Refuge; The children of Heracles, Euripides and why it deserves a place in your Self Education

Why you might read The children of Heracles

If you have any interest in the true Greek story of Heracles then this play is an integral part. It is important because it deals with what happens to his family after his death. And from this, we see the start of Heracles' legacy. It's on my Self Education list for exactly this reason. I've stated earlier that these plays about and around Heracles life have been eye-opening for someone who only knew the Disney version.

The Story of The children of Heracles

 The story starts with Heracles' young sons and their guardian Iolaus as supplicants to the Altar of Zeus at Athens (though the scene direction says Marathon, Athens is what is in the text, though it may be that Marathon is the town and Athens is the ruling city, considering their locations.). Iolaus laments Heracles' death and lays out the desperation of his position with the boy. We later find out they also have their sisters and Heracles' mother in tow. They have been tossed out of every city they have approached. A messenger arrives from Argos demanding them be surrendered or the army of Argos will set upon them.

Copreus, the herald from Argos arrives. After a short discussion moves to take them bodily
from the altar. Iolaus calls out against the injustice against the gods. The chorus of locals arrive and start discussing the situation. Demophone son of Theseus and current king of Athens arrives. He is quickly petitioned by the herald for the ability to take the sons and Iolaus as prisoners. Demophone gives Iolaus the right to put forward his cause as well. Iolaus lays out the injustice to the gods if they are taken from the altar. She lays out the boy's kinship to Demophone. She also explains their exile from Argos and thus how they do not come under that king's sway. Demophone rules in favour of Iolaus and the children of Heracles. Stating that the decision had more to do with the reputation of Athens. That it is free and that they do not dishonour the gods. Copreus threatens Athens with war but Demophone stands firm. Demophone leaves to prepare for war with Argos.

The army of Argos arrives but does not move down to the plains. Demophone returns and announces he has seen the oracles. And that they have said to win he must sacrifice a princess to Persephone. But he is not willing to sacrifice one of his own or one of his citizens. They are at an impasse that suggests they cannot win the coming war. Then from inside come one of Heracles' daughters, Macaria. She simplifies the whole problem by offering herself up as that sacrifice. She states that it is better for her to die and for her brothers to live. But if they lose her brothers die and even if she survives what sort of life would it be. Macaria exits to be the sacrifice.

A runner arrives and tells of the arrival of an army to join their side lead by one of Heracles' elder sons. Iolaus insists on accompanying the runner back to the army to join the fight. The runner tries to dissuade him because of his age but to no avail.

Another servant appears announcing that they have won the fight. Miraculously Iolaus is young again. They all rejoice and Heracles' mother states that now she believes he has become a god. She has been told this before but has not believed it. The servant then relays the story of the battle. How Iolaus had jumped in a chariot and pursued Eurystheus king of the army from Argos. And how he had overtaken him and overcome him and that he had taken him, prisoner.

Eurystheus is bought to see Heracles' mother and she orders him killed. But the Athenians will not as he is a prisoner and no longer on the battlefield. They discuss this back and forth and eventually decided on killing him. To do so they must bury him in Athens so that he is still in the Athenians custody. 

Reflections on the Children of Heracles

Macaria's strength of will in this play is astounding. It is not that she is asked to die for the victory and thus her brothers. But that she willingly puts herself into the position of the sacrifice. This is true love but also her duty. She knows that the continuation of the house is part of her duty in life and in the telling of this story she lives up to it.
It is interesting to see the convention used here to bypass time. We see the arrival of the enemy army immediately after the exit of the herald who has threatened it. In some ways, there is no convention to hold to. Euripides just jumps from one moment to the next without the change of scene. We do not see changing of scenes in the Greek plays so far, or even a comment about time passing by the chorus. That being said we have seen the chorus used to pad time between when a character leaves and returns. The chorus is also used when something is happening off stage. In some ways, this time skip is just an extrapolation of the ways the chorus has already been used. It does make it hard to tell how much time has passed, though.

We tend to think of the ancient Greeks as a homogeneous group, which they weren't. We see that here with the rules of Athens around prisoners after a battle or war. In Athens, you cannot kill prisoners. Instead, they must be returned to their people after the hostilities have ceased. This is clearly not the case with Argos. Heracles' mother desperately wants to kill Eurystheus. Being from Argos she sees nothing wrong with doing so.
The miracle of Iolaus' regained youth is, as you would expect from a miracle, fantastical. It is though a great pay off for the character that has insisted on taking part in the battle despite his old age. To give Iolaus, and not Heracles' older son, the victory over the Eurysthes is interesting. We would expect Heracles' oldest son to take the throne of Argos. For his to take the throne of his father, following this victory would be fitting. Surely it would do more for the legacy of Heracles if his older son took Argos. And in doing so take out the despot who had overthrown his father and sent him on his labours. 

What others have to say about the Children of Heracles

 GreekMythology.com has this to say, "The problem is that after Heracles’ death, Eurystheus, the King of Argos and Heracles’ archnemesis, decided to kill all the remaining members of Heracles’ family."

"Like other playwrights of the era, Euripides makes reference to Greek mythology, and, in this case, it’s the hero Heracles." from Ancient History Encyclopedia

And finally "“Heracleidae” is usually considered to be essentially a patriotic piece by Euripides, written to the greater glory of Athens, during a period of great instability and uncertainty, as it came under repeated attacks from Sparta in the early stages of the Peloponnesian War." from Classical Literature

Comparisons with other texts

Like Helen, we have a positive ending, but unlike Helen, we do not see that same wish fulfilment. Or the retconning of the events that have happened prior, by the author. Helen is positive from beginning to end with little conflict. But this play has the sacrifice of a daughter to give a bit more balance to the plot points.

This is the second time we have seen sons of Heracles sitting as supplicants to an altar. The first was in Heracles by Euripides. Here his first wife and sons sitting at the altar in their own city while a tyrant threatens to kill them. Unfortunately by the end of the play, they are dead at their father's hand. In this play we see his second set of sons sitting at an altar in a foreign land. All the while a king, through his messenger, tries to get them thrown out so they can arrest them and put them to death. This time Heracles is not alive to save them. Their salvation instead comes from the ruler of the city and the willingness to die of one of his daughters.

In the chronology of Heracles does not seem to follow after Euripides Heracles. Instead, it seems to follow the events of his death in Sophocles' Woman of Trachis. The first tells the story of the destruction of Heracles' first family. Whereas the second deals with his second wife and Heracles death. In this play, Heracles both has sons, which I'm going to assume come from that second marriage, and is himself dead. This is also the first of the plays with Heracles that has a rather happy, or at least positive ending. Though it does still end with death it is the death of the enemy rather than that of one of the families of Heracles.

Conclusion

The children of Heracles deals with the fate of the family of Heracles after his death. This makes it important to a broad Self Education and a better understanding of the Heracles Mythos. It covers the attempts of the tyrant of Argos to capture and kill Heracles' family. This is prevented by the king of Athens where the family have travelled to. The main themes are supplication to the altar and sacrifice. We see this through the sacrifice of Heracles' daughter for the survival of her family. Finally, we have looked at how it compares to other works both by Euripides and by other Greek authors.

 

Have you read The children of Heracles? If so what did you think of it?

Want to read  The children of 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.

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