Heracles

There is more material available on Herakles than any other Greek god or hero. His story has many more episodes than those of other heroes, concerning his life and death as well as his battles with myriad monsters and other opponents. In literature, he appears in our earliest Greek epic and lyric poetry, is reinvented for the tragic and comic stage, and later finds his way into such unlikely areas as philosophical writing and love poetry. In art, his exploits are amongst the earliest identifiable mythological scenes, and his easily-recognisable figure with lionskin and club was a familiar sight throughout antiquity in sculpture, vase-painting and other media. He was held up as an ancestor and role-model for both Greek and Roman rulers, and widely worshipped as a god, his unusual status as a hero-god being reinforced by the story of his apotheosis. Often referred to by his Roman name Hercules, he has continued to fascinate writers and artists right up to the present day. In Herakles, Emma Stafford has successfully tackled the ‘Herculean task’ of surveying both the ancient sources and the extensive modern scholarship in order to present a hugely accessible account of this important mythical figure. Covering both Greek and Roman material, the book highlights areas of consensus and dissent, indicating avenues for further study on both details and broader issues. Easy to read, Herakles is perfectly suited to students of classics and related disciplines, and of interest to anyone looking for an insight into ancient Greece’s most popular hero.

Euripides' Heracles is an extraordinary play of great complexity, exploring the co-existence of both positive and negative aspects of the eponymous hero. Euripides treats Heracles' ambivalence by showing his uncertain position after the completion of his labours and turns him into a tragic hero by dramatizing his development from the invincible hero of the labours to the courageous bearer of suffering. This book offers a comprehensive reading of Heracles examining it in the contexts of Euripidean dramaturgy, Greek drama and fifth-century Athenian society. It shows that the play, which raises profound questions on divinity and human values, deserves to have a prominent place in every discussion about Euripides and about Greek tragedy. Tracing some of Euripides' most spectacular writing in terms of emotional and intellectual effect, and discussing questions of narrative, rhetoric, stagecraft and audience reception, this work is required reading for all students and scholars of Euripides.

The first three plays in this volume are typical of Euripides, filled with violence or its threat, while the fourth, Cyclops, is a satyr play, full of crude and slapstick humour. Alcestis shows various reactions to death with pathos and grim humour while the blood-soaked Heracles portrays deep emotional pain and undeserved suffering. Children of Heracles deals with the effects of war on refugees and the consequences of sheltering them.

The law has traditionally been regarded as a set of rules and institutions. In this thoughtful series of essays, James Boyd White urges a fresh view of the law as an essentially literary, rhetorical, and ethical activity. Defining and elaborating his conception, he artfully bridges the fields of jurisprudence, literature, philosophy, history, and political science. The result, a new approach that may change the way we perceive the legal process, will engage not only lawyers and law students but anyone interested in the relationship between ethics, persuasion, and community. White's essays, though bound by a common perspective, are thematically varied. Each of these pieces makes eloquent and insightful reading. Taken as a whole, they establish, by triangulation, a position from which they all proceed: a view of poetry, law, and rhetoric as essentially synonymous. Only when we perceive the links between these processes, White stresses, can we begin to unite the concerns of truth, beauty, and justice in a single field of action and expression.

Euripides' Heracles is an extraordinary play, innovative in its treatment of the myth, bold in its dramatic structure, and filled with affective human pathos. The play tells a tale of horror: Heracles, the greatest hero of the Greeks, is maddened by the gods to murder his wife and children. But this suffering and divine malevolence are leavened by the friendship between Heracles and Theseus, which allows the hero to survive this final and most painful labor. The Heracles raises profound questions about the gods and mortal values in a capricious and harsh world. ​Includes essays on Euripides, performance, and interpretation of Myth, a list of suggested readings, notes, and a map.

Heracles is the quintessential ancient Greek hero. The rich and massive tradition associated with him encompasses myths of all kinds: quest myths, monster-fights, world-foundational myths, aetiological myths, philosophical myths, allegorical myths, and more. It informs and is informed by every genre and variety of Classical literature. The figure of Heracles opens windows onto numerous aspects of ancient religion, including those of cult, syncretism, Christian reception, the relationship between gods and heroes, and the intersection of religion with politics. The Oxford Handbook of Heracles is the first large-scale guide to Heracles, his myth-cycle the Twelve Labors, and, to the pervasive impact of the hero upon Greek and Roman culture. The first half of the volume is devoted to the lucid exposition and analysis of the ancient evidence, literary and iconographic, for Heracles' life and deeds. In the second half, the Heracles tradition is analyzed from a range of thematic perspectives, including the contrasting projections of the figure across the major literary genres and in art; the ways in which Greek communities and even Roman emperors exploited the figure in the fashioning of their own identities and for political advantage; his cult in Greece and Rome and its syncretism with that of the Phoenician Melqart; and Heracles' reception in later Western tradition. Presenting, in 39 chapters, the authoritative work of international experts in a clear and well-structured format, this volume provides a convenient reference tool for scholars and offers an accessible starting-point for students.

Heracles in Early Greek Epic examines the protean nature of the greatest Greek hero, Heracles in Homeric and Hesiodic poetry, as well as in fragmentary epics such as Creophylus’ Oichalias Halosis, Pisander’s Heracleia, and Panyassis’ Heracleia. Several contributors explore Heracles’ associations with heroes in Near-Eastern literature and reflections in early epic about his involvement in the first sack of Troy, the tale of Hesione and the ketos, the war against the Meropes on Cos, and the sack of Oechalia. Other contributors study his role in other Archaic and Classical epics such as those written by Creophylus, Pisander, and Panyassis.

This anthology includes four outstanding translations of Euripides’ plays: Medea, Bacchae, Hippolytus, and Heracles. These translations remain close to the original, with extensive introductions, interpretive essays, and footnotes. This series is designed to provide students and general readers with access to the nature of Greek drama, Greek mythology, and the context of Greek culture, as well as highly readable and understandable translations of four of Euripides most important plays. Focus also publishes each play as an individual volume.