A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

IERACLES. HERACLES:. 397
and Europe he erected two pillars (Calpe'and might compel'the' prophetic Nereus'to instruct him
Abyla) on the two sides of the straits of Gibraltar, as to what road he should take. On the advice of
which were hence called the pillars of Heracles. Nereus he proceeded to Libya. Apollodorus as.
As on his journey Heracles was annoyed by the signs the fight with Antaeus, and the murder of
heat of the sun, he shot at Helios, who so much Busiris, to this expedition; both Apollodorus and
admired his boldness, that he presented him with a Diodorus now make Heracles travel further south
golden cup or boat, in which he sailed across the and east: thus we find him in Ethiopia, where lie
ocean to Erytheia. He there slew Eurytion, his kills Emathion, in Arabia,'and in Asia he advances
dog, and Geryones, and sailed with his booty to as far as Mount Caucasus, where he killed the
Tartessus, where he returned the golden cup (boat) vulture which consumed the liver of Prometheus,
to Helios. On his way home he passed the Py- and thus saved the Titan. At length Heracles
renees and the Alps, founded Alesia and Nemausus arrived at Mount Atlas, among the Hyperboreans.
in Gaul, became the father of the Celts, and then Prometheus had advised him not to fetch'the
proceeded to the Ligurians, whose princes, Alebion apples himself, but to send Atlas, and in the meanand Dercynus, attempted to carry off his oxen, but time to carry the weight of heaven for him. Atlas
were slain by him. In his contest with them, he accordingly fetched the apples, but on his return he
was assisted by Zeus with a shower of stones, as he refused to take the burden of heaven on his
had not enough missiles; hence the canpus lapi- shoulders again, and declared that he himself would
dens between Massilia and the river Rhodanus. carry the apples to' Eurystheus. Heracles, howFrom thence he proceeded through the country of ever, contrived by a stratagem to get the apples
the Tyrrhenians. In the neighbourhood of Rhegium and hastened away. On his return EurysthJcus
one of his oxen jumped into the sea, and swam to made him a present of the apples, but Heracles
Sicily, where Eryx, the son of Poseidon, caught dedicated them to Athena, who, however, did mot
and put him among his own cattle. Heracles him- keep them, but restored them to their former place.
self followed, in search of the ox, and found him, Some traditions add to this account that Heracles
but recovered him only after a fight with Eryx, in killed the dragon Ladon. (Apollod. ii. 5. ~ 11;
wvhich the latter fell. According to Diodorus, who Diod. iv. 26, &c.; Hes. Theog. 215, &c.; Plinis very minute in this part of his narrative, Hera- Ii. N. vi. 31, 36; Plut. Thes. 11; Apollon. Rhod.
cles returned home by land, through Italy and iv. 1396, &c.; Hygin. Fab. 31, Poet. Asti. ii. 6;
Illyricum; but, according to others, he sailed Eratosth. Cataest. 3.)
across the Ionian and Adriatic seas. After 12. Cerberus. To fetch this monster from the
reaching Thrace, Hera made his oxen mad and lower world is the crown of the twelve labours of
furious. When, in their pursuit, he came to the Heracles, and is therefore usually reckoned as the
river Strymon, he made himself a road through twelfth or last in the series. It is the only one
it, by means of huge blocks of stone. On reaching that is expressly mentioned in the Homeric poems.
the IIellespont, he had gradually recovered his (Od. xi. 623, &c.) Later writers have added to
oxen, and took them to Eurystheus, who sacrificed the simple story several particulars, such, e. g. that
them to Hera. (Hes. Tlweog. 287, &c.; Apollod. Heracles, previous to setting out on his expedition,
ii. 5. ~ 10; Diod. iv. 17, &c., v. 17, 25; Herod. was initiated by Eumolpus in the Eleusinian mysiv. 8; Serv. ad Aen. vii. 662; Strab. iii. pp. 2212 teries, in order to purify him from the murder of the
258, &c.; Dionys. i. 34; Pind. Nrem. iii. 21.) Centaurs. Accompanied by Hermes and Athena,
These ten labours were performed by Heracles Heracles descended into Hades, near Cape Taein the space of eight years and one month; but as narum, in Laconia. On his arrival most of tlhe
Eurystheus declared two of them to have been per- shades fled before him, and he found only Meleformed unlawfully, he commanded him to accom- ager and Medusa, with whom he intended to fight;
plish two more, viz. to fetch but, on the command of Hermes, he left them in
11. The golden apples of the Hesperides. This peace. Near the gates of Hades he met Theseus
Was particularly difficult, since Heracles did not and Peirithous, who stretched their arms implorknow where to find them. They were the apples ingly towards him. He delivered Theseus, but;
which Hera had received at her wedding from Ge, when he attempted to do the same for Peirithous,
and which she had entrusted to the keeping of the the earth began to tremble. After having rolled
Ilesperides and the dragon Ladon, on Mount the stone from Ascalaphus, he killed one of the
Atlas, in the country of the Hyperboreans. (Apol- oxen of Hades, in order to give the shades the
lod. ii. 5. ~ 11.) In other accounts the apples are blood to drink, and fought with Menoetius, the
described. as sacred to Aphrodite, Dionysus, or herdsman. Upon this, he asked Pluto permission
Helios; but the abode of the IHesperides is placed to take Cerberus, and' the request was granted, on
by Hesiod, Apollodorus, and others, in the west, condition of its being done without force of arms.
while later writers specify more particularly certain This was accomplished, for Heracles found Cerplaces in Libya, or in the Atlantic Ocean. The men- berus on the Acheron, and, notwithstanding the
tion of the Hyperboreans in this connection renders bites of the dragon, he took the monster, and in
the matter very difficult, but it is possible that the neighbourhood of Troezene he brought it to the
the anicients may have conceived the extreme north upper world. The place where he appeared with
(the usual seat of the Hyperboreans), and the ex- Cerberus is not the same in all traditions, for some
treme west to be contiguous. Heracles, in order to say that it was at Taenarum, others at Hermione,
find the gardens of the Hesperides, went to the or Coroneia, and others again at Heracleia. When
river Echedorus, in Macedonia, after having killed Cerberus appeared in the upper world, it is said
Termerus in Thessaly. In Macedonia he killed that, unable to bear the light, he spit, and thus
Cycnus, the son oft Ares and Pyrene, who had called forth the poisonous plant called aconitutm.
challenged him. He thence passed through Illyria, After having shown the monster to Eurystheus,
and arrived on the banks of the river Eridanus, and Heracles took it back to the lower world. Some
was informed by the nymphs in what manner he traditions connect the descent of Heracles into the