Tragedy after hope; Everything you need to know about Heracles by Euripides and why you'll want to add it to your Self Education

Changes

What's new? 

I've made some changes to the blog. First I've changed up the formating which I hope will make it easier to read. Second I've added some new sections. I hope these changes can increase clarity and interest value. 

Why might you read Heracles?

This book is one of the main sources for this part of the Herculean mythos. Heracles is a name variation on Hercules. This book details his madness and the killing of his first family. He did go on to have a second wife but that ends in tragedy as well. For more information on this see the Comparisons with other texts section below. Heracles is one of the most well known Greek Mythologies today. It is always worth going back to the original sources to read them for yourself. Rather than relying on just the scholarship of others.

For me going more in-depth into the Herculean myth was an eye-opener. I had only seen the Disney version before and the storybook version. The truth is more brutal than I had expected. 

I have gained a better appreciation of the fickleness of fate in the Greek understanding. As well as the pettiness and vindictiveness of the Greek gods. This has been reinforced by the rest of my reading too.

The Greek authors hold a prime place in my project. This is because the Greeks are the civilization that the western world stands on. There have been many things that have come after that have also shaped the western world. Much of it though starts with the Greeks.

Don't have time to read it? Want to get more of an idea about it before you choose to read it for your own Self Education? My next section will give you a brief summary.

The story of Heracles

As the play starts meet Amphitryon, known as the father of Heracles the one who raised him on earth. With him, we meet Megara, Heracles wife, and his three sons clinging to the altar of Zeus. They cling to the alter because they have been thrown out of their home by a usurper to the throne.  

Amphitryon and Megara are lamenting that Heracles has not arrived home. He is returning from the underworld which is his last labour. They also lament that the new ruler, killed Megara's father to take the throne. And is now planning on killing both them and Heracles sons. He includes the sons because he is afraid they will grow up and avenge their grandfather.

Lycus, the current ruler, enters and taunts them about being at the altar as if it will extend their lives. Both Megara and Amphityon plead with him to let the sons live in exile. Lycus orders that they are to be killed by the fire where they stand.

Megara relents and says if they must die they will do it honourably. She asks to first, go and get into burial clothes to fit the occasion. Lycus relents and opens the palace for them to do so and leaves. Megara and the boys enter the house getting ready. The chorus recounts Heracles' labours. Then they start also lamenting their old age and inability to stop this killing.

The family returns to the Alter in their funeral clothes weeping. 

Low and behold Heracles arrives and questions them on their state of dress and their tears. They fill Hercules in on what has been happening. Hearing this he pledges to kill the new ruler as well as the friends that have deserted the family in this time. Amphityon calls for a softer hand towards the friends. Heracles agrees and takes the family inside.

Lycus arrives with Amphityon to carry out the killings and finds them still inside. Amphityon will not go and get them so Lycus enters the house and is quickly killed by Heracles. 

Iris and madness arrive and quickly layout the plan for Heracles downfall. Iris leaves and madness enters the house, much commotion is heard. A messenger comes to the chorus on stage and retells that nights events. He tells of how Heracles in a fit of madness killed his sons and his wife. Heracles is now sleeping and is tied to the altar.

Heracles wakes up with no memory of the gory events and is confused and a little dazed. Amphityon has to inform him that there was no enemy but that he has done these awful things. Heracles hides his face under his cloak. Theseus arrives with an army from Thebes. He heard the news that a tyrant had taken over Thebes and has come to help Heracles reclaim it. 

Finding the gruesome scene he enquirers what happened and Amphityon fills him in. He comes to
Heracles as a friend and finds Heracles ready to kill himself. He eventually convinces him to live and come to Athens with him. Heracles pleads with this father to bury his sons as by law as their killer he cannot. Then satisfied about that he bid his father farewell.

Reflections on Heracles

 What cruel fate to have saved your sons from death only to have a god put you under madness to kill them yourself. It is no wonder he is suicidal to start with when he hears. Theseus is a good quality friend here. He is not worried by defilement or by Heracles' talk but rather there to help him move through it.

What I found odd with Heracles' madness that the chorus fills in time. Well OK, they are lamenting the madness. It feels a bit like filling time. While filling time the chorus mentions Enceladus who we have not seen anywhere in the play. He also doesn't get another mention in the play either. So, I have a bit of a search and found the Enceladus is one of the giants. The sons of earth and Saturn, and was mentioned by Hesiod. It is also, as a side note, the sixth-largest moon of Saturn's. So the passage that uses his name is saying he will destroy it all the same way Athene destroyed one of the giants.

We know little about Lycus other than that he is a foreigner. He also becomes the tyrant. As a non-
Theban who did not conquer by the war, he is a usurper to the throne he is currently holding. It is interesting that he is painted in such a light and it colours all the interactions we see with him. He is ready to put his predecessors family to the sword. And if they will not come away from the altar he will burn them alive there where they sit begging for a reprieve. As such he is portrayed as the villain of the piece and gets his comeuppance. You almost expect the play to be a comedy, in the old sense of the word. It leaves you hoping to have a happy ending but no such luck the play is only half done.

What others have to say about Heracles

Kathleen Riley writes, that the play is “violently broken into two apparently discrete dramatic entities or movements”. Yet they complement each other in a way only Euripides does in Greek.

Greekmythology.com says "One would expect from a traditional Greek play of the fifth century to end with Heracles killing Lycus, an act that simultaneously attests to Heracles’ heroism and validates the benevolence of the gods." As well as making the point that "this grand narrative is primarily one of friendship, something only humans seem to appreciate"

Ancient-literature.com says about Heracles' madness "that Heracles' madness follows anyway from his inherently unstable character." which is something I didn't pick up from the text but is evidently true.

Comparisons with other texts

In Medea we see a woman take bloody revenge for her husband taking another woman as his wife.
Here, by contrast in Heracles, we see a very laid back Amphitryon. Amphitryon seems at peace with Zeus having slept with his wife. He even raises the son as his own. It is that it is hard to take revenge on a god but he still could have taken revenge on his wife or the son that was born. I am unsure whether this is an unusual reaction of whether it is different between men and women. It may give us insight into how the Greeks saw these differences.

Woman of Trachis has a small reference to the story we see here in Heracles. There we see it mentioned offhand that Heracles had killed his first wife, it makes no mention of his sons. Woman of Trachis is a continuation of Heracles story after the events we see here in Heracles. This is interesting in that it suggests that the story of Heracles was well known earlier than I have it dated. Woman of Trachis in my chronology of authors it comes before Heracles. They may be closer in time than it seems by my list as I have not dated the individual works but rather the author.

Ion shows a very different treatment of the child of a god, where Apollo does everything in his power for Ion. By contrast, we do not see Zeus taking even the slightest hand in the event of Heracles. Zeus allows, by negligence, his wife Hera to cause such suffering.

Conclusion

Heracles by Euripides is the story of Heracles madness and his killing of his family. The themes are around family and friendship. These are shown in the interactions that deal with the time before and the aftermath of the madness. The fickleness of fate and the vindictiveness of Hera are on full display in this play. I have explored how Heracles fits into the landscape of Greek plays. We have also looked into how others see the play. There I found that other writers resonate with the idea that the play could have ended with the death of Lycus. Finally, I explained Heracles' importance to Greek mythology. As well as why it has a place in my Self Education.

Have you read Heracles? If so what did you think of it? 
 
Want to read  Heracles but haven't? Please leave me a comment and let me know why you want to read it.

Hopefully, this post inspires you to take the time to look into it on your own journey of Self Education.

Get a copy of  Heracles.