APOLLODORUS FOOTNOTES 2A
THE LIBRARY CONTENTS
APOLLODURS, THE LIBRARY BOOK 2 FOOTNOTES BY J. G. FRAZER
1. As to Inachus and his descendants, see Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 177 (who follows Apollodorus); Paus. 2.15.5; Scholiast on Eur. Or. 932; Scholiast on Hom. Il. i.22. According to Apion, the flight of the Israelites from Egypt took place during the reign of Inachus at Argos. See Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelii, x.10.10ff. On the subject of Phoroneus there was an ancient epic Phoronis, of which a few verses have survived. See Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, pp. 209ff.
2. Apollodorus identifies the Argive Apis with the Egyptian bull Apis, who was in turn identified with Serapis (Sarapis). As to the Egyptian Apis, see Hdt. 2.153 (with Wiedemann's note), iii.27, 28. As to Apia as a name for Peloponnese or Argos, see Aesch. Supp. 260ff.; Paus. 2.5.7; Scholiast on Hom. Il. i.22; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 177; Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. Apia.
4. Compare Scholiast on Eur. Or. 932; Hyginus, Fab. 145.
5. As to Argus and his many eyes, compare Aesch. Supp. 303ff.; Scholiast on Eur. Ph. 1116; Ov. Met. 1.625ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 145; Serv. Verg. A. 7.790; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 5ff. (First Vatican Mythographer 18).
6. Compare Dionysius, quoted by the Scholiast on Eur. Ph. 1116, who says merely that Argus was clad in a hide and had eyes all over his body.
7. As to the monster Echidna, half woman, half snake, see Hes. Th. 295ff.
8. Compare Paus. 2.16.1; Scholiast on Eur. Or. 932.
9. Compare Aesch. PB 589ff.; Hdt. 1.1; Plut. De Herodoti malignitate 11; Lucian, Dial. Deorum iii.; Lucian, Dial. Marin. vii.1; Paus. 3.18.13; Ov. Met. 1.583ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 145.
10. Compare Aesch. Supp. 291ff.; Scholiast on Hom. Il. 2.103 (who cites the present passage of Apollodorus); Ov. Met. 1.588ff.
11. The passage of Pherecydes is quoted by the Scholiast on Eur. Ph. 1116.
13. Compare Scholiast on Aesch. Prom. 561; Scholiast on Hom. Il. ii.103.
15. For the wanderings of Io, goaded by the gadfly, see Aesch. Supp. 540ff., Aesch. PB 786(805)ff.; Ov. Met. 1.724ff.
16. Bosphoros, ”Cow's strait” or ”Oxford.”
17. Compare Aesch. PB 846(865)ff.; Hdt. 2.153 Hdt. 3.27; Ov. Met. 1.748ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 145.
18. Isis, whom the ancients sometimes identified with Io (see below), is said to have nursed the infant son of the king of Byblus. See Plut. Isis et Osiris 15ff. Both stories probably reflect the search said to have been instituted by Isis for the body of the dead Osiris.
19. For the identification of Demeter with Isis, see Hdt. 2.59, Hdt. 2.156; Diod. 1.13.5, Diod. 1.25.1, Diod. 1.96.5.
20. Herodotus remarked (Hdt. 2.41) that in art Isis was represented like Io as a woman with cow's horns. For the identification of Io and Isis, see Diod. 1.24.8; Lucian, Dial. Deorum iii.; Clement of Alexandria, Strom. i.21.106, p. 382, ed. Potter; Prop. iii.20.17ff.; Juvenal vi.526ff.; Statius, Sylv. iii.2.101ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 145.
21. Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 894.
22. Compare Tzetzes, Chiliades vii.349ff.
24. The following account of Egyptus and Danaus, including the settlement of Danaus and his daughters at Argos, is quoted verbally, with a few omissions and changes, by the Scholiast on Hom. Il. i.42, who mentions the second book of Apollodorus as his authority. Compare Aesch. Supp. 318ff.; Scholiast on Eur. Hec. 886, and Scholiast on Eur. Or. 872; Hyginus, Fab. 168; Serv. Verg. A. 10.497.
25. Compare Hdt. 2.182; Marmor Parium 15-17, pp. 544, 546, ed. C. Müller (Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, vol. i); Diod. 5.58.1; Strab. 14.2.11; Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelii iii.8. As to the worship of the goddess, see Cecil Torr, Rhodes in Ancient Times (Cambridge, 1885), pp. 74ff., 94 sq. In recent years a chronicle of the temple of Lindian Athena has been discovered in Rhodes: it is inscribed on a marble slab. See Chr. Blinkenberg, La Chronique du temple Lindien (Copenhagen, 1912).
26. Compare Paus. 2.16.1, Paus. 2.19.3.
28. Compare Eur. Ph. 187ff.; Lucian, Dial. Marin. vi.; Philostratus, Imagines, i.8; Scholiast on Hom. Il. iv.171; Prop. iii.18.47ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 169. There was a stream called Amymone at Lerna. See Strab. 8.6.8; Paus. 2.37.1, Paus. 2.37.4; Hyginus, Fab. 169.
29. For the marriage of the sons of Egyptus with the daughters of Danaus, and its tragic sequel, see Zenobius, Cent. ii.6; Scholiast on Eur. Hec. 886 and Or. 872; Scholiast on Hom. Il. iv.171; Hyginus, Fab. 168; Serv. Verg. A. 10.497. With the list of names of the bridal pairs as recorded by Apollodorus, compare the list given by Hyginus, Fab. 170.
30. Compare Pind. N. 7.1.6(10), with the Scholiast; Paus. 2.19.6, Paus. 2.20.7, Paus. 2.21.1; Hor. Carm. 3.11.30ff.; Ovid, Her. xiv.
31. Compare Zenobius, Cent. iv.86. According to Paus. 2.24.2) the heads of the sons of Egyptus were buried on the Larisa, the acropolis of Argos, and the headless trunks were buried at Lerna.
32. Compare Pind. P. 9.112(195), with the Scholiasts; Paus. 3.12.2. The legend may reflect an old custom of racing for a bride. See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii.299ff. It is said that Danaus instituted games which were celebrated every fifth (or, as we should say, every fourth) year, and at which the prize of the victor in the footrace was a shield. See Hyginus, Fab. 170.
33. Compare Strab. 8.6.2; Paus. 2.38.2, Paus. 4.35.2.
34. See below, Apollod. E.6.7-11.
35. Nostoi, an epic poem describing the return of the Homeric heroes from Troy. See Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, pp. 52ff.; D. B. Monro, in his edition of Homer, Odyssey, Bks. xiii.- xxiv. pp. 378-382.
36. With this and what follows compare Paus. 2.16.2, Paus. 2.25.7.
37. So the twins Esau and Jacob quarrelled both in the womb and in after life (Genesis, xxv.21ff.). Compare Rendel Harris, Boanerges, pp. 279ff. who argues that Proetus was the elder twin, who, as in the case of Esau and Jacob, was worsted by his younger brother.
39. See below, Apollod. 2.3.1, Apollod. 3.9.1. Euripides called her Stheneboea (Eustathius on Hom. Il. vi.158, p 632).
40. Compare Bacch. 10.77ff., ed. Jebb; Paus. 2.25.8; Strab. 8.6.8.
41. Compare Bacch. 10.40-112, ed. Jebb; Hdt. 9.34; Strab. 8.3.19; Diod. 4.68; Paus. 2.7.8; Paus. 2.18.4; Paus. 5.5.10; Paus. 8.18.7ff.; Scholiast on Pind. N. 9.13 (30); Clement of Alexandria, Strom. vii.4.26, p. 844, ed. Potter; Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. Azania; Verg. Ecl. 6.48ff.; Ov. Met. 15.325ff.; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxv.47; Serv. Verg. Ecl. 6.48; Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. iii.453; Vitruvius viii.3.21. Of these writers, Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and, in one passage (Paus. 2.18.4), Pausanias, speak of the madness of the Argive women in general, without mentioning the daughters of Proetus in particular. And, according to Diodorus Siculus, with whom Pausanias in the same passage (Paus. 2.18.4) agrees, the king of Argos at the time of the affair was not Proetus but Anaxagoras, son of Megapenthes. As to Megapenthes, see Apollod. 2.4.4. According to Virgil the damsels imagined that they were turned into cows; and Servius and Lactantius Placidus inform us that this notion was infused into their minds by Hera (Juno) to punish them for the airs of superiority which they assumed towards her; indeed, in one place Lactantius Placidus says that the angry goddess turned them into heifers outright. In these legends Mr. A. B. Cook sees reminiscences of priestesses who assumed the attributes and assimilated themselves to the likeness of the cow-goddess Hera. See his Zeus, i.451ff. But it is possible that the tradition describes, with mythical accessories, a real form of madness by which the Argive women, or some portion of them, were temporarily affected. We may compare a somewhat similar form of temporary insanity to which the women of the wild Jakun tribe in the Malay Peninsula are said to be liable. “A curious complaint was made to the Penghulu of Pianggu, in my presence, by a Jakun man from the Anak Endau. He stated that all the women of his settlement were frequently seized by a kind of madness--presumably some form of hysteria-- and that they ran off singing into the jungle, each woman by herself, and stopped there for several days and nights, finally returning almost naked, or with their clothes all torn to shreds. He said that the first outbreak of this kind occurred a few years ago, and that they were still frequent, one usually taking place every two or three months. They were started by one of the women, whereupon all the others followed suit.” See Ivor H. N. Evans, “Further Notes on the Aboriginal Tribes of Pahang,” Journal of the Federated Malay States Museums, ix:1, January 1920, p. 27 (Calcutta, 1920).
42. According to Bacch. 10.95ff., ed. Jebb, the father of the damsels vowed to sacrifice twenty red oxen to the Sun, if his daughters were healed: the vow was heard, and on the intercession of Artemis the angry Hera consented to allow the cure.
43. Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 17; Tzetzes, Chiliades vii.810ff.; Scholiast on Hom. Il. vi.155. According to one account, mentioned by these writers, Bellerophon received his name (meaning slayer of Bellerus) because he had slain a tyrant of Corinth called Bellerus.
44. In the following story of Bellerophon, our author follows Hom. Il. 6.155ff. (where the wife of Proetus is called Antia instead of Stheneboea). Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 17; Tzetzes, Chiliades vii.816ff.; Zenobius, Cent. ii.87 (who probably followed Apollodorus); Hyginus, Fab. 57; Hyginus, Ast. ii.18; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 24, 119 (First Vatican Mythographer 71, 72; Second Vatican Mythographer 131). Euripides composed a tragedy on the subject called Stheneboea. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 567ff. According to Tzetzes (Scholiast on Lycophron 17), Iobates refrained from slaying Bellerophon with his own hand in virtue of an old custom which forbade those who had eaten together to kill each other.
47. For the combat of Bellerophon with the Chimera, see Hom. Il. 6.179ff.; Hes. Th. 319ff.; Pind. O. 13.84(120)ff. ; Hyginus, Fab. 57.
48. Anticlia, according to the Scholiast on Pind. O. 9.59(82); Cassandra, according to the Scholiast on Hom. Il. vi.155.
49. The following legend of Perseus (Apollod. 2.4.1-4) seems to be based on that given by Pherecydes in his second book, which is cited as his authority by the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1091, 1515, whose narrative agrees closely with that of Apollodorus. The narrative of Apollodorus is quoted, for the most part verbally, but as usual without acknowledgment, by Zenobius, Cent. i.41, who, however, like the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1091, 1515, passes over in silence the episode of Andromeda. Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 838 (who may have followed Apollodorus); Scholiast on Hom. Il. xiv.319. The story of Danae, the mother of Perseus, was the theme of plays by Sophocles and Euripides. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 143ff., 168ff., 453ff. The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol. i. pp. 38ff., 115ff.
50. Compare Soph. Ant. 944ff. Horace represents Danae as shut up in a brazen tower (Hor. Carm. 3.16.1ff.).
51. That is, between Acrisius and Proetus. See above, Apollod. 2.2.1.
52. That is, he pretended to be a suitor for the hand of Hippodamia and to be collecting a present for her, such as suitors were wont to offer to their brides. As to Hippodamia and her suitors, see Apollod. E.2.4ff.
53. As to the Phorcides, compare Hes. Th. 270ff.; Aesch. PB 794ff.; Eratosthenes, Cat. 22; Ov. Met. 4.774ff.; Hyginus, Ast. ii.12. Aeschylus wrote a satyric play on the subject. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 83ff.
55. The word kibisis is absurdly derived by the writer from keisthai and esthês. The gloss is probably an interpolation.
57. Compare Hes. Th. 280ff.; Ov. Met. 4.784ff., vi.119ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 151.
58. For the story of Andromeda, see Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 836; Conon 40 (who rationalizes the story); Eratosthenes, Cat. 16, 17, and 36; Ov. Met. 4.665ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 64; Hyginus, Ast. ii.11; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 24ff. (First Vatican Mythographer 73). According to the first two of these writers, the scene of the tale was laid at Joppa. The traces of Andromeda's fetters were still pointed out on the rocks at Joppa in the time of Josephus (Jos. Bell. Jud. iii.9.2). Sophocles and Euripides composed tragedies on the subject, of which some fragments remain. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 157ff., 392ff.; The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, i.78ff.
59. That is, the oracle which declared that he would be killed by the son of Danae. See above, Apollod. 2.4.1.
61. According to another account, the grave of Acrisius was in the temple of Athena on the acropolis of Larissa. See Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. iii.45, p. 39, ed. Potter.
62. As to this exchange of kingdoms, compare Paus. 2.16.3.
63. As to the fortification or foundation of Mycenae by Perseus, see Paus. 2.15.4, Paus. 2.16.3.
64. As to the sons of Perseus and Andromeda, compare Scholiast on Hom. Il. xix.116; Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.747. The former agrees with Apollodorus as to the five sons born to Perseus in Mycenae, except that he calls one of them Aelius instead of Heleus; the latter mentions only four sons, Alcaeus, Sthenelus, Mestor, and Electryon.
65. See below, Apollod. 3.10.3.
66. The name Teleboans is derived by the writer from “telou ebē” (têlou ebê), “he went far.” The same false etymology is accepted by Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 932;. Strabo says (Strab. 10.2.20) that the Taphians were formerly called Teleboans.
67. See below, Apollod. 2.4.7.
68. Thus Electryon married his niece, the daughter of his brother Alcaeus (see above, Apollod. 2.4.5). Similarly Butes is said to have married the daughter of his brother Erechtheus (Apollod. 3.15.1), and Phineus is reported to have been betrothed to the daughter of his brother Cepheus (Apollod. 2.4.3). Taken together, these traditions perhaps point to a custom of marriage with a niece, the daughter of a brother.
69. According to another account, the mother of Alcmena was a daughter of Pelops (Eur. Herc. 210ff.), her name being variously given as Lysidice (Scholiast on Pind. O. 7.27(49);; Plut. Thes. 6) and Eurydice (Diod. 4.9.1).
70. Compare Scholiast on Pind. O. 7.27(49).
71. According to other accounts, her name was Antibia (Scholiast on Hom. Il. xix.119) or Archippe (Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.172, 192).
72. Compare Hom. Il. 19.95-133, where (v. 119) the Ilithyias, the goddesses of childbirth, are also spoken of in the plural. According to Ov. Met. 9.292ff., the goddess of childbirth (Lucina, the Roman equivalent of Ilithyia) delayed the birth of Herakles by sitting at the door of the room with crossed legs and clasped hands until, deceived by a false report that Alcmena had been delivered, she relaxed her posture and so allowed the birth to take place. Compare Paus. 9.11.3; Ant. Lib. 29, according to whom it was the Fates and Ilithyia who thus retarded the birth of Herakles. Among the Efiks and Ibibios, of Southern Nigeria, “the ancient custom still obtains that locks should be undone and knots untied in the house of a woman who is about to bear a babe, since all such are thought, by sympathetic magic, to retard delivery. A case was related of a jealous wife, who, on the advice of a witch doctor versed in the mysteries of her sex, hid a selection of padlocks beneath her garments, then went and sat down near the sick woman's door and surreptitiously turned the key in each. She had previously stolen an old waist-cloth from her rival, which she knotted so tightly over and over that it formed a ball, and, as an added precaution, she locked her fingers closely together and sat with crossed legs, exactly as did Juno Lucina of old when determined to prevent the birth of the infant Herakles” (D. Amaury Talbot, Woman's Mysteries of a Primitive People, the Ibibios of Southern Nigeria (London, etc. 1915), p. 22). See further Taboo and the Perils of the Soul, pp. 294ff.
73. Compare Scholiast on Hom. Il. xix.119; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.172ff., 192ff.
74. Taphius, the father of Pterelaus, was a son of Hippothoe, who was a daughter of Mestor. See above, Apollod. 2.4.5. Thus Mestor was not the maternal grandfather, but the great-grandfather of the sons of Pterelaus. Who the maternal grandfather of the sons of Pterelaus was we do not know, since the name of their mother is not recorded. The words “their maternal grandfather” are probably a gloss which has crept into the text. See the Critical Note. Apart from the difficulty created by these words, it is hard to suppose that Electryon was still reigning over Mycenae at the time of this expedition of the sons of Pterelaus, since, being a son of Perseus, he was a brother of their great-grandfather Mestor.
75. Compare Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.747-751, with the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.747; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 932, whose account seems based on that of Apollodorus.
76. Compare Hes. Sh. 14ff., where it is said that Amphitryon might not go in to his wife Alcmena until he had avenged the death of her brothers, the sons of Electryon, who had been slain in the fight with the Taphians. The tradition points to a custom which enjoined an avenger of blood to observe strict chastity until he had taken the life of his enemy.
77. A similar account of the death of Electryon is given by Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 932, who seems to follow Apollodorus. According to this version of the legend, the slaying of Electryon by Amphitryon was purely accidental. But according to Hes. Sh. 11ff.; Hes. Sh. 79ff., the two men quarrelled over the cattle, and Amphitryon killed Electryon in hot blood. Compare the Scholiast on Hom. Il. xiv.323.
78. That is, for the killing of Electryon. Compare Hes. Sh. 79ff.; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 932; Eur. Herc. 16ff.
79. The animal had its lair at Teumessus, and hence was known as the Teumessian fox. See Paus. 9.19.1; Ant. Lib. 41; Apostolius, Cent. xvi.42; Suidas, s.v. Teumêsia; Tzetzes, Chiliades i.553ff. (who refers to Apollodorus as his authority); Ov. Met. 7.762ff. By an easy application of the rationalistic instrument, which cuts so many mythological knots, the late Greek writer Palaephatus (De Incredib. 8) converted the ferocious animal into a gentleman (kalos kagathos) named Fox, of a truculent disposition and predatory habits, who proved a thorn in the flesh to the Thebans, until Cephalus rid them of the nuisance by knocking him on the head.
80. As to Procris, see below, Apollod. 3.15.1.
81. Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 932. For the similar story of Nisus and his daughter Megara, see below, Apollod. 3.15.8.
82. In the sanctuary of Ismenian Apollo at Thebes, the historian Herodotus saw a tripod bearing an inscription in “Cadmean letters,” which set forth that the vessel had been dedicated by Amphitryon from the spoils of the Teleboans. See Hdt. 5.59. Among the booty was a famous goblet which Poseidon had given to his son Teleboes, and which Teleboes had given to Pterelaus. See Athenaeus xi.99, p. 498 C; Plaut. Amph. 256ff. For the expedition of Amphitryon against the Teleboans or Taphians, see also Strab. 10.2.20; Paus. 1.37.6; Plaut. Amph. 183-256.
83. For the deception of Alcmena by Zeus and the birth of Herakles and Iphicles, see Hes. Sh. 27-56; Diod. 4.9; Scholiast on Hom. Il. xiv.323, and Scholiast on Hom. Od. xi.266; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 33; Hyginus, Fab. 29. The story was the subject of plays by Sophocles and Euripides which have perished (TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 156, 386ff. The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C Pearson, i.76ff.); and it is the theme of a well-known comedy of Plautus the Amphitryo, which is extant. In that play (Plaut. Amph. 112ff.), Plautus mentions the lengthening of the night in which Jupiter (Zeus) begat Herakles. The Scholiast on Hom. Il. xiv.323 says that Zeus persuaded the Sun not to rise for three days; and the threefold night is mentioned also by Diod. 4.9.2. The whole story was told by Pherecydes, as we learn from the Scholiasts on Hom. Il. xiv.323; Od. xi.266; and it is likely that Apollodorus here follows him, for he refers to Pherecydes a few lines below.
84. As to the infant Herakles and the serpents, compare Pind. N. 1.33(50)ff.; Theocritus xxiv; Diod. 4.10.1; Paus. 1.24.2; Plaut. Amph. 1123ff.; Verg. A. 8.288ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 30. According to Theocritus xxiv.1, Herakles was ten months old when he strangled the serpents.
85. As to the education of Herakles, see Theocritus xxiv.104ff., according to whom Herakles learned wrestling not from Autolycus but from Harpalycus, son of Hermes.
86. Compare Diod. 3.67.2; Paus. 9.29.9; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.213ff.
87. Four cubits and one foot, according to the exact measurement of the historian Herodorus. See Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.210ff.; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 662.
88. According to another account, the lion of Cithaeron was killed by Alcathous (Paus. 1.41.3ff.). But Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.216ff. agrees with Apollodorus, whose account of Herakles he seems to follow.
89. As to Herakles and the daughters of Thespius, compare Diod. 4.29.2ff.; Paus. 9.27.6ff.; Athenaeus xiii.4, p. 556 F; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.221ff. The father of the damsels is called Thestius by Pausanias and Athenaeus, who refers to Herodorus as his authority. See the Critical Note.
90. More exactly, “the gaping mouth.” In Greek art Herakles is commonly represented wearing the lion's skin, often with the lion's scalp as a hood on his head. See, for example, Baumeister, Denkmäler des klassischen Altertums, i. figs. 724, 726, 729, 730.
91. As to Herakles and Erginus, compare Diod. 4.10.3-5; Paus. 9.37.2ff.; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.226ff.
92. Compare Diod. 4.10.6; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.228. As to the sons of Herakles by Megara, compare below, Apollod. 2.7.8. The ancients differed considerably as to the number and names of the children whom Herakles had by Megara. According to Pind. I. 4.63ff. there were eight of them. Euripides speaks of three (Eur. Herc. 995ff.). See Scholiast on Pind. I. 4.61(104); Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 48, 663; Scholiast on Hom. Od. xi.269 (who agrees with Apollodorus and quotes Asclepiades as his authority); Hyginus, Fab. 31, 32. The Thebans celebrated an annual festival, with sacrifices and games, in honour of the children. See Pind. I. 4.61 (104)ff, with the Scholiast.
93. Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 50, who says that Rhadamanthys fled from Crete because he had murdered his own brother. He agrees with Pausanias that the worthy couple took up their abode at Ocaleae (or Ocalea) in Boeotia. Their tombs were shown near Haliartus, in Boeotia. See Plut. Lys. 28. The grave of Alcmena was excavated in antiquity, during the Spartan occupation of the Cadmea. It was found to contain a small bronze bracelet, two earthen-ware jars, and a bronze tablet inscribed with ancient and unknown characters. See Plut. De genio Socratis 5. A different story of the marriage of Rhadamanthys and Alcmena was told by Pherecydes. According to him, when Alcmena died at a good old age, Zeus commanded Hermes to steal her body from the coffin in which the sons of Herakles were conveying it to the grave. Hermes executed the commission, adroitly substituting a stone for the corpse in the coffin. Feeling the coffin very heavy, the sons of Herakles set it down, and taking off the lid they discovered the fraud. They took out the stone and set it up in a sacred grove at Thebes, where was a shrine of Alcmena. Meantime Hermes had carried off the real Alcmena to the Islands of the Blest, where she was married to Rhadamanthys. See Ant. Lib. 33. This quaint story is alluded to by Pausanias, who tells us (Paus. 9.16.7) that there was no tomb of Alcmena at Thebes, because at her death she had been turned to stone.
94. See above Apollod. 2.4.9. According to another account, Herakles learned archery from the exile Rhadamanthys (Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 50), and if we accept the MS. reading autou in the present passage (see Critical Note), this was the version of the story here followed by Apollodorus. But it seems more likely that autou is a scribe's mistake for Eurutou than that Apollodorus should have contradicted himself flatly in two passages so near each other. The learned Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 50 mentions no less than three different men -- Teutarus, Eurytus, and Rhadamanthys -- to whom the honour of having taught Herakles to shoot was variously assigned by tradition.
95. As to the gifts of the gods to Herakles, see Diod. 4.13.3, who, besides the sword and bow given by Hermes and Apollo, mentions horses given by Poseidon.'
96. Compare Eur. Herc. 967ff.; Moschus iv.13ff.; Diod. 4.11.1ff.; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 38; Nicolaus Damascenus, Frag. 20, in Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, ed. C. Müller, iii.369; Hyginus, Fab. 32.
98. Herakles was called Alcides after his grandfather Alcaeus, the father of Amphitryon. See above, Apollod. 2.4.5. But, according to another account, the hero was himself called Alcaeus before he received the name of Herakles from Apollo. See Sextus Empiricus, pp. 398ff., ed. Bekker; Scholiast on Pind. O. 6.68(115).
99. For the labours of Herakles, see Soph. Trach. 1091ff.; Eur. Herc. 359ff.; Eur. Herc. 1270ff.; Diod. 4.10ff.; Paus. 5.10.9; Paus. 5.26.7; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica vi.208ff.; Tzetzes, Chiliades 229ff.; Verg. A. 8.287ff.; Ov. Met. 9.182ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 30.
100. 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.
101. 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.
102. 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 thuein, the latter by the verb enagizein. 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 enagizein 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 thuein and enagizein, 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 thusiai and enagismata 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 entemnein See, for example, Thuc. 5.11, ôs hêrôï te entemnousi (of the sacrifices offered at Amphipolis to Brasidas). Sometimes the verbs enagizein and entemnein 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).
103. Compare Diod. 4.12.1, who however places this incident after the adventure with the Erymanthian boar.
104. As to the herald Copreus, compare Hom. Il. 15.639ff., with the note of the Scholiast.
105. 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.
106. 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.
107. 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.
108. The hind is said to have borne the inscription “Taygete dedicated (me) to Artemis.” See Pind. O. 3.29(53)ff., with the Scholiast.
109. 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).
110. As to these nymphs, see Hesiod, Th. 187. The name perhaps means an ash-tree nymph (from melia, an ash tree), as Dryad means an oak tree nymph (from drus, an oak tree).
111. 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).
112. Compare Servius on Verg. A. 8.294.
113. 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.
114. Compare Hom. Il. 2.629, with the Scholiast; Paus. 5.1.10, Paus. 5.3.1-3.
115. 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.
116. 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.
117. 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.
118. 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.
119. 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. Abdêra; 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.
120. Compare Strab. 7 Fr. 44, 47, ed. A. Meineke; Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. Abdêra; 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.
121. 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.
122. 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.
123. 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.
124. 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.
125. 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.
126. 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).
127. As to the siege and capture of Troy by Herakles, see below, Apollod. 2.6.4.
128. Compare Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.320 sq.
129. 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.
130. 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.
131. 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.
132. 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).
133. 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.
134. 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.
135. 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.
136. Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 652, who probably follows Apollodorus.
137. 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. Abdêra.
138. 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).
139. Compare Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.340ff., who calls the victims Dercynus and Alebion.
140. The author clearly derives the name of Rhegium from this incident (Rêgion from aporrêgnusi). 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.”
141. 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.
142. 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.
143. The story was apparently told to account for the origin of wild cattle in Thrace.
144. 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 enneatêris as the period of Apollo's service. But though enneatêris 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. apeniautismos; Suidas, s.v. apenautisai. 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.
145. 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.
146. 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.
147. 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.
148. 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).
149. 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.
150. More literally, “lifted him aloft with hugs.” For this technical term (hamma) applied to a wrestler's hug, see Plut. Fabius Maximus 23, and Plut. Alc. 2.