A footnote to yesterday’s post about Proteus: this god appeared on Hercules The Legendary Journeys. It’s an unusual episode because Herc admits he used to be kind of a jerk to him. There are elements of the myth  in this ep: Herc plays the role of Menelaus, wrestling with Proteus while he changes shapes. The story of Protean Challenge also concerns a father & daughter, with Iolaus standing in for Menelaus for that portion of the story. More specific to the play, the ep ends with Proteus changing into a dove. 

Is that an intentional reference to the only surviving line from Aeschylus’s lost play? The writer of this ep, Brian Herskowitz, went on to write another Herc ep, A Star Shall Guide Them, which ends with a nativity scene hinting at the birth of Christ. 

Interestingly, the feeling they all get from this baby of destiny is peace, the message Eli will deliver. This is one of numerous coy suggestions that the show is set in New Testament times, but none of them actually line up chronologically. 

For example, 8 months later, #Xena’s Christmas ep, A Solstice Carol possibly shows us Mary & Joseph looking for an inn. This teasing of the  arrival of the one God continues until the appearance of Eli & Eve.

#HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys