Heracleitos grapples with unbelievable stories

Written by Greta Hawes

Sometime in the first or second centuries AD a writer who may or may not have had the name ‘Heracleitos’ sat down and got to work explaining the worst mythical excesses.

There survives a work of 39 very short chapters with just a brief epigraph to explain its contents: ‘The refutation or curing of myths that have been handed down and that are against the laws of nature’.

This author is obviously inspired by Palaiphatos’s work several centuries earlier, or perhaps with a kind of Palaiphatean tradition that had sprung up in the meantime. But he reveals also some of the cultural trends of his own day as well. For example, the word ‘refutation’ (anaskeue) in his title refers to an exercise in rhetorical training where students would practice disputing the truth of an account using various categories of falsehood. And where Palaiphatos was notably strict about always treating myths as misunderstood historical events, Heracleitos sometimes borrows from the philosophical traditions of allegorical explanation as well.

The most notable aspect of Heracleitos’ approach is his absolute obsession with the idea that attractive women will inevitably ensnare and destroy men. It’s what Medousa did:

She was a beautiful courtesan and any man who caught sight of her was transfixed as if he had been turned to stone. It’s just like we say, ‘upon catching sight of her, he was turned to stone.’  (Chapt 1)

And Scylla too, apparently:

Actually, she was a beautiful courtesan living on an island and around her she had gluttonous hangers-on who followed her like dogs. With their help she ruined her guests, among whom were the companions of Odysseus. But she was not able to get him because he always had his wits about him (Chapt 2)

Then there’s the Harpies…:

Actually, one would assume that these women were courtesans who ravaged Phineas’ household and abandoned him, leaving him without even the food he needed. And whenever he recovered just enough the Harpies would turn up again, lay waste to everything, and depart, as courtesans do (Chapt 8)

… and the Sirens:

Actually, they were courtesans, renowned for their skill with musical instruments and their sweet voices, and exceptionally beautiful. Their accomplishments were such that any men who encountered them ended up having their wealth entirely consumed. They were said to have the legs of birds because they quickly abandoned men once they had squandered their wealth  (Chapt 14)

And of course Circe belongs here:

Actually, she was a courtesan and used to enchant her guests. At first she would ply them with every kind of fawning act to gain their favour. After they had become entranced, she used their desires to keep them leashed to her, acting foolishly like animals in pursuit of pleasure. Odysseus defeated her too (Chapt 16)

The passages I’ve just quoted come from a brand new translation produced for Canopos by a group of current and former students of the Centre for Classical Studies at the Australian National University: Billie Hall, Tate Jenetsky, Rosemary Selth and Aaron Wallis under my supervision.

As ever, translations for Canopos undergo peer review. This ensures both the quality of the work, and can also surface some new perspectives. In this case, the reviewer pointed out that there might in fact be a double entendre in the chapter about the . (There are, it’s fair to say very few jokes in ancient mythography…). Heracleitos says that the serpent that guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides was in fact a wealthy orchardist named ‘Serpent’ who was - and this will certainly surprise you - ensnared by ‘some distinguished ladies who bound his spirit with erotic desires.’ Heracleitos then says that these women kept him to tend their ‘garden plot’, but the word used here, kepos, suggests also female genitalia. So, taking the reviewer’s advice we ended the chapter:

For the rest of his life they kept him as a helper and a guard for their pleasure garden.   

As with the Palaiphatos translation, we hope that this one too will be available on the Scaife Viewer soon. For the moment you can read the whole thing here.