Eurystheus

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Hercule apporte à Eurysthée la ceinture de la reine des Amazones by Daniel Sarrabat

In

Argolid, although other authors including Homer and Euripides cast him as ruler of Argos
.

Family

Eurystheus was the son of King

Perseus.[3] His sisters were Alcyone and Medusa (Astymedusa
).

Eurystheus married Antimache,[4] daughter of Amphidamas of Arcadia. Their children were Admete, Alexander, Iphimedon, [5] Eurybius, Mentor, Perimedes[6] and Eurypylus.[7]

Mythology

Labours of Heracles

Main article: Labours of Hercules

In the contest of wills between

Labours of Heracles, but Hera was connected with all of the opponents Heracles had to overcome.[9]

Heracles' human stepfather

Copreus.[10]

For his second labour, to slay the Lernaean Hydra, Heracles took with him his nephew, Iolaus, as a charioteer. When Eurystheus found out that Heracles' nephew had helped him he declared that the labour had not been completed alone and as a result did not count towards the ten labours set for him.[11]

Eurystheus' third task did not involve killing a beast, but capturing one alive—the Ceryneian Hind, a golden-horned hind or doe sacred to Artemis. Heracles knew that he had to return the hind, as he had promised, to Artemis, so he agreed to hand it over on the condition that Eurystheus himself come out and take it from him. Eurystheus did come out, but the moment Heracles let the hind go, she sprinted back to her mistress, and Heracles departed, saying that Eurystheus had not been quick enough.[12]

When Heracles returned with the

Erymanthian Boar, Eurystheus was again frightened and hid in his jar, begging Heracles to get rid of the beast; Heracles obliged.[13]

The fifth labour proposed by Eurystheus was to clear out the numerous

stables of Augeias
. Striking a deal with Augeias, Heracles proposed a payment of a tenth of Augeias' cattle if the labour was completed successfully. Not believing the task feasible, Augeias agreed, asking his son Phyleus to witness. Heracles rerouted two nearby rivers (
Peneios) through the stable, clearing out the dung rapidly. When Augeias learned of Heracles' bargain for the task, he refused payment. Heracles brought the case to court, and Phyleus testified against his father. Enraged, Augeias banished both Phyleus and Heracles from the land before the court had cast their vote. However, Eurystheus refused to credit the labour to Heracles, as he had performed it for payment. So Heracles went and drove Augeias out of the kingdom and installed Phyleus as king. Heracles then took his tenth of the cattle and left them to graze in a field by his home.[14]

For his sixth labour, Heracles had to drive the

Stymphalian Birds off the marshes they plagued. He did so, shooting down several birds with his Hydra-poisoned arrows and bringing them back to Eurystheus as proof.[15]

For his seventh labour, Heracles captured the

Marathonian Bull.[16]

When Heracles brought back the man-eating Mares of Diomedes successfully, Eurystheus dedicated the horses to Hera and allowed them to roam freely in the Argolid.[17] Bucephalus, Alexander the Great's horse, was said to be descended from these mares.

To acquire the belt of

Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons, was Heracles' ninth task. This task was at the request of Eurystheus' daughter, Admete.[18] For the tenth labour, he stole the cattle of the giant Geryon, which Eurystheus then sacrificed to Hera.[19]

To extend what may have once been ten Labours to the canonical dozen, it was said that Eurystheus didn't count the Hydra, as he was assisted, nor the Augean stables, as Heracles received payment for his work. For the eleventh labour, Heracles had to obtain the Apples of the

Titan Atlas, to help him, but did his share of work by temporarily holding up the sky in the Titan's stead.[20] For his final labour, he was to capture Cerberus, the three-headed hound that guarded the entrance to Hades. When he managed to bring the struggling animal back, the terrified Eurystheus hid in his jar one more time, begging Heracles to leave for good and take the dog with him.[21]

Death

After Heracles died, Eurystheus remained bitter over the indignity the hero had caused him. He attempted to destroy Heracles' many children (the Heracleidae, led by Hyllus), who fled to Athens. He attacked the city but was soundly defeated, and Eurystheus and his sons were killed.[22] Though it is widely told that Hyllus killed Eurystheus, the stories about the killer of Eurystheus and the fate of his corpse vary,[23] but the Athenians believed the burial site of Eurystheus remained on their soil and served to protect the country against the descendants of Heracles, who traditionally included the Spartans and Argives.[24]

After Eurystheus' death, the brothers Atreus and Thyestes, whom he had left in charge during his absence, took over the city, the former exiling the latter and assuming the kingship, while Tiryns returned to the kingship of Argos.

Eurystheus in Euripides

Eurystheus was a character in

Athens, which was ruled by King Demophon. As Eurystheus prepared to attack, an oracle told Demophon that he would win if and only if a noble woman was sacrificed to Persephone. Macaria volunteered for the sacrifice and a spring was named the Macarian spring in her honor. Eurystheus speaks prophetically of his burial within Attica, claiming that he will be an anti-hero of sorts, though one who will eventually protect the Athenians.[25]

In popular culture

Notes

  1. ^ Scholia on Homer, Iliad 19.119
  2. Tzetzes
    , Chiliades 2.172 & 195
  3. ^ a b Apollodorus, 2.4.5
  4. ^ Antimache (Ἀντιμάχη) does not feature further in Greek myth, aside from a list of names of her sons and a genealogy for her, given in Apollodorus, 2.5.9, 2.8.1 & 3.9.2
  5. ^ Apollodorus, 2.5.9
  6. ^ Apollodorus, 2.8.1
  7. ^ Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 4.158 (p. 219)
  8. ^ See Carl A.P. Ruck and Danny Staples, The World of Classical Myth (1994) VII. "Herakles: Making the New Olympia", pp.163-202.
  9. ^ Walter Burkert, Greek Religion (1985) p. 210: "Heracles seems to carry Hera's name in his own, as if Hera were his fame (kleos), yet all we ever hear is that, from beginning to end, this jealous wife of Zeus persecutes her step-son with unrelenting hatred." For Hera's connection with each of Heracles' opponents, see under the individual Labours.
  10. ^ Apollodorus, 2.5.1
  11. ^ Apollodorus, 2.5.2
  12. ^ Apollodorus, 2.5.3
  13. ^ Apollodorus, 2.5.4
  14. ^ Apollodorus, 2.5.5
  15. ^ Apollodorus, 2.5.6
  16. ^ Apollodorus, 2.5.7
  17. ^ Apollodorus, 2.5.8
  18. ^ Apollodorus, 2.5.9
  19. ^ Apollodorus, 2.5.10
  20. ^ Apollodorus, 2.5.11
  21. ^ Apollodorus, 2.5.12
  22. ^ Apollodorus, 2.8.1
  23. ^ Apollodorus, 3.8.1 and Diodorus Siculus 4.57 give Hyllus as the slayer, Pausanias 1.44.10 and Strabo 7.6.19 give Iolaus.
  24. ^ Maximilian Wolfgang Duncker (1883). History of Greece, to the end of the Persian war, tr. by S. F. Alleyne (and E. Abbott). pp. 86–.
  25. ^ Heracleidae vv. 1026-1044.

References

External links

Regnal titles
Preceded by
Sthenelus
 King of Mycenae Succeeded by
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