Strongman Forefather (Scythian Heracles)
Scythian · demigod · mythic primordium (Pontic Greek variant) · Recorded classification
Culture-hero / forefather tier (rendered 'demigod'). Distinct entry from Targitaos because Herodotos reports two parallel origin myths; this is the Hellenic doublet. The bow-and-belt test mirrors the burning-gold test of the Scythian version.
Children
Domains
- first ancestry
Relations
- lover: Serpent-Legged AncestressThe serpent-legged mistress of Hylaea withheld his strayed mares until he lay with her; from the union came Agathyrsus, Gelonus and Scythes.Herodotus, Histories 4.9-10 (primary)
- interpretatio: HeraclesPontic Greeks told the Scythian genealogy with Heracles fathering Scythes on the snake-legged maiden; Hdt also lists 'Heracles' among Scythian gods. Preserves the strongman-forefather; the native name is lost.Herodotus, Histories 4.8-10, 4.59 (primary)
Sources
- In the version told by the Pontic Greeks, Heracles, driving Geryon's cattle, mates with a viper-maiden (half-woman, half-snake) in the land of Hylaia; she bears three sons, Agathyrsus, Gelonus and Scythes, and Heracles leaves a bow and a clasped belt to test which son shall rule.: Herodotos, Histories 4.8-10 (Godley) (primary)
- This Heracles is generally understood by modern scholars as the Greek interpretatio of the native forefather Targitaos.: G. Dumezil (1978); A. Ivantchik, 'The Scythian rule over Asia' and related studies; R. Schmitt et al., Encyclopaedia Iranica (secondary)