Probably today only the most incurious children and teenagers do not know who Hercules is. Indeed, in Soviet times, and even later, many books on ancient Greek mythology were published, telling in detail about him and his exploits. Let's plunge into the distant past, in the times of Hellas.
Who is he?
Let's start with who Hercules is. This is an ancient Greek hero, on which in many respects the whole mythology rests. The feats he accomplished formed the basis of many songs that brought bread to traveling singers. And in general, his life was full of travel and adventure.
Courage and heroism made him the most famous character in ancient Greek mythology. And not only. After all, in his homeland he was called Hercules, and many great rulers loved to boast that they were descended from him. So Hercules and Hercules are one and the same character, you can call him by both names, as you are more familiar with. After the expansion of the Roman Empire to the east and the capture of Ancient Greece, the storytellers really liked the legends about him. So Hercules appeared in Roman mythology.
His parents
Let's start by breaking down the misconception that Hercules is a god. Actually it is not. More precisely, half of it is not. His father was indeed the most powerful god of the ancient Greek pantheon - Zeus himself. But the mother was a mere mortal - Alcmene. This can be stated with certainty - the parents of Hercules in mythology are accurately tracked.
Zeus, captivated by the beauty of Queen Alcmene, took the form of her husband Amphitrion and entered the beauty's bedroom. Nine months later, a hero was born who was destined to accomplish many feats, survive ups and downs.
Hated stepson
As already mentioned, the father of the hero was Zeus, the most powerful god of Olympus. But the goddess Hera did not like at all that her lawful husband was so hungry for beautiful mortals. And all her life she built tricks and harmed Hercules.
It started from infancy. The future hero was lying in bed when two huge poisonous snakes crawled up to him to finish him off, punishing Zeus. Of course, Hera sent them. But the cunning goddess did not take into account that the blood of a demigod already flows in the hero. He jokingly strangled both snakes.
Yes, Hercules received undoubted advantages from kinship - the god Zeus endowed him with remarkable strength, which allowed him to perform many feats. Although cunning and wisdom were also not alien to the young hero.
But throughout his life, Hera harmed him as best she could - sent madness, deprived him of the right to ascend the throne, set up circumstances against Hercules, tried in every possible way to poison his life. But aboutthis - a little later.
Short married life
For the first time, Hercules married very young, choosing the beautiful Megara as his wife. Although he was 16 and she was 33, they were happy and had several children. Everything was going well, and the hero did not even think about leaving his home and going to perform feats, about which wandering singers would lay down many legends.
Unfortunately, happiness did not last long. The treacherous goddess Hera never forgave her husband's son, who was born by a mere mortal. She cursed Heracles with madness.
Possessed, he broke into the house and killed Megara, as well as the common children. At the same time he killed the children of his friend Iphicles.
But the madness didn't last long. When reason returned to Hercules, he mourned for a long time, not knowing what to do next, how to atone for the terrible sin that he had committed, even if not through his own fault. Having gone for advice to the Delphic oracle, he received an unequivocal answer. The hero had to go to his cousin King Eurystheus and become his servant in order to perform 12 feats. It is worth saying that he became king only thanks to the intrigues of Hera. However, the high title did not provide him with either strength, or intelligence, or the love of the people. Therefore, Eurystheus had no choice but to envy Hercules and give only those tasks that he considered obviously impossible.
Twelve labors
It is worth noting that Hercules in Roman mythology and Greek mythology performed a different number of feats. Some storytellers spoke of twelve. Others argued that the hero's exploits wereperform only ten, but Eurystheus did not count two of them and gave others that Hercules had to perform. In any case, there were twelve in total. Their implementation, according to various sources, took from 8 to 12 years. Eurstheus was in no hurry to give assignments to his cousin, bound by an oath, keeping to himself and not providing the desired freedom.
Feats were different. First of all, he had to fight with various monsters:
- The Nemean Lion.
- Lernaean Hydra.
- Stymphalian birds.
Of course, the main characteristic of Hercules helped him here - unprecedented strength. For example, he simply strangled a lion, since the sharpest arrows did not pierce his skin. But later she became a reliable cloak that accompanied the hero until his death.
He pacified a few more, not allowing more to poison the lives of ordinary people:
- Kerinean fallow deer,.
- Erymanthian boar.
- Cretan bull.
- Three-headed dog Cerberus.
- Horses of Diomedes.
Several times the hero had to go down to banal theft. To fulfill the orders of a cowardly and greedy relative, Hercules stole the golden apples of the Hesperides, the cows from the giant Gerion, the belt of the Amazon queen Hippolyta.
He even once cleaned the huge stables of King Augeas.
Of course, this is not a complete list of the feats he accomplished. Hercules also participate in the expedition on the ship "Argo", won onOlympic Games, challenged the most powerful gods, including his father Zeus, and never retreated without achieving victory or at least a "draw".
It is no coincidence that in Greece every child knows exactly who Hercules is, and can accurately name all twelve labors performed by him.
Tragic death
A glorious hero died at the age of about 50 years. By this time, he had accomplished his exploits and, having received freedom from the oath to Eurystheus, he married a second time - to Deianira, who bore him four children - Heraclides.
The couple traveled extensively throughout the country, often taking part in battles. One day, the insidious centaur Ness, seeing the beautiful Dejanira, decided to kidnap her. However, Hercules did not allow this - as if a shot arrow, soaked in the bile of the Lernean Hydra, finished off the kidnapper. Dying, Ness decided to take terrible revenge on his killer. He whispered to Dejanira that his blood had a magical property - if you rub it on a person's clothes, you can get his love forever. The trusting girl believed him and collected some blood, saving it just in case.
After many years, Dejanira suspected Hercules of falling out of love with her - completely unfounded, I must say. After sewing a new shirt for her husband, she rubbed it with blood and presented it to a hero returning from another war.
Alas, as soon as Hercules put it on, like the poison of the hydra, dissolved in the blood of Nessus, began to act. The shirt is stuck to the body and cannot be torn off.succeeded. The hero suffered from wild pain and suffocated from his own cry. Seeing what she had done, Dejanira could not stand it and committed suicide by throwing herself on the sword.
Hercules, seeing that none of his friends wanted to alleviate his torment, laid down a funeral pyre, covered it with the skin of the Nemean lion, lay down on it and set fire to firewood. But instead of final death, he went to Olympus for the many feats he had accomplished.
Distant descendants
About what kind of hero Hercules was, the mythology of Hellas and Rome tells in detail. Of course, many people, especially rulers, attributed to themselves a relationship with him. It was not difficult to do this - during his travels, he left many children across the country, both legitimate and not quite.
For example, influential families of the Roman Empire allegedly descended from Hercules - Anthony and Fabia. The Epitid dynasties of the Messenians also could not resist the temptation to include a brave hero among their ancestors. Yes, and the Spartan Eurypontides were happy to tell everyone around (especially subordinates) that it was Hercules who was the founder of their kind.
Conclusion
This concludes our article. Now you know that Hercules and Hercules are one hero. We learned about the main exploits that brought him such popularity. We read about the heroic, though not easy, fate of the brave demigod of Hellas. So, easily answer the question of who Hercules is and what he is known for.
