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H E R A K L E S A X D G R E E K D I O S K O U R O I L E G E N D SA fte r the researches of Ei t relnl an d H arr is2 which have shed new

light on the origin and frequency of Dioskouroi Myths in AncientGreece, the following facts may be considered as established.1. T h e Dioscuric twins, though of g rea t likeness, are none the lessdifferentiated, often to such a degree that the one may be consideredthe counterpart of the other."

2. They are apt to have the same inother but difierent fathers,one of whom is divine, the other mortal.3. Th ey a re warl ike and go to bat t le together. Their ellenlies

a r e ap t to be an ot he r tw in ~ o u p l e . ~h e o u t c o ~ n es generally tragic.4. A t an y rate , one of them proves mortal , tvhile the other is agod and immor ta l.I t h as n ev er, to n ~ y nowledge, been brought out that in the l ightof these facts the hero Herakles may appear in a new aspect. I n

the following pages I shall endeavor to show that in the cycle oflegends which centre around this famous character of the heroic agea number point to Dioscuric origin and shal l prove that at least oneof the roots of the cycle goes back to ancient superstitions connectedwith twill births.

In sonle of the oldest versions which have come down to us,H e r a kl e s a nd I ph ik le s a r e t w ins , bor n by A l k m e n e . Y h e f a t he r ofHerakles is Zeus, that of his twin brother Alkmene's husband, KingAmphi t ryon. Soon a ft er his birth I-Ierakles reveals l~i n ~ se lfs thesoi l of the god; for he ki l ls two enormous snakes who had putIphikles to flight. In spi te of this difference in st rength a nd cou rage

1S. Eit rem, Die giittlichefz Zwillinge bei den Griechefz, Christiania, 1902,Yidelzskabsselskabets Skrifter, I I . Historisk-filos. Klasse, No. 2.

2 J. R. Ha rr i s , The Dioscuri ilz the Christian Legends, London, 1903; TheCult of the Heavenly Tzuins, Cambridge, 1906; Boanerges, Cambridge, 1913.S H a r r i s , Cult, p. 45; Boanerges, pp . 159; 308; 336; 417.4Ei t re rn , pp. 7 ; 42 f f . ; Ha rr i s , Czrlt, pp . 44; 139; Boanerges, p. 224.

EHesiod, Shield of Hercules, 27-56; Diod. Sic. Bibl. IV . 9 ; Schol. on 11.XIV. 323 and Od. XI. 266; T z e t z . Lyk. 33; Hy g . F a b . 29.

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N O T E S 503the two brothers go to war with the Hippokoontides, likewise twins6T he cause of this wa r is reported t o have been the following. T heHippokoontides had taken sides with Neleus in a war made byHe rakles on th e latter, and h ad killed the son of Likym nios, Herakles'cousin. T his hero had hit a dog of the Hippokoontides with a stoneand had thereupon been killed by them. Now the Hippokoontides,as their name indicates, sons of Hippokoo n, are Laked aimoniantwins who were also said to have fought against the Dioskouroi;fo r Pluta rch n arrates 7 that E narsphoros, son of Hippokoon, wassuspected of intending to violate Helen. I t is also to be noted thata f te r the death of the Hippokoontides Herakles restores the king-dom to Tyndareos, the fathe r of Ka stor an d Polydeukes, who hadbeen driven out by Hippokoo n and his sons.8 T h e battle betweenHerakles and Iphikles on one hand and the Hippokoontides on theother end s with the death of the latter and Iphikles, He rakles' m ortaltwin brother. Moreover, He rakles receives a wound at the K O T ~ ' ~ ~ , ~which in many legendary cycles, Hellenic and non-Hellenic, turnsou t to be fatal.1 Above all, it is the very kind of wound which isinflicted upon Kastor in his battle against King Aphidnos.llThe Hippokoontides are however not the only twin couple foughtby Herak les. Apollodoros tells us that when the hero marchedagainst Augeias the latter sent against him an army led by Eurytosand Kteatos, sons of Aktor and Molione, said to have been bornfr om an egg, just as the Spa rtan Dioskouroi,12 and in their originevidently a pair of Siamese twins.13 He rakles a t first suffers a de-feat, but later he waylays and kills them.14Apollonios Rhodios in his Argonautica reports another fight of

6 Eitrem, op. cit. pp. 19-23; Apollod. Bibl. 11. 7. 3 ; Diod. Sic. Bibl. IV. 33.5 f f . ; Pausanias, Descr. Gr. 11. 18. 7; 111. 10. 6 ; 111. 15. 3-6; 111. 19. 7;VIII. 53. 9.

7 V it . parall., These us, 31.8 Apollod. Bibl. 11. 7. 3 ; 111. 10. 5 ; Diod. Sic. Bibl. IV . 33. 5; Pausanias,Descr. Gr. 11. 18. 7 ; 111. 1. 4 f . ; 111. 21. 4 ; Schol. on Eurip. Orest. 457;Schol. on Il. 11. 581.9 Apollod. Bibl. 11. 7. 3.10 S. Wide, Lakonische Kulte, Leipzig, 1893, p. 322. Cf. the death woundof Alexandros-Paris, of King Arthur and of the fisher-king in the Grailromances.l1Wide, op. cit., p. 187. 1 2 Athenaeus, Deipn. 11. 50; Eitrem, p. 12. 1 3 Schol. Il. XI. 709; cf. also Apollod. Bibl. 11. 7. 2. 1 4 Apollod. Bibl. 11. 7. 2.

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504 THE CLASSICAL J OU RN A LHerakles against a Dioscuric couple, Zetes and Kalais, sons ofBo reas and Orithyia.15 H e kills them because they had persuadedthe Argonauts to leave him behind in ldysia.

Apollodoros relates how Herakles, desiring to establish an oracleof his own, carried off the sacred tripod of Delphoi. Th en Apollofought him, but Zeus separated the two by a thunderbolt.lB It is al-most certain that Apollo was a twin divinity even before his unionwith Artemis a t Delos.17 Bu t leaving aside the argu men ts advancedto support this theory, precisely the same episode of a duel betweenthe god and one hero of a twin couple is told by H om erlY andA p o l l ~ d o r o s . ~ ~ reier to the fight of Apollo and Idas, the twinbrother of Lynk eus, just a s Hera kles is the twin brother of Iphikles,and just as Zeus separates Apollo and Herakles, so he stops the duelof Apollo and I d a ~ . ~ ~t is then certain that Herakles and Idas areparallel figures and that Apollo was introduced later into both twinlegends, for reasons which we can hardly surmise, but which areevidently connected with Apollo's own Dioscuric character.

Without trying to explain the origin and development of all thesetwin myths, which we shall probably never be able to judge with anydegree of certainty, the historic facts being unknown, we may saytha t Herakles, at an early stage, was one of a Dioscuric couple. H eoutstripped his twin brother in llluch the salve way in which atRo me Kast or outstripped Pollux, but the original features of histwin character are still clearly discernible.

A L E X A N D E R K R A P P EA G G E R T YFLATRIVER,Mo.15Apollon. Rh. Argol l . 1. 1298-1308; Apollod. Bibl. 111. 15. 2; Hyg. Fab.

14.16 Apollod. Bibl. 11. 6. 2.1 7 Harris, Cult, p. 139; Boa~zerges ,p. 319.1s 11. IX . 564 ff.1WBibl. I. 7. 8-9.20 Ibid.

H E C T O R A S A P O E T I C C R EA T I O NThere is an interesting parallel in very recent literature for the

hypothesis developed by Professor Scott in his T h e Uttity of Hovtevthat H ector was a n inlaginary character, created to add mo ral dignityto the story, and also to furnish a chan~pionof sufficient valor toei~ ha nc e he glory of Achilles.