Cycnos wire of Ares

Myth

The hesiodic tradition

The character of Cycnos appears for the first time in the Bouclier of Héraclès , a poem pseudo-hésiodique going back to 590 - 560 av. J. - C., entirely consacté with the combat between Héraclès and him. The author of the Bouclier is not the inventor of this reason, which one also finds in monuments of the antiquated time: a sculptor group on the Acropolis of Athens, a Métope of the Treasury of the Athenians with Delphes and a relief of the throne of Apollo to Amyclées.

In the poem, Cycnos is a warrior Thessalie N who strips the pilgrims going to Delphes, which Apollon does not see obviously very good eye. The god pushes thus Héraclès and Iolaos, assembled on their tank, to pass by his furnace bridge to Pagases to go to Céyx, king of Trachis. They are stopped by Cycnos, also assembled on its tank, which intends well to conceal the armor of the hero. The combat ends quickly: Héraclès cuts down its Cycnos small swath, however supported by his/her father Arès, present at its sides. In spite of the warnings of Athéna, also present on the spot, Arès attacks in his turn the hero in the idea to avenge his son. Its small swath is deviated by Athéna; wounded with the thigh by Héraclès, it must flee, whereas Héraclès strips Cycnos of its weapons. Céyx, father-in-law of Cycnos, set up a tomb to him which will be destroyed by the god-river Anauros on order of Apollo.

At the time Roman, the Pseudo-Apollodore takes again the hesiodic tradition: Héraclès meets Cycnos, describes like the son of Ares and Pyrène, whereas it is in Macedonia, to the research of the Garden of the Hespérides. The combat starts under the eyes of Ares, but is stopped by a flash, probably launched by Zeus, without it being known why: the account stops there. Hygin offers a more logical version of the intervention of Zeus: at his place, the king of the gods stops the combat which starts between his/her son and the Arès god, after the death of Cycnos.

The tradition of the monomachie

There exists also a tradition concurrent, known as of the “monomachie” (combat signulier) which one finds for the first time at seventh century BC at the lyric poet Stésichore: this one refuses to accept that Héraclès could wound a god. It is the version which follow Pindare, Euripide, Diodore of Sicily and Pausanias. The pseudoone also joins with this version in another passage of its work, where Héraclès meets close to Trachis Cycnos, wire of Ares and Pélopia, and kills it.

Artistic representations

The combat of Héraclès and Cycnos is a very popular subject in the painting of vases attic, although the episode is relatively minor in the career of Héraclès: one finds it on more than one hundred of vases which spread out between 560 and 500 av. J. - C., for their large majority in black figures.

About half of the vases show Héraclès and Cycnos surrounded respectively of Athéna and Ares. On all the vases attics, Héraclès is represented not in behavior of hoplite, in accordance with the description of the Bouclier , but with the skin of lion which is its typical attribute: artistic convention carries it here on fidelity with the text. On the other hand, Héraclès is well represented in armor on an amphora chalcidienne. In a general way, the vases not-attics are shown closer to the Bouclier than the vases attics. Thus, a Corinthian fragment partially represents a temple, allusion to the sanctuary of Pagaséen Apollo where seat the combat takes, detail that no vase attic shows.

Starting from 550 av. J. - C. approximately appears a fifth character, bearded, who interposes between the combatants, generally while raising the hands, but also by pushing back the shield of Héraclès. The recent discovery of a tripod Pyxide of the Peintre of Amasis, where all the characters are named by inscriptions, confirms that this character is well Zeus. The vase is fragmentary, but one clearly sees the hand of Zeus stopping Cycnos which prepares to launch its small swath. The presence of Zeus on the vases remains nevertheless problematic: why Zeus would it feel the need to protect Héraclès from a simple mortal? A œnochoé signed by the Kolchos potter and painted by Lydos takes again the solution of Hygin: Zeus intervenes to prevent his/her son from fighting with Arès in person whereas the corpse of Cycnos (named by an inscription) to lie on the ground.

Lastly, certain vases reveal other figures. Thus, œnochoé of Lydos shows the carriages of the combatants, whose drivers are named in accordance with the Bouclier : Iolaos for Héraclès, and Phobos for Cycnos. Are also represented near the horses Apollon, Poséidon, the Vieux of the Sea and Dionysos. The presence of Apollo is explained in what he is the instigator of the combat, but it is there the only vase which shows the god of Delphes. Perhaps that of the Old man of the Sea and Poséidon is justified because Pagases is a seaport; Iolaos also mentions Poséidon like a divinity favorable to Héraclès in the Bouclier . Lastly, the presence of Dionysos is still single there in the corpus of the vases; perhaps it is about one allusion to the tradition according to which Dionysos would have been the first divinity of Delphes.

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