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When the labours had been performed in eight years and a month,[*](This period for the completion of the labours of Herakles is mentioned also by the Scholiast on Hom. Il. viii.368 and Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.353ff., both of whom, however, may have had the present passage of Apollodorus before them. It is possible that the period refers to the eight years' cycle, which figured prominently in the religious calendar of the ancient Greeks; for example, the Pythian games were originally held at intervals of eight years. See Geminus, Element. Astron. viii.25ff., ed. C. Manitius; Censorinus, De die natali 18. It is to be remembered that the period of service performed by Herakles for Eurystheus was an expiation for the murder of his children (see Apollod. 2.4.12). Now Cadmus is said to have served Ares for eight years as an expiation for the slaughter of the dragon, the offspring of Ares (see Apollod. 3.4.2). But in those days, we are told, the “eternal year” comprised eight common years (Apollod. 3.4.2). Now Apollo served Admetus for a year as an expiation for the slaughter of the Cyclopes (Apollod. 3.10.4); but according to Serv. Verg. A. 7.761, the period of Apollo's service was not one but nine years. In making this statement Servius, or his authority, probably had before him a Greek author, who mentioned an ἐννεατηρίς as the period of Apollo's service. But though ἐννεατηρίς means literally “nine years,” the period, in consequence of the Greek mode of reckoning, was actually equivalent to eight years (compare Celsus, De die natali 18.4, “Octaeteris facta, quae tunc enneateris vocitata, quia primus eius annus nono quoque anno redibat.”) These legends about the servitude of Cadmus, Apollo, and Herakles for eight years, render it probable that in ancient times Greek homicides were banished for eight years, and had during that time to do penance by serving a foreigner. Now this period of eight years was called a “great year” (Censorinus, De die natali 18.5), and the period of banishment for a homicide was regularly a year. See Apollod. 2.8.3; Eur. Hipp.34-37, Eur. Or. 1643-1645; Nicolaus Damascenus, Frag 20 (Fragmenta Historicorum Graccorum, ed. C. Müller, iii.369); Hesychius, s.v. ἀπενιαυτισμός ; Suidas, s.v. ἀπεναυτίσαι . Hence it seems probable that, though in later times the period of a homicide's banishment was a single ordinary year, it may formerly have been a “great year,” or period of eight ordinary years. It deserves to be noted that any god who had forsworn himself by the Styx had to expiate his fault by silence and fasting for a full year, after which he was banished the company of the gods for nine years (Hes. Th. 793-804ff.); and further that any man who partook of human flesh in the rites of Lycaean Zeus was supposed to be turned into a wolf for nine years. See Paus. 8.2; Pliny, Nat. Hist. viii.81; Augustine, De civitate Dei xviii.17. These notions point to a nine years' period of expiation, which may have been observed in some places instead of the eight years' period. In the present passage of Apollodorus, the addition of a month to the eight years' period creates a difficulty which I am unable to explain. Ancient mathematicians defined a “great year” as the period at the end of which the sun, moon, and planets again occupy the same positions relatively to each other which they occupied at the beginning; but on the length of the period opinions were much divided. See Cicero, De natura deorum ii.20.51ff. Different, apparently, from the “great year” was the “revolving” (vertens) or “mundane” (mundanus) year, which was the period at the end of which, not only the sun, moon, and planets, but also the so-called fixed stars again occupy the positions relatively to each other which they occupied at the beginning; for the ancients recognized that the so-called fixed stars do move, though their motion is imperceptible to our senses. The length of a “revolving” or “mundane” year was calculated by ancient physicists at fifteen thousand years. See Cicero, Somnium Scipionis 7, with the commentary of Macrobius, ii.11.) Eurystheus ordered Hercules, as an eleventh labour, to fetch golden apples from the

Hesperides,[*](As to the apples of the Hesperides, see Hes. Th. 215ff.; Eur. Herc. 394ff.; Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1396ff.; with the Scholiast Ap. Rhod. Argon. iv.1396; Diod. 4.26; Paus. 5.11.6; Paus. 5.18.4; Paus. 6.19.8; Eratosthenes, Cat. 3; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.355ff.; Ov. Met. 4.637ff., ix.190; Hyginus, Fab. 30; Hyginus, Ast. ii.3; Scholia in Caesaris Germanici Aratea, pp. 382ff., in Martianus Capella, ed. Fr. Eyssenhardt; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 13ff., 130 (First Vatican Mythographer 38; Second Vatican Mythographer 161). From the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1396ff. we learn that the story of Herakles and the apples of the Hesperides was told by Pherecydes in the second book of his work on the marriage of Hera. The close resemblance which the Scholiast's narrative bears to that of Apollodorus seems to show that here, as in many other places, our author followed Pherecydes. The account given by Pherecydes of the origin of the golden apples is as follows. When Zeus married Hera, the gods brought presents to the bride. Among the rest, Earth brought golden apples, which Hera so much admired that she ordered them to be planted in the garden of the gods beside Mount Atlas. But, as the daughters of Atlas used to pilfer the golden fruit, she set a huge serpent to guard the tree. Such is the story told, on the authority of Pherecydes, by Eratosthenes, Hyginus, Astr. ii.3, and the Scholiast on the Aratea of Germanicus.) for he did not acknowledge the labour of the cattle of Augeas nor that of the hydra. These apples were not, as some have said, in Libya, but on Atlas among the Hyperboreans.[*](Here Apollodorus departs from the usual version, which placed the gardens of the Hesperides in the far west, not the far north. We have seen that Herakles is said to have gone to the far north to fetch the hind with the golden horns (see above, Apollod. 2.5.3 note); also he is reported to have brought from the land of the Hyperboreans the olive spray which was to form the victor's crown at the Olympic games. See Pind. O. 3.11(20)ff.; Paus. 5.7.7, compare Paus. 5.15.3.) They were presented < by Earth> to Zeus after his marriage with Hera, and guarded by an immortal dragon with a hundred heads, offspring of Typhon and Echidna, which spoke with many and divers sorts of voices. With it the Hesperides also were on guard, to wit, Aegle, Erythia, Hesperia, and Arethusa. So journeying he came to the river Echedorus. And Cycnus, son of Ares and Pyrene, challenged him to single combat. Ares championed the cause of Cycnus and marshalled the combat, but a thunderbolt was hurled between the two and parted the combatants.[*](Compare Hyginus, Fab. 31, who describes the intervention of Mars (Ares) on the side of his son Cycnus, and the fall of the thunderbolt which parted the combatants; yet he says that Herakles killed Cycnus. This combat, which, according to Apollodorus, ended indecisively, was supposed to have been fought in Macedonia, for the Echedorus was a Macedonian river (Hdt. 7.124, Hdt. 7.127). Accordingly we must distinguish this contest from another and more famous fight which Herakles fought with another son of Ares, also called Cycnus, near Pagasae in Thessaly. See Apollod. 2.7.7, with the note. Apparently Hyginus confused the two combats.) And going on foot through Illyria and hastening to the river Eridanus he came to the nymphs, the daughters of Zeus and Themis. They revealed Nereus to him, and Hercules seized him while he slept, and though the god turned himself into all kinds of shapes, the hero bound him and did not release him till he had learned from him where were the apples and the Hesperides.[*](The meeting of Herakles with the nymphs, and his struggle with Nereus, are related also by the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1396, citing as his authority Pherecydes, whom Apollodorus also probably follows. The transformations of the reluctant sea-god Nereus in his encounter with Herakles are like those of the reluctant sea-god Proteus in his encounter with Menelaus (Hom. Od. 4.354- 570), and those of the reluctant sea-goddess Thetis with her lover Peleus (see below, Apollod. 3.13.5).) Being informed, he traversed Libya. That country was then ruled by Antaeus, son of Poseidon,[*](As to Herakles and Antaeus, see Pind. I. 4.52(87)ff., with the Scholiast on Pind. I. 4.52(87) and 54(92); Diod. 4.17.4; Paus. 9.11.6; Philostratus, Im. ii.21; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica vi.285ff.; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.363ff.; Scholiast on Plat. Laws, vii, 796a (whose account agrees almost verbally with that of Apollodorus); Ovid, Ibis 393-395, with the Scholia; Hyginus, Fab. 31; Lucan, Pharsal. iv.588-655; Juvenal iii.89; Statius, Theb. vi.893ff.; Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. vi.869(894); Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 19, 131 (First Vatican Mythographer 55; Second Vatican Mythographer 164). According to Pindar, the truculent giant used to roof the temple of his sire Poseidon with the skulls of his victims. The fable of his regaining strength through contact with his mother Earth is dwelt on by Lucan with his usual tedious prolixity. It is briefly alluded to by Ovid, Juvenal, and Statius. Antaeus is said to have reigned in western Morocco, on the Atlantic coast. Here a hillock was pointed out as his tomb, and the natives believed that the removal of soil from the hillock would be immediately followed by rain, which would not cease till the earth was replaced. See Mela iii.106. Sertorius is said to have excavated the supposed tomb and to have found a skeleton sixty cubits long. See Plut. Sertorius 9; Strab. 17.3.8.) who used to kill strangers by forcing them to wrestle. Being forced to wrestle with him, Hercules hugged him, lifted him aloft,[*](More literally, “lifted him aloft with hugs.” For this technical term (ἅμμα) applied to a wrestler's hug, see Plut. Fabius Maximus 23, and Plut. Alc. 2.) broke and killed him; for when he touched earth so it was that he waxed stronger, wherefore some said that he was a son of Earth. After Libya he traversed Egypt. That country was then ruled by Busiris,[*](For Herakles and Busiris, see Diod. 4.18.1, Diod. 4.27.2ff.; Plut. Parallela 38; Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1396; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron ii.367ff.; Ov. Met. 9.182ff.; Ovid, Ars Am. i.647-652; Scholiast on Ovid, Ibis 397 (p. 72, ed. R. Ellis); Hyginus, Fab. 31, 56; Serv. Verg. A. 8.300 and Georg. iii.5; Philargyrius on Verg. G. 3.5; Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. xii.155. Ovid, with his Scholiasts, Hyginus and Philargyrius, like Apollodorus, allege a nine or eight years' dearth or drought as the cause of the human sacrifices instituted by Busiris. Their account may be derived from Pherecydes, who is the authority cited by the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1396. Hyginus, Fab. 56 adds that the seer Phrasius, who advised the sacrifice, was a brother of Pygmalion. Herodotus, without mentioning Busiris, scouts the story on the ground that human sacrifices were utterly alien to the spirit of Egyptian religion (Hdt. 2.45). Isocrates also discredited the tradition, in so far as it relates to Herakles, because Herakles was four generations younger, and Busiris more than two hundred years older, than Perseus. See Isoc. 11.15. Yet there are grounds for thinking that the Greek tradition was substantially correct. For Manetho, our highest ancient authority, definitely affirmed that in the city of Ilithyia it was customary to burn alive “Typhonian men” and to scatter their ashes by means of winnowing fans (Plut. Isis et Osiris 73). These “Typhonian men” were red-haired, because Typhon, the Egyptian embodiment of evil, was also redhaired (Plut. Isis et Osiris 30, 33). But redhaired men would commonly be foreigners, in contrast to the black-haired natives of Egypt; and it was just foreigners who, according to Greek tradition, were chosen as victims. Diodorus Siculus points this out (Diod. 1.88.5) in confirmation of the Greek tradition, and he tells us that the redhaired men were sacrificed at the grave of Osiris, though this statement may be an inference from his etymology of the name Busiris, which he explains to mean “grave of Osiris.” The etymology is correct, Busiris being a Greek rendering of the Egyptian Asir “place of Osiris.” See A. Wiedemann, Herodots Zweites Buch (Leipsic, 1890), p. 213. Porphyry informs us, on the authority of Manetho, that the Egyptian custom of sacrificing human beings at the City of the Sun was suppressed by Amosis (Amasis), who ordered waxen effigies to be substituted for the victims. He adds that the human victims used to be examined just like calves for the sacrifice, and that they were sealed in token of their fitness for the altar. See Porphyry, De abstinentia iii.35. Sextus Empiricus even speaks of human sacrifices in Egypt as if they were practised down to his own time, which was about 200 A.D. See Sextus Empiricus, p. 173, ed. Bekker. Seleucus wrote a special treatise on human sacrifices in Egypt (Athenaeus iv.72, p. 172 D). In view of these facts, the Greek tradition that the sacrifices were offered in order to restore the fertility of the land or to procure rain after a long drought, and that on one occasion the king himself was the victim, may be not without significance. For kings or chiefs have been often sacrificed under similar circumstances (see Apollod. 3.5.1; Adonis, Attis, Osiris, 3rd ed. ii.97ff.; The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, i.344ff., 352ff.); and in ancient Egypt the rulers are definitely said to have been held responsible for the failure of the crops (Ammianus Marcellinus xxviii.5.14); hence it would not be surprising if in extreme cases they were put to death. Busiris was the theme of a Satyric play by Euripides. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 452ff. ) a son of Poseidon by Lysianassa, daughter of Epaphus. This Busiris used to sacrifice strangers on an altar of Zeus in accordance with a certain oracle. For Egypt was visited with dearth for nine years, and Phrasius, a learned seer who had come from Cyprus, said that the dearth would cease if they slaughtered a stranger man in honor of Zeus every year. Busiris began by slaughtering the seer himself and continued to slaughter the strangers who landed. So Hercules also was seized and haled to the altars, but he burst his bonds and slew both Busiris and his son Amphidamas.[*](The Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1396 calls him Iphidamas, and adds “the herald Chalbes and the attendants” to the list of those slain by Herakles.) And traversing Asia he put in to Thermydrae, the harbor of the Lindians.[*](Thermydra is the form of the name given by Stephanus Byzantius, s.v.. In his account of this incident Tzetzes calls the harbour Thermydron (Tzetzes. Chiliades ii.385). Lindus was one of the chief cities of Rhodes.) And having loosed one of the bullocks from the cart of a cowherd, he sacrificed it and feasted. But the cowherd, unable to protect himself, stood on a certain mountain and cursed. Wherefore to this day, when they sacrifice to Hercules, they do it with curses.[*](Compare Conon 11; Philostratus, Im. ii.24; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.385ff.; Lactantius, Divin. Inst. i.21. According to all these writers except Tzetzes (who clearly follows Apollodorus), Herakles's victim in this affair was not a waggoner, but a ploughman engaged in the act of ploughing; Philostratus names him Thiodamus, and adds: “Hence a ploughing ox is sacrificed to Herakles and they begin the sacrifice with curses such as, I suppose, the husbandman then made use of; and Herakles is pleased and blesses the Lindians in return for their curses.” According to Lactantius, it was a pair of oxen that was sacrificed, and the altar at which the sacrifice took place bore the name of bouzygos, that is, “yoke of oxen.” Hence it seems probable that the sacrifice which the story purported to explain was offered at the time of ploughing in order to ensure a blessing on the ploughman's labours. This is confirmed by the ritual of the sacred ploughing observed at Eleusis, where members of the old priestly family of the Bouzygai or Ox-yokers uttered many curses as they guided the plough down the furrows of the Rarian Plain. See Etymologicum Magnum, s.v. Βουζυγία, p. 206, lines 47ff.; Anecdota Graeca, ed. Bekker, i.221; Hesychius, s.v. Βουζύγης ; Paroemiographi Graeci, ed. Leutsch and Schneidewin, i. p. 388; Scholiast on Soph. Ant. 255; Plut. Praecepta Conjugalia 42. Compare J. Toepffer, Attische Genealogie (Berlin, 1889), rr. 136ff.; Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild, i.108ff. The Greeks seem to have deemed curses of special efficacy to promote the fertility of the ground; for we are told that when a Greek sowed cummin he was expected to utter imprecations or the corn would not turn out well. See Theophrastus, Historia plantarum vii.3.3, ix.8.8; Plut. Quaest. Conviv. vii.2.3; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xix.120. Roman writers mention a like custom observed by the sowers of rue and basil. See Palladius, De re rustica, iv.9; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xix.120. As to the beneficent effect of curses, when properly directed, see further The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, i.278ff. ) And passing by Arabia he slew Emathion, son of Tithonus,[*](Compare Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.369ff., who as usual follows Apollodorus. According to Diod. 4.27.3, after Herakles had slain Busiris, he ascended the Nile to Ethiopia and there slew Emathion, king of Ethiopia.) and journeying through Libya to the outer sea he received the goblet from the Sun. And having crossed to the opposite mainland he shot on the Caucasus the eagle, offspring of Echidna and Typhon, that was devouring the liver of Prometheus, and he released Prometheus,[*](As to Herakles and Prometheus, see Diod. 4.15.2; Paus. 5.11.6; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.370ff.; Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. ii.1248, iv.1396; Hyginus, Ast. ii.15; Hyginus, Fab. 31, 54, and 144; Serv. Verg. Ecl. 6.42. The Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. ii.1248 agrees with Apollodorus as to the parentage of the eagle which preyed on Prometheus, and he cites as his authority Pherecydes; hence we may surmise that Apollodorus is following the same author in the present passage. The time during which Prometheus suffered on the Caucasus was said by Aeschylus to be thirty thousand years (Hyginus, Ast. ii.15); but Hyginus, though he reports this in one passage, elsewhere reduces the term of suffering to thirty years (Hyginus, Fab. 54, 144).) after choosing for himself the bond of olive,[*](The reference seems to be to the crown of olive which Herakles brought from the land of the Hyperboreans and instituted as the badge of victory in the Olympic games. See Pind. O. 3.11(20)ff.; Paus. 5.7.7. The ancients had a curious notion that the custom of wearing crowns or garlands on the head and rings on the fingers was a memorial of the shackles once worn for their sake by their great benefactor Prometheus among the rocks and snows of the Caucasus. In order that the will of Zeus, who had sworn never to release Prometheus, might not be frustrated by the entire liberation of his prisoner from his chains, Prometheus on obtaining his freedom was ordered to wear on his finger a ring made out of his iron fetters and of the rock to which he had been chained; hence, in memory of their saviour's sufferings, men have worn rings ever since. The practice of wearing crowns or garlands was explained by some people in the same way. See Hyginus, Ast. ii.15; Serv. Verg. Ecl. 6.42; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxxvii.2; Isidore, Orig. xix.32.1. According to one version of the legend, the crown which the sufferer on regaining his liberty was doomed to wear was a crown of willow; and the Carians, who used to crown their brows with branches of willow, explained that they did so in imitation of Prometheus. See Athenaeus xv.11-13, pp. 671-673 EB. In the present passage of Apollodorus, if the text is correct, Herakles, as the deliverer of Prometheus, is obliged to bind himself vicariously for the prisoner whom he has released; and he chooses to do so with his favourite olive. Similarly he has to find a substitute to die instead of Prometheus, and he discovers the substitute in Chiron. As to the substitution of Chiron for Prometheus, see Apollod. 2.5.4. It is remarkable that, though Prometheus was supposed to have attained to immortality and to be the great benefactor, and even the creator, of mankind, he appears not to have been worshipped by the Greeks; Lucian says that nowhere were temples of Prometheus to be seen (Lucian, Prometheus 14).) and to Zeus he presented Chiron, who, though immortal, consented to die in his stead. Now Prometheus had told Hercules not to go himself after the apples but to send Atlas, first relieving him of the burden of the sphere; so when he was come to Atlas in the land of the Hyperboreans, he took the advice and relieved Atlas. But when Atlas had received three apples from the Hesperides, he came to Hercules, and not wishing to support the sphere< he said that he would himself carry the apples to Eurystheus, and bade Hercules hold up the sky in his stead. Hercules promised to do so, but succeeded by craft in putting it on Atlas instead. For at the advice of Prometheus he begged Atlas to hold up the sky till he should>[*](The passage in angular brackets is wanting in the manuscripts of Apollodorus, but is restored from the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1396, who quotes as his authority Pherecydes, the writer here seemingly followed by Apollodorus. See the Critical Note. The story of the contest of wits between Herakles and Atlas is represented in one of the extant metopes of the temple of Zeus at Olympia, which were seen and described by Paus. 5.10.9. See Frazer, note on Pausanias (vol. iii. pp. 524ff.).) put a pad on his head. When Atlas heard that, he laid the apples down on the ground and took the sphere from Hercules. And so Hercules picked up the apples and departed. But some say that he did not get them from Atlas, but that he plucked the apples himself after killing the guardian snake. And having brought the apples he gave them to Eurystheus. But he, on receiving them, bestowed them on Hercules, from whom Athena got them and conveyed them back again; for it was not lawful that they should be laid down anywhere.

A twelfth labour imposed on Hercules was to bring Cerberus from Hades.[*](As to Herakles and Cerberus, see Hom. Il. 8.366ff.; Hom. Od. 11.623ff.; Bacch. 5.56ff., ed. Jebb; Eur. Herc. 23ff.; Eur. Her. 1277ff.; Diod. 4.25.1, Diod. 4.26.1; Paus. 2.31.6; Paus. 2.35.10; Paus. 3.18.13; Paus. 3.25.5ff.; Paus. 5.26.7; Paus. 9.34.5; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.388-405 (who seems to follow Apollodorus); Scholiast on Hom. Il. viii.368; Ov. Met. 7.410ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 31; Seneca, Agamemnon 859ff.; Eur. Herc. 50ff.; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 20 (First Vatican Mythographer 57). Ancient writers differ as to the number of Cerberus's heads. Hesiod assigned him fifty (Hes. Th. 311ff.); Pindar raised the number to a hundred (Scholiast on Hom. Il. viii.368), a liberal estimate which was accepted by Tzetzes in one place (Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 699) and by Horace in another (Hor. Carm. 2.13.34). Others reduced the number to three. See Soph. Trach. 1098; Eur. Herc. 24; Eur. Herc. 1277; Paus. 3.25.6; Hor. Carm. 2.19.29ff., iii.11.17ff.; Verg. G. 4.483, Aen. vi.417ff.; Ov. Met. 4.451ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 151; Seneca, Agamemnon 62; Seneca, Herakles Furens 783ff. Apollodorus apparently seeks to reconcile these contradictions, and he is followed as usual by Tzetzes (Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.390ff.), who, however, at the same time speaks of Cerberus as fifty-headed. The whole of the present passage of Apollodorus, from the description of Cerberus down to Herakles's slaughter of one of the kine of Hades, is quoted, with a few small variations, by a Scholiast on Hom. Il. viii.368. See Dindorf's edition of the Scholia, vol. i. p. 287. The quotation is omitted by Bekker in his edition of the Scholia p. 233.) Now this Cerberus had three heads of dogs, the tail of a dragon, and on his back the heads of all sorts of snakes. When Hercules was about to depart to fetch him, he went to Eumolpus at Eleusis, wishing to be initiated. However it was not then lawful for foreigners to be initiated: since he proposed to be initiated as the adoptive son of Pylius. But not being able to see the mysteries because he had not been cleansed of the slaughter of the centaurs, he was cleansed by Eumolpus and then initiated.[*](As to the initiation of Herakles at Eleusis, compare Diod. 4.25.1; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.394. According to Diodorus, the rites were performed on this occasion by Musaeus, son of Orpheus. Elsewhere (Tzetzes, Chiliades iv.14.3) the same writer says that Demeter instituted the lesser Eleusinian mysteries in honour of Herakles for the purpose of purifying him after his slaughter of the centaurs. The statement that Pylius acted as adoptive father to Herakles at his initiation is repeated by Plut. Thes. 33, who mentions that before Castor and Pollux were initiated at Athens they were in like manner adopted by Aphidnus. Herodotus says (Hdt. 8.65) that any Greek who pleased might be initiated at Eleusis. The initiation of Herakles is represented in ancient reliefs. See A. B. Cook, Zeus, i.425ff. ) And having come to Taenarum in Laconia,

where is the mouth of the descent to Hades, he descended through it.[*](Compare Eur. Herc. 23ff.; Paus. 3.25.5; Seneca, Herakles Furens 807ff. Sophocles seems to have written a Satyric drama on the descent of Herakles into the infernal regions at Taenarum. See The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol. i. pp. 167ff. According to another account, Herakles descended, not at Taenarum but at the Acherusian Chersonese, near Heraclea Pontica on the Black Sea. The marks of the descent were there pointed out to a great depth. See Xen. Ana. 6.2.2.) But when the souls saw him, they fled, save Meleager and the Gorgon Medusa. And Hercules drew his sword against the Gorgon, as if she were alive, but he learned from Hermes that she was an empty phantom.[*](So Bacch. 5.71ff., ed. Jebb represents Herakles in Hades drawing his bow against the ghost of Meleager in shining armour, who reminds the hero that there is nothing to fear from the souls of the dead; so, too, Verg. A. 6.290ff. describes Aeneas in Hades drawing his sword on the Gorgons and Harpies, till the Sibyl tells him that they are mere flitting empty shades. Apollodorus more correctly speaks of the ghost of only one Gorgon (Medusa), because of the three Gorgons she alone was mortal. See Apollod. 2.4.2. Compare Hom. Od. 11.634ff. ) And being come near to the gates of Hades he found Theseus and Pirithous,[*](On Theseus and Pirithous in hell, see Apollod. E.1.23ff.; Hom. Od. 1.631; Eur. Herc. 619; Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.101ff., with the Scholiast on 101; Diod. 4.26.1, Diod. 4.63.4ff.; Paus. 1.17.4; Paus. 9.31.5; Paus. 10.29.9; Apostolius, Cent. iii.36; Suidas, s.v. λίσποι ;Scholiast on Aristoph. Kn. 1368; Verg. A. 6.392ff., 617ff.; Hor. Carm. 3.4.79ff., iv.7.27ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 79; Aulus Gellius x.16.13; Serv. Verg. A. 6.617; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 18 (First Vatican Mythographer 48). The general opinion seems to have been that Herakles rescued Theseus, but that he could not save Pirithous. Others, however, alleged that he brought up both from the dead (Hyginus, Fab. 79); others again affirmed that he brought up neither (Diod. 4.63.5). A dull rationalistic version of the romantic story converted Hades into a king of the Molossians or Thesprotians, named Aidoneus, who had a wife Persephone, a daughter Cora, and a dog Cerberus, which he set to worry his daughter's suitors, promising to give her in marriage to him who could master the ferocious animal. Discovering that Theseus and Pirithous were come not to woo but to steal his daughter, he arrested them. The dog made short work of Pirithous, but Theseus was kept in durance till the king consented to release him at the intercession of Herakles. See Plut. Thes. 31.4-35.1ff.; Ael., Var. Hist. iv.5; Paus. 1.17.4, Paus. 1.18.4, Paus. 2.22.6, Paus. 3.18.5; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.406ff. ) him who wooed Persephone in wedlock and was therefore bound fast. And when they beheld Hercules, they stretched out their hands as if they should be raised from the dead by his might. And Theseus, indeed, he took by the hand and raised up, but when he would have brought up Pirithous, the earth quaked and he let go. And he rolled away also the stone of Ascalaphus.[*](See Apollod. 1.5.3.) And wishing to provide the souls with blood, he slaughtered one of the kine of Hades. But Menoetes, son of Ceuthonymus, who tended the king, challenged Hercules to wrestle, and, being seized round the middle, had his ribs broken;[*](Compare Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.396ff., who calls the herdsman Menoetius.) howbeit, he was let off at the request of Persephone. When Hercules asked Pluto for Cerberus, Pluto ordered him to take the animal provided he mastered him without the use of the weapons which he carried. Hercules found him at the gates of Acheron, and, cased in his cuirass and covered by the lion's skin, he flung his arms round the head of the brute, and though the dragon in its tail bit him, he never relaxed his grip and pressure till it yielded.[*](Literally, “till he persuaded (it).”) So he carried it off and ascended through Troezen.[*](Compare Paus. 2.31.2. According to others, the ascent of Herakles with Cerberus took place at Hermione (Paus. 2.35.10) or on Mount Laphystius in Boeotia (Paus. 9.34.5).) But Demeter turned Ascalaphus into a short-eared owl,[*](Compare Ov. Met. 5.538ff. As to the short-eared owl (ὦτος), see D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, Glossary of Greek Birds, pp. 200ff. ) and Hercules, after showing Cerberus to Eurystheus, carried him back to Hades.

After his labours Hercules went to Thebes and gave Megara to Iolaus,[*](With this and what follows down to the adventure with Syleus, compare Diod. 4.31 (who seems to be following the same authority as Apollodorus); Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.412-435.) and, wishing himself to wed, he ascertained that Eurytus, prince of Oechalia, had proposed the hand of his daughter Iole as a prize to him who should vanquish himself and his

sons in archery.[*](Compare Scholiast on Hom. Il. 5.392; Soph. Trach. 260ff., with the Scholiast on Soph. Trach. 266; Scholiast on Eur. Hipp. 545.) So he came to Oechalia, and though he proved himself better than them at archery, yet he did not get the bride; for while Iphitus, the elder of Eurytus's sons, said that Iole should be given to Hercules, Eurytus and the others refused, and said they feared that, if he got children, he would again kill his offspring.[*](As he had killed the children he had by Megara. See Apollod. 2.4.12.)

Not long after, some cattle were stolen from Euboea by Autolycus, and Eurytus supposed that it was done by Hercules; but Iphitus did not believe it and went to Hercules. And meeting him, as he came from Pherae after saving the dead Alcestis for Admetus, he invited him to seek the kine with him. Hercules promised to do so and entertained him; but going mad again he threw him from the walls of Tiryns.[*](The story is told somewhat differently by Hom. Od. 21.23-30. According to him, Iphitus had lost twelve mares (not oxen) and came in search of them to Herakles, who murdered him in his house and kept the mares. A Scholiast on Hom. Od. xxi.22 says that the mares had been stolen by Autolycus and sold by him to Herakles. Another Scholiast on the same passage of Homer, who refers to Pherecydes as his authority, says that Herakles treacherously lured Iphitus to the top of the wall, then hurled him down. As to the quest of the mares and the murder of Iphitus, see also Soph. Trach. 270-273; Diod. 4.31.2ff. (who says that Herakles himself stole the mares out of spite at Eurytus); Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.417-423; Scholiast on Hom. Il. v.392. Apollodorus seems to be the only writer who substitutes cattle for mares in this story.) Wishing to be purified of the murder he repaired to Neleus, who was prince of the Pylians. And when Neleus rejected his request on the score of his friendship with Eurytus, he went to Amyclae and was purified by Deiphobus, son of Hippolytus.[*](Compare Diod. 4.31.4ff.; Scholiast on Hom. Il. v.392.) But being afflicted with a dire disease on account of the murder of Iphitus he went to Delphi and inquired

how he might be rid of the disease. As the Pythian priestess answered him not by oracles, he was fain to plunder the temple, and, carrying off the tripod, to institute an oracle of his own. But Apollo fought him,[*](As to the attempt of Herakles to carry off the tripod, see Plut. De EI apud Delphos 6; Plut. De sera numinis vindicta 12 (who says that Herakles carried it off to Pheneus); Paus. 3.21.8, Paus. 8.37.1, Paus. 10.13.7ff.; Scholiast on Pind. O. 9.29(43); Cicero, De natura deorum iii.16.42; Hyginus, Fab. 32; Serv. Verg. A. 8.300. The subject was often represented in ancient art; for example, it was sculptured in the gable of the Treasury of the Siphnians at Delphi; the principal pieces of the sculpture were discovered by the French in their excavation of the sanctuary. See E. Bourguet, Les ruines de Delphes (Paris, 1914), pp. 76ff., and Frazer, commentary on Pausanias, vol. v. pp. 274ff. ) and Zeus threw a thunderbolt between them. When they had thus been parted, Hercules received an oracle, which declared that the remedy for his disease was for him to be sold, and to serve for three years, and to pay compensation for the murder to Eurytus.

After the delivery of the oracle, Hermes sold Hercules, and he was bought by Omphale,[*](As to Herakles and Omphale, see Soph. Trach. 247ff.; Diod. 4.31.5-8; Lucian, Dial. Deorum. xiii.2; Plut. Quaest. Graec. 45; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.425ff.; Scholiast on Hom. Od. xxi.22; Joannes Lydus, De magistratibus iii.64; Ovid, Her. ix.55ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 32; Seneca, Herakles Oetaeus 371ff.; Statius, Theb. x.646-649. According to Pherecydes, cited by the Scholiast on Hom. Od. xxi.22, Hermes sold Herakles to Omphale for three talents. The sum obtained by his sale was to be paid as compensation to the sons of the murdered Iphitus, according to Diod. 4.31.5-8. The period of his servitude, according to Soph. Trach. 252ff., was only one year; but Herodorus, cited by the Scholiast on Soph. Tr. 253, says that it was three years, which agrees with the statement of Apollodorus.) daughter of Iardanes, queen of Lydia, to whom at his death her husband Tmolus had bequeathed the government. Eurytus did not accept the compensation when it was presented to him, but Hercules served Omphale as a slave, and in the course of his servitude he seized and bound the Cercopes at Ephesus;[*](As to the Cercopes, see Diod. 4.31.7; Nonnus, in Mythographi Graeci, ed. A. Westermann, Appendix Narrationum, 39, p. 375; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.431, v.73ff.; Zenobius, Cent. v.10; Apostolius, Cent. xi.19. These malefactors were two in number. Herakles is said to have carried them hanging with their heads downward from a pole. They are so represented in Greek art. See W. H. Roscher, Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, ii.1166ff. The name Cercopes seems to mean “tailed men,” (from κέρκος, “tail”). One story concerning them was that they were deceitful men whom Zeus punished by turning them into apes, and that the islands of Ischia and Procida, off the Bay of Naples, were called Pithecusae (“Ape Islands”) after them. See Harpocration, s.v. Κέρκωψ ; Eustathius on Hom. Od. xix.247, p. 1864; Ov. Met. 14.88ff. According to Pherecydes, the Cercopes were turned into stone. See Scholiast on Lucian, Alexander 4, p. 181, ed. H. Rabe. The story of Herakles and the Cercopes has been interpreted as a reminiscence of Phoenician traders bringing apes to Greek markets. See O. Keller, Thiere des classischen Alterthums (Innsbruck, 1887), p. 1. The interpretation may perhaps be supported by an Assyrian bas-relief which represents a Herculean male figure carrying an ape on his head and leading another ape by a leash, the animals being apparently brought as tribute to a king. See O. Keller, op. cit., p. 11, fig. 2; Perrot et Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, ii.547, fig 254.) and as for Syleus in Aulis, who compelled

passing strangers to dig, Hercules killed him with his daughter Xenodoce, after burning the vines with the roots.[*](Compare Diod. 4.31.7; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.432ff.; Conon 17. Euripides wrote a satyric play on the subject. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 575ff. The legend may be based on a custom practised by vine-dressers on passing strangers. See W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen, pp. 12, 53ff., who, for the rough jests of vine dressers in antiquity, refers to Hor. Sat. i.8.28ff.; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xviii.26.66(249).) And having put in to the island of Doliche, he saw the body of Icarus washed ashore and buried it, and he called the island Icaria instead of Doliche. In return Daedalus made a portrait statue of Hercules at Pisa, which Hercules mistook at night for living and threw a stone and hit it. And during the time of his servitude with Omphale it is said that the voyage to Colchis [*](That is, the voyage of the Argo. See above, Apollod. 1.9.16ff. As to the hunt of the Calydonian boar, see above, Apollod. 1.8.2ff. As to the clearance of the Isthmus by Theseus, see below, Apollod. 3.16, and the Apollod. E.1.1ff. ) and the hunt of the Calydonian boar took place, and that Theseus on his way from Troezen cleared the Isthmus of malefactors.

After his servitude, being rid of his disease he mustered an army of noble volunteers and sailed for Ilium with eighteen ships of fifty oars each.[*](As to the siege and capture of Troy by Herakles, see Hom. Il. 5.640-643, Hom. Il. 5.648-651; Pind. I. 6.26(38)ff.; Diod. 4.32; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.443ff.; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 34; Ov. Met. 11.213-217, xiii.22ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 89. The account given by Diodorus agrees so closely in matter, though not in words, with that of Apollodorus that both authors probably drew on the same source. Homer, with whom Tzetzes agrees, says that Herakles went to Troy with only six ships. Diodorus notices the Homeric statement, but mentions that according to some the fleet of Herakles numbered “eighteen long ships.”) And having come to port at Ilium, he left the guard of the ships to Oicles[*](As to Oicles at Troy, compare Diod. 4.32.3; Paus. 8.36.6, who says that his tomb was shown near Megalopolis in Arcadia. Sophocles seems to have written a play called Oicles, though there is some doubt as to the spelling of the name. See The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, ii.119.) and himself with the rest of the champions set out to attack the city. Howbeit Laomedon marched against the ships with the multitude and slew Oicles in battle, but being repulsed by the troops of Hercules, he was besieged. The siege once laid, Telamon was the first to breach the wall and enter the city, and after him Hercules. But when he saw that Telamon had entered it first, he drew his sword and rushed at him, loath that anybody should be reputed a better man than himself. Perceiving that, Telamon collected stones that lay to hand, and when Hercules asked him what he did, he said he was building an altar to Hercules the Glorious Victor.[*](This incident is recorded also by Tzetzes (Scholiast on Lycophron 469); but according to him the title which Telamon applied to Herakles at the altar was Averter of Ills (Alexikakos), not Glorious Victor (Kallinikos).) Hercules thanked him, and when he had taken the city and shot down Laomedon and his sons, except Podarces, he assigned Laomedon's daughter Hesione

as a prize to Telamon[*](Compare Soph. Aj. 1299-1303; Scholiast on Hom. Il. 8.284; Ov. Met. 11.216ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 89.) and allowed her to take with her whomsoever of the captives she would. When she chose her brother Podarces, Hercules said that he must first be a slave and then be ransomed by her. So when he was being sold she took the veil from her head and gave it as a ransom; hence Podarces was called Priam.[*](This derivation of the name Priam from the verb πρίαμαι, “to buy,” is repeated, somewhat more clearly, by Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 34, Ποδάρκην ἐπρίατο, ὅθεν καὶ ἐκλήθη πρίαμος. Compare Hyginus, Fab. 89, Podarci, filio eius infanti, regnum dedit, qui postea Priamus est appellatus, ἀπὸ τοῦ πρίασθαι. For the bestowal by Herakles of the kingdom on the youthful Priam, compare Seneca, Troades 718ff. )

When Hercules was sailing from Troy, Hera sent grievous storms,[*](See Hom. Il. 14.249ff., Hom. Il. 15.24ff. ) which so vexed Zeus that he hung her from Olympus.[*](See Apollod. 1.3.5.) Hercules sailed to Cos,[*](With the following account of Herakles's adventures in Cos, compare the Scholiasts on Hom. Il. i.590, xiv.255; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.445; Ov. Met. 7.363ff. The Scholiast on Hom. Il. xiv.255 tells us that the story was found in Pherecydes, whom Apollodorus probably follows in the present passage.) and the Coans, thinking he was leading a piratical squadron, endeavored to prevent his approach by a shower of stones. But he forced his way in and took the city by night, and slew the king, Eurypylus, son of Poseidon by Astypalaea. And Hercules was wounded in the battle by Chalcedon; but Zeus snatched him away, so that he took no harm. And having laid waste Cos, he came through Athena's agency to Phlegra, and sided with the gods in their victorious war on the giants.[*](See Apollod. 1.6.1ff. )