CLA2323 Past Paper Notes on Heracles (November 2024 PDF)

CLA2323 November 5^th^, 2024 [Jason and the golden fleece:] The Jason myth is the 2nd of our four "Band of Heroes" tales. The first one we looked at was the Boar Hunt of\ Calydon, in last week's lecture.\ The Jason tale is the grandfather of a thousand Hollywood movie-scripts.\ The Jason myth bear...

CLA2323 November 5^th^, 2024 [Jason and the golden fleece:] The Jason myth is the 2nd of our four "Band of Heroes" tales. The first one we looked at was the Boar Hunt of\ Calydon, in last week's lecture.\ The Jason tale is the grandfather of a thousand Hollywood movie-scripts.\ The Jason myth bears resemblance to the Theseus-on-Crete myth---which seems likewise to be a very old myth. ["Nymphs"] In Greek numphai, were demigoddesses of wilderness places: mountains, forests, caves, and fresh water [Topic \#2 the myth of Heracles] \- The Greek name Hēraklēs means "glory of Hera". Or "fame of Hera".\ - The name obviously offers a puzzle because Hera, in the myth, is the implacable enemy of Heracles. \- The variant "Hercules" attests to the hero's international appeal, starting in ancient times. Hercules is what the (non- Greek) Etruscans of Italy called him, circa 600 B.C. By then the Etruscans had become enthusiastic consumers of Greek imported goods and Greek culture. The myth of Heracles became important to the Etruscans in their own legend and art.\ - The Greek name may have been hard to pronounce for the Etruscans---and anyway it didn't mean anything in the Etruscan language. So, the Etruscan name became "Hercules". -Later, in the 400s B.C., the (non-Greek, non-Etruscan) city of Rome emerged as the central-Italian power. The Romans became the next Italian enthusiasts for Greek culture. "Hercules" became a central figure in the mythology and literature of Rome.\ - Under the Roman (Latin) name "Hercules", the hero was bequeathed to Europe's Middle Ages and Renaissance. For example, in the plays of Shakespeare (circa 1600 A.D.), his name is Hercules. ***Heracles' worldwide appeal, down the centuries*** Heracles is arguably the most famous and recognizable character from any mythology, worldwide, and definitely the most popular survival from Greek myth. He's been a favourite for at least three thousand years. Why? What in his story or his personality might explain his spectacular,\ worldwide appeal? ---One answer lies in his striving, his suffering, and his partial failures. His story veers from giant achievements to calamitous failures and tragedies, and back to a final triumph, in a way that has satisfied audiences through the centuries. Definitely he's not a "teflon" hero who coasts effortlessly to success. ---Secondly, and related to the above, Heracles has a most distinctive personality. Jovial, generous, fearless, basically dumb (yet occasionally shrewd), childlike, impetuous (sometimes disastrously), occasionally surly, capable of destructive rage---all of these describe him. \- Circa the 200s B.C. to 200s A.D., Heracles was revered by the philosophy called Stoicism, during the Hellenistic era and Roman Empire. Stoicism is mentioned at Buxton page 225, right-hand column.\ - The Stoic philosophers saw in Heracles an ideal image of human fortitude: of perseverance amid effort and endurance amid suffering.\ - Similarly, early Christian thinkers of the Roman Empire, in the 100s A.D. and after, saw Heracles as a pagan forerunner of Christ.\ - Like Christ, he suffered as a mortal man on Earth, died in agony, then went to heaven as a god. Also like Christ, Heracles harrowed Hell (in this Twelfth Labour). ***Both human and God*** In real-life ancient Greek religion, human heroes routinely were worshipped as powerful spirits after death. But Heracles, nearly uniquely, spanned the gap between God and mortal: Real-life ancient Greeks considered him to have been both human and god. After dying as a man, Heracles was welcomed by his father, Zeus, on Mt. Olympus. There he lives eternally as a god with the other gods. This afterlife on Olympus is nearly unique among Greek mythical heroes: For most heroes, the best afterlife that a human could hope for was in Elysium (not on Olympus with the 12 gods). The hero Cadmus, for example, gets to Elysium. ***Heracles on Olympus: friend to humans*** As someone who had lived both lives, human and divine, Heracles was imagined as a god who has special sympathy for mortals. It was thought he might intercede with Father Zeus on the behalf of humans. You would pray to Heracles. Only the "divine twins" Castor and Polydeuces, achieved a similar level: In death, the Twins were said to live one day together in the Underworld and the next day together on Olympus, forever. Much like Heracles, the Twins were imagined as having sympathy for the needs and prayers of real- life humans---as compared with certain aloof gods like Apollo or Poseidon. Thus Heracles (and the Twins) join the short list of gods who tended to be fond of humans: Aphrodite, Athena, Demeter, Dionysus, and maybe Persephone. ***With Heracles, forget the hubris lesson*** The Heracles myth contradicts everything we've learned in CLA2323 about the\ strict boundaries between gods and humans. With Heracles, all bets are off. He crosses or violates every boundary--- He fist-fights the god Apollo in stealing a holy tripod from Delphi: Buxton\ page 122\ \...shoots an arrow into the god Hades, in one adventure \[maybe not in Buxton\]\ \...outwrestles the god of Death: Buxton page 171\ \...outwrestles the river god Acheloüs \[Acheloös\]: page 122\ \...briefly holds up the sky above the Earth, on his Eleventh Labour: page 121\ \...raids the Underworld, on his Twelfth Labour: page 121\ \...and gets away with it: The gods never destroy him for hubris. Heracles is constrained by nothing---right down to getting promoted to Mt. Olympus after his death. He is unique generally, in terms of our prior class lessons. ***Our main ancient sources for the Heracles myth*** \- Apollodorus in his book, the Library: See Slide 10 of the Oct. 17 lecture slideshow\ - the historian-mythographer Diodorus Siculus ("Diodorus of Sicily"), circa 40 B.C.\ - certain mentions in Homer, Hesiod, Pindar, and other extant poets. Homer is of course the earliest, from 750 B.C.\ - Euripides' stage tragedy Heracles Insane, circa 417 B.C.\ - Sophocles' stage tragedy The Women of Trachis, circa 425 B.C.\ - also, numerous extant artworks from ancient Greece---most importantly the carved marble "metopes" (panels) that survive from the temple of Zeus at Olympia, circa 457 B.C. See Buxton page 118 lower. These 12 metopes supply our earliest extant evidence for the Twelve Labours. ***Centerpiece of the myth : the 12 labours*** The long and busy Heracles myth has as its centerpiece his Twelve Labours. \- The word "Labours" in our Greek sources usually appears as the word athloi, better translated as "contests" (= the root in our word "athletics"). That word athloi is helpful because a contest normally has an opponent and a prize. \- Sometimes, in the Greek, the Labours are referred to as ponoi, "chores,\ labours". The message of the Labours is that Heracles' immense energy and potentially poor judgment were now being channeled into deeds that benefitted humankind. He was earning his rank as hero. \- A number of lesser adventures precede and then follow the Labours. \- Heracles' post-Labours exploits culminate in his tragic and gruesome\ death. ***Heracles' human family*** \- Amphitryon, a nephew of the king of Mycenae, becomes betrothed to his first cousin, the princess Alcmene \[Alcmena, Alkmene\].\ - But together they must leave Mycenae for Thebes, after Amphitryon accidently kills Alcmene's father, the king.\ - At Thebes, Amphitryon is purified of his crime by the Theban king.\ - He and Alcmene marry, but before they can lie down together, Amphitryon is abruptly called away to battle.\ - Oddly, "Amphitryon" soon returns\... Really, he is Zeus in disguise.\ - A day later, Amphitryon returns again(?)\... This one is the real Amphitryon.\ - Nine months later, Alcmene gives birth to fraternal twins, Heracles and Iphicles. Heracles' father is Zeus. Iphicles' is Amphitryon. ***The young champion of Thebes*** In honour of his service to Thebes, young Heracles marries the daughter of the king of Thebes.\ - But jealous Hera, ever his enemy, drives Heracles mad temporarily.\ - Heracles insanely murders his wife and children.\ - Seeking expiation, he goes to ask the oracle at Delphi.\ - The oracle instructs Heracles: "Twelve labours, under command of King Eurytheus" \[Heracles' cousin, the powerful king of Mycenae and Tiryns, but personally an arrogant fool and a coward\]\... "\...And afterward you'll be immortal." ***The twelve labours*** "I was a son of Zeus, but infinite were my sufferings. For I was slave to a far inferior man, and heavy were the labours he laid on me."\ ---Heracles in the Underworld, speaking to Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey, Book 11\ - Buxton page 116: two maps of the Labours\ - Usually Heracles must either kill an opponent or capture a prize (a magic animal, golden apples, etc.). Some beasts are to be killed, others to be captured alive.\ - The most memorable Labours are Numbers 1, 2, 5, 9, 10, 11, and 12. Starting with the removal of certain local monsters or pests in the Peloponnese, the Labours steadily increase in their fairytale quality, geographic range, and symbolism, until by the last three Labours Heracles is symbolically challenging and conquering death. ***The labours: the metopes at Olympia*** As said above at Slide 38 (bottom), our earliest source for 12 official Labours comes from ancient Greek artwork, not from writings. In real-life Classical Greece, Olympia was the grand sports- and-religious complex located in the region called Elis, in the northwest Peloponnese. The recovered remnants of Olympia's Temple of Zeus, from 457 B.C., include 12 marble panels (or "metopes") of relief-sculptures, running around the building's outside. The 12 metopes illustrate the Labours.\ See Buxton page 118 bottom\... ***The first labour: the lion of Nemea*** Heracles' First Labour is sometimes presented as the coming-of-age of a youthful hero. Even though Heracles logically has had prior experiences, including war, marriage, and children, nevertheless (depending on the artist or writer) he sometimes is shown as maybe 18 years old and beardless. This happens especially in visual art. The Nemean Lion's has an impenetrable hide (= skin). So Heracles kills the lion by strangling it: Buxton page 115. Then he skins the hide off the cadaver (using the lion's own claws). Henceforth, the miraculous hide will bestows the same invulnerability on Heracles, whenever he wears it on his shoulders. Henceforth Heracles can never be penetrated by arrows etc. while he wears the lion's skin. When Heracles' death finally comes, it won't be from any penetrating weapon like a sword. Nemea is situated in a fertile elevated valley not far from the site of Mycenae. In real-life ancient times, Nemea held a temple of Zeus and sports grounds---which by 573 B.C. were the site of the Nemean Games: an important two-yearly sports competition held in July in honor of Zeus. How did the Nemean Games get started? According to one legend, Heracles instituted them after he vanquished the lion: back in the "old days" long before the 500s B.C. Thus, one element in the Nemean Lion adventure is an aetiology for the Games there. In real life, the Nemean Games were the 4th in rank of the four famous ancient Greek sports festivals: after the Olympic Games (sacred to Zeus), the Pythian Games (to Apollo), and the Isthmian Games (to Poseidon). ***Second and 3^rd^ labours*** The second labor of Hercules was to kill the Lernean Hydra. From the murky waters of the swamps near a place called Lerna, the hydra would rise up and terrorize the countryside. A monstrous serpent with nine heads, the hydra attacked with poisonous venom As a third labor, Eurystheos ordered Herakles to capture the Hind of Keryneia, a deer sacred to Artemis, goddess of the hunt. Eurystheos hoped that Herakles would incur the wrath of Artemis. For one year, Herakles hunted the beast until it finally stopped to rest, whereupon he shot it with his bow and arrow. ***The fourth labour: the boar of Mt. Erymanthus*** This Labour includes a running joke: The cowardly King Eurystheus tries to hide in a pithos storage jar when Heracles brings in the alive boar on his shoulder.\ Apparently, real-life ancient Greek viewers and audiences found this episode to be hilariously funny.\ See Buxton page 118: a limestone-carved panel, circa 550 B.C., from a Greek temple in southeast Italy\... ***The firth labour: the stables of Augeias*** The Fifth Labour is unique in not being a combat or quest, and in being a rather farcical adventure. King Augeias of Elis has stables that are filthy with cow-poop. The stables would have stood more-or-less atop the future site of Olympia: where, in real-life ancient Greece, there stood the magnificent sanctuary of Zeus, with its famous sports complex. This hidden fact would have supplied part of the joke, in an episode where Heracles' magnificent powers are employed in mucking-out a cow-barn During the historical centuries of real-life ancient Greece, the grand Olympic Games took place every four years at Olympia: See above, Slides 38 and 48. According to one legend, it was Heracles who instituted the Olympics, after completing his Labour at the Augeian stables Thus this Labour, like some others, has an aetiology attached. Footnote: But a different legend credits a different hero, Pelops, with founding the Olympic Games---as we'll see in a upcoming lesson. ***The seventh labour: the bull of Crete*** The Seventh Labour would be forgettable, except for two details--- \(1) The tale will be shamelessly copycatted in the myth of **Theseus**, where Theseus hunts down the ravening Bull of Marathon. In some Theseus-myth versions, the dangerous bull is actually the [same animal] that Heracles had captured alive on [his] Labour: Supposedly, the bull then *got away*, after Heracles delivered it to King Eurystheus. \(2) The Seventh Labour includes a charming item of aetiology (mentioned already in class). In real-life ancient Greece, the island of Crete evidently had no wolves. The reason? Because Heracles had exterminated them as a side-job while at Crete for his Seventh Labour. ***The tenth labour: 3 items of interest*** Buxton page 120. The Tenth Labour is noteworthy for three aspects--- \(1) **Death symbolism**. An adventure in the far West invites symbolic interpretation: West = where the sun sets. \- Geryon's home is called Erytheia ("red land"). Why would it be called that? \- Erytheia is located near [the ends of the Earth]: at the shore of encircling Ocean (Greek: *Okeanos*). \- This is the symbolic region of **death**. In Homer's *Odyssey*, this is more-or-less the place where Odysseus beaches his ship for his visit to the Underworld: See the Oct. 1 slideshow, Slides 67--69. Out here, Heracles is confronting something bigger than just a monstrous herdsman. Symbolically, Heracles is confronting death---specifically, his own death and the general idea of death. And Heracles [wins] Item (2) **Which one is the actual villain?** \- Yes, Geryon is a monster. But he's not actually harming anyone, out there at the Earth's end. Those cattle are rightfully his. \- By one view, Heracles in this Tenth Labour is just a cattle thief. The whole Labour can be interpreted as a villainous cattle raid---misleadingly presented as being heroic. During the 500s--300s B.C., certain thoughtful real-life Greeks commented along those lines. \- See our slideshow of Sept. 10: Slide 11. The Greek poet **Stesichorus**, circa 560 B.C., wrote a narrative poem, the *Geryoneis*, which told the story from Geryon's viewpoint, with Geryon as the protagonist. The sympathy was on the monster's side. The adventuring Heracles was cast as the antagonist, the intruder, the murderer. Regarding this uncomfortable implication that [Heracles], not Geryon, is the real villain in the story--- A relevant phrase comes circa 470 B.C. from the poet **Pindar**, narrating the Heracles--Geryon tale: *nomos ho pantōn basileus:* "Custom \[*nomos*\] is the king \[*ho* *basileus*\] of all things \[*pantōn*\]." The word *nomos* could extend to mean "our social conventions" or "our situational ethics-system". The overall meaning: "It's OK [whatever] Heracles does, because we all agree so in advance. There's no absolute standard. Rather, 'good' and 'bad' are whatever we agree them to be." Both **Herodotus** the Greek historian (circa 440 B.C.) and **Plato** the philosopher (circa 380 B.C.) quote this line from Pindar and comment on its insight into human nature. Item (3) **A detour for "West Greek" audiences** This idea was covered at the start of our first lecture, Sept. 10, to illustrate our "contextual" approach in CLA2323. Evidently, the Geryon episode was partly shaped by the real-life Greek world of the 600s--500s B.C.---particularly regarding Heracles' bizarre route home with Geryon's cattle. As you'll recall, Heracles tries to short-cut to Greece by driving the cattle through [Italy]. This ridiculous dead-end route has Heracles go even farther afield: to Sicily, swimming his cattle across the three-kilometer-wide Strait of Messina, from the toe of Italy to Sicily. When Heracles at last realizes he can't get back to Greece from Sicily either, he swims the cattle back to Italy, to get back then to Greece. ***The tenth labour: the ridiculous Italy-detour*** The only reason for Heracles to make this long, dead-end detour was that the details were highly pleasing to the real-life Greek colonies that existed by the 600s B.C. at the Bay of Naples and in southern Italy and eastern Sicily. These "West Greeks" claimed proudly that Heracles had once passed through their local regions, as he herded Geryon's cattle back toward Greece. See above, Slide 44 (bottom). The originator of the whole Italy-and-Sicily episode may have been Stesichorus in his *Geryoneis* poem, circa 560 B.C. Not coincidentally, Stesichorus was a Greek of Sicily. ***Heracles in Italy: the city of Rome*** Similarly, the real-life non-Greek city of Rome---which loved the Heracles myth and called the hero "Hercules"---held a tradition that Heracles had passed through the site of Rome when it was still just a countryside village. There he had slain a local monster called Cacus, and had built an altar to Zeus. In real-life ancient Rome there [was] an outdoor altar, of great antiquity, revered as holy: the *Ara Maxima* (Latin: "greatest altar"). Legend claimed it had been built by Heracles. ***Aetiologies in the tenth labour myth*** "Heracles passed this way through Italy in the old days, and that's why [nowadays] (circa 100 B.C.?)---" At Rome, there's an ancient stone altar, the Ara Maxima. There's a city called Herculaneum, on the Bay of Naples. On the toe of Italy, no cicadas can be heard in the vicinity of the city of Rhegium---but cicadas sing loudly nearby, at Locri. (See Buxton map page 12, far left.) On the plain of Leontini, in eastern Sicily, you can see hoof-marks in the flat stones of the road. They're from Geryon's cattle, herded by Heracles. Et cetera ***The last 2 labours*** Labour 11: the apples of the Hesperides ("daughters of evening") Labour 12: the dog Cerberus \[Kerberos\], dragged up from the Underworld Like the Tenth Labour, the Eleventh and Twelfth show Heracles ranging [far beyond] human boundaries---with the gods' approval. As said already, the Greek concept of *hubris* never applies to Heracles, for whatever reasons. By the last of his Labours, Heracles is symbolically overcoming death. ***Heracles death*** Buxton page 122: right-hand column \- our main ancient source: Sophocles' stage tragedy *The Women of Trachis* (circa 425 B.C.), portraying Heracles' grisly death. \- the **irony** is that the strongest man on earth has fallen victim to his gentle, well-intending wife. (Yet her name, Deianeira, "collector of spoil," could seem ominous.) \- on the pyre, Heracles' mortal part is burned away and his immortal soul is elevated to Mt. Olympus, where he lives forever with the gods. Up there, Heracles and Hera are reconciled at last. Heracles is given, as wife, a daughter of Zeus and Hera: the goddess **Hebe** (Greek: "youth, young age"). \- as has been said, this is a nearly unique afterlife for a mortal, even for a son of Zeus. For most mortals, the highest hope for after death is Elysium, not Olympus. ***Heracles and real-life ancient Greek propaganda*** In real-life Greek history of the 500s--400s B.C., Heracles was the national hero or "poster boy" for the **Dorian Greeks**. The Dorians were an ethnic-and-dialect group, led by Sparta. Their rivals and (eventually) their enemies were the **Ionian Greeks**, led by Athens. See Buxton's (slightly confusing) treatment on page 123: These were the two dominant ancient Greek ethnic groups. The Dorians claimed descent from Heracles---or more specifically from the many "sons of Heracles" whom the hero supposedly had left behind. These "sons of Heracles" were the Heraclids \[or Heraklids\] (*Heraklidai* in ancient Greek), discussed by Buxton on page 123. We'll see in Nov. 7 class how the Ionian or Athenian national hero---elevated in direct [response to] the Dorians' Heracles myth---would be **Theseus**. ***Background on the Theseus myth*** Buxton pp. 124--129. Our ancient sources include--- \- Plutarch's *Life of Theseus*, circa 100 A.D. \- Apollodorus' *Library*, circa 125 A.D. \- Euripides' stage tragedy *Hippolytus,* 428 B.C. \- also Euripides' *Suppliant Women* (circa 422 B.C.) and *Heracles Insane* (circa 414 B.C.), and Sophocles' *Oedipus at Colonus* (401 B.C.) \- See Buxton page 8 for most of the above writers' names. Plutarch's detailed biography treats Theseus as though he had been a real-life man: an early, foundational king of Athens. Plutarch in his Theseus-research drew on a number of ancient Greek written sources, now lost to us, whose narratives survive only in bits of Plutarch. One such was an Athenian epic poem of circa 515 B.C. called the *Theseid*. (We don't know the author's name.) Probably the *Theseid* was sponsored by the Athenian government, in order to (i) organize the Theseus story and (ii) use it as a form of propaganda, to glorify Athens. ***Theseus: the only major hero from Athens*** Theseus is the only major mythical hero of the city of **Athens**. Despite the fame of ancient Athens for us today, Athens was [not] a major kingdom early in Greek history, in the Mycenaean era, circa 1600--1200 B.C. As you know, the Mycenaean Civilization *inspired* the Greek hero-myths. Consequently, the surviving myths have clustered around cities like Mycenae and Thebes that were first-rank Mycenaean kingdoms. But Athens, of lesser importance in 1600--1200 B.C., does not play a leading role in Greek mythology. ***Theseus, the Athenian hero*** As the above Slide 29 (*lower part*) suggests, we should watch for **Athenian propaganda** in our CLA2323 study of Theseus. The long, busy Theseus myth is partly a product of Athenian government revision and myth-making in the 500s--400s B.C. Athens, peaking under its statesman Pericles in the mid-400s, was the richest and most powerful Greek city: Thus, a suitably great hero of the "old days" had to be found---including being partly fabricated. As we'll see, certain parts of the Theseus myth are genuinely old ( ?1400 B.C.), but other parts seem to have been added later: probably the late 500s--400s B.C. The source for much of the latter layer would have been the "Public Relations Office" at Athens. The name *Thēseus* means "Establisher" or "Foundation Maker". This detail was perfect for Athenian myth-making in the 400s B.C.: "It was Theseus who laid the foundation for future Athenian greatness." *Footnote*: The name *Thēseus* is related to our word "thesis" (meaning a "foundation" for an essay or a line of thought). ***Theseus and Athenian propaganda: 400s B.C.*** The Athenian "**King Arthur**"--- Real-life Athenians of the 400s B.C. probably viewed Theseus in much the same way as the British of the Victorian era, circa 1890 A.D., viewed King Arthur: as a semi-legendary forerunner of latter-day greatness and empire. See Slide 29 above, on Plutarch. Theseus was believed to have been a living man, the first great King of Athens, back in "ancient times". If you had asked an educated Athenian of 440 B.C. whether he/she believed the Theseus myth to be true, the answer probably would have been that the myth seemed like a wild exaggeration but based on truth. ***The "Heracles of Athens"*** One specific motive for Athenian myth-making about Theseus would have been to create a hero comparable to **Heracles**. The background here is that in the 500s--400s B.C., Heracles was being used as a propagandistic hero of Sparta and other Dorian-ethnic Greek cities (Corinth, Syracuse, etc.). In response to this, the Athenians gradually developed Theseus to be the competing Athenian (or Ionian) hero. The terms "Dorian" and "Ionian" refer to two different Greek ethnic-and-dialect groups in ancient Greece. The major Dorian city was **Sparta**. The major Ionian-ethnic city was **Athens**. By the mid 400s B.C., Sparta and Athens had become enemies of each other: Their hostility eventually erupted into the huge, disastrous **Peloponnesian War**, 431--404 B.C., fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies. Amid this "Dorian Sparta versus Ionian Athens" rivalry--- \- Heracles became the "poster boy" for the Dorian Greeks. \- Theseus became the poster boy for Athens and all Ionian Greeks. \- Theseus myth was developed in ways that sometimes ***copycatted*** the Heracles myth. In our CLA2323 readings, you'll notice how some of Theseus' adventures parallel those of Heracles: capture a murderous bull, kill a ravening boar, fight the Amazons, fight the Centaurs, venture into the Underworld, etc. Your prof believes that (1) these parallels are not coincidence and (2) the copycatting was all in **one** direction: the resemblances = the Theseus myth copycatting that of Heracles. Not surprisingly, Theseus was sometimes referred to in ancient Greece as "a second Heracles". On the other hand, [certain] elements in Theseus' myth are original and very old. ***A long myth, a contradictory personality*** The events of Theseus' myth span his whole lifetime: perhaps 60 years. One quirk of the myth is the hero's **inconsistent** behaviour--- \- often his actions are valorous, shrewd, or noble \- yet sometimes they are reckless and brutal \- and some of his worst behaviour comes in his full adulthood Thus, we are told, Theseus ruled Athens wisely. But while king he also joined his rowdy friend **Peirithous** (son of the sinner Ixion) in an insane attempt to kidnap the goddess **Persephone** from the Underworld. As we'll see, this hubristic exploit met with disaster that it deserved. On page 129, our textbook comments on Theseus' "morally ambiguous role" and how his "status as moral paragon was in some respects severely compromised." In other words, his personality [puzzles] us. Your prof believes these inconsistencies to be by-products of the myth's rewriting in the 500s--400s B.C. *Footnote*: The name Peirithous (Greek: "He turns around") can also correctly be spelled as "Peirithoös" or "Perithous". ***The "Don Juan" of Greek myth*** Overlapping partly with Theseus' bad side is his sexual ardour for ladies: Theseus is the **Don Juan of Greek myth**. He romances or marries two Cretan royal sisters, Ariadne and Phaedra, and abandons Ariadne after she has done everything for him. He abducts and romances an Amazon queen, *and* he kidnaps a Spartan princess (the future Helen of Troy), aged about 12. Theseus' zeal to kidnap females seems (to us today) to be far from heroic. Even the ancient Greeks evidently felt that Theseus sinned in his attempts against Helen and Persephone, who were proper Greek ladies. Thus the myth shows Theseus thwarted or punished for these attempts. So powerful was Theseus' heterosexual image that he seems untouched by the "homosexual layer" of Greek mythologizing after 600 B.C. Unlike Heracles, for example, Theseus is never given a male lover---unless we sexually interpret his friendship with Peirithous. Overtly anyway, Theseus seems exclusively a ladies' man.