Title: 04 - Heracles or Hercules?
Course: English 4A SU15 > Section: Unit: It's Greek to Me

The Greeks did not just tell stories about gods; they told some of the great hero myths that endure today. Hollywood continues to crank out films about some of them. Heracles is one. It may have something to do with the fact that no company owns the rights to him and anyone can tell any story they want using him. You may prefer to think that it has more to do with the fact that there are aspects of his character that we can still relate to today. He’s got some strange dynamics with his parents; He’s always got to prove himself to others; The expectations placed on him leave little room for anything else in his life... |
When a film about an ancient Greek god or hero is released, suddenly everyone is an expert on mythology. In the case of Heracles, people like to point out that his name is not Hercules. Except for that it is. It’s both. As you’ve already discovered, many of these gods were recycled by the Romans and given new names. Hercules is the Roman name for this Greek hero. Once you clear that up with people you can get back to arguing about the really important stuff; like, Why are all of the movies about him so bad? The 12 Labors of Hercules are still referenced frequently throughout literature and pop culture today. Fun fact: a reference to a historical or religious event is called an Allusion. Often in literature, this takes the form of a metaphor or simile that evokes a particular story, image or lesson in the reader’s mind. Remember that, it seems like something that could come up again later. | Sweet little baby Herc strangles a serpent sent by his step-mom to kill him as a baby.

- You are not required at this point to read about all 12 Labors at this time, but here is one that is relevant to this section:

From Apollodorus 2.5.11:

When the labours had been performed in eight years and a month, Eurystheus ordered Hercules, as an eleventh labour, to fetch golden apples from the Hesperides, for he did not acknowledge the labour of the cattle of Augeas nor that of the hydra. These apples were not, as some have said, in Libya, but on Atlas among the Hyperboreans. They were presented by Earth to Zeus after his marriage with Hera, and guarded by an immortal dragon with a hundred heads, offspring of Typhon and Echidna, which spoke with many and divers sorts of voices. With it the Hesperides also were on guard, to wit, Aegle, Erythia, Hesperia, and Arethusa. So journeying he came to the river Echedorus. And Cycnus, son of Ares and Pyrene, challenged him to single combat. Ares championed the cause of Cycnus and marshalled the combat, but a thunderbolt was hurled between the two and parted the combatants.4And going on foot through Illyria and hastening to the river Eridanus he came to the nymphs, the daughters of Zeus and Themis. They revealed Nereus to him, and Hercules seized him while he slept, and though the god turned himself into all kinds of shapes, the hero bound him and did not release him till he had learned from him where were the apples and the Hesperides. Being informed, he traversed Libya. That country was then ruled by Antaeus, son of Poseidon, who used to kill strangers by forcing them to wrestle. Being forced to wrestle with him, Hercules hugged him, lifted him aloft, broke and killed him; for when he touched earth so it was that he waxed stronger, wherefore some said that he was a son of Earth.

After Libya he traversed Egypt. That country was then ruled by Busiris, a son of Poseidon by Lysianassa, daughter of Epaphus. This Busiris used to sacrifice strangers on an altar of Zeus in accordance with a certain oracle. For Egypt was visited with death for nine years, and Phrasius, a learned seer who had come from Cyprus, said that the dearth would cease if they slaughtered a stranger man in honor of Zeus every year. Busiris began by slaughtering the seer himself and continued to slaughter the strangers who landed. So Hercules also was seized and haled to the altars, but he burst his bonds and slew both Busiris and his son Amphidamas.

And traversing Asia he put in to Thermydrae, the harbor of the Lindians. And having loosed one of the bullocks from the cart of a cowherd, he sacrificed it and feasted. But the cowherd, unable to protect himself, stood on a certain mountain and cursed. Wherefore to this day, when they sacrifice to Hercules, they do it with curses.

And passing by Arabia he slew Emathion, son of Tithonus, and journeying through Libya to the outer sea he received the goblet from the Sun. And having crossed to the opposite mainland he shot on the Caucasus the eagle, offspring of Echidna and Typhon, that was devouring the liver of Prometheus, and he released Prometheus, after choosing for himself the bond of olive, and to Zeus he presented Chiron, who, though immortal, consented to die in his stead.

Now Prometheus had told Hercules not to go himself after the apples but to send Atlas, first relieving him of the burden of the sphere; so when he was come to Atlas in the land of the Hyperboreans, he took the advice and relieved Atlas. But when Atlas had received three apples from the Hesperides, he came to Hercules, and not wishing to support the sphere, he said that he would himself carry the apples to Eurystheus, and bade Hercules hold up the sky in his stead. Hercules promised to do so, but succeeded by craft in putting it on Atlas instead. For at the advice of Prometheus he begged Atlas to hold up the sky till he should put a pad on his head. When Atlas heard that, he laid the apples down on the ground and took the sphere from Hercules. And so Hercules picked up the apples and departed. But some say that he did not get them from Atlas, but that he plucked the apples himself after killing the guardian snake. And having brought the apples he gave them to Eurystheus. But he, on receiving them, bestowed them on Hercules, from whom Athena got them and conveyed them back again; for it was not lawful that they should be laid down anywhere.

Did you catch the relevant portion here? Prometheus was the one who gave Hercules the advice he needed to perform this task. Hercules rewards him by shooting the eagle that tormented him by eating his liver every day. That’s the perfect kind of detail for a writer to pick up on and embellish to provide the kind of back story that might entertain a new generation.

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^1Heracles as a boy strangling a snake. Marble, Roman artwork, 2nd century CE. |H. 64 cm (25 in.) |Albani Collection |MC 247 |Palazzo Nuovo, first floor, gallery (This image is in the Public Domain)

^2Image Source: Pak, Greg; van Lente, Fred; Henry, Clayton; Espin, Salva. “Love & War Part Two.” The Incredible Hercules #122 Marvel Comics. (Dec 2008). Used without Permission. Fair Use (Parody).