Description
Book SynopsisHerakles Inside and Outside the Church: from the first Apologists to the Quattrocento explores the reception of the ancient Greek hero Herakles (the Roman Hercules) in the predominantly Christian cultures which succeeded classical antiquity in Europe. Each chapter takes a particular literary or visual incarnation, grappling with the question of the hero’s significance within the early Church, in less formal contexts, and beyond Christendom in his unexpected role as Buddha’s companion in Gandharan art. The volume is one of four to be published in the Metaforms series examining the extraordinarily persistent role of Herakles-Hercules in western culture up to the present day, drawing together scholars from a range of disciplines to offer a unique insight into the hero’s perennial appeal.
Trade Review"The work starts with a great foreword and introduction by Emma Stafford and Arlene Allan, respectively, who set the stage in summarizing Herakles regarding his twelve labors, the earliest sources on him, and the current state of the field regarding his reception. This volume is one of four to be published by the Metaforms series and Brill on the reception of Herakles-Hercules, and the contributors do a good job demonstrating the need for such scholarship. (...) it is a great contribution for graduate students and scholars working on the change and transformation of Classical Antiquity in Late Antiquity. It provides several case studies on how the legacy of Herakles was reworked in different contexts." - Paul A. Brazinski, Saint Elizabeth University, in: Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2021.01.21
Table of ContentsContents Preface Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors Introduction Arlene Allan Part 1: Making Connections: the Early Years 1 Herakles, ‘Christ-Curious’ Greeks and Revelation 5 Arlene Allan 2 The Tides of Virtue and Vice: Augustine’s Response to Stoic Herakles Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides Part 2: Appropriation: Verbal 3 Exemplum virtutis for Christian Emperors: the Role of Herakles/ Hercules in Late Antique Imperial Representation Alexandra Eppinger 4 Herculean Centos: Myth, Polemics, and the Crucified Hero in Late Antiquity Brian Sowers 5 Herakleios or Herakles? Panegyric and Pathopoeia in George of Pisidia’s Heraklias Andrew Mellas 6 Herakles in Byzantium: a (Neo)Platonic Perspective Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides 7 Dante’s Hercules Giampiero Scafoglio Part 3: Appropriation: Visual 8 Hercules in the hypogeum at the Via Dino Compagni, Rome Gail Tatham 9 The Constellation of Hercules and His Struggle with the Nemean Lion on Two Romanesque Reliefs from Split Cathedral Ivana Čapeta Rakić 10 From Antiquity to Byzantium to Late Medieval Italy: Hercules on the Façade of San Marco Lenia Kouneni 11 Transformations of Herculean Fortitude in Florence Thomas J. Sienkewicz 12 Ovid’s Hercules in 1497: a Greek Hero in the Translation of the Metamorphoses by Giovanni dei Bonsignori and in His Woodcuts Giuseppe Capriotti part 4: Beyond the Church 13 Wearing the Hero on Your Sleeve: Piecing Together the Materials of the Heraklean Myth in Late-Roman Egypt Cary MacMahon 14 Herakles Vajrapani, the Companion of Buddha Karl Galinsky Conclusion Arlene Allan Index
