the souls. . . Meleager. . . Medusa: the souls are the shades of the dead. For the encounter with Meleager, see Bacch. 5. 71 ff. Medusa, the only mortal Gorgon, was killed by Perseus, p. 66; the present encounter was doubtless suggested by Od. 11. 633 ff, where Odysseus hurries from the world of the dead in a panic, afraid that Persephone may send some monstrous apparition like the Gorgon’s head.
Theseus there, and Peirithoos: see p. 143.
stone of Ascalaphos: see p. 33.
to procure blood for the souls: the souls are flimsy and witless; a drink of blood increases their materiality and raises their level of consciousness, making it possible for them to communicate with outsiders, see Od. 11. 23 ff.
gates of Acheron: Acheron was strictly a river in the Underworld, but its name was also used by later authors for Hades itself; these are the gates of Hades mentioned above, symbolizing the boundary between the lands of the living and the dead. This frontier was guarded by Cerberos, who fawned on those who entered the realm of Hades, but attacked anyone who tried to escape through its gates, Theog. 770 ff.
into an owclass="underline" as a screech-owl (which is moreover a bird of ill omen) he will still be confined to the dark; Demeter will not permit him to escape punishment for his betrayal of her daughter. For another version of this transformation, see Ov. Met. 5. 538 ff.
gave Megara to lolaos: after his madness and murder of their children, p. 72, there is no future in Heracles’ marriage with Megara; for the gods are clearly against it. So he gives her to his nephew lolaos as a reward for his help in the labours (here in overcoming the hydra, p. 74, but in other sources he is said to have assisted in the labours of the lion, boar, and cattle of Geryoneus also).
at archery: Eurytos was Heracles’ own teacher in the art, p. 71. Eurytos died when he challenged Apollo himself to an archery contest, Od. 8. 226 ff.; the bow that Odysseus used to kill the suitors originally belonged to him, Od. 21. 13 ff.
cattle were stolen: in all other sources, mares, cf. Od. 21. 22 ff.
in a fresh fit of madness: other accounts are less favourable to Heracles. In the Odyssey, ibid., he treacherously killed Iphitos after entertaining him as his guest, and then took the mares; in Pherecydes (sc. Od. 21. 22) he killed Iphitos in anger at having been denied Iole; in DS 4. 31. 2 f., Heracles himself stole the mares for revenge, and when Iphitos came to Tiryns to seek for them, Heracles took him to the battlements and asked him if he could see them—and when he could not, Heracles claimed to have been falsely accused, and hurled him down.
Neleus rejected him: this is the reason for his later attack on Pylos, p. 87.
refused ... a response: because he was denied by the murder, see further P. 10. 13. 4.
the Cercopes: two brothers who robbed passers-by; for details we have to rely on late sources. According to Zenobius 5. 10, they had been warned by their mother to beware of the ‘Black-Bottomed One’ (Melampygos). When they tried to rob Heracles, he hung them by their feet from either end of a pole, and they saw too late that his bottom, where it was not covered by the lion’s skin, was black because of the thickness of the hair. They laughed, and when Heracles asked why and he learned the reason, he was amused and released them.
in his vineyard: added for clarity, cf. DS 4. 31. 7; he killed Syleus with his own mattock.
the body of Icaros: see pp. 140 f.
the voyage to Colchis: the voyage of the Argonauts; for the tradition on Heracles’ involvement, see p. 51 and note.
the hunt. . . from Troezen: since Meleager was killed after the hunt, p. 41, this is irreconcilable with the tradition that Heracles met him in Hades during his final labour, p. 84; and likewise, if Heracles brought Theseus up from Hades, Theseus could hardly have performed his earliest feat (of clearing the Isthmus of malefactors, see pp. 138 f.) at this later period.
he sailed against Ilion: known to Homer, Il. 5. 640 ff. (where he remarks on the small size of the expedition, with only six ships; although it is three times larger here, it is still far smaller than the later expedition, cf. p. 148). For the reason for Heracles’ attack, see p. 79.
to Heracles the Noble Victor: Kallinikos, thus explaining a cultic title of Heracles as a hero who could overcome and avert evil.
Priam: according to this etymology, the name of the king of Troy during the great Trojan War was derived from priamai, to buy.
Hera sent violent storms: see Il. 14. 249 ff. and 15. 24 ff.
suspended her from Olympos: with two anvils hanging from her feet, and her hands tied with a golden band, Il. 15. 18–20. See also p. 31 and note.
mar against the Giants: see pp. 34 f.
against Augeias: who had refused to pay the agreed fee when Heracles cleared his stables, p. 76. Heracles now embarks on a series of campaigns in the Peloponnese, before his final campaigns in northern Greece.
Eurytos and Cteatos: at Il. 2. 621, Homer gives their names, and calls them the Actoriones after their father, but at 11. 709, the two Moliones, apparently after their mother. At Il. 23. 641 they are said to be twins, but there is no indication that they are joined together. See also Pind. ol. 10. 26 ff. (where they are separate). Their depiction as ‘Siamese’ twins may have its origin in Hes. Cat. (see fr. 18).
set an ambush: a highly dubious action because they were protected by a religious truce at such a time (cf. P. 5. 2. If, where we are told that the Eleans demanded satisfaction, and when none was offered, boycotted the Isthmian Games ever afterwards).
recalled Phyleus: the son of Augeias who had been exiled for supporting Heracles, p. 76.
an altar of Pelops: this seems inappropriate, because Pelops was a hero rather than a god; in P. 5. 13. 1 ff., the sanctuary of Pelops is said to have contained not an altar but a pit, into which annual sacrifices of a black ram were made, in the rite befitting the heroized dead.
marched against Pylos: on sandy Pylos and Periclymenos, see p. 45 and notes; for the cause of the war, p. 85 and note. The story explains why Nestor alone represented the sons of Neleus at Troy, cf. Il. 11. 690 ff.