

5. The Stymphalian Birds.—These voracious birds, which fed on human flesh, had brazen claws, wings, and beaks, and were able to shoot out their feathers like arrows. They inhabited the district round Lake Stymphalis in Arcadia. Heracles slew some, and so terrified the rest by means of his brazen rattle that they never returned. This latter circumstance is apparently an addition of later times, to explain their reappearance in the history of the Argonauts.

6. Cleansing of the Stables of Augeas.—The sixth task of Heracles was to cleanse in one day the stables of Augeas, king of Elis, whose wealth in cattle had become proverbial. Heracles repaired to Elis, where he offered to cleanse the stables, in which were three thousand oxen, if the king would consent to give him a tenth part of the cattle. Augeas agreed to do so; Heracles then turned the course of the Peneus or the Alpheus, or, according to some, of both rivers, through the stalls, and thus carried off the filth. Augeas, however, on learning that Heracles had undertaken the labour at the command of Eurystheus, refused to give him the stipulated reward, a breach of faith for which Heracles, later, took terrible vengeance on the king.

7. The Cretan Bull.—In the history of Minos, king of Crete, we find that Poseidon once sent up a bull out of the sea for Minos to sacrifice, but that Minos was induced by the beauty of the animal to place it among his own herds, and sacrificed another in its stead; whereupon Poseidon drove the bull mad. The seventh labour of Heracles consisted in capturing this bull and bringing it to Mycenæ. It was afterwards set free by Eurystheus, and appears later, in the story of Theseus, as the bull of Marathon.

8. The Mares of Diomedes.—Diomedes was king of the Bistones, a warlike tribe of Thrace. He inhumanly caused all strangers cast upon his coasts to be given to his wild mares, who fed on human flesh. To bind these horses and bring them alive to Mycenæ was the next task of Heracles. This, too, he successfully accomplished, after inflicting on Diomedes the same fate to which he had condemned so many others.

9. The Girdle of Hippolyte.—Admete, the daughter of Eurystheus, was anxious to obtain the girdle which the queen of the Amazons had received from Ares; and Heracles was accordingly despatched to fetch it. After various adventures he landed in Themiscyra, and was at first kindly received by Hippolyte, who was willing to give him the girdle. But Hera, in the guise of an Amazon, spread a report that Heracles was about to carry off the queen, upon which the Amazons attacked Heracles and his followers. In the battle which ensued Hippolyte was killed, and the hero, after securing the girdle, departed. On his journey homewards occurred his celebrated adventure with Hesione, the daughter of Laomedon, king of Troy. This king had refused Poseidon and Apollo the rewards he had promised them for their assistance in building the walls of Troy. In consequence of his perfidy, Apollo visited the country with a pestilence, and Poseidon sent a sea-monster, which devastated the land far and wide. By the advice of the oracle, Hesione, the king’s daughter, was exposed to be devoured by the animal. Heracles offered to destroy the monster, if Laomedon would give him the horses which his father Tros had received as a compensation for the loss of Ganymedes. Laomedon agreed, and Heracles then slew the monster. Laomedon, however, again proved false to his word, and Heracles, with a threat of future vengeance, departed.

10. The Oxen of Geryones.—The next task of Heracles was to fetch the cattle of the three-headed winged giant Geryones, or Geryoneus (Geryon). This monster was the offspring of Chrysaor (red slayer) and Callirrhoë (fair-flowing), an Oceanid, and inhabited the island of Erythia, in the far West, in the region of the setting sun, where he had a herd of the finest and fattest cattle. It was only natural that Heracles, in the course of his long journey to Erythia and back, should meet with numerous adventures; and this expedition has, accordingly, been more richly embellished than any other by the imagination of the poets. He is generally supposed to have passed through Libya, and to have sailed thence to Erythia in a golden boat, which he forced Helios (the sun) to lend him by shooting at him with his arrows. Having arrived in Erythia, he first slew the herdsman who was minding the oxen, together with his dog. He was then proceeding to drive off the cattle, when he was overtaken by Geryon. A violent contest ensued, in which the three-headed monster was at length vanquished by the arrows of the mighty hero. Heracles is then supposed to have recrossed the ocean in the boat of the sun, and, starting from Tartessus, to have journeyed on foot through Iberia, Gaul, and Italy. We pass over his contests with the Celts and Ligurians, and only notice briefly his victory over the giant Cacus, mentioned by Livy, which took place in the district where Rome was afterwards built, because Roman legend connected with this the introduction of the worship of Hercules into Italy. At length, after many adventures, he arrived at Mycenæ, where Eurystheus sacrificed the oxen to the Argive goddess Hera.

Heracles has now completed ten of his labours, but Eurystheus, as Apollodorus relates, refused to admit the destruction of the Lernæan Hydra, because on that occasion Heracles had availed himself of the help of Iolaüs, or the cleansing of the stables of Augeas, because of the reward for which he had stipulated; so that the hero was compelled to undertake two more. This account does not, however, harmonise with the tradition of the response of the oracle, in deference to which Heracles surrendered himself to servitude, and which offered the prospect of twelve labours from the first.

11. The Apples of the Hesperides.—This adventure has been even more embellished with later and foreign additions than the last. The golden apples, which were under the guardianship of the Hesperides, or nymphs of the west, constituted the marriage present which Hera had received from Gæa on the occasion of her marriage with Zeus. They were closely guarded by the terrible dragon Ladon, who, like all monsters, was the offspring of Typhon and Echidna. This, however, was far less embarrassing to the hero than his total ignorance of the site of the garden of the Hesperides, which led him to make several fruitless efforts before he succeeded in reaching the desired spot.

His first object was to gain information as to the situation of the garden, and for this purpose he journeyed through Illyria to the Eridanus (Po), in order to inquire the way of the nymphs who dwelt on this river. By them he was referred to the treacherous sage Nereus, whom he managed to seize whilst asleep, and refused to release until he had obtained the desired information. Heracles then proceeded by way of Tartessus to Libya, where he was challenged to a wrestling match by the giant Antæus, a powerful son of Earth, who was, according to Libyan tradition, of a monstrous height (some say sixty cubits). He was attacked by Heracles, but, as he received new strength from his mother Earth as often as he touched the ground, the hero lifted him up in the air and squeezed him to death in his arms.

From Libya Heracles passed into Egypt, where the cruel king Busiris was in the habit of seizing all strangers who entered the country and sacrificing them to Zeus. Heracles would have suffered a similar fate, had he not broken the chains laid upon him, and slain the king and his son. His indulgence at the richly-furnished table of the king was a feature in the story which afforded no small amusement to the comic writers, who were especially fond of jesting on the subject of the healthy and heroic appetite of Heracles. From Egypt the hero made his way into Æthiopia, where he slew Emathion, the son of Tithonus and Eos, for his cruelty to strangers. He next crossed the sea to India, and thence came to the Caucasus, where he set Prometheus free and destroyed the vulture that preyed on his liver. After Prometheus had described to him the long road to the Hesperides, he passed through Scythia, and came at length to the land of the Hyperboreans, where Atlas bore the pillars of heaven on his shoulders. This was the end of his journey, for Atlas, at his request, fetched the apples, whilst Heracles supported the heavens. Here again the comic poets introduced an amusing scene. Atlas, having once tasted the delights of freedom, betrayed no anxiety to relieve his substitute, but offered, instead, to bear the apples himself to Eurystheus. Heracles, however, proved even more cunning than he, for, apparently agreeing to the proposition, he asked Atlas just to relieve him until he had arranged more comfortably a cushion for his back. When Atlas good-humouredly consented, Heracles of course left him in his former position, and made off with the apples. Another account states that he descended himself into the garden and slew the hundred-headed dragon who kept guard over the trees.

12. Cerberus.—The most daring of all the feats of Heracles, and that which bears the palm from all the others, and is in consequence, always put at the end of his labours, was the bringing of Cerberus from the lower world. In this undertaking, which is mentioned even by Homer, he was accompanied by Hermes and Athene, though he had hitherto been able to dispense with divine aid. He is commonly reported to have made his descent into the lower world at Cape Tænarum in Laconia. Close to the gates of Hades he found the adventurous heroes Theseus and Pirithoüs, who had gone down to carry off Persephone, fastened to a rock. He succeeded in setting Theseus free, but Pirithoüs he was obliged to leave behind him, because of the violent earthquake which occurred when he attempted to touch him. After several further adventures, he entered the presence of the lord of the lower world. Hades consented to his taking Cerberus, on condition that he should master him without using any weapons. Heracles seized the furious beast, and, having chained him, he brought him to Eurystheus, and afterwards carried him back to his place in the lower world. The completion of this task released Heracles from his servitude to Eurystheus.

III. Deeds of Heracles after his Service.—1. The Murder of Iphitus and Contest with Apollo.—The hero, after his release from servitude, returned to Thebes, where he gave his wife Megara in marriage to Iolaüs. He then proceeded to the court of Eurytus, king of Œchalia, who had promised his beautiful daughter Iole in marriage to the man who should vanquish himself and his sons in shooting with the bow. The situation of Œchalia is variously given; sometimes it is placed in Thessaly, sometimes in the Peloponnesus, on the borders of Arcadia and Messenia, and sometimes in the island of Eubœa, close to Eretria. Heracles gained a most complete victory; but Eurytus, nevertheless, refused to give him his daughter, reproaching him with the murder of his children by Megara, and with his ignominious bondage to Eurystheus. Heracles, with many threats of future vengeance, withdrew, and when, not long afterwards, Iphitus, the son of Eurytus, fell into his hands, he cast him from the highest tower of his citadel in Tiryns. This somewhat treacherous action being at variance with the general character of the hero, the story subsequently arose that Iphitus was a friend of Heracles, and had advocated his cause with Eurytus, and that Heracles only treated him thus in a fit of insanity. The bloody deed was fraught with the gravest consequences. After seeking purification and absolution in vain among men, Heracles came to Delphi, in order to seek the aid and consolation of the oracle. But Apollo, with whom the royal family of Œchalia stood in high favour, rejected him; whereupon Heracles forced his way into the temple, and was already in the act of bearing away the holy tripod, in order to erect an oracle of his own, when he was confronted by the angry deity. A fearful combat would doubtless have ensued, if the father of gods and men himself had not interfered to prevent this unnatural strife between his favourite sons by separating the combatants with his lightning. Heracles was now commanded by the Pythian priestess to allow himself to be sold by Hermes into slavery for three years, to expiate the murder of Iphitus.

2. Heracles in the Service of Omphale.—This portion of the story is of Lydian origin, but was cleverly interwoven with the Greek legend. The Lydians, in fact, honoured a sun-hero called Sandon, who resembled Heracles in many respects, as the ancestor of their kings. The oriental character of the Lydian Heracles at once manifests itself in the fact that he here appears as entirely devoted to sensual pleasures, becoming effeminate in the society of women, and allowing himself to be clothed in female attire, whilst his mistress Omphale donned his lion-skin and club, and flaunted up and down before him. He did not always linger in such inactivity, however; sometimes the old desire for action urged him forth to gallant deeds. Thus he vanquished and chastised the Cercopes, a race of goblins who used to trick and waylay travellers. He also slew Syleus, who compelled all passing travellers to dig in his vineyard; which formed the subject of a satyric drama of Euripides.

3. His Expedition against Troy.—After performing several other feats in the service of Omphale, Heracles again became free. He now appears to have undertaken an expedition against the faithless Laomedon, king of Troy, in company with other Greek heroes, such as Peleus, Telamon, and Oïcles, whose number increased as time went on. The city was taken by storm: Oïcles, indeed, was slain, but, on the other hand, Laomedon and all his sons except Podarces fell before the arrows of Heracles. Hesione, the daughter of the king, was given by Heracles to his friend Telamon, and became by him the mother of Teucer. She received permission from Heracles to release one of the prisoners, and chose her brother Podarces, who afterwards bore the name of Priamus (the redeemed), and continued the race of Dardanus in Ilium.

4. The Peloponnesian Expeditions of Heracles.—The legend relates that the hero now undertook his long-deferred expedition against Augeas, which was the means of kindling a Messenian and Lacedæmonian war. After assembling an army in Arcadia, which was joined by many gallant Greek heroes, he advanced against Elis. Heracles, however, fell sick; and in his absence his army was attacked and driven back with great loss by the brave Actoridæ or Molionidæ, the nephews of Augeas. It was only after Heracles had slain these heroes in an ambuscade at Cleonæ, as they were on their way to the Isthmian games, that he succeeded in penetrating into Elis. He then slew Augeas, and gave the kingdom to his son Phyleus, with whom he was on friendly terms. It was on this occasion that he instituted the Olympic games. He then marched against Pylus, either because its king, Neleus, had given assistance to the Molionidæ, or else because Neleus had refused to purify him from the murder of Iphitus. This expedition against Pylus was subsequently greatly embellished by the poets, who made it into a great battle of the gods, one part of whom fought for Neleus, and the other part for Heracles. The chief feature was the combat between Heracles and Periclymenus, the bravest of the sons of Neleus, who had received from Poseidon, the tutelary deity of the Pylians, the power of transforming himself into any kind of animal. The result of the combat was of course a complete victory for Heracles. Neleus, with his eleven gallant sons, was slain, and only the youngest, Nestor, remained to perpetuate the celebrated race. The Lacedæmonian expedition of Heracles, which follows close on that against Pylus, was undertaken against Hippocoön, the half-brother of Tyndareüs, whom he had expelled. Hippocoön was defeated and slain by Heracles, who gave his kingdom to Tyndareüs. On this occasion Heracles was assisted by Cepheus, king of Tegea, with his twenty sons, a circumstance which is only mentioned on account of a remarkable legend connected with his stay in Tegea. Heracles is here said to have left Auge, the beautiful sister of Cepheus, and priestess of Athene, pregnant with Telephus, whose wondrous adventures have occupied artists and poets alike. Auge concealed her child in the grove of Athene, whereupon the angry goddess visited the land with a famine. Aleüs, the father of Auge, on discovering the fact, caused the child to be exposed, and sold the mother beyond the sea. Auge thus came into Mysia, where the king Teuthras made her his wife. Telephus was suckled by a hind. He grew up, and ultimately, after some wonderful adventures, succeeded in finding his mother. He succeeded Teuthras, and, later, became embroiled with the Greeks when they landed on their expedition against Troy, on which occasion he was wounded by Achilles. Telephus, among all the sons of Heracles, is said to have borne the greatest resemblance to his father.

5. Acheloüs, Nessus, Cycnus.—The next episode in the history of the hero is his wooing of Deïanira, the daughter of Œneus, king of Ætolia. Œneus is celebrated as the first cultivator of the vine in that country, and as the father of the Ætolian heroes, Meleager and Tydeus. The river-god Acheloüs was also a suitor for the hand of Deïanira, and as neither he nor Heracles would relinquish their claim, it was decided by the combat between the rivals^[8] so often described by the poets. The power of assuming various forms was of little use to Acheloüs, for, having finally transformed himself into a bull, he was deprived of a horn by Heracles, and compelled to declare himself vanquished. Heracles restored him his horn, and received in exchange that of the goat Amalthea. After his marriage with Deïanira, Heracles lived for some time happily at the court of his father-in-law, where his son Hyllus was born. In consequence of an accidental murder, he was obliged to leave Ætolia and retire to the court of his friend Ceÿx, king of Trachis, at the foot of Mount Œta. On the road occurred his celebrated adventure with the Centaur Nessus. On coming to the river Evenus, Heracles entrusted Deïanira to Nessus to carry across, whilst he himself waded through the swollen stream. The Centaur, induced by the beauty of his burden, attempted to carry off Deïanira, but was pierced by an arrow of Heracles, and expiated his attempt with his life. He avenged himself by giving Deïanira some of his blood to make a magic salve, with which he assured her she could always secure the love of her husband.

On reaching Trachis they were hospitably received by Ceÿx. Heracles first defeated the Dryopes, and assisted the Dorian king Ægimius in his contest with the Lapithæ. He next engaged in his celebrated combat with Cycnus, the son of Ares, which took place at Iton, in the neighbourhood of the Gulf of Pagasæ. Heracles not only slew his opponent, but even wounded the god of war himself, who had come to the assistance of his son. This contest is the subject of the celebrated poem called the Shield of Hercules, which goes under the name of Hesiod.

IV. Death and Apotheosis.—The death of Heracles, of which we learn most from the masterly description of Sophocles in the Trachiniæ, is generally supposed to have been connected with his expedition against Eurytus. The hero, who could not forget the ignominious treatment he had received at the hands of Eurytus, now marched with an army from Trachis against Œchalia. The town and citadel were taken by storm, and Eurytus and his sons slain; whilst the beautiful Iole, who was still unmarried, fell into the hands of the conqueror. Heracles now withdrew with great booty, but halted on the promontory of Cenæum, opposite the Locrian coast, to raise an altar and offer a solemn sacrifice of thanksgiving to his father Zeus. Deïanira, who was tormented with jealous misgivings concerning Iole, thought it was now high time to make use of the charm of Nessus. She accordingly sent her husband a white sacrificial garment, which she anointed with the ointment prepared from the blood of the Centaur. Heracles donned the garment without suspicion, but scarcely had the flames from the altar heated the poison than it penetrated the body of the unhappy hero. In the most fearful agony he strove to tear off the garment, but in vain, for it stuck like a plaster to his skin; and where he succeeded in rending it away by force, it tore out great pieces of his flesh at the same time. In his frenzy he seized the herald Lichas, the bearer of the unfortunate present, and violently dashed him in pieces against a rock of the sea. In this state Heracles was brought to Trachis, where he found that Deïanira, full of sorrow and despair on learning the consequences of her act, had put an end to her own life. Convinced that cure was hopeless, the dying hero proceeded from Trachis to Œta, and there erected a funeral pile on which to end his torments. None of those around him, however, would consent to set the pile on fire, until Pœas, the father of Philoctetes, happened to pass by, and rendered him the service, in return for which Heracles presented him with his bow and arrows. As the flames rose high, a cloud descended from heaven, and, amid furious peals of thunder, a chariot with four horses, driven by Athene, appeared and bore the illustrious hero to Olympus, where he was joyfully received by the gods. He here became reconciled to Hera, who gave him the hand of her beauteous daughter Hebe in marriage.

V. Heracles as God.—We have already laid before our readers the most characteristic features of the myth. To interpret it and trace it back in all its details to the original sources would be, amid the mass of provincial and foreign legends with which it is amalgamated, almost impossible. Thus much is certain, however, that, apart from the conceptions which were engrafted on the story from Tyrian and Egyptian sources, even in the case of the Greek Heracles, myths based on natural phenomena are mixed up with historical and allegorical myths. The historic element, for instance, is apparent in the wars of Heracles against the Dryopes—against Augeas, Neleus, and Hippocoön. Here the exploits of the whole Dorian race are personified in the actions of the hero. On the other hand, in most of his single combats a symbolic meaning, derived from natural phenomena, is unmistakeable. Heracles, in fact, appears to have been, originally, a symbol of the power of the sun triumphing over the dark powers in nature. Driven from Argos by the worship of the Argive Hera, he first sank to the level of a hero, but was, subsequently, again raised to the dignity of a god. This occurred at a time when the gods of Greece had altogether cast aside their physical meaning; so that he was now regarded principally from an ethical point of view. He appears as a symbol of that lofty force of character which triumphs over all difficulties and obstacles. Poets and philosophers alike vied with each other in presenting him to the youth of their country in this character, pointing to his career as a brilliant example of what a man might accomplish, in spite of a thousand obstacles, by mere determination and force of will. The well-known allegory of the sophist Prodicus,^[9] called “The Choice of Hercules,” is an instance of the mode in which the history of the hero was used to inculcate moral precepts.

In the religious system of the Greeks, Heracles was specially honoured as the patron of the gymnasia; the gymnasium of Cynosarges in Athens being solely dedicated to him. After his deification, Heracles was also regarded in the character of a saviour and benefactor of his nation; as one who had not only merited the lasting gratitude of mankind by his deeds throughout an active and laborious life—in having rid the world of giants and noxious beasts, in having extinguished destructive forces of nature, and abolished human sacrifices and other barbarous institutions of antiquity—but also as a kindly and beneficent deity, ever ready to afford help and protection to mankind in the hour of need. In this character he was known by the names of Soter (Saviour) and Alexicacus (averter of evil). He had temples and festivals in various parts of Greece. In Marathon, which boasted of being the first seat of his worship, games were celebrated in his honour every four years, at which silver cups were given as prizes. The fourth day of every month was held sacred to him, this day being regarded as his birthday.

We have already mentioned the legendary introduction of his worship into Rome.^[10] Hercules, as he was called in Italy, was identified with the Italian hero Recaranus. He had an altar in the Forum Boarium, established, according to tradition, by Evander. The Roman poets, of course, devoted especial attention to the stories of his journey through Italy, and his fight with Cacus.

In Heracles ancient art sought to portray the conception of gigantic bodily strength. He is, therefore, generally represented as a full-grown man—rarely as a child or youth. We may observe the manner in which the prominent idea of physical force is expressed by regarding the formation of the neck and throat in the statue of Heracles. Nothing can express better a bull-like strength than the short neck and the prominent muscles, especially if associated with a broad, deep chest. We shall be able to appreciate this distinctive character still more clearly if we compare the form of Heracles with that of the ideal god Apollo, whose neck is especially long and slender. The figure of Heracles is, moreover, characterised by a head small in comparison with the giant body; by curly hair, bushy eyebrows, and muscular arms and legs. This conception was principally developed by Myron and Lysippus. A statue of Heracles by the former artist played a part in connection with the art robberies of Verres in Sicily. Lysippus erected several celebrated statues of Heracles, the most remarkable of which was the bronze colossus in Tarentum, which the Romans, after the capture of that town, transferred to the Capitol. Thence it was brought, by order of Constantine, to his new capital of Constantinople, where it remained until the Latin crusade of 1202, when it was melted down. Lysippus portrayed in this statue a mourning Heracles, which no one had ever attempted before him. The hero appeared in a sitting posture, without his weapons, his left elbow resting on his left leg, while his head, full of thought and sorrow, rests on the open hand. The same artist, in a still greater work, depicted the twelve labours of Heracles. These formed a group which was originally executed for Alyzia, a seaport town of Acarnania, but which was, subsequently, likewise transferred to Rome.

First among existing statues is the Farnese Hercules (Fig. 58). This celebrated colossal statue, now in the Naples Museum, was discovered in 1540, on the site of the Thermæ of Caracalla. The hero is standing upright, resting his left shoulder on his club, from which hangs his lion’s skin. This attitude, as well as the head drooping towards the breast, and the gloomy gravity of his countenance, clearly show that the hero feels bowed down by the burden of his laborious life. Even the thought that he is soon to be released from his ignominious servitude (he holds behind him, in his right hand, the three apples of the Hesperides, the fruit of his last labour) is unable to cheer him, and his thoughts seem to revert only to the past. On account of the conception of the piece, and the existence of another copy bearing the name of Lysippus, the Farnese Hercules is supposed to be a copy of a work of Lysippus, of which nothing further is known.

Still more important as a work of art, though it has reached us in a terribly mutilated condition—minus head, arms, and legs—is the celebrated Torso of Hercules, in the Vatican. This was found in Rome during the reign of Pope Julius II., on a spot where the theatre of Pompey, of which it was probably an ornament, once stood.

Groups.—Heracles in action was a still more favourite subject with artists, who delighted to portray the different scenes of his versatile life. Numberless representations of such scenes occur, not only in the form of statues and works in relief, but more especially on ancient vases. We mention here, in the chronological order of the events, some of the most important.

1. Heracles and the Serpents.—This scene was early depicted by the celebrated painter Zeuxis, who represented Heracles as strangling the serpents, whilst Alcmene and Amphitryon stood by in amazement. There are also several statues representing this feat, among which that at Florence takes the first rank. There is also a painting from Herculaneum in the Naples Museum.

2. The Twelve Labours.—These have naturally been treated of times out of number. We have already mentioned the groups of Lysippus, which he executed for the town of Alyzia. A still existing bronze statue in the Capitoline Museum, representing Heracles battling with the Hydra, appears to belong to this series. Among interesting remains are the metope reliefs on the Theseum at Athens. Ten on the east side of the temple represent scenes from the life of Heracles. Nine of them belong to the twelve labours, viz., the Nemean lion, the Hydra, the Arcadian hind, the Erymanthian boar, the horses of Diomedes, Cerberus, the girdle of Hippolyte, Geryon, and the Hesperides; whilst the tenth tablet represents his contest with Cycnus. The remains of the splendid temple of Zeus at Olympia, which was completed about 435 B.C., are less important. The metopes of the front and back of the temple contained six of the labours of Heracles. Those representing the contest with the Cretan bull, the dying lion, a portion from the fight with Geryon, and some other fragments, were found in 1829, and conveyed to the museum of the Louvre at Paris. The only one which is perfect, however, is the spirited and life-like representation of the struggle with the Cretan bull.

3. Parerga (Subordinate Deeds).—First among these come the scenes from his contest with the Centaurs, which were frequently treated of in art. Groups of these exist in the museum at Florence; there are also various representations to be found on vases. His adventure with Nessus is represented separately on a Pompeian painting in the Naples Museum; Nessus crouches in a humble posture before Heracles, who has the little Hyllus in his arms, and he appears to be asking permission to carry Deïanira across the stream. There is also an interesting representation of the release of Prometheus on the Sarcophagus of the Capitol, from the Villa Pamfili, which is, in other respects, also worthy of mention. The seizure of the tripod at Delphi is also frequently portrayed in art.

4. Heracles and Omphale.—Of the monuments referring to Heracles’ connection with Omphale, the most important is the beautiful Farnese group in marble in the Naples Museum. Omphale has thrown the lion’s skin round her beautiful limbs, and holds in her right hand the hero’s club. Thus equipped, she smiles triumphantly at Heracles, who is clothed in female attire, with a distaff in his hand.

5. Heracles and Telephus.—The romantic history of Telephus was also frequently treated of in art. The Naples Museum possesses a fine painting, representing the discovery of the child after it has been suckled by the hind, on which occasion, strange to say, Heracles himself is present. In the Vatican Museum there is a fine marble group, representing Heracles with the child Telephus in his arms.

7. Attic Legend.—1. Cecrops.—Cecrops, the first founder of civilisation in Attica, plays a similar part here to that which Cadmus does in Thebes. Like Cadmus, he was afterwards called an immigrant; indeed he was said to have come from Sais in Lower Egypt. In his case, however, we are able to trace the rise of the erroneous tradition with far greater distinctness. Pure Attic tradition recognises him only as an autochthon—that is, an original inhabitant born of the earth; and further adds, that, like the giants, he was half man and half serpent. As the mythical founder of the state, he was also regarded as the builder of the citadel (Cecropia); and marriage, as well as other political and social institutions, were ascribed to him. Perhaps he is only a local personification of Hermes. The probability of this view is greatly enhanced by the fact that his three daughters, Herse, Aglaurus, and Pandrosus, received divine honours. It was under Cecrops that the celebrated contest occurred between Poseidon and Athene for the possession of Attica, and was by his means decided in favour of the goddess. We have already given an account of it, and need only here remark that the story is purely the result of the observation of natural phenomena. In Attica, in fact, there are only two seasons—a cold, wet, and rainy winter (Poseidon), and a warm, dry, genial summer (Pallas). These seem to be continually striving for the supremacy of the land. Cecrops was succeeded in the government by Cranaüs, who is represented by some as his son. The common mythological account places the flood of Deucalion in his reign. After the expulsion of Cranaüs, Amphictyon, one of the sons of Deucalion, succeeded to the sovereignty of Attica, of whom nothing more is known than that he was deprived of the government by Erechtheus.

2. Erechtheus, or Erichthonius.—Erechtheus, or Erichthonius, is really only a second Cecrops—the mythical founder of the state after the flood, as Cecrops was before it. Being also earthborn, he is, like Cecrops, endowed with a serpent’s form. There was another very sacred legend concerning him, which stated that Gæa (Ge), immediately after his birth, gave him to the goddess Pallas to nurse. The latter first entrusted him to the daughters of Cecrops, her attendants and priestesses, enclosed in a chest. The latter, however, prompted by curiosity, opened the chest, contrary to the commands of the goddess, and were punished in consequence with madness. Erichthonius was now reared by the goddess herself in her sanctuary on the citadel, and was subsequently made king of Athens. The same stories are then related of him as of Cecrops—that he regulated the state, introduced the worship of the gods, and settled the dispute between Poseidon and Athene.

The tomb of Erechtheus was shown in the Erechtheum, the ancient temple dedicated to Athene Polias, where the never-dying olive tree created by the goddess was also preserved.

Two among the daughters of Erechtheus are celebrated in legend. The first is Orithyia, who was carried off by Boreas, and became the mother of Calaïs and Zetes, whom we come across again in the story of the Argonauts; the other is Procris, the wife of the handsome hunter Cephalus, who was said to be a son of Hermes by Herse, the daughter of Cecrops. Cephalus was carried off by Eos, who was unable to shake his fidelity to his wife. It served, however, to excite the jealousy of the latter, which ultimately proved fatal to her. Procris had hidden herself among the bushes, in order to watch her husband, when Cephalus, taking her for a wild animal, unwittingly killed her. After the death of Erechtheus, the tragic poets relate that Ion, the mythical ancestor of the Ionians, ruled in Athens. This means nothing more than that the primitive Pelasgian age in Attica had now come to an end, and the dominion of the Ionians commenced.

3. Theseus.—Theseus is the national hero of the Ionians, just as Heracles is of the Æolians. He has not unjustly been called the second Heracles; and he has, indeed, many features in common with the Æolian hero, since the national jealousy of the Ionians led them to adopt every possible means of making their own hero rival that of their neighbours. They therefore strove to represent him, likewise, as a hero tried in numberless contests—generous, unselfish, and devoted to the interests of mankind—and of course ascribed to him a multitude of adventurous exploits. There is no great undertaking of antiquity in which Theseus is not supposed to have taken part, and he was even sent on an expedition to hell, in imitation of Heracles.

He was the son of the Athenian king Ægeus, whom mythological tradition made a great-grandson of Erechtheus. After his father Pandion had been driven out by his relations, the sons of Metion, Ægeus betook himself to Megara, where he was hospitably received by the ruler, Pylas. From Megara, Ægeus, Pallas, Nisus, and Lycus, the sons of Pandion, undertook an expedition against Athens, which ended in the expulsion of the Metionidæ, and the restoration of the former royal family in the person of Ægeus. Such, at least, is the tradition; although it is more probable that Athens never had a king of this name, and that Ægeus (wave-man) is only a surname of Poseidon, the chief deity of the seafaring Ionians. Ægeus, though twice married, had no heir, and now undertook a journey to Delphi to seek the advice of the oracle. On his way back he stopped at the court of Pittheus, king of Trœzen, and became, by his daughter Æthra, the father of Theseus. Before his departure, he placed his sword and sandals beneath a heavy stone, and commanded Æthra to send his son to Athens as soon as he was able to move the stone and take his father’s sword. Theseus was carefully trained in music and gymnastics by the sagacious Pittheus, and soon developed into a stately youth. He is also supposed to have been educated by the Centaur Chiron, whose instruction had now become a necessary item in the education of a real hero.

When Theseus was sixteen, his mother took him to the stone beneath which lay his father’s sword and sandals. With a slight effort he raised the stone, and thus entered on his heroic career. His earlier adventures consisted in overcoming a series of obstacles that beset him in his journey from Trœzen to Athens. They are generally supposed to have been six in number.

1. Between Trœzen and Epidaurus he slew Periphetes, the son of Hephæstus—who was lame, like his father—because he was in the habit of murdering travellers with his iron club; whence he is called Corynetes, or club-bearer.

2. He next delivered the Isthmus from another powerful robber called Sinis. He used to fasten travellers who fell into his hands to the top of a pine tree, which he bent to the earth, and then allowed to recoil; after which, on their reaching the ground, he would kill them outright; whence he is called Pityocamptes, or pine-bender. Theseus inflicted the same fate on him.

3. In the woody district of Crommyon he destroyed a dangerous wild sow that laid waste the country.

4. Not far from this, on the rock of Sciron, on the borders of Megara, dwelt another monster, called Sciron, who compelled travellers to wash his feet, and then kicked them into the sea. Theseus served him in a similar fashion.

5. In the neighbourhood of Eleusis he vanquished the giant Cercyon, who compelled all who fell into his hands to wrestle with him.

6. His last combat awaited him on the confines of Eleusis, where dwelt the inhuman Damastes. This monster used to lay his victims in a bed: if this was too short, he would hack off their projecting limbs; if too long, he would beat out and pull asunder their limbs, whence he is called Procrustes. He was also slain by Theseus.

On reaching Athens, he found his father Ægeus in the toils of the dangerous sorceress Medea, who had fled from Corinth to Athens. She was on the point of making away with the newcomer by poison, when Ægeus, fortunately, recognised him by the sword he bore, and preserved him from his impending fate.

Medea was compelled to flee; but a new danger awaited the hero from the fifty sons of Pallas, who had reckoned on succeeding their childless uncle Ægeus. Theseus, however, slew some in battle and expelled the rest.

He now undertook his greatest and most adventurous feat, in order to free his country from its shameful tribute to Minos, king of Crete, whose son, the youthful hero Androgeos, had been treacherously murdered by the Athenians and Megareans. Another account says that he was sent by Ægeus against the bull of Marathon, and thus slain. At any rate, Minos undertook a war of revenge. He first marched against Megara, of which Nisus, the brother of Ægeus, was king. Minos conquered him by means of his own daughter Scylla, who became enamoured of Minos, and cut off from her father’s head the purple lock on which his life depended. After having taken Megara and slain Nisus, Minos marched against Athens. Here he was equally successful, and compelled the vanquished Athenians to expiate the blood of his son by sending, every eight or (according to the Greek method of reckoning) every nine years, seven youths and seven maidens to be devoured by the Minotaur. This was a monster, half man and half bull. Twice already had the bloody tribute been sent, and the third fell just after Theseus’ arrival in Athens; he at once bravely offered to go among the allotted victims. He was resolved to do battle with the Minotaur, and to stake his life on the liberation of his country from the shameful tribute. Under the guidance of Aphrodite he passed over to Crete, and soon discovered the efficacy of her protection. The goddess kindled a passionate love for the hero in the breast of Ariadne, the daughter of Minos. Ariadne rendered him every possible assistance in his undertaking, and especially presented him with a clew of thread, by means of which Theseus, after having slain the Minotaur, was enabled to find his way out of the Labyrinth. We have already narrated how Ariadne was deserted by Theseus on the isle of Naxos, only to become the bride of Dionysus, the divine son of Semele. Theseus also landed at Delos, where he instituted the festival of the Delia in honour of the divine children of Leto. On reaching Athens, he showed his gratitude to his divine protectress by the institution of the worship of Aphrodite Pandemus. In honour of Dionysus and Ariadne, he instituted the Oschophoria, in which festival Athene also had a share. Lastly, in honour of Apollo, he instituted the Pyanepsia, a festival which was celebrated on the seventh day of the month Pyanepsion (end of October).

The happy return of Theseus from his Cretan expedition, however, proved the death of his aged father. Ægeus, as he stood on the coast looking for his son’s return, perceived that the ships had black sails instead of white, which were to have been hoisted in the event of his son’s success; and believing that all was lost, he cast himself headlong into the sea. This story was perhaps only invented to account for the name of the Ægean Sea.

With regard to the other exploits of Theseus, there exists the greatest variety of accounts as to the order in which they took place. As king, he is said to have been the first to unite the separate districts of Attica into one political community, with one state Prytaneum, and to have instituted the festival of the Panathenæa in commemoration of this event. The following, among his later exploits, are worthy of mention:—

1. He captured the bull of Marathon (said to have been the same which Heracles brought alive from Crete), and sacrificed it in Athens to Apollo Delphinius.

2. He assisted his friend Pirithoüs, the prince of the Lapithæ, in his contest with the Centaurs.

3. He undertook with Pirithoüs an expedition to Lacedæmon, in which they carried off Helen, the sister of the Dioscuri.

4. At the request of Pirithoüs, he accompanied him to the lower world to carry off Persephone; but Hades, enraged at their audacity, caused them both to be bound in chains and fastened to a rock. Theseus was rescued from this plight by Heracles, but during his absence the Dioscuri had released their sister from Aphidnæ, where she was confined.

5. He next joined Heracles in his expedition against the Amazons, and received, as the reward of victory, their queen Antiope, or Hippolyte. Another tradition asserts that Antiope followed him of her own free will to Athens, where she was married to him, and became the mother of Hippolytus, famed for his unhappy fate. His great beauty caused his step-mother Phædra, a later wife of Theseus, and a sister of Ariadne, to fall in love with him. As he withdrew himself from her dishonourable proposals by flight, she accused him to his father of attempts on her virtue. Theseus, in his wrath, besought Poseidon to punish his faithless son; and the god, who had sworn to grant any request of Theseus, sent a wild bull (i.e., a breaker) out of the sea as Hippolytus was driving in his chariot along the sea-shore. This so terrified his horses that Hippolytus was thrown from his chariot, and dragged along the ground till he was dead. This story—the scene of which was afterwards transferred to Trœzen, whither Theseus was supposed to have fled on account of a murder—was dealt with in a touching manner by the tragic poets. The Hippolytus of Euripides is still extant.

6. As a result of the carrying off of Antiope, a second contest with the Amazons was subsequently invented, in which Theseus was engaged alone, and which took place in the immediate neighbourhood of Athens. The Amazons are supposed to have invaded Attica, in order to release their queen. Antiope, however, was so enamoured of Theseus that she refused to return, and fought at her husband’s side, against her kindred, until she was slain.

Lastly, Theseus is said to have taken part in the Calydonian boar hunt, and also in the expedition of the Argonauts, of which we shall have more to say hereafter.