Lykus [4] mourned the marooned Herakles

And addressed the Argonauts:

“Friends, you are without your most powerful ally,

Without him you must make the long voyage to Kolkhis.

I recall seeing him in my Father’s palace,

Whence he had come overland and on foot,

Wearing the belt of Hippolyte the Amazon heroine.

The first hair was upon my face and cruel

Mysians had slain my brother, Priolas,

Who the people yet lament with piteous song.

At his funeral contests Herakles fought

Our greatest youth, Titias of the heavy fists—

Scattering his teeth in the dust.

Herakles then, in the name of my father, Daskylus

Subdued the Mysians and the Phrygians,

Whose fields border our own…”

The litany of Herakles’ conquests continues, very likely representing an ancient migration story told in heroic vein. And throughout antiquity, from the rise of Hellas to the fall of Rome, poets place a boxing match in every great epic, an art developed by the first Indo-Europeans to harness the domesticated horse, fought with hands wrapped in rawhide strips cut from a sacrificial ox.

The bout between Polyduekes and the giant king Amykus, as related by Apollonius [one of three ancient authors to tell the story of the heroic sailors of the Argo who accompanied Jason on his quest] will be presented next.

1. The fact that Herakles journeyed overland was regarded as astonishing, for the rocky, wooded and roughly cut lands of Hellas were primarily connected via a network of ports.

2. Apollonius, as a scholar, travelled in the company of athletes, who, during the 200s B.C. journeyed as professional fighters and fought at sacred agons, sacred rites which men of Apollonius’ stature would be expected to attend. The author was therefore well aware of boxing as a rite and describes the type of action and injuries and equipment common to his era, not to the prehistoric age of myth about which his tale is concerned.

3. Herakles translates as “Hera’s Honor,” referencing the wife of Zeus, father of Herakles by a mortal woman, whose honor was brought into question by the half-divine mortal’s mere existence. There were apparently three prehistoric chiefs by the name of Herakles, who may have formed a composite image of the mythic hero.

4. “The Wolf” this was also one of Apollo’s cult names, Apollo being the God of Boxing. There was also a philosopher of the late Hellenistic Age [100s B.C.,] by the name of Lycus who was a noted boxer. It should be understood that when a god like Apollo has a half dozen individual cult identities, that this likely represents the absorption of the gods, myths and rites of conquered peoples into the cosmology of the people who brought the worship of Apollo to Hellas.