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Summary
Summary
There is more material available on Herakles than any other Greek god or hero. His story has many more episodes than those of other heroes, concerning his life and death as well as his battles with myriad monsters and other opponents. In literature, he appears in our earliest Greek epic and lyric poetry, is reinvented for the tragic and comic stage, and later finds his way into such unlikely areas as philosophical writing and love poetry. In art, his exploits are amongst the earliest identifiable mythological scenes, and his easily-recognisable figure with lionskin and club was a familiar sight throughout antiquity in sculpture, vase-painting and other media. He was held up as an ancestor and role-model for both Greek and Roman rulers, and widely worshipped as a god, his unusual status as a hero-god being reinforced by the story of his apotheosis. Often referred to by his Roman name Hercules, he has continued to fascinate writers and artists right up to the present day.
In Herakles, Emma Stafford has successfully tackled the 'Herculean task' of surveying both the ancient sources and the extensive modern scholarship in order to present a hugely accessible account of this important mythical figure. Covering both Greek and Roman material, the book highlights areas of consensus and dissent, indicating avenues for further study on both details and broader issues. Easy to read, Herakles is perfectly suited to students of classics and related disciplines, and of interest to anyone looking for an insight into ancient Greece's most popular hero.
Author Notes
Emma Stafford is Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Leeds. He research and teaching interests lie in Greek cultural history, especially religion, myth and art. She is author of Worshipping Virtues Personification and the Divine in Ancient Greece (2000), and Life, Myth and Art in Ancient Greece (2004), and co-editor of Personification in the Greek World (2005), She has also written numerous articles on Greek religion and iconography.
Reviews (1)
Choice Review
The Greeks regarded Herakles as man and god, a symbol of strength, a tragic or comic hero, and an incarnation of vice or virtue. Although Stafford (classics, Univ. of Leeds, UK) focuses on ancient Greece, she traces the development and impact of this ambivalent character through classical antiquity, ending with Herakles in film and fiction in the modern era. Rather than arguing that Herakles was a product of natural phenomena, the Greek subconscious, or of a proto-European hunting society, Stafford sensibly and clearly analyzes the flawed hero in the context of period and place. The 12 labors became canonical in the third century BCE. A study of the ancient sources, statues, vase paintings, and coin images reveals many versions of Herakles and the process of Greek mythmaking. While comic playwrights lampooned Herakles as a promiscuous glutton, political leaders such as Alexander sought identification with Herakles to gain political legitimacy. The work, organized both chronologically and topically, is based on great research and will be useful to scholars interested in the uses of myth, Greek and Roman history, and literature. Undergrads writing essays on Greek mythology will find it a useful reference work. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. A. J. Papalas emeritus, East Carolina University
Table of Contents
| Series foreword | p. xi |
| Acknowledgements | p. xv |
| List of figures | p. xvii |
| Abbreviations and conventions | p. xix |
| Maps and genealogical table | p. xxii |
| Foreword: Why Herakles? | p. xxv |
| Why Herakles? | p. 1 |
| Introducing Herakles | p. 3 |
| Telling the story | p. 3 |
| Synopsis of the myth | p. 4 |
| Explaining Herakles | p. 8 |
| Contexts and sources | p. 15 |
| Overview | p. 19 |
| Key Themes | p. 21 |
| 1 Monsters and the Hero I: The Twelve Labours | p. 23 |
| The strong man figure and monster-fighting | p. 23 |
| Development of the canon of labours | p. 24 |
| Individual labours | p. 30 |
| Overview | p. 49 |
| 2 Monsters and the Hero II: Other Battles | p. 51 |
| A wealth of opponents | p. 51 |
| Early exploits | p. 52 |
| Strong men and transgressors | p. 55 |
| Strange beasts | p. 68 |
| Overview | p. 78 |
| 3 The Tragic Hero | p. 79 |
| A complex character | p. 79 |
| Early tragedy | p. 80 |
| Sophokles: death and deification | p. 80 |
| Euripides: madness and family values | p. 87 |
| Visual reflections of tragedy | p. 96 |
| Roman adaptations | p. 98 |
| Overview | p. 103 |
| 4 Vice or Virtue Incarnate | p. 104 |
| From monster-slaying to comedy, philosophy and romance | p. 104 |
| The comic hero | p. 105 |
| Herakles intellectualized | p. 117 |
| The romantic hero | p. 130 |
| Overview | p. 136 |
| 5 Political Herakles | p. 137 |
| The art of political legitimation | p. 137 |
| Herakles as ancestor and ideal ruler | p. 137 |
| Herakles the founder | p. 156 |
| Tyranny and democracy at Athens | p. 163 |
| Overview | p. 170 |
| 6 Worship of the Hero-God | p. 171 |
| Herakles heros-theos | p. 171 |
| Rituals and remains | p. 175 |
| The Roman cult of Hercules | p. 194 |
| Overview | p. 197 |
| Herakles Afterwards | p. 199 |
| 7 Post-Classical Variations | p. 201 |
| The afterlife of a hero | p. 201 |
| Herakles/Hercules and the Christians | p. 202 |
| Telling Hercules' story I: Renaissance literature | p. 206 |
| Hercules' image reborn: art from the Renaissance onwards | p. 209 |
| Herculean politics | p. 218 |
| From monarch to revolutionary: Hercules in France | p. 221 |
| Telling Hercules' story II: literature from the seventeenth century on | p. 225 |
| Hercules the movie star | p. 232 |
| Conclusion: Herakles/Hercules now | p. 239 |
| Notes | p. 245 |
| Glossary | p. 263 |
| Further Reading | p. 266 |
| Works Cited | p. 272 |
| Index | p. 295 |