Hesiod and the Eros of Death: The Problem of Keyx

Timothy S. Heckenlively (Baylor University)

The myth of Keyx and Alkyone is one of the most celebrated tales in Ovid. Indeed, the vividness and pathos of his telling have imprinted themselves on subsequent art, music, and literature, especially Chaucer’s Book of the Duchesse.  However, such familiarity carries risk.  The earliest testimonia to the myth appear in the Hesiodic[1] corpus, after which Keyx ceases to be a poetic motif until the Hellenistic era.  Perhaps under the spell of Ovid’s synthesis, scholarship on these early fragments has overlooked fundamental chthonic connotations in favor of literary motifs familiar from later periods.  Reversal of this method can benefit the study of ancient epic across periods.

A few scant fragments survive from the Wedding of Keyx; however, they are sufficient to indicate the shape of the narrative.  Seeking water, Herakles separates from his companions.  The hero arrives at the palace of Keyx unexpectedly, feasts with his host, and engages in contests of some sort.  Drawing on Alexandrian criticism and the mythographic tradition, it is usually held that such scenes reveal Keyx as a φίλος of Herakles.[2]  There is good reason to doubt this picture.  The search for water is often the immediate prelude to confrontation with a guardian serpent (e.g. Apollo, Kadmos).  Keyx is renowned for hospitality.  This association need not be a positive one.  Celebration and feasting, as perverted by a ravenous host, may also be characteristics of a monster (e.g. Polyphemus).  Moreover, Death and Hades are famed for their universal, unbiased hospitality.  Keyx’s association with the halcyon also bears notice, for the ancient Greeks associated the bird’s song with ritual lamentation.[3]  Epic diction offers a final, suggestive parallel.  If Bekker’s conjecture is correct, the poet designates Keyx by the epithet ἱππηλάτης (Hes. frg. 228 MW). This unmarked epithet is applied to several major heroes in Homer.  However, Hades also has a special bond with chariot and horse, as witnessed by his unique Homeric epithet κλυτόπωλος.  In short, the fragments exhibit a strong affinity with death and monstrous imagery.

The pseudo-Hesiodic Shield of Herakles offers a complimentary picture. Herakles battles Kyknos, the son-in-law of Keyx.  Linguistic evidence suggests that this narrative developed out of traditional Indo-European dragon-slaying tales.[4]  After slaying Kyknos, Herakles proceeds to the palace of Keyx.  His business is never stated, but the fact that Keyx provides burial rites for the monster likely indicates greater affinity with serpent than slayer.  Indeed, the fact that both villain and father-in-law are associated with birds emphasizes the basic kinship in their natures.  Finally, Keyx rules over Trachis, the “rough land”.  The harshness and implacability of Hades, both the place and its lord, are standard associations in Homer.

Recognition of this chthonic imagery need not conflict with the marriage theme of the Hesiodic title.  The interchangeability of wedding and funeral imagery is fundamental to Greek art and poetry.[5]  Keyx may be both allomorph of Hades and bridegroom at the same time.  The extent fragments of the Wedding of Keyx appear to exploit this ambiguity.  Greek folklore also offers important parallels.  The contest of the soul with death, often conceived as a wrestling match before the gates of the underworld, is an iconic moment that has survived from antiquity to the present.[6]  Such a motif seems particularly applicable to the roles of Keyx and Kyknos in the Shield.  Seen in this light, the two earliest references suggest a striking parallel to the outline of the Odyssey (surprise arrival, wicked hosts who pervert ξενία, and defeat of the enemy in contests).

Themes of conflict with death and κατάβασις are natural characteristics of for a tale involving Herakles.  They also have the benefit of interpreting the Hesiodic fragments within their proper context of early Greek thought and usage. More importantly, however, these themes point to the roots of a poetic tradition common to both the Hellenistic and the Roman periods, the humanizing and romanticizing of monsters.  The short path from a prince of the dead to Ovid’s dying prince is revealed through Hesiod.