Alcyoneus
InGreek mythology,AlcyoneusorAlkyoneus(/ælˈsaɪ.əˌnjuːs/;Ancient Greek:Ἀλκυονεύς,romanized:Alkyoneús) was a traditional opponent of the heroHeracles.He was usually considered to be one of the Gigantes (Giants), the offspring ofGaiaborn from the blood of the castratedUranus.[1]
According to the mythographerApollodorus,Alcyoneus' confrontation with Heracles was part of theGigantomachy,the cosmic battle of the Giants with theOlympian gods.In Apollodorus' account Alcyoneus andPorphyrionwere the greatest of the Giants, and Alcyoneus was immortal as long as he was in his native land. When Heracles shot Alcyoneus with an arrow, Alcyoneus fell to the ground but then began to revive, so on the advice of Athena, Heracles dragged Alcyoneus out of his homeland where Alcyoneus then died.[2]
For the poetPindar,Heracles' battle with Alcyoneus (whom he calls a herdsman), and the Gigantomachy were separate events.
In some accounts Alcyoneus caused the Gigantomachy by stealing thecattleofHelios.[3]Vase paintings suggest a version of the story in which Heracles encounters a sleeping Alcyoneus.
His seven daughters are theAlkyonides.
Early sources
[edit]Early sources provide glimpses of other versions of the story from the one that Apollodorus tells. Possibly Alcyoneus was not originally a Giant, but simply one of Heracles' many monstrous opponents.[4]
Iconography
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/Paestum_metope_heracles.jpg/250px-Paestum_metope_heracles.jpg)
Depictions of Heracles fighting Alcyoneus, named by inscription, are found on several sixth century BC pots (e.g., Louvre F208). The earliest extant representation of their battle probably occurs on ametopefrom the first temple dedicated to Hera atFoce del Sele,which shows Heracles holding a large figure by the hair, while stabbing him with a sword. Such a scene is also depicted on several shield-band reliefs fromOlympia(B 1801, B 1010).[5]
A terracotta frieze (Basel BS 318) and the sixth century BC pots show a reclining Alcyoneus. And on some of the pots Alcyoneus is apparently sleeping, with a wingedHypnosnearby (Melborne 1730.4, Getty 84.AE.974, Munich 1784, Toledo 52.66). These depictions suggest the existence of a story in which Heracles takes advantage of a sleeping opponent.[6]
The presence of cattle on several of the pots suggests that the story also involved cattle in some way (e.g., Tarquinia RC 2070, Taranto 7030). This last pot depicts Heracles, with a headlock perhaps dragging his opponent, which might be a representation of Heracles dragging Alcyoneus out of his homeland.[7]
Literature
[edit]The earliest mentions of Alcyoneus in literature, are by the fifth century BC poetPindar.According to Pindar, Heracles andTelamonwere traveling throughPhlegra,where they encountered Alcyoneus, whom Pindar describes as a "herdsman... huge as a mountain",[8]and a "great and terrible warrior".[9]A battle occurs in which Alcyoneus "laid low, by hurling a rock, twelve chariots and twice twelve horse-taming heroes who were riding in them", before finally being "destroyed" by the two heroes.
The participation of Telamon and other mortals in the battle, and the lack of mention of any of the gods, or other Giants, seem to imply that for Pindar, unlike apparently Apollodorus, the battle between Heracles and Alcyoneus was a separate event from the Gigantomachy. And in fact Pindar never actually calls Alcyoneus a Giant, although the description of him as "huge as a mountain", his use of a rock as a weapon, and the location of the battle at Phlegra, the usual site of the Gigantomachy, all suggest that he was.[10]
Scholia to Pindar tell us that Alcyoneus lived on the isthmus of Thrace and that he had stolen his cattle fromHelios,causing the Gigantomachy, (Schol. PindarIsthmian6.47) and that Alcyoneus, one of the Giants, attacked Heracles, not in Thrace but at theIsthmus of Corinth,while the hero was returning with the cattle ofGeryon,and that this was according to Zeus' plan because the Giants were his enemies (Schol. PindarNemean4.43). The cattle shown on the sixth century pots, might thus represent either Alcyoneus' cattle stolen from Helios, or Heracles' cattle taken from Geryon.[11]Apollodorus mentions the theft of Helios' cattle as an event of the Gigantomachy, but not the cause of it.
Other sources
[edit]Alcyoneus is usually identified as the winged Giant battlingAthenaon the Gigantomachy frieze from thePergamon Altar.[12]
An unascribed lyric fragment (985 PMG) calls the Giant "Phlegraian Alkyoneus of Pallene, the eldest of the Gigantes [Giants]".[13]Claudianhas Alcyoneus buried under the volcanicMount Vesuvius[14]whilePhilostratussays that the bones of Alcyoneus were considered a "marvel" by the people living near Vesuvius, where it was said that many Giants were buried.[15]TheSudasays thatHegesandertold of a myth in which Alcyoneus had seven daughters, theAlkyonides,who threw themselves into the sea when Alcyoneus died and were turned into birds, the Halcyons (kingfishers).[16]
The late fourth century or early fifth century AD Greek poetNonnus,in his poemDionysiaca,mentions Alcyoneus as one of the several Giants thatDionysusbattles in the Gigantomachy.[17]Nonnus has Gaia set the Giants againstDionysus,promising AlcyoneusArtemisas his wife should the Giants subdue Dionysus.[18]Nonnus makes Alcyoneus nine cubits high,[19]and has him fight with mountains as weapons.[20]
See also
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
Notes
[edit]- ^Gantz, pp. 419–421, 445–450; Hard,p. 89.Smith has separate entries for the opponent of Heracles, mentioned by Pindar:Alcyoneus 1.,and the Giant:Alcyoneus 2..For the birth of the Gigantes seeHesiod,Theogony185.Hyginus,FabulaePrefacegivesTartarusas the father of the Giants.
- ^Apollodorus,1.6.1.
- ^Scholiast to PindarIsthmian6.47; Gantz, p. 419.
- ^Gantz, p. 446; MacLean,p. 100.
- ^Gantz, p. 420. Louvre F208: Beazley Archive6561;Moon,p. 65.Metope: Bennett,p. 124.For a detailed discussion see Andreae 1962.
- ^Gantz, p. 420; Stafford,p. 118.Melborne 1730.4: Beazley Archive201048;LIMC25109 (Alkyoneus 11).Getty 84.AE.974: Beazley Archive16201;Cohenp. 66–68.Munich 1784: Beazley Archive351331.Toledo 52.66: Beazley Archive2190;Moonp. 65.
- ^Gantz, p. 420. Tarquinia RC 2070: Beazley Archive332028.Taranto 7030: Andreae, pp. 188, 189;LIMC24768 (Alkyoneus 17).
- ^Pindar,Isthmian6.30–35.
- ^Pindar,Nemean4.24–30.
- ^Gantz, pp. 419, 445, 447. Pindar knew of the larger battle between the gods and Giants which he also located "on the plain of Phlegra",Nemean1.67–69;7.90;Pythian8.12–18.
- ^Gantz, pp. 419, 448.
- ^Cunningham,p. 113;Kleiner,p. 156 FIG. 5-79;for doubts concerning the identification of the Giant as Alcyoneus, see Ridgway,p. 39,note 59, pp. 59–60.
- ^Gantz, p. 419.
- ^Claudian,Rape of Proserpine3.186–187 (pp. 358–359).
- ^Philostratus,On Heroes8.15–16.
- ^Suda,s. v.Ἀλκυονίδες ἡμέραι(Alcyon days, Halcyon days, kingfisher days),s. v.Παλλήνη(Pallene).
- ^Nonnus,Dionysiaca25.90 (II, pp. 256–257);48.44 (III, pp. 426–427);48.71 (III, pp. 428–429).
- ^Nonnus,Dionysiaca48.22 (III, pp. 426–427).
- ^Nonnus,Dionysiaca36.242 (III, pp. 18–19).
- ^Nonnus,Dionysiaca48.44 (III, pp. 426–427);48.71 (III, pp. 428–429).
References
[edit]- Andreae, B., "Herakles und Alkyoneus",Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts77:130–210. 1962.
- Apollodorus,The Librarywith an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website.
- Claudian,Claudian with an English translation by Maurice Platnauer,Volume II,Loeb Classical LibraryNo. 136. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd.. 1922.ISBN978-0674991514.Internet Archive.
- Cohen, Beth,The Colors of Clay: Special Techniques in Athenian Vases,Getty Publications, 2006.ISBN9780892369423.
- Cunningham, Lawrence, John Reich, Lois Fichner-Rathus,Culture and Values: A Survey of the Western Humanities, Volume 1,Cengage Learning, 2014.ISBN9781285974460.
- Gantz, Timothy,Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources,Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes:ISBN978-0-8018-5360-9(Vol. 1),ISBN978-0-8018-5362-3(Vol. 2).
- Graves, Robert,The Greek Myths: The Complete and Definitive Edition.Penguin Books Limited. 2017.ISBN978-0-241-98338-6,024198338X
- Hard, Robin,The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology",Psychology Press, 2004,ISBN9780415186360.
- Hesiod,Theogony,inThe Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White,Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Hyginus, Gaius Julius,The Myths of Hyginus.Edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960.
- Kleiner, Fred S.Gardner's Art Through the Ages: A Global History, Fourteenth Edition,Cengage Learning, 2012.ISBN9781285288673.
- Moon, Warren, G., "Some New and Little-Known Vases by the Rycroft and Priam Painters" inGreek Vases in the J. Paul Getty Museum: Volume 2.Getty Publications, 1985.
- Nonnus,Dionysiaca;translated byRouse, W H D,II Books XVI–XXXV.Loeb Classical LibraryNo. 345, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940.Internet Archive
- Nonnus,Dionysiaca;translated byRouse, W H D,III Books XXXVI–XLVIII.Loeb Classical LibraryNo. 346, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940.Internet Archive
- Philostratus(the Athenian),On Heroes,editors Jennifer K. Berenson MacLean, Ellen Bradshaw Aitken, BRILL, 2003,ISBN9789004127012.
- Pindar,Odes,Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Ridgway, Brunilde Sismondo,Hellenistic Sculpture II,University of Wisconsin Press, 2000.ISBN978-0299167103.
- Smith, William;Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology,London (1873).Alcyoneus 1.,Alcyoneus 2.
- Stafford, Emma,Harakles,Routledge, 2013.ISBN9781136519277.