Alcmene

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Heracles strangling a snake , Iphicles and Alcmene, Athena with a lance, Amphitryon on the right ; Stamnos of the Berlin painter , around 480/70 BC BC (Paris, Louvre G 192)

Alkmene ( ancient Greek Ἀλκμήνη "the strong"; Latin Alcmena, Alcumena ) was the mother of Heracles , the greatest hero of ancient Greece , in Greek mythology .

Hesiod describes Alkmene as a tall, unsurpassable beauty who was also clever like no other mortal person.

myth

Alkmene is mostly seen as the daughter of Perseus' son Elektryon , while the name of her mother fluctuates in the different versions of the material. Sometimes it is Anaxo , the daughter of her "uncle" Alkaios , sometimes one of the daughters of Pelops , Lysidice or Eurydice . According to Asios of Samos , a poet probably from the early 7th century BC. BC, Amphiaraos and Eriphyle were Alcmenes parents. Euripides addresses her in his tragedy Alcestis as Tiryntherin , while Elektryon actually ruled over Mycenae or Mideia . Even with Ovid she is nicknamed Tirynthia "woman of Tiryns ".

In the Tirynthian saga, Alektrona was the name Alkmenes, which was then changed to Electryone - a merger with the Rhodian goddess Alektrona , the daughter of Helios with Rhodes and wife of the Amphiaraos and the personification of Zeus in the form of the golden rain , Elektryon.

Amphitryon

When the sons of Pterelaus came to Mycenae and made claims as descendants of Elektryon's brother Mestor , all twelve brothers of Alkmenes, but also one of the sons of Pterelaus, were killed in the following dispute. Your survivor stole the cattle of Elektryon and gave them to Polyxenus, king of Elis . Amphitryon , son of Alcaios, bought it from him and gave it back to Electryon. In order to avenge his sons, Elektryon prepared himself for battle and transferred control of his kingdom for the time of his absence to Amphitryon, to whom he also entrusted Alkmene and made the promise not to touch Alkmene until his return. Before leaving, Amphitryon killed his future father-in-law, either accidentally or in an argument.

Thereupon Sthenelos , the brother of the slain, took the opportunity to take over the rule and expelled the amphitryon, laden with blood guilt, from Mycenae. Out of love, Alkmene joined the outcast, accompanied by her half-brother Likymnios . They moved to Thebes to King Creon , the Amphitryon of his guilt cleaned . According to Hesiod, Alkmene and Amphitryon were already married at this time, but the marriage was not yet consummated, as Alkmene made this dependent on revenge for their fallen brothers. According to the library of Apollodorus , Alcmene made the wedding dependent on this condition.

Lover of Zeus

Amphitryon swears that he will not take Alkmene as his wife until he avenges their brothers, and pulls against the Taphier and Teleboer . Shortly before his return, Zeus approaches Alcmene at night to beget a hero, assumes the shape of Amphitryon and reports on his deeds. As proof, he gives her Pterelaus' cup and a collar. At Pindar he comes to Alkmene in the form of golden rain.

To have enough time with Alkmene, Zeus asks Helios in later versions of the myth - the element is still unknown in Hesiod and Pherecyde - not to rise for a day. The threefold night, which Alcmene wonders about, turns into three nights, then three days, in the following tradition. Amphitryon returned that same or the following night, but was greeted only coolly by Alkmene, who believed that he had already reported his deeds to her, had already given her his presents and had spent the night with her. Confused, he is enlightened by the seer Teiresias about the events of the previous night and subsequently avoids the common camp. In the non-preserved Alcmene of the poet Euripides , Amphitryon apparently wanted to punish the alleged infidelity of the Alcmene with the stake. But the intervention of Zeus in the form of rain convinced him of their innocence and he recognized the rule of a god.

Mother of Heracles

When Herakles 'birth is imminent and Zeus boasts of it in the assembly of gods and says that from his blood someone will be born today who will rule all men, especially the Argives , Hera ensures that Sthenelos' son Eurystheus , through his grandfather Perseus, too from the blood of Zeus, born as a seven-month-old child before Heracles, by delaying the birth of Alcmene. This original version, which Diodorus also follows, does not yet know any twin brother of Heracles, Iphicles , conceived by Amphitryon , who is only integrated into the myth with Hesiod and Pindar as a twin brother born at the same time, and in the even more recent tradition then born a day later.

Alcmene no longer plays a prominent role in the life of the young Heracles. It is reported from the hero's childhood days that Alcmene weighs the children in a shield or is frightened by Heracles choking the snakes. After Amphitryon's death, she married Rhadamanthys , the son of Zeus from Crete, who had fled to Boeotia .

Expulsion and end

After Heracles has finished his service with Eurystheus, she is expelled from Tiryns with her sons and grandchildren, the Heraclus , flees first to Pheneos , after the death of Heracles under the persecution of Eurystheus on to Trachis to King Këyx . Rejected there, she and the Heraclids end up in Athens with King Demophon , where they are finally accepted. She kills the subsequently captured Eurystheus or stabs the eyes of the killed Eurystheus.

After the death of Eurystheus, she and the Heraclides move to Thebes, where Alcmene dies in old age. At the command of Zeus she is raptured by Hermes to the island of the blessed to be united with Rhadamanthys in the afterlife. In their place the Heraclus, who could not move the coffin that had already been prepared, find a stone which they set up in the grove of the sanctuary dedicated to them. A grave of Alcmene, who was worshiped like a god in Thebes, did not exist in Thebes.

In Haliartos, however, where she was considered the wife of Rhadamanthys, the grave of Alcmenes was shown, while Agesilaus is said to have brought her bones to Sparta . According to Pausanias, her grave was also shown in Megara . For, according to another version of the myth, Alcmene died on the way from Argos to Thebes in the area of ​​Megara and the oracle of Delphi settled the dispute among the Heraclides about where she should be buried by proclaiming that she should best be buried in Megara .

Reception in ancient art

Already in the 7th century BC In BC and thus in archaic times, Alcmene appeared in the fine arts of the Greeks. The oldest testimony is the representation on the ark of Kypselos , which was donated by the descendants of the Corinthian tyrant as a consecration gift in the temple of Hera at Olympia . The cedar box, decorated with carvings and inlays of gold and ivory, united numerous mythical scenes, including the visit of Zeus to Alkmene in the form of Amphitryon, as he gave Alcmene the cup of Pterelaus and the collar. The container is described in detail by Pausanias, who saw it during his visit to Olympia in the 2nd century AD. The fact that the collar is that of Harmonia emerges from the remark previously emphasized by Pausanias that, according to the genealogy of Asios, Alkmene was a daughter of Amphiaraos and Eriphyle, who initially owned the collar and is also shown on the ark was. The motif of the handover of the collar by Zeus is also believed on the relief of a Spartan base from the 2nd quarter of the 6th century BC. To be able to recognize.

From the childhood of Heracles and Iphicles, the portrayal of Heracles strangling and Iphicles fleeing into the arms of his mother on a mountain around 480/470 BC tells the story. Chr. Made stamnos of the Berlin painter . On a late Archaic hydria by the Alcmene painter from the end of the 6th century BC. Alcmene can be seen with Heracles lying on a kline , accompanied by Athena and Hermes . All figures are identified by name inscriptions. Alkmene also wears the collar in this scene. She stands at the feet of her son, her left hand raised in a gesture of speech.

In the 2nd quarter of the 5th century BC The sculptor Kalamis created a statue of Alcmene, which is only known from written records, but was praised as an excellent work. In the 5th century BC BC mainly took on the Greek tragedy of the subject. There were tragedies of Alcmene by Euripides , Ion , Astydamas and Dionysius I , all of which were lost and only known by title, at best only in fragments, as with Euripides.

Heracles strangling a snake with a seated Amphitryon and Alcmene fleeing in the background , wall painting in the Casa dei Vettii , Pompeii .

Reflexes from Alcmene des Euripides, in which Alcmene landed at the stake for her alleged unfaithfulness but was saved by Zeus, can be found in Greek vase painting . The motif is based on a 400/390 BC. Apulian kalyx crater made in BC . Alkmene on the altar with amphitryon bringing torches is also on a Paestan bell crater by the vase painter Python around 350/30 BC. And on a Campanian amphora from the 2nd half of the 4th century BC. To see.

The theme of the Euripidean version seems to have been the Nyx makra , "the long night". In addition to this dramatic view of the myth, there was already at the end of the 5th century BC Also the strange view. So verfertigte Plato Comicus a comedy of the title Nyx makra , let their fragments, however, an accurate picture of their winning comic character. In connection with the numerous tragedies, comedies and phlyacs dealing with Amphitryon, Alcmene naturally always played her role.

In great painting, Alkmene was also the subject of representation. Zeuxis of Herakleia , a Greek painter of the late 5th and early 4th centuries BC. BC, painted an Alcmene and a childish Heracles choking snakes in the presence of Alkmene and Amphitryon, although both mentions may be the same painting. There was at least one picture of the Heraclides asking for protection, including Alcmene. The scholias assign the image to the hand either of Apollodorus of Athens or of Pamphilus from Amphipolis ; one worked in the last third of the 5th century BC. BC, the other in the 1st half of the 4th century BC. Chr.

The motif of Heracles strangling in the presence of his parents is also preserved on three wall paintings from Pompeii and Herculaneum .

Remarks

  1. ↑ Hesiod , aspis 4-6.
  2. ↑ Hesiod, catalogus feminarum and aspis 1-56; Libraries of Apollodorus 2, 4, 5; Tzetzes , ad Lycophronem 932; Scholion to Homer , Iliad 14, 323.
  3. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus 2, 4, 5.
  4. ↑ Plutarch , Theseus 7; Scholion at Pindar , Olympic Odes 7:49; Scholion Homer, Iliad 19,116.
  5. ^ Diodorus 4, 9.
  6. ↑ Asios in Pausanias 5, 17, 4.
  7. ↑ Euripides, Alkestis 838.
  8. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus 4, 6, 1.
  9. ^ Pausanias 2:25 , 9.
  10. ^ Ovid, Metamorphosen 6, 112.
  11. ^ Karl Tümpel : Alektrona 1 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 1, Stuttgart 1893, Sp. 1364 ..
  12. ↑ Ἤλεκτρ (ον) -ὕων = Ἥλιος-ἠλέκτωρ , see Karl Tümpel: Alektrona 2 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 1, Stuttgart 1893, Sp. 1364 ..
  13. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus 2, 4, 6.
  14. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus 2, 4, 6.
  15. ↑ Hesiod, aspis 11.
  16. ↑ Hesiod, aspis 12-14.
  17. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus 2, 4, 6.
  18. ↑ Hesiod, aspis 15-19; Scholion at Pindar, Nemean Odes 10, 15; Scholion to Homer, Iliad 14, 323; Scholion to Homer, Odyssey 11, 265.
  19. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus 2, 4, 6.
  20. ↑ Hesiod, aspis 20; Pherecydes in the Scholion at Homer, Odyssey 11, 266; Libraries of Apollodorus 2, 4, 6-7; in Hygin , Fabulae 29, it is the Oichalier against whom Amphitryon sets out.
  21. ↑ Hesiod, aspis 29; Homer, Odyssey 266-268; Pindar, Nemean Odes 10, 15.
  22. ↑ Pherecydes in the Scholion at Homer, Odysee 11, 266; Libraries of Apollodorus 2, 4, 8; Diodorus 4, 9, 3; Pausanias 5, 18, 3; Hygin, fabulae 29.
  23. ↑ Pherecydes in the Scholion at Homer, Odysee 11, 266; Libraries of Apollodorus 2, 4, 8; Hygin, fabulae 29.
  24. ↑ Athenaios , Deipnosophistai 781 C and D; Pausanias 5, 18, 3.
  25. ↑ Pausanias 5:18 , 3.
  26. ↑ Pindar, Isthmische Oden 6 (7), 5.
  27. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus 2, 4, 8; Diodorus 4, 9, 2; Ovid, Ars amatoria 1, 13, 45 and Tristia 2, 402; Hygin, fabulae 29.
  28. ^ Hygin, fabulae 29.
  29. ↑ Servius , commentarius in Vergilii Aeneida 8, 103; Tzetzes, ad Lycophronem 33.
  30. ↑ Lukian , dialogi deorum 10; Scholion to Homer, Iliad 14, 324.
  31. ↑ Hesiod, aspis 29; Pherecydes in the Scholion at Homer, Odyssey 11, 266.
  32. ^ Libraries of Apollodorus 2, 4, 8.
  33. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus 2, 4, 8; Hygin, fabulae 29.
  34. ^ Hygin, fabulae 29.
  35. ↑ Homer, Iliad 95-125.
  36. ↑ Diodorus 4, 9, 4-7.
  37. ↑ Hesiod, aspis 49; Pindar, Pythische Oden 9, 148-150; Pherecydes in the Scholion at Homer, Odyssey 11, 266.
  38. ↑ Theokritos , Herakliskos (24) 2; Libraries of Apollodorus 2, 4, 8.
  39. ↑ Theokritus, Herakliskos (24) 2
  40. ^ Pindar, Nemëische Oden 1:50 .
  41. ↑ Aristotle Fragment 518 (ed. Rose); Libraries of Apollodorus 3, 1, 2; Plutarch, Lysander 28, 8; Tzetzes, ad Lycophronem 50 and 458.
  42. ↑ Pherecydes in Antoninus Liberalis 33.
  43. ↑ Diodorus 4:33 .
  44. ↑ Libraries of Apollodor 2, 8, 1; Diodorus 4, 57.
  45. ↑ Euripides, Heraclids ; Libraries of Apollodorus 2, 8, 1; Diodorus 4, 57; Strabon , Geography 8, 377; Pausanias 1, 32, 5.
  46. ↑ Euripides, Heraclid End.
  47. ^ Libraries of Apollodorus 2, 8, 1.
  48. ↑ Pherekydes in Antoninus Liberalis 33; Diodorus 4, 58.
  49. ↑ Diodorus 4, 58.
  50. ^ Pausanias 9:16 , 7.
  51. ↑ Plutarch, Lysander 28 and de genio Socratis 5-7.
  52. ^ Pausanias 1, 41, 1.
  53. ↑ Pausanias 5:18 , 3.
  54. ↑ Pausanias 5:18 , 3.
  55. ^ John Boardman : Greek sculpture. The archaic time. A manual (= cultural history of the ancient world . Volume 5). Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1981, ISBN 3-8053-0346-7 , fig. 123; Karl Schefold , Luca Giuliani : Gods and Heroes in Late Archaic Greek Art. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1992, p. 24.
  56. ^ Louvre G 192 , Stamnos of the Berlin painter.
  57. ^ British Museum Inv. 1843,1103.73 ; CVA British Museum 6 III H e Pl. 74, 2.
  58. ↑ Pliny , Naturalis historia 34, 71.
  59. ↑ Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta (TrGF) 5, 1, No. 219-227.
  60. ↑ TrGF 1, No. 19 F 5a – 8
  61. ↑ TrGF 1, No. 76.
  62. ↑ Lucius Rogers Shero: Alkmena and Amphitryon in Ancient and Modern Drama. In: Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association. Vol. 87, 1956, 192-238; Ekkehard strenght: the history of the amphitryon material before Plautus. In: Rheinisches Museum für Philologie . Bd. 125, 1982, pp. 273-303, p. 291 on the Alcmene of Aeschylus handed down by Hesych sv αποστάς , which, if it actually existed, is also lost (TrGF 3, no. 130).
  63. ↑ Ekkehard strenght: The history of the Amphitryonstoffes before Plautus. In: Rheinisches Museum für Philologie. Vol. 125, 1982, pp. 293-299.
  64. ↑ Arthur Dale Trendall : Alkmene. In: Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). Volume I, Zurich / Munich 1981, p. 554 No. 4.
  65. ↑ Arthur Dale Trendall: Alkmene. In: LIMC . Volume I, Zurich / Munich 1981, p. 554 No. 5.
  66. ↑ Thomas Bertram Lonsdale Webster : The Tragedies of Euripides. Methuen, London 1967, pp. 92 f., 298.
  67. ↑ Serena Pirrotta: Plato comicus. The fragmentary comedies. A comment. Berlin 2009, pp. 197-204.
  68. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis historia 35, 62.
  69. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis historia 35, 63.
  70. ↑ Scholien zu Aristophanes , Der Reichtum 385.

literature

Web links

Commons : Alkmene  - collection of images, videos and audio files