![]() And he feared their anger, and hastened to perform the great task to which Zeus had bound him. There he dwelt with his modest wife without the joys of love, nor might he go in unto the neat-ankled daughter of Electyron until he had avenged the death of his wife's great-hearted brothers and utterly burned with blazing fire the villages of the heroes, the Taphians and Teleboans for this thing was laid upon him, and the gods were witnesses to it. Verily he had slain her noble father violently when he was angry about oxen so he left his own country and came to Thebes and was suppliant to the shield-carrying men of Cadmus. And she so honoured her husband in her heart as none of womankind did before her. Her face and her dark eyes wafted such charm as comes from golden Aphrodite. She surpassed the tribe of womankind in beauty and in height and in wisdom none vied with her of those whom mortal women bare of union with mortal men. 1-27) Or like her who left home and country and came to Thebes, following warlike Amphitryon, even Alcmena, the daughter of Electyron, gatherer of the people. The following is the complete text of The Shield of Heracles as translated by H.G. Cyncus is buried by King Ceyx of Thessaly and a great monument is set up to honor him, but Apollo causes the river Anaurus to flood and wash the grave away so that Cycnus' memory would be blotted out because of his many evil deeds. At this point, Ares' other sons, Panic and Dread, appear and take the wounded god back to Mount Olympus to be cared for. Heracles wounds Ares in the thigh in this altercation and beats him. Ares then attempts to kill Heracles in revenge but is thwarted by the goddess Athena. ![]() ![]() Heracles fights Cycnus and kills him with a spear through the throat. Apollo, abiding close by in his sanctuary, stirred Heracles' blood to accept the challenge (even though, considering Heracles' temper and general character in the myths, he would have needed no encouragement). They both stopped near the sanctuary of Apollo where Cycnus challenged Heracles to single combat. One day, as Heracles and Iolaus were traveling in their chariot through the country, they met Cycnus and Ares in their own chariot coming from the other direction. He also would rob those pilgrims who were enroute to the sanctuary of the god Apollo to make sacrifices and leave gifts and offerings. Cyncus was a cruel despot of Thessaly who would invite guests to dinner and then murder them. After Heracles' status as a demi-god is established, the tale of Cyncus and the combat begins. Iolaus, who is Heracles' charioteer in the poem, is Iphicles' son, but Iphicles himself does not appear in the work. The poem begins with a description of Heracles' beautiful mother Alcmene and how she was impregnated by both the god Zeus and her husband Amphitryon on the same night, giving birth to twin sons: Heracles (son of Zeus) and Iphicles (son of Amphitryon). The author of The Shield of Heracles took some lines directly from Iliad and only modified others but the majority of the poem is an original work. The poem borrows heavily from Homer's Iliad, chapter 18, in which he describes the shield of Achilles. Some modern-day sources continue to attribute the work to Hesiod even though by now it has long been established as the work of another writing in Hesiod's style. ![]() The poem was thought to be an original work by Hesiod but was already suspect as the work of another by around the 3rd century BCE. No mention is made of other events in the hero's life other than the divine circumstances surrounding his birth. It is unclear when the action of the poem takes place in the traditional stories about Heracles. It deals with the Greek hero Heracles (also known as Hercules) and his nephew Iolaus and their battle with Cycnus, son of the war- god Ares. The Shield of Heracles (also known as The Shield of Herakles and, in the original, Aspis Herakleous) is a poem of 480 hexameter lines written by an unknown Greek poet in the style of Hesiod (lived 8th century BCE). ![]()
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