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Heracles
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Heracles was a son of Zeus and Alcmene. A major factor in the tragedies surrounding Heracles stem from Hera's hatred of him; as the wife of Zeus she often hated his mortal offspring because they were living proof of Zeus' constant affairs, and she especially hated Heracles. While Alcmene was pregnant with Heracles, Hera, who was already informed of Zeus' adultery, persuaded Zeus to swear an oath on the night Heracles was to be born that the child born that night to a member of the House of Perseus would be High King. Once the oath was sworn, Hera hurried to Alcmene's dwelling and slowed the birth by sitting crosslegged with her clothing tied in knots. She would have permanently delayed the birth had she not been foiled by Galanthis, her servant, who told Hera that she had already delivered the baby. Hera turned her into a weasel and forced her to give birth by laying eggs through her mouth.
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Heracles was bound to be the victor, as indeed the later Greeks were victorious invaders and conquerors. Not only did they bring their religion, they brought their rule with them. From the beginning of his life, Heracles is killing the snakes, symbols of ancient goddess religions. In the Nemean Odes 1.33-72 (in Morford and Lenardon) it is said: Heracles "seized by their necks the two serpents, and his grip squeezed the life out of the huge monsters, strangling them." In fact, throughout his life Herakles kills the Goddess' animals: "... he foretold...how many lawless wild beasts he would kill on the sea, how many on land" (357).
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As paragon of masculinity and warriorship, Heracles ... had a number of pederastic male beloveds. Plutarch, in his Eroticos, maintains that Heracles' eromenoi (male lovers) were beyond counting. Of these, the one most closely linked to Heracles is the Theban Iolaus. Their story, an initiatory myth thought to be of ancient origin, contains many of the elements of the Greek pederastic apprenticeship in which the older warrior is the educator and the younger his helper in battle. Thus Iolaus is Heracles' charioteer and squire. Also in keeping with the initiatory pattern of the relationship, Heracles in the end gives his pupil a wife, symbolizing his entry into adulthood.
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Heracles had a twin brother named Iphicles. Iphicles took part in a number of heroic exploits but generally remained in the shadow of his illustrious twin. Heracles employed Iphicles' son, Iolaus, as his charioteer. Iolaus had driven Heracles to the swamps of Lerna, and he looked on in anxiety as his uncle became entangled in the Hydra's snaky heads. Finally, Iolaus could no longer bear to stand aside. In response to his uncle's shouts, he grabbed a burning torch and dashed to the fray.
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For the eleventh labor, Heracles had to steal the Apples of the Hesperides, a wedding gift from Hera to Zeus. They were guarded by the dragon Ladon, who never slept, and the Hesperides, nymphs who were the daughters of Atlas. Heracles first had to catch Nereus, the shape-shifting sea god, to learn where the Garden of the Hesperides was located. Along the way, he liberated Prometheus and killed Antaeus, who was invincible as long as he touched his mother, Gaia, the earth. Heracles then stopped in Egypt, where King Busiris decided to make Heracles the yearly sacrifice. Heracles burst out of his chains and finally made his way to the Garden of the Hesperides.
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Like Trachiniae, Heracles25 presents the hero at the end of his heroic career and ... dramatizes the relation of Heracles with his family. The familiarity of the audience with previous portrayals of the hero is crucial for guiding the reception of Heracles in this particular play. Heracles is now portrayed as a more humanized and domesticated hero, until the onset of madness violently reverses this image and turns him into the murderer of his own family. The play thus brings to the fore the question of Heracles’ arete with regard both to his heroic career in the past and to his familial and civic present. The relation between past and present is problematized in the play, as is also the role of the gods and the relation between them and humans. The themes raised throughout the play concerning the status of heroic excellence and the status of divinity and humanity are taken forward to their redefinition in a new context, into which Heracles can finally be safely integrated, and which also evokes for the Athenian audience familiar ideas concerning their own distinctive qualities as Athenians.
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Heracles