The Heracles of Sophocles: a monster or the civilizing hero?

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the role of the character Heracles in the play The Trachiniae, by Sophocles. Through killing countless monsters, the greatest hero from Greece makes the birth and permanence of the polis (city) possible. But this achievement only happens after the son of Zeus, also a monstrous entity, embraces his tragic and paradoxical destiny, depriving himself of his own identity: being a hero.

Keywords

• Héracles
• monstros
• civilização.