Hercules Beyond The Myth?

Stories about the gods, or semi-gods,  were weaved thousands of years ago. and continue to this day. One of the most famous, intriguing and inspiring stories was about Hercules, a man who was strong and courageous, whose deeds were so mighty, and who so strong from all the hard lessons that life passed on to him, that when he died, Hercules was brought up to Mount Olympus to live with the gods.

The question that comes to mind, as with most of these stories, was there a real Hercules, a real man behind the stories? Could he be so strong or was the imagination of the storytellers that fueled an exaggeration of his actions and strength? We will never really know.

Lets start by putting our facts straight. First of all, his name "Hercules" is incorrect; "Heracles" [Ηρακλής] is how the ancient Achaeans (citizens of Achaia) referred to him.

As  them myth goes, Hercules was the strongest of all mortals, and even stronger than many gods. He was the last mortal son of Zeus, and the only man born of a mortal woman to become a god upon his death.

Birth of a Hero?
Argos and Thebes are two areas in Greece where both claimed Heracles as its birthplace. When he was born, Zeus, the King of Gods wanted to create a strong mortal who would set the example for both gods and mortals - so he decided that Alcmene, wife of Amphitryon, would do the honors and become the mother of his child. Whilst Amphitryon was away at war, Zeus took the form of Amphitryon and trick Alcmene into making love to him. When Amphitryon returned, the first thing he did was to lay with his wife. As a result, twins were born: Heracles to Zeus and Iphicles to Amphitryon.

When Hera, Zeus wife found out that her husband laid with yet another woman, she was outraged, more so as Zeus has produced yet another bastard son. She started plotting her revenge, but Hypnos took her over (she fell asleep).While she was sleeping, Hermes, the God of the Trade placed the baby on Hera’s breast. Trying to feed, Hera woke up and pushed him aside, her milk splattering across the heavens (which eventually became the Milky Way). In vengeance, Hera later on sent two snakes to the twins’ cradle. Whilst his twin brother Iphicles froze in terror, Heracles himself grabbed each snake by each hand and strangled them to death.

Early Adventures
While Heracles growing up his first real test of strength was when he was asked to kill the lion of Mount Kithaeron. The lion had been ravaging the herds of Amphitryon, and Heracles had little problem killing it. He took his skin and whilst the myth says that he it was this skin that he was always portrayed, some people say that  was the Nemean lion's skin  he wore.

Whilst away from his city, war broke between Thebes and the city of Orchomenus; Heracles jumped into battle and as soon as they had he flooded Orchomenus's crops. After the victory, the king of Thebes, Creon, gave his daughter Megara as his wife.

What happened with Hera in the mean time? She became once again jealous and envy and afflicted Heracles with a madness, which caused him to attack Iolaus, his brother's son who barely escaped death. When Hera lifted the madness, he discovered he had killed all of his children and two of Iphicles - talk about Greek tragedy.  With deep sorrow and horror for his actions, Heracles avoided every contact with other people and asked the king of Thespieis for redemption. An oracle advised him to service the king of Argos, Eurystheus. This became the famous Labors of Heracles.

Beyond The myth

The myth may say a different story from what we come to realise. Clearly, as much as he had muscles, Heracles may lacking intelligence and was overwhelmed with emotions, which frequently got Heracles in trouble. From what we read, his pride was easily offended.  His appetites for food, wine, and women were as massive as his strength.

The easiest thing to do is view Heracles as a muscled mindless creature, pretty much like the some modern bodybuilders who are only focusing on building their body. And to be accurate, if someone reviews ancient Greek comedy the play writers of the time focused on that side of Heracles. Heracles was very frequently seen as a brutal and violent person who hold grudges and let them go very rarely. And why not? There is a lot to support this: his preferred weapon was a huge club; the clothes he was wearing were of a lion skin with a lion head; he was so aggressive and violent that he also wounded some of the gods; he even threatened a priestess of Apollo at Delphi when he received no reply to a question from the God. Truth is, he was a trouble maker.

As with everything, there is another side of the story. Heracles was a true friend in its pure sense. We would do anything to help a friend, and once his mind was clear of anger he was the first one to critisize himself for his actions. Truth was that, like Superman, he was too strong for anyone to apply any form of punishment. The fact that he offered himself to be purified and get rid of guilt shows  that he had, deep inside him, a sense of what was right and what was wrong. While he was self-punished, he stayed patient and resilient until the end, the fact alone was heroic on its own.

Also, he had to deal with Hera's vengeance - from sending snake to temporary getting mad, that was all Hera's fault.

Over time, the world came to realised that there was more to than just a strong man, full of anger and strong emotions. Ancient Greecs view was focused on how badly he managed despite his obvious gifts, a bed side story for kids to managed their own better than Hercules. As time passed the world began to focus purely to his virtues. Even the Romans valued him as he fit their idea of a hero. He eventually had a  cult that worshiped him as a god.