Bedtime Story For Adults - Greek Mythology: Hercules |Part 5

Welcome to this guided meditation for sleep and storytelling.

Focus on the sound of my voice and feel free to fall asleep at any time.

Tales of Greek Mythology Heracles – The Murder of Iphitus Free at last,

Heracles now returned to Thebes and it being impossible for him to live happily with Megara.

In consequence of his having murdered her children,

He,

With her own consent,

Gave her marriage to his nephew Iolaus.

Heracles himself sought the hand of Iole,

Daughter of Eurytus,

King of Ocalia,

Who had instructed him when a boy in the use of the bow.

Hearing that this king had promised to give his daughter to him who could surpass himself and his three sons in shooting with the bow,

Heracles lost no time in presenting himself as a competitor.

He soon proved that he was no unworthy pupil of Eurytus,

For he singly defeated all his opponents.

But although the king treated him with marked respect and honor,

He refused nevertheless to give him the hand of his daughter,

Fearing for her a similar fate to that which had befallen Megara.

Iphitus,

The eldest son of Eurytus,

Alone espoused the cause of Heracles and essayed to induce his father to give his consent to the marriage,

But all to no purpose and at length stung to the quick.

At his rejection,

The hero angrily took his departure.

Soon afterwards,

The oxen of the king were stolen by the notorious thief Aetolicus,

And Heracles was suspected by Eurytus of having committed the theft,

But Iphitus loyally defended his absent friend and proposed to seek out Heracles with his assistance to go in search of the missing cattle.

The hero warmly welcomed his staunch young friend and entered cordially into his plan.

They at once set out on their expedition,

But their search proved altogether unsuccessful.

When they approached the city of Tyrens,

They mounted a tower in hopes of discovering the missing herd in the surrounding country,

But as they stood on the topmost summit of the building,

Heracles became suddenly seized with one of his former attacks of madness,

And mistaking his friend Iphitus for an enemy,

Hurled him down into the plain below where he was killed on the spot.

Heracles now set forth on a weary pilgrimage,

Begging in vain that someone would purify him from the murder of Iphitus.

It was during these wanderings that he arrived at the palace of his friend Edmetus,

And whose beautiful and heroic wife,

Alcestis,

He restored to her husband after a terrible struggle with death,

As already related.

Soon after this event,

Heracles was struck with a fearful disease and betook himself to the temple of Delphi,

Hoping to obtain from the oracle the means of relief.

The priestess,

However,

Refused him a response on the ground of his having murdered Iphitus,

Whereupon the angry hero seized upon the tripod which he carried off,

Declaring that he would construct an oracle for himself.

Apollo,

Who witnessed the sacrilege,

Came down to defend his sanctuary,

And a violent struggle ensued.

Zeus,

Once more interfered,

And,

Flashing his lightnings between his two favorite suns,

Ended the combat.

The Pythia now vouchsafed an answer to the prayer of the hero,

And commanded him an expiation of his crime,

To allow himself to be sold by Hermes for three years as a slave,

The purchased money to be given to Eurytus in compensation for the loss of his son.

Heracles becomes the slave of Omphale.

Heracles bowed in submission to the divine will and was conducted by Hermes to Omphale,

Queen of Lydia.

The three talents which she paid for him were given to Eurytus,

Who,

However,

Declined to accept the money,

Which was handed over to the children of Iphitus.

Heracles now regained his former vigor,

He rid the territory of Omphale of the robbers which infested it and performed for her various other services requiring strength and courage.

It was about this time that he took part in the Caledonian boar hunt,

Details of which have already been given.

When Omphale learned that her slave was none other than the renowned Heracles himself,

She at once gave him his liberty and offered him her hand and kingdom.

In her palace Heracles abandoned himself to all the enervating luxuries of an oriental life and so completely was the great hero enthralled by the fascination which his mistress exercised over him,

That while she playfully donned his lionskin and helmet,

He,

Attired in female garments,

Sat at her feet,

Spinning wool and beguiling the time by the relation of his past adventures.

But when at length his term of bondage having expired,

He became master of his own actions,

The manly and energetic spirit of the hero reasserted itself and tearing himself away from the palace of the Maonian queen,

He determined to carry out the revenge he had so long meditated against the treacherous Laomedon and the faithless Ogeus.

Heracles executes vengeance on Laomedon and Ogeus.

Gathering round him some of his old brave companions in arms,

Heracles collected a fleet of vessels and set sail for Troy,

Where he landed,

Took the city by storm and killed Laomedon,

Who thus met at length the retribution he had so richly deserved.

To Telamon,

One of his bravest followers,

He gave Hesioni,

The daughter of the king,

In marriage.

When Heracles gave her permission to release one of the prisoners of war,

She chose her own brother Podarches,

Whereupon she was informed that he was already a prisoner of war,

She would be compelled to ransom him.

On hearing this Hesioni took off her golden diadem,

Which she joyfully handed to the hero.

Owing to this circumstance,

Podarches henceforth bore the name of Primus or Priam,

Which signifies the ransomed one.

Heracles now marched against Ogeus to execute his vengeance on him,

Also for his perfidious conduct.

He stormed the city of Elis and put to death Ogeus and his sons,

Sparing only his brave advocate and staunch defender Filius,

On whom he bestowed the vacant throne of his father.

Heracles now proceeded to Caledon,

Where he ruled the beautiful Daenera,

Daughter of Aeneas,

King of Aetolia,

But he encountered a formidable rival in Achelous,

The river god,

And it was agreed that their claims should be decided by single combat.

Trusting to his power of assuming various forms at will,

Achelous felt confident of success,

But this availed him nothing,

For having at last transformed himself into a bull,

His mighty adversary broke off one of his horns and compelled him to acknowledge himself defeated.

After passing three happy years with Daenera,

An unfortunate accident occurred,

Which for a time marred their felicity.

Heracles was one day present at a banquet given by Aeneas,

When,

By a sudden swing of his hand,

He had the misfortune to strike on the hand of a youth of noble birth,

Who,

According to the custom of the ancients,

Was serving the guests at table,

And so violent was the blow that it caused his death.

The father of the unfortunate youth,

Who had witnessed the occurrence,

Saw that it was the result of accident,

And therefore absolved the hero from blame.

But Heracles,

Resolved to act according to the law of the land,

Banished himself from the country,

And bidding farewell to his father-in-law,

Set out for Trachan to visit his friend,

King Seax,

Taking with him his wife,

Daenera,

With his young son,

Hyllus.

In the course of their journey,

They arrived at the river Evanus,

Over which the centaur Nessus was in the habit of carrying travelers for hire.

Heracles,

With his little son in his arms,

Hoarded the stream unaided,

Entrusting his wife to the care of the centaur,

Who,

Charmed with the beauty of his fair burden,

Attempted to carry her off.

But her cries were heard by her husband,

Who,

Without hesitation,

Shot Nessus through the heart with one of his poisoned arrows.

Now the dying centaur was thirsting for revenge.

He called Daenera to his side and directed her to secure some of the blood which flowed from his wound,

Assuring her that if,

When in danger of losing her husband's affection,

She used it in the manner indicated by him,

It would act as a charm and prevent her from being supplanted by a rival.

Heracles and Daenera now pursued their journey and,

After several adventures at length,

Arrived at their destination.

THE DEATH OF HERACLES The last expedition undertaken by the great hero was against Heretus,

King of Eucalia,

To revenge himself upon this king and his sons for having refused to bestow upon him the land of Iole,

After having fairly won the maiden.

Having collected a large army,

Heracles set out for Euboea in order to besiege Eucalia,

Its capital.

Success crowned his arms.

He stormed the citadel,

Slew the king and his three sons,

Reduced the town to ashes and carried away captive the young and beautiful Iole.

Returning from his victorious expedition,

Heracles halted at Cuneus in order to offer a sacrifice to Zeus and sent to Daenera to Trachan for a sacrificial robe.

Daenera,

Having been informed that the fair Iole was in the train of Heracles,

Was fearful lest her youthful charms might supplant her in the affection of her husband,

And calling to mind the advice of the dying centaur,

She determined to test the efficacy of the love charm which he had given to her.

Taking out the phial which she had carefully preserved,

She imbued the robe with a portion of the liquid which it contained,

And then sent it to Heracles.

The victorious hero clothed himself with the garment and was about to perform the sacrifice when the hot flames rising from the altar heated the poison with which it was imbued,

And soon every fiber of his body was penetrated by the deadly venom.

The unfortunate hero,

Suffering the most fearful tortures,

Endeavored to tear off the robe,

But it adhered so closely to the skin that all his efforts to remove it only increased his agonies.

In this pitiable condition he was conveyed to Trachan where Daenera,

On beholding the terrible suffering of which she was the innocent cause,

Was overcome with grief and remorse and hanged herself in despair.

The dying hero called his son Helos to his side and desired him to make Iole his wife,

Then ordering his followers to erect a funeral pyre,

Which he then mounted and implored the bystanders to set fire to it and thus in mercy to terminate his insufferable torments.

But no one had the courage to obey him until at last his friend and companion Philoctetes,

Yielding to his piteous appeal,

Lighted the pyre and received in return the bow and arrows of the hero.

Soon flames on flames ascended and amidst vivid flashes of lightning accompanied by awful peals of thunder,

Athena descended in a cloud and bore her favorite hero in a chariot to Olympus.

Heracles became admitted among the immortals and Hera,

In token of her reconciliation,

Bestowed upon him the hand of her beautiful daughter,

Hebe,

The goddess of eternal youth.

Thank you for listening and enjoy the rest of your sleep.

Good night.