Chapter 13: Herakles
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♠ Od 21.22-30 – Homer, Odyssey
And Iphitus, on his part, had come in search of twelve brood mares, which he had lost, with sturdy mules at the teat; but to him thereafter did they bring death and doom, [25] when he came to the stout-hearted son of Zeus, the man Heracles, who well knew deeds of daring; for Heracles slew him, his guest though he was, in his own house, ruthlessly, and had regard neither for the wrath of the gods nor for the table which he had set before him, but slew the man thereafter, [30] and himself kept the stout-hoofed mares in his halls. Greek Text
♠ Kreophylos, Capture of Oichalia fr 1 PEG – Poetae Epici Graeci 1, p. 161, ed. A. Bernabé. Leipzig 1987.
Oh lady, she sees these things in her eyes. (Transl. E. Bianchelli)
♠ Hes fr 26.31-33 MW – Hesiod, Ehoiai (Catalogue of Women) – Fragmenta Hesiodea, p. 18, ed. Merkelbach and M.L. West. Oxford 1967.
After these, he (i.e. Eurytos) begot blonde Iole, youngest of all, because of whom Oichalia [. . .] Amphitryon’s son [. . . (Transl. E. Bianchelli)
♠ Hes fr 25.20-25 MW – Hesiod, Ehoiai (Catalogue of Women) – Fragmenta Hesiodea, p. 15-16, ed. Merkelbach and M.L. West. Oxford 1967.
She bore and contrived dreadful deeds in the folly (?) of her mind, when anointing a chiton with a drug she gave it to the herald Lichas to convey. And he gave it to lord Herakles son of Amphitryon sacker of cities; and death came to him quickly after he received it. [25] And he died and went down into the <much-groaning> house of Hades. (Transl. E Bianchelli and T. Gantz)
♠ Hes fr 229 MW – Hesiod, Ehoiai (Catalogue of Women) – Fragmenta Hesiodea, p. 112-13, ed. Merkelbach and M.L. West. Oxford 1967.
P. Pxy. 2493, ed. Lobel
. . .] beautiful [. . . . . .] blooming [. . . . . . ] he refused [. . . . . . ] killed him [. . . [5] . . . .] with force [. . . . . . ] snow-capt Olympos [. . . he dwells unharmed and without care for all his days, immortal and free from old age possessing much beloved Hebe, daughter of great Zeus and golden-sandled Hera; [10] previously the white-armed goddess Hera hated him among the blessed gods and the mortal men, but now she loves him and she honors him far above the other immortals after Cronos’ mighty son himself [. . .] he offered dear [. . . [15] . . . ] snow-capt Olympus [. . . . . . ] nature and beauty [. . .] to city-sacking Herakles [. . . ] running in silver eddies [. . . ] flows into the blessed sea [. . . (Transl. E. Bianchelli)
♠ Od 8.223-28 – Homer, Odyssey
Yet with men of former days I will not seek to vie, with Heracles or with Eurytus of Oechalia, [225] who strove even with the immortals in archery. Wherefore great Eurytus died soon, nor did old age come upon him in his halls, for Apollo waxed wroth and slew him, because he had challenged him to a contest with the bow. Greek Text
♦Madrid, Museo Arqueológico Nacional 10916: Attic black-figure amphora by the Sappho Painter; Herakles battling the sons of Eurytos; Herakles in lionskin on left, shooting an arrow towards a target; on ground, Tiono (? named) with bow; Eurytos (named) supplicates Herakles; Antiphonos (? named) as hoplite rushes to left; Iphitos (named) with bow on ground; Iole (named) supplicates Herakles; to left of Iole’s head, a target with arrows in it
Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum: Madrid, Musée Archéologique National 1 (1930) pl. 22.1
Drawing by J.D. Beazley, by permission from Beazley Archive Pottery Database
Digital LIMC and links to entries in printed LIMC
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Tags:
#Herakles, #Iole, #Iphitos, #Eurytos
Artistic sources edited by R. Ross Holloway, Elisha Benjamin Andrews Professor Emeritus, Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, Brown Univ., and Frances Van Keuren, Prof. Emerita, Lamar Dodd School of Art, Univ. of Georgia, August 2025.
Literary sources edited by Elena Bianchelli, Retired Senior Lecturer of Classical Languages and Culture, Univ. of Georgia, December 2023.
