Heracles
Also known as: Herakles, Hercules Furens, Heracles Mainomenos, Madness of Heracles, The Madness of Herakles
In Thebes, while Heracles is in Hades completing his labors, the usurper Lycus threatens Megara and the children. Heracles returns, kills Lycus, but Hera sends Madness to drive him to slaughter his own family. Awaking to the horror, he is restrained from suicide by Theseus and departs into exile for purification.
Description
Set before the royal house in Thebes, Euripides’ tragedy begins with Amphitryon and Megara seeking refuge at an altar as Lycus prepares to execute Heracles’ family. Heracles returns from the underworld after seizing Cerberus, rescues them, and kills the tyrant. At the moment of fragile restoration, Iris and Lyssa (Madness), acting under Hera’s enmity, descend to afflict Heracles. In a frenzy he mistakes his loved ones for enemies and murders his wife and children; Athena finally strikes him senseless. When he awakes, the truth is revealed by a messenger and Amphitryon. Crushed, Heracles resolves to die, but his friend Theseus, indebted to Heracles’ earlier aid, offers ritual purification and asylum in Athens. The play closes with a shattered hero renouncing suicide, leaning on philia and civic refuge rather than brute strength. Euripides reframes the invincible strongman as a victim of divine hostility, exploring the limits of heroism, suffering, and the redemptive bond of friendship.
Historiography
Transmitted in the medieval Euripidean manuscript tradition with support from papyri; the text shows typical Euripidean features and occasional cruxes resolved by modern editors. Ancient testimonia place the play late in Euripides’ career; precise dating is debated. The drama influenced later receptions of Heracles’ madness, including Roman treatments such as Seneca’s. Modern scholarship emphasizes its interrogation of heroism, divine injustice, and Athenian ideals of friendship and asylum.
Date Notes
Commonly dated to the late 420s–c.416 BCE based on stylistic and historical arguments; exact year uncertain.
Archetypes
Major Characters
- Heracles
- Amphitryon
- Megara
- Lycus
- Theseus
- Hera
Myths
- The Tyranny of Lycus
- The Madness of Heracles
- The Slaying of His Children
- Theseus’ Consolation
Facts
- Setting is Thebes before the palace of Heracles’ house.
- The action occurs after Heracles completes his katabasis to seize Cerberus.
- Lycus threatens to execute Megara and the children as political consolidation.
- Heracles kills Lycus before divine madness strikes.
- Iris summons Lyssa, personified Madness, at Hera’s behest.
- Athena ends the frenzy by striking Heracles unconscious.
- Theseus arrives repaying a debt from his own rescue in Hades.
- Purification and exile to Athens replace suicide as the resolution.
- The Chorus consists of Theban elders who support the suppliants.
- The play interrogates heroic glory against divine injustice and human fragility.