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Hylas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Engraving from the Cista Ficoroni, an Etruscan ritual vessel. Galleria Borghese, Rome
(Digitally enhanced for visibility)
In Greek mythology, Hylas (Greek: Ύλας) was the son of King Theiodamas of the Dryopians. Other sources such as Ovid state that Hylas was a son of Heracles and the nymph Melite or by making love to the wife of Theiodamus in an adulterous affair that caused the war. He gained his beauty from his divine mother and his military prowess from his demigod father.
After Heracles killed Theiodamus in battle for his son, Hylas, he took the boy on as arms bearer, taught him the ways of a warrior, and in time the two fell in love.
Heracles took Hylas with him on the Argo, making him one of the Argonauts. Hylas was kidnapped by the nymph of the spring of Pegae that fell in love with him in Mysia (Dryope) and vanished without a trace (Apollonius Rhodios). Heracles was heartbroken. He along with Polyphemus (not the cyclops Polyphemus), searched for a long time. The ship set sail without them. They never found Hylas because he had fallen in love with the nymphs and remained "to share their power and their love." (Gaius Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica)
| The Heracles and Hylas myth as told by story tellers |
|---|
| 1. Heracles and Hylas, read by Timothy Carter |
| Bibliography of reconstruction: Homer, Odyssey, 12.072 (7th c. BCE); Theocritus, Idylls, 13 (350 - 310 BCE); Callimachus, Aetia (Causes), 24. Thiodamas the Dryopian, Fragments, 160. Hymn to Artemis (310 - 250? BCE); Apollonios Rhodios, Argonautika, I. 1175 - 1280 (c. 250 BCE); Apollodorus, Library and Epitome 1.9.19, 2.7.7 (140 BCE); Sextus Propertius, Elegies, i.20.17ff (50 - 15 BCE); Ovid, Ibis, 488 (8 CE - 18 CE); Gaius Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica, I.110, III.535, 560, IV.1-57 (1st c. C.E.); Hyginus, Fables, 14. Argonauts Assembled (1st c. CE); Philostratus the Elder, Images, ii.24 Thiodamas (170 - 245 CE); First Vatican Mythographer, 49. Hercules et Hylas |
