Further Adventures of Hercules

Birth

Zeus fell in love with a beautiful Greek woman named Alcmene. When Alcmene's husband, Amphitryon, was away, Zeus made her pregnant. This made Hera so angry that she tried to prevent the baby from being born. When Alcmene gave birth to the baby anyway, she named him Herakles. (The Romans pronounced the name "Hercules," and so do we today.) The name Herakles means "glorious gift of Hera" in Greek, and that got Hera angrier still. Then she tried to kill the baby by sending snakes into his crib. But little Hercules was one strong baby, and he strangled the snakes, one in each hand, before they could bite him.

Youth

Hercules’ mortal parents knew that he would be immortal, so they gave him an education deserving of a hero. Hephaestusforged golden armour, Pallas Athenawove cloths for him. Hercules mastered wrestling; he learnt to fight with a sword, which Hermes made for him. Moreover, Hercules could shoot a bow without a miss. However, the hero could not learn the art of music. He even killed his teacher by his lyre by accident. So he was gone to exile to Cithaeronforest, where he killed a lion and flayed its skin. Hercules used the skin as a cloak, and the head as a helmet. So lion skin and a club became Hercules’ attributes.

Labors

When Hercules grew up and had become a great warrior, he married Megara. They had two children. Hercules and Megara were very happy. The goddess Hera, determined to make trouble for Hercules, made him lose his mind. In a confused and angry state, he killed his own wife and children. To atone for his guilt Hercules had to serve Eurystheus, his stepbrother, for twelve years.

In order of the first deed (killing Nemean lion) Hercules founded the Nemean Games, that were held every 2 years. He also founded the Olympic Games (dedicated to Pallas Athena) in honour of victory upon Augean(the king did not want to pay to Hercules for cleaning the stables). The hero killed almost of his enemies by arrows saturated with poison of many-headedLernean Hydra.During his travelling the hero set up Pillars of Hercules on Gibraltar strait between Africa and Europe.

One of the most difficult deeds was the 11^th one. Eurystheus ordered to the hero to bring him golden apples which were the wedding present from Hera to Zeus. These apples were kept in a garden at the northern edge of the world, and they were guarded not only by a hundred-headed dragon, but also by theHesperides, nymphs who were daughters of Atlas, the titan who held the sky and the earth upon his shoulders. When Hercules was finding the garden he went around all territory, that the Greeks knew at that time. For example, Hercules came to the rock on Mount Caucasus where Prometheus was chained for 30 years. The hero killed the eagle that tortured Prometheus and made him free.

In gratitude, Prometheus told Hercules the secret to getting the apples. He would have to send Atlas after them, instead of going himself. Atlas hated holding up the sky and the earth so much that he would agree to the task of fetching the apples, in order to pass his burden over to Hercules. Everything happened as Prometheus had predicted.

The most dangerous labor of all was the twelfth and final one. Eurystheus ordered Hercules to go to the Underworld and kidnap the beast called Cerberus. When Hercules came to the Underworld, he found Pluto and asked the god for Cerberus. The lord of the Underworld replied that Hercules could indeed take Cerberus with him, but only if he overpowered the beast with nothing more than his own brute strength. Hercules could do it without any weapon. He brought Cerberus to Eurystheus and became free from the slavery stepbrother.

Further Adventures of Hercules

After he completed the 12 Labors, Hercules didn't just sit back and rest on his laurels. He had many more adventures. One was to rescue the princess of Troy from a hungry sea-monster. Another was to help Zeus defeat the Giants in a great battle for the control of Olympus.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 364