Getting started: don't try to read the introduction right away (you can read it after you finish the play).  Let this web page serve as your first introduction.  

• Before you begin reading the play, look over the list of characters on p. 28.
• Read the note about line numbers on the same page.
• Turn to p. 93 to see where the notes begin (you might want to use a bookmark).
• Look over the genealogical tree on the same page.
• Pencil in a line to show that Amphitryon is married to Alkmene, mother of Herakles.
• Pencil in "Megara" to the right of Herakles.  This is his wife; connect her by a line for marriage.
• Herakles and Megara have three sons.  They don't survive, so don't get too attached to them!
  
• Remember to consult the Glossary of names on p. 107 for persons and places.

Lines 1-126 serve as a prologue to the play, where the main situation is presented.  Herakles is the son of Zeus and the mortal Alkmene.  He is the foster son of Amphitryon (you don't expect Zeus to do the hard work of raising his illegitimate mortal offspring, do you?  You don't expect Zeus's wife, Hera, to appreciate the fact that he tends to sleep around either, do you?).

Herakles is away at the time the play opens, busy performing the last and most difficult of the famous Twelve Labors that tradition says he performed: dragging the three-headed dog Cerberus up from Hades.  (A brief discussion and list of the Twelve Labors appears on p. 96.)  In Greek tradition Herakles must perform the labors "as expiation for killing his children in a fit of madness" (Wolf, "Introduction" 8).  Euripides changes this story to make the labors into a payment to Eurytheus, ruler of Argos, so that Herakles's foster-father Amphitryon can return from exile for murdering Elektryon, father of his wife Alkmene (see "Introduction" 8 and note 11).  Herakles is very generous about using his great strength for good purposes!  Indeed, the labors involve making the world safer from monsters and other bad critters (as Euripides will frequently mention).  Herakles is traditionally a kind of savior (soter) as well as a hero.  He was the object of an ancient religious cult with lots of temples dedicated to him; young men (ephebes) were especially suitable members of his cult.

Amphitryon gives the first speech of the play.  He makes a lot of references to the earlier history of Thebes, the city founded by  Kadmos, who sowed dragon teeth in the earth that immediately sprang up as soldiers (remember: during the time the play was produced, Thebes was an ally of Sparta, the arch-rival of Athens).  Long before the time of the play's action, there was a civil war in Thebes, between the two sons of Oedipus and their followers.  Thebes thus had a reputation in Greek myth for madness and fratricidal violence.  Fifth-century Athens hoped it was too civilized for internal conflicts but was unable to avoid them.  

Okay, now you're ready to start reading the play and use the study questions.  The structural divisions of the play come from the notes to the text.  You might wish to pencil these divisions into your text to help you see the formal structure, which is very tricky and unusual in this play.

1-126 (Prologue)

1. Who was Megara's father and what was his position?
2. Underline the lines where Amphitryon explains the bargain Herakles made with Eurystheus.
3. Who is the current ruler of Thebes?  What is his plan?
4. In the conversation between Amphitryon and Megara, what opposing attitudes do they represent  (the note on p. 93 helps clarify this point)?

127-162 (Parodos or choral entrance song)

1. What contrast does the chorus draw between their present condition and their youth?

163-392 (First Episode, dramatic unit between choral songs)

1. What is Lykos's attitude toward Herakles's kleos (his glorious deeds up to this point)?  Toward his use of the famous bow?
2. How does Amphitryon respond to Lykos's arguments?

284-309 (Speech by Choral Leader, longest in any Greek tragedy: see note, p. 95)

1. What does the chorus think of Lykos?  Of Herakles?  Of Thebes?

310-92 (Speeches by Megara and Amphitryon)

1. What does she think is worse than death?
2. What does she request that Lykos agrees to?
3. What does Amphitryon accuse Zeus of?

393-593 (First Stasimon or Choral Ode)

1. What is the subject of the song?

594-804 (Second Episode)

1. As Megara and Amphitryon prepare to die, what is their mood?
2. Who suddenly appears on stage in time to rescue them?  (First reversal or peripeteia)
3. What self-criticism does Herakles voice at 738-47?
4. What plan do Amphitryon and Herakles make?
5. Be sure to read the note to line 785 about Theseus.
6. What does Herakles say all human beings have in common?

805-906 (Second Stasimon)

1. What does the Chorus wonder about the gods' relation to moral values?
2. What does the Chorus mean when they describe Herakles as "our double" (899)?

907-66 (Third Episode)

1. After Lykos exits to his certain death, what does the Chorus now think about the gods' interest in morality?

967-1058 (Third Stasimon)

1. What does the Chorus express through their dancing and singing now?

1039-1129 (Fourth Episode)

1. Who appears on the rooftop of the palace?  (Second reversal or peripeteia)
2. Who has "dreamed up / Another labor" for Herakles (1073) and why?  What is the plan?
3. What does Madness (Lyssa) think of this plan?

1130-1163 (Fourth Ode: a non-strophic song)

1. What does the Chorus claim "swings around" when "[t]he god blinks" (1150-1)?

1163-1326 (Fifth Episode)

1. Write the name "Dionysus" beside the Chorus's references to wine.
2. In the messenger's long speech reporting what Herakles has done inside, what prevents Herakles from killing his foster-father?

1327-41 (Fifth Ode: non-strophic song)

1. What do the Chorus's memories have in common?

1342-1791 (Exodus: Choral exit song)

1. When Herakles comes to his senses, what does he think he should do as payment?
2. Who suddenly appears from Athens?  (another Peripeteia)  What did he expect to accomplish?
3. How does Theseus define courage?  (Cf. the definition at line 125).
4. What had Hera done to Herakles when he was an infant?  Why?
5. What does Theseus offer Herakles in Athens?
6. In his long speech at 1673-1751, how does he reevaluate kleos and honor?
7. Why doesn't he throw away his bow and club?
8. In his final speech, what value does Herakles affirm over wealth and power?

Page created: 2-17-03
Updated: 2-24-03