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Home , Abderus, Acheron, Alcmene, Cerberus, Chiron, Chthonic

“When [] asked Plu- to [] for , ordered him to take the animal provided he mas- tered him without the use of the weapons Heracles’s twelve labors which he carried. Hercules found him at the gates of , and, cased in his author: Pseudo-Apollodorus and (the realm). The tale of cuirass and covered by the ’s skin, time Period: 999 BCE–1 BCE Heracles’s twelve labors is the story of the and he fl ung his arms round the head of the Country or Culture: Greek mortal proving his might and elevating himself to brute, and though the in its tail Genre: the Olympian realm. He is a champion of Greek civili- zation and of the immortal Olympians who lord above bit him, he never relaxed his grip and OVERVIEW it. Because of this, as he conquers the great beasts of the pressure till it yielded.” The great warrior Heracles (more commonly known by wilderness and vanquishes entire armies, he is demon- his roman name, Hercules) is the subject of a large strating the power and value of the chthonic and Olym- Bibliotheca range of and legends. Carrying a wooden club and pian realms both. When he completes his fi nal task and wearing the fur of a lion, he battles his way across Greek returns from the , he represents the ultimate and roman , crushing poisonous with triumph, moving beyond the confi nes of mortality and his bare hands as a baby, sacking the great city of , becoming a . The rare story of a chthonic hero over- and adventuring in new lands with the legendary - coming his own nature, the myth of Heracles’s labors nauts. He seems to be in a continuous process of falling speaks to the of Greek civilization and to the be- in and out , fathering fi fty sons at one moment and lief that within one’s earthly self might rest something building a shrine to his fallen male lover in the next. heroic, legendary, and immortal. representing the heights of masculinity, heroism, and strength, Heracles and his myths are dominant forces in SUmmaRY . It is the story of his twelve labors, The son of the and the mortal , - however, that is most familiar to modern audiences. cles is both blessed and cursed from the start of his life. The story of Heracles’s twelve labors is an impor- Incredibly mighty and heroic, he accomplishes feats of tant component of both the life of Heracles and the pro- great strength at a young age. However, the gression of Greek mythology. Before the myth properly Hera, Zeus’s wife, decides to punish Heracles in order begins, Heracles is driven into a rage by the goddess to take revenge for her husband’s infi delities. One day Hera. Heracles is the son of Zeus and a mortal woman, she drives Heracles into a frenzy, during which he kills and jealous Hera, the immortal wife of Zeus, makes a his children. When Heracles then goes to the of project out of tormenting the earthly hero. In that rage, to seek forgiveness, Hera infl uences the oracle, Heracles slaughters his children. Seeking forgiveness, who tells Heracles that he must swear allegiance to his he visits the oracle of Delphi and is ordered to serve his mortal cousin for twelve years, after which cousin Eurystheus, the king of . Hera and Eurys- he will be redeemed and gain immortality. Hera, who is theus then Heracles to his labors, which are designed in league with eurystheus, plans to set Heracles to such to kill the hero, testing his strength, endurance, and wit great tasks during this time that he will meet his mortal in the most extreme of circumstances. . The myth is an engaging and thrilling read, as Her- eurystheus immediately orders Heracles to complete acles completes seemingly impossible tasks and en- ten great labors, which Heracles attempts with legend- counters the greatest and of all Greek ary heroism. First, he slays the , an invulner- mythology. However, the myth is most important on a able beast born to the . When he brings symbolic level. Greek culture separated the realm of the the body of the beast back to eurystheus, eurystheus earth and mortality (the chthonic realm) from that of the realizes how strong Heracles truly is and commands

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bull, showing it to Eurystheus before letting it go free again. For his eighth labor, he captures the man-eating “When Hercules [Heracles] asked Plu- mares of King , the son of the god . In ad- to [Hades] for Cerberus, Pluto ordered dition to slaying Diomedes and taking the mares, Hera- him to take the animal provided he mas- cles founds a new city on the grave of , who had been the mares’ caretaker before dying during the battle. tered him without the use of the weapons For his ninth labor, Heracles goes to fetch the belt of which he carried. Hercules found him at , who is the queen of the , a commu- the gates of Acheron, and, cased in his nity of fierce warrior women. On the way to Hippolyte, he slays a massive army that attacks his ships. Hippolyte sky and immortality (the Olympian realm). The tale of cuirass and covered by the lion’s skin, at first offers the belt freely, but Hera, disguised as an Heracles’s twelve labors is the story of the chthonic and he flung his arms round the head of the Amazon, convinces the female army to attack Heracles, mortal hero proving his might and elevating himself to brute, and though the dragon in its tail and so he is forced to kill them all. Next, Heracles trav- the Olympian realm. He is a champion of Greek civili- els a great distance and kills many people in order to zation and of the immortal Olympians who lord above bit him, he never relaxed his grip and fetch the of , a monster with the body of it. Because of this, as he conquers the great beasts of the pressure till it yielded.” three men. wilderness and vanquishes entire armies, he is demon- Eight years and one month after the start of the la- strating the power and value of the chthonic and Olym- Bibliotheca bors, Heracles finishes the tenth task. However, because pian realms both. When he completes his final task and he received help with the second labor and payment for returns from the underworld, he represents the ultimate the fifth, Eurystheus requires two more tasks of him. triumph, moving beyond the confines of mortality and For his eleventh labor, Heracles must fetch the becoming a deity. The rare story of a chthonic hero over- that he never enter the city again and instead bring proof of the from the ends of the earth, where they coming his own nature, the myth of Heracles’s labors that he has completed each task to the city gates. Next, are guarded by the Hesperides themselves as well as an speaks to the hopes of Greek civilization and to the be- Heracles slays the Lernaean , a nine-headed beast immortal dragon. Rather than steal the apples himself, lief that within one’s earthly self might rest something that had been killing cattle throughout the countryside. however, he convinces to do so for him. heroic, legendary, and immortal. When he fights the monster, he realizes that for every Because Atlas has been punished by Zeus and tasked head he cuts off, two more grow in its place, and so he with holding up the sky, Heracles takes his position tem- Summary instructs his nephew, , to burn the necks to prevent porarily and tricks Atlas into holding the sky when he The son of the god Zeus and the mortal Alcmene, Hera- new heads from growing back. Eurystheus, however, returns. Finally, Heracles enters the underworld itself cles is both blessed and cursed from the start of his life. denies the success of this labor, as Iolaus had assisted to capture Cerberus, a three-headed with the Incredibly mighty and heroic, he accomplishes feats of Heracles in the battle. tail of a dragon. After successfully the beast great strength at a young age. However, the goddess For his third labor, Heracles captures the Cerynitian without using weapons, Heracles is allowed to bring it Hera, Zeus’s wife, decides to punish Heracles in order hind, a beast precious to the goddess , after chas- to the gates of Eurystheus, though he returns it shortly to take revenge for her husband’s infidelities. One day ing it for an entire year. Next, he goes to capture the Ery- after. With this final labor complete, Heracles concludes she drives Heracles into a frenzy, during which he kills manthian boar. While this task is simple compared to the his obligation to Eurystheus, having done exactly as the his children. When Heracles then goes to the oracle of others, Heracles stops to visit the and, oracle of Delphi asked of him years before. Delphi to seek forgiveness, Hera influences the oracle, after being convinced to drink the wine that belongs to who tells Heracles that he must swear allegiance to his the other , finds himself in a bloody battle when Analysis mortal cousin Eurystheus for twelve years, after which those centaurs return. For his fifth labor, Heracles is or- The lyric poet , one of the most influential - he will be redeemed and gain immortality. Hera, who is dered to dispose of the dung of the cattle of King ets of ancient , describes Heracles with the term in league with Eurystheus, plans to set Heracles to such in a single day. The son of a god, Augeas has seemingly hereos theos, meaning that he is both a hero and a god. great tasks during this time that he will meet his mortal endless cattle. After convincing the king to pay him for This captures the core of the myth that surrounds death. the work, Heracles redirects mighty rivers into the cattle Heracles. Born to a mortal mother from her union with Eurystheus immediately orders Heracles to complete yards, washing the dung away. However, Eurystheus re- an immortal god, living as the greatest earthly hero be- ten great labors, which Heracles attempts with legend- jects this labor on the grounds that Heracles received fore ascending to the heights of , and ary heroism. First, he slays the Nemean lion, an invulner- payment for completing it. at once cursed and blessed by the most powerful able beast born to the monster Typhon. When he brings For his sixth labor, Heracles chases away in the Greek , Heracles is the rare figure that the body of the beast back to Eurystheus, Eurystheus of by clanging together given to transcends the divide between the realm of the mortals realizes how strong Heracles truly is and commands him by the goddess . Next, he captures the Cretan and that of the gods.

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As Heracles’s most famous myth, the story of the and death. Through figures such as Heracles, the people twelve labors offers a detailed exploration of how the of Greece could see their own triumph as the greatest mortal hero ascended to the heights of immortality. people in the chthonic realm. The of Greek mythology was split between the The labors of Hercules, then, are labors in which chthonic realm and the Olympian realm. The term “ch- Hercules conquers the chthonic realm to which he be- thonic” refers to things that are of the earth, which in longs, facing the most dangerous elements and monsters Greek culture encompassed humanity, the underworld, the world has to offer. His first task, that of killing the death, monsters, and heroes. Temples were built to ch- Nemean lion, makes this clear. The Nemean lion is the thonic figures, particularly by cults devoted to heroes, child of Typhon, the greatest of all the monsters in Greek and were made at these locations prior to mythology, and the grandchild of , the goddess of similar sacrifices to the gods. The Olympian realm, in the earth itself and one of the few immortal deities to contrast, was the fixed and relatively inflexible world be associated with the chthonic. By facing the Nemean of the sky, Mount Olympus, and the Greek pantheon. lion, Heracles is directly battling the ideal of the chthon- While mortals regularly entered the world of chthonic ic monster. It is important also that at this time in Greek heroes after death, those worshipped in the Olympian history, had likely not been brought to the Greek realm never died, living on in the heights of the sky. state and instead had only been learned about through The labors of Heracles, then, are the challenges that the travels. Therefore, the Nemean lion with its invulner- mortal hero must overcome in order to become immor- able pelt also represents the fear of the unknown in the tal, as declared by the oracle of Delphi. Because of this, natural world, the rumor of great beasts outside the the long list of battles and tribulations can be understood protection of Greek civilization. When Heracles tracks not as arbitrary wars with monsters and warriors but as down this beast and defeats it, his triumph represents the one man triumphing above the chthonic realm, conquer- triumph of all Greek people over the mysterious beasts ing earthly things with such might that he ultimately as- and threats of foreign lands. A similar interpretation can cends as an Olympian deity. be applied to the , the beast of the second Although Heracles is not fully mortal in lineage labor and also a child of Typhon. (Zeus, his father, is the god of the sky and the most pow- The first labor also includes an important aside that erful force associated with the Olympian pantheon), it helps define the meaning of Heracles’s quest. Before is important that from the start of his twelve labors, he approaching the Nemean lion, Heracles comes across a is firmly and unambiguously a chthonic hero and not man who is preparing to make his regular to the an extension of the Olympic world he champions. This beast. Heracles stops him, however, and insists that the is almost always the case for a figure born to a mortal man wait. If Heracles in battle, he instructs, the man mother and an immortal father, but in the instance of should make the sacrifice to him as a hero. If Heracles Heracles, it is particularly important to understand his succeeds, the sacrifice should be made instead to Zeus. mortality and his connection to the earth. The fact of his Had Heracles perished, he would have fit neatly into mortality is made clear first by the oracle, who declares the tradition of hero cults that celebrated many histori- that he can only become immortal by completing his cal and legendary figures from the chthonic realm. Put vassalage to Eurystheus, and second by the scheming of another way, in death, his mortality would be official, Hera, who intends to kill him through the extremity of thus making Heracles a hero. However, in conquering the labors. It is also, importantly, because of his chthon- the beast, Heracles instead directs the man’s sacrifice to- ic origin that Hera torments him in the first place, an- ward Zeus and the Olympian realm. This is important in gered by the insult of her divine husband taking a mortal that while Heracles fulfills the trajectory of the hero and woman as a partner. Heracles, then, is entirely of the champions Greek society, he also transcends that role, earthly realm and, as such, fits in the long tradition of directing the glory not to himself but to the gods. From folk heroes in Greek and pre-Greek culture. His mascu- the start, he is crossing the divide between the chthonic linity, skill as a warrior, sexual appetite (he has hundreds and the Olympian, acting as a champion of both realms of partners, both male and female), and adventuresome at once. spirit identify him as a typical Greek hero whose role is The first two labors having proven that Heracles is to protect and champion Greek civilization in the face mighty enough to conquer any dangerous beast, the next of the chthonic threats of monsters, the natural world, labors test a different set of skills. Instead of vanquishing

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a fearsome monster, Heracles must capture a hind (deer) animal natures, but only if they conquer those natures and a boar. While Eurystheus selects mystical versions and take care not to indulge them too fully (as in the of these animals, with the hind being faster than an ar- carnal relationship suggested by the marriage between row and the boar fearsome and strong, they are both ani- centaur and human). mals that are the common objects of hunts. In capturing The risk of unleashing the wild nature of beasts with- the boar and the hind, Heracles represents the success of in humanity is realized in the sixth, seventh, and eighth mortals in conquering the natural world to provide food labors. In these tasks, Heracles captures first the violent and sustenance for themselves. This is stressed through , then the legendarily fierce bull of the fact that the hind is the sacred animal of Artemis, the , and finally the man-eating mares of the warrior goddess of the hunt, while the boar likewise roams in king Diomedes. In every instance, Heracles successfully the forests that Artemis sometimes calls home. In cap- captures or defeats the animals. However, other myths turing the hind, Heracles angers Artemis, who comes to reveal that the birds of Stymphalian go on to pester the stop him accompanied by her brother, . However, legendary heroes known as the . Similarly, the Artemis hears Heracles’s story and comes to approve, story of the seventh labor mentions that Heracles even- giving his mortal task the blessing of an immortal. This tually sets the free, after which it begins to again blends together the chthonic and the Olympian, harass the people of the city of Marathon. These instanc- with Heracles’s success dependent on both his earthly es show that the beasts, even once conquered, can again skills and the blessing of the gods. wreck havoc if they are unleashed within civilization. In The fourth and fifth labors involve stories in contrast, the flesh-eating mares are likewise released but which there is conflict between Heracles and centaurs, instead make their way to Mount Olympus, the home moments that heighten the tension between humanity of the gods. The beasts are quickly destroyed by the and the natural world. Centaurs, in their half-human and animals of the mountains, suggesting that the Olympian half-horse form, often represent the link between civili- realm (in contrast to the chthonic realm) has nothing to zation and wilderness. This dual nature makes centaurs fear from untamed wilderness. seem monstrous to many humans in Greek mythology, While the first eight labors pit Heracles against the especially as they seem to suggest that humans them- beasts of the earth, the ninth and tenth labors amplify the selves might still have feral, unsophisticated elements to danger and the level of his challenge. He has already, in their being. Heracles encounters and, through violence, diverse ways, proven his superiority over the greatest of conquers this nature in both labors. In the fourth, he vis- monsters. However, he has not proven similar superior- its a centaur friend, Pholus, who in entertaining Heracles ity over other humans, a necessary step if he is going and offering him wine demonstrates that it is possible to to elevate himself to the status of the immortals. In the overcome one’s beastly nature and embrace civilization. ninth labor, he battles the legendary Amazons, a group However, the other centaurs succumb to their wild roots, of fierce women warriors, as well as the armies ofa attacking Heracles and meeting their death. The other number of other leaders and warriors. While at first Her- centaur to whom Heracles expresses affection is Chi- acles’s reputation is such that Hippolyte, the ruler of the ron, a legendary teacher and giver of wisdom in Greek Amazons, offers him the belt requested by Eurystheus mythology. When Heracles inadvertently injures freely, Hera spreads discontent among the Amazons, re- with an arrow, he rushes forth to remove the weapon, sulting in the battle. These battles do not represent Her- which suggests that even as he conquers the animal acles turning against or conquering human civilization, instinct of some centaurs, he still respects the wisdom but rather serve to demonstrate his godlike superiority in available through the natural world and humanity’s own military matters. The armies he slaughters are massive, conflicted nature. Likewise, Heracles pauses during his yet the hero does not tire, pressing on toward victory. fifth labor in order to kill a centaur who plans to take Heracles also challenges the core elements of the a human woman as a wife. This follows the labor in natural world in the ninth and tenth labors. Once again, which Heracles cleans the massive stalls of a thousand this is a heightened conflict in comparison to what cattle and demonstrates the dominance of domestication came before, emphasizing that Heracles is not only and farming over chthonic beasts. These two examples demonstrating superiority over untamed nature but make clear the relationship between Heracles and the also reaching total deification, which will separate him natural world: humans can gain wisdom from their own from the chthonic realm. During these labors, Heracles

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Myth into Art

Widely considered the greatest artist of the Italian Stories such as the myth of Heracles’s twelve labors , frequently drew inspira- are packed with action and grand themes, such as the tion from the myths of Greek antiquity. His drawing struggle for immortality. “Three Labors of Hercules” depicts the hero fighting In “Three Labors of Hercules,” Michelangelo draws with the Nemean lion, with , and finally with not only from the narrative details of the Heracles the hydra. The drawing does not include the intense myth but also from styles and poses from mythology. attention to detail that characterizes Michelangelo’s It was common in ancient times to carve sequences more famous works, such as the ceiling of the Sistine of drawings (often even of Heracles) onto sarcoph- Chapel. However, it conveys the typically Renais- agi or other objects or structures. The progression sance sense of grandeur that defines the time period. of poses Michelangelo selects here mimics many Like many of his contemporaries, Michelangelo of those sequences as well as similar drawings of was interested in large, expressive, ornate art that Heracles by other Renaissance painters and artists. inspired awe in its audience. He was drawn to sprawl- While not rendered at the grand scale of some of his ing narratives and dramatic details, such as the bit- other works, Michelangelo’s drawing shows that the ing heads of the hydra and the torn mouth of the lion legendary hero was thrilling enough to capture the depicted in his drawing. In this sense, classical antiq- eye of one of the most gifted and dramatic artists of uity was a fertile source of inspiration for the artist. all time.

comes into continual conflict with humans fathered and in the distant west, far away from Greece, is the prop- monsters formed by , the god of the . Posei- erty of Hera herself. In it, she planted an tree giv- is associated with terrible floods and , en to her by Gaia on the day of her wedding to Zeus. natural disasters that seemed to rise spontaneously from The fruit of this tree gives immortality to anyone who the earth to destroy civilization. When Poseidon sends fetches it, but it is also guarded by an immortal dragon sea monsters toward coastal cities during the labors, and by the Hesperides themselves. By claim- however, Heracles quickly destroys those monsters in ing these apples, Heracles is essentially entering the battle. In a similar move, exhausted by the heat of the realm of the gods, both trespassing into Hera’s sacred sun, Heracles turns his bow and arrow toward the sky. space and gaining for himself one route to immortality. While he certainly cannot defeat the sun and the sky in However, as he is still a mortal hero, he cannot enter the battle, the god of the sun is pleased by Heracles’s cour- garden himself. He seeks the assistance of Atlas, a Titan age and rewards him with a golden goblet in which to who has been condemned to spend eternity holding up sail safely. the sky. Heracles momentarily takes the place of Atlas With the original ten labors complete, Heracles has and symbolically becomes at once of the earth and of demonstrated his mastery over all aspects of the ch- the sky, his body dividing the realms yet in contact with thonic realm. He has killed the monsters of unknown them both. It is by taking this position and acknowledg- lands, has domesticated the wildest beasts of Greece, ing these dual roles that Heracles is able to obtain the has overcome the elements, and has vanquished entire apples. When Atlas returns, Heracles tricks him into re- armies. This mastery more than fulfills the qualifications suming his position and is able to deliver the fruit to for becoming a legendary hero and inspiring a chthonic Eurystheus. cult. However, as the oracle has promised, Heracles is While Heracles has completed this task, he has not destined for an even greater place in mythology, and actually gained immortality, and the apples are returned consequently, he must complete two more tasks that ex- to the garden out of respect. Instead, it is through his tend beyond the realm of the earthly hero. final labor that he truly conquers death. In this labor, For the eleventh task, Heracles must fetch the apples he must go into Hades (the underworld or the realm of from the garden of the Hesperides. This garden, located death) and retrieve Cerberus, a monstrous hellhound

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with the tail of a dragon that guards the gates. Many with nearly a hundred women, traveled to the ends of figures in Greek mythology attempt to enter the realm of the earth, and defended the entirety of Greek civiliza- the dead, but very few successfully return to the world tion on many occasions. However, the heights of Greek of the living. In entering this realm, Heracles confronts masculinity do not match up neatly with modern ideas the greatest power in the chthonic realm and proves that of masculinity. The ancient Heracles was also a play- he, like the Olympian gods, is unaffected by this dan- ful figure, enjoying leisurely games and spending time ger. This is the true divide between the chthonic and the with his children when possible. In addition to his many Olympian: it is not that the Olympian gods are reborn af- wives, he took on countless male lovers to whom he ter death but rather that they do not die. Likewise, even expressed passionate, unabashed romantic love. In the if a hero is memorialized in temples and worshipped at ancient context, these qualities made him even more he- festivals, he still faces a mortal death and is still sent to roic and masculine, even if they seem incongruous with the underworld. Heracles overcomes this threat, travel- contemporary ideals of masculinity and heroism. ing with the secrets of the Eleusinian cult and wrestling Primarily because of his role as the ultimate hero, Cerberus. Heracles’s triumph over Cerberus suggests the myths surrounding Heracles have had a significant that even were he to find himself in Hades with the other legacy through the modern day. Countless European mortal heroes, he would not be contained there, as his and American films revisit the Heracles story, including might is such that he could win his freedom at any time. the 1997 animated Disney musical Hercules and a long To heighten this contrast, he comes across , the series of popular Italian adventure films from the mid- legendary chthonic hero and founder of , who, twentieth century. Comic books, theatrical productions, unlike Heracles, is unable to escape the underworld. and television series have also regularly featured Hera- His labors complete, Heracles is free to go on to other cles. Almost without exception, however, these portray- adventures with the promise from the oracle that he will als focus on a version of Heracles who fits comfortably one day become immortal. Indeed, in later legends, his into modern ideas of masculinity. He is presented as a earthly body is destroyed in a funeral pyre he built him- stern or angry figure, quick to fight and lacking the play- self, while his godly form rises to the immortal realm fulness and of . While he of the Olympians. However, the labors of Heracles may rescue endangered strangers, as he does in the an- themselves end long before he meets this destiny. The cient stories of the twelve labors, the modern Heracles labors, then, are not about the existence Heracles will rarely falls in love with those strangers and even more share on Mount Olympus, nor are they about immortal- rarely has his heart broken by them. ity and godliness, even as those rewards drive the story One of the few contemporary exceptions to these from the start. Instead, the myth of the labors is about portrayals is found in the book Autobiography of Red the triumph of Greek civilization over the untamed and (1998) by the Canadian-born poet and classicist Anne often frightening natural world. Heracles is the great- Carson. A novel written in verse fragments, the work is est hero to come out of antiquity, a legend born in the a retelling of the tenth labor of Heracles, during which chthonic realm. His greatest feat, however, is not simply he battles the monster Geryon. Carson takes some inspi- his brutish triumph over beasts and monsters. Rather, ration from the ancient poet (Stesichoros), his glory is the glory of all Greece, of the earth and of whose long poem Geryoneis tells the myth from Gery- the gods. In directing sacrifices to Zeus and obeying the on’s perspective. While the Geryoneis is largely lost to command of the oracle of Delphi, Heracles offers the time, existing only in a few fragments of text, those frag- devotion and respect expected from the chthonic realm. ments inspired Carson to create a modern version of the Paradoxical as it may seem, it is by becoming an ideal myth that likewise tells the story from Geryon’s point of of chthonic life that Heracles is elevated at last to the view. However, while the Geryoneis focuses on the vio- Olympian realm, indicating that perhaps the two realms lence of Heracles arriving at Erythea, the island where are not be as separate as they seem. Geryon resides, and killing the supposedly immortal monster with a poisoned arrow, Carson instead imag- Cross-Cultural Influence ines Geryon and (in her spelling) as young lov- The Heracles was the pinnacle of the ers, with Herakles abandoning Geryon and breaking his masculine hero, capable of conquering entire armies heart. In presenting Herakles as causing emotional rath- and slaughtering ferocious beasts. He fathered children er than physical violence, Carson focuses the reader’s

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attention on a different aspect of the myths surrounding depth to the myths of Heracles, Carson reminds the the legendary hero, highlighting the often romantic and reader, even if modern versions of those myths rarely sometimes tragic core of Greek mythology. include those aspects. The narrative of Autobiography of Red begins This moment of lyric intensity in the Geryoneis is when Geryon is a young, sensitive boy, interested in the dominant mode in Carson’s modern version. Just as art and close with his mother. While the mythologi- in Stesichorus’s text, Geryon is red, although this red cal Geryon is a fiery beast with three heads and three marks him as different from, rather than part of, the sets of arms who is typically accompanied by his two- world. Because of this, the young boy becomes ob- headed hound, the Geryon of Carson’s story is a slight sessed with volcanoes and other fiery landscapes, seeing boy with beautiful red wings, hardly someone to be in them a home that he does not find in daily life. What feared. Geryon’s early life is marked by when remains the same, however, is the sense that the world his older brother sexually abuses him, traumatizing the itself has gone on while Geryon has not and that it is the young boy and forcing him further into the seclusion fault of Herakles that this separation exists. After Herak- of his mind. However, he begins to engage with the les has broken the red boy’s heart, Geryon cries into the world again when a new boy, Herakles, arrives in town. night, his voice “upcast to that custom, the human cus- Geryon almost immediately falls in love with Herakles, tom of wrong love” (75). Carson is deeply engaged with and the two have a brief affair until Herakles eventu- the sense that love itself, an experience so often ideal- ally abandons Geryon and leaves the town. The devas- ized and treated as “right,” can in actuality be wrong tated Geryon retreats again into his mind. A few years (just as Heracles, in his righteous quest, is actually leav- later, he travels to Argentina, knowing that his lost love ing great destruction and sadness in his wake). More might be there. Geryon by chance encounters Herakles, than this, however, Carson notes that the experience of who is accompanied by his new lover. The three men wrong love is itself a “human custom,” a tradition all form a sort of love triangle, with the infatuated Geryon humans experience. Because of this, the Geryon apart reaching out for brief moments of sexual contact and from the red world in the Geryoneis and the Geryon left affection from Herakles. At the novel’s conclusion, the heartbroken by Herakles in Autobiography of Red are three travel to a famous volcano and stand at its molten in many ways one and the same, linked by that sense of edge, uncertain what to do with the complicated love abandonment and betrayal. that exists among them. The shift from physical violence to emotional vio- The Carson version of the myth might seem, outside lence is also appropriate in light of the history of Stesi- of a few telling details, nearly unrecognizable to audi- chorus himself. Stesichorus wrote many centuries after ences familiar with the tenth labor of Heracles. There is the myth of Heracles had become common. The story of no violent battle, no command from Hera or promise of the twelve labors was popular enough that even though immortality to give the story a sense of importance or most audiences could recall the details on their own, legendary inspiration. However, Carson is focused less writers such as Stesichorus were able to tell their own on the narrative details of swordfights and monstrous versions, remaking a myth that had been remade many hounds and more on the emotional core at the heart of times before. In this context, Stesichorus shifted the per- much Greek mythology. In her own appended transla- spective of the myth from Heracles to Geryon while also tion of the Stesichorus text, for instance, she includes shifting the sympathies of the audience. Geryon, a sup- a simple fragment announcing that “the red world And posedly immortal figure, is slaughtered by the single- corresponding red breezes / Went on Geryon did not” minded and uncompassionate Heracles. The monster, (xv). These simple lines, presenting simply the informa- in no uncertain terms, becomes a sympathetic victim. tion that Geryon has died, have an emotional and lyric Likewise, Stesichorus breaks apart the traditional metri- intensity that makes that information into something cal qualities of Greek poetry, creating a new rhythmic deeply moving. Stesichorus, though engaged in a proj- form in order to tell the myths in an unfamiliar and ect very different from Carson’s, still the sense of surprising manner. Carson, in writing a novel in verse, loss and sadness present in the myth. Geryon at once maintains this tradition. The Herakles and Geryon she belongs to the world, a place in which even the breeze is creates are both familiar and unfamiliar, just as the po- as red as he is, and is separate from that world, brought etic fragments of her novel are both recognizable and to death by Herakles. There is romantic and emotional unusual. By basing this narrative off the Stesichorus

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fragments, she reminds her readers that such revision of different interpretations that makes the legendary hero classic myths is not a betrayal of the originals but rather so much more than a mighty warrior with a quest for a continuation of an ancient tradition in which writers immortality. keep stories alive by telling them in new ways. T. Fleischmann, MFA This sense of connection through revision, of under- standing the past by engaging with the contemporary Bibliography world, resonates throughout Autobiography of Red. A Burkert, Walter. Greek . Cambridge: Harvard large array of myths and legends have persisted through UP, 1985. Print. the centuries, and while figures such as Heracles seem Carson, Anne. Autobiography of Red. New York: Vin- to these cultural traditions, unchanged after tage, 1999. Print. all that time, they are in actuality always remade, their Curtis, Paul. Stesichoros’s Geryoneis. Leiden: Brill, narratives and meanings shifting. When the Herakles of 2011. Print. Autobiography of Red brags that he is “a master of mon- Genovese, E. N. “Hercules and His Twelve Labors.” sters” (129), the meaning of his declaration is height- Masterplots. 4th ed. Ed. Laurence W. Mazzeno. Pasa- ened and complicated by humankind’s many cultural dena: Salem, 2010. Print. legacies. What does it mean to hold power over another Hirst, Michael. Michelangelo and His Drawings. New person, whether through physical strength or emotional Haven: Yale UP, 1988. Print. dependency? How do humans make monsters out of Miller, Geordie. “Shifting Ground.” Canadian Litera- one another, and when does the monster actually de- ture 210–211 (2011): 152–67. Print. serve sympathy and understanding? Who is the hero: Morgan, Pauline. “Hercules and His Twelve Labors.” the dashing and powerful warrior, the sensitive and kind Cyclopedia of Literary Places. Ed. R. Kent Rasmus- monster, or both? Questions such as these, nestled at the sen. Pasadena: Salem, 2003. Print. heart of the labors of the Heracles, are deep and com- Murray, Stuart J. “The Autobiographical Self: Phenom- plicated enough that they draw readers in today just as enology and the Limits of Narrative Self-Possession they did thousands of years ago. As much as Heracles in ’s Autobiography of Red.” English himself might seem a bundle of contradictions and - Studies in Canada 31.4 (2005): 101–22. Print. son’s version of the myth a departure from the intent Pseudo-Apollodorus. The Library. Trans. J. G. Frazer. of the original narrative, it is the availability of these 1921. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1996. Print.

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