#loses Hylas in the Argonautica

[gingermintpepper]

I saw it in your tag game post that you're also fond of the Apollo-Heracles conflict 👀 for a myth that appears in only a couple of sources, it sure has a lot of presence in the vase paintings (no seriously, everytime I think I've seen the last of it, I find ten more)

SO do you have any favorites among the paintings that represent this story??

OMG OMG THIS ASK IS A GIFT. IT IS A GIFT THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR LETTING ME TALK ABOUT THIS

I also think it's extremely interesting that it's a story so popularly portrayed by vase paintings and in such a variety of ways!! It's certainly one of the stories that gets left out of written compilation of Heracles' legend a bit (which is a shame, I think it's a fantastic story) but Apollo had a very peculiar relationship with Heracles in general that I just kind of find amazing (and very, very funny).

Apollo is not a god with any legitimate grudge against Heracles, but he does argue with the mortal a bit like he argues with his favourite brothers 😂Part of why I love the story of Apollo and Heracles fighting over the tripod so much is that it is such a little brother thing for Heracles to be upset with the proclamation his elder brother has given him and so, he throws a great fit, taking up the chair and declaring that he'll just give himself a better prophecy! And Apollo, instead of being a marginally professional big brother, decides to fight him for it until their father has to break up their cat-fight. Like was that not just the plot of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes? Is this not exactly how Apollo treated Hermes when he was a child and now those two are inseparable? 💀

Because of this, my favourite vase paintings tend to be the ones that highlight the personal squabbling between Apollo and Heracles the most. There are some very elaborate ones that have the full host of them - Athena, Heracles, Apollo, Artemis, usually a dog and a doe, I've even seen a couple that had birds and plants etched on them, but the simplest ones that show Heracles about to bonk Apollo with his club out of frustration or depict Heracles nyooming away from Apollo while Apollo (presumably) yells curses about how he's going to fling Heracles head first into Tartarus for daring to take his things? Yeah, those are the premium big brother/little brother things I'm looking for.

(Photo. Marie-Lan Ngyuen)

(Photo. Museo Claudio Faina)

Also the one in the Theoi.com archives is a real classic - perfect energy.

[hd-hale]

Hercules and Hylas

From what god soever sprung,

Love was not born for us alone;

For Amphitryon’s brazen-heart son that braved the roaring lion,

he too once loved a lad,

to wit the beauteous Hylas of the curly locks,

and taught him all the lore that made himself a good man and brought him fame;

and would never leave him.

- Idyll XIII: Love and the Hero, Theocritus.  

Day Three: Soulmates AU for @steterweek

Hercules (Heracles in Greek) brought his ‘beloved’ the Prince Hylas as a companion on his travels. His role was to bear Hercules’ club and weapons, to cook and provide for him domestically. In some versions the prince is taught by Hercules how to fight alongside him.

Accompanying Hercules on the Argonautica, Hylas was said to be so incredibly beautiful that one morning while fetching water, nymphs pulled him under the surface, so that their Queen could make him her husband.

Hercules’ grief is described as all-consuming: “Love, shattered by a cloud of evil, arouses shifting tides of passion” with common phrasing used describing the grief of parted lovers in Greek mythology. In some versions Hylas joined the nymphs, in others he drowned- but Hercules’ desperate search for his lover and grief over losing him is consistent.

Hylas is described as having curls, snowy limbs and wearing cloth draped over his shoulder. He’s sometimes depicted wearing a wreath of reeds in later Romantic depictions- symbolic of his fate. He represented an idealised and desirable youthful hero even in death.

This is Ian’s portrayal of Young Hercules for one of Peter’s former lives with his soulmate- Hylas, later to be reborn as Stiles- at his side. I love the idea that Heracles would one day be reunited with his beloved Hylas again.