-The life of Herakles- festival of Herakles.It would seem that Galinthias was a heroine who had been honoured at Thebes from an early period and that someone was inspired to devise this transformation myth as an aetiology for the cult because her name was reminiscent of that of a weasel (gale in Greek).9 Pausanias records another version of the deception story in which the Pharmakides (Witches),the beings who were sent by Hera to delay the birth,were tricked by Historis, a daughter of Teiresias;there is no mention here of any transformation.0 The childhood and education of Herakles,and his murder of Linos When Herakles was eight or ten months old,or even newly born,two huge snakes were sent by Hera to attack him and his half-brother in their cradle;but the infant hero seized them by their necks,one in each hand,and choked them to death.In the two fullest accounts of the episode by Pindar and Theocritus,the seer Teiresias was summoned to comment on the marvel,and took this as an opportunity to foretell the extraordinary destiny that lay in wait for Herakles,predicting that he would finally be received among the gods after overcoming many such dangers.1 In an alternative version,the snakes were not sent by the goddess but by Amphitryon,who introduced them into the children's cradle to enable him to discover which of them was his son; when Herakles stayed to confront the snakes while Iphikles tried to escape,he recog- nized at once that Herakles was the child with divine blood in him.12 A further tale of the hero's infancy tells how Hera was deceived into suckling him.In the most familiar version of the story,Hermes took the baby Herakles up to Olympos and applied him to Hera's breast while she was asleep (or without revealing his true identity to her);and when she awoke (or learned who he was), 25 望高7@ Figure 8.I The baby Herakles strangles the serpents sent by Hera. Red-figure column krater.Perugia,Museo Nazionale;mus nat 73. 249festival of Herakles. It would seem that Galinthias was a heroine who had been honoured at Thebes from an early period and that someone was inspired to devise this transformation myth as an aetiology for the cult because her name was reminiscent of that of a weasel (galee¯ in Greek).9 Pausanias records another version of the deception story in which the Pharmakides (Witches), the beings who were sent by Hera to delay the birth, were tricked by Historis, a daughter of Teiresias; there is no mention here of any transformation.10 The childhood and education of Herakles, and his murder of Linos When Herakles was eight or ten months old, or even newly born, two huge snakes were sent by Hera to attack him and his half-brother in their cradle; but the infant hero seized them by their necks, one in each hand, and choked them to death. In the two fullest accounts of the episode by Pindar and Theocritus, the seer Teiresias was summoned to comment on the marvel, and took this as an opportunity to foretell the extraordinary destiny that lay in wait for Herakles, predicting that he would finally be received among the gods after overcoming many such dangers.11 In an alternative version, the snakes were not sent by the goddess but by Amphitryon, who introduced them into the children’s cradle to enable him to discover which of them was his son; when Herakles stayed to confront the snakes while Iphikles tried to escape, he recog￾nized at once that Herakles was the child with divine blood in him.12 A further tale of the hero’s infancy tells how Hera was deceived into suckling him. In the most familiar version of the story, Hermes took the baby Herakles up to Olympos and applied him to Hera’s breast while she was asleep (or without revealing his true identity to her); and when she awoke (or learned who he was), 1111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 11110 11 12 13 14 11115 16 17 18 19 11120 21 22 23 24 25111 26 27 28 29 11130 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 11140 41 42 43 44 45 11146 — The life of Herakles — 249 Figure 8.1 The baby Herakles strangles the serpents sent by Hera. Red-figure column krater. Perugia, Museo Nazionale; mus nat 73