Hylas

Hylas was a young companion of Heracles and the son of Theiodamas, king of the Dryopes. He sailed with Heracles on the Argo, and on the coast of Mysia he went to draw water at a spring, where a water nymph fell in love with him and drew him into the water. He was never seen again, and the loss of Hylas led to Heracles’ separation from the Argonauts.

Hylas and Heracles

Apollonius of Rhodes says that Heracles took Hylas from the house of his father, Theiodamas, whom the hero killed among the Dryopes. Theiodamas was ploughing his fallow land and had refused Heracles one of his oxen, and Heracles killed him in anger. Heracles then raised the boy as his own attendant from early childhood (Apollonius, Argonautica 1.1211–1219). Apollodorus likewise calls Hylas, son of Theiodamas, the favourite of Heracles (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.19). In Apollonius, Hylas goes with Heracles on the Argonauts’ voyage as his “good attendant”, who carries his arrows and guards his bow (Argonautica 1.131–132). Theocritus, in his thirteenth Idyll, also says that Heracles loved Hylas and taught him as a father teaches a son, and that the boy never left his side (Theocritus, Idyll 13).

The Spring at Pegae

After the Argo had put in at the coast of Mysia, near Cius, the heroes prepared a meal while Heracles went off to cut a new oar. Hylas, with a bronze pitcher, went away from the others to find a spring. He came to the one that the local people call Pegae (“the springs”), where the nymphs of the headland were holding their dances (Apollonius, Argonautica 1.1207–1225). In Apollonius, the nymph of the spring saw him in the light of the moon, her heart was struck by love, and she put her arm round his neck and drew him down into the dark water as he stooped to fill the pitcher; the boy gave one cry (Argonautica 1.1228–1239). Apollodorus says in his shorter account that Hylas was sent to draw water and was carried off by nymphs on account of his beauty (Library 1.9.19). In Theocritus there are three nymphs, Eunice, Malis, and Nycheia, who all clung to his hand and pulled him in (Idyll 13).

The Search and the Loss of Heracles

Polyphemus, the son of Eilatus, was the only one of the heroes to hear the cry. He drew his sword and ran toward Pegae, fearing that wild beasts or robbers had seized the boy, and on the way he met Heracles and told him the news. Heracles, beside himself with distress, threw down the pine he had cut for an oar and rushed off into the night, shouting for Hylas (Apollonius, Argonautica 1.1240–1272). At dawn, with a fair wind rising, the Argo sailed without them (Argonautica 1.1273–1283). When the Argonauts realised that Heracles and Polyphemus were missing, a quarrel broke out, until the sea god Glaucus rose from the water and told them that it was not the will of Zeus that Heracles should go to Colchis; his fate was to return and complete the labours for Eurystheus. Polyphemus was to found a city among the Mysians at the mouth of the river Cius, and Hylas had been made the husband of a nymph who loved him (Argonautica 1.1310–1325).

Heracles meanwhile threatened to lay waste the land of the Mysians unless they found Hylas, alive or dead. The Mysians gave him their noblest sons as pledges and swore to continue the search, and Heracles settled the youths at Trachis. Apollonius says that to this day the people of Cius still ask for Hylas, the son of Theiodamas (Argonautica 1.1345–1357). In Theocritus, Heracles goes on foot to Colchis, and the heroes call him a deserter from the Argo (Idyll 13).

Hylas Sources

Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.131–132, 1.1207–1283, 1.1310–1325, 1.1345–1357; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.19; Theocritus, Idyll 13.

See Also: Heracles, Argonauts, Jason, Polyphemus, Theiodamas, Eurystheus