THE MADNESS OF TWO HEROES: HERACLES AND MARKO KRALJEVIĆ

Abstract

The motif of insanity was quite frequent in Ancient Greek Literature. In turns, it was viewed as obsession, illness, or just and justified punishment. Insanity always brought some kind of self-inspection and self-cognition. Heracles is an ancient hero who committed a crime against his closest relatives in a state of severe madness. The Serbian epic hero Marko Kraljević shared a similar fate. The authors of the paper will investigate the motives of insanity of both heroes in two different, but traditionally close cultures: Greek and South Slavic. The motif of heroic madness is explored in tragedies related to Heracles, and in Serbian epic poetry known as the epic cycle of Marko Kraljević.