ABSTRACT
In the preceding chapters we have seen the extraordinary variety of ways in which Herakles was represented in Greek and Roman literature and art, his role in politics and the religious thought and practice of the ancient world. Herakles’ story continued to evolve, however, beyond the end of classical antiquity. A systematic survey of the wealth of material available is beyond the scope of this chapter. As detailed in the Further Reading section and notes, however, there are a great many books and articles dealing with specific aspects of Herakles’ reception by later cultures, from representations of his Choice in Renaissance painting to modern productions of the Herakles tragedies by Sophokles and Euripides. What I aim to do here is to whet the reader’s appetite for further study by picking out some major themes and providing a few examples from different times, places and media. The problem of our hero’s name is especially acute in this chapter, but I shall continue my practice of using ‘Herakles’ when discussing Greek material and ‘Hercules’ for Latin contexts. Since Latin was the predominant language of the Renaissance, and has continued to hold sway over subsequent reflections on antiquity, ‘Hercules’ is appropriate in much of the discussion, though I have tried to respect modern writers’ and artists’ choice of name/spelling as far as possible.1
