Geras (mythology)
Geras ( Greek Γῆρας Gḗras , German 'old age' ) is the personification of old age in Greek mythology . Its Roman counterpart is synonymous with Senectus .
According to the theogony of Hesiod , he is a son of the goddess Nyx . With Hyginus and Cicero his father is Erebos . Geras is the counterpart to Hebe , the embodiment of youth.
As a motif of Greek art, he is depicted as an old wrinkled little man fighting with Heracles , who defeats him. Heracles, as one of the only two mortals (and Dionysus next to him ), is endowed by the gods with immortality, elevated to a god and accepted into Olympus .
Philostratos reports that there was a Greek temple of Geras in Cádiz (then Gadeira).
The expression should not be confused with the central concept of honor Geras ( γέρας géras ) in the Iliad . The second letter here is the Greek epsilon . The dispute over the gift of honor (further meaning of γέρας) led to the anger of Achilles .
literature
- Frank Brommer : Heracles and Geras. In: Archäologischer Anzeiger . 1952, pp. 60-73.
- Heinrich Wilhelm Stoll : Geras . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1,2, Leipzig 1890, column 1628 ( digitized version ).
- Felix Preisshofen: Investigations into the representation of the old age in the early Greek poetry (= Hermes . Individual writings Volume 34). Steiner, Wiesbaden 1977, ISBN 3-515-02002-0 .
- Harvey A. Shapiro: Geras . In: Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). Volume IV, Zurich / Munich 1988, p. 180.
