Cancer also known as Carcinus () or, simply the Crab, is a giant crab in Greek mythology that inhabited the lagoon of Lerna. He is a secondary character in the myth of the twelve labors of Heracles, who attacks Heracles on Hera's orders, while Heracles is in the midst of fighting the Hydra of Lerna. Heracles kills the Crab, who is rewarded for his efforts by Hera turning him into the constellation of Cancer.
Since it is not a main element of the myth, it does not always appear in the versions that have reached the present day; nevertheless, classic mythographers, astronomers, historians or philosophers such as Plato, the Pseudo-Eratosthenes, Apollodorus and Hyginus mention the character in their texts.
One of the most common interpretations of the myth associates it with a 22nd-century BC battle in the Peloponnese, which resulted in the destruction of Lerna (Minoan-influenced) by pre-Mycenaean peoples
In art, Carcinus is often depicted as a detail of the myth of the Hydra or as an image of the Zodiac sign and the constellation to which it gives its name.
Etymology The name "Carcinus" is a latinisation of the Ancient Greek word Καρκίνος, which literally means "crab". This is why, according to the version and translation of the myth, the character is not referred to by his original name but only as a giant crab, the Crab or Cancer.
"Cancer" is the translation of the word karkinos into Latin, made by Aulus Cornelius Celsus and collected in his work De Medicina. The Greek term had been used since Hippocrates (460–370 BC) to denote certain types of tumors, because of the resemblance that the Greek physician observed between the lesions and the shape of a crab. Celsus continued to use the analogy and introduced the term that has endured to the present day to denote that group of diseases.
The word Καρκίνος is still used in the Greek language today for several of the meanings of the word cancer. Other words such as "carcinoma" (also used by Hippocrates), "carcinogen" or "carcinology" share the original Greek root, in reference to both the crustaceans and the disease.
Role in mythology Note: the following is a summarized version of the mythological context; in addition, please note that there are several variants for many of the myths, depending on the work consulted.
Zeus, king of the Olympian Gods, lay with the mortal Alcmene and gave birth to Heracles. Zeus' wife, the goddess Hera, jealous of her consort's infidelity, turned her spite on the child and attempted to cause him death or suffering on several occasions throughout his life.
Heracles reached adulthood and married the princess Megara, with whom he had several children. Hera provoked a fit of madness in Heracles, during which the young greek murdered his wife and children. The sibyl of the Delphi Oracle ordered as penance the performance of ten labors ordered by his cousin Eurystheus, king of Argolid.
These ten labors plus two additional ones, as Eurystheus considered two of the initial ones invalid because they could not be completed without help, formed the so-called twelve labors of Heracles. The second of these consisted of killing the Hydra of Lerna, a monster in the form of a multi-headed serpent, which inhabited the lagoon near the city.
Once he reached the swamp, Heracles confronted the Hydra. He tried to cut off the heads of the beast but for every one he cut off, two more grew. While the two were fighting, Hera sent Carcinus, a giant crab that also lived in the area, to help the beast. The crab attacked Heracles' feet with its claws to throw him off so that the Hydra could kill him; however, the enraged Greek hero crushed it with his heel in response and continued the battle.
With the help of Iolaos, his nephew, he found a way to defeat the monster by applying fire to the severed necks before new heads could grow; thus, Heracles was able to finish off the Hydra. He buried the main head, still hissing as it was immortal, under a large rock near the road from Lerna to Elaeus. In addition, he cut the beast open so that the tips of his arrows could be soaked in its internal fluids, and from then on any wound caused by them would be fatal.
This work was one of those considered invalid by Eurystheus, since Heracles received the help of his nephew to carry it to completion.
Catasterism
A catasterism is the account of the transformation of a character in Greek mythology into a star or constellation. According to the myth, Hera, grateful for Carcinus' valiant but unsuccessful effort, placed him in the sky creating the constellation of Cancer in the Zodiac. He was placed next to the Lion, the figure placed by Zeus in commemoration of the death of the Lion of Nemea at the hands of his son Heracles in the first of his labors.
Variants of the myth Like the figure of the Hydra, Carcinus has several variants depending on what the author of the version includes in his text:
Regarding its very existence, then, as a secondary element in the myth of the Hydra, several versions do not mention the character of Carcinus in the second labor of Heracles. This fact is usually explained by the hypothesis that it was introduced in the main story by Mesopotamian influence, in the attempt of the astrologers to associate the labors of Heracles with the twelve signs of the Zodiac. As for the name by which he is designated, as has already been indicated, the name of the character is frequently omitted or changed, replacing it simply by crab or by his Roman name, Cancer. He occasionally receives epithets such as "Lernaeus", for his origin, in Columella's De re rustica or "Littoreus", presumably for his habits, in Ovid's Metamorphoses and Manilius' Astronomica, as William Smith indicates in his work, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Depending on the way in which Carcinus attacks Heracles, depending on the version or translation of the text, the most frequent ones being to restrain, sting or bite. Nevertheless, the different versions agree that his attack was an element of distraction for Heracles, with the intention of unbalancing the combat in favor of the Hydra, without constituting an opponent that could by itself finish off the Greek hero.
The myth according to the classics The crab Carcinus does not appear in all versions of the myth of the second labor of Heracles and, therefore, in those related texts, mainly about mythology or astronomy, that have come down to us; for example, in the famous poem around 275 BC by Aratus, Phenomena, (which describes the constellations and other celestial bodies, commenting for some of them on the associated myth) only the constellation of Cancer is mentioned to locate the Asses and the Manger:
As noted above, this fact is often attributed to the theory that these bodies had a history of Greek origin prior to the association of the constellation with a crab, probably due to Mesopotamian influence, where the constellation appears with the name Al-lul, "crab" in Sumerian.
The oldest reference to the myth is found in the Catasterismi (a work compiled around the first century BC in which the transformations of mythological characters into stars or constellations are narrated), erroneously attributed to Eratosthenes (third century BC):
Apart from the version of the text itself, the mention of the Heraclea of the 5th century BC poet Panyassis of Halicarnassus, of whom only a few fragments are preserved, stands out as a reference (the first of which there is evidence at present) to the version of the myth presented.
In the dialogue Euthydemus, Plato refers in the 4th century BC to the myth in a dialogue between Socrates, Crito, Euthydemus and his brother Dionysodorus, Cleinias and Ctesippus; the text is a criticism of the sophists, who use fallacies (sophisms) for their reasoning:
By using the myth, the character of Socrates mocks the sophist brothers and their reasoning by comparing them to the monsters Hydra and Carcinus.
In De astronomia, a work on catasterisms traditionally attributed to Hyginus (1st century BC), the myth is also mentioned in its most widespread version:
Given the assimilation of Greek mythology that took place in Ancient Rome and the fact that Hyginus was Latin, the characters in the text appear with their Roman names, Juno corresponding to Hera and Hercules to Heracles.
In Bibliotheca, an exhaustive compilation of Greek mythology written around the 1st–2nd centuries AD, erroneously attributed to Apollodorus of Athens, the creature is also mentioned:
On the other hand, many other classical authors do not mention Carcinus in their texts in the myth of the Hydra, such as Hesiod in his Theogony, Pausanias in his Description of Greece, Diodorus Siculus in his Bibliotheca historica, or Euripides in his Herakles, which emphasizes the secondary character of the Crab with respect to the second labor of Heracles.
Interpretations of the myth
Myths have, as a rule, non-literal readings by which fantastic stories reflect in an allegorical or symbolic way facts, situations or behaviors in reality. Various interpretations of the second labor of Heracles have been attributed to him throughout history:
A warlike interpretation, whereby, according to the peripatetic Palaephatus, the myth is associated with the destruction of Lerna, under Minoan influence, by the pre-Mycenaean peoples around the 22nd century B.C. The Hydra would correspond to the Palace of Lerna, the multiple heads to the archers and hoplites of the city, and Carcinus to a mercenary who would lead supporting forces for the defense. The defeated armies, the burned city and the palace buried under a mound would generate the analogies used later in the myth. A geological interpretation, in which, according to the euhemerist Servius, the Hydra is identified with the swamp of Lerna itself and its heads with the subway springs or rivers that fed it, frustrating the attempts to drain the area to clean it up. A religious interpretation, whereby the death of the Hydra at the hands of Heracles corresponds to the suppression by the invading Achaean or Dorian peoples of the native fertility rites of Lerna, performed by priestesses who spread the Minoan influence from Crete. An astronomical interpretation, in which the characters represent celestial bodies in a certain situation; Heracles destroys the Hydra and the Crab just as the light of the Sun fades the constellations during the dawn, when the star rises over the horizon.The author of the referenced article states that this celestial configuration (the constellations aligned on the horizon at dawn) occurred on June 21, 3300 BC. An esoteric interpretation, whereby the multiple heads of the Hydra are related to the evil thoughts and desires to be overcome by the individual in his personal growth.
Morphology The classical authors who mention Carcinus in the myth of the Hydra do not offer in their texts descriptions of the shape or type of crab beyond the occasional allusion to the remarkable size of the specimen. This gap in the description has led to the diversity in the type of crustacean that appears in the representations of the character, showing both crayfish (similar in appearance to small lobsters, with a well differentiated cephalothorax and abdomen) and sea crabs (with an abdomen reduced to little more than an appendage under the cephalothorax) at the discretion of the artist.
The writings of classical naturalists or geoponists, such as Aristotle, Pliny the Elder or Cassianus Bassus, and modern studies in carcinology give an idea of the known species of crabs that would influence the mental image that people would obtain upon hearing the myth, as well as the artistic representations that have been made of it: