The association of Heracles with Seleucid kingship was also possibly promoted in the work of Megasthenes, the author of the Indica, whom Seleucus had employed as his envoy to Maurya, a kingdom in northern India. As Kosmin has pointed out, by means of justifying Seleucus’ withdrawal from India, Megasthenes listed all the great kings of the past who were also repelled from conquering India including Nebuchadnezzar II, who became a major royal model for the early Seleucids. In his reference to Nebuchadnezzar, though, Megasthenes did not omit to add that the king was especially esteemed by the Chaldaeans on account of his greater bravery and achievements which surpassed those of Heracles. Besides, Heracles’ apotheosis, celebrated already in Hesiod and Sophocles,167 could further substantiate the soteriological aspects of Hellenistic royal ambition. The hero had travelled on many occasions to the Underworld,168 each time conquering its forces with the help of Athena and each time returning to reaffirm his dominion. Notably, after instituting lamentation for his dead friend Enkidu, the grieving Gilgameš also promised to him to (And I, after you are gone [I shall have] myself [bear the matted hair of mourning,] I shall don the skin of a [lion] and [go roaming the wild.]) Given that Gilgameš vows to put on a lion-skin right when he is about to undertake his final adventure to the otherworld realm of Utnapištim, we are again reminded of the importance of “regulating” the appropriate veneration for our dead kin and establishing a theory of death as the pinnacle of royal, heroic efforts to establish civilization. Following his apotheosis, Heracles had celebrated a “sacred marriage” to Hebe (Youth), the daughter of Hera – the episode could be understood to correspond to Gilgameš’s promise in the GE to celebrate the akītu following his successful return from his adventure to the Cedar Forest, especially if we accept that the residence of the monstrous Ḫumbaba is the meeting point of Heaven and the Underworld. By returning to the regions where his traditions had originally taken shape, Heracles spearheads the interpretatio Graeca, fuelling the creativity of kings and poets alike, who rush to respond to what can be termed “people’s longing for belonging.” In this spirit of revisiting old traditions Heracles becomes the par excellent agent of Hellenistic universalism.
Seleucid Kingship and Divine Glory
