The Cynic Heracles of Dio of Prusa
Abstract
The purpose of this text is to analyze the mythological figure of Heracles in one of the speeches delivered by Dio of Prusa during his exile period, Diogenes or On Virtue (Or. VIII). In this speech, Dio reinterprets the traditional hero from a typically Cynical perspective, contrasting the image of Heracles as a symbol of virtue and effort with other mythological characters, such as Circe, Diomedes, or Busiris, whom Dio turns into symbols of pleasure, idleness, and vice. This influence and reception of Cynicism in Oratio VIII will be analyzed starting from the context in which it was delivered, and subsequently studying the importance of effort in the figure of Heracles as an emblem of virtue, thus understanding his opponents as negative ethical representatives within Dio’s moralizing exercise.
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