Apollodorus, Library, ed. Sir James George Frazer, 2.5

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Section

← Previous Next →

[1]
When Hercules heard that, he went to Tiryns and did as he was bid by Eurystheus. First, Eurystheus ordered him to bring the skin of the Nemean lion;¹ now that was an invulnerable beast begotten by Typhon. On his way to attack the lion he came to Cleonae and lodged at the house of a day-laborer, Molorchus;² and when his host would have offered a victim in sacrifice, Hercules told him to wait for thirty days, and then, if he had returned safe from the hunt, to sacrifice to Saviour Zeus, but if he were dead, to sacrifice to him as to a hero.³ And having come to Nemea and tracked the lion, he first shot an arrow at him, but when he perceived that the beast was invulnerable, he heaved up his club and made after him. And when the lion took refuge in a cave with two mouths, Hercules built up the one entrance and came in upon the beast through the other, and putting his arm round its neck held it tight till he had choked it; so laying it on his shoulders he carried it to Cleonae. And finding Molorchus on the last of the thirty days about to sacrifice the victim to him as to a dead man, he sacrificed to Saviour Zeus and brought the lion to Mycenae. Amazed at his manhood, Eurystheus forbade him thenceforth to enter the city, but ordered him to exhibit the fruits of his labours before the gates. They say, too, that in his fear he had a bronze jar made for himself to hide in under the earth,⁴ and that he sent his commands for the labours through a herald, Copreus,⁵ son of Pelops the Elean. This Copreus had killed Iphitus and fled to Mycenae, where he was purified by Eurystheus and took up his abode.

[2]
As a second labour he ordered him to kill the Lernaean hydra.⁶ That creature, bred in the swamp of Lerna, used to go forth into the plain and ravage both the cattle and the country. Now the hydra had a huge body, with nine heads, eight mortal, but the middle one immortal. So mounting a chariot driven by Iolaus, he came to Lerna, and having halted his horses, he discovered the hydra on a hill beside the springs of the Amymone, where was its den. By pelting it with fiery shafts he forced it to come out, and in the act of doing so he seized and held it fast. But the hydra wound itself about one of his feet and clung to him. Nor could he effect anything by smashing its heads with his club, for as fast as one head was smashed there grew up two. A huge crab also came to the help of the hydra by biting his foot.⁷ So he killed it, and in his turn called for help on Iolaus who, by setting fire to a piece of the neighboring wood and burning the roots of the heads with the brands, prevented them from sprouting. Having thus got the better of the sprouting heads, he chopped off the immortal head, and buried it, and put a heavy rock on it, beside the road that leads through Lerna to Elaeus. But the body of the hydra he slit up and dipped his arrows in the gall. However, Eurystheus said that this labour should not be reckoned among the ten because he had not got the better of the hydra by himself, but with the help of Iolaus.

[3]
As a third labour he ordered him to bring the Cerynitian hind alive to Mycenae.⁸ Now the hind was at Oenoe; it had golden horns and was sacred to Artemis; so wishing neither to kill nor wound it, Hercules hunted it a whole year. But when, weary with the chase, the beast took refuge on the mountain called Artemisius, and thence passed to the river Ladon, Hercules shot it just as it was about to cross the stream, and catching it put it on his shoulders and hastened through Arcadia. But Artemis with Apollo met him, and would have wrested the hind from him, and rebuked him for attempting to kill her sacred animal.⁹ Howbeit, by pleading necessity and laying the blame on Eurystheus, he appeased the anger of the goddess and carried the beast alive to Mycenae.

[4]
As a fourth labour he ordered him to bring the Erymanthian boar alive;¹⁰ now that animal ravaged Psophis, sallying from a mountain which they call Erymanthus. So passing through Pholoe he was entertained by the centaur Pholus, a son of Silenus by a Melian nymph.¹¹ He set roast meat before Hercules, while he himself ate his meat raw. When Hercules called for wine, he said he feared to open the jar which belonged to the centaurs in common.¹² But Hercules, bidding him be of good courage, opened it, and not long afterwards, scenting the smell, the centaurs arrived at the cave of Pholus, armed with rocks and firs. The first who dared to enter, Anchius and Agrius, were repelled by Hercules with a shower of brands, and the rest of them he shot and pursued as far as Malea. Thence they took refuge with Chiron, who, driven by the Lapiths from Mount Pelion, took up his abode at Malea. As the centaurs cowered about Chiron, Hercules shot an arrow at them, which, passing through the arm of Elatus, stuck in the knee of Chiron. Distressed at this, Hercules ran up to him, drew out the shaft, and applied a medicine which Chiron gave him. But the hurt proving incurable, Chiron retired to the cave and there he wished to die, but he could not, for he was immortal. However, Prometheus offered himself to Zeus to be immortal in his stead, and so Chiron died. The rest of the centaurs fled in different directions, and some came to Mount Malea, and Eurytion to Pholoe, and Nessus to the river Evenus. The rest of them Poseidon received at Eleusis and hid them in a mountain. But Pholus, drawing the arrow from a corpse, wondered that so little a thing could kill such big fellows; howbeit, it slipped from his hand and lighting on his foot killed him on the spot.¹³ So when Hercules returned to Pholoe, he beheld Pholus dead; and he buried him and proceeded to the boar hunt. And when he had chased the boar with shouts from a certain thicket, he drove the exhausted animal into deep snow, trapped it, and brought it to Mycenae.

[5]
The fifth labour he laid on him was to carry out the dung of the cattle of Augeas in a single day.¹⁴ Now Augeas was king of Elis; some say that he was a son of the Sun, others that he was a son of Poseidon, and others that he was a son of Phorbas; and he had many herds of cattle. Hercules accosted him, and without revealing the command of Eurystheus, said that he would carry out the dung in one day, if Augeas would give him the tithe of the cattle. Augeas was incredulous, but promised. Having taken Augeas's son Phyleus to witness, Hercules made a breach in the foundations of the cattle-yard, and then, diverting the courses of the Alpheus and Peneus, which flowed near each other, he turned them into the yard, having first made an outlet for the water through another opening. When Augeas learned that this had been accomplished at the command of Eurystheus, he would not pay the reward; nay more, he denied that he had promised to pay it, and on that point he professed himself ready to submit to arbitration. The arbitrators having taken their seats, Phyleus was called by Hercules and bore witness against his father, affirming that he had agreed to give him a reward. In a rage Augeas, before the voting took place, ordered both Phyleus and Hercules to pack out of Elis. So Phyleus went to Dulichium and dwelt there,¹⁵ and Hercules repaired to Dexamenus at Olenus.¹⁶ He found Dexamenus on the point of betrothing perforce his daughter Mnesimache to the centaur Eurytion, and being called upon by him for help, he slew Eurytion when that centaur came to fetch his bride. But Eurystheus would not admit this labour either among the ten, alleging that it had been performed for hire.

[6]
The sixth labour he enjoined on him was to chase away the Stymphalian birds.¹⁷ Now at the city of Stymphalus in Arcadia was the lake called Stymphalian, embosomed in a deep wood. To it countless birds had flocked for refuge, fearing to be preyed upon by the wolves.¹⁸ So when Hercules was at a loss how to drive the birds from the wood, Athena gave him brazen castanets, which she had received from Hephaestus. By clashing these on a certain mountain that overhung the lake, he scared the birds. They could not abide the sound, but fluttered up in a fright, and in that way Hercules shot them.

[7]
The seventh labour he enjoined on him was to bring the Cretan bull.¹⁹ Acusilaus says that this was the bull that ferried across Europa for Zeus; but some say it was the bull that Poseidon sent up from the sea when Minos promised to sacrifice to Poseidon what should appear out of the sea. And they say that when he saw the beauty of the bull he sent it away to the herds and sacrificed another to Poseidon; at which the god was angry and made the bull savage. To attack this bull Hercules came to Crete, and when, in reply to his request for aid, Minos told him to fight and catch the bull for himself, he caught it and brought it to Eurystheus, and having shown it to him he let it afterwards go free. But the bull roamed to Sparta and all Arcadia, and traversing the Isthmus arrived at Marathon in Attica and harried the inhabitants.

[8]
The eighth labour he enjoined on him was to bring the mares of Diomedes the Thracian to Mycenae.²⁰ Now this Diomedes was a son of Ares and Cyrene, and he was king of the Bistones, a very warlike Thracian people, and he owned man-eating mares. So Hercules sailed with a band of volunteers, and having overpowered the grooms who were in charge of the mangers, he drove the mares to the sea. When the Bistones in arms came to the rescue, he committed the mares to the guardianship of Abderus, who was a son of Hermes, a native of Opus in Locris, and a minion of Hercules; but the mares killed him by dragging him after them. But Hercules fought against the Bistones, slew Diomedes and compelled the rest to flee. And he founded a city Abdera beside the grave of Abderus who had been done to death,²¹and bringing the mares he gave them to Eurystheus. But Eurystheus let them go, and they came to Mount Olympus, as it is called, and there they were destroyed by the wild beasts.

[9]
The ninth labour he enjoined on Hercules was to bring the belt of Hippolyte.²² She was queen of the Amazons, who dwelt about the river Thermodon, a people great in war; for they cultivated the manly virtues, and if ever they gave birth to children through intercourse with the other sex, they reared the females; and they pinched off the right breasts that they might not be trammelled by them in throwing the javelin, but they kept the left breasts, that they might suckle. Now Hippolyte had the belt of Ares in token of her superiority to all the rest. Hercules was sent to fetch this belt because Admete, daughter of Eurystheus, desired to get it. So taking with him a band of volunteer comrades in a single ship he set sail and put in to the island of Paros, which was inhabited by the sons of Minos,²³ to wit, Eurymedon, Chryses, Nephalion, and Philolaus. But it chanced that two of those in the ship landed and were killed by the sons of Minos. Indignant at this, Hercules killed the sons of Minos on the spot and besieged the rest closely, till they sent envoys to request that in the room of the murdered men he would take two, whom he pleased. So he raised the siege, and taking on board the sons of Androgeus, son of Minos, to wit, Alcaeus and Sthenelus, he came to Mysia, to the court of Lycus, son of Dascylus, and was entertained by him; and in a battle between him and the king of the Bebryces Hercules sided with Lycus and slew many, amongst others King Mygdon, brother of Amycus. And he took much land from the Bebryces and gave it to Lycus, who called it all Heraclea.
Having put in at the harbor of Themiscyra, he received a visit from Hippolyte, who inquired why he was come, and promised to give him the belt. But Hera in the likeness of an Amazon went up and down the multitude saying that the strangers who had arrived were carrying off the queen. So the Amazons in arms charged on horseback down on the ship. But when Hercules saw them in arms, he suspected treachery, and killing Hippolyte stripped her of her belt. And after fighting the rest he sailed away and touched at Troy.
But it chanced that the city was then in distress consequently on the wrath of Apollo and Poseidon. For desiring to put the wantonness of Laomedon to the proof, Apollo and Poseidon assumed the likeness of men and undertook to fortify Pergamum for wages. But when they had fortified it, he would not pay them their wages.²⁴ Therefore Apollo sent a pestilence, and Poseidon a sea monster, which, carried up by a flood, snatched away the people of the plain. But as oracles foretold deliverance from these calamities if Laomedon would expose his daughter Hesione to be devoured by the sea monster, he exposed her by fastening her to the rocks near the sea.²⁵ Seeing her exposed, Hercules promised to save her on condition of receiving from Laomedon the mares which Zeus had given in compensation for the rape of Ganymede.²⁶ On Laomedon's saying that he would give them, Hercules killed the monster and saved Hesione. But when Laomedon would not give the stipulated reward,²⁷ Hercules put to sea after threatening to make war on Troy.²⁸
And he touched at Aenus, where he was entertained by Poltys. And as he was sailing away he shot and killed on the Aenian beach a lewd fellow, Sarpedon, son of Poseidon and brother of Poltys. And having come to Thasos and subjugated the Thracians who dwelt in the island, he gave it to the sons of Androgeus to dwell in. From Thasos he proceeded to Torone, and there, being challenged to wrestle by Polygonus and Telegonus, sons of Proteus, son of Poseidon, he killed them in the wrestling match.²⁹ And having brought the belt to Mycenae he gave it to Eurystheus.

[10]
As a tenth labour he was ordered to fetch the kine of Geryon from Erythia.³⁰ Now Erythia was an island near the ocean; it is now called Gadira.³¹ This island was inhabited by Geryon, son of Chrysaor by Callirrhoe, daughter of Ocean. He had the body of three men grown together and joined in one at the waist, but parted in three from the flanks and thighs.³² He owned red kine, of which Eurytion was the herdsman and Orthus,³³ the two-headed hound, begotten by Typhon on Echidna, was the watchdog. So journeying through Europe to fetch the kine of Geryon he destroyed many wild beasts and set foot in Libya,³⁴ and proceeding to Tartessus he erected as tokens of his journey two pillars over against each other at the boundaries of Europe and Libya.³⁵ But being heated by the Sun on his journey, he bent his bow at the god, who in admiration of his hardihood, gave him a golden goblet in which he crossed the ocean.³⁶ And having reached Erythia he lodged on Mount Abas. However the dog, perceiving him, rushed at him; but he smote it with his club, and when the herdsman Eurytion came to the help of the dog, Hercules killed him also. But Menoetes, who was there pasturing the kine of Hades, reported to Geryon what had occurred, and he, coming up with Hercules beside the river Anthemus,³⁷ as he was driving away the kine, joined battle with him and was shot dead. And Hercules, embarking the kine in the goblet and sailing across to Tartessus, gave back the goblet to the Sun.
And passing through Abderia³⁸ he came to Liguria,³⁹ where Ialebion and Dercynus, sons of Poseidon, attempted to rob him of the kine, but he killed them⁴⁰ and went on his way through Tyrrhenia. But at Rhegium a bull broke away⁴¹and hastily plunging into the sea swam across to Sicily, and having passed through the neighboring country since called Italy after it, for the Tyrrhenians called the bull italus,⁴² came to the plain of Eryx, who reigned over the Elymi.⁴³ Now Eryx was a son of Poseidon, and he mingled the bull with his own herds. So Hercules entrusted the kine to Hephaestus and hurried away in search of the bull. He found it in the herds of Eryx, and when the king refused to surrender it unless Hercules should beat him in a wrestling bout, Hercules beat him thrice, killed him in the wrestling, and taking the bull drove it with the rest of the herd to the Ionian Sea. But when he came to the creeks of the sea, Hera afflicted the cows with a gadfly, and they dispersed among the skirts of the mountains of Thrace. Hercules went in pursuit, and having caught some, drove them to the Hellespont; but the remainder were thenceforth wild.⁴⁴ Having with difficulty collected the cows, Hercules blamed the river Strymon, and whereas it had been navigable before, he made it unnavigable by filling it with rocks; and he conveyed the kine and gave them to Eurystheus, who sacrificed them to Hera.

[11]
When the labours had been performed in eight years and a month,⁴⁵ Eurystheus ordered Hercules, as an eleventh labour, to fetch golden apples from the Hesperides,⁴⁶ 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.⁴⁷ 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.⁴⁸ 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.⁴⁹ Being informed, he traversed Libya. That country was then ruled by Antaeus, son of Poseidon,⁵⁰ who used to kill strangers by forcing them to wrestle. Being forced to wrestle with him, Hercules hugged him, lifted him aloft,⁵¹ 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,⁵² 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.⁵³
And traversing Asia he put in to Thermydrae, the harbor of the Lindians.⁵⁴ 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.⁵⁵
And passing by Arabia he slew Emathion, son of Tithonus,⁵⁶ 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,⁵⁷ after choosing for himself the bond of olive,⁵⁸ 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>⁵⁹ 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.

[12]
A twelfth labour imposed on Hercules was to bring Cerberus from Hades.⁶⁰ 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.⁶¹ And having come to Taenarum in Laconia, where is the mouth of the descent to Hades, he descended through it.⁶² 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.⁶³ And being come near to the gates of Hades he found Theseus and Pirithous,⁶⁴ 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.⁶⁵ 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;⁶⁶ 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.⁶⁷ So he carried it off and ascended through Troezen.⁶⁸ But Demeter turned Ascalaphus into a short-eared owl,⁶⁹ and Hercules, after showing Cerberus to Eurystheus, carried him back to Hades.

Library. Apollodorus. ed. Sir James George Frazer. Cambridge, MA. 1921.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Library (English) (Apollodorus. The Library, Vol 1-2. Frazer, James George, Sir, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.)

Editions (1)

Βιβλιοθήκη Perseus (Apollodorus. The Library, Vol 1-2. Frazer, James George, Sir, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.) — 2.5 focus

[1] τοῦτο ἀκούσας ὁ Ἡρακλῆς εἰς Τίρυνθα ἦλθε, καὶ τὸ προσταττόμενον ὑπὸ Εὐρυσθέως ἐτέλει. πρῶτον μὲν οὖν ἐπέταξεν αὐτῷ τοῦ Νεμέου λέοντος τὴν δορὰν κομίζειν· τοῦτο δὲ ζῷον ἦν ἄτρωτον, ἐκ Τυφῶνος γεγεννημένον. πορευόμενος οὖν ἐπὶ τὸν λέοντα ἦλθεν εἰς Κλεωνάς, καὶ ξενίζεται παρὰ ἀνδρὶ χερνήτῃ Μολόρχῳ. καὶ θύειν ἱερεῖον θέλοντι εἰς ἡμέραν ἔφη τηρεῖν τριακοστήν, καὶ ἂν μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς θήρας σῶος ἐπανέλθῃ, Διὶ σωτῆρι θύειν, ἐὰν δὲ ἀποθάνῃ, τότε ὡς ἥρωι ἐναγίζειν. εἰς δὲ τὴν Νεμέαν ἀφικόμενος καὶ τὸν λέοντα μαστεύσας ἐτόξευσε τὸ πρῶτον· ὡς δὲ ἔμαθεν ἄτρωτον ὄντα, ἀνατεινάμενος τὸ ῥόπαλον ἐδίωκε. συμφυγόντος δὲ εἰς ἀμφίστομον σπήλαιον αὐτοῦ τὴν ἑτέραν ἐνῳκοδόμησεν εἴσοδον, διὰ δὲ τῆς ἑτέρας ἐπεισῆλθε τῷ θηρίῳ, καὶ περιθεὶς τὴν χεῖρα τῷ τραχήλῳ κατέσχεν ἄγχων ἕως ἔπνιξε, καὶ θέμενος ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων ἐκόμιζεν εἰς Κλεωνάς. καταλαβὼν δὲ τὸν Μόλορχον ἐν τῇ τελευταίᾳ τῶν ἡμερῶν ὡς νεκρῷ μέλλοντα τὸ ἱερεῖον ἐναγίζειν, σωτῆρι θύσας Διὶ ἦγεν εἰς Μυκήνας τὸν λέοντα. Εὐρυσθεὺς δὲ καταπλαγεὶς αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀνδρείαν ἀπεῖπε τὸ λοιπὸν αὐτῷ εἰς τὴν πόλιν εἰσιέναι, δεικνύειν δὲ πρὸ τῶν πυλῶν ἐκέλευε τοὺς ἄθλους. φασὶ δὲ ὅτι δείσας καὶ πίθον ἑαυτῷ χαλκοῦν εἰσκρυβῆναι ὑπὸ γῆν κατεσκεύασε, καὶ πέμπων κήρυκα Κοπρέα Πέλοπος τοῦ Ἠλείου ἐπέταττε τοὺς ἄθλους. οὗτος δὲ Ἴφιτον κτείνας, φυγὼν εἰς Μυκήνας καὶ τυχὼν παρʼ Εὐρυσθέως καθαρσίων ἐκεῖ κατῴκει.

[2] δεύτερον δὲ ἆθλον ἐπέταξεν αὐτῷ τὴν Λερναίαν ὕδραν κτεῖναι· αὕτη δὲ ἐν τῷ τῆς Λέρνης ἕλει ἐκτραφεῖσα ἐξέβαινεν εἰς τὸ πεδίον καὶ τά τε βοσκήματα καὶ τὴν χώραν διέφθειρεν. εἶχε δὲ ἡ ὕδρα ὑπερμέγεθες σῶμα, κεφαλὰς ἔχον ἐννέα, τὰς μὲν ὀκτὼ θνητάς, τὴν δὲ μέσην ἀθάνατον. ἐπιβὰς οὖν ἅρματος, ἡνιοχοῦντος Ἰολάου, παρεγένετο εἰς τὴν Λέρνην, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἵππους ἔστησε, τὴν δὲ ὕδραν εὑρὼν ἔν τινι λόφῳ παρὰ τὰς πηγὰς τῆς Ἀμυμώνης, ὅπου ὁ φωλεὸς αὐτῆς ὑπῆρχε, βάλλων βέλεσι πεπυρωμένοις ἠνάγκασεν ἐξελθεῖν, ἐκβαίνουσαν δὲ αὐτὴν κρατήσας κατεῖχεν. ἡ δὲ θατέρῳ τῶν ποδῶν ἐνείχετο περιπλακεῖσα. τῷ ῥοπάλῳ δὲ τὰς κεφαλὰς κόπτων οὐδὲν ἀνύειν ἠδύνατο· μιᾶς γὰρ κοπτομένης κεφαλῆς δύο ἀνεφύοντο. ἐπεβοήθει δὲ καρκίνος τῇ ὕδρᾳ ὑπερμεγέθης, δάκνων τὸν πόδα. διὸ τοῦτον ἀποκτείνας ἐπεκαλέσατο καὶ αὐτὸς βοηθὸν τὸν Ἰόλαον, ὃς μέρος τι καταπρήσας τῆς ἐγγὺς ὕλης τοῖς δαλοῖς ἐπικαίων τὰς ἀνατολὰς τῶν κεφαλῶν ἐκώλυεν ἀνιέναι. καὶ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον τῶν ἀναφυομένων κεφαλῶν περιγενόμενος, τὴν ἀθάνατον ἀποκόψας κατώρυξε καὶ βαρεῖαν ἐπέθηκε πέτραν, παρὰ τὴν ὁδὸν τὴν φέρουσαν διὰ Λέρνης εἰς Ἐλαιοῦντα τὸ δὲ σῶμα τῆς ὕδρας ἀνασχίσας τῇ χολῇ τοὺς ὀιστοὺς ἔβαψεν. Εὐρυσθεὺς δὲ ἔφη μὴ δεῖν καταριθμῆσαι τοῦτον ἐν τοῖς δέκα τὸν ἆθλον· οὐ γὰρ μόνος ἀλλὰ καὶ μετὰ Ἰολάου τῆς ὕδρας περιεγένετο.

[3] τρίτον ἆθλον ἐπέταξεν αὐτῷ τὴν Κερυνῖτιν ἔλαφον εἰς Μυκήνας ἔμπνουν ἐνεγκεῖν. ἦν δὲ ἡ ἔλαφος ἐν Οἰνόῃ, χρυσόκερως, Ἀρτέμιδος ἱερά· διὸ καὶ βουλόμενος αὐτὴν Ἡρακλῆς μήτε ἀνελεῖν μήτε τρῶσαι, συνεδίωξεν ὅλον ἐνιαυτόν. ἐπεὶ δὲ κάμνον τὸ θηρίον τῇ διώξει συνέφυγεν εἰς ὄρος τὸ λεγόμενον Ἀρτεμίσιον, κἀκεῖθεν ἐπὶ ποταμὸν Λάδωνα, τοῦτον διαβαίνειν μέλλουσαν τοξεύσας συνέλαβε, καὶ θέμενος ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων διὰ τῆς Ἀρκαδίας ἠπείγετο. μετʼ Ἀπόλλωνος δὲ Ἄρτεμις συντυχοῦσα ἀφῃρεῖτο, καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν ζῷον αὐτῆς κτείνοντα κατεμέμφετο. ὁ δὲ ὑποτιμησάμενος τὴν ἀνάγκην, καὶ τὸν αἴτιον εἰπὼν Εὐρυσθέα γεγονέναι, πραΰνας τὴν ὀργὴν τῆς θεοῦ τὸ θηρίον ἐκόμισεν ἔμπνουν εἰς Μυκήνας.

[4] τέταρτον ἆθλον ἐπέταξεν αὐτῷ τὸν Ἐρυμάνθιον κάπρον ζῶντα κομίζειν· τοῦτο δὲ τὸ θηρίον ἠδίκει τὴν Ψωφῖδα, ὁρμώμενον ἐξ ὄρους ὃ καλοῦσιν Ἐρύμανθον. διερχόμενος οὖν Φολόην ἐπιξενοῦται Κενταύρῳ Φόλῳ, Σειληνοῦ καὶ νύμφης μελίας παιδί. οὗτος Ἡρακλεῖ μὲν ὀπτὰ παρεῖχε τὰ κρέα, αὐτὸς δὲ ὠμοῖς ἐχρῆτο. αἰτοῦντος δὲ οἶνον Ἡρακλέους, ἔφη δεδοικέναι τὸν κοινὸν τῶν Κενταύρων ἀνοῖξαι πίθον· θαρρεῖν δὲ παρακελευσάμενος Ἡρακλῆς αὐτὸν ἤνοιξε, καὶ μετʼ οὐ πολὺ τῆς ὀσμῆς αἰσθόμενοι παρῆσαν οἱ Κένταυροι, πέτραις ὡπλισμένοι καὶ ἐλάταις, ἐπὶ τὸ τοῦ Φόλου σπήλαιον. τοὺς μὲν οὖν πρώτους τολμήσαντας εἴσω παρελθεῖν Ἄγχιον καὶ Ἄγριον Ἡρακλῆς ἐτρέψατο βάλλων δαλοῖς, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς ἐτόξευσε διώκων ἄχρι τῆς Μαλέας. ἐκεῖθεν δὲ πρὸς Χείρωνα συνέφυγον, ὃς ἐξελαθεὶς ὑπὸ Λαπιθῶν ὄρους Πηλίου παρὰ Μαλέαν κατῴκησε. τούτῳ περιπεπτωκότας τοὺς Κενταύρους τοξεύων ἵησι βέλος ὁ Ἡρακλῆς, τὸ δὲ ἐνεχθὲν Ἐλάτου διὰ τοῦ βραχίονος τῷ γόνατι τοῦ Χείρωνος ἐμπήγνυται. ἀνιαθεὶς δὲ Ἡρακλῆς προσδραμὼν τό τε βέλος ἐξείλκυσε, καὶ δόντος Χείρωνος φάρμακον ἐπέθηκεν. ἀνίατον δὲ ἔχων τὸ ἕλκος εἰς τὸ σπήλαιον ἀπαλλάσσεται. κἀκεῖ τελευτῆσαι βουλόμενος, καὶ μὴ δυνάμενος ἐπείπερ ἀθάνατος ἦν, ἀντιδόντος Διὶ Προμηθέως αὑτὸν ἀντʼ αὐτοῦ γενησόμενον ἀθάνατον, οὕτως ἀπέθανεν. οἱ λοιποὶ δὲ τῶν Κενταύρων φεύγουσιν ἄλλος ἀλλαχῇ, καὶ τινὲς μὲν παρεγένοντο εἰς ὄρος Μαλέαν, Εὐρυτίων δὲ εἰς Φολόην, Νέσσος δὲ ἐπὶ ποταμὸν Εὔηνον. τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς ὑποδεξάμενος Ποσειδῶν εἰς Ἐλευσῖνα ὄρει κατεκάλυψεν. Φόλος δὲ ἑλκύσας ἐκ νεκροῦ τὸ βέλος ἐθαύμαζεν, εἰ τοὺς τηλικούτους τὸ μικρὸν διέφθειρε· τὸ δὲ τῆς χειρὸς ὀλισθῆσαν ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τὸν πόδα καὶ παραχρῆμα ἀπέκτεινεν αὐτόν. ἐπανελθὼν δὲ εἰς Φολόην Ἡρακλῆς καὶ Φόλον τελευτήσαντα θεασάμενος, θάψας αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ κάπρου θήραν παραγίνεται, καὶ διώξας αὐτὸν ἔκ τινος λόχμης μετὰ κραυγῆς, εἰς χιόνα πολλὴν παρειμένον εἰσωθήσας ἐμβροχίσας τε ἐκόμισεν εἰς Μυκήνας.

[5] πέμπτον ἐπέταξεν αὐτῷ ἆθλον τῶν Αὐγείου βοσκημάτων ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ μόνον ἐκφορῆσαι τὴν ὄνθον. ἦν δὲ ὁ Αὐγείας βασιλεὺς Ἤλιδος, ὡς μέν τινες εἶπον, παῖς Ἡλίου, ὡς δέ τινες, Ποσειδῶνος, ὡς δὲ ἔνιοι, Φόρβαντος, πολλὰς δὲ εἶχε βοσκημάτων ποίμνας. τούτῳ προσελθὼν Ἡρακλῆς, οὐ δηλώσας τὴν Εὐρυσθέως ἐπιταγήν, ἔφασκε μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ τὴν ὄνθον ἐκφορήσειν, εἰ δώσει τὴν δεκάτην αὐτῷ τῶν βοσκημάτων. Αὐγείας δὲ ἀπιστῶν ὑπισχνεῖται. μαρτυράμενος δὲ Ἡρακλῆς τὸν Αὐγείου παῖδα Φυλέα, τῆς τε αὐλῆς τὸν θεμέλιον διεῖλε καὶ τὸν Ἀλφειὸν καὶ τὸν Πηνειὸν σύνεγγυς ῥέοντας παροχετεύσας ἐπήγαγεν, ἔκρουν διʼ ἄλλης ἐξόδου ποιήσας. μαθὼν δὲ Αὐγείας ὅτι κατʼ ἐπιταγὴν Εὐρυσθέως τοῦτο ἐπιτετέλεσται, τὸν μισθὸν οὐκ ἀπεδίδου, προσέτι δʼ ἠρνεῖτο καὶ μισθὸν ὑποσχέσθαι δώσειν, καὶ κρίνεσθαι περὶ τούτου ἕτοιμος ἔλεγεν εἶναι. καθεζομένων δὲ τῶν δικαστῶν κληθεὶς ὁ Φυλεὺς ὑπὸ Ἡρακλέους τοῦ πατρὸς κατεμαρτύρησεν, εἰπὼν ὁμολογῆσαι μισθὸν δώσειν αὐτῷ. ὀργισθεὶς δὲ Αὐγείας, πρὶν τὴν ψῆφον ἐνεχθῆναι, τόν τε Φυλέα καὶ τὸν Ἡρακλέα βαδίζειν ἐξ Ἤλιδος ἐκέλευσε. Φυλεὺς μὲν οὖν εἰς Δουλίχιον ἦλθε κἀκεῖ κατῴκει, Ἡρακλῆς δὲ εἰς Ὤλενον πρὸς Δεξαμενὸν ἧκε, καὶ κατέλαβε τοῦτον μέλλοντα διʼ ἀνάγκην μνηστεύειν Εὐρυτίωνι Κενταύρῳ Μνησιμάχην τὴν θυγατέρα· ὑφʼ οὗ παρακληθεὶς βοηθεῖν ἐλθόντα ἐπὶ τὴν νύμφην Εὐρυτίωνα ἀπέκτεινεν. Εὐρυσθεὺς δὲ οὐδὲ τοῦτον ἐν τοῖς δέκα προσεδέξατο τὸν ἆθλον, λέγων ἐπὶ μισθῷ πεπρᾶχθαι.

[6] ἕκτον ἐπέταξεν ἆθλον αὐτῷ τὰς Στυμφαλίδας ὄρνιθας ἐκδιῶξαι. ἦν δὲ ἐν Στυμφάλῳ πόλει τῆς Ἀρκαδίας Στυμφαλὶς λεγομένη λίμνη, πολλῇ συνηρεφὴς ὕλῃ· εἰς ταύτην ὄρνεις συνέφυγον ἄπλετοι, τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν λύκων ἁρπαγὴν δεδοικυῖαι. ἀμηχανοῦντος οὖν Ἡρακλέους πῶς ἐκ τῆς ὕλης τὰς ὄρνιθας ἐκβάλῃ, χάλκεα κρόταλα δίδωσιν αὐτῷ Ἀθηνᾶ παρὰ Ἡφαίστου λαβοῦσα. ταῦτα κρούων ἐπί τινος ὄρους τῇ λίμνῃ παρακειμένου τὰς ὄρνιθας ἐφόβει· αἱ δὲ τὸν δοῦπον οὐχ ὑπομένουσαι μετὰ δέους ἀνίπταντο, καὶ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον Ἡρακλῆς ἐτόξευσεν αὐτάς.

[7] ἕβδομον ἐπέταξεν ἆθλον τὸν Κρῆτα ἀγαγεῖν ταῦρον. τοῦτον Ἀκουσίλαος μὲν εἶναί φησι τὸν διαπορθμεύσαντα Εὐρώπην Διί, τινὲς δὲ τὸν ὑπὸ Ποσειδῶνος ἀναδοθέντα ἐκ θαλάσσης, ὅτε καταθύσειν Ποσειδῶνι Μίνως εἶπε τὸ φανὲν ἐκ τῆς θαλάσσης. καί φασι θεασάμενον αὐτὸν τοῦ ταύρου τὸ κάλλος τοῦτον μὲν εἰς τὰ βουκόλια ἀποπέμψαι, θῦσαι δὲ ἄλλον Ποσειδῶνι· ἐφʼ οἷς ὀργισθέντα τὸν θεὸν ἀγριῶσαι τὸν ταῦρον. ἐπὶ τοῦτον παραγενόμενος εἰς Κρήτην Ἡρακλῆς, ἐπειδὴ συλλαβεῖν ἀξιοῦντι Μίνως εἶπεν αὐτῷ λαμβάνειν διαγωνισαμένῳ, λαβὼν καὶ πρὸς Εὐρυσθέα διακομίσας ἔδειξε, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν εἴασεν ἄνετον· ὁ δὲ πλανηθεὶς εἰς Σπάρτην τε καὶ Ἀρκαδίαν ἅπασαν, καὶ διαβὰς τὸν Ἰσθμόν, εἰς Μαραθῶνα τῆς Ἀττικῆς ἀφικόμενος τοὺς ἐγχωρίους διελυμαίνετο.

[8] ὄγδοον ἆθλον ἐπέταξεν αὐτῷ τὰς Διομήδους τοῦ Θρακὸς ἵππους εἰς Μυκήνας κομίζειν· ἦν δὲ οὗτος Ἄρεος καὶ Κυρήνης, βασιλεὺς Βιστόνων ἔθνους Θρᾳκίου καὶ μαχιμωτάτου, εἶχε δὲ ἀνθρωποφάγους ἵππους. πλεύσας οὖν μετὰ τῶν ἑκουσίως συνεπομένων καὶ βιασάμενος τοὺς ἐπὶ ταῖς φάτναις τῶν ἵππων ὑπάρχοντας ἤγαγεν ἐπὶ τὴν θάλασσαν. τῶν δὲ Βιστόνων σὺν ὅπλοις ἐπιβοηθούντων τὰς μὲν ἵππους παρέδωκεν Ἀβδήρῳ φυλάσσειν· οὗτος δὲ ἦν Ἑρμοῦ παῖς, Λοκρὸς ἐξ Ὀποῦντος, Ἡρακλέους ἐρώμενος, ὃν αἱ ἵπποι διέφθειραν ἐπισπασάμεναι· πρὸς δὲ τοὺς Βίστονας διαγωνισάμενος καὶ Διομήδην ἀποκτείνας τοὺς λοιποὺς ἠνάγκασε φεύγειν, καὶ κτίσας πόλιν Ἄβδηρα παρὰ τὸν τάφον τοῦ διαφθαρέντος Ἀβδήρου, τὰς ἵππους κομίσας Εὐρυσθεῖ ἔδωκε. μεθέντος δὲ αὐτὰς Εὐρυσθέως, εἰς τὸ λεγόμενον ὄρος Ὄλυμπον ἐλθοῦσαι πρὸς τῶν θηρίων ἀπώλοντο.

[9] ἔνατον ἆθλον Ἡρακλεῖ ἐπέταξε ζωστῆρα κομίζειν τὸν Ἱππολύτης. αὕτη δὲ ἐβασίλευεν Ἀμαζόνων, αἳ κατῴκουν περὶ τὸν Θερμώδοντα ποταμόν, ἔθνος μέγα τὰ κατὰ πόλεμον· ἤσκουν γὰρ ἀνδρίαν, καὶ εἴ ποτε μιγεῖσαι γεννήσειαν, τὰ θήλεα ἔτρεφον, καὶ τοὺς μὲν δεξιοὺς μαστοὺς ἐξέθλιβον, ἵνα μὴ κωλύωνται ἀκοντίζειν, τοὺς δὲ ἀριστεροὺς εἴων, ἵνα τρέφοιεν. εἶχε δὲ Ἱππολύτη τὸν Ἄρεος ζωστῆρα, σύμβολον τοῦ πρωτεύειν ἁπασῶν. ἐπὶ τοῦτον τὸν ζωστῆρα Ἡρακλῆς ἐπέμπετο, λαβεῖν αὐτὸν ἐπιθυμούσης τῆς Εὐρυσθέως θυγατρὸς Ἀδμήτης. παραλαβὼν οὖν ἐθελοντὰς συμμάχους ἐν μιᾷ νηὶ ἔπλει, καὶ προσίσχει νήσῳ Πάρῳ, ἣν κατῴκουν οἱ Μίνωος υἱοὶ Εὐρυμέδων Χρύσης Νηφαλίων Φιλόλαος. ἀποβάντων δὲ δύο τῶν ἐν τῇ νηὶ συνέβη τελευτῆσαι ὑπὸ τῶν Μίνωος υἱῶν· ὑπὲρ ὧν ἀγανακτῶν Ἡρακλῆς τούτους μὲν παραχρῆμα ἀπέκτεινε, τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς κατακλείσας ἐπολιόρκει, ἕως ἐπιπρεσβευσάμενοι παρεκάλουν ἀντὶ τῶν ἀναιρεθέντων δύο λαβεῖν, οὓς ἂν αὐτὸς θελήσειεν. ὁ δὲ λύσας τὴν πολιορκίαν, καὶ τοὺς Ἀνδρόγεω τοῦ Μίνωος υἱοὺς ἀνελόμενος Ἀλκαῖον καὶ Σθένελον, ἧκεν εἰς Μυσίαν πρὸς Λύκον τὸν Δασκύλου, καὶ ξενισθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ Βεβρύκων βασιλέως συμβαλόντων, βοηθῶν Λύκῳ πολλοὺς ἀπέκτεινε, μεθʼ ὧν καὶ τὸν βασιλέα Μύγδονα, ἀδελφὸν Ἀμύκου. καὶ τῆς Βεβρύκων πολλὴν ἀποτεμόμενος γῆν ἔδωκε Λύκῳ· ὁ δὲ πᾶσαν ἐκείνην ἐκάλεσεν Ἡράκλειαν.

καταπλεύσαντος δὲ εἰς τὸν ἐν Θεμισκύρᾳ λιμένα, παραγενομένης εἰς αὐτὸν Ἱππολύτης καὶ τίνος ἥκοι χάριν πυθομένης, καὶ δώσειν τὸν ζωστῆρα ὑποσχομένης, Ἥρα μιᾷ τῶν Ἀμαζόνων εἰκασθεῖσα τὸ πλῆθος ἐπεφοίτα, λέγουσα ὅτι τὴν βασιλίδα ἀφαρπάζουσιν οἱ προσελθόντες ξένοι. αἱ δὲ μεθʼ ὅπλων ἐπὶ τὴν ναῦν κατέθεον σὺν ἵπποις. ὡς δὲ εἶδεν αὐτὰς καθωπλισμένας Ἡρακλῆς, νομίσας ἐκ δόλου τοῦτο γενέσθαι, τὴν μὲν Ἱππολύτην κτείνας τὸν ζωστῆρα ἀφαιρεῖται, πρὸς δὲ τὰς λοιπὰς ἀγωνισάμενος ἀποπλεῖ, καὶ προσίσχει Τροίᾳ.

συνεβεβήκει δὲ τότε κατὰ μῆνιν Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ Ποσειδῶνος ἀτυχεῖν τὴν πόλιν. Ἀπόλλων γὰρ καὶ Ποσειδῶν τὴν Λαομέδοντος ὕβριν πειράσαι θέλοντες, εἰκασθέντες ἀνθρώποις ὑπέσχοντο ἐπὶ μισθῷ τειχιεῖν τὸ Πέργαμον. τοῖς δὲ τειχίσασι τὸν μισθὸν οὐκ ἀπεδίδου. διὰ τοῦτο Ἀπόλλων μὲν λοιμὸν ἔπεμψε, Ποσειδῶν δὲ κῆτος ἀναφερόμενον ὑπὸ πλημμυρίδος, ὃ τοὺς ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ συνήρπαζεν ἀνθρώπους. χρησμῶν δὲ λεγόντων ἀπαλλαγὴν ἔσεσθαι τῶν συμφορῶν, ἐὰν προθῇ Λαομέδων Ἡσιόνην τὴν θυγατέρα αὐτοῦ τῷ κήτει βοράν, οὗτος προύθηκε ταῖς πλησίον τῆς θαλάσσης πέτραις προσαρτήσας. ταύτην ἰδὼν ἐκκειμένην Ἡρακλῆς ὑπέσχετο σώσειν, εἰ τὰς ἵππους παρὰ Λαομέδοντος λήψεται ἃς Ζεὺς ποινὴν τῆς Γανυμήδους ἁρπαγῆς ἔδωκε. δώσειν δὲ Λαομέδοντος εἰπόντος, κτείνας τὸ κῆτος Ἡσιόνην ἔσωσε. μὴ βουλομένου δὲ τὸν μισθὸν ἀποδοῦναι, πολεμήσειν Τροίᾳ ἀπειλήσας ἀνήχθη.

καὶ προσίσχει Αἴνῳ, ἔνθα ξενίζεται ὑπὸ Πόλτυος. ἀποπλέων δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς ἠιόνος τῆς Αἰνίας Σαρπηδόνα, Ποσειδῶνος μὲν υἱὸν ἀδελφὸν δὲ Πόλτυος, ὑβριστὴν ὄντα τοξεύσας ἀπέκτεινε. καὶ παραγενόμενος εἰς Θάσον καὶ χειρωσάμενος τοὺς ἐνοικοῦντας Θρᾷκας ἔδωκε τοῖς Ἀνδρόγεω παισὶ κατοικεῖν. ἐκ Θάσου δὲ ὁρμηθεὶς ἐπὶ Τορώνην Πολύγονον καὶ Τηλέγονον, τοὺς Πρωτέως τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος υἱούς, παλαίειν προκαλουμένους κατὰ τὴν πάλην ἀπέκτεινε. κομίσας δὲ τὸν ζωστῆρα εἰς Μυκήνας ἔδωκεν Εὐρυσθεῖ.

[10] δέκατον ἐπετάγη ἆθλον τὰς Γηρυόνου βόας ἐξ Ἐρυθείας κομίζειν. Ἐρύθεια δὲ ἦν Ὠκεανοῦ πλησίον κειμένη νῆσος, ἣ νῦν Γάδειρα καλεῖται. ταύτην κατῴκει Γηρυόνης Χρυσάορος καὶ Καλλιρρόης τῆς Ὠκεανοῦ, τριῶν ἔχων ἀνδρῶν συμφυὲς σῶμα, συνηγμένον εἰς ἓν κατὰ τὴν γαστέρα, ἐσχισμένον δὲ εἰς τρεῖς ἀπὸ λαγόνων τε καὶ μηρῶν. εἶχε δὲ φοινικᾶς βόας, ὧν ἦν βουκόλος Εὐρυτίων, φύλαξ δὲ Ὄρθος ὁ κύων δικέφαλος ἐξ Ἐχίδνης καὶ Τυφῶνος γεγεννημένος. πορευόμενος οὖν ἐπὶ τὰς Γηρυόνου βόας διὰ τῆς Εὐρώπης, ἄγρια πολλὰ ζῷα ἀνελὼν Λιβύης ἐπέβαινε, καὶ παρελθὼν Ταρτησσὸν ἔστησε σημεῖα τῆς πορείας ἐπὶ τῶν ὅρων Εὐρώπης καὶ Λιβύης ἀντιστοίχους δύο στήλας. θερόμενος δὲ ὑπὸ Ἡλίου κατὰ τὴν πορείαν, τὸ τόξον ἐπὶ τὸν θεὸν ἐνέτεινεν· ὁ δὲ τὴν ἀνδρείαν αὐτοῦ θαυμάσας χρύσεον ἔδωκε δέπας, ἐν ᾧ τὸν Ὠκεανὸν διεπέρασε. καὶ παραγενόμενος εἰς Ἐρύθειαν ἐν ὄρει Ἄβαντι αὐλίζεται. αἰσθόμενος δὲ ὁ κύων ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ὥρμα· ὁ δὲ καὶ τοῦτον τῷ ῥοπάλῳ παίει, καὶ τὸν βουκόλον Εὐρυτίωνα τῷ κυνὶ βοηθοῦντα ἀπέκτεινε. Μενοίτης δὲ ἐκεῖ τὰς Ἅιδου βόας βόσκων Γηρυόνῃ τὸ γεγονὸς ἀπήγγειλεν. ὁ δὲ καταλαβὼν Ἡρακλέα παρὰ ποταμὸν Ἀνθεμοῦντα τὰς βόας ἀπάγοντα, συστησάμενος μάχην τοξευθεὶς ἀπέθανεν. Ἡρακλῆς δὲ ἐνθέμενος τὰς βόας εἰς τὸ δέπας καὶ διαπλεύσας εἰς Ταρτησσὸν Ἡλίῳ πάλιν ἀπέδωκε τὸ δέπας.

διελθὼν δὲ Ἀβδηρίαν εἰς Λιγυστίνην ἦλθεν, ἐν ᾗ τὰς βόας ἀφῃροῦντο Ἰαλεβίων τε καὶ Δέρκυνος οἱ Ποσειδῶνος υἱοί, οὓς κτείνας διὰ Τυρρηνίας ᾔει. ἀπὸ Ῥηγίου δὲ εἷς ἀπορρήγνυσι ταῦρος, καὶ ταχέως εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν ἐμπεσὼν καὶ διανηξάμενος εἰς Σικελίαν, καὶ τὴν πλησίον χώραν διελθὼν τὴν ἀπʼ ἐκείνου κληθεῖσαν Ἰταλίαν (Τυρρηνοὶ γὰρ ἰταλὸν τὸν ταῦρον ἐκάλεσαν), ἦλθεν εἰς πεδίον Ἔρυκος, ὃς ἐβασίλευεν Ἐλύμων. Ἔρυξ δὲ ἦν Ποσειδῶνος παῖς, ὃς τὸν ταῦρον ταῖς ἰδίαις συγκατέμιξεν ἀγέλαις. παραθέμενος οὖν τὰς βόας Ἡρακλῆς Ἡφαίστῳ ἐπὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ ζήτησιν ἠπείγετο· εὑρὼν δὲ ἐν ταῖς τοῦ Ἔρυκος ἀγέλαις, λέγοντος οὐ δώσειν ἂν μὴ παλαίσας αὐτοῦ περιγένηται, τρὶς περιγενόμενος κατὰ τὴν πάλην ἀπέκτεινε, καὶ τὸν ταῦρον λαβὼν μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰόνιον ἤλαυνε πόντον. ὡς δὲ ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τοὺς μυχοὺς τοῦ πόντου, ταῖς βουσὶν οἶστρον ἐνέβαλεν ἡ Ἥρα, καὶ σχίζονται κατὰ τὰς τῆς Θράκης ὑπωρείας· ὁ δὲ διώξας τὰς μὲν συλλαβὼν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον ἤγαγεν, αἱ δὲ ἀπολειφθεῖσαι τὸ λοιπὸν ἦσαν ἄγριαι. μόλις δὲ τῶν βοῶν συνελθουσῶν Στρυμόνα μεμψάμενος τὸν ποταμόν, πάλαι τὸ ῥεῖθρον πλωτὸν ὂν ἐμπλήσας πέτραις ἄπλωτον ἐποίησε, καὶ τὰς βόας Εὐρυσθεῖ κομίσας δέδωκεν. ὁ δὲ αὐτὰς κατέθυσεν Ἥρᾳ.

[11] τελεσθέντων δὲ τῶν ἄθλων ἐν μηνὶ καὶ ἔτεσιν ὀκτώ, μὴ προσδεξάμενος Εὐρυσθεὺς τόν τε τῶν τοῦ Αὐγέου βοσκημάτων καὶ τὸν τῆς ὕδρας, ἑνδέκατον ἐπέταξεν ἆθλον παρʼ Ἑσπερίδων χρύσεα μῆλα κομίζειν. ταῦτα δὲ ἦν, οὐχ ὥς τινες εἶπον ἐν Λιβύῃ, ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἄτλαντος ἐν Ὑπερβορέοις· ἃ Διὶ Γῆ γήμαντι Ἥραν ἐδωρήσατο. ἐφύλασσε δὲ αὐτὰ δράκων ἀθάνατος, Τυφῶνος καὶ Ἐχίδνης, κεφαλὰς ἔχων ἑκατόν· ἐχρῆτο δὲ φωναῖς παντοίαις καὶ ποικίλαις. μετὰ τούτου δὲ Ἑσπερίδες ἐφύλαττον, Αἴγλη Ἐρύθεια Ἑσπερία Ἀρέθουσα. πορευόμενος οὖν ἐπὶ ποταμὸν Ἐχέδωρον ἧκε. Κύκνος δὲ Ἄρεος καὶ Πυρήνης εἰς μονομαχίαν αὐτὸν προεκαλεῖτο. Ἄρεος δὲ τοῦτον ἐκδικοῦντος καὶ συνιστάντος μονομαχίαν, βληθεὶς κεραυνὸς μέσος ἀμφοτέρων διαλύει τὴν μάχην. βαδίζων δὲ διʼ Ἰλλυριῶν, καὶ σπεύδων ἐπὶ ποταμὸν Ἠριδανόν, ἧκε πρὸς νύμφας Διὸς καὶ Θέμιδος. αὗται μηνύουσιν αὐτῷ Νηρέα. συλλαβὼν δὲ αὐτὸν κοιμώμενον καὶ παντοίας ἐναλλάσσοντα μορφὰς ἔδησε, καὶ οὐκ ἔλυσε πρὶν ἢ μαθεῖν παρʼ αὐτοῦ ποῦ τυγχάνοιεν τὰ μῆλα καὶ αἱ Ἑσπερίδες. μαθὼν δὲ Λιβύην διεξῄει. ταύτης ἐβασίλευε παῖς Ποσειδῶνος Ἀνταῖος, ὃς τοὺς ξένους ἀναγκάζων παλαίειν ἀνῄρει. τούτῳ παλαίειν ἀναγκαζόμενος Ἡρακλῆς ἀράμενος ἅμμασι μετέωρον κλάσας ἀπέκτεινε· ψαύοντα γὰρ γῆς ἰσχυρότερον συνέβαινε γίνεσθαι, διὸ καὶ Γῆς τινες ἔφασαν τοῦτον εἶναι παῖδα.

μετὰ Λιβύην δὲ Αἴγυπτον διεξῄει. ταύτης ἐβασίλευε Βούσιρις Ποσειδῶνος παῖς καὶ Λυσιανάσσης τῆς Ἐπάφου. οὗτος τοὺς ξένους ἔθυεν ἐπὶ βωμῷ Διὸς κατά τι λόγιον· ἐννέα γὰρ ἔτη ἀφορία τὴν Αἴγυπτον κατέλαβε, Φρασίος δὲ ἐλθὼν ἐκ Κύπρου, μάντις τὴν ἐπιστήμην, ἔφη τὴν ἀφορίαν παύσασθαι ἐὰν ξένον ἄνδρα τῷ Διὶ σφάξωσι κατʼ ἔτος. Βούσιρις δὲ ἐκεῖνον πρῶτον σφάξας τὸν μάντιν τοὺς κατιόντας ξένους ἔσφαζε. συλληφθεὶς οὖν καὶ Ἡρακλῆς τοῖς βωμοῖς προσεφέρετο τὰ δὲ δεσμὰ διαρρήξας τόν τε Βούσιριν καὶ τὸν ἐκείνου παῖδα Ἀμφιδάμαντα ἀπέκτεινε.

διεξιὼν δὲ Ἀσίαν Θερμυδραῖς, Λινδίων λιμένι, προσίσχει. καὶ βοηλάτου τινὸς λύσας τὸν ἕτερον τῶν ταύρων ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμάξης εὐωχεῖτο θύσας. ὁ δὲ βοηλάτης βοηθεῖν ἑαυτῷ μὴ δυνάμενος στὰς ἐπί τινος ὄρους κατηρᾶτο. διὸ καὶ νῦν, ἐπειδὰν θύωσιν Ἡρακλεῖ, μετὰ καταρῶν τοῦτο πράττουσι.

παριὼν δὲ Ἀραβίαν Ἠμαθίωνα κτείνει παῖδα Τιθωνοῦ. καὶ διὰ τῆς Λιβύης πορευθεὶς ἐπὶ τὴν ἔξω θάλασσαν παρʼ Ἡλίου τὸ δέπας παραλαμβάνει. καὶ περαιωθεὶς ἐπὶ τὴν ἤπειρον τὴν ἀντικρὺ κατετόξευσεν ἐπὶ τοῦ Καυκάσου τὸν ἐσθίοντα τὸ τοῦ Προμηθέως ἧπαρ ἀετόν, ὄντα Ἐχίδνης καὶ Τυφῶνος· καὶ τὸν Προμηθέα ἔλυσε, δεσμὸν ἑλόμενος τὸν τῆς ἐλαίας, καὶ παρέσχε τῷ Διὶ Χείρωνα θνήσκειν ἀθάνατον ἀντʼ αὐτοῦ θέλοντα.

ὡς δὲ ἧκεν εἰς Ὑπερβορέους πρὸς Ἄτλαντα, εἰπόντος Προμηθέως τῷ Ἡρακλεῖ αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὰ μῆλα μὴ πορεύεσθαι, διαδεξάμενον δὲ Ἄτλαντος τὸν πόλον ἀποστέλλειν ἐκεῖνον, πεισθεὶς διεδέξατο. Ἄτλας δὲ δρεψάμενος παρʼ Ἑσπερίδων τρία μῆλα ἧκε πρὸς Ἡρακλέα. καὶ μὴ βουλόμενος τὸν πόλον ἔχειν καὶ σπεῖραν ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς θέλειν ποιήσασθαι. τοῦτο ἀκούσας Ἄτλας, ἐπὶ γῆς καταθεὶς τὰ μῆλα τὸν πόλον διεδέξατο. καὶ οὕτως ἀνελόμενος αὐτὰ Ἡρακλῆς ἀπηλλάττετο. ἔνιοι δέ φασιν οὐ παρὰ Ἄτλαντος αὐτὰ λαβεῖν, ἀλλʼ αὐτὸν δρέψασθαι τὰ μῆλα, κτείναντα τὸν φρουροῦντα ὄφιν. κομίσας δὲ τὰ μῆλα Εὐρυσθεῖ ἔδωκεν. ὁ δὲ λαβὼν Ἡρακλεῖ ]; ἐδωρήσατο· παρʼ οὗ λαβοῦσα Ἀθηνᾶ πάλιν αὐτὰ ἀπεκόμισεν· ὅσιον γὰρ οὐκ ἦν αὐτὰ τεθῆναί που.

[12] δωδέκατον ἆθλον ἐπετάγη Κέρβερον ἐξ Ἅιδου κομίζειν. εἶχε δὲ οὗτος τρεῖς μὲν κυνῶν κεφαλάς, τὴν δὲ οὐρὰν δράκοντος, κατὰ δὲ τοῦ νώτου παντοίων εἶχεν ὄφεων κεφαλάς. μέλλων οὖν ἐπὶ τοῦτον ἀπιέναι ἦλθε πρὸς Εὔμολπον εἰς Ἐλευσῖνα, βουλόμενος μυηθῆναι ἦν δὲ οὐκ ἐξὸν ξένοις τότε μυεῖσθαι, ἐπειδήπερ θετὸς Πυλίου παῖς γενόμενος ἐμυεῖτο. μὴ δυνάμενος δὲ ἰδεῖν τὰ μυστήρια ἐπείπερ οὐκ ἦν ἡγνισμένος τὸν Κενταύρων φόνον, ἁγνισθεὶς ὑπὸ Εὐμόλπου τότε ἐμυήθη. καὶ παραγενόμενος ἐπὶ Ταίναρον τῆς Λακωνικῆς, οὗ τῆς Ἅιδου καταβάσεως τὸ στόμιόν ἐστι, διὰ τούτου κατῄει. ὁπηνίκα δὲ εἶδον αὐτὸν αἱ ψυχαί, χωρὶς Μελεάγρου καὶ Μεδούσης τῆς Γοργόνος ἔφυγον. ἐπὶ δὲ τὴν Γοργόνα τὸ ξίφος ὡς ζῶσαν ἕλκει, καὶ παρὰ Ἑρμοῦ μανθάνει ὅτι κενὸν εἴδωλόν ἐστι. πλησίον δὲ τῶν Ἅιδου πυλῶν γενόμενος Θησέα εὗρε καὶ Πειρίθουν τὸν Περσεφόνης μνηστευόμενον γάμον καὶ διὰ τοῦτο δεθέντα. θεασάμενοι δὲ Ἡρακλέα τὰς χεῖρας ὤρεγον ὡς ἀναστησόμενοι διὰ τῆς ἐκείνου βίας. ὁ δὲ Θησέα μὲν λαβόμενος τῆς χειρὸς ἤγειρε, Πειρίθουν δὲ ἀναστῆσαι βουλόμενος τῆς γῆς κινουμένης ἀφῆκεν. ἀπεκύλισε δὲ καὶ τὸν Ἀσκαλάφου πέτρον. βουλόμενος δὲ αἷμα ταῖς ψυχαῖς παρασχέσθαι, μίαν τῶν Ἅιδου βοῶν ἀπέσφαξεν. ὁ δὲ νέμων αὐτὰς Μενοίτης ὁ Κευθωνύμου προκαλεσάμενος εἰς πάλην Ἡρακλέα, ληφθεὶς μέσος καὶ τὰς πλευρὰς κατεαγεὶς ὑπὸ Περσεφόνης παρῃτήθη. αἰτοῦντος δὲ αὐτοῦ Πλούτωνα τὸν Κέρβερον, ἐπέταξεν ὁ Πλούτων ἄγειν χωρὶς ὧν εἶχεν ὅπλων κρατοῦντα. ὁ δὲ εὑρὼν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ ταῖς πύλαις τοῦ Ἀχέροντος, τῷ τε θώρακι συμπεφραγμένος καὶ τῇ λεοντῇ συσκεπασθείς, περιβαλὼν τῇ κεφαλῇ τὰς χεῖρας οὐκ ἀνῆκε κρατῶν καὶ ἄγχων τὸ θηρίον, ἕως ἔπεισε, καίπερ δακνόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν οὐρὰν δράκοντος. συλλαβὼν οὖν αὐτὸν ἧκε διὰ Τροιζῆνος ποιησάμενος τὴν ἀνάβασιν. Ἀσκάλαφον μὲν οὖν Δημήτηρ ἐποίησεν ὦτον, Ἡρακλῆς δὲ Εὐρυσθεῖ δείξας τὸν Κέρβερον πάλιν ἐκόμισεν εἰς Ἅιδου.

Notes on the current edition

Library

1. As to the Nemean lion, compare Hes. Th. 326ff. ; Bacch. 8.6ff., ed. Jebb ; Soph. Trach. 1091ff. ; Theocritus xxv.162ff. ; Diod. 4.11.3ff. ; Eratosthenes, Cat. 12 ; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.232ff. ; Hyginus, Fab. 30 . According to Hesiod, the Nemean lion was begotten by Orthus, the hound of Geryon, upon the monster Echidna. Hyginus says that the lion was bred by the Moon.

2. As to Herakles and Molorchus, compare Tibullus iv.1.12ff. ; Verg. G. 3.19, with Servius's note ; Martial iv.64.30, ix.43.13 ; Statius, Sylv. iii.1.28 .

3. The Greeks had two distinct words for sacrificing, according as the sacrifice was offered to a god or to a hero, that is, to a worshipful dead man; the former sacrifice was expressed by the verb θύειν, the latter by the verb ἐναγίζειν. The verbal distinction can hardly be preserved in English, except by a periphrasis. For the distinction between the two, see Paus. 2.10.1 ; Paus. 2.11.7 ; Paus. 3.19.3 ; and for more instances of ἐναγίζειν in this sense, see Paus. 3.1.8 ; Paus. 4.21.11 ; Paus. 7.17.8 ; Paus. 7.19.10 ; Paus. 7.20.9 ; Paus. 8.14.10-11 ; Paus. 8.41.1 ; Paus. 9.5.14 ; Paus. 9.18.3-4 ; Paus. 9.38.5 ; Paus. 10.24.6 ; Inscriptiones Graecae Megaridis, Oropiae, Boeotiae, ed. G. Dittenberger, p. 32, No. 53 . For instances of the antithesis between θύειν and ἐναγίζειν, see Hdt. 2.44 ; Plut. De Herodoti malignitate 13 ; Ptolemy Hephaest., Nauck 2nd ed., Nov. Hist. iii. in Westermann's Mythographi Graeci, p. 186 ; Pollux viii.91 ; Scholiast on Eur. Ph. 274 . The corresponding nouns θυσίαι and ἐναγίσματα are similarly opposed to each other. See Aristot. Ath. Pol. 58 . Another word which is used only of sacrificing to heroes or the dead is ἐντέμνειν See, for example, Thuc. 5.11 , ὠς ἥρωΐ τε ἐντέμνουσι (of the sacrifices offered at Amphipolis to Brasidas). Sometimes the verbs ἐναγίζειν and ἐντέμνειν are coupled in this sense. See Philostratus, Her. xx.27, 28 . For more evidence as to the use of these words, see Fr. Pfister, Der Reliquienkult im Altertum (Giessen, 1909-1912), pp. 466ff. Compare P. Foucart, Le culte des héros chez les Grecs (Paris, 1918), pp. 96, 98 (from the Memoires de l' Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, vol. xlii) .

4. Compare Diod. 4.12.1 , who however places this incident after the adventure with the Erymanthian boar.

5. As to the herald Copreus, compare Hom. Il. 15.639ff. , with the note of the Scholiast.

6. Compare Eur. Herc. 419ff. ; Diod. 4.11.5ff. ; Paus. 2.37.4 ; Paus. 5.5.10 ; Paus. 5.17.11 ; Zenobius, Cent. vi.26 ; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica vi.212ff. ; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.237ff. ; Verg. A. 8.299ff. ; Ov. Met. 9.69ff. ; Hyginus, Fab. 30 . Diodorus and Ovid multiply the hydra's heads to a hundred; the sceptical Pausanias ( Paus. 2.37.4 ) would reduce them to one. Both Diodorus and Pausanias, together with Zenobius and Hyginus, mention that Herakles poisoned his arrows with the gall of the hydra. The account which Zenobius gives of the hydra is clearly based on that of Apollodorus, though as usual he does not name his authority.

7. For this service the crab was promoted by Hera, the foe of Herakles, to the rank of a constellation in the sky. See Eratosthenes, Cat. 11 (who quotes as his authority the Heraclia of Panyasis); Hyginus, Ast. ii.23 .

8. Compare Pind. O. 3.28(50)ff. ; Eur. Herc. 375ff. ; Diod. 4.13.1 ; Tzetzes, Chiliades 11.265ff. ; Hyginus, Fab. 30 . Pindar says that in his quest of the hind with the golden horns Herakles had seen “the land at the back of the cold north wind.” Hence, as the reindeer is said to be the only species of deer of which the female has antlers, Sir William Ridgeway argues ingeniously that the hind with the golden horns was no other than the reindeer. See his Early Age of Greece 1. (Cambridge, 1901), pp. 360ff. Later Greek tradition, as we see from Apollodorus, did not place the native land of the hind so far away. Oenoe was a place in Argolis. Mount Artemisius is the range which divides Argolis from the plain of Mantinea. The Ladon is the most beautiful river of Arcadia, if not of Greece. The river Cerynites, from which the hind took its name, is a river which rises in Arcadia and flows through Achaia into the sea. The modern name of the river is Bouphousia. See Paus. 7.25.5 , with my note.

9. The hind is said to have borne the inscription “Taygete dedicated (me) to Artemis.” See Pind. O. 3.29(53)ff. , with the Scholiast.

10. As to the Erymanthian boar and the centaurs, see Soph. Trach. 1095ff. ; Diod. 4.12 ; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.268ff. ; Hyginus, Fab. 30 . The boar's tusks were said to be preserved in a sanctuary of Apollo at Cumae in Campania ( Paus. 8.24.5 ).

11. As to these nymphs, see Hesiod, Th. 187 . The name perhaps means an ash-tree nymph (from μελία, an ash tree), as Dryad means an oak tree nymph (from δρῦς, an oak tree).

12. Compare Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.271 ; Theocritus vii.149ff. The jar had been presented by Dionysus to a centaur with orders not to open it till Herakles came (Diodorus Siculus iv.12.3).

13. Compare Servius on Verg. A. 8.294.

14. As to Augeas and his cattle-stalls, see Theocritus xxv.7ff. ; Diod. 4.13.3 ; Paus. 5.1.9ff. ; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.278ff. (who seems to follow Apollodorus); Scholiast on Hom. Il. ii.629, xi.700 ; Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.172 ; Hyginus, Fab. 30 . According to the rationalistic Pausanias, the name of the father of Augeas was Eleus (Eleios), which was popularly corrupted into Helios, “Sun”; Serv. Verg. A. 8.300 .

15. Compare Hom. Il. 2.629 , with the Scholiast; Paus. 5.1.10 , Paus. 5.3.1-3 .

16. Compare Bacchylides, referred to by the Scholiast on Hom. Od. xi.295 ; Bacch., ed. R. C. Jebb, p. 430 ; Diod. 4.33.1 ; Paus. 7.18.1 ; Hyginus, Fab. 33 .

17. As to the Stymphalian birds, see Ap. Rhod., Argon. ii.1052-1057, with the Scholiast on 1054 ; Diod. 4.13.2 ; Strab. 8.6.8 ; Paus. 8.22.4 ; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica vi.227ff. ; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.291ff. ; Hyginus, Fab. 20, 30 ; Serv. Verg. A. 8.300 . These fabulous birds were said to shoot their feathers like arrows. Compare D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, Glossary of Greek Birds, p. 162 . From the Ap. Rhod., Argon. ii.1052-1057, with the Scholiast on 1054 we learn that the use of a brazen rattle to frighten the birds was mentioned both by Pherecydes and Hellanicus.

18. In no other ancient account of the Stymphalian birds, so far as I know, are wolves mentioned. There is perhaps a reminiscence of an ancient legend in the name of the Wolf's Ravine, which is still given to the deep glen, between immense pine-covered slopes, through which the road runs southwestward from Stymphalus to Orchomenus. The glen forms a conspicuous feature in the landscape to anyone seated on the site of the ancient city and looking across the clear shallow water of the lake to the high mountains that bound the valley on the south. See Frazer on Paus. vol. iv. p. 269 .

19. As to the Cretan bull see Diod. 4.13.4 ; Paus. 1.27.9ff. , Paus. 5.10.9 ; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.293- 298 (who seems to follow Apollodorus); Hyginus, Fab. 30 .

20. As to the man-eating mares of Diomedes, see Diod. 4.15.3ff. ; Philostratus, Im. ii.25 ; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica vi.245ff. ; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.299-308 (who seems to follow Apollodorus, except that he speaks of the animals in the masculine as horses, not mares); Strab. 7 Fr. 44, 47, ed. A. Meineke ; Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. Ἄβδηρα ; Hyginus, Fab. 30 (who gives the names of four horses, not mares). According to Diod. 4.13.4 , Herakles killed the Thracian king Diomedes himself by exposing him to his own mares, which devoured him. Further, the historian tells us that when Herakles brought the mares to Eurystheus, the king dedicated them to Hera, and that their descendants existed down to the time of Alexander the Great.

21. Compare Strab. 7 Fr. 44, 47, ed. A. Meineke ; Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. Ἄβδηρα ; Philostratus, Im. ii.25 . From Philostratus we learn that athletic games were celebrated in honour of Abderus. They comprised boxing, wrestling, the pancratium, and all the other usual contests, with the exception of racing—no doubt because Abderus was said to have been killed by horses. We may compare the rule which excluded horses from the Arician grove, because horses were said to have killed Hippolytus, with whom Virbius, the traditionary founder of the sanctuary, was identified. See Verg. A. 7.761-780 ; Ovid, Fasti iii.265ff. When we remember that the Thracian king Lycurgus is said to have been killed by horses in order to restore the fertility of the land (see Apollod. 3.5.1 ), we may conjecture that the tradition of the man-eating mares of Diomedes, another Thracian king who is said to have been killed by horses, points to a custom of human sacrifice performed by means of horses, whether the victim was trampled to death by their hoofs or tied to their tails and rent asunder. If the sacrifice was offered, as the legend of Lycurgus suggests, for the sake of fertilizing the ground, the reason for thus tearing the victim to pieces may have been to scatter the precious life-giving fragments as widely and as quickly as possible over the barren earth. Compare Adonis, Attis, Osiris ii.97ff. The games at Abdera are alluded to by the poet Machon, quoted by Athenaeus viii.41, p. 349 B .

22. As to the expedition of Herakles to fetch the belt of the Amazon, see Eur. Herc. 408ff. ; Ap. Rhod., Argon. ii.777ff., 966ff., with the Scholiast on 778, 780 ; Diod. 4.16 ; Paus. 5.10.9 ; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica vi.240ff. ; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.309ff. ; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 1327 (who follows Apollodorus and cites him by name); Hyginus, Fab. 30 .

23. According to Diod. 5.79.2 , Rhadamanthys bestowed the island of Paros on his son Alcaeus. Combined with the evidence of Apollodorus, the tradition points to a Cretan colony in Paros.

24. Compare Hom. Il. 7.452ff. , Hom. Il. 21.441-457 . According to the former of these passages, the walls of Troy were built by Poseidon and Apollo jointly for king Laomedon. But according to the latter passage the walls were built by Poseidon alone, and while he thus toiled as a mason, Apollo served as a herdsman, tending the king's cattle in the wooded glens of Ida. Their period of service lasted for a year, and at the end of it the faithless king not only dismissed the two deities without the stipulated wages which they had honestly earned, but threatened that, if they did not take themselves off, he would tie Apollo hand and foot and sell him for a slave in the islands, not however before he had lopped off the ears of both of them with a knife. Thus insulted as well as robbed, the two gods retired with wrath and indignation at their hearts. This strange tale, told by Homer, is alluded to by Pind. O. 8.30(40)ff. , who adds to it the detail that the two gods took the hero Aeacus with them to aid them in the work of fortification; and the Scholiast on Pindar (pp. 194ff. ed. Boeckh ) explains that, as Troy was fated to be captured, it was necessary that in building the walls the immortals should be assisted by a mortal, else the city would have been impregnable. The sarcastic Lucian tells us ( Lucian, De sacrificiis 4 ) that both Apollo and Poseidon laboured as bricklayers at the walls of Troy, and that the sum of which the king cheated them was more than thirty Trojan drachmas. The fraud is alluded to by Verg. G. 1.502 and Hor. Carm. 3.3.21ff. Compare Hyginus, Fab. 89 ; Ov. Met. 11.194ff. ; Serv. Verg. A. 8.157 ; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 43ff., 138 (First Vatican Mythographer 136; Second Vatican Mythographer 193) . Homer does not explain why Apollo and Poseidon took service with Laomedon, but his Scholiast on Hom. Il. xxi.444 , in agreement with Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 34 , says that their service was a punishment inflicted on them by Zeus for a conspiracy into which some of the gods had entered for the purpose of putting him, the supreme god, in bonds. The conspiracy is mentioned by Hom. Il. 1.399ff. ), who names Poseidon, Hera, and Athena, but not Apollo, among the conspirators; their nefarious design was defeated by the intervention of Thetis and the hundred-handed giant Briareus. We have already heard of Apollo serving a man in the capacity of neatherd as a punishment for murder perpetrated by the deity (see above, Apollod. 1.9.15 , with the note). These back-stair chronicles of Olympus shed a curious light on the early Greek conception of divinity.

25. For the story of the rescue of Hesione by Herakles, see Diod. 4.42 ; Scholiast on Hom. Il. xx.146 ; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 34 ; Ov. Met. 11.211ff. ; Valerius Flaccus, Argon. ii.451ff. ; Hyginus, Fab. 89 ; Serv. Verg. A. 8.157 ; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 44 (First Vatican Mythographer 136) . A curious variant of the story is told, without mention of Hesione, by the Second Vatican Mythographer (193, i. p. 138) . Tzetzes says that Herakles, in full armour, leaped into the jaws of the sea-monster, and was in its belly for three days hewing and hacking it, and that at the end of the three days he came forth without any hair on his head. The Scholiast on Hom. Il. xx.146 tells the tale similarly, and refers to Hellanicus as his authority. The story of Herakles and Hesione corresponds closely to that of Perseus and Andromeda (see Apollod. 2.4.3 ). Both tales may have originated in a custom of sacrificing maidens to be the brides of the Sea. Compare The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii.150ff.

26. The horses were given by Zeus to Tros, the father of Ganymede. See Hom. Il. 5.265ff. ; HH Aphr. 210ff. ; Paus. 5.24.5 . According to another account, which had the support of a Cyclic poet, the compensation given to the bereaved father took the shape, not of horses, but of a golden vine wrought by Hephaestus. See Scholiast on Eur. Or. 1391 . As the duty of Ganymede was to pour the red nectar from a golden bowl in heaven ( HH Aphr. 206 ), there would be a certain suitability in the bestowal of a golden vine to replace him in his earthly home.

27. As to the refusal of Laomedon to give the horses to Herakles, see Hom. Il. 5.638-651 , Hom. Il. 21.441-457 ; Ov. Met. 11.213ff. ; Hyginus, Fab. 69 . Laomedon twice broke his word, first to Poseidon and Apollo and afterwards to Herakles. Hence Ovid speaks of “the twice-perjured walls of Troy” ( Ov. Met. 11.215 ).

28. As to the siege and capture of Troy by Herakles, see below, Apollod. 2.6.4 .

29. Compare Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.320 sq .

30. As to Herakles and the cattle of Geryon, see Hes. Th. 287-294ff. ; Hes. Th. 979-983 ; Pind. Frag. 169(151) ed. Sandys ; Hdt. 4.8 ; Plat. Gorg. 484b ; Diod. 4.17ff. ; Paus. 3.18.13 , Paus. 4.36.3 ; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica vi.249ff. ; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.322-352 (who seems to follow Apollodorus); Scholiast on Plato, Tim. 24e ; Pliny, Nat. Hist. iv.120 ; Solinus xxiii.12 ; Serv. Verg. A. 8.300 .

31. Compare Hdt. 4.8 ; Strab. 3.2.11 , Strab. 3.5 4 ; Pliny, Nat. Hist. iv.120 ; Solinus xxiii.12 . Gadira is Cadiz. According to Pliny, Nat. Hist. iv.120 , the name is derived from a Punic word gadir, meaning “hedge.” Compare Dionysius, Perieg. 453ff. The same word agadir is still used in the south of Morocco in the sense of “fortified house,” and many places in that country bear the name. Amongst them the port of Agadir is the best known. See E. Doutté, En tribu (Paris, 1914), pp. 50ff. The other name of the island is given by Solinus xxiii.12 in the form Erythrea, and by Mela iii.47 in the form Eythria.

32. As to the triple form of Geryon, compare Hes. Th. 287 ; Aesch. Ag. 870 ; Eur. Herc. 423ff. ; Scholiast on Plat. Tim. 24e ; Paus. 5.19.1 ; Lucian, Toxaris 62 ; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 652 ; Lucretius v.28 ; Hor. Carm. 2.14.7ff. ; Verg. A. 6.289 ; Ov. Met. 9.184ff. ; Hyginus, Fab. 30, 151 .

33. The watchdog's name is variously given as Orthus (Orthos) and Orthrus (Orthros). See Hes. Th. 293 (where Orthos seems to be the better reading); Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica vi.253 (Orthros); Scholiast on Pind. I. 1.13(15) (Orthos); Scholiast on Plat. Tim. 24e (Orthros, so Stallbaum); Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.333 (Orthros); Pediasmus, De Herculis laboribus 10 (Orthos); Serv. Verg. A. 8.300 (Orthrus).

34. Compare Diod. 4.17.3ff. , who says that Herakles completely cleared Crete of wild beasts, and that he subdued many of the wild beasts in the deserts of Libya and rendered the land fertile and prosperous.

35. The opinions of the ancients were much divided on the subject of the Pillars of Herakles. See Strab. 3.5.5 . The usual opinion apparently identified them with the rock of Calpe ( Gibraltar) and the rock of Abyla, Abila, or Abylica ( Ceuta) on the northern and southern sides of the straits. See Strab. 3.5.5 ; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 649 ; Pliny, Nat. Hist. iii.4 ; Mela i.27, ii.95 ; Martianus Capella vi.624 . Further, it seems to have been commonly supposed that before the time of Herakles the two continents were here joined by an isthmus, and that the hero cut through the isthmus and so created the straits. See Diod. 4.18.5 ; Seneca, Herakles Furens 235ff. ; Seneca, Herakles Oetaeus 1240 ; Pliny, Nat. Hist. iii.4 ; Pliny, Nat. Hist. iii.4 ; Mela i.27 ; Martianus Capella vi.625 . Some people, however, on the contrary, thought that the straits were formerly wider, and that Herakles narrowed them to prevent the monsters of the Atlantic ocean from bursting into the Mediterranean ( Diod. 4.18.5 ). An entirely different opinion identified the Pillars of Herakles with two brazen pillars in the sanctuary of Herakles at Gadira ( Cadiz), on which was engraved an inscription recording the cost of building the temple. See Strab. 3.5.5 ; compare Pliny, Nat. Hist. ii.242 , who speaks of “the columns of Herakles consecrated at Gadira.” For other references to the Pillars of Herakles, see Pind. O. 3.43ff. , Pind. N. 3.21 , Pind. I. 4.11ff. ; Athenaeus vii.98, p. 315 CD ; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.339 (who here calls the pillars Alybe and Abinna); Scholiast on Plat. Tim. 24e ; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Orbis Descriptio 64-68 , with the commentary of Eustathius (Geographi Graeci Minores, ed. C. Müller, ii. pp. 107, 228) . According to Eustathius, Calpe was the name given to the rock of Gibraltar by the barbarians, but its Greek name was Alybe; and the rock of Ceuta was called Abenna by the barbarians but by the Greeks Cynegetica, that is, the Hunter's Rock. He tells us further that the pillars were formerly named the Pillars of Cronus, and afterwards the Pillars of Briareus.

36. Apollodorus seems to be here following Pherecydes, as we learn from a passage which Athenaeus xi.39, p. 470 CD quotes from the third book of Pherecydes as follows: “And Herakles drew his bow at him as if he would shoot, and the Sun bade him give over; so Herakles feared and gave over. And in return the Sun bestowed on him the golden goblet which carried him with his horses, when he set, through the Ocean all night to the east, where the Sun rises. Then Herakles journeyed in that goblet to Erythia. And when he was on the open sea, Ocean, to make trial of him, caused the goblet to heave wildly on the waves. Herakles was about to shoot him with an arrow; and the Ocean was afraid, and bade him give over.” Stesichorus described the Sun embarking in a golden goblet that he might cross the ocean in the darkness of night and come to his mother, his wedded wife, and children dear. See Athenaeus xi.38, p. 468 E ; compare Athenaeus xi.16, p. 781 D . The voyage of Herakles in the golden goblet was also related by the early poets Pisander and Panyasis in the poems, both called Heraclia, which they devoted to the exploits of the great hero. See Athenaeus xi.38, p. 469 D ; compare Macrobius, Sat. v.21.16, 19 . Another poet, Mimnermus, supposed that at night the weary Sun slept in a golden bed, which floated across the sea to Ethiopia, where a chariot with fresh horses stood ready for him to mount and resume his daily journey across the sky. See Athenaeus xi.39, p. 470 A .

37. Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 652 , who probably follows Apollodorus.

38. Abderia, the territory of Abdera, a Phoenician city of southern Spain, not to be confused with the better known Abdera in Thrace. See Strab. 3.4.3 ; Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. Ἄβδηρα .

39. Apollodorus has much abridged a famous adventure of Herakles in Liguria. Passing through the country with the herds of Geryon, he was attacked by a great multitude of the warlike natives, who tried to rob him of the cattle. For a time he repelled them with his bow, but his supply of arrows running short he was reduced to great straits; for the ground, being soft earth, afforded no stones to be used as missiles. So he prayed to his father Zeus, and the god in pity rained down stones from the sky; and by picking them up and hurling them at his foes, the hero was able to turn the tables on them. The place where this adventure took place was said to be a plain between Marseilles and the Rhone, which was called the Stony Plain on account of the vast quantity of stones, about as large as a man's hand, which were scattered thickly over it. In his play Prometheus Unbound, Aeschylus introduced this story in the form of a prediction put in the mouth of Prometheus and addressed to his deliverer Herakles. See Strab. 4.1.7 ; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiq. Rom. i.41 ; Eustathius, Commentary on Dionysius Perieg. 76 (Geographi Graeci Minores, ed. C. Müller, ii.231) ; Hyginus, Ast. ii.6 ; TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 66ff. The Stony Plain is now called the Plaine de la Crau. It “attracts the attention of all travellers between Arles and Marseilles, since it is intersected by the railway that joins those two cities. It forms a wide level area, extending for many square miles, which is covered with round rolled stones from the size of a pebble to that of a man's head. These are supposed to have been brought down from the Alps by the Durance at some early period, when this plain was submerged and formed the bed of what was then a bay of the Mediterranean at the mouth of that river and the Rhone” ( H. F. Tozer, Selections from Strabo, p. 117 ).

40. Compare Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.340ff. , who calls the victims Dercynus and Alebion.

41. The author clearly derives the name of Rhegium from this incident ( Ρήγιον from ἀπορρήγνυσι). The story of the escape of the bull, or heifer, and the pursuit of it by Herakles was told by Hellanicus. See Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Ant. Rom. i.35.2 . It is somewhat singular that Apollodorus passes so lightly over the exploits of Herakles in Italy, and in particular that he says nothing about those adventures of his at Rome, to which the Romans attached much significance. For the Italian adventures of the hero, and his sojourn in Rome, see Diod. 4.20-22 ; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiq. Rom. i.34ff., 38-44 ; Prop. iv.9 ; Verg. A. 8.201ff. ; Ovid, Fasti i.543ff. On the popularity of the worship of Herakles in Italy, see Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiq. Rom. i.40.6, who says: “And in many other parts of Italy (besides Rome) precincts are consecrated to the god, and altars are set up both in cities and beside roads; and hardly will you find a place in Italy where the god is not honoured.”

42. Some of the ancients supposed that the name of Italy was derived from the Latin vitulus, “a calf.” See Varro, Re. Rust. ii.1.9 ; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiq. Rom. i.35.2 ; compare Aulus Gellius xi.1.2 .

43. As to Herculus and Eryx, see Diod. 4.23.2 ; Paus. 3.16.4ff. ; Paus. 4.36.4 ; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.346ff. ; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 866 ; Verg. A. 5.410ff. ; Serv. Verg. A. 1.570 .

44. The story was apparently told to account for the origin of wild cattle in Thrace.

45. 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 .

46. 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.

47. 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 .

48. 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.

49. 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 ).

50. 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 .

51. 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 .

52. 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.

53. 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.

54. 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.

55. 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.

56. 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.

57. 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 ).

58. 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 ).

59. 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.) .

60. 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 .

61. 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.

62. 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 .

63. 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.

64. 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.

65. See Apollod. 1.5.3 .

66. Compare Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.396ff., who calls the herdsman Menoetius.

67. Literally, “till he persuaded (it).”

68. 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 ).

69. Compare Ov. Met. 5.538ff. As to the short-eared owl ( ὦτος), see D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, Glossary of Greek Birds, pp. 200ff.

Apollodorus Library 2.5

ed. Sir James George Frazer

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers