Παλλάς. Athena was always a guardian goddess to her half-brother, Heracles; of whom she says in Il.8. 363 ff., “τειρόμενον σώεσκον ὑπ᾽ Εὐρυσθῆος ἀέθλων:” | “ἦ τοι ὁ μὲν κλαίεσκε πρὸς οὐρανόν, αὐτὰρ ἐμὲ Ζεὺς” | “τῷ ἐπαλεξήσουσαν ἀπ᾽ οὐρανόθεν προΐαλλεν”. She was constantly represented in Greek art as present with Heracles during his labours, or as honouring and comforting him in seasons of repose. Sometimes she gives him a flower or a wreath; sometimes a refreshing draught. And, after the close of his mortal toils, it is Athena Nikè who escorts him to Olympus. (Cp. n. on Ph.728.) The art-literature of the subject will be found in Roscher, Lex., p. 2215. Attic black-figure vases often illustrate this relationship,—one which was the more welcome to Athenians because Heracles was essentially a Dorian hero.
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Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part V: The Trachiniae. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1902.
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