Talk:Digenes Akritas

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What is the correct pronunciation and correct spelling of the name? I have an academic book, summariazing a symposium about Digenes called "Digenes Akrites" (Robert Beaton and David Ricks, eds. Variorum 1993). Shouldn't there at least be some redirection page?


 * There's no standard term. Latinization before translation yielding Digenis Acritas or Digenis Acrites seem to be more popular, but Digenes Akritas or Digenis Akrites or others are also widely used. I guess a redirection page would be usefull. Though the weakeness of this page is that its unknown. This article needs to be linked with more Wikipedia pages. Colossus 13:24, 27 August 2005 (UTC)

Digenes=Heracles?
Is this "epic" not simply a retelling of the legend of Heracles and his labours, adapted to the context of the Greek/Byzantine/Arab conflicts of the Middle Ages? There are so many parallels that it's hard not to see a connection:


 * Digenes kills/encounters many of the same animals that Heracles did (lion, hind, dragon/hydra- plus the three warriors/three heads of Cerberus)
 * Maximu is obviously Hippolyte
 * Heracles is the son of a god who disguised himself as a mortal man to win over Alcmene, likewise Digenes is the son of an emir who "disguised" himself as a Christian to win over the Byzantine woman
 * Heracles is "twice-born" (as mortal and god)
 * The "wrestling with Death". Heracles does eventually die, but not before encountering Hades/Charon when he went to the underworld to rescue Theseus and capture Cerberus

It seems the story of Heracles as a Greek superhero survived in oral tradition, to be written down again centuries later in the guise of a medieval warrior.Walshie79 (talk) 23:54, 16 March 2015 (UTC)