Heracles or Hercules
Created | Updated May 27, 2002
INTRO
Heroes have played important roles throughout the ages. Fictional or real, personal or national, they have inspired us to greater things. They are the embodiment of everyone's hopes and dreams, the pinnacle of human achievement. Traditional heroes set examples of strength and courage. They are role models to a people. Of the traditional heroes, Heracles was the most famed. He had superhuman strength, which was tested in his daunting quest, and his character was tempered by numerous setbacks.
HIS STRENGTH
The first time Heracles' strength was revealed was when he was still an infant. Hera, who hated Heracles because he was the product of one of Zeus' many affairs, sent two serpents to kill him in his crib. Heracles was not afraid of these viscous beasts and picked them up to play, and in doing so he strangled them with his tremendous strength. As an adult his strength was proven again when he wrestled, and eventually strangled to death, the fearsome wild bull of Crete. Heracles' most amazing feat of strength was when he held the entire sky on his shoulders. He had spent much time searching for the garden of Hesperides, which held the golden apple tree presented by Earth to Hera as a wedding present. When Heracles finally found the tree he easily slew the dragon guarding it. However for any but a god to pick the golden apples was certain death. Luckily the Titan, Atlas, stood nearby with the sky on his shoulders. Atlas was happy to pick the apples for Heracles, and be momentarily relieved of his burden. So Heracles took the entire sky on his shoulders. Atlas picked the apples, but once he had them, instead of taking the sky back from Heracles, he said: "I may as well take these back myself." When Heracles saw that Atlas had no intention of returning he pretended to agree: "If I am to be holding this for a long time then at least give me a chance to make my lion skin into a pad for my shoulders." Atlas saw no harm in this request and so he took the sky again. Heracles immediately took the apples, thanked Atlas for his help, and set off on his return journey, smiling at his trick.
HIS QUEST
A Herculean Task has become a synonym with the impossible, for the 12 Tasks of Hercules or the Labours of Heracles, would indeed have been impossible for any other man. Hera was enraged by Zeus' affairs and Heracles was a constant reminder of her husband's infidelity, for this reason Hera hated Heracles almost beyond reason. When Heracles got married and had many children, Hera deemed him unworthy and sent a fit of madness upon him. In his madness he killed his wife and children thinking they were wild beasts. When Heracles regained sanity he was horrified by what he had done. He went to the Oracle of Delphi to ask penance. The Oracle in turn sent Heracles to King Eurystheus who would assign him a quest. King Eurystheus was a favourite of Hera and so he came up with twelve tasks he deemed impossible for Heracles to perform as penance. The tasks he was assigned taxed all of Heracles abilities to the limit. He had to clean the stables of King Augeias. King Augeias was the wealthiest cattle-owner in the world. His cattle were always born healthy and immune to disease. Because of this, he had never cleaned his stables, so Heracles would have to clean decades of filth. This would be a daunting and extremely time consuming task, and it would be made almost impossible because of the overwhelming stench. But by using his intelligence as well as his strength he cleaned the stables in one day without even coming near the stables. He simply diverted the flow of two rivers so that they ran through the stables carrying away the filth. Another task Heracles had to perform was to travel to the lands of Amazons and bring back the girdle of the Amazonian queen. The Amazons were a war-like tribe dominated by women. Heracles won the love of the queen and she gave him her girdle freely. One of Heracles most terrible tasks was to travel into the underworld and bring back the three-headed watchdog, Cerberus. Heracles grasped the three headed dog at the base of the throat just before it split into three, and through great strength and courage finally overcame the terrible creature. The performance of so many and such difficult task as these has never been matched by any Greek hero.
SOME TROUBLES
Although Heracles was able to complete his quest, not all his tasks were straight forward or without a hitch. However, Heracles never let an initial set back stand in his way. Heracles' first task was to kill the lion of Nemea. He found it in its lair. He attacked it with his sword, but to his dismay, his sword shattered, unable to penetrate the lions hide. He took up his club and clobbered the lion on the head but the lion seemed unaffected. Heracles soon realized that no weapon could penetrate the lions hide, so he attacked it with his bare hands. After a ferocious wrestling match Heracles emerged the victor. Completing this task Heracles moved on to the next: to kill the three headed hydra of Lerna. When Heracles approached and chopped off one of the hydra's heads, two more simply sprung up in its place. Heracles chopped off another head with the same result. Finally, Heracles realized that he could cauterize the wound with a torch before two new heads took its place, and in this way eventually killed the beast. When trying to kill the man-eating birds in the stymphalion swamp he found that he could not even approach them since the ground would not support his weight. Finally Heracles shook a rattle that frightened the birds out of the trees and he shot them with his bow. Needless to say Heracles demonstrated much determination and ingenuity in overcoming these setbacks.
CONCLUSION
Clearly Heracles was a true traditional hero, he used his superhuman strength to overcome initial setbacks and fulfill his quest. Today Heracles shares a place among modern day comic book heroes like Superman, Batman, and others, as well as among real people like Nelson Mandella and Terry Fox who shared in his great determination and also overcame many obstacles and hardships to accomplish great feats.
