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The Young of Athens: Religion and Society in Herakleidai of Euripides

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

John Wilkins
John Wilkins
Affiliation:
University of Aberdeen
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Extract

Philostratos records that the ephebes of Athens wore a black χλαμ⋯ς to commemorate their murder of Kopreus in defence of the Herakleidai. Both the Herakleidai and a herald of Eurystheus appear in Herakleidai of Euripides, but the murder of the herald is not at issue, nor indeed is there any reference to ephebes or ephebic practice. This state of affairs will cause no surprise, for tragedy regularly selects its story-line from the wider range of the myth, and later uses to which that myth may be put have no necessary bearing on the play. It is however the contention of this article that the religious and social context of Herakleidai has been neglected, and that careful reconstruction of that context from later sources, restoring to us the associations that Euripides could assume in his own day, is an essential prerequisite to any aesthetic or dramatic interpretation of the play.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , December 1990 , pp. 329 - 339
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1990

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References

1 VS 550. Cf. IG ii2. 2029 = Dittenberger, Sylloge 3 870.

2 This is not the only ancient account of the black cloaks, or even the most probable. See Pélékidis, C., Histoire de l'éphébie Attique (Paris, 1962), pp. 15–16Google Scholar, Thomson, G., Aeschylus and Athens (London, 1941), p. 100Google Scholar, Roussel, P., REA 43 (1941), pp. 163–5CrossRefGoogle Scholar, Vidal-Naquet, P., PCPS 14 (1968), p. 54Google Scholar and PCPS 32 (1986), 126–44Google Scholar, Stuart, P. G. Maxwell, PCPS 16 (1970), 113–16Google Scholar, Brelich, A., Paides e Parthenoi (Rome, 1969), p. 219Google Scholar.

3 The herald is named as Kopreus in the margin of L and P, but not in the text itself. The name is a later addition.

4 The ephebeia is not explicitly named in fifth-century literary sources: see Pélékidis (n. 2), ch. 1. For the Attic ephebeia in general see Pélékidis, and Reinmuth, O. W., The Ephebic Inscriptions of the Fourth Century BC (Leiden, 1971)Google Scholar.

5 Much of the evidence considered here was treated, to rather different effect, by Wilamowitz, in de Euripidis Heraclidis commentatiuncula (Greifswald, 1882Google Scholar = Kleine Schriften (Berlin, 1971), i. 62–81)Google Scholar. A second article, Exkurse zu Euripides Herakliden (Hermes 17 (1882), 337–364 = Kl. Schr. i. 82–109)Google Scholar, which impugns the integrity of the play, has proved the more influential.

6 See Zuntz, G., The Political Plays of Euripides 2 (Manchester, 1963), pp. 97–104Google Scholar.

7 The circumstances are as those for Kopreus: cf. n. 3.

8 Contrast the hypothesis: τα⋯την μ⋯ν οὖν ⋯ποθανο⋯σαν εὐγεσν⋯ς ⋯τ⋯μησαν

9 Cf. Paus. 1.32.6, Str. 8.6.19.

10 Cf. Str. 8.6.19 τ⋯ μ⋯ν ἄλλο σ⋯μα Γαργεττοῖ ταφ⋯ναι τ⋯ν δ⋯ κεφαλ⋯ν χωρ⋯ς ⋯ν Τρικορ⋯νθωι, ⋯ποκ⋯ψαντος αὐτ⋯ν Ἰολ⋯ου περ⋯ τ⋯ν κρ⋯νην Μακαρ⋯αν ὑπ⋯ ⋯μαξιτ⋯ι. κα⋯⋯ τ⋯πος καλεῖται Εὐρυσθ⋯ωσ κεφαλ⋯ Σ. Aristoph, . Thes. 898Google Scholar, Σ Pind, . P. 9.145Google Scholar, Isoc, . Paneg. 60Google Scholar, Panath. 194.

11 Paus. 1.15.3. Cf. Kearns, E., The Heroes of Athens (London, 1989), ch. 3Google Scholar.

12 On the distinction between Theseus the hero and Herakles the god (clear in Pausanias, with Theseus emerging from the ground and Herakles noted in the same passage as first receiving divine honours at Marathon) see below, pp. 332–3.

13 Herakles appeared in many battles: see Pritchett, W. K., The Greek State at War (Berkeley, 1979), iii. 11Google Scholar. That does not diminish his significance here.

14 6.108.1 and 116.1 ⋯στρατοπεδε⋯σαντο ⋯πιγμ⋯νοι ⋯ξ Ἡρακλε⋯ον το⋯ ⋯ν Μαραθ⋯νι ⋯ν ἄλλωι Ἡρακλε⋯ον το⋯ ⋯ν Μαραθ⋯νι ⋯ν ἄλλωι Ἡρακλε⋯ωι τ⋯ι ⋯ν Κυνοσ⋯ργει.

16 See e.g. Woodford, S., ‘Cults of Heracles in Attica’, in Mitten, D. (ed.), Studies presented to G. M. A. Hanfmann (Cambridge, Mass., 1971), 211–25, pp. 217–18Google Scholar, Kearns (loc. cit. n. 11).

16 Cf. Pind, . O. 9.89–90Google Scholar. On problems of location and interpretation see Woodford (loc. cit. in n. 15), van der Veer, J. A. G., Mnem. 34 (1982), 292fGoogle Scholar.

17 Cf. Paus. 1.15.3, 32.4, D.S. 4.39, Aristid. 40.11, Farnell, L. R., Greek Hero Cults and Ideas of Immortality (Oxford, 1921), pp. 95ffGoogle Scholar.

18 The defence of the Herakleidai and the battle of Marathon are the principal incidents in Pausanias' description of Marathon (1.32.3–7). The two events are often associated: see Isoc, . Paneg. 194–5Google Scholar, Lys. 2.11–26.

19 Hkld. 42, 70: cf. 766–7.

20 Iolaos' description of the daughter of Herakles as σπ⋯ρμα τ⋯ς θε⋯ας φρεν⋯ς π⋯φυκας Ἡρ⋯κλειον (Hartung: Ἡρακλ⋯ος L) also implies Herakles' divinity: see Pearson ad loc.

21 On this passage see n. 113.

22 871–2 κα⋯ παῖδα τ⋯ν ⋯μ⋯ν πρ⋯σθεν οὐ δοκο⋯σ' ⋯γὼ θεοῖς ⋯μιλεῖν ν⋯ν ⋯π⋯σταταμαι σαφ⋯ς.

23 910–12 ἔστιν ⋯ν οὐραν⋯ι βεβακὼς ⋯ σ⋯ς γ⋯νος, ὠ γεραι⋯ (⋯ σ⋯ς Wecklein: θε⋯ς L).

24 The split site between Marathon and Athens was seen as a major problem by Wilamowitz, (Kl. Schr. i. 62f.)Google Scholar: cf. Zuntz (loc. cit. n. 6). The location is Marathon at 32 and 80–1, Athens at 38; the chorus are Athenian (69); Demophon's palace is at Marathon (340–3); the Panathenaic procession on the Athenian acropolis is celebrated at 777–83. The invading army waits on the borders of Megara (278) but the battle is located at or near Pallene (848–9). Eurystheus though is pursued to the Skironian cliffs (860). Eurystheus' tomb will be at the temple of Athena Pallenis. The difficulties have been exaggerated, (i) Attika is attacked, and Marathon is seen as the principal military target because it is the seat of Theseus/Demophon's power and the Herakleidai have appealed to him there. For the importance of Theseus in the Tetrapolis and neighbouring Aphidna see e.g. Plut, . Thes. 13–14 (Marathon), 32–4 (Aphidna)Google Scholar. Note especially 33.1 ⋯χομ⋯νων δ' τ⋯ν κα⋯ τ⋯ν ⋯ν ἄστει δεδι⋯των…In this respect Hkld. differs from e.g. S. OK and E. Supp. where Theseus comes to Kolonos and Eleusis from his palace in Athens. (ii) Athens plays no strategic role, though her cults of Athena are important (see below, pp. 335–6). (iii) Reference to Athens or Athenians may be taken to include all of Attika. Note that Ἀττικ⋯ς does not occur in Euripides' extant plays, and that Ἀτθ⋯ς is used both of Athens, (Ion 11–13)Google Scholar and of Attika, (IT 1450)Google Scholar. (iv) If Eurystheus' blessing is for all of Attika, it is for Marathon in particular, hence the burial at Pallene. (v) Pallene and the Skironian cliffs are both attested as locations of the tomb of Eurystheus (the latter at Paus. 1.44.10). In adopting the former location, Euripides perhaps discounts the latter. The religious significance of these locations is perhaps reinforced by the absence of place-names for troop movements where they are expected (393ff., 799ff.: cf. e.g. Supp. 650ff.).

25 484–5, 509–10, 540–1, 563.

26 409 ἤτις ⋯στ⋯ πατρ⋯ς εὐγενο⋯ς 490 ἤτις εὐγενο⋯ς.

27 See Schmitt, Joanna, Freiwilliger Opfertod bei Euripides (Giessen, 1921)Google Scholar.

28 Under the influence of Wilamowitz, Schmitt censured Hkld. for its rhetorical deficiencies as she saw it.

29 Discussed in my ‘The State and the Individual: Euripides' Plays of Voluntary Self-sacrifice’ in Euripides, Women and Sexuality (London, 1990)Google Scholar.

30 586–8 κἂν ⋯παλλαγ⋯ π⋯νων κα⋯ ν⋯στος ὑμīν εὑρεθ⋯ι ποτ' ⋯κ θε⋯ν, μ⋯μνησθε τ⋯ν σώτειραν ὡς θ⋯ψαι χρεών. The delayed burial is extraordinary. Comparison with Erekhth. is instructive: the Erekhtheides are sacrificed, buried, their tomb honoured, and they go not to Hades but to the aether (Erekhth. fr. 65.65–89). Here, the daughter of Herakles is not buried, but Eurystheus has a tomb (1040–3: for the special conditions cf. n. 115), and Herakles escapes death and goes to the heavens (910–12).

31 819–22 cannot refer to the sacrifice of the daughter of Herakles: see Pearson.

38 491 εἰ χρ⋯ μ⋯ν ⋯μ⋯ς, χρ⋯ δ⋯ τ⋯νδ' εἶναι π⋯λιν, 506 παρ⋯ν σφε [sc. τοὺς Ἀθηνα⋯ους] σ⋯σαι (Nauck: σεσ⋯σθαι L), 622 ⋯ μελ⋯α πρ⋯ τ' ⋯δεδφ⋯ν κα⋯ γ⋯ς.

33 The phrase derives not from Hkld. but from Hek. 517f.: see Wilamowitz, , Kl. Schr. i. 63fGoogle Scholar.

34 The failure to name the daughter of Herakles in part precludes this.

35 See Wilamowitz, , Kl. Schr. i. 68fGoogle Scholar. It is impossible to determine the antiquity of these associations and therefore fruitless to speculate on whether Euripides omitted them or simply predated them. Equally difficult to date is the story of the voluntary self-sacrifice of Marathon (Plut, . Thes. 32.5Google Scholar) during the invasion of Attika by the Tyndaridai, and of the Spartans sparing the Academy because of the Tyndaridai (Plut, . Thes. 32.3Google Scholar). Hkld. appears to be unaware of the story that the Spartans spared the Tetrapolis because of the reception of the Herakleidai (n. 105). Does the death of Eurystheus replace, predate or post-date that story? Details of the death of Eurystheus may have been lost in the lacuna after 1052 (see below, pp. 338–9).

38 506, 622, 1032.

37 Kearns (n. 11) speaks of the ‘quasi-sacrificial death of Eurystheus as expiatory victim’. Whatever the truth at the end of the play, Eurystheus probably was killed (cf. 1045–51).

38 586f., 1040f.

39 On enemy heroes see Visser, Margaret, ‘Worship your Enemy: Aspects of the Cult of Heroes in Ancient Greece’, HTR 75 (1982), 403–28Google Scholar.

40 On possible lacunae see below pp. 338–9.

41 Cf. [Pherecydes, ] FGrHist 3 F 84Google Scholar (= Anton. Lib. 33). In other versions, Theseus receives the suppliants: see Paus. 1.32.6, D.S. 4.57.6. On Theseus and the Herakleidai see RE Suppl. xiii. 1210.

42 320–7.

43 205–13, 229.

44 On the two see Avery, H., AJP 92 (1971), pp. 544fGoogle Scholar.

45 Op. cit. 539–65.

46 E.g. 39f., 120, 239, 381.

47 See Gruppe, RE Suppl. 3.923–4, Kearns (n. 11). Woodford (n. 15), pp. 211–13 notes that ‘Heracles was widely worshipped throughout Attica, so much so that the abundance and ubiquity of his cults seem to have taken the Athenians themselves by surprise.’ See also n. 105: cults of Herakles' associates in Attika may also predate the play.

48 Cf. Easterling, P. E., Sophocles: Trachiniae (Cambridge, 1982), p. 17Google Scholar.

49 See , H.Od. 11.603Google Scholar, Pind, . N. 1.71Google Scholar, I. 4.61–6, and West on Hes, . Theog. 950–4Google Scholar: no marriage to Hebe could take place prior to Herakles' deification.

50 Paus. 1.32.4 σ⋯βονται δ⋯ οἱ Μαραθώνιοι το⋯τους…οἵ παρ⋯ τ⋯ν μ⋯χην ⋯π⋯θανον ἤρωας ⋯νομ⋯ζοντες.

51 Cf. Erekhth. 50.14–27.

52 579f., 589f.

53 For Aglauros see Philokhoros, , FGrHist 328 F 105Google Scholar, Plut, . Alcib. 15.4Google Scholar. Aglauros is the first goddess cited in the ephebic oath from Akharnai (see p. 334).

54 Hyakinthides and Erekhtheides are identical at Erekhth. 65.73–4.

55 For the Leokorides see RE xii. 2000–1.

56 For young girls and children see Kearns (n. 11), ch. 2.

57 See. Burkert, W., Homo Necans (Berkeley, 1983), pp. 65–6Google Scholar.

58 Erekhth. 65.81f. Note that Aglauros and the Hyakinthides act both as kourotrophoi in the strict sense of nourishers of children and in an extended sense as sustainers of young fighting men. In Hkld. the daughter of Herakles protects her young siblings, but her support of fighting men is for Athenians in general, not explicitly young (ephebic) Athenians. Young Athenians were probably not specified at Erekhth. 65.81f. either (the papyrus is mutilated).

59 Kearns (n. 11), ch. 3.

60 For the Hyakinthides in Erekhth. as equivalents of nurses of Dionysos see Kearns (n. 11), Jeanmaire, H., Couroi et Couretes (Lille, 1939), p. 288Google Scholar, Burkert (loc. cit. n. 57).

61 On Athena μ⋯τηρ see p. 335.

62 She is not attested before Euripides, but neither is Eurystheus in his capacity as an enemy hero.

63 And earlier: see e.g. , H.Il. 4.313f.Google Scholar, Thgn. 1009f.

64 See e.g. Nub. 1410–29.

65 Ba. 170f., a scene, as here, where an old man recognizes the god before others do so.

66 Iolaos took his arms from the temple of Zeus (695f.): Herakles took arms from a Herakleion before the battle of Leuktra (Xen, . Hell. 6.4.7)Google Scholar.

67 Note that in an alternative version(Σ Pind, . P. 9.137aGoogle Scholar) Iolaos was brought back to life from the dead.

68 See Roussel (n. 2), Pélékidis, (n. 2), IG ii 2. 3606Google Scholar (from Marathon, incidentally), Plut, . Thes. 22–3Google Scholar.

69 See Jeanmaire (n. 60), pp. 307–24, Pélékidis (n. 2), pp. 225f.

70 Paus. 1.19.3. On Alkmene and Iolaos see below, nn. 101, 105.

71 Delorme, J., Gymnasion (Paris, 1960), pp. 339fGoogle Scholar. is doubtful, but see Lonis, R., Guerre et Religion en Grèce à l'époque classique (Paris, 1979), p. 217Google Scholar.

72 See Athenaeus 494f., Photius s.v., Hesych. s.v. Photius quotes Eupolis, Demoi fr. 135K, but caution on a source of this date is urged by Pelekidis (n. 2), pp. 63–4. Iolaos, in what appears to be a similar ritual, received dedications of hair from young men at Agurion in Sicily (D.S. 4.24.4).

73 On the Apatouria and interpretation of the day koureotis see Deubner, L., Attische Feste (Hildesheim, 1969), pp. 232–4Google Scholar.

74 Lonis (n. 71), pp. 199f, and esp. 216–18.

75 Text and details at Tod ii no. 204. Cf. Merkelbach, R., Aglauros, ZPE 9 (1972), 277–83Google Scholar.

76 Cf. e.g. Pind, . P. 9.60Google Scholar, Aristoph, . Thes. 295–300Google Scholar, Jeanmaire (n. 60), pp. 308–9, Lonis (n. 71), p. 299 n. 259.

77 For the kourotrophic function of Herakles himself see Price, T. H., Kourotrophos (Leiden, 1978), pp. 128 and 192, Kearns (n. 2), ch. 2Google Scholar. They cite inter alia a mother's dedication to Herakles on her children's behalf (IG ii2. 4613) and the worship of Herakles, Alkmene, Iolaos, Kourotrophos and Maia at Porthmos (Salaminioi decree: Ferguson, W. S., Hesperia 7 (1938), 1ffCrossRefGoogle Scholar. (lines 85f.)). For male kourotrophoi in general see Jeanmaire (n. 60), pp. 283ff., Price (n. 77), pp. 70–2.

78 See Tod (n. 75).

79 Hkld. provides ready support for the association of Herakles andἥβη with the military in the fifth century: 740–2 ὦ βραχ⋯ων, οἶον ⋯β⋯σαντ⋯ σε μεμν⋯μεθ' ⋯μεῖς, ⋯μεῖς, ⋯ν⋯κα ξὺν Ἡρακλεῖ Σπ⋯ρτην ⋯π⋯ρθεις, σ⋯μμαχος, γ⋯νοι⋯μοι Note also that the daughter of Herakles gives her ἥβη for war (579–80): cf. Burkert (n. 57), pp. 65f.

80 On the problems of dating ephebes, note Erekhth. 65.81 where the ‘later’ ephebic practice seems to be foreshadowed in Euripides: see Kearns (n. 11), Burkert (n. 57), 66 n. 33.

81 See e.g. Wilamowitz, , Kl. Schr. i. 100–3Google Scholar, Zuntz (n. 6), pp. 120–2. In view of the argument which follows it may now be possible to see Athena μ⋯τηρ in Elis (Paus. 5.3.2) as equivalent, and Ge as analogous to Athena μ⋯τηρ here.

82 We are not obliged to do so. The phrase could serve a rhetorical purpose similar to 229–30 γενο⋯ φ⋯λος πατ⋯ρ ⋯δελφ⋯ς δεσπ⋯της. Nevertheless μ⋯τηρ is a most striking address to Athena Polias.

83 Herington, C. J., Athena Parthenos and Athena Polias (Manchester, 1955), pp. 43fGoogle Scholar.

84 Simon, E., Festivals of Attica (Madison, 1983), p. 106Google Scholar.

85 For Athena as a fertility goddess see Roscher i. 683–4. The nursing of Erikhthonios in art and in literary sources is sometimes performed by Athena, sometimes by Aglauros and Pandrosos: see Loraux, N., Les Enfants d'Athéna (Paris, 1981), pp. 61f.Google Scholar, Kearns (n. 2), ch. 2, Lonis (n. 71), pp. 203–6. The earliest literary source is , H.Il. 2.544fGoogle Scholar.

86 Cf. Athena Apatouria at Troezen (Paus. 2.33.1), Lonis (n. 71), pp. 200f., Calame, C., Les Choeurs de Jeunes Filles en Grèce Archaïque (Rome, 1977), i. 232–41 (on Athena), 174ffGoogle Scholar. (on Artemis), 209ff. (on Hera, including Hera Parthenos).

87 See Herington (n. 83), p. 12.

88 Are 375–6 a reference to the ἒγχος and ἰτ⋯α of Athena?

89 If it is objected that Athena μ⋯τηρ is simply too rare to be credible in a literary source, we may compare , H.Il. 23.738Google Scholar: no unease is felt in comparing the care of Athena with a mother's care. And we may add with Herington that Athena Parthenos was particularly dominant in fifth-century Athens and may have obscured ancient qualities and attributes of the goddess.

90 The boys and girls dancing at the Panathenaia (777–83) should be seen as the city's youth celebrating the city's strength with their protecting goddess. So Calame (n. 86), i. 235ff. Cf. Heliod, . Aith. 1.10Google Scholar, Deubner, L., Attische Feste (Hildesheim, 1962), p. 24Google Scholar.

91 Why does the Pallas ode not precede the battle? It may be because of the close association of the self-sacrificing young woman with setting out to war. The kourotrophic aspect of Athena is the aspect appropriate at this point.

92 See below, p. 337.

93 Is the daughter of Herakles to be associated in any way with Persephone to whom she is sacrificed? (See Kearns (n. 2), ch. 3.) It is difficult to determine whether Persephone is important as a goddess in her own right or whether she represents in a more abstract way the nether powers who demand a life (on which see Versnel, H. S., ‘Self-sacrifice, Compensation, Anonymous Gods’, in Le Sacrifice dans l'Antiquité (Geneva, Fondation Hardt, 1981), pp. 135–94Google Scholar. The position is probably similar in Erekhth. where the daughter of Erekhtheus is sacrificed to Persephone (according to Demaratos, , FrGrHisl 42 F 4Google Scholar).

94 See n. 46.

95 There is a case for the retention of ὡπλισμ⋯νοι (L) against ὡπλισμ⋯νοις (Schenkl, adopted by Diggle). The Herald's argument is that the strength of the Argives is such that even if the Herakleidai were armed (and we can assume that the Argives are already armed) and were of fighting age, still they would be ineffective. The Herakleidai, as the play demonstrates, meet the point on age in the daughter of Herakles, and on fighting under arms in Iolaos and Hyllos. For the unequal distribution of participles cf. S. El. 652–3, Ant. 926, Pearson on fr. 806.

96 σο⋯ παῖδ⋯ς ⋯σμεν, σαῖν χεοῖν τεθρ⋯μμεθα ⋯ρ⋯ις δ⋯ κ⋯μ⋯ τ⋯ν ⋯μ⋯ν ὥραν γ⋯μου διδο⋯σαν, ⋯ντ⋯ τ⋯νδε κατθανουμ⋯νην.

97 The removal of the Herakleidai from prominence after 629 is a point little stressed by those looking for more on the daughter of Herakles in the second part of the play.

98 For the two parts of the play see Wilkins (n. 29).

99 Hyllos plays a minimal role in the play: because Euripides chose not to take on his Peloponnesian connections?

100 Kearns (n. 11), ch. 3 thinks a spring to Makaria unlikely, or a saviour-cult in Attika, because she died for her kin. But the death is for Athens also (cf. n. 32), and the play appears to claim the young woman for Athens.

101 Euripides' treatment of Alkmene differs from her role in cult. In the play she represents the adverse side of the Herakleidai, the side that Eurystheus helps to bring out. This treatment is doubtless determined by the presentation of Eurystheus as an Attic hero. In Attic cult, Alkmene is found with Herakles, Hebe and Iolaos at Kunosarges and the Academy (cf. n. 70); at Aixone there was a priest of the Herakleidai and a priestess of Hebe and Alkmene, (IG ii 2. 1199)Google Scholar; in the Thorikos calendar, Alkmene receives an offering in the same section as Herakles, or as the Herakleidai if R. Parker's supplement is accepted (ZPE 57 (1984), 59Google Scholar). In the painting by Apollodoros in the Stoa Poikile (Σ Aristoph, . Plut. 385Google Scholar) Alkmene was portrayed with the Herakleidai and a daughter of Herakles (sic) (Iolaos is not mentioned).

102 For a very different interpretation of the relation between Athens and the Herakleidai see Burnett, Anne, ‘Tribe and City, Custom and Decree in the Children of Heracles’, CP 71 (1976), 4–26Google Scholar.

103 γ⋯ς must refer to Athens, not to the young woman's own land, wherever that may be.

104 See Visser (n. 39), passim for the generally unexpected ways in which enemies became heroes.

105 Parker (n. 101) points to the prominence in cult of the Herakleidai in eastern Attika. They are not mentioned in the Tetrapolis calendar (IG ii2. 1358). This may or may not be significant. Iolaos however is recorded as receiving a sacrifice with Kourotrophos, Ge and Zeus Hupatos (compare Iolaos and Kourotrophos in association at Porthmos, n. 77 above). There was an ⋯σχ⋯ρα of the Herakleidai at Rafti, Porto (IG ii 2. 4977Google Scholar). The Spartans spared the Tetrapolis because of the Herakleidai (D.S. 12.45, Σ S. OC 701). They received a sheep at Erkhia (SEG xxi 541 B 42, Daux, G., BCH 87 (1963), 683fGoogle Scholar.). They may have received a victim at Thorikos (so Parker).

106 For the Herakleidai in funeral and panegyric speeches see Aristotle, , Rhet. 1396aGoogle Scholar, Hdt. 9.27, Lys. 2.7–15, Isoc. 4.54–60, 5.34, Dem. 60.8, Plat, . Menex. 239bGoogle Scholar, Xen, . Hell. 6.5.47Google Scholar. The extent, if at all, to which the story was a topos in funeral speeches at the time of the play is unknown.

107 See e.g. Zuntz (n. 6), Avery (n. 44).

108 See e.g. Nancy, C., ‘φ⋯ρμακον σωτηρ⋯ας’ in Théâtre et Spectacle dans l'Antiquité (Strasbourg, 1983), pp. 17–30Google Scholar, Vellacott, P., Ironic Drama (Cambridge, 1975), pp. 178fGoogle Scholar.

109 A natural comparison: the ancient transmission of the phrase β⋯λλ' ⋯ς Μακαρ⋯ν (cf. n. 33) illustrates a confusion arising from comparison of the two plays.

110 See for example Wilamowitz, , Kl. Schr. i. 82fGoogle Scholar, J. Schmitt (n. 27).

111 Hkld. 622, Erekhth. 50.39.

112 While in a sense Polyxene, the daughter of Herakles and the daughter of Erekhtheus are similar in being offered as σφ⋯για to the dead or gods of the dead (to Akhilleus, Persephone, and probably Persephone respectively) an explicit demand for honour by Akhilleus is to be distinguished from the less specific demand for the blood of σφ⋯για (human or animal) before battle: see Versnel (n. 93), pp. 171–9.

113 The epiphany in Hkld. is distanced by a double disclaimer in the messenger speech (853–7), but I would not interpret this as a mark of scepticism since the divinity of Herakles is accepted by Alkmene and the chorus. For a different interpretation see Guerrini, R., Athenaeum 50 (1972), p. 63Google Scholar.

114 Cf. Hkld. 912–16 φε⋯γει λ⋯γον ὡς τ⋯ν Ἅιδα δ⋯μον κατ⋯βα, πυρ⋯ς δειν⋯ι φλογ⋯ σ⋯μα δαιαθε⋯ς Ἡβας κτλ with Erekhth. 65.71–2 ψυχα⋯ μ⋯ν οὖν τ⋯νδ' οὐ βεβ⋯σ' Ἄιδην π⋯ρα εἰς δ αἰθ⋯ρ' αὐτ⋯ν πνε⋯μ' ⋯γώ κατώικισα

115 Cf. Erekhth. 65.87–9 with Hkld. 1040–3. It is not clear in the latter passage whether the Spartans alone are to be excluded from making libations to Eurystheus or whether no one, Athenians included, is to make an offering. The Erekhth. passage may incline us to the former interpretation, but the latter appears a more natural way to understand the text.

116 Eurystheus is of course a relative of Herakles: see 987–8, Apollod. 2.4.5. This is not emphasised in the play, though from a political point of view Euripides may have had an interest in presenting the Herakleidai as a family divided, to be contrasted, e.g. with the Erekhtheidai. For the presentation of eponymous heroes of tribes as setting an example to their tribe as if to a family cf. Dem. 60.27–30, a passage which includes the Erekhtheidai.

117 Athena and the Herakleidai: 347–80; Athena and Iolaos: 849–50; Athena and Herakles: 920–3; Athena and Eurystheus: 1030–1. For enemies and ξ⋯νοι becoming heroes and saviours see Visser (n. 39).

118 See also p. 331.

119 See Visser (n. 39), passim.

120 Even in this case there would be no necessity for her to be named: compare for example reference to the heroines or to ἄλοχος in the Erkhia calendar. For those who see the Herakleidai set against Athens at the end of the play (e.g. Burnett (n. 102), Nancy (n. 108)), the final lines appear less problematic. ‘Ironic’ or not, κυσ⋯ν δο⋯ναι tout court demands serious consideration.

121 I am grateful for comments on earlier drafts from Nicola Mackie, James Diggle, Emily Reams and Richard Seaford.