Chapter 13: Herakles
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♠ Homer, Iliad 5.628-51
but Tlepolemus, son of Heracles, a valiant man and tall, was roused by resistless fate against godlike Sarpedon. [630] And when they were come near as they advanced one against the other, the son and grandson of Zeus the cloud-gatherer, then Tlepolemus was first to speak, saying: “Sarpedon, counsellor of the Lycians, why must thou be skulking here, that art a man unskilled in battle? [635] They speak but a lie that say thou art sprung from Zeus that beareth the aegis, seeing thou art inferior far to those warriors that were sprung from Zeus in the days of men of old. Of other sort, men say, was mighty Heracles, my father, staunch in fight, the lionhearted, [640] who on a time came hither by reason of the mares of Laomedon with but six ships and a scantier host, yet sacked the city of Ilios and made waste her streets. But thine is a coward’s heart, and thy people are minishing. In no wise methinks shall thy coming from Lycia prove a defence to the men of Troy, [645] though thou be never so strong, but thou shalt be vanquished by my hand and pass the gates of Hades.” And to him Sarpedon, captain of the Lycians, made answer:“Tlepolemus, thy sire verily destroyed sacred Ilios through the folly of the lordly man, Laomedon, [650] who chid with harsh words him that had done him good service, and rendered him not the mares for the sake of which he had come from afar. Greek Text
♠ Homer, Iliad 14.249-56
For ere now in another matter did a behest of thine teach me a lesson, [250] on the day when the glorious son of Zeus, high of heart, sailed forth from Ilios, when he had laid waste the city of the Trojans. I, verily, beguiled the mind of Zeus, that beareth the aegis, being shed in sweetness round about him, and thou didst devise evil in thy heart against his son, when thou hadst roused the blasts of cruel winds over the face of the deep, [255] and thereafter didst bear him away unto well-peopled Cos, far from all his kinsfolk. Greek Text
♠ Homer, Iliad 15.18-30
Dost thou not remember when thou wast hung from on high, and from thy feet I suspended two anvils, and about thy wrists cast [20] a band of gold that might not be broken? And in the air amid the clouds thou didst hang, and the gods had indignation throughout high Olympus; howbeit they availed not to draw nigh and loose thee. Nay, whomsoever I caught, I would seize and hurl from the threshold until he reached the earth, his strength all spent. Yet not even so was my heart [25] eased of its ceaseless pain for godlike Heracles, whom thou when thou hadst leagued thee with the North Wind and suborned his blasts, didst send over the unresting sea, by thine evil devising, and thereafter didst bear him away unto well-peopled Cos. Him did I save from thence, and brought again [30] to horse-pasturing Argos, albeit after he had laboured sore. Greek Text
♠ Hesiod, Ehoiai (Catalogue of Women) fr 43a MW – Fragmenta Hesiodea, pp. 27-31, ed. R. Merkelbach and M. L. West. Oxford 1967.
And for only a small reason the stout son of Zeus sacked his attractive city and ravaged his villages, as soo[n as] he s[ail]ed from Troy i[n] s[wift] ships[. . .] because [of] Laomedon’s [ho]rses. (Lines 61-64. Transl. Silvio Curtis)
♠ Peisandros fr 11 PEG – Poetae Epici Graeci 1, p. 170, ed. A. Bernabé. Leipzig 1987.
Peisandros says that Herakles gave Telamon a most beautiful cup for the expedition against Ilios. (Transl. E Bianchelli)
♠ Pindar, Isthmian 6.27-31
The son of Alcmena led him in ships to Troy, the toil of heroes, for war that delights in bronze, as an eager ally along with the men of Tiryns because of Laomedon’s wrongdoing. [30] He took Pergamos, and with Telamon’s help he slew the tribes of Meropes. Greek Text
♠ Pindar, Nemean 3.36-37
And powerful Telamon, the comrade of Iolaus, sacked the city of Laomedon. Greek Text
♠ Hellanikos 4F26b – Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker 1, p. 114, ed. F. Jacoby. 2d ed. Leiden 1957.
♠ Hellanikos 4F109 – Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker 1, p. 134, ed. F. Jacoby. 2d ed. Leiden 1957.
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Edited by Elena Bianchelli, Retired Senior Lecturer of Classical Languages and Culture, Univ. of Georgia, November 2023.
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