Heracleidae

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This article is about the descendants of Heracles. For the play by Euripides, see
Heracleidae (play). For other uses, see Heraclides (disambiguation)
.
"Heraclid" redirects here. For the ruler of Moldavia, see Iacob Heraclid.
Heracles with his son Telephus, one of the Heracleidae

The Heracleidae (

Peloponnesian kingdoms of Mycenae, Sparta and Argos; according to the literary tradition in Greek mythology, they claimed a right to rule through their ancestor. Since Karl Otfried Müller's Die Dorier (1830, English translation 1839), I. ch. 3, their rise to dominance has been associated with a "Dorian invasion". Though details of genealogy differ from one ancient author to another, the cultural significance of the mythic theme, that the descendants of Heracles, exiled after his death, returned some generations later to reclaim land that their ancestors had held in Mycenaean Greece
, was to assert the primal legitimacy of a traditional ruling clan that traced its origin, thus its legitimacy, to Heracles.

In the historical period, several dynasties claimed descent from Heracles, such as the Agiads and Eurypontids of Sparta, or the Temenids of Macedonia.

Origin

Heracles, whom

Athens. Eurystheus, on his demand for their surrender being refused, attacked Athens, but was defeated and slain. Hyllus and his brothers then invaded Peloponnesus, but after a year's stay were forced by a pestilence to quit. They withdrew to Thessaly, where Aegimius, the mythical ancestor of the Dorians, whom Heracles had assisted in war against the Lapithae, adopted Hyllus and made over to him a third part of his territory.[1]

After the death of

Aristomachus, both unsuccessful.[2]

Dorian invasion

Main article: Dorian invasion

At last,

Acarnanian soothsayer.[3]

The oracle, being again consulted by

Orestes, the chief ruler in the peninsula, who was defeated and slain.[3] This conquest was traditionally dated eighty years after the Trojan War.[4]

The Heracleidae, who thus became practically masters of Peloponnesus, proceeded to distribute its territory among themselves by lot.

Lacedaemon until 221 BCE, but disappeared much earlier in the other countries.[3]

This conquest of

Peloponnesus by the Dorians, commonly called the "Dorian invasion" or the "Return of the Heraclidae", is represented as the recovery by the descendants of Heracles of the rightful inheritance of their hero ancestor and his sons. The Dorians followed the custom of other Greek tribes in claiming as ancestor for their ruling families one of the legendary heroes, but the traditions must not on that account be regarded as entirely mythical. They represent a joint invasion of Peloponnesus by Aetolians and Dorians, the latter having been driven southward from their original northern home under pressure from the Thessalians. It is noticeable that there is no mention of these Heraclidae or their invasion in Homer or Hesiod. Herodotus (vi. 52) speaks of poets who had celebrated their deeds, but these were limited to events immediately succeeding the death of Heracles.[3]

List of Heracleidae

At Sparta

Main article: List of kings of Sparta

At

Eurypontids. Other Spartiates also claimed Heraclid descent, such as Lysander
.

At Corinth

At Corinth the Heraclids ruled as the Bacchiadae dynasty[6] before the aristocratic revolution, which brought a Bacchiad aristocracy into power.

At Argos

Genealogy of the Argead Dynasty

A descendant of Heracles, Temenus, was the first king of Argos, who later counted the famous tyrant Pheidon.

At Macedonia

At

Argead Dynasty, whose name comes from Argos, as one of the Heraclids from this city, Perdiccas I, settled in Macedonia, where he founded his kingdom.[7] By the time of Philip II the family had expanded their reign further, to include under the rule of Macedonia all Upper Macedonian states. Their most celebrated members were Philip II of Macedon and his son Alexander the Great, under whose leadership the kingdom of Macedonia gradually gained predominance throughout Greece, defeated the Achaemenid Empire and expanded as far as Egypt and India. The mythical founder of the Argead dynasty is King Caranus.[8][9]

In Euripides' tragedy

Main article:
Heracleidae (play)

The Greek tragedians amplified the story, probably drawing inspiration from local legends which glorified the services rendered by Athens to the rulers of Peloponnesus.

The Heracleidae feature as the main subjects of Euripides' play, Heracleidae.[10] J. A. Spranger found the political subtext of Heracleidae, never far to seek, so particularly apt in Athens towards the end of the peace of Nicias, in 419 BCE, that he suggested the date as that of the play's first performance.[11]

In the tragedy, Iolaus, Heracles' old comrade and nephew, and Heracles' children, Macaria and her brothers and sisters have hidden from Eurystheus in Athens, ruled by King Demophon; as the first scene makes clear, they expect that the blood relationship of the kings with Heracles and their father's past indebtedness to Theseus will finally provide them sanctuary. As Eurystheus prepares to attack, an oracle tells Demophon that only the sacrifice of a noble woman to Persephone can guarantee an Athenian victory. Macaria volunteers for the sacrifice and a spring is named the Macarian spring in her honor.

References

  1. ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 308.
  2. ^ Chisholm 1911, pp. 308–309.
  3. ^ a b c d Chisholm 1911, p. 309.
  4. ^ Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.12
  5. ^ Apollodorus, Library 2.8.4
  6. ^ Diodorus Siculus, 7.9
  7. ISBN 978-0-19-866121-4
    . In historical times the royal house traced its descent from the mythical Temenus, king of Argos, who was one of the Heracleidae, and more immediately from Perdiccas I, who left Argos for Illyria, probably in the mid-seventh century BC, and from there captured the Macedonian plain and occupied the fortress of Aegae (Vergina), setting himself up as king of the Macedonians.
  8. ^ "Pausanias, Description of Greece, Boeotia, chapter 40". pp. 8–9. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  9. ISBN 978-0-520-95469-4
    .
  10. Heracles Mad
    ).
  11. ^ J. A. Spranger, "The Political Element in the Heracleidae of Euripides" The Classical Quarterly 19.3/4 (July 1925), pp. 117-128.

Sources

External links

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Heraclidae". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 308–309.

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