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Introduction
The Ninth Labour of Heracles follows a break in the Labours, during which Heracles has been travelling with Jason and his Argonauts. It must also be told in two parts. Later we will follow Heracles to Troy, but first his jealous cousin Eurystheus sends him from Tiryns, near Athens, to the land of the fearsome Amazons.
ONE day, Eurystheus’s daughter Admete expressed a fancy for the girdle of Hippolyte, Queen of the Amazons, a formidable tribe of female warriors who cast off their sons and raised their daughters like men. The doting Eurystheus at once sent Heracles to fetch it from Themiscyra, on the southern shores of the Black Sea.*
During a stop on Paros, the Cretan governors of the island killed two of Heracles’s men, so he took two of their sons in exchange;* coming then to Mysia in Asia Minor, he helped King Lycus enlarge his realm at the expense of the Bebryces. Heracles thus buccaneered his way to Themiscyra, where Hippolyte was so impressed that she was quite ready to hand the girdle over.
Hera, however, went among the Amazons whispering that Heracles meant to carry off their queen, and before order could be restored several brave Amazons were dead.* Nonetheless, Heracles now had Admete’s coveted girdle in his hands, and set sail for Tiryns, calling at Troy.*
Themiscyra is traditionally located just east of Samsun, at the mouth of the Terme River (in classical times, the Thermodon). See Google Maps.
Paros is an island in the Cyclades group of the Aegean Sea, southeast of Athens. See Google Maps. Apollodorus held that the governors of Paros were sons of Minos, King of Crete. In another telling of the Heracles story, Diodorus Siculus stated that a grandson of Minos, Rhadamanthys, had given Paros to his son Alcaeus. Clearly, the ancients believed that Paros was once a Cretan colony.
Some versions of the legend have Hippolyte herself killed in the fighting, whereas others have her survive to become the wife of Theseus in Athens, which is how she is portrayed by William Shakespeare in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
For Troy Google Maps; and see also our posts tagged The Siege of Troy (3). As Byzantine poet John Tzetzes (?1110-1180 AD) tells the tale, Admete went on this journey together with Heracles.
Précis
For his Ninth Labour, Heracles was sent to the land of the Amazons, a tribe of warlike women, to fetch Queen Hippolyte belt for Eurystheus’s daughter Admete. All would have gone peacefully had Hera not stirred the Amazons up to suspect Heracles of intending to kidnap Hippolyte, and although he came away carrying the belt, it was not without bloodshed. (60 / 60 words)
For his Ninth Labour, Heracles was sent to the land of the Amazons, a tribe of warlike women, to fetch Queen Hippolyte belt for Eurystheus’s daughter Admete. All would have gone peacefully had Hera not stirred the Amazons up to suspect Heracles of intending to kidnap Hippolyte, and although he came away carrying the belt, it was not without bloodshed.
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Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: because, despite, or, otherwise, ought, unless, whereas, who.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Why did Eurystheus send Heracles to the land of the Amazons?
Suggestion
Because his daughter wanted the queen’s belt. (7 words)
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
The queen of the Amazons wore a belt. Admete asked Eurystheus for it. Eurystheus sent Heracles to get it.