CLAS 203 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Ceryneian Hind, Sciron, Crommyonian Sow
25 Jan 2018
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Document Summary
Heracles is the most famous and greatest of all greek heroes and is the son of zeus. The myths about heracles are too numerous to be counted. Despite their numbers, there have been no ancient systematic organization of them: no chronology, no categories, which leads to multiple variations of each. Zeus disguised himself as the husband, amphitryon, of alcmene, a mortal woman, and made the night last 3x as long, so that he could sleep with her. Evidently, hera is very unhappy about the whole matter and goes after him: tries to kill him in his cradle by sending a snake. Early in his childhood, heracles is taught to play the lyre. Upon playing badly, heracles accidentally kills his teacher with his immense strength, after hitting him with the instrument. In some accounts, after this, heracles is visited by virtue and vice, who give him a choice: have an easy life with no toil or a hard, but glorious one.
