by Daisy Dunn
And now, because we have before made mention of Hercules’s pillars, we conceive it fit in this place to say something further concerning them.
Hercules, when he arrived at the utmost coasts of both continents adjoining to the ocean, resolved to set up these pillars as lasting monuments of his expedition. That his work, therefore, might be famous to all posterity, it is said, that he much enlarged both the mountains on each side, by making great mounds for a long way into the sea; so that, whereas before they lay in the sea at a great distance one from another, he made the passage so narrow, that the great whales from that time could not pass out of the ocean through those straits into the Mediterranean; and, by the greatness of the work, the glory of the workman is preserved in everlasting remembrance.
But there are some of a contrary opinion, and affirm that the continents once joined together, and that he cut a trench through them, whereby he opened a passage, and so brought the ocean into our sea. But every man may judge of this matter as he thinks fit. The like he did before in Greece: for, when the large champaign country about Tempe was all over a standing lake, he cut sluices through the lower grounds, and through those trenches drained all the water out of the lake, by which means were gained all those pleasant fields of Thessaly as far as to the river Peneus. But in Boeotia he did quite contrary; for he caused the river which ran through the country of the Minyae to overflow the whole region, and turn all into a standing pool. What he did in Thessaly was to gain the favour of the Grecians, but that in Boeotia he did to punish the Minyae, because they oppressed the Thebans.
Hercules having committed the government of the kingdom of Iberia to the chiefest of the inhabitants, marched away with his army into Celtica13, and overran the whole country, and put an end to their usual impieties and murdering of strangers.
And whereas a vast multitude from all nations came and listed themselves of their own accord in his army, having such a number, he built a famous large city, which he called, from his wandering expedition, Alesia14. But because many of the barbarians from the neighbouring places were mixed among the citizens, it happened that the rest of the inhabitants (being much inferior in number) learnt the barbarian manners of the other. The Celtae at this day have a great esteem and honour for this city, as being the chief and metropolis of all Gaul; and ever since the time of Hercules it has remained free, never taken by any, to our very days; till at length Caius Caesar, who (by reason of the greatness of his actions) was called Divus, took it by storm, and so it came into the hands of the Romans. With the rest of the Gauls Hercules, marching out of Gaul into Italy, as he passed over the Alps, levelled and opened those rough and difficult ways (that were scarce passable) to make way for his army and carriages. The barbarians who inhabited those mountainous parts were used to kill and rob armies, in the strait and craggy places, as they happened to pass this way; but he subdued them, and put to death the perpetrators of those wicked practices, and so made the passage safe this way to all posterity. Having passed the Alps, he continued his march through Gaul, as it is now called, and came into Liguria. The Ligurians inhabit a rough and barren soil, but being forced by continual labour and toil, it produces some little corn and other fruits: the people here are short and low, but by reason of their constant labours well set and strong; for they are far from being idle and luxurious livers, and therefore are very active and valiant in time of war. To conclude, because all these neighbouring regions are plied with continual labours and pains, (for that the land requires it), it is the custom for the women to work and labour in that kind as well as the men; and whereas the women as well as the men work for hire, there fell out a remarkable accident concerning one of these women, strange and unusual to any of our female sex. Being great with child, and falling in labour in the midst of her work amongst the men, without any noise or complaint she withdrew herself into a certain grove there near at hand, and there being delivered, she covered the infant with leaves, and hid it among the shrubs, and then returned to her work again, without the least sign of having borne a child, and continued with her fellow-labourers in her work as she did before. But the infant, crying and bawling, discovered the whole matter; yet the overseer of the workmen would by no means be persuaded to suffer her to leave her miserable employment, till he that hired her, pitying her condition, paid her her wages, and discharged her.
Hercules, after he had gone through Liguria and Tuscany, encamped at Tiber, where Rome now stands, built many ages after by Romulus, the son of Mars. The natural inhabitants at that time inhabited a little town upon a hill, now called Mount Palatine. Here Potitius15 and Pinarius, the most eminent persons of quality among them, entertained Hercules with all the demonstrations of kindness imaginable, and presented him with many noble presents. There are now at Rome antient monuments of these men; for the most noble family, called the Pinarii, remains still among the Romans, and is accounted the most antient at this day. And there are Potitius’s stone stairs to go down from Mount Palatine, (called after his name), adjoining to that which was antiently his house.
Hercules being much pleased with the civil entertainment of the Palatines, foretold them, that whosoever should dedicate the tenth of their goods to him, after he was translated to the gods, should be ever after more prosperous; and this dedication has been ever since constantly used to this day: for many of the Romans, not only such as are of mean estates, but the great and rich men, (having experienced how riches have flowed in upon them after the decimation of their goods to Hercules), have dedicated the tenth part of their substances, which have been of the value of four thousand talents: for Lucullus (the richest almost of all the Romans in his time) valued his estate, and consecrated the tenths to this god, and feasted continually with prodigious charge and expence. The Romans afterwards built a magnificent temple near the river Tiber, in honour of this god, and instituted sacrifices to him out of the tenths.
Hercules marching from Mount Palatine, passed through the maritime coasts of Italy, as they are now called, and came into the champaign country of Cumae, where (it is said) there were men infamous for their outrages and cruelties, called giants. This place is also called the Phlegraean plain, from a hill which antiently vomited out fire, like unto Aetna in Sicily, now called Vesuvius, which retains many signs and marks of its antient irruptions.
These giants, hearing of Hercules’s approach, met him in battle array, and, fighting with the force and cruelty of giants, Hercules (with the assistance of the gods) overcame them, and cutting off most of them, quieted that country. These giants were called sons of the earth, by reason of the vast bulk of their bodies. These are the things that some report (whom Tiuneus follows) concerning the destruction of the giants of Phlegraea.
Leaving the plains of Phlegraea, he came to the sea, where he performed some remarkable works about the lake Avernus, (as it is called), which is consecrated to Proserpine. It is situated between Micenus and Diciarchcos, near the hot baths, five furlongs in circuit, and of an incredible depth. The water of this lake is exceeding clear, and the mighty depth of it casts a blue colour upon the surface.
It is reported that there was antiently here an oracle, where they conjured the infernal spirits, which the latter ages abolished. Whereas this lake extended as far as to the sea, it is said Hercules, by casting up of earth, so stopped up its current, that he made the way near the sea, now called the Herculean way. And these are the things he did there.
Marching thence, he came to a certain rock in the country of the Posidonians, where, they report, a kind of a miracle happened. A certain huntsman (famous all over the country for his brave exploits) was used formerly to fix the heads and feet of all the game he took to trees, as an offering to Diana: but having then taken a great wild boar, (in contempt of the goddess), he boasted, and declared he would only consecrate the head to her; and forthwith, according to what he said, hung it upon a tree. It being then summer-time, about noon, he laid him down to sleep, during which time, the band that fastened the head bro
ke, and so it fell down upon him as he slept, and killed him. And there is no reason to wonder at this, when many of the like kind are reported to have happened, by which the goddess has revenged herself on the impious. But the contrary happened to Hercules, for the sake of his piety; for, when he came to the borders of Rhegium and Locris, being wearied with his march, and laid down to rest, they say he was disturbed with the noise and creaking of the grasshoppers, whereupon he entreated the gods to free him from that disturbance, who heard his prayers: for the grasshoppers flew away, not only for that time, but none were ever seen there at any time after.
When he came to the narrowest passage over the sea, he caused the cattle to swim over before him into Sicily, and he himself catched hold of one of the horns of the oxen, and in that manner swam along for the space of thirteen furlongs, as Timreus reports the matter. Afterwards, desiring to go round the island, he went on his journey from Peloriados to Eryx, and, passing along the shore, the nymphs opened the hot baths for him, where he refreshed himself after his tedious journey. These baths were two in number, the Hemerian and Egestean, so called from the places. After Hercules came into the country of Eryx, Eryx the son of Venus and Bula, the king of the country, challenged Hercules to wrestle with him. Both sides proposed the wager to be won and lost; Eryx laid to stake his kingdom, but Hercules his oxen; Eryx at first disdained such an unequal wager, not fit to be compared with his country; but when Hercules, on the other side, answered, that if he lost them, he should lose together with them immortality, Eryx was contented with the condition, and engaged in the contest: but he was overcome, and so was stripped out of the possession of his country, which Hercules gave to the inhabitants, allowing them to take the fruits to their own use, till some one of his posterity came to demand it, which afterwards happened: for, many ages after, Dorieus the Lacedaemonian (sailing into Sicily) recovered his ancestor’s dominion, and there built Heraclea, which, growing great on a sudden, became the object of the Carthaginians’ envy and fear, lest, growing stronger than Carthage itself, it should deprive them of their sovereignty; and for that reason they besieged it with a mighty army, and took it by force, and razed it to the ground; of which we shall speak particularly in its proper place.
Hercules having viewed Sicily round, came to the city now called Syracuse, where, when he came to be informed of the rape of Proserpine, he offered magnificent sacrifices to the goddesses, and at Cyane sacrificed the goodliest of his bulls, and ordered the inhabitants to sacrifice yearly to Proserpine, and observe an anniversary festival at Cyane. Then travelling through the heart of the country with his oxen, he was set upon by the Sicani, with a strong body of men; whom, after a cruel battle, he routed, and cut off most of them, amongst whom (it is reported) there were captains of extraordinary valour, who are honoured as demi-gods to this day; to wit, Leucaspis, Pedicrates, Buphonas, Caugates, Cygaus, and Crytidas. Thence he passed through the country of the Leontines, and much admired the pleasantness of the territory; and, by reason of the singular respect he found from the inhabitants, he left there eternal monuments of his presence.
Among the Agyrineans something remarkable happened concerning him; for they kept magnificent festivals, and offered sacrifices to him, as to the gods themselves, which was the first time he approved of such worship, never before allowing any sacrifice to himself: but now the deity itself ratified his divinity; for, not far from the city, in a rocky way, the oxen made impressions with their feet, as if it had been in wax; and the same thing likewise happening to Hercules himself, caused him to conclude, that (his tenth labour being now perfected) his immortality was in part sealed to him, and therefore he refused not the yearly solemnity of sacrifices instituted in honour of him by the inhabitants. That he might, therefore, manifest his gratitude to them for the honours conferred upon him, he caused a pond to be sunk near the city, four furlongs in compass, which he called after his own name. The impressions, likewise, made by the hoofs of his oxen, he named after himself, and consecrated a grove16 to Gerion, as to a demi-god, whom the inhabitants religiously worship at this day. He built likewise there a famous temple in honour of Iolaus, his associate in his expedition, and appointed he should be honoured with yearly sacrifices, which are observed at this day: for all the inhabitants of this city let their hair grow, without cutting, from their very births, in honour of Iolaus, till they make an offering of them to him, and gain the favour of the god by costly and magnificent sacrifices. Such is the holiness and majesty of this temple, that whosoever do not observe these holy rites, they are stricken dumb, and are like dead men: but as soon as any recollects himself, and vows to offer his sacrifices, and gives a pledge to the god for that purpose, they are presently restored to their former health. The inhabitants, therefore, very fitly call the gate where these sacred solemnities are performed Heraclea. They every year, likewise, with great earnestness, celebrate the Gymnic sports17, and horse-races; whither all the people, both bond and free, flocking, they privately taught their servants how to worship this god, how to celebrate the solemn sacrifices, and to perform when they met together the sacred rites and festivals.
After this, Hercules passed over his oxen again into Italy, and in his marching along by the sea-coasts, he killed one Lacinius that was stealing some of his oxen. There he buried Croton, and erected a stately monument over him, whom he had unfortunately slain, and foretold that in time to come there should be built a famous city; called after the name of him that was there buried. Having at length marched round about Adria, and all the coasts of that gulf, on foot, he passed through Epirus into Peloponnesus.
Having finished his tenth labour, Eurystheus imposed another task upon him, and that was, that he should bring Cerberus out of hell. Preparing himself, therefore, to perform this, to be better enabled thereunto, he went to Athens to be initiated into the mysterious rites of Elusina, where Musaeus the son of Orpheus was then high priest.
And because we have now occasion to mention Orpheus, we conceive it will not be amiss here to give a short account of him. He was the son of Oeagrus, and by birth a Thracian, for in the art of music and poetry far excelling all that ever were recorded. For he composed a poem, for sweetness and smoothness, the subject of all men’s admiration: and he grew so eminent in this art, that, by the melody of his music, he was said to draw even wild beasts and trees after him; and being naturally very studious, he attained to an extraordinary degree of knowledge in the antient theology. He improved himself, likewise, very much by travelling into Egypt, so that he was accounted to excel the most accomplished person among all the Grecians for his knowledge both in divinity and sacred mysteries, in music, and in poetry. He was one, likewise, in the expedition of the Argonauts, and for the exceeding love he had to his wife, (with an admirable courage) descended into hell, and there so enchanted Proserpine with the sweetness of his music, that she gratified him so far as to suffer him to carry back his wife along with him, that died a little before.
In like manner, they say, Bacchus hereupon raised his mother Semele from the shades below, and, enduing her with immortality, surnamed her Thyone.
Having now done with this digression relating to Orpheus, we return to Hercules: when he entered the infernal regions, (the mythologists say), Proserpine kindly received him as her brother, and gave him liberty to loose Theseus and Pirithous from their chains; and at length, contrary to the expectations of all men, brought up the dog18 tied in his chain, and presented him to open view.
The last labour enjoined him was to fetch away the golden apples of the Hesperides, to which purpose he passed over a second time into Africa. The mythologists vary in their writings concerning this; for some affirm that there were really golden apples in some of the gardens of the Hesperides, guarded continually by a terrible dragon. Others say, that there are sheep of exquisite beauty in the Hesperides, and that from thence they are poetically called golden apples, as Venus, from her beauty, is called golden Venus. Others will have it, that the fleeces upon the sheep’s ba
cks are of that admirable colour, that they glitter like gold, and thence have been so called. And by the dragon they understand the shepherd of the flocks, who, being a man of a strong body and stout heart, preserved the flocks, and killed the thieves that attempted to steal them.
But let every one judge of this matter as he thinks best himself: for Hercules killed the keeper, and brought away the apples or sheep (which soever they were) to Eurystheus, trusting now, that since all his tasks were performed, (according to the oracle of Apollo), he should be rewarded with immortality.
1 Ilithyia, a goddess, assistant to those in travail.
2 Hercules signifies, the glory of Juno, who is called in Greek, Hera.
3 Or Orchemonians; a people of Thessaly.
4 This forest was in Achaia.
5 Tretos, bored through.
6 A cloud.
7 Another centaur.
8 The Euxine sea.
9 Spain.
10 Of whom this Gerion was one, whom the poets feign to have three bodies.
11 Hecatompylon, a hundred gates.
12 Or in the straits near Cadiz.
13 France.
14 Or Alexia, Arras.
15 Cacius in the Greek.
16 Or built a temple.
17 Wrestlings, quoitings, &c.
18 Cerberus.
ALEXANDER THE GREAT MEETS THE RAM GOD
The Anabasis of Alexander, Book III
Arrian
Translated by E. J. Chinnock, 1884
Alexander the Great (356–323 BC), ruler of Macedon, is said to have visited the oracle of Ammon, a ram-headed god, during his expedition to Siwa, near the Egyptian–Libyan border. He was associated thereafter with the ram’s horn, and is depicted wearing one on coins minted by his successors. The Old Testament Book of Daniel mentions a ‘king of Grecia’ with a ‘great horn between his eyes’. If only we knew what message Alexander received from the oracle. This story comes from a biography written hundreds of years after his death by the Greek historian Arrian of Nicomedia (c. AD 86/89 – after 146/160).
