pankration

By Gregory Nagy

Thinking comparatively about Greek mythology VII, Greek mythological models for prototyping Hēraklēs

2019.09.06 | By Gregory Nagy §0. While analyzing the myths about the Labors and sub-Labors of Hēraklēs in essays TC I–VI, I have up to now focused on those heroic feats where our Strong Man has clearly been acting alone. Here in TC VII, I will analyze two myths where the feats of Hēraklēs seem to be different. In the first myth, as we will see, the hero is acting… Read more

By Gregory Nagy

Thinking comparatively about Greek mythology II, Hēraklēs as an ‘Indo-European’ hero

2019.08.02 | By Gregory Nagy §0. In the posting for 2019.07.26, I argued that the role of the Greek hero Hēraklēs as a boxer was cognate with the role of the Scandinavian hero Starkaðr as, likewise, a boxer. In using the term “cognate,” I was saying, in effect, that the myths about Hēraklēs as transmitted in the Greek language and the myths about Starkaðr / “Starcatherus” as originally transmitted in… Read more