Cox, George - Aryan Mythology Vol 2.pdf

48 MYTHOLOGY OF TITE ARYAN NATIONS.
BOOK The result is the first Trojan war mentioned in the Iliad,
v ,1— which relates how Herakles, coming with six ships and few
men, shattered its towers and left its streets desolate. 1 In
other words, Herakles is mightier than Agamemnon ; he
is the sun-god demanding his own recompense : the Achaians
among whom Achilleus fights are the sun-children seeking
to recover the beautiful lio-ht of evening and the treasures
which have been stolen with her from the west.
Orthros Of the other exploits of Herakles, the greater number
and
Hydra
explain themselves. The Nemean lion is the offspring of
Typhon, Orthros, or Echidna ; in other words, it is sprung
from Yritra, the dark thief, and Ahi, the throttling snake of
darkness, and it is as surely slain by Herakles as the snakes
which had assaulted him in the cradle. Another child of
the same horrid parents is the Lernaian Hydra, its very
name denoting a monster who, like the Sphinx or the Panis,
shuts up the waters and causes drought. It has many heads,
one being immortal, as the storm must constantly supply new
clouds while the vapours are driven off by the sun into space.
Hence the story went that although Herakles could burn
away its mortal heads, as the sun burns up the clouds, still
he can but hide away the mist or vapour itself, which at its
appointed time must again darken the sky. In this fight
he is aided by Iolaos, the son of Iphikles, a name recalling,
like that of Iole, the violet-tinted clouds which can be seen
only when the face of the heaven is clear of the murky
vapours. Hence it is that Eurystheus is slain when Iolaos
rises from the under world to punish him for demanding
from the children of the dawn-goddess Athene the surrender
of the Herakleids, who had found among them a congenial
home. The stag of Keryneia is, according to some versions,
slain, in others only seized by Herakles, who bears it with
its golden antlers and brazen feet to Artemis and Phoibos.
' II. v. 640. This story is put into the daughter of Laomedon, as in the
the mouth of the Herakleid Tlepolemos Libyan tale it falls on Andromeda, the
when he is about to slay Sarpedon. daughter of Kepheus. Herakles, of
Grute, Hist. Gr. i. 388. The other course, plays the part of Perseus, and is
incidents simply repeat the story of aided by Athene and the Trojans, who
Kepheus. The oracle says that a build him a tower to help him in the
maiden must be given up to the sea- fight,
monster, and the lot falls on Hesione,