Apollodorus on Hercules
Note on Eleventh Labor of Hercules (Heracles) - Golden Apples of the Hesperides
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NOTE 1. This period for the completion of the labours of Hercules is mentioned also by the Scholiast on Homer (Il. viii 368) and Tzetzes (Chiliades ii. 353 sq.), both of whom, however, may have had the present passage of Apollodorus before them. It is possible that the period refers to the eight years' cycle, which figured prominently in the religious calendars of the ancient Greeks; for example, the Pythia games were originally held at intervals of eight years. See Geminus, Element. Astron. viii. 25 sqq. ed C. Manitius; Censorinus, De die natali, 18. It is to be remembered that the period of service performed by Hercules for Eurystheus was an expiation for the murder of his children (see Apollodorus ii. 4.12).
SOURCE: Loeb Apollodorus, translated by Sir James G. Frazer, 1921.
