The greatest of all heroes in Greek mythology, Hercules was the strongest man on earth. Besides tremendous physical strength, he had great self-confidence and considered himself equal to the gods. Hercules (called Heracles by the Greeks) was not blessed with great intelligence, but his bravery made up for any lack of cunning. Easily angered, his sudden outbursts of rage often harmed innocent bystanders. When the fury passed, though, Hercules was full of sorrow and guilt for what he had done and ready to accept any punishment for his misdeeds. Only supernatural forces could defeat him, and it was magic that ended his mortal life. In Greek mythology, only two figures with half-mortal, half-immortal parentage—Hercules and Dionysus—became fully immortal and were worshiped as gods.
In the myths, Hercules was the son of Jupiter (Zeus Pater = Jupiter), the supreme god of Olympus, and of Alcmene, a mortal married woman. Juno (Hera, to the Greeks) the wife of Jupiter, hated Hercules because he was the most famous and successful of Jupiter's numerous illegitimate progeny. The Son of Zeus and Alkmene. Herakles is the beloved son of Zeus and a mortal woman named Alkmene. Herakles became the archetype for bravery and proof-positive that might makes right. According to the poet Hesiod, Alkmene bore two sons, not twins but brothers by blood. Hercules was the son of Zeus. and Alcmena, the wife of Amphitryon, a distinguished Greek warrior and heir to the throne of Tiryns. One night while Amphitryon was away, Zeus came to Alcmena disguised as her husband. The next day, the real Amphitryon returned and slept with his wife. Heracles was the son of the affair Zeus had with the mortal woman Alcmene. Zeus made love to her after disguising himself as her husband, Amphitryon, home early from war (Amphitryon did return later the same night, and Alcmene became pregnant with his son at the same time, a case of heteropaternal superfecundation, where a woman carries twins.
Birth and Early Life. Hercules was the son of Zeus* and Alcmena, the wife of Amphitryon, a distinguished Greek warrior and heir to the throne of Tiryns. One night while Amphitryon was away, Zeus came to Alcmena disguised as her husband. The next day, the real Amphitryon returned and slept with his wife. Concerned that Amphitryon did not remember being with Alcmena on both nights, the couple consulted the blind prophet Tiresias, who told them that Zeus had slept with Alcmena the first night and predicted that she would bear a child who would become a great hero.
Alcmena bore twin boys—Hercules, the son of Zeus, and Iphicles, the son of Amphitryon. When the goddess Herat discovered that Zeus had seduced Alcmena and fathered Hercules, she was furious. Hera was fiercely jealous of Zeus's lovers and children and pursued them mercilessly. She tried to kill the infant Hercules by having two poisonous snakes placed in his crib one night. However, the infant grabbed the snakes and strangled them. Though Hera failed to kill Hercules, she persecuted him throughout his life, causing many of the events that led to his great suffering and punishments.
supernatural related to forces beyond the normal world; magical or miraculous
immortal able to live forever
prophet one who claims to have received divine messages or insights
* See Names and Places at the end of this volume for further information.
While still a young man, Hercules went to fight the Minyans, a people who had been forcing Thebes* to pay tribute. As a reward for conquering the Minyans, the king of Thebes gave Hercules the hand of his daughter, Megara. Hercules was devoted to Megara and the three children she bore him.
One day after Hercules returned home from a journey, Hera struck him with a fit of madness during which he killed his wife and children. When he came to his senses, Hercules was horrified by what he had done. Devastated with sorrow and guilt, the hero went to the oracle at Delphi* to ask how he could atone for his misdeed. The oracle told him to go to King Eurystheus of Tiryns and submit to any punishment asked of him. The oracle also announced that if Hercules completed the tasks set before him, he would become immortal.
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The Twelve Labors of Hercules. King Eurystheus gave Hercules a series of 12 difficult and dangerous tasks. Known as the Twelve Labors of Hercules, these were his most famous feats. The hero's first task was to kill the Nemean Lion, a monstrous beast that terrorized the countryside and could not be killed by any weapon. Hercules strangled the beast with his bare hands and made its skin into a cloak that made him invulnerable.
For his second labor, the hero had to kill the Lernaean Hydra, a creature with nine heads that lived in a swamp. One of the beast's heads was immortal, and the others grew back when cut off. With the help of his friend Iolaus, Hercules cut off the Hydra's eight heads and burned each wound, which prevented new heads from growing back. Because he could not cut off the ninth head, he buried the creature under a great rock.
The next task was to capture the Cerynean Hind, a golden-horned deer that was sacred to the goddess Artemis*. After hunting the animal for a year, Hercules finally managed to capture it. As he was taking it to Tiryns, Artemis stopped him and demanded that he return the deer. The hero promised that the sacred animal would not be harmed, and she allowed him to continue on his journey.
The fourth labor of Hercules was to seize the Erymanthian Boar, a monstrous animal that ravaged the lands around Mount Eryman-thus. After forcing the animal from its lair, Hercules chased it until it became so exhausted that he could catch it easily.
The hero's fifth task was to clean the Augean Stables in one day. King Augeas, the son of the sun god Helios, had great herds of cattle whose stables had not been cleaned for many years. Hercules accomplished the task by diverting rivers through the filthy stables.
The sixth task involved driving away the Stymphalian Birds, a flock of birds with claws, beaks, and wings of iron that ate humans and that were terrorizing the countryside. Helped by the goddess Athena*, Hercules forced the birds from their nests and shot them with his bow and arrow.
Hercules' Lesson
As a young boy, Hercules became aware of his extraordinary strength—and his temper. Like most Greek youths, he took music lessons. One day Linus, his music master, was teaching Hercules to play the lyre. Hercules became frustrated, flew into a rage, and banged the lyre down on Linus's head. The blow killed Linus instantly. Hercules was shocked and very sorry. He had not meant to kill his teacher. He just did not know his own strength.
tribute payment made by a smaller or weaker party to a more powerful one, often under the threat of force
oracle priest or priestess or other creature through whom a god is believed to speak; also the location (such as a shrine) where such words are spoken
invulnerable incapable of being hurt
Eurystheus next ordered Hercules to seize the Cretan Bull and bring it back to Tiryns alive. This savage bull had been a gift from
The first task of Hercules' Twelve Labors was to kill the Nemean Lion, a dangerous animal that terrorized the country. Hercules strangled the lion with his bare hands and made its skin into a cloak.
Poseidon* to King Minos of Crete. The king gave Hercules permission to catch it and take it away. For his eighth task, Hercules was ordered to capture the Mares of Diomedes, a herd of horses that belonged to King Diomedes of Thrace and that ate human flesh. Hercules killed Diomedes and fed him to the mares. Then the hero tamed the horses and brought them back to Eurystheus.
The ninth labor consisted of obtaining the Girdle of Hippolyte, the queen of the Amazons*. Hippolyte greeted Hercules warmly and agreed to give him the girdle. But then Hera caused trouble, making the Amazons think that Hercules planned to kidnap their queen. They attacked, and Hercules killed Hippolyte and took the girdle.
For his tenth labor, Hercules had to capture the Cattle of Geryon, a monster with three bodies that lived in the far west on the island of Erythia. After a difficult journey by sea and across the desert, Hercules killed Geryon, a herdsman, and an enormous guard dog. He then took the cattle and returned with them to Tiryns.
The eleventh labor involved bringing back the golden Apples of the Hesperides, a group of nymphs who lived in the far west. According to one account, Hercules requested help from the Hesperides' father, the giant Atlas, who held up the sky. Hercules offered to take Atlas's place under the sky if he would fetch the apples from his daughters. Atlas agreed and obtained the apples, but then he refused to take back the sky. Hercules asked Atlas to hold the sky for a just moment while he got a pad to ease the burden on his shoulders. Atlas agreed. But as soon as Atlas took back the sky, Hercules grabbed the apples and fled. In another version of this story, Hercules obtained the apples by himself after killing a dragon that stood guard over the tree on which they grew.
Hercules' final task was one of the most difficult and dangerous. He had to descend to the kingdom of Hades and capture Cerberus, the fierce three-headed dog that guarded the gates to the underworld. Hades said Hercules could take Cerberus if he used no weapons to overcome the beast. Hercules wrestled Cerberus into submission or gave him drugged food and carried him to Eurystheus.
Other Adventures and Later Life. Hercules had many other adventures during his lifetime. He killed other beasts and monsters, engaged in numerous battles against his enemies, joined the expedition of Jason* and the Argonauts, and even fought the god Apollo*. Throughout, he faced the hatred of Hera, who continued to persecute him because he was the son of Zeus.
Later in his life, Hercules married Deianeira, a princess whose hand he had won by fighting the river god Achelous. Hercules also saved Deianeira from a centaur named Nessus, who tried to harm her. As Nessus lay dying from Hercules' arrows, he urged Deianeira to take some of his blood, telling her it would act as a magic potion that could secure her husband's love forever.
Some years later, fearing that Hercules had fallen in love with another woman, Deianeira took the potion and smeared it on a
nymph minor goddess of nature, usually represented as young and beautiful
underworld land of the dead
centaur half-human, half-animal creature with the body of a horse and the head, chest, and arms of a human
* See Names and Places at the end of this volume for further information.
robe for her husband. The potion was really a terrible poison, and when Hercules put on the poisoned garment, it burned his skin, causing an agonizing pain that could not be stopped. When Deianeira discovered what had happened, she killed herself.
pyre pile of wood on which a dead body is burned ih a funeral ceremony
The dying Hercules ordered his son to build a funeral pyre, and the hero lay down upon it. As the flames of the pyre grew, a great cloud appeared, a bolt of lightning struck, and the body of Hercules disappeared. Hercules, now an immortal god, had been taken to Mount Olympus to be with his father, Zeus, and the other gods. Even Hera welcomed him and allowed him to marry her daughter Hebe.
Herculesin Rome: August 12 was sacred to Hercules, the GreekHeracles. A historical Greek Heracles, a real person, lived about 1300BC or earlier, before the Trojan War, and was reputed to have won militaryvictories both far to the East (India) and the West (Spain). Although biographiesexisted of this military leader (i.e. Plutarch), they seem to have beensystematically destroyed by the Romans, leaving only the myths.In the myths, Hercules was the sonof Jupiter (Zeus Pater = Jupiter), the supreme god of Olympus, and of Alcmene,a mortal married woman. Juno (Hera, to the Greeks) the wife of Jupiter,hated Hercules because he was the most famous and successful of Jupiter'snumerous illegitimate progeny. Being a goddess, she could, of course, seethe future, so she delayed his birth and then, when he was finally born,sent two large snakes to kill him as he lay in his crib. But, even as achild, Hercules had such strength that he strangled the snakes, one ineach hand. That image of the infant Hercules strangling the snakes wasextremely popular in early ancient Rome, because Rome saw itself as a precociousinfant state conquering dangerous local enemies. The fact that in someway this might be done in spite of the will of the gods added an interestingfrisson, which Rome's jaded upper classes might appreciate.
Despite Juno's early efforts, Herculeslived to become the famous hero that he still is today. She eventuallydid cause him a lot of grief: she drove him mad, and in one of his manicfits, he murdered his wife and children, thinking he was slaying his cousinand rival, Eurystheus, and his family -- which would, of course, have beenexemplary heroic behavior in the moral structure of his day. (Because ofthis incident and others, Hercules' would nowadays probably be diagnosedas having 'bipolar disorder', formerly called manic-depression. The closerelationship of 'heroism', in the ancient sense, to madness was clearlyone of the lessons the ancient mythographers were trying to convey.)
To expiate his crime of familiacide,Hercules submitted himself to his Eurystheus, his enemy and the King ofMycenae. Eurystheus required him to perform a series of nearly impossibletasks known in classical mythology as the 'Twelve Labors of Hercules'.To re-acquire mental balance, Hercules had to:
1. Kill the Nemean Lion
2. Destroy the Lernean Hydra
3. Capture the Cerynean Hind (astag with golden horns)
4. Capture the wild boar of Erymanthus
5. Clean the Augean stables in asingle day
6. Drive away the Stymphalian birds
7. Capture the Cretan bull
8. Capture the man-eating horsesof Diomedes, King of Thrace
Hercules The Son Of Zeus Movie
9. Bring back the girdle of Hippolyta,Queen of the Amazons
Does slotomania pay real money. 10. Capture the cattle of Geryon,a monster who had three
bodies joined at the waist
11. Bring back the Golden Applesof the Hesperides
12. Capture Cerberus, the three-headeddog of Hades
It was in the aftermath of labornumber ten that Hercules showed up in Rome. Exhausted from slaying Geryon,Hercules drives the captured cattle across the Tiber River and settlesdown for a nap. While he's asleep, the local bad guy, Cacus, a fire-breathingson of Vulcan, steals four bulls and four cows from Hercules' newly liberatedherd, and drags them by their tails into his cave. This backwardness ispurposeful: knowing that Herc has more brawn than brains, Cacus fools Herculesby leaving a backward trail. Initially, the ruse works, but one of thebulls outside bellows for his missing truelove and she moos a responsefrom inside the cave. Hercules slowly figures out the truth and then goesin after Cacus and the rustled cattle. After a struggle, in which Herculesis 'half singed, half stifled' by Cacus' flames and fumes, Hercules throttleshim, ties his arms and legs in knots and plucks out his eyes. And thatwas the end of Cacus.
All of this happened, of course,before Aeneas and his kin arrive in Latium in about 1200 BC. Eurystheus,who was Hercules' taskmaster, was a semi-mythological Mycenaen king, andthe Mycenaen bronze age culture was already pretty well spent by the timeof Aeneas' voyage. When Aeneas finally reaches Italy, he finds a pre-existingcoastal temple celebrating the local exploits of Hercules. Evander, a Greekcolonial king who lived in the area and who had entertained Hercules, hadraised another altar and a statue of Hercules. According to some versionsof the myths, Evander was still alive when Aeneas arrived and was eventuallyan ally of Aeneas.
The early presence of Hercules'in Rome was thus a staple of local mythology from Rome's earliest days,and Evander's early temple in his honor was in the Forum Boarium -- anobvious association of the cattle legend with Rome's cattle market, whichis what 'Forum Boarium' means. Although literary descriptions of the locationof the earliest small altar in the market are extremely precise, no remainshave ever been found, and, similarly, no remains of Evander's statue ofHercules have been found: both were reportedly destroyed in Nero's fireand the 'urban renewal' that followed. Also in the Forum Boarium, thereare remains under the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin (where the 'Mouthof Truth' stands) of a later temple dubiously identified as dedicated toHercules. Across the street is the round temple, long mis-identified asbelonging to Vesta, which, although often modified and rebuilt and perhapseven moved, is now thought to be a temple of Hercules Victor. The new glasswindows and doors installed in 2000 to protect interior paintings finallymake a reality of the myth that dogs and flies wouldn't enter the templebecause Hercules left his famous club leaning against the doorframe.
Strange parallels: One of the mostcommon titles of Hercules was 'Son of God', by virtue of his having Jupiteras father and an earthly mother. He was viewed as a savior of the oppressed,but his people, the Heracleidae, were persecuted after his death. Legendheld that he had raised two people from the dead. He suffered an excruciatingdeath, descended into Hades for three days, and returned after his deathto show his closest friends that he was still alive and using his woundsto prove his identity, before ascending bodily into heaven. Hercules wasdeeply admired among the people, a fact not ignored by early Christianleaders and writers. Some historians argue that the image of Hercules stillexists (although much softened) in the familiar face of Jesus portrayedas a white European with straight hair. Helenistic Christians replacedthe original image of Jesus with the darker complexion and tightly curledhair common among 1st century Palestinian Jews. But the similarities werenot restricted to Hercules and Jesus: virgin births, re-animations of thedead, sacrificial deaths, mystical journeys, resurrections, etc., werealso among the grab-bag characteristics of Romulus, Mithras, Zoroaster,Isis, and other Mediterranean 'founders'
Delusions: The iconography of Herculesfeatures the lion skin (the hide of his first-labor adversary) and theoaken club, which was Hercules' weapon of choice. If you see a statue inRome that has both of these 'attributes' you are looking at Hercules --or maybe at Commodus or at Mussolini or at any one of a number of historicaldelusional Hercules pretenders. They just keep popping up, even after allthese centuries.
Internet Links:
The Labors of Hercules -- About.com:http://ancienthistory.about.com/homework/ancienthistory/library/weekly/aa032701a.htm Drake casino coupon code.
Disney Hercules Zeus Wiki
Herakles in Rome: http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/me/rome.html
Hercules and Cacus, from Vergil'sAeneid: http://classics.mit.edu/Virgil/aeneid.8.viii.html
The Herakles Project from UPenn'sForvmAntiqvvm: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~ekondrat/heraklesmain.html
Hercules - The Son Of Zeus Scene
Heracles/Hercule from Le Grenierde Clio: http://www.chez.com/clio/mytho/heracles.htm