In Greek mythology, Augeas (or Augeias, /ɔːˈdʒiːəs/, Greek: Αὐγείας), whose name means "bright", was king of Elis and father of Epicaste. Some[1] say that Augeas was one of the Argonauts. He is known for his stables, which housed the single greatest number of cattle in the country and had never been cleaned, until the time of the great hero Heracles.

Family

Augeas's lineage varies in the sources: he was said to be either the son of Helios[2] either by Nausidame[3] or Iphiboe,[4] or of Eleios,[5] or of Poseidon, or of Phorbas and Hyrmine.[6] In the latter account, Augeas was probably the brother of Actor,[7] Tiphys[8] and Diogeneia.[9] His children were Epicaste, Phyleus, Agamede,[10] Agasthenes,[11] and Eurytus.[12]

Comparative table of Augeas' family
Relation Names Sources
Homer Theocritus Apollonius Diodorus Strabo Apollodorus Orphic Argo Pausanias Hyginus Tzetzes
Parents Helios ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Phorbas and Hyrmine ✓
Poseidon ✓ ✓
Eleios ✓
Helios and Nausidame ✓
Phorbas ✓ ✓
Helios and Iphiboe ✓
Sibling Actor ✓ ✓
Children Agasthenes ✓ ✓
Agamede ✓ ✓
Phyleus ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Eurytus ✓
Epicaste ✓

Mythology

Heracles rerouting the rivers Alpheus and Peneus, to clean out the Augean stables. Roman mosaic, 3rd century AD.

The fifth Labour of Heracles (Hercules in Latin) was to clean the Augean (/ɔːˈdʒiːən/) stables. Eurystheus intended this assignment both as humiliating (rather than impressive, like the previous labours) and as impossible, since the livestock were divinely healthy (immortal) and therefore produced an enormous quantity of dung (ἡ ὄνθος). Those stables had not been cleaned in over thirty years,[13] and 3,000 cattle lived there. However, Heracles succeeded by rerouting the rivers Alpheus and Peneus to wash out the filth.

Augeas reacted angrily because he had promised Heracles one tenth of his cattle if the job was finished in one day. He refused to honour the agreement, and Heracles killed him after completing the tasks. Heracles gave his kingdom to Phyleus, Augeas' son, who had been exiled for supporting Heracles against his father.

According to the odes of the poet Pindar, Heracles then founded the Olympic Games:

the games which by the ancient tomb of Pelops the mighty Heracles founded, after that he slew Kleatos, Poseidon's godly son, and slew also Eurytos, that he might wrest from tyrannous Augeas against his will reward for service done.[14]

Eurystheus discounted the success of this labour because the rushing waters had done the work of cleaning the stables and because Heracles was paid. Stating that Heracles still had seven labours to do, Eurystheus then sent Heracles to defeat the Stymphalian Birds.

Classical literature sources

Augeas

Chronological listing of classical literature sources for Augeas:

Stables of Augeas

Chronological listing of classical literature sources for the Stables of Augeas:

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Apollodorus, 1.9.16; Hyginus, Fabulae 14
  2. ^ Eustathius ad Homer, p. 303; Scholia ad Apollonius Rhodius, 1.172; Apollodorus, 1.9.16
  3. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 14
  4. ^ Tzetzes, Chiliades 4.361
  5. ^ Pausanias, 5.1.9
  6. ^ Apollodorus, 2.88
  7. ^ Pausanias, 5.1.11.
  8. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 14
  9. ^ Eustathius on Homer, pp. 303 & 1598
  10. ^ Homer, Iliad 11.740; Hyginus, Fabulae 157
  11. ^ Homer, Iliad 2.624
  12. ^ Diodorus Siculus, 4.33.3
  13. ^ Strouf, Judie L. H. (2005). The literature teacher's book of lists. Jossey-Bass. p. 13. ISBN 0787975508.
  14. ^ Pindar, The Extant Odes of Pindar, Project Gutenberg.

References

Look up Augeas, Augean, or Augean stables in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikisource has the text of the Encyclopædia Britannica (9th ed.) article Augeias.
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