Hercules (Heracles)

                      
                                                      

                                 Heracles, Divine Hero

Hercules and Cerberus at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna (1)

Young Hercules Strangling Snake, 2nd century CE, Capitoline Museums, Rome, Italy (2)

Early Life

Much like many in Greek mythology, Hercules was an illegitimate child to one of his parents. Zeus had laid with Alcmene enraging his wife Hera, who cast her rage upon one Hercules, the illegitimate child of her husband (Zeus).  Zeus had proclaimed that the next-born son was to be the ruler of Greece. Hera, in her jealousy, delayed Hercules's birth, ensuring that his cousin Eurystheus would be born first, ensuring Eurystheus's title as king. So Hercules spent his life under the rule of his cousin, and with Hera’s persistent pursuit of revenge upon him. His first feat against Hera is early on as an infant when she sent two serpents to his cradle to kill him, but he strangled them with ease.

The 12 Labors

    Hercules, now married to Kero the king of Thebes daughter Megara is finally driven to madness by Hera's rain. Having gone mad from an interference by Hera, Hercules kills his wife and their 5 children. Frantic and filled with guilt and sorrow, Hercules seeks the advice of Apollo through his Orcal in Delphi. He is told to offer his services to his cousin, and the king of Argos, Eurystheus. Again, Hera intervenes in Hercules’s life and influences the king to give Hercules trying and dangerous tasks, and here the famous 12 labors are born.  

1. Slay the Nemean Lion

• For his first task, Hercules is sent to slay the Nemean Lion, a creature with impenetrable skin. Using his bare hands. Hercules strangled the lion and built armor from its impenetrable pelt.

2. Slay the Lernaean Hydra

• Second Hercules is asked to go head to head with Lernaean Hydra, a snake-like animal that bears the head of a lion. But when the head of the creature is removed, two more would grow in its place. Accompanied by his nephew Iolaos, the two conquered the creature together. After defeating the Hydra, Hercules dipped his arrows in its poisonous blood. 

3. Capture the Golden (Ceryneian) Hind

• Next Hercules is meant to catch the Ceryneian Hind, a deer sacred to Artemis, and bring it back to Eurystheus alive. The hind was a swift creature, but after a year long chase in its pursuit, Hercules captured the animal. 

4. Capture the Erymanthian Boar.

• After the capture of the Ceryneian Hind, Hercules is sent to capture the Erymanthian Boar and bring it to Mycenae. Once again, Hercules uses his patience and smarts to follow and eventually capture the boar, tying its feet and carrying it on his shoulders all the way to Mycenae. 

5. To clear the Augean Stables, or cleanse

• Then Hercules is put to the task of cleaning the King of Augean’s stables. Elis, king of Augeias, had a herd of animals gifted to him by his father Helios. The sheer size of excrement the herd produced compromised the city's health. Tasked with the surely insurmountable job of clearing the herds stables in one day. Hercules goes to the king and asks for some of his finest cattle in trade for clearing of the stables. The king in utter joy at the prospect happily obliges. There are several versions that detail how he completed this task. In some, Hercules buried the dung in two holes on either side of the stables and then redirected the rivers Alpheios and Pineios to flush the holes out. While in others, Hercules only redirects the rivers to flush out the stables.

6. To kill the Stymphalian Birds

• Following this Hercules is assigned to get rid of a flock of Stymphalian Birds, often depicted as man-eating birds, with metallic feathers. To purge of the birds, Hercules uses brass castanets, a cymbal like instrument, gifted to him by Athena to spook the birds into flight allowing him to shoot them down with his arrows. 

7. To kill the Cretan Bull

• Preceding that, Hercules is told to conquer the Cretan Bull, a ferocious beast that was tormenting Crete. In some interpretations of his story, Hercules kills the bull. But in most stories, he gets permission from the king of Crete, King Minos, to take the bull away, Hercules wrestles the bull to the ground and carries it back to Eurystheus in Mycenae.  

8. To capture the Mares of Diomedes

• Foregoing this, he is dismissed to Thrace to tame the mares of Diomedes, man-eating horses of the Thracian king and son of Ares, Diomedes. Knowing he couldn't complete the mission alone, Hercules railed together a group of volunteers to embark on the journey with him. When Hercules and his group arrived on Thrace, they were able to overpower the grooms that were responsible for the creatures. In some tails, it is said that Hercules feed the grooms to the mares to pacify them. Hercules and his volunteers began to herd the mares onto their awaiting ship, but the ruckus of the event alerted King Diomedes to what was happening. This caused a battle that led to the death of Diomedes, and Albuerus, who was a volunteer and close companion of Hercules. With the battle won, Hercules and his remaining volunteers were able to make it onto their ship with the mares, where they began their journey back to Eurystheus. Some tails claim that Hercules fed the mares the king Diomedes's body as well and that this played a large role in the calming of the creatures. 

9. Obtain the Belt of Hippolyta

• Next Hercules is meant to retrieve the belt of Hippolyta. Queen Hippolyta, leader of a tribe of warriors, bears a belt of leather given to her by Ares, the god of war. Eurystheus desired the belt for his daughter Admete. In some accounts, it is said that at arrival on the Amazons Hercules receives a hostile welcome from  Hippolyta’s warriors who had been influenced by Hera, as she told them Hercules was a threat and not to be trusted. Despite the hostile welcome, Hercules still secures the belt. In other accounts, upon his arrival on the land of the Amazons, Hippolyta asked why Hercules was there. In honesty, Hercules said he was there for Hippolyta’s belt. Hippolyta agrees to let Hercules have her belt. But before he can take it, Hera, disguised as one of Hippolyta’s warriors, tells the other warriors Hercules is there to take Hippolyta. The warriors dress in their armor and bare their weapons as they go to confront Hercules. Hercules seeing their armor and weapons, assumes Hippolyta has sent her warriors to kill him. So Hercules kills Hippolyta, takes her belt, and flees back to Eurystheus with the belt. 

10. Obtain the Cattle of Geryon

• After, he is directed to collect the cattle of Geryon, a three-bodied giant. The first challenge this pursuit appointed was the journey to Erythia, which lay at the end of the known world, where the cattle resided. It is said Hercules had to cross the Libyan desert where the intensity of the heat was so insufferable, that 9n a moment of resentment, Hercules shoots an arrow at Helios, the sun god. Helios, rather than angered by Hercules’s actions, is impressed and lends Hercules the golden cup that he sails across the sea once each night. Some stories say that on his journey, Hercules splits a mountain in two, creating a passage between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The two halves of the mountain that are said to have been separated by Hercules are known as the pillars of Hercules today. Finally making it to Erythia, Hercules is met with Geryon’s guard dog Orthus, brother to the more infamous Cerberus. Orthus who has the body of a dog, with two heads, and a serpent's tail, was accompanied by the herdsman, Eurytion, son of Ares. Hercules incapacitates them with his club and takes the herd. Hercules’s journey home poses more issues than his journey to Erythia, and to add to his trouble, a few of his cattle escape. In the end, Hercules is able to bring all the cattle, including those who had fled back to Eurystheus.

    Originally the king only asked Hercules to complete 10 labors. But when Hercules granted the king the Cattle of Geryon, Eurystheus informed Hercules that he considered two of his labors invalid; Hercules had not slayed the Hydra alone but rather with the help of Iolaus, and Hercules had received payment for his cleaning of the Augean Stables. Because of this, two more labors had to be finished.

11.  Bring the Golden Apples of Hesperides

• Then, Hercules is made to fetch golden apples from Hesperides' garden. After traveling the world to find these apples, Hercules, as advertised by Prometheus asks Atlas to steal the apples for him. With Atlas’s compliance, Hercules is left to hold the earth and heavens in Atlas’s place. Once Atlas had obtained the apples, he requested to be the one to present them to Eurystheus, to which Hercules agreed. But before Atlas was to leave, Hercules requested Atlas take back the earth and heavens so he could adjust his garments. When Atlas took back the earth and heavens, Hercules fled and returned to Eurystheus to present him with the requested apples.

12. Capture Cerberus

• Finally, Hercules was to capture the three-headed guard dog of the underworld, Cerberus. By now, Eurystheus is fed up with the success Hercules has had, so Eurystheus decides the final quest has to be unreasonable, and unthinkably hard. He decides Hercules must go to the underworld and capture Cerberus. During his endeavor, Hercules runs into Hades, whom Hercules asks if he can take Cerberus out of the underworld back to Eurystheus. Persuaded by Hercules, Hades agrees but only if Hercules can subdue Cerberus without any weapons, using only his bare hands. Hercules, successful in his endeavor, takes Cerberus to Eurystheus, who insists the underworld's guard dog be returned to Hades. In the end, Hercules successfully completed all twelve of his labors. 

Disney's Hercules                                                                      

Disney's Hercules 1997 

              In 1997 Walt Disney Pictures came out with its own rendition of Hercules's story. In Disney's movie adaptation, Hercules is the son of two loving parents Zeus and Hera, making him a god. Hades, who has been banished to the underworld, and has vengefully been planning to dethrone the gods, learns of this child (Hercules) who threatens his plans. The Fates inform him that if Hercules fights on his father's side, Hades is destined to fail. In an attempt to ensure his success, sends his henchmen, Pain, and Panic, to feed baby Hercules an elixir that will strip him of his divinity and not only turn him mortal but also kill him. Baby Hercules drinks all but the last drop of elixir, allowing him to maintain his godly strength. Realizing that Hercules has not died upon feeding him the elixir, Pain, and Panic turn into serpents in a last attempt to kill him, but the newly mortal Hercules strangles them with ease. Desperate to get rid of the evidence of their failed mission, Pain and Panic kidnap baby Hercules and abandon him on a path. Here Hercules’s mortal parents, his mother Alcmene and his father Amphitryon, stumble upon him and take him in. Hercules lives much of his mortal life as an outcast amongst his peers. Unbeknownst to him, Hercules’s divine strength is the cause of much of his troubles with his peers. After an accident that ended in catastrophe, Hercules's actions caused destruction and outrage in his town, leaving him even more of an outcast than before. This drove his mortal parents to tell him they had found him and took him in, rather than had him. They give him the metal that was strung around his neck when they found him that bears the symbol of the gods, which encourages Hercules to go to the temple of Zeus in search of answers. At the temple, Zeus responds to Hercules’s prayers asking for answers. Zeus tells Hercules he is his real father and that someone turned Hercules mortal as a child, but if he proved he was a hero on earth, his godliness would be restored. Zeus reunites Pegasus and Hercules and sends Hercules on his way to go find Philoctetes, the trainer of heroes. Upon finding Philoctetes (Phil), Hercules is met with the news that the satyr is “retired” from training heroes. Phil finally agrees to train Hercules after a sign from Zeus that Hercules is truly his kid. After training with Phil, Hercules goes to Thebes to prove his heroicness. Here he runs into Hades, who is once again out to get him, and Meg the girl he falls for. In the end, he proves he is a hero, but chooses to give up the life of godhood in trade of staying a mortal to live out his life with Meg on earth.

Final Thoughts

Hercules like all gods in Greek mythology, has a variety of different retellings of his story. But in every story of his, he shows a level of compassion and empathy that no other god displays. Despite the blood he has on his hands for his wife and children, during every step of his journey to complete his 12 labors, he honored those who were lost in action with him. Taking into account modern ideologies that weren't always at play, do you think Hercules's murders are forgivable? Do you pity him for the actions he made in his fit of insanity? Do you think the completion of the 12 labors was an adequate punishment? 

Work Cited

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11. “Hercules in Greek Mythology: Myths, Symbols, and Powers - Centre of Excellence.” Centreofexcellence.com, 9 July 2024, https://www.centreofexcellence.com/hercules-in-greek-mythology/