Probably today only the most curious children and adolescents do not know who Hercules is. Indeed, in Soviet times, and even later, many books on ancient Greek mythology were published, detailing about him and his exploits. We will plunge into the distant past, in the time of Hellas.
Who is he?
Let's start with who Hercules is. This is an ancient Greek hero, on which the whole mythology rests in many respects. The feats accomplished by him 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. Indeed, in his homeland he was called Heracles, 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 used to. After the expansion of the Roman Empire to the east and the capture of Ancient Greece, the storytellers really liked the legends about it. So Hercules in Roman mythology appeared.
His parents
To begin with, we will destroy the misconception that Hercules is a god. This is actually not the case. More precisely, half wrong. His father really was the most powerful god of the ancient Greek pantheon - Zeus himself. But the mother was a mere mortal - Alkmena. This can be asserted with certainty - Hercules' parents in mythology are accurately tracked.
Zeus, captivated by the beauty of Queen Alkmena, took the form of her husband Amphitrion and entered the bedroom of the beauty. Nine months later, a hero was born, who was destined to perform many feats, survive the ups and downs.
Hate 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 legal husband was so eager for beautiful mortals. And she built tricks all her life and harmed Hercules.
It began with infancy. The future hero was lying in the bed when two huge poisonous snakes crawled to him to finish him off, punishing Zeus. Of course, Hera sent them. But the cunning goddess did not take into account that the demigod’s blood already flows in the hero. He jokingly strangled both snakes.
Yes, the undoubted advantages of kinship were received by Hercules - 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 much as she could - sent madness, deprived him of the right to ascend the throne, adjusted the circumstances against Hercules, tried his best to poison his life. But more on that later.
Short family life
The first time Hercules married very young, choosing the beautiful Megara as his wife. Although he was 16 years old and she was 33, they were happy and gave birth to several children. Everything went perfectly, and the hero did not even think about leaving his native home and going to perform feats, about which roving singers would lay down many legends.
Unfortunately, happiness did not last long. The treacherous goddess Hera never forgave the son of her husband, whom the mere mortal gave birth. She sent the curse of insanity to Hercules.
Obsessed, he burst into the house and killed Megara, as well as common children. At the same time, he killed the children of his friend Iphicles.
But the madness did not 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 a definite answer. The hero had to go to his cousin King Eurystheus and become his servant in order to complete 12 feats. It is worth saying that he became king only thanks to the wiles of Hera. However, the high title did not provide him with neither strength, nor intelligence, nor the love of the people. Therefore, Eurystheus had no choice but to envy Hercules and give only those tasks that he considered to be obviously impossible.
Twelve Feats
It is worth noting that Hercules in Roman mythology and Greek performed a different number of feats. Some storytellers spoke specifically of the twelve. Others claimed that the hero had to perform only ten feats, but Eurystheus did not count two of them and gave others that Hercules had to perform. In any case, there were twelve in total. According to various sources, it took them from 8 to 12 years to complete them. Evrsfey was in no hurry to give tasks 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:
- Nemean lion.
- Lernean Hydra.
- Stimphalia birds.
Of course, here he was helped by the main characteristic of Hercules - an unprecedented power. For example, he simply strangled the lion, since its sharpest arrows did not pierce its skin. But then she became a reliable cloak that accompanied the hero until his death.
He pacified several more, not allowing more to poison life for ordinary people:
- Kerinoe doe ,.
- Erimanf Boar.
- Cretan bull.
- Three-headed dog Cerberus.
- Coney Diomedes.
Several times the hero had to stoop 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 Queen of the Amazons Ippolita of the Amazons.
Once he even cleaned the huge stables of Tsar Augius.
Of course, this is not a complete list of the feats that he accomplished. Also, Hercules to participate in the expedition on the ship "Argo", won the Olympics, repeatedly challenged the most powerful gods, including his father Zeus, and never retreated without winning or at least "no one".
It is no coincidence that in Greece every child knows exactly who Hercules is, and he can unmistakably name all twelve feats accomplished by him.
Tragic death
A glorious hero died at the age of about 50. By this time he had accomplished his exploits and, having received freedom from an oath to Eurystheus, married a second time - to Dejanir, who bore him four children - Heraclides.
Spouses traveled a lot throughout the country, often taking part in battles. Once the insidious centaur Ness, seeing the beautiful Dejanir, decided to abduct her. However, Hercules did not allow this - just like a fired arrow soaked in the bile of the Lernean hydra, killed the kidnapper. Dying, Ness decided to scare revenge on his killer. He whispered to Dejanira that his blood possesses a magical property - if you rub a person’s clothes with it, you can forever get his love. The gullible girl believed him and collected some blood, saving just in case.
Many years later, Dejanira suspected Heracles that he had fallen out of love with her - completely baseless, I must say. Having sewed a new shirt for her husband, she rubbed it with blood and presented it to the hero returning from the next war.
Alas, as soon as Hercules put it on, the poison of hydra, dissolved in Ness's blood, began to act. The shirt stuck to the body and could not be torn off. The hero suffered from wild pain and gasped from his own cry. Seeing what she did, Dejanira could not stand it and committed suicide by throwing herself on a sword.
Hercules, seeing that none of his friends wanted to alleviate his torment, built a funeral pyre, covered it with the skin of a Nemean lion, laid it on him and set fire to wood. But instead of his final death, he went to Olympus for his many deeds.
Distant descendants
The mythology of Hellas and Rome tells in detail about what hero Hercules was. Of course, many people, especially rulers, attributed their kinship to him. It was not difficult to do this - during his travels, he left many children throughout the country, both legal and not quite.
For example, influential families of the Roman Empire, Anthony and Fabius, allegedly led their family from Hercules. The dynasties of the Epitides of the Messeniaes also could not resist the temptation to include a brave hero among their ancestors. And the Spartan Euripontides were happy to tell everyone around (especially their subordinates) that it was Hercules who was the founder of their family.
Conclusion
This concludes our article. Now you know that Hercules and Hercules are one hero. We learned about the main feats that brought him such popularity. We read about the heroic, though not easy fate of the brave demigod of Hellas. So, without difficulty, answer the question of who Hercules is and what he is known for.