Hero's Life Choice. Studies on Heracles at the Crossroads, the Judgement of Paris, and Their Reception

Professor Malcolm Davies Ph. D. (1979) has spent his entire academic life at Oxford. He has published 10 books and numerous articles on a wide range of Greek literature, most recently a commentary on lesser and anonymous fragments of Greek lyric poetry (2021).

"What draws one instantly is the pairing. (...) Davies reminds the reader in a section on ‘Prodicus and the Judgement of Paris’ (101-105) that Sophocles in his lost satyr play, Krisis, and Athenaeus 510C had already drawn the parallels between Heracles and Paris. (...) The writing is clear and crisp and shows an amazing grasp of voluminous amounts of material. His respect, and good-humoured affection, for what he examines is everywhere apparent." George W.M. Harrison in BMCR 2024.04.27

• ContentsPrefaceList of IllustrationsEditions and Translations, Restricted to Heracles at the CrossroadsPart 1: Heracles at the CrossroadsA Note on Nomenclature1 Visual ArtIntroductionAppendix: Reynolds’ Parody Itself ParodiedTransitionA Precocious Heracles at the CrossroadsThe Encounter as Dream-VisionHeracles as ChristChrist as HeraclesVariations on the ThemeTwo Iconographically Eccentric Versions: Veronese and DürerAppendix: Georg Stiernhielm’s HerculesHeracles at the Crossroads in Eighteenth-Century English Landscape Gardening2 MusicAppendix: The Illustrations to Metastasio’s Libretto for Alcide Al Bivio3 Literature and DramaProdicus and The Judgement of ParisAppendix: DE SILENO ET CHROMI ET MNASYLO4 Pleasure and Virtue ReconciledAppendix: Andrew Marvell’s Upon Appleton House5 Parody and PasticheFinal Reflections on Prodicus’ Heracles at the CrossroadsAppendix: Panofsky’s Hercules Am ScheidewegeEndnote: The Absence of Visual Depictions of Heracles at the Crossroads from AntiquityPart 2: The Judgement of ParisA Note on Nomenclature6 The Judgement of Paris: The Story’s Original FormThe Story’s Original Form7 Medieval Literature and Art8 Renaissance Art OnwardsAppendix: Raphael to Manet and Beyond9 Literature and Drama10 MusicAppendix: ‘The Frost, the Sun, and the Wind’11 Parody and PasticheEndnote: Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress II: The Rake’s LevéePostscript and TransitionAnnex1 Xenophon’s Memorabilia in Modern English Translation2 Addison’s Translation of Heracles at the Crossroads3 William Shenstone The Judgement of Hercules4 Robert Lowth The Choice of Hercules5 Georg Friedrich Handel The Choice of Hercules6 James Beattie The Judgement of Paris7 Thomas Parnell The Judgement of Paris8 William Congreve Libretto for The Judgement of ParisRichmond Lattimore Hercules at the CrossroadsBibliographyIndex