Hercules - in ancient times Greek mythology hero, the son of the god Zeus and Alcmene - the wife of the hero Amphitryon. Among the numerous myths about Hercules, the most famous is the cycle of legends about 12 exploits performed by Hercules when he was in the service of the Mycenaean king Eurystheus. The cult of Hercules was very popular in Greece, through the Greek colonists it spread early to Italy, where Hercules was revered under the name of Hercules.
One day, the evil Hera sent a terrible disease to Hercules. Lost my mind great hero, madness took hold of him. In a fit of rage, Hercules killed all his children and the children of his brother Iphicles. When the attack passed, deep grief seized Hercules. Purified from the filth of the involuntary murder he had committed, Hercules left Thebes and went to the sacred Delphi to ask the god Apollo what to do. Apollo ordered Hercules to go to the homeland of his ancestors in Tiryns and serve Eurystheus for twelve years. Through the mouth of the Pythia, the son of Latona predicted to Hercules that he would receive immortality if he performed the twelve great labors at the command of Eurystheus. Hercules settled in Tiryns and became a servant of the weak, cowardly Eurystheus... In the service of Eurystheus, Hercules performed his 12 legendary feats, for which he needed all his strength, as well as ingenuity and good advice from the gods.
12 Labors of Hercules
The canonical scheme of 12 labors was first established by Pisander of Rhodes in the poem "Hercules". The order of exploits is not the same for all authors. In total, the Pythia ordered Hercules to perform 10 labors, but Eurystheus did not count 2 of them. I had to complete two more and it turned out 12. In 8 years and one month, he accomplished the first 10 feats, in 12 years - all.
- Strangulation of the Nemean Lion
- Killing the Lernaean Hydra (not counted due to Iolaus' help)
- Extermination of Stymphalian birds
- Capture of the Kerinean fallow deer
- Taming the Erymanthian Boar
- Cleaning the Augean Stables (not counted due to fee requirement)
- Taming the Cretan Bull
- The abduction of the Horses of Diomedes, the victory over King Diomedes (who threw strangers to be eaten by his horses)
- The Abduction of the Girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons
- The abduction of the cows of the three-headed giant Geryon
- The theft of golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides
- Taming of the guardian Hades - the dog Cerberus
The first feat of Hercules (summary)
Hercules strangled the huge Nemean lion, who was born by the monsters Typhon and Echidna and devastated the Argolis. The arrows of Hercules bounced off the thick skin of a lion, but the hero stunned the beast with a club and strangled it with his hands. In memory of this first feat, Hercules established the Nemean Games, which were celebrated in the ancient Peloponnese every two years.
The second feat of Hercules (summary)
Hercules killed the Lernean hydra - a monster with a snake body and 9 dragon heads, which crawled out of the swamp near the city of Lerna, killed people and destroyed entire herds. In place of each hydra's head cut off by the hero, two new ones grew, until Hercules' assistant, Iolaus, began to burn the necks of the hydra with burning tree trunks. He also killed a giant cancer that crawled out of the swamp to help the hydra. In the poisonous bile of the Lernean hydra, Hercules soaked his arrows, making them deadly.
The third feat of Hercules (summary)
Stymphalian birds attacked people and cattle, tearing them apart with copper claws and beaks. In addition, they dropped from a height, like arrows, deadly bronze feathers. The goddess Athena gave Hercules two tympanums, with the sounds of which he frightened the birds. When they flew up in a flock, Hercules shot some of them with a bow, and the rest flew away in horror to the shores of Pontus Euxinus (Black Sea) and never returned to Greece.
The fourth feat of Hercules (summary)
The Kerinean doe with golden horns and copper legs, sent to punish people by the goddess Artemis, never knowing fatigue, rushed around Arcadia and devastated the fields. Hercules pursued the deer for a year, reaching the sources of Istra (Danube) in pursuit of her. far north and then returning back to Hellas. Here Hercules wounded the doe with an arrow in the leg, caught it and brought it alive to Eurystheus in Mycenae.
The fifth feat of Hercules (summary)
The Erymanthian boar, possessing monstrous strength, terrified all the surroundings. On the way to battle with him, Hercules visited his friend, the centaur Fall. He treated the hero to wine, angering the rest of the centaurs, since the wine belonged to them all, and not to Foul alone. The centaurs rushed at Hercules, but he forced the attackers to hide from the centaur Chiron with archery. Pursuing the centaurs, Hercules broke into the cave of Chiron and accidentally killed him with an arrow. wise hero many Greek myths. Finding the Erymanthian boar, Hercules drove him into deep snow, and he got stuck there. The hero took the bound boar to Mycenae, where the frightened Eurystheus, at the sight of this monster, hid in a large jug.
The sixth feat of Hercules (summary)
The king of Elis, Avgiy, the son of the sun god Helios, received from his father numerous herds of white and red bulls. His huge barnyard has not been cleared for 30 years. Hercules offered to clear the stall for a day for Augeas, asking for a tenth of his herds in return. Considering that the hero could not cope with the work in one day, Avgiy agreed. Hercules blocked the rivers Alpheus and Peneus with a dam and diverted their water to the barnyard of Avgii - all the manure was washed away from it in a day.
Greedy Avgiy did not give Hercules the promised payment for the work. A few years later, already freed from the service of Eurystheus, Hercules gathered an army, defeated Avgii and killed him. After this victory, Hercules established the famous Olympic Games in Elis, near the city of Pisa.
The seventh feat of Hercules (summary)
God Poseidon gave the Cretan king Minos a beautiful bull to sacrifice himself. But Minos left a wonderful bull in his herd, and sacrificed another to Poseidon. The angry god sent rabies on the bull: he began to rush all over Crete, destroying everything along the way. Hercules caught the bull, tamed it and swam across the sea from Crete to the Peloponnese on his back. Eurystheus ordered the bull to be released. He, again enraged, rushed from Mycenae to the north, where he was killed in Attica by the Athenian hero Theseus.
The eighth feat of Hercules (summary)
The Thracian king Diomedes owned horses of marvelous beauty and strength, which could only be kept in a stall with iron chains. Diomedes fed the horses human flesh, killing foreigners who came to him. Hercules led the horses by force and defeated Diomedes, who rushed in pursuit, in battle. During this time, the horses tore to pieces the companion of Hercules, Abder, who guarded them on the ships.
The ninth feat of Hercules (summary)
The queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta, wore a belt given to her by the god Ares as a sign of her power. The daughter of Eurystheus, Admet, wished to have this belt. Hercules with a detachment of heroes sailed to the kingdom of the Amazons, to the shores of Pontus Euxinus (Black Sea). Hippolyta, at the request of Hercules, wanted to give the belt voluntarily, but other Amazons attacked the hero and killed several of his companions. Hercules slew the seven strongest warriors in battle and put their army to flight. Hippolyta gave him the belt as a ransom for the captured Amazon Melanippe. On the way back from the country of the Amazons, Hercules saved Hesiona, the daughter of the Trojan king Laomendont, at the walls of Troy, doomed, like Andromeda, to sacrifice to the sea monster. Hercules killed the monster, but Laomedon did not give him the promised reward - the horses of Zeus belonging to the Trojans. For this, Hercules a few years later made a trip to Troy, took it and killed the whole family of Laomedont, leaving only one of his sons, Priam, alive. Priam ruled Troy during the glorious Trojan War.
The tenth feat of Hercules (summary)
At the very western edge of the earth, the giant Gerion, who had three bodies, three heads, six arms and six legs, grazed cows. By order of Eurystheus, Hercules went after these cows. The long journey to the west itself was already a feat, and in memory of him Hercules erected two stone (Hercules) pillars on both sides of a narrow strait near the shores of the Ocean (modern Gibraltar). Geryon lived on the island of Erithia. So that Hercules could reach him, the solar god Helios gave him his horses and a golden boat, on which he himself swims daily through the sky.
Having killed the guards of Gerion - the giant Eurytion and the two-headed dog Orfo - Hercules captured the cows and drove them to the sea. But then Gerion himself rushed at him, covering his three bodies with three shields and throwing three spears at once. However, Hercules shot him with a bow and finished him off with a club, and he transported the cows on the boat of Helios across the Ocean. On the way to Greece, one of the cows ran away from Hercules to Sicily. To free her, the hero had to kill the Sicilian king Eriks in a duel. Then Hera, hostile to Hercules, sent rabies to the herd, and the cows that fled from the shores of the Ionian Sea were barely caught in Thrace. Eurystheus, having received the cows of Geryon, sacrificed them to Hera.
Eleventh feat of Hercules (summary)
Hercules had to find a way to the great titan Atlas (Atlanta), who holds the vault of heaven on his shoulders at the edge of the earth. Eurystheus ordered Hercules to take three golden apples from the golden tree of the Atlas garden. To find out the way to the Atlas, Hercules, on the advice of the nymphs, guarded the sea god Nereus on the seashore, grabbed him and held him until he showed the right way. On the way to the Atlas through Libya, Hercules had to fight the cruel giant Antaeus, who received new powers by touching his mother, Earth-Gaia. After long fight Hercules lifted Antaeus into the air and strangled him without lowering him to the ground. In Egypt, King Busiris wanted to sacrifice Hercules to the gods, but the angry hero killed Busiris along with his son.
The twelfth feat of Hercules (summary)
By order of Eurystheus, Hercules descended through the Tenar abyss into dark kingdom god dead hades to take away his guard from there - the three-headed dog Cerberus, whose tail ended in the head of a dragon. At the very gates underworld Hercules freed the Athenian hero Theseus, rooted to a rock, who, along with his friend Perifoe, was punished by the gods for trying to steal his wife Persephone from Hades. In the realm of the dead, Hercules met the shadow of the hero Meleager, whom he promised to become the protector of his lonely sister Dejanira and marry her. Lord underworld, Hades, he himself allowed Hercules to take Cerberus away - but only if the hero manages to tame him. Finding Cerberus, Hercules began to fight him. He strangled the dog, pulled him out of the ground and brought him to Mycenae. The cowardly Eurystheus, at one glance at the terrible dog, began to beg Hercules to take her back, which he did.
The myth of Hercules begins with his unusual birth. The thunder god Zeus had a penchant for earthly women. The beautiful Alcmene, the wife of the king of Mycenae, he liked. Zeus, with affectionate speeches, tried to convince her to cheat on her husband. But Alcmene was adamant. Then the Thunderer decided to cheat. He drove all the animals of Hellas into the forest, where the king of Mycenae hunted. Carried away by hunting, he did not return home to spend the night. And Zeus, in the form of a spouse, appeared to Alcmene.
On the day when Hercules was to be born, the Thunderer swore in the presence of the gods that the boy would become the ruler of Mycenae. But Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus, realized that we were talking about an illegitimate child. She postponed the birth of Alcmene for a day. At the hour appointed by Zeus, Eurystheus was born. It was he who became the ruler of Mycenae, in the service of which Hercules performed well-known feats.
Myths about Hercules: 12 labors
Hera, learning about the birth of the future hero, vowed to kill him. She sent two poisonous snakes into the cradle. But Hercules from birth showed strength and dexterity. He strangled the reptiles with his hands.
The myth of Hercules tells that Hera later sent madness on the hero. The man's mind was clouded when he played with his sons. He mistook the children for monsters. When the attack of madness passed, Hercules was horrified by his own act. Full of remorse, he decided to go to overseas countries.
Hercules sailed with the Argonauts on a ship to distant Colchis for the Golden Fleece. But his path did not last long - the god Hermes appeared to the hero on the very shores of Greece. He conveyed the will of the gods: let Hercules humble himself and go into the service of the king of Mycenae, Eurystheus.
Jealous Hera, in her desire to get rid of the illegitimate son of Zeus, entered into an agreement with Eurystheus. She advised the ruler of Mycenae to choose the most difficult and dangerous tasks for the hero. The myths about the exploits of Hercules, one might say, appeared thanks to Hera. She herself, unwillingly, contributed to the age-old glory of the hero.
First feat
Eurystheus gave the first task to Hercules - to exterminate the Nemean lion. The monster was born from the giant Typhon and Echidna, huge snake. The lion was striking in its size and bloodthirstiness. Its strong skin withstood the blows of swords, the arrows blunted against it.
In the vicinity of the city of Nemea, a lion lived, destroying all life in its path. Whole month Hercules was looking for his lair. Finally, he discovered a cave that served as a refuge for the Nemean lion. Hercules blocked the exit from the lair with a huge boulder, and he himself prepared to wait at the entrance. Finally there was a loud roar, and a monster appeared.
The myth of Hercules tells that the hero's arrows bounced off the skin of a lion. The sharp sword did not harm him. Then Hercules grabbed the monster by the throat with his bare hands and strangled him.
The hero returned to Mycenae with victory. When Eurystheus saw the defeated lion, he was frightened incredible strength Hercules.
Second feat
Let's try to retell the second myth about Hercules briefly. Hera came up with a new deadly task for the hero. In the poisonous swamp lurked a terrible monster - the Lernean Hydra. She had the body of a snake and nine heads.
The Lernaean Hydra lived near the entrance to world of the dead. She crawled out of her lair and devastated the surroundings. Being the sister of the Nemean Lion, she had a huge advantage - one of her nine heads was immortal. Therefore, it was impossible to kill the Lernaean Hydra.
Iolaus offered Hercules his help - he drove the hero on his chariot to a poisonous swamp. For a long time the hero fought with the hydra. But, having struck down one head of the monster, Hercules saw two new ones appear in its place.
Assistant Iolaus set fire to a nearby grove and began to cauterize the cut heads of the hydra. When Hercules cut off the last one, immortal head then buried it deep in the ground. From above, he rolled a huge rock so that the monster could never again appear on earth.
Arrowheads soaked Hercules with the poisonous blood of the hydra. And then he returned to Mycenae, where a new task for Eurystheus awaited him.
Third feat
Myths about the exploits of Hercules indicate his strength, dexterity, speed. For more than a year, the hero was chasing the Kerinean doe in order to catch it - this was a new task for the ruler of Mycenae.
A beautiful fallow deer appeared in the vicinity of the Kerineian mountains. Her horns sparkled with gold, and her hooves were cast with copper. The skin of the animal sparkled in the sun. The Kerinean doe was created by the goddess of hunting Artemis. She did this as a reproach to people who exterminated flora and fauna.
The deer ran faster than the wind - she rushed, running away from Hercules, through Attica, Thesprotia, Boeotia. whole year the hero tried to catch up with the beautiful fugitive. In desperation, Hercules took out a bow and shot the animal in the leg. Throwing a net over the prey, he carried it to Mycenae.
Artemis appeared before him in anger. Ancient myths about Hercules tell that the hero obeyed her. He explained how the will of the gods forced him to serve Eurystheus. That it was not for himself that he pursued a beautiful doe. Artemis had mercy and allowed Hercules to take the animal to Mycenae.
Fourth feat
And Eurystheus has already prepared a new task for the hero. What is it? The fourth myth about Hercules will tell us about this. Its summary allows us to find out that a wild boar appeared in Arcadia. The Erymanthian boar destroyed livestock, forest animals, travelers with huge fangs ...
On the way, Hercules went to the familiar centaur Fall. They opened wine, had fun, sang songs. Other centaurs, attracted by the aroma of the wine, armed themselves with stones and stakes and declared that the wine had been brought as a gift to the entire community. A fight ensued. Hercules put the centaurs to flight with his poisonous arrows.
Continuing the journey, the hero soon saw the Erymanthian boar. But the blows of the sword did not frighten the animal. Then Hercules raised his shield high. When the sun was reflected in it, the hero directed the beam directly into the eyes of the beast. Then he began to beat the sword on the shield. Blinded, the beast was frightened by the loud noise. He rushed high into the mountains, where he got stuck in deep snow. Then Hercules tied the boar, put it on his shoulders and brought it to Mycenae.
The inhabitants rejoiced at their deliverance from the formidable monster. Eurystheus, seeing the size of the boar, was so frightened that he hid in a bronze pithos.
Fifth feat
King Avgiy was famous for his herds and stables. He fenced off the barnyard with a high fence, because he was in fear around the clock that the bulls and horses might be kidnapped. For days on end Augeas tried to count the number of horses in the stables. But the herd was in motion, the horses were moving, and the count had to be started all over again.
The sewage accumulated from the horses filled all the stables. The smell from them was all over Arcadia, says the 5th myth. Hercules sent Eurystheus to clear the Augean stables of manure. The king thought that a strong and courageous hero would disdain such a task.
Hercules realized that it was necessary to make a hole in the fence. He broke on both sides of the fence that surrounded the stables. The water flow of the mountain river immediately washed away all the impurities.
The myth of Hercules briefly reports that after this feat, the hero sacrificed to the river god for unpleasant work. Then he restored the fence and returned to Mycenae for a new task.
Sixth feat
One day, two huge birds appeared near the city of Stimfal, they tell myths about Hercules. They had copper beaks and bronze feathers. Stymphalian birds eventually multiplied and formed a flock. They destroyed seedlings in the fields. They dropped their bronze feathers like arrows at everyone who happened to be near them.
Hercules, before joining the battle, studied the habits of creatures for a long time. He realized that by shedding their feathers, birds become defenseless until new ones grow back. The warrior goddess Athena appeared to Hercules and presented him with copper rattles as a gift. Hercules was delighted with the help, raised a loud noise with the instrument.
Stymphalian birds flew up in fright, began to shed their sharp feathers. Hercules took refuge under the shield from their onslaught. After the birds shed all their feathers, the hero shot them with a bow. And those that I didn’t have time to hit flew away from these places.
The seventh feat
What will the seventh myth of Hercules tell about? The summary indicates that there are no more monstrous animals and birds left in Arcadia. But Eurystheus figured out where to send Hercules - to the island of Crete.
The sea god Poseidon presented King Minos with a marvelous bull, so that the ruler would sacrifice it to the gods. But the king liked the Cretan bull so much that he hid it in his herd. Poseidon learned about the deception of the king. In anger, he struck the bull with madness. The monster rushed around for a long time, killing people in a rage, dispersing the herds.
Eurystheus, at the slander of Hera, wished to see Cretan bull alive. Hercules realized that only force can pacify the animal. He went out to fight, grabbed the bull by the horns, bent his head to the ground. The animal sensed that the enemy was stronger. The Cretan bull stopped resisting. Then Hercules saddled him and drove him into the sea. So, riding an animal, the hero returned to Arcadia.
The bull did not even try to throw off Hercules, calmly entered the stall of King Eurystheus. When the hero, tired after a new feat, went to sleep, the ruler was afraid to keep the mad bull in his place and, in fear, released him into the wild.
So the bull wandered around the outskirts of Arcadia until he was defeated by another hero of Hellas - Theseus.
Eighth feat
Myths about Hercules also tell about the demonic horses of Diomedes. These carnivorous monsters devoured wayward travelers. Sailors who were wrecked were killed. When Hercules and his assistant arrived in the country, he immediately went in search of carnivorous horses. By neighing, he realized where the stables of King Diomedes were.
With a blow of his fist on the head, he pacified the first horse and threw a bridle around his neck. When the whole herd was bridled, Hercules with an assistant drove him to the ship. And then King Diomedes stood in the way with his army. Hercules defeated everyone, and when he returned to the shore, he saw that the horses had torn to pieces his assistant and fled.
The hero fed the body of King Diomedes to his own horses, drove them onto a ship and took them to Mycenae. The cowardly Eurystheus, at the sight of carnivorous horses, in horror, ordered them to be released into the forest. There they were dealt with by wild animals.
The ninth feat
12 myths about Hercules are extremely interesting. All of them tell about the strength and courage of the son of Zeus, about the amazing adventures that fell to his lot. The ninth tells about the girdle of Hippolyta. He wanted to get the daughter of Eurystheus Admet. She heard that the belt was given to the Queen of the Amazons Hippolyta by Ares himself, the god of war.
Hercules went on a journey with companions. The Amazons greeted them friendly and asked about the purpose of the trip. Hercules honestly told Queen Hippolyta about how the daughter of Eurystheus wanted to receive her belt as a gift.
Hippolyta agreed to give the jewelry to Hercules. But the goddess Hera interfered. She did not like the peaceful solution of the issue - she wanted to destroy the hero. Hera, transformed into one of the Amazons, spread the rumor that Hercules wants to sell them into slavery.
The militant women believed the vicious slander, and a fight ensued. Hercules and his companions defeated the Amazons. With a heavy heart, the son of Zeus completed this task. Hercules, the hero of myths, did not want to fight with women, even if they were warriors.
Tenth feat
The tenth myth about Hercules continues our story. King Eurystheus thought for a long time before giving the hero a new task. He wanted to send the hated stepbrother V distant country, so far away that it would take a month or more to sail there.
Hercules traveled a long way. He defeated the son of the god Vulcan - the monster Kakus. Later, the city of Rome was founded on the site of their battle.
In the green meadows of Erithia, the cows of Geryon, a giant with three bodies, three heads and three pairs of arms and legs, grazed. They were guarded by a two-headed dog. At the sight of Hercules, he growled and rushed at him. The hero quickly defeated the dog, but then the giant shepherd woke up. The goddess Athena doubled the strength of Hercules, and he knocked down the giant with several blows of the club. The hero won another victory.
Sailing on a ship to Iberia, Hercules lay down to rest, letting go of the herd to graze. With the first rays of the sun, he decided to drive the herd overland. Cows went through Iberia, Gaul, Italy. Near the sea, one of them rushed to the water and swam. She ended up on the island of Sicily. The local ruler Eriks did not want to give the cow to Hercules. I had to defeat him too.
With the fugitive, the hero returned to the herd and led him to King Eurystheus. The latter sacrificed cows to Hera, hoping to get rid of Hercules.
Eleventh feat
And again long road waiting for a hero. Eurystheus sent Heracles for the golden apples of the Hesperides. They gave immortality and eternal youth. In the garden of the Hesperides, only nymphs guarded the apples. And the garden itself was on the edge of the earth, where Atlas held the vault of heaven on his shoulders.
On the way to the end of the world, Hercules freed Prometheus in the mountains of the Caucasus. He fought with the son of the land of Gaia - Antey. Only by tearing the giant off the ground, could his hero defeat him. Having reached Atlanta, Hercules told him about the purpose of his journey. They agreed that the hero would hold the heavens on his shoulders, and Atlas would ask the nymphs for apples.
Hercules was already exhausted under the weight of the vault, and Atlas returned. The giant did not want to again take on his shoulders an exorbitant burden. The cunning man suggested that Hercules hold the sky for more, until he himself reaches Mycenae and gives the apples to the king. But our hero is not so stupid. He agreed, but on the condition that the giant hold the heavens, and Hercules, in the meantime, make himself a grass pillow - the burden is very heavy. Atlas believed and stood in his place, and the hero took the apples and returned home.
Twelfth feat
The last task of Eurystheus was the most difficult, according to myth 12. The exploits of Hercules (a summary of them is given in this article) takes the reader into the amazing world of the mythology of Ancient Greece, a world full of amazing adventures, powerful and insidious gods and strong, brave heroes. But we digress. So, 12 feat. Hercules was to descend into the realm of the dead and kidnap the dog Cerberus. Three heads, a tail in the form of a snake - at the sight of this fiend, the blood ran cold in the veins.
He went down to Hades Hercules and fought with Cerberus. Having defeated the dog, the hero brought him to Mycenae. The king did not allow the gate to be opened and shouted that Hercules let the terrible monster go back.
But the myths about Hercules do not end there. 12 feats that the hero performed in the service of Eurystheus glorified him for centuries. Later, he distinguished himself in military campaigns, arranged his personal life.
The thirteenth feat and the death of Hercules
The legends of Hellas say that there are 13 feats of Hercules. The myth has conveyed to this day the story of King Thespia. Hercules stopped in his house when he hunted the Kiferon lion. Thespius was worried that his daughters would choose unsightly suitors for themselves, give birth to ugly grandchildren. The king offered Heracles to impregnate his 50 daughters. So the hero hunted a lion during the day, and spent the nights with the royal daughters.
Many years later, Hercules married Dejanira. They had many children. One day the couple were crossing a fast river. Dejanira was transported by the centaur Ness. He was seduced by the beauty of the woman and wanted to take possession of her. Hercules hit him with a poisonous arrow. Experiencing terrible torment, Ness decided to take revenge on the hero. He persuaded Dejanira to draw his blood. If Heracles falls out of love with her, you just need to soak his clothes with the blood of a centaur, and then the husband will not look at any more women.
Dejanira kept the vial with the gift of Nessus. Returning from a military campaign, Hercules brought a young captive princess into the house. In a fit of jealousy, Dejanira soaked her husband's clothes with blood. The poison quickly acted and began to deliver Hercules severe torment, and it was not possible to take off his clothes. The eldest son carried his father in his arms to Mount Etu, where he made a funeral pyre. When the flame flared up, a huge cloud covered Hercules. So the gods decided to take the hero to Olympus and grant him immortal life.
We all know that Hercules is some ancient Greek hero who accomplished 12 labors. However, few people remember and know how difficult and contradictory his path really was.
How did Hercules, aka Alkid, aka Hercules, come into the world (in Italy)
Surely, many will now remember that the father of our hero was Zeus (the supreme god from Mount Olympus in Greek mythology), and his mother was a simple mortal woman, Alcmene.
The Greek gods have always been distinguished by their human and sometimes impartial essence.
Once Zeus imprisoned the titans in the underworld - the children of Uranus (the god of heaven) and Gaia (the goddess of the earth), who were deities personifying the natural destructive elements.
The offended Gaia persuaded the children to rebel against Zeus again and destroy not only Olympus, but all of humanity.
The giants began to throw stones and burning trees at the sky, they were so angry. Then the wife of Zeus Hera and the goddess of fate told the rest of the gods that the titans can only be defeated with the help of a mortal hero.
Then Zeus realized that he needed a demigod son who would help defeat the giants and win the war. The choice falls on Alcmene. The insidious Zeus stops time, takes the form of Alcmene's husband, and for three days the world is in a state of timelessness. Thus Hercules was conceived.
Time passed, and on the night of the birth of our hero, embittered by the betrayal of her husband, Hera forces Zeus to take an oath that the baby from the Perseus family born that night will become the supreme king.
Zeus is sure that Hercules will become him, but Hera turns out to be more cunning - she slows down the birth of Alcmene. That night, the first cousin of our hero Eurystheus is born. Then Zeus has to conclude a new agreement with the Hero.
Hercules will obey Eurystheus until he completes 10 (!) labors. After the demigod fulfills the terms of the contract, he will become both free and immortal. On this they agreed.
You can often find a myth about how, as a baby, Hercules killed two snakes. According to one version, they were sent by Hera to kill him. According to another, Alcmene's husband planted them in order to understand which of the children was still a demigod.
Hercules grew up, matured, married, but Hera still did not forgive her husband's betrayal. She sends madness to the hated son of her husband, in which he has all his family and brother's children. Waking up and realizing what he had done, Hercules goes to the oracle, who sends him to his brother - to redeem his deeds with feats.
In fact, our hero had only 10 feats, but the king did not accept 2 of them, so Hercules was forced to do 2 more, thus, 12 came out.
The sequence of his exploits varies in different sources, but among them was a completely unarmed fight with the Nemean lion, and a deft victory over the Lernaean Hydra, and the expulsion of Stymphalian birds with terrifying metal plumage.
The labors of Hercules also included:
- Catching the Kerinean fallow deer.
- baptism of the fierce Erymanthian boar.
- Cleaning of manure from the stables of King Avgei.
- Opposition to the Cretan bull, who was the father of the famous Minotaur.
And Hercules could:
- to subdue the cannibal mares of King Diodemus;
- steal the belt from the head Amazon Hippolyta;
- steal and bring to Mycenae the cows that he took from the three-headed giant Gerion;
- get golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides;
- bring out of the kingdom dead chief the guardian of the god Hades - the three-headed dog Cerberus and deliver him to Tiryns.
In fact, Hercules was famous not only for these feats, behind him there are many valiant deeds with which the legends and myths of Ancient Greece are full.
How did Hercules get to Olympus?
Once he, protecting his wife Dejanira from a centaur named Ness, killed him with a poisoned arrow. Nessus, dying, inspired the wife of Hercules that his blood had the properties of a love potion.
Dejanira, terribly jealous of her husband for another girl, saves herself some of the blood of the deceased, and later soaks her shirt and gives it to her husband.
The blood of the centaur causes Hercules unbearable torment, and he literally steps into the fire, from where Zeus takes him. So Hercules became a god.
Hercules is a forced hero, a demigod who was able to get to Olympus, a victim of politics, intrigues and Zeus's thirst to maintain power.
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Russian teacher and
Literature MBOU "Secondary School
G. Biryucha»
Biryuch-2014
Introduction
Main part
1. The birth and youth of Hercules
2. Labors of Hercules
3. Death of Hercules
4. The image of a real hero. The width of the image of Hercules
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction
Myths were born at the dawn of civilization, absorbing the whole world of the ancients, their thoughts and deeds. Myth is not old fairy tale, but the oldest way of understanding the universe, allowing a person to comprehend himself and the world around him. In myths, a person reflected his ideas about reality, which means that his thinking was mythological. People believed that nymphs and centaurs coexist next to them, that the gods, reincarnated in animals and people, descend to earth and, like mortals from flesh and blood, divine heroes likewise love, hate and revenge.
Myths were the first literary form in which the interweaving of earthly and heavenly destinies amazes us with its sincerity even after thousands of years.
Despite the general fascination with antiquity and especially ancient mythology in Europe in the 18th century. in the historiography of this time, the attitude to myths as legends and fairy tales, which did not contain any serious basis and historical information, was firmly and for a long time rooted.
This view was decisively refuted in the 1970s. XIX century by the famous amateur archaeologist Schliemann. In his excavations, he followed literally in the footsteps of ancient heroes and discovered the fortress walls of Homeric Troy in the bowels of the Hissarlik hill in the northwestern part of Turkey. Being an amateur in archeology, Schliemann could not correctly date his finds, in addition, obsessed with the idea of finding Troy as soon as possible, he destroyed the cultural layer that corresponded to the era of the Trojan War.
At the same time, Schliemann's merit is great - he returned confidence in the myth. The famous Russian poet M. Voloshin wrote: “When the heroic dream of thirty centuries - Troy suddenly became tangible and material thanks to the excavations in Hisarlik, when the tombs of the Mycenaean kings were opened and with a living hand we were able to feel the ashes of the Aeschylus heroes, put our fingers of the unbelieving Thomas into the wounds of Agamemnon, then something new opened up in our soul…. The whole face of the ancient world has changed for us! Figures that have already become conventional signs, became real again.
In spite of everything, the myths of Ancient Greece for a very long time will be the subject of constant interest of researchers in the field of culture and mythology, the foundations of which originate in the ancient world.
The image of Hercules is the brightest heroic mythological image in ancient Greek culture, which had a huge and varied influence on the processes of formation of the Greek idea of heroism, heroic human greatness and divine will, a combination of beauty, strength and ideals of justice and boundless determination to achieve the most incredible goals. At the same time, the image itself changed under the influence of the development of Hellenic culture.
The relevance of researchis to familiarize with the aesthetic values of world culture through the study of the mythology of ancient Greece.
Problem. Obviously, the era of Ancient Greece has long passed and Hercules is a hero of bygone times, but reading myths about gods and heroes captivates many of my peers. I wanted to learn more about Hercules, to find out what caused interest in his exploits among representatives of my generation?
Target: study the image of Hercules and find out the relevance of the exploits of Hercules at the present time.
Tasks:
- get acquainted with the history of the birth and youth of Hercules;
– study, analyze the content of the myths about the 12 exploits of Hercules;
- compose a questionnaire for students of grade 5: “Did Hercules perform feats?”;
- to process the results of the survey;
- consider the image of Hercules;
- to determine what qualities of the hero are manifested in myths;
- to determine whether the qualities of the hero are needed now.
Object of study:Myths of Ancient Greece. Labors of Hercules
This work can be classified as short-term, creative, individual, research.
Scientific novelty of the research lies in the connection of antiquity and modernity through the image of Hercules.
MAIN PART
Birth and youth of Hercules
I did not see Hermes, Phoebe,
Ares, whatever they were called,
But in him alone there is everything that the sky
Thoughtlessly people attributed ...
Having given birth to him, the Earth dried up.
He was not enchanted by Hebe.
Don't torture the stone! After all, Hercules
You gods can't create another.
I. Goethe
The poetic fantasy of each nation created the image of a particularly beloved hero. Such a hero in ancient Greece was Hercules. Hercules - who is he? He was the son of the beautiful Alcmene and Zeus, the main god of the ancient Greeks. On the day when the most famous of the Greeks, the strong man Hercules, was to be born, his father Zeus had the imprudence to boast in the assembly of the gods that today a man would come into the world who would rule over all the descendants of Perseus, and his glory would reach heaven.
Zeus's wife, Hera, did not experience joy when she heard this speech of her husband. She had an insidious plan to turn the words of the lord of the gods against the baby who was to be born. Turning to her husband, she said: “Dear husband, I am afraid that you will soon forget about your promise and do nothing to fulfill it. If you really want everything to be as you said, swear that your blood descendant, who will be born today, will really rule the neighbors.
Zeus did not notice the cunning trap that lay in the words of his wife, and took the oath that she asked for. Hera immediately left the meeting and went to the city of Argos, where Alcmene lived - the mother of Hercules and which was ruled by King Sthenel, a descendant of Zeus. His wife carried a son under her heart, whose birth was expected in two months. Jealous Hera ordered the goddess of childbirth and the goddesses of fate to delay the birth of Alcmene, so Eurystheus, who was weak in body and spirit, was the first to be born ahead of time. Some time later, Hercules was born, who later became his slave.
Zeus realized that the insidious Hera had deceived him, was saddened, but refused given word could not.
Of all his sons, Zeus loved Hercules the most. But Hera did not have warm feelings for him and pursued him all her life.
Learning that Hercules was born and lies in the cradle, she sent two snakes to destroy the newborn. It was already night when the snakes crawled into Alcmene's chamber with sparkling eyes. They quietly crawled to the cradle and already wanted to wrap themselves around the body of little Hercules and strangle him, when the son of Zeus woke up. He stretched out his little hands to the snakes, grabbed them by the neck and squeezed them with such force that he immediately strangled them. When the parents ran into the room, they saw an extraordinary miracle: a small newborn Hercules was holding two huge strangled snakes, which were still wriggling feebly in his tiny hands. Struck by the strength of his adopted son, Amphitrion called on the soothsayer Tiresias and asked him about the fate of the newborn. Then the prophetic elder told how many great feats Hercules would accomplish, and predicted that he would achieve immortality at the end of his life. Knowing what great glory expecting a son, Amphitrion gave him an upbringing worthy of a hero.
Hercules grew by leaps and bounds. Parents could not get enough of him, took care of his upbringing and education. They entrusted him the best teachers who made sure that the child gained wisdom and physical strength, was perfect in spirit and body. The boy grasped everything on the fly. He loved archery, throwing a spear, learned to wield a sword, participated in competitions and drove a war chariot.
Hercules became a mighty young man. He was a full head taller than everyone else, and his strength far exceeded that of a man. At first glance, one could recognize in him the son of Zeus, especially by the eyes that shone with some kind of extraordinary, divine light. No one was equal to Hercules in dexterity in military exercises, and he owned a bow and a spear so skillfully that he never missed. Until a certain time, the life of Hercules was calm.
But the evil Hera, who only temporarily left Hercules alone, sent him a terrible disease - deprived him of his mind. In a fit of rage, Hercules killed his three sons. When the mind returned to the strong man, Hercules, distraught with grief, left his home forever.
The soothsayer Pythia sent him to the city of Mycenae, where he had to serve twelve long years at the court of the weak, cowardly Eurystheus. Only by performing twelve unbearable feats for ordinary mortals, Hercules will be able to cleanse himself of what he has done. Very soon, King Eurystheus gave him the first assignment - to kill the Nemean lion - the cannibal, in the hope that Hercules would die. But our hero, having found the lion's cave, hid and waited. When appeared huge lion, pulling the string of his bow, Hercules and shot three arrows at him one after another. All the arrows hit the side of the beast, but bounced off its skin, because it was hard as steel. The lion roared menacingly, his growl rolled like thunder through the mountains. Looking around in all directions, the beast stood in the gorge and searched with eyes burning with rage for the one who dared to shoot arrows at him. So he saw Hercules and rushed at the hero with a huge jump. Like lightning, the club of Hercules flashed and fell like a thunderbolt on the head of a lion. The beast fell to the ground, stunned by a terrible blow, after which Hercules rushed at him, clasped the throat of the writhing lion with his mighty hands and pressed until he strangled him. Then he removed the skin from the formidable lion and threw it over his mighty shoulders like a cloak, and tied his paws on his chest. The skin from the head of a lion, since that time, served Hercules as a helmet. This was the first feat of Hercules. Having matured, Hercules performed many amazing feats. The gods took care of the equipment of the young hero. Hermes gave him a sword, Apollo gave him a bow and arrows, Hephaestus forged a golden shell, and the wise Athena wove clothes.
He defeated enemy troops, killed rapists who oppressed his people, destroyed monstrous lions, wild boars, birds of prey, tamed mad bulls, defeated formidable giants.
Labors of Hercules
Here they are the twelve labors of Hercules, which glorified him forever throughout the Ocumene, and, perhaps, throughout the world:
1. Hercules strangled the Nemean lion - an evil, shaggy monster, from the skin of which arrows bounced.
2. Hercules killed the Lernean hydra, the monstrous offspring of Typhon and Echidna. The huge snake body was crowned with nine dragon heads, and one of the heads was immortal, and the poisonous bite of the hydra was fatal. Hercules lowered his arrows into the poisonous blood and bile of the hydra, and since then the wounds from his arrows have become incurable.
3. Hercules exterminated the Stymphalian birds of prey, which threatened all living things with copper beaks, claws and bronze feathers, which they dropped as they flew up, inflicting mortal wounds on their victims.
4. Hercules caught the Kerinean golden-horned and copper-footed tireless doe, the favorite of the goddess Artemis.
5. Hercules neutralized the monstrous Erymanthian boar, a beast with huge fangs and a rabid disposition.
6. In one day, Hercules cleared out the gigantic barnyard of the king of Elis, Avgeas, the son of the great god Helios. Augeas deceived Hercules by not giving him the promised reward. For this, the hero subsequently attacked the king of Elis, killed him and captured rich booty. After the victory, Hercules brought generous gifts to the gods and established on the plain of Elis, among the sacred olive trees planted by the hero himself in honor of the goddess Athena, the Olympic Games, which were celebrated every four years.
7. Hercules tamed the fierce Cretan bull of King Minos, intended as a sacrifice to Poseidon. Subsequently, the released bull was overtaken and killed in a marathon by Theseus from Athens.
8. Hercules led away the indomitable cannibal horses of the Thracian king Diomedes, the son of Ares.
9. Hercules conquered the wonderful girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. This feat was helped by, among others, Theseus, another remarkable hero of Hellas.
10. Hercules stole the herd of cows of the giant Geryon, killing the two-headed dog Orff and killing Geryon himself.
11. Hercules with his bare hands tamed the three-headed guardian of the underworld kingdom of the dead Hades - monster dog Kerber. Along the way, Hercules freed Theseus from the realm of the dead.
12. Hercules got the famous golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides - the daughters of the titan Atlas, who held the entire heavenly vault on his shoulders.
After completing the last assignment, only one thought was in Hercules' mind: "Soon I will complete the last assignment and finally gain freedom." His whole soul rebelled against the fact that he had to serve the bad, cowardly, weak king Eurystheus. And now Hercules felt immensely happy that his captivity was coming to an end.
Having completed the service of Eurystheus, Hercules performed a rite of purification from spilled blood and became a free man. In order to arrange his life, he went to Echalia, where the mighty and wealthy king Eurytus ruled, who had beautiful daughter Iola. Many suitors tried to get her as a wife, but in vain, because the king promised to give her as a wife to someone who shoots a bow better than him. Every day there were competitions, every day noble and valiant men from different countries experienced happiness in archery. But none of them received the hand of Iola, for none of them managed to defeat the king. Only Hercules managed to defeat Eurytus: not one of his arrows missed the target. Iola and her brother, who dreamed of intermarrying with Hercules, were very happy about this. Meanwhile, the king found out that Hercules was in the service of Eurystheus. And he thought to himself like this: “Yes, he is an unsurpassed shooter, but the stamp of slavery lies on his past. How can I give my daughter in marriage to such a man? And he decided not to give it away, although he did not directly tell Hercules about it. However, Hercules understood well what lies behind the omissions, that, they say, there is no need to rush into the wedding. And so he left Echalia.
Just at the time when all this was happening, the son of Hermes, Autolycus, stole horses and donkeys from Eurytus. The king blamed Hercules for the theft. On the contrary, the son of the king, who regretted the departure of Hercules, did not believe that such a hero was capable of theft, and was very angry with his father for his bad attitude to Hercules.
Furious anger seized Hercules when he learned that they dared to suspect him of such a shameful act. For a while, he lost control of himself. He grabbed the son of Eurytus, who so wanted to reconcile him with his father, dragged him upstairs high tower and threw it down from there. Zeus himself was angry with Hercules for such an unjustified atrocity. The remorse that gripped Hercules after his anger had cooled a little did not help either. None of the gods whose temples Hercules visited, wanting to be forgiven, did not forgive him for the treacherous murder of his son Eurytus. Only the god Apollo took pity on him, but demanded an expensive payment for purification: three more years in slavery.
Hercules without hesitation accepted the sentence of God, transmitted through the oracle, for he longed for purification. He voluntarily sold himself into slavery. It was bought by merchants from Asia and taken to
queen Omphale. Money received from merchants, Hercules, at the behest of the soothsayer,
He had to give Eurytus to the king as a ransom for his murdered son. But the proud king did not accept them, he remained as before the enemy of Hercules.
So the widowed queen Omphala became the mistress of the most famous of the heroes
Greece. There were many rumors about his life as a slave to Omphala. They said
For example, as if Hercules wore women's clothing, carded and spun wool, performed all sorts of other women's work. He even had to dance for the amusement of the queen and her court, while the queen showed off in the lion skin of Hercules, armed with his club and bow. After Eurytus drove Hercules out of Echalia, he married Dejanira. One day, Hercules and his wife went to visit a neighboring king, with whom they were friends. They approached the river, through which the travelers were carried on their back by the centaur Ness. Hercules offered this giant to transfer Dejanira to the other side. He himself threw himself into the water, deciding that he would be able to swim across the river without resorting to the help of a centaur. Suddenly he heard a loud scream. Hercules looked in that direction and saw how the centaur, clutching Dejanira, who was fighting off him, was running away from the river. Without a second's hesitation, Hercules raised his bow, pulled the string and sent an arrow at the giant (according to another version of the myth, Hercules strikes Ness with a sword).
The shot was accurate. Feeling the approach of death, the centaur figured out how to take revenge on Hercules. Before drawing his last breath, he managed to give Dejanira the sly advice to collect the blood from his wound and save it as a magic potion in case Hercules ever fell out of love with her. Suspecting nothing, Dejanira collected and hid the blood of Nessus, forgetting that it was mixed with the poison that Hercules soaked his arrows with. For a long time this blood was kept in a hiding place, for Dejanira and Hercules lived in love and peace.
After some time, Hercules remembered the insult that King Eurytus inflicted on him. Not only did the king refuse to give him his daughter Iola as a wife, he also accused him of stealing. Hercules gathered an army and went to Echalia to punish the king. The revenge of Hercules was cruel: he devastated the city, killed the king, and appointed his daughter Iola as a servant to his wife.
Having sent home the booty, including Iola, Hercules climbed high mountain to make a sacrifice to Zeus in gratitude for the fact that the lord of the gods patronized him in all matters. Hercules lingered on the mountain. Meanwhile, Dejanira began to yearn for him. She cannot understand why Hercules does not return home for so long. And she also learned that Hercules made his last military campaign because of this girl, who is in her service. Jealousy and fear of losing the love of Hercules seized her. Dejanira rubbed expensive clothes with the blood of the centaur Nessus and sent Heracles with a messenger, thus wanting to revive his love for herself.
Poor thing! Very soon she learned what misfortune this magical remedy had brought. Gill came running and told his mother that as soon as Hercules put on the clothes she had sent, terrible pain gripped his entire body. The invincible hero, whom no one and nothing could frighten, fell victim to an involuntary crime of his own loving wife. The poison from the centaur's blood penetrated the body of Hercules and caused him unbearable suffering. He could not help moaning and screaming, tore off his poisoned clothes, while tearing out pieces of his own body.
Upon learning what she had done, Dejanira quickly sent her son back to his father. Let him inform him that she is not to blame, that the misfortune happened because of her Great love to him. In desperation, she grabbed her sword and stabbed herself in the chest.
Death of Hercules
Upon learning of what had happened, Hercules realized that his end was near. life path. He ordered that he be carried to the high mountain Oetu and he himself built a high fire there. He climbed on it and asked his friends to light a flame so that he could get rid of unbearable torment. No one, however, dared to comply with this request. Only after Hercules' long persistent requests did one of his young friends, Philoctetes, come forward. With a heavy heart, he lit the fire. For this, Hercules gave him his famous bow and arrows, which never missed their target.
The fire flared up, and the flame forever consumed the hero's body. Soon a spring broke out of the ground and extinguished the fire. The surroundings were plunged into darkness, thunder rumbled in the sky. The hero, the largest and strongest of all who ever lived on earth, ascended in a shining cloud to Olympus, where Zeus and other immortal gods were already waiting for him.
There, Hera reconciled with him, whose persecution helped Hercules gain eternal glory. His wife in heaven was the beautiful Hebe, the goddess of youth. At his heavenly wedding, Hercules first tasted ambrosia, which preserves eternal youth and grants immortality.
The enemies managed to defeat Hercules only by cunning, soaking his clothes with poison. Dying, Hercules exclaimed: “Men of Greece! For your sake, I cleansed the land and the sea from monsters and evil ... ”As a reward for great deeds, Zeus lifted Hercules to Olympus, where the gods lived, and made him an immortal god. Since then, he lives a blissful life among the gods, and people on earth honor him as a Greek deity. Poplar, olive are dedicated to Hercules, weeping willow and all places where hot springs spring from the earth. There, monuments were erected to him as a hero who was never afraid of difficulties and dangers. Thanks to this, he became the most famous of all the descendants of Perseus.
Hercules also went to heaven: one of the constellations is named after Hercules, and the constellation Hydra glows next to it.
The image of a real hero. The width of the image of Hercules
Hercules is a hero especially loved and revered by the ancient Greeks. And who is a hero?
If we turn to Ozhegov's dictionary, a hero is
1. A person who performs feats, unusual in his courage, valor, selflessness.
2. Main actor literary work.
Can Hercules be called a hero in terms of both meanings? I think it is possible. But there is another meaning of the word “hero”, which was common in Ancient Greece: “A hero is the son or descendant of a deity and a mortal person, a demigod. Usually the hero is endowed with superhuman abilities and exorbitant strength, but, unlike the gods, he is deprived of immortality.
It turns out that all three definitions, the meanings of the word "hero" are suitable for Hercules:
He is the son of Zeus and the earthly woman Alcmene; he is the protagonist of one of the most popular cycles of myths: he is unusual in his courage, valor - he performs twelve feats, entering into a fight with monsters and defeating them. But with the Nemean lion or the Lernean hydra, everything is clear - they are monsters, defeating them is heroism. But one of the well-known feats, which gave the "winged" expression "to clear the Augean stables", is surprising, but only at first glance.
What is the feat here - to clear the stables of manure?
In the myth "The Animal Farm of King Avgii" the sublime, beautiful, and the earthly, everyday, low are combined - Hercules had to remove manure from the huge farmyard. This earthly, ordinary was an important part of life ancient man. Let us pay attention to what comparisons were awarded to bulls from the numerous herds of Avgiy: “with white as snow legs”, “red as Sidon purple”, “white as swans”. And one bull, "distinguished by extraordinary beauty, shone like a star." An unusual comparison from the point of view of a modern person.
What solution did Hercules find to accomplish a seemingly insoluble task?
Hercules resorted to the cleansing and powerful help of water: the water of two rivers in one day carried away all the manure from the barnyard. This feat showed not only the extraordinary physical strength of the hero (he destroyed the wall surrounding the barnyard and turned the riverbeds), but also the strength of his mind, ingenuity (he found an ingenious solution to the problem).
This feat of Hercules is of great importance for world history. He laid the foundation for the Olympic Games: after the victory over Avgeus, Hercules made sacrifices to the Olympic gods and established the Olympic Games. They are also important because during their implementation, peace was declared throughout Greece. The Greeks highly valued the winners of the Olympiads. That is, a person was valued not only for military prowess, but also for victories in peaceful sports competitions. The Greeks even kept track of the Olympic Games. Hercules with his own hands lined the sacred plain, where the Olympic Games were held every four years, with olives. The winner of the games was crowned with an olive branch.
What qualities of Hercules, in my opinion, made him the greatest of the heroes of Greek mythology?
Courage, courage, stamina, endurance, perseverance, respect for the will of the gods, a sense of justice, ingenuity and intelligence - all these qualities make Hercules goodie- character expressing moral values people. So we can judge which moral qualities were valued by ancient people, what were their ideas about good and evil, about justice.
The image of a real hero, as the ancient Hellenes understood it, was by no means their invention or discovery. Such images are popular among a variety of peoples with completely alien cultural traditions.
Gilgamesh of the Babylonians, Melkart of the Phoenicians - peoples who lived before the ancient Greeks - are in many ways similar to Hercules. Russian heroes folk tales they also defeated Baba Yaga, Koshchei the Immortal, overcame evil spirits, killed the Serpent Gorynych, a close relative of the Lernean hydra. The Russian Ilya Muromets and the biblical Samson are very similar to each other. And such heroes live in the legends of almost every nation.
However, it was the ancient Greek Hercules who absorbed all the best features: this is strength and nobility, cruelty to enemies and mercy, generosity and generosity, fidelity to duty, intelligence and almost childish naivety. It was these qualities that at all times elevated him above other people and made him close in the most different countries and various segments of the population.
Probably, much in the image was brought from other civilizations. The hero, most likely, did not have real prototype, and the idea of a collective prototype, concentrated in one person in the most dense (even in comparison with other heroes) form, seems to be the most significant.
The myth of Hercules passed from the Greeks to another great people of antiquity - the Romans. They called Hercules in their own way: Hercules. From the Romans, this myth was inherited by other peoples.
Some even named their boys after the hero. So, the Georgians have the name Heraclius, the French - Hercules (abbreviated Herculus - Hercules). Poets of different nations wrote about Hercules, artists depicted his exploits, he was a source of creativity for sculptors and composers. Even a special oatmeal, very useful for baby food, is called Hercules.
The image of Hercules, created by archaic Greek authors, is wide, versatile, and bright. He embodies the best features of a warrior - a Greek of ancient times. Unfortunately, due to the narrowness of the source base, only two views on the personality of Hercules are noticeable - Homer and Hesiod; but even they give three-dimensional picture ideas about the greatest hero of Antiquity.
Conclusion
Having studied the myths about the exploits of Hercules, having studied the information about the hero in the mythological dictionaries of various authors, as well as critical articles on this topic, after analyzing the results of a survey of classmates, I came to the following conclusions:
- the image of Hercules is really multifaceted, wide. The complexity and inconsistency of this image gave scope for its interpretation by representatives of various genres. ancient literature: in epic and tragedy he is a noble hero; in comedies - a merry fellow, a glutton and a reveler; the sophists depicted Hercules as a young man who deliberately renounced pleasures and chose labors and exploits leading to immortality; athletes saw their ideal in Hercules, and he was considered the patron of palestras, gymnasiums and terms; merchants regarded him as the patron of trade, even philosophers-theomachists could find support for their attitude towards the gods in the deeds of Hercules. After all, Hercules wounded Hera with an arrow and, according to one rare version, also Hades. Yes, and his whole life is an example of how the gods can persecute a mortal without any fault of his;
– Hercules really accomplished feats, using not only strength, dexterity, but also intelligence, ingenuity, resourcefulness, these qualities of a hero are also valuable for our generation.
From the survey conducted on the topic “Did Hercules perform feats?” it can be seen that, like me, 95% of classmates think and only 5% of their peers believe that not all twelve trials of Hercules can be called feats;
- the image of Hercules is interesting to modern schoolchildren, he is attractive to modern people. Consciously, a person strives for perfection and harmony, and the image of Hercules is conceived as such. Hercules himself is a clear example of the closest approximation to this.
IN Lately humanity began to pay much more attention to health and physical development, and, accordingly, physical culture and sports. And Hercules is an example of a hero, generously endowed with health and strength and constantly improving the qualities given by nature. In ancient Hellas, Hercules is considered the founder Olympic Games, and if we take into account the increasing attention of modern people to physical education and sports, then the connection between antiquity and modernity through the image of Hercules becomes obvious. Many of today's idols voluntarily or involuntarily follow the pattern set by the heroes of ancient legends. Take, for example, our fellow countryman, world champion in daily running in Italy, Vladimir Bychkov. In order to achieve such results, he trained hard and hard, strengthened his health, and trained his willpower. Now, in the eyes of his teenage fellow countrymen, he is already a legend in the world of sports;
- Until now, the hero of the ancient Greeks is popular and loved by people.
The life of the ancient peoples was very difficult. Wild animals ravaged their fields, killed livestock and people. Warlike tribes attacked peaceful villages and drove people into slavery. They were mowed down terrible diseases with which they were unable to fight. Many peoples died, disappeared from the face of the earth. But they were replaced by new ones, even more courageous, even more stubborn and hardworking. Year after year, century after century, they settled the earth, cultivated the fields, built cities, sailed across the seas, exterminated dangerous predators. And people have always dreamed of heroes performing fabulous feats, such as Hercules.
Of course, these characters are fictional, they did not exist in reality. But their main feats - the conquest of nature, the curbing of forces hostile to man - were nevertheless accomplished. And countless generations of the simplest, ordinary, ordinary people made them with their imperceptible, everyday work. Therefore, singing the exploits of Hercules and other fairy-tale heroes, we sing the labors and accomplishments of a long line of our ancestors, a line whose beginning is lost in the mists of millennia.
So, Hercules is the most famous hero of the Greeks and, despite the seeming simplicity of this character, one of the most complex and mysterious images of Greek mythology. Such, in my opinion, is the many-sided Hercules, rising from the stories of ancient mythographers, from epic poems, tragedies, comedies, philosophical works, as well as countless monuments of art.
I believe that in my work I have implemented the tasks set and achieved the goal.
Bibliography
1. Kun N. A. Legends and myths of Ancient Greece. Gods and Heroes. Trojan cycle. -
Novosibirsk: Science. Siberian branch, 1991.
2. Nemirovsky A. I. Myths of Ancient Hellas. - M .: Education, 1992.
3. encyclopedic Dictionary young literary critic / Comp. V. I. Novikov. – M.:
Pedagogy, 1998.
4. Mythological dictionary: a book for students / M.N. Botvinnik, B.M. Kogan,
M. B. Rabinovich, B. P. Seletsky. – M.: Enlightenment, 1994.
5. Mythological dictionary: about 1800 articles / G.V. Shcheglov, V.V. Archer. – M.:
AST: Astrel: Keeper, 2007.
Questionnaire for 5th grade students
We ask you to answer all questions of the questionnaire. Filling it out is simple: you need to circle the number next to the selected answer or enter your answer.
1. How many feats did Hercules perform?
A.5 B.12
B. 8 D. 10
2. Did Hercules always perform his labors alone?
1. yes
2. no
3. sometimes
3. Do you consider Hercules a hero?
1. yes
2. no
3. sometimes
4. What hero of Russian fairy tales does Hercules look like?
1. Baba Yaga
2. Serpent Gorynych
3. Ilya Muromets
4. Dobrynya Nikitich
5. Why was Hercules especially revered by athletes?
6. What name did Hercules receive at birth?
7. What heroes was he related to?
8. Who and why hid from Hercules in a copper vat?
9. The names of what constellations are associated with the feat of Hercules?
10. Who showed Hercules the way to the gardens of the Hesperides?
11. Which of the labors of Hercules did Theseus complete?
12. In memory of what feat of Hercules were the pillars of Hercules erected?
13. How did the ancients explain the origin of poisonous plants?
Origin of Hercules: son of Alcmene. - Jealousy of the goddess Hera: descendants of Perseus. - Milk of Hera: the myth of the Milky Way. - Baby Hercules and snakes. - Hercules at a crossroads. - Rabies of Hercules.
Origin of Hercules: son of Alcmene
Hero Hercules(in Roman mythology - Hercules) came from a glorious kind of hero. Hercules - the greatest hero of Greek myths and beloved national hero of the entire Greek people. According to the myths ancient greece, Hercules represents the image of a man with a large physical force, invincible courage and great willpower.
Performing the most difficult work, obeying the will of Zeus (Jupiter), Hercules, with the consciousness of his duty, meekly endures the cruel blows of fate.
Hercules fought and defeated the dark and evil forces of nature, fought against injustice and injustice, as well as against the enemies of social and moral orders established by Zeus.
Hercules is the son of Zeus, but Hercules' mother is mortal, and he is real son earth and mortal.
Despite his strength, Hercules, like mortals, is subject to all the passions and delusions inherent in the human heart, but in the human, and therefore weak nature of Hercules, lies the divine source of kindness and divine generosity, which makes him capable of great feats.
Just as he defeats giants and monsters, so Hercules defeats all bad instincts in himself and achieves divine immortality.
Tell the next myth of the origin of Hercules. Zeus (Jupiter), the lord of the gods, wished to give the gods and people a great hero who would protect them from various troubles. Zeus descended from Olympus and began to look for a woman worthy of becoming the mother of such a hero. The choice of Zeus fell on Alcmene, the wife of Amphitryon.
But since Alcmene loved only her husband, Zeus took the form of Amphitryon and entered his house. The son born of this union was Hercules, who in mythology is called either the son of Amphitryon or the son of Zeus.
And that's why Hercules has a dual nature - a man and a god.
Such an incarnation of the deity in man did not shock at all folk beliefs and feelings, which, however, did not prevent the ancient Greeks and Romans from noticing and laughing at the comic side of this incident.
On one ancient vase, a picturesque image of an ancient caricature has been preserved. Zeus is depicted there disguised and possessing big belly. He carries a ladder, which he is going to attach to Alcmene's window, and she watches everything that happens from the window. The god Hermes (Mercury), disguised as a slave, but recognizable by the caduceus, stands before Zeus.
Jealousy of the Goddess Hera: Descendants of Perseus
When it's time to be born son of Alcmene, the lord of the gods could not resist boasting in the assembly of the gods that on this day a great hero would be born in the family, called to rule over all nations.
The goddess Hera (Juno) forced Zeus to confirm these words with an oath and, as the goddess of childbirth, arranged so that not Hercules, but future king Eurystheus, also a descendant of Perseus.
And thus, in the future, Hercules had to obey King Eurystheus, serve him and perform various difficult works at the command of Eurystheus.
Milk of Hera: the myth of the Milky Way
When the son of Alcmene was born, the god (Mercury), wanting to save Hercules from the persecution of Hera, took him, carried him to Olympus and laid him in the arms of the sleeping goddess.
Hercules bit Hera's breast with such force that milk poured out of her and formed in the sky Milky Way, and the awakened goddess with anger threw Heracles away, who nevertheless tasted the milk of immortality.
A museum in Madrid houses a painting by Rubens depicting the goddess Juno breastfeeding the infant Hercules. The goddess sits on a cloud, next to her stands a chariot drawn by peacocks.
Tintoretto in his picture interprets this mythological plot in a slightly different way. Jupiter himself gives Juno a son - Hercules.
Baby Hercules and snakes
Together with Hercules, his brother Iphicles was born. The vengeful goddess Hera sent two snakes that climbed into the cradle to kill the children. The baby Hercules grabbed the snakes of Hera and strangled them right in his cradle.
The Roman writer Pliny the Elder mentions a painting by the ancient Greek artist Zeuxis depicting the myth of the infant Hercules strangling snakes.
The same mythological story is depicted in an ancient fresco, bas-relief and bronze statue discovered in Herculaneum.
Of the latest works on the same topic, paintings by Annibale Carracci and Reynolds are known.
Hercules at the crossroads
The young hero Hercules received the most thorough education.
Heracles was instructed in subjects by such teachers:
- Amphitryon taught Hercules how to drive a chariot,
- - shoot a bow and carry weapons,
- - wrestling and various sciences,
- musician Lin - playing the lyre.
But Hercules turned out to be little capable of the arts. Hercules, like all people who have physical development prevailed over the mental, it was difficult to assimilate music and more willingly and more easily pulled the bowstring than touched gentle strings lyre.
Angry at his teacher Lin, who decided to reprimand him about his game, Hercules killed him with a blow from the lyre.
ZAUMNIK.RU, Egor A. Polikarpov - scientific editing, scientific proofreading, design, selection of illustrations, additions, explanations, translations from ancient Greek and Latin; all rights reserved.
