prototyping

By Gregory Nagy

Thinking comparatively about Greek mythology VIII, Some rough patches along the way toward a prototyping of Hēraklēs

2019.09.13 | By Gregory Nagy Previously, at TC VII §7, I observed that the leveling-out and the smoothing-over of differences in the various different roles of Hēraklēs in various different tellings of ancient myths about this hero could lead not only to a sense of uniqueness but even to a kind of certainty about absolute uniqueness. And this kind of certainty, I went on to observe, could in turn lead… Read more

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