Hylas
Encyclopedia
In Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

, Hylas was the son of King Theiodamas of the Dryopia
Dryopia
Dryopes or Dryopians were a tribe of ancient Greece. According to Herodotus, they had once lived in a place called Dryopis , later known as Doris. They were driven out by the Malians , some of the refugees making their way to Ermioni. Some also ended up at Styria in Euboea, Kythnos, and Asine in...

ns. Roman sources such as Ovid
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...

 state that Hylas' father was Hercules
Hercules
Hercules is the Roman name for Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus , and the mortal Alcmene...

 and his mother was the nymph Melite
Melite
Melite was one of the naiads, daughter of the river god Aegaeus, and one of the many loves of Zeus and his son Hercules. Given the choice, she chose Hercules over Zeus who went off in search of other pursuits...

, or that his mother was the wife of Theiodamas, whose adulterous affair with Heracles caused the war between him and her husband. He gained his beauty from his divine mother and his military prowess from his demigod
Demigod
The term "demigod" , meaning "half-god", is commonly used to describe mythological figures whose one parent was a god and whose other parent was human; as such, demigods are human-god hybrids...

 father.

After Heracles killed Theiodamas in battle for his son, Hylas, he took the boy on as arms bearer and taught him to be a warrior.

Argonauts

Hercules took Hylas with him on the Argo
Argo
In Greek mythology, the Argo was the ship on which Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcos to retrieve the Golden Fleece. It was named after its builder, Argus.-Legend:...

, making him one of the Argonauts
Argonauts
The Argonauts ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology who, in the years before the Trojan War, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, the Argo, which was named after its builder, Argus. "Argonauts", therefore, literally means...

. Hylas was kidnapped by nymphs of the spring of Pegae, (Dryope
Dryope
In Greek mythology, Dryope is the name attributed to several distinct figures.-Dryope, lover of Apollo:The most prominent Dryope was the daughter of Dryops, king of Oeta or of Eurytus . She was sometimes thought of as one of the Pleiades . There are two stories of her metamorphosis into a black...

), that fell in love with him in Mysia
Mysia
Mysia was a region in the northwest of ancient Asia Minor or Anatolia . It was located on the south coast of the Sea of Marmara. It was bounded by Bithynia on the east, Phrygia on the southeast, Lydia on the south, Aeolis on the southwest, Troad on the west and by the Propontis on the north...

 and vanished without a trace (Apollonios Rhodios). This upset Hercules greatly, so he along with Polyphemus
Polyphemus (Argonaut)
In Greek mythology, Polyphemus was the son of Elatus and Hippea. According to one source, he was married to Laonome, sister of Heracles. As a Lapith, he was remembered for having fought against the Centaurs in the days of his youth. Years later, he joined the expedition of the Argonauts...

 searched for a great length of time. The ship set sail without them. They never found Hylas because he had fallen in love with the nymphs and remained "to share their power and their love." (Gaius Valerius Flaccus
Gaius Valerius Flaccus
Gaius Valerius Flaccus was a Roman poet who flourished in the "Silver Age" under the emperors Vespasian and Titus and wrote a Latin Argonautica that owes a great deal to Apollonius of Rhodes' more famous epic....

, Argonautica)

The poet Theocritus
Theocritus
Theocritus , the creator of ancient Greek bucolic poetry, flourished in the 3rd century BC.-Life:Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from his writings. We must, however, handle these with some caution, since some of the poems commonly attributed to him have little claim to...

 (about 300 BC) wrote about the love between Hercules and Hylas: "We are not the first mortals to see beauty in what is beautiful. No, even Amphitryon
Amphitryon
Amphitryon , in Greek mythology, was a son of Alcaeus, king of Tiryns in Argolis.Amphitryon was a Theban general, who was originally from Tiryns in the eastern part of the Peloponnese. He was friends with Panopeus....

's bronze-hearted son, who defeated the savage Nemean lion
Nemean Lion
The Nemean lion was a vicious monster in Greek mythology that lived at Nemea. It was eventually killed by Heracles. It could not be killed with mortal weapons because its golden fur was impervious to attack...

, loved a boy—charming Hylas, whose hair hung down in curls. And like a father with a dear son he taught him all the things which had made him a mighty man, and famous."http://www.gay-art-history.org/gay-history/gay-literature/gay-mythology-folktales/homosexual-greek-mythology/hercules-gay/hylas-gay/hercules-hylas-gay.html

Cultural references

"Hylas" is also the name of one of the two characters in George Berkeley
George Berkeley
George Berkeley , also known as Bishop Berkeley , was an Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immaterialism"...

's Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous
Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous
Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous is a book written by George Berkeley in 1713.Three important concepts discussed in the Three Dialogues are perceptual relativity, the conceivability/master argument , and Berkeley's phenomenalism.Perceptual relativity argues that the same object can...

. He represents the materialist position against which Berkeley (through Philonous) argues. In this context, the name is derived from ύλη, the classical Greek term for "matter."

Hylas is mentioned in Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May...

's play Edward II
Edward II (play)
Edward II is a Renaissance or Early Modern period play written by Christopher Marlowe. It is one of the earliest English history plays. The full title of the first publication is The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England, with the Tragical Fall of Proud...

: "Not Hylas was more mourned for of Hercules / Than thou hast been of me since thy exile" (Act I, Scene I, line 142-3).

Mentioned in the Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 11. "...and gilded a boy that he might serve at the feast as Ganymede or Hylas;"

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK