Women of Trachis

The final third of the play reveals, via a Choral song, the meaning of the oracle mentioned in Deianeira’s opening speech. The “happiness” it refers to for Heracles is the release from toil that death offers (99). The tendency to interpret prophecies favorably or to ignore unfavorable prophecies can lead to tragic outcomes. A notable example from tragedy is Oedipus, who by trying to escape a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother hastened its fulfillment. A popular anecdote from historian Herodotus features king Croesus receiving a prophecy that, if he attacked Persia, a great empire would fall; he assumed this meant Persia would. Instead, it was his own empire that fell when the Persians defeated him. Historian Thucydides notes how his fellow Athenians interpreted oracles to suit events of the day.

Sophocles tweaks the pattern of reversal with Deianeira. She worries about the prophecy, but for the wrong reason. Her concern was that Heracles would leave her behind, but it is she who leaves him after she takes her life. Like Oedipus, she tries to control her own outcomes, in her case by attempting to regain Heracles’ love, and the attempt goes disastrously wrong.

Scholars are divided as to how to interpret the final events of the play, when Heracles makes his requests of Hyllus and when he refers to everything that has occurred in the play as embodying “Zeus” (135). Some note that Sophocles does not directly reference the apotheosis (the events that transform someone into a divine form) of Heracles, which is narrated in other versions of his myth. In these, as Heracles’ funeral pyre goes up in flames, Zeus snatches his son from the fire and brings him to Olympus, where he becomes deified. Historically, Heracles was a rare figure who received cult honors as both a hero and a god. Sophocles’ decision not to incorporate this element of Heracles’ myth directly leads some scholars to believe that he is purposely creating ambiguity. When the Chorus asks in its Parodos: “Has anyone ever seen / Zeus failing to care for his children?” (100), Sophocles may be answering in the affirmative.

On the other hand, other scholars note how Sophocles includes allusions to the apotheosis theme. He asks Hyllus to take his father to Mt. Oeta, sacred to Zeus (Heracles’ father), build a pyre there, and place him on it. Historical audiences would likely have been aware of the apotheosis theme and recognized the references to it. Mythic retellings in antiquity often drew boundaries around the stories they told while also incorporating elements that would enable their audiences to connect to other existing versions. One such example from Homer’s Odyssey is the reference to Helen and Menelaus traveling in Egypt on their return home from Troy. By placing the couple there, audiences are reminded of an alternate narrative of the Trojan War in which Helen was never actually went to Troy but waited out the war in Egypt.

Both interpretations show how scholars, like readers of prophecies, interpret events to suit their preferences.