Chapter 3 SUPERMEN

We have already seen from the number of times he is depicted on Greek vases that Herakles was the most popular Greek hero in the ancient world.Many,perhaps most,primitive civilizations have been attracted to supermen,and ancient Greece was no exception.In this chapter we study two rival supermen,Herakles and Theseus.Both are distinguished by their courage,endurance and their sheer strength.Both sought honour and achieved success and widespread acclaim.However,there were distinctions between them.First,the story of Herakles.

The Life and Labours of Herakles（Hercules）

Herakles（Hercules）is the best known of all the Greek heroes,with the possible exception of Odysseus.The first substantial literary sources about him date from the 3rd century B.C..But in so far as his adventures have any historical basis at all,they must date from the earliest times.^[1]Both in ancient times and more recently his reputation as a Superman figure has attracted widespread attention.^[2]

He was the son of Zeus（Jupiter）,but not of Zeus by his wife Hera（Juno）.Instead Zeus seduced Alkmene,the virtuous wife of the Theban general Amphitryon,by disguising himself as Amphitryon.When Amphitryon found out what had happened,he planned to burn the dishonored but innocent Alkmene alive on a great pyre.Zeus prevented this by sending clouds to extinguish the flames.

Herakles’ strength was in no doubt from a very early age.He strangled two snakes which the jealous Hera,^[3]angry at her husband’s infidelity,had sent to attack him.He also killed his music tutor with his lyre（or harp）for correcting his mistakes.For this he was sent away to Mount Cithaeron,where he killed a savage lion.During this period,the king of Thespiae offered him the opportunity to make love to all fifty of his daughters in one night.Herakles rose to the challenge.All fifty daughters became pregnant,and all bore him sons.^[4]

Another story tells of the young Herakles meeting two beautiful ladies at a crossroads;one offered him a pleasant and easy life,the other a severe and glorious one.He chose the latter.

Herakles’ fame is due primarily to his completion of the twelve labours^[5]which were set him as a challenge by Eurystheus,the King of Argos or Mycenae.The labours were a punishment imposed by the oracle at Delphi because Herakles had killed all the children of his first marriage^[6]in a fit of anger caused by Hera（Juno）.During his completion of these superhuman tasks,Herakles was supported by Athena（Minerva）but opposed by Hera（Juno）.Here is the list of his labours.

➢ He killed the Nemean lion by wrestling with it with his bare hands as its skin was impenetrable.The lion bit off one of his fingers but he managed to choke it to death.He then removed the skin with the help of one of its claws and wore it as a cloak.

➢ He destroyed the Lernaean hydra,a nine-headed water-snake.Every time he cut off one of its heads,two more grew.To make things more difficult,Hera sent a crab to bite his foot while he was accomplishing this task.^[7]Eventually Herakles got his nephew to cauterize the stumps of the hydra with a torch so that no more heads could grow while he,Herakles,cut off the remaining heads.Having killed the hydra,Herakles disemboweled it and dipped his arrows in its gall,making them fatal to anyone wounded by them.

➢ The third labour was to capture the Erymanthian^[8]wild boar that was then destroying the countryside,and to bring it back to Eurystheus alive.When Herakles did this,Eurystheus was so terrified that he hid himself in a large jar,to the evident contempt of Herakles.

➢ Next Herakles had to capture the Keryneian hind which had golden horns and belonged to the goddess Artemis（Diana）.This task took a year.Although at first furious with Herakles for capturing the hind,Artemis eventually allowed him to take it to Eurystheus so long as he promised to release it afterwards.

➢ The fifth labour was to destroy the Stymphalian birds that were man-eaters with brass wings and sharp metallic feathers and sacred to Ares（Mars）.Their highly toxic dung was destroying the crops in Arcadia.Herakles either attacked them with a sling or with his poisonous arrows or scared them away with a bronze rattle made by the god Hephaistos（Vulcan）and handed to him by Athena.

➢ The sixth labour was to clean the Augean stables.King Augeias of Elis had three

thousand head of cattle^[9]and had never cleaned his stables so that the dung was several metres deep.He offered Herakles a tenth of his cattle if Herakles managed to clean the stables in a single day.Cleverly,Herakles diverted the course of two rivers so that the stables were cleaned with no further effort from himself.Augeias then refused to honour his agreement and expelled Herakles from Elis,but Herakles later returned,killed Augeias and gave his kingdom to Augeias’s son.^[10]The phrase“Augean stables”has entered the English language：“cleansing the Augean stables”means getting rid of corruption.

The first six labours all took place within the Peloponnese in Greece.The next three took place outside the Peloponnese but still within the Greek world.

➢ The seventh labour was to capture the ferocious Cretan bull of Marathon.^[11]

➢ The eighth was to bring back the four man-eating horses of king Diomedes.Herakles left his companion,Abderus,in charge of the horses while he fought the savage and warlike people over whom Diomedes ruled.The horses ate Abderus.So Herakles took his revenge by feeding Diomedes to the horses.

➢ Next Herakles was sent to the shores of the Black Sea to obtain the girdle^[12]of Hippolyta,^[13]the queen of the Amazons,a race of female warriors,daughters of Ares（Mars）.He took with him an army that included the Greek hero Theseus.Physically attracted by Herakles,Hippolyta offered him the girdle as a gift.However,when Hera stirred up trouble by starting a rumour that Herakles intended to carry off not just the girdle but the queen herself,there followed a bloody battle,as a result of which Herakles obtained the girdle and Hippolyta was killed.

For the last three labours,Herakles had to go outside the Greek world.

➢ The tenth labour was to capture the red cattle of Geryon,who lived in the far west and who had three heads,six hands and three bodies,joined at the waist.Geryon was protected by a ferocious herdsman and a two-headed dog,Orthos,who was the brother of Cerberus.^[14]Herakles had little difficulty in dealing with the herdsman and Orthos.Geryon was an altogether bigger challenge,especially as Hera came to his assistance,but Herakles shot her in the breast,and Geryon himself was killed.In memory of this journey,Herakles set up the Pillars of Herakles at the entrance to the Mediterranean,often identified with the rocks of Gibraltar and Ceuta.

➢ Once Geryon had been killed,Eurystheus sent Herakles to the Underworld to fetch Cerberus.The messenger god Hermes（Mercury）guided Herakles there where,with the consent of Hades and his wife Persephone,Herakles borrowed Cerberus and brought him to show to Eurystheus.^[15]

➢ Finally,Eurystheus demanded that Herakles bring him back the golden apples of the Hesperides.These apples grew on a tree in a garden at the end of the earth and were rumoured to confer immortality.They were a wedding gift to Zeus from Hera,who would strongly resist any attempt by Herakles to obtain them.The tree was guarded by a hundred-headed serpent and tended by nymphs called the Hesperides.^[16]Herakles held up the sky on his shoulders while Atlas^[17]went to fetch the apples for him.On his return Atlas did not want to resume his burdensome task and so offered to deliver the apples to Eurystheus himself.Herakles feigned consent,asking him only to hold the heavens for a moment while he placed a cushion or his cloak on his shoulders;but,once Atlas had taken hold of the heavens,Herakles refused to receive them back.^[18]This final labour secured Herakles a place among the gods.

Besides these twelve labours,there are other epic tales about Herakles.In Egypt,for example,Herakles was in some danger as the king had been advised by a fortune-teller that an effective way of stopping droughts was to sacrifice foreigners.As the fortune-teller was a foreigner from Cyprus,he was the first to be sacrificed.And,as this sacrifice appeared to work,the king decided to follow the advice and sacrifice all other foreigners.Herakles let himself be bound and taken to the place of sacrifice before showing his strength by breaking free and butchering all his captors,including the king.

Another exploit took place in Libya,where he wrestled with the giant Antaios,^[19]the son of Poseidon and the earth goddess Gaia.Antaios was invulnerable so long as he maintained contact with his mother,the earth,so Herakles lifted him off his feet and crushed him to death in a bear hug.^[20]

In another story,Herakles fell in love with Princess Iole of Oechalia.Her father promised that Iole would marry whoever could beat his sons in an archery contest.Herakles did so（of course）,but the king then broke his promise.As a result Herakles killed the king and all his sons except Iphitus,who had supported him throughout.Then Herakles abducted Iole,while Iphitus became his best friend.But this happy situation did not persist,thanks to Hera,who once again malignly intervened and drove Herakles mad,as a result of which he threw Iphitus over the city wall to his death.

In penance for this rash action,Herakles became the slave of Queen Omphale of Lydia for three years.He was forced to do women’s work and wear women’s clothes,while the queen wore the skin of the Nemean Lion and carried Herakles’s club.Nothing could have been more humiliating.

In the masculine Greek world,loyalty to one’s friends was a well-recognized virtue.In the course of visiting Thessaly in his eighth labour,Herakles heard that his friend,King Admetus,had made a bargain with the god Apollo that,when it was time for him to die,he should be allowed to live so long as someone could be found to die in his place.Anxious to live longer,Admetus turned to his elderly parents,but they refused.However,his wife,Alkestis,offered herself and set off for the Underworld.Learning of this,Herakles immediately set off after her,wrestled with Death and brought Admetus back his wife.^[21]

Like many Greek heroes,Herakles was fond of women.One bride,Deianeira,he obtained by winning a wrestling match with a rival suitor,the sea god Achelous.Taking her home,he encountered the centaur^[22]Nessos,who offered to ferry her across a raging river on his back.On the way,however,Nessus tried to rape her.Herakles immediately shot him dead with one of his poisonous arrows.As he was dying,Nessos pretended to be sorry for his behaviour and persuaded Deianeira to take some of his blood.He told her that,if ever Herakles was unfaithful to her,she should soak a garment in the blood and give it to him to wear and he would come back to her.

Predictably enough,years later,Herakles was frequently unfaithful to her.And,when she heard of his relationship with Iole,Deianeira did as Nessos had urged her.As soon as Herakles put on the new garment,the poison from the hydra’s blood on the arrows that had killed Nessos caused him to collapse in agony.Realizing what she had done,Deianeira committed suicide.

Herakles arranged for the building of his own pyre（or funeral bonfire）,uprooting some of the trees for it himself.His friend Philoctetes^[23]lit the pyre.His mortal parts were consumed but,as a result of his labours,Herakles ascended to Olympos and became immortal alongside the gods who live for ever.

Some commentators have stressed the primitive and barbaric side of Herakles,seeing him not as a Homeric warrior but as“mainly concerned with animals … a savage clad in a skin ...[H]is main job is to tame and bring back the animals that are eaten by man.”^[24]Certainly there is a very primitive quality about many of his exploits.And by our standards he was often guilty of pathological rash,uncontrolled,criminal acts.Yet the ancient world was remarkably tolerant of his shortcomings.He was extremely popular,a Superman figure almost without rival.His incredible strength served him well in a world that valued physical prowess.He never failed to use it.His success was sometimes celebrated as the triumph of good over evil.But it is not his moral qualities,at least not moral qualities as defined by the world today,that made him popular.Even when other qualities played a role in securing his objectives,it was on his strength that he most relied.

His adventures have been described as“exaggerated parables of human experience.”^[25]He was popular because his qualities were those to which the ordinary Greek aspired,but writ large.He had a quick temper,inspired fear and respect.He loved women and was fond of food and wine.He was cunning,but not particularly subtle or intelligent.Above all,through his enormous strength and will power,he seemed to offer the hope that man could meet the biggest challenge of all,that of defeating Death itself.In a world as insecure as that of ancient Greece,that was a major asset.

Theseus

Herakles was not without his rivals among ancient Greek heroes.Chief among them was Theseus,^[26]who has been described as“the quintessential Athenian hero.”^[27]Theseus was more refined and civilized than Herakles.There is also a political aspect to the legends of Theseus as he has also been regarded as a founder of Athenian democracy.^[28]

His mother was the daughter of the king of Troezen.His father was either Aigeus,king of Athens,or the sea-god Poseidon.The reason for the uncertainty is that his mother slept with both of them the night Theseus was conceived.The boy’s life was in danger from the outset from his fifty cousins,the nephews of Aigeus,who believed their uncle to be incapable of fathering a child and were expecting to be his heirs.So Aigeus sent Theseus away to be brought up by his mother at Troezen.He arranged for a sword and a pair of sandals to be placed beneath a heavy rock and ordered that only when Theseus was strong enough to lift the rock and retrieve them should he be sent back to Athens.

In due time Theseus achieved this and set out for Athens.He deliberately took a perilous route,despite the entreaties of his mother and grandfather,because he wished to gain fame by dealing with great dangers and difficulties.In particular,he wanted to emulate Herakles.

Exciting adventures,sometimes knows as the Six Labours of Theseus,provided him with many opportunities to display his strength,courage,persistence and cunning as he made his way to Athens.^[29]On his arrival,he found his father had been bewitched by Medea,^[30]who was promising to cure him of his sterility.Aigeus did not recognize Theseus when he arrived,but Medea did.Anxious to be rid of him,she suggested to Aigeus that the new arrival should be asked to destroy the bull of Marathon^[31],which was ravaging the countryside.To her disappointment,Theseus succeeded in bringing the bull back to Athens.And he won the patronage of Athena by killing the bull and sacrificing it to her.

At the banquet at which the bull was sacrificed,Medea tried to poison Theseus.However,before Theseus had time to drink the cup prepared by Medea,he drew his sword in order to cut the sacrificial meat,with the result that Aigeus immediately recognized the sword and therefore his son.Aigeus sprang to his feet,upsetting the poisoned cup in the process.The poison hissed as it hit the marble floor,so Medea was discovered,disgraced and forced to flee.Shortly thereafter,Theseus also defeated a conspiracy against him by his uncle and cousins.

The most celebrated event of Theseus’ career was his destruction of the minotaur.The minotaur was the offspring of the wife of King Minos of Crete and a bull sent to Minos by the god Poseidon.^[32]It was a savage beast with the body of a man and the head of a bull.It lived at the centre of a maze,the Labyrinth,^[33]near the palace at Knossos.On an earlier occasion the eldest son of King Minos of Crete had attended athletic games in Athens and performed so well that he aroused the jealousy of Aigeus’ nephews who responded by murdering him.^[34]Minos refrained from war to avenge his son’s death only on condition that every nine years Aigeus send the seven most beautiful girls and the seven most courageous Athenian youths to satisfy the appetite of the Minotaur.

Theseus offered to kill the Minotaur.^[35]His father was greatly distressed but consented.Theseus joined one of the groups of seven young men and seven young women.They sailed in a ship with two sets of sails,black and white,and Theseus promised his father that,if they returned,they would hoist the white sails so that Aigeus could look out from the Acropolis and see that they had survived.

When they arrived on Crete,King Minos entertained them with athletic games at which Ariadne,his daughter,immediately fell in love with Theseus.Ariadne then secretly supplied Theseus with a thread so that he would be able to trace his way back through the Labyrinth.When Theseus reached the centre of the Labyrinth,he broke the neck of the Minotaur with his bare hands.He then worked his way back to the entrance with the aid of Ariadne’s thread,collected Ariadne and the other Athenians and set sail for Athens.

However,all did not end well for Theseus and Ariadne,for Theseus left her on the island of Naxos^[36]on the way back to Athens.There are many explanations of why he did so,and they are not compatible with each other.One version has it that Ariadne was already married to the god Dionysus（Bacchus）or that Dionysus demanded that Theseus abandon her so that he could marry her himself.This is the setting for the great painting by Titian,now in the National Gallery in London,depicting Dionysus reaching out to Ariadne,who herself,abandoned by Theseus,points towards her former lover’s ship far out to sea.Another version claims that Theseus brought her to Naxos to give birth to their child and that,having deposited her on land,his ship was swept out to sea in a storm,and that Ariadne then died in childbirth.In this version,because he was mourning Ariadne,Theseus had the ship hoist its black sails,with the result that Aigeus,thinking his son dead,threw himself off the Acropolis in despair and was killed.^[37]

Theseus succeeded his father as King of Athens.More adventures followed.Like Herakles,Theseus was frequently involved with women.He abducted the Amazon Antiope,^[38]with the result that the entire Amazon army laid siege to Athens.In the battle that followed Antiope was killed.This battle is often depicted in Greek art of the early 5th century B.C.with the Amazons portrayed as Persians,even wearing Persian dress.

On another occasion he was invited to the wedding of the King of the Lapiths,Peirithoos.The Lapiths had invited the centaurs^[39]to the wedding.However,the centaurs were not used to strong drink and soon became wild.When Peirithoos presented his bride to the guests,the centaur Eurytion leapt up and attempted to rape her.All the other centaurs then followed his example with other Lapiths.In the battle which then broke out,Theseus came to the Lapiths’ aid and drove the centaurs out of Thessaly.^[40]

Theseus and Peirithoos joined forces to gain wives of two of the daughters of Zeus,Helen and Persephone.Theseus kidnapped Helen,still a child,and placed her in the care of his mother.He then joined Peirithoos in his attempt to win Persephone（Proserpina）.As Persephone was the wife of Hades（Pluto）,in order to obtain her,they had to descend to the Underworld.Things did not go well.Hades,the god of the Underworld,invited the two heroes to a meal.After the meal,as they attempted to get up,they found they were stuck to their seats.Eventually Theseus was rescued by Herakles,who had journeyed to the Underworld to complete one of his last Labours.However,when Herakles pulled Theseus from the chair on which he was trapped,some of Theseus’ thigh stuck to the chair.Athenians are said to have lean thighs as a result.^[41]Meanwhile Helen had been rescued by her brothers and taken back to Sparta with Theseus’ mother as her servant.^[42]

Theseus gave his protection to the blind and disgraced Oedipus.He also supported the women whose sons had been killed in the Theban wars and who petitioned him to be prepared to go to war against Thebes in order to enable them to be allowed to bury their dead.This is the theme of The Suppliant Women,a play of 423 B.C.by Euripides.The play reflects the development of the association of Theseus with the growth of Athenian democracy.Theseus proudly rejects the suggestion of the Theban king’s envoy that he is a despot;rather,he points out,he is willing to go to war in support of the women’s petition only with the approval of the citizens of Athens,all of whom have a voice in the state’s decisions.

Half a century before Euripides’ play,Theseus had already been adopted by the Athenians for propaganda purposes.When they were fighting the Persians at the battle of Marathon in 490 B.C.,the Athenians were said to have seen a vision of a mighty warrior leading them in their attack.They identified him as Theseus and dedicated a great temple to his memory.Huge bones were found in a tomb on the island of Skyros in 475 B.C.– 470 B.C.^[43]It was said that they belonged to Theseus and so they were brought back ceremoniously to Athens and deposited in a special shrine.We see here how myth could be carefully exploited for political purposes.

Despite his later iconic association with Athenian democracy,Theseus is similar to Herakles in his competitive displays of strength and endurance.He is also similar to Herakles in showing a casual arrogance and violence in his treatment of women,abandoning Ariadne,abducting Antiope,kidnapping Helen,a mere child.This focus on strength may be the result of primitive peoples living in primitive conditions,and the vital energy of Greek heroes may stand as an important factor in the development of western individualism and entrepreneurial self-promotion.However,strength,energy and endurance are admirable only if attached to nobler purposes than mere self-aggrandizement.The absence of any developed sense of society in the Greek myths is a serious failing.As a result,ultimately the values of Greece before the 5th century B.C.have little to recommend them today.

---

注释

[1]Later Christian sources dated Herakles’s death and deification to 1226 B.C..

[2]In Roman times,a common oath was“mehercule,”meaning“By Hercules!”.

[3]However,Herakles,who had originally been named Alcides,was renamed after Hera in an unsuccessful attempt to appease her.

[4]This is sometimes referred to as his Thirteenth Labour.Many of the kings of ancient Greece（especially of Sparta and Macedon）traced their lines to one or another of these sons.

[5]Originally Eurystheus set only ten labours,but he added two more because Herakles received help from his nephew to complete the second labour and because he accepted pay for the sixth.The order of the labours varies according to different sources.The twelve labours are displayed on the metopes of the temple of Zeus at Olympia,which date to c.460 B.C..They were sometimes referred to as“athloi”or“contests,”analogous to the contests undertaken at the Olympic Games.

[6]He had married Megara,daughter of King Creon of Thebes.

[7]Pleased with its efforts,Hera turned the crab into the constellation of Cancer.

[8]Mount Erymanthus,where the boar roamed,was named after Erymanthus,son of Apollo,who was blinded by Aphrodite because he had chanced upon her naked,bathing.Apollo avenged himself on Aphrodite by turning himself into a boar and killing her lover,Adonis.

[9]His cattle were immune from disease and remarkably fertile.

[10]According to the poet Pindar,Herakles then founded the Olympic games in honour of Zeus,personally marking out the stadium and fetching the olive tree from which the victor’s garlands were taken.

[11]The bull was given by Poseidon to King Minos of Crete.When Minos refused to sacrifice the bull,it went mad.Eurystheus wanted to sacrifice it to Hera.However,Hera refused the sacrifice because she felt its capture reflected glory on Herakles,whom she hated.The bull was released and wandered into Marathon,becoming known as the bull of Marathon.It was later killed by Theseus.

[12]The girdle had been given to Hippolyta by her father,Ares（Mars）,the god of war.It had caught the fancy of Eurystheus’s daughter,which was why Eurystheus set Herakles the task of obtaining it.

[13]Hippolyta means loose,unbridled mare.

[14]Cerberus was the three-headed dog who guarded the entrance to Hades（the Underworld）.The artist and poet William Blake produced a fine watercolour of Cerberus in 1824/7.

[15]This labour is sometimes placed last in the sequence.

[16]The Hesperides were,in one account,the daughters of Atlas and Hesperis,daughter of Hesperus,god of the West.They tended a beautiful garden near the Atlas mountains in Morocco.The apple tree in the garden had grown from branches given as a wedding present by Gaia to Hera when she had married Zeus.

[17]Atlas had sided with the Titans against the Olympians in the great battle between the gods at the beginning of the world.When the Titans were defeated,Zeus（an Olympian）condemned Atlas to stand at the western edge of Gaia（the Earth）and hold up Ouranos（the Sky）on his shoulders.Because of his familial relationship with the Hesperides,Herakles thought Atlas would be able to obtain the apples for him.Grateful to Herakles for rescuing him from Mount Caucasus and the liver-eating eagle,Prometheus had also advised Herakles to send Atlas to obtain the apples.

[18]Another version of the story says that Herakles went to the garden himself and that on the way he had to wrestle with the sea god Nereus（the father of Thetis and therefore grandfather of Achilles）to secure the right directions to the garden.

[19]Antaios was the guardian giant of a dwarf nation,the Pigmies.

[20]There is a fine painting of Herakles lifting Antaios off the ground by the Spanish artist,Zurbaran（1634）.

[21]This is the subject of the oldest surviving play by Euripides,first performed in 438 B.C..In the 17th and 18th centuries,Lully,Handel and Gluck all wrote operas based on the story.

[22]A centaur has the body of a horse connected to the torso of a man.Generally,as here in the case of Nessus,centaurs are portrayed as wild and consumed by lust.However,there were others,such as Chiron,the teacher of Theseus,Achilles and many of the Argonauts.

[23]As a reward,Philoctetes was granted Herakles’ bow and arrows,which were later used to help the Greeks defeat the Trojans.It was one of Philoctetes’ arrows that killed the Trojan prince,Paris.

[24]Walter Burkert,cited in Mark Morford,Robert Lenardon and Michael Shan,Classical Mythology,p.580.

[25]Lucilla Burn,Greek Myths,p.24.

[26]The early part of the Theseus legend is re-told in Mary Renault’s novel The King Must Die（1958）.

[27]Lucilla Burn,op.cit.,p.25.

[28]This idea seems to have originated at the end of the 6th century when Kleisthenes introduced democracy to Athens.Theseus and Kleisthenes are both credited with unifying Greece,dividing the people into classes,establishing councils and assemblies,founding festivals and minting coins.At this time Theseus was more popular than Herakles.

[29]In all six instances,those threatening Theseus’ life were killed in exactly the same way they themselves planned to kill Theseus.

[30]The same Medea who had been the wife of Jason and killed her own children.

[31]This was the same Cretan bull that Herakles had been required to bring bound to King Eurystheus as his seventh labour.

[32]The bull was so fine that,rather than sacrifice it to Poseidon,Minos had substituted an inferior specimen.Enraged,Poseidon caused Minos’ wife to fall in love with the bull and so produce the minotaur.

[33]The Labyrinth was built for King Minos by the master craftsman Daedalus.

[34]There are,however,other accounts.One says that Minos’ son became friendly with Aigeus’ nephews and that Aigeus,fearing they would combine to overthrow him,had Minos’ son murdered.According to another account,Minos’s son met his death as a result of being sent by Aigeus to fight the bull of Marathon.

[35]The minotaur features in a range of early 20th century art,particularly that of Picasso,culminating in Guernica（1937）,where arguably it serves to express,among other things,horror at the barbaric cruelties of the Spanish civil war.

[36]Ariadne auf Naxos is the title of an opera written in 1912 by the German composer Richard Strauss.

[37]The Aegean Sea takes its name from Aigeus.

[38]Antiope was the sister of Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons.（One of Herakles’s labours was to fetch the girdle of Hippolyta.）In some versions Theseus marries Antiope,in others it is Hippolyta herself he marries and by whom he has a son,Hippolytus.（The marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta is the setting for Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.）However,Theseus grew tired of Hippolyta once he had set eyes on Ariadne’s sister,Phaedra.The goddess Aphrodite caused Phaedra to fall in love with her stepson,Hippolytus,which is the setting for Phèdre,one of the greatest tragedies of the 17th century French dramatist,Jean Racine.Theseus’ son by Phaedra was one of the Greek warriors concealed in the Trojan horse in the Trojan War.

[39]The centaurs were half man,half horse;the man’s torso was joined to the horse’s body and legs.They were related to the Lapiths,who were horsemen but fully human from Thessaly.

[40]Herakles was also present at this wedding and took part in the battle against the centaurs.

[41]Peirithoos was forced to remain in the Underworld.

[42]Later she married Menelaus,King of Sparta,then eloped with Paris,son of the King of Troy,and thus triggered the Trojan War.

[43]There are other far less flattering versions of the end of the life of Theseus.One claims that he became a tyrant,lost the affection of his people and was eventually banished from Athens to the island of Skyros,where he was later hurled off a rock on the orders of its king.