The Madness of Herakles is an episode from Greek history with which many are unlikely familiat. In the West, Hercules is more often seen in his red-haired, Disneyfied form: coming to age under the tutelage of a Silenos-from-Jersey and fulfilling his destiny by warding off the evil forces of a blue-haired Hades. This is a gross perversion of what is otherwise a narrative of epic proportions and immense cultural gravity.
Are you aware that Herakles killed his wife and three of his own children, as well as attempted to murder the man who raised him as a child? This happens, according to the playwright, Euripedes, after Herakles has returned from the Underworld and completed his twelth and final labor: to capture the three-headed hound Cerberus and return him to Eurystheus, the king who held Herakles in servitude.
Herakles returns to Thebes to discover that his wife, children and the husband of his mother have taken sanctuary at an altar in the Temple of Zeus, as the reigning ruler of Thebes, Lycus —who stole the throne from Herakles' father-in-law, Creon — has sentenced them to death. Incensed, Herakles slays Lycus, and the whole city sings all the praises of Herakles. This is all interrupted by the messenger of the gods, Iris, and Mania, the personification of Madness. Iris informs Herakles that she has been sent by Hera — the jealous wife of Herakles' father, Zeus — to drive him mad, mad enough to kill his wife and children.
Herakles is struck by a fit of insanity. He longs to kill the cowardly king, Eurystheus, who forced him to labor for 12 years away from his family. He storms through the palace in Thebes, searching room to room, imagining, with each door, that he is traveling from country to country.
Herakles' wife, Megara, is sheltering with her children. Her husband and their father breaks down the door of the room where they've hidden. Herakles sees his children but believes he is seeing Eurystheus' children. He takes them by the neck and drags them from the palace to the city square where the slain king, Lycus, had gathered relics of Creon's reign to burn. Herakles throws his children atop the pyre and sets it ablaze. Megara watches in horror as her children are immolated; Herakles turns about face and impales his beloved, then tearing her apart limb by limb.
Still in search of the coward, Eurystheus, Herakles encounters Amphitryon, the husband of his mother, and raises his sword so to fell the man he has mistaken as Eurystheus. Before the fatal blow is struck, the goddess Athena appears before Herakles and slaps him about the face. Herakles falls into a deep slumber like a stone to the ground.
[End Scene]
And this boys and girls, is your bedtime story...sweet dreams.
A fellow Ancient Greek enthusiast! Upvoted and followed! ;-) I even resteemed this so I could read it later on my feed when it is not so late and I am not so tired. I studied Ancient Greek in college for two years. It was very hard!
Thank you! I had originally planned to do a write up on the krater itself and the connection between the pot and the madness of Herakles, but I got caught up in the retelling the story once I realized most people dont know it.
And, then, it got late and I ran out of steam. My writer's muscles have atrophied and 1000 words is a lot for one go nowadays. I hope to finish it soon.