The Secret Life of Hercules

Motivated by the in-class suggestion to explore further into the myth of Hercules following where Ovid's account left off, discovering in the process details concerning his 4th wife, his 13th deed, and wide-spread speculation about some male lovers...
Upon Hercule's death as a mortal, he was granted immortality and divinity by becoming a god and joining his father Jupiter atop Mount Olympus. Once there, he married Juventas (Greek name Hebe), the goddess of youth, and daughter of Jupiter and Juno. Before marrying Hercules, she was basically the "go-fer" of the heavens, having to serve nectar and ambrosia to the gods, draw the baths of Mars (god of war), and help Juno in and out of her chariot. Juventas and Hercules had two children, Alexiares and Anicetus.
Another interesting fact I stumbled upon occurred during the hero's stay at the palace of Thespius, where its king asked Hercules to kill the lion of Cithaeron that was terrorizing his people. After successfully doing so, Hercules was then offered as a reward by the king to have sex with all FIFTY of his daughters in one night. Surprisingly enough (not at all though), Hercules did so and all FIFTY of them got pregnant and bore him sons. This act made it easy for many Spartan and Macedon kings to claim the great Heracles as a part of their heritage, which I find quite amusing.
According to many accounts of the trials and adventures of the great Hercules, most originating in ancient times and a few from later on around the 3rd century, include the role as a male lover being very important to him. Apparently it was a symbol of masculinity and warriorship to admire and care for another man; not all of his relationships with other men were sexual, but all of them were pretty important in his conquests. Hercules often times helped these men by finding them a wife in the end, including his charioteer and squire, Lolaus, and another of his servants, Hylas. Most of these men accompanied Hercules on his dangerous labors and were slain in the process, Hercules would often times dedicate a city, sanctuary, or traditional athletic competition to his fallen comrades and/or lovers: the city of Abdera in Thrace was named after Abderus who was slain by the carnivorous mares of the Thracian Diomedes; Elacatas was dedicated a sanctuary and yearly games; and Nestor was spared by the wrath of Hercules, the only son of Neleus to have been.

Heracles: A hero motivated by self-interest?



Megara was the first wife of Heracles

 

After doing a little research following the assigned reading on the notorious figure Hercules, or Heracles, I came across the eventful past of the hero preceding the selection we read from Ovid. We touched on his origins briefly awhile back but important to recall how his tale began before taking into account the last third of his life recalled in Metamorphosis; as the illegitimate son of Jupiter (Zeus) and a mortal woman named Alcmene, Heracles was subjected to many acts of vicious jealousy from Juno (Hera) including a murder attempt via serpents and a curse of madness that led the unfortunate super-mortal to murdering his wife and three children. This was the first stage of this hero's life that drove the heroic acts to come later in his tale.

After the tragic end of his family, Heracles sought the advice of an oracle to determine when he would regain his honor and be free of this great burden. She advised him to serve the king of Mycenae for 12 years and complete the 12 great tasks that he and the great goddess Juno outlined. These tasks included great tests in skill, strength, wit, and resourcefulness and are known as "The Twelve Labors of Hercules". 

Heracles killing the Stymphalian birds



These labors included a variety of heroism including killing the Nemean Lion; conquering the nine-headed Hydra by burning the stumps of the heads after they were cut off;  bringing back the golden-horned stag alive; capturing a wild boar that was terrorizing Mycenae; cleaning the Augean stables where thousands of cattle lived, in one day; which he did by diverting two rivers causing them to flow into the stables; destroying the man-eating Stymphalian birds via poison-tipped arrows; capturing a Cretean savage bull; capturing the four man-eating mares of Thrace; obtaining the girdle of the Amazon queen while Juno convinced the Amazons that he was trying to take her  from them so he had to fight them off; capturing the cattle of the monster, Geryon; getting the golden-apples of the Hesperides by telling Atlas he would hold the world for him in exchange for the apples and then tricked him to taking it back; and finally bringing Cerberus to the surface without using weapons by gaining control of two of Cerberus' heads. It is said that upon the completion of all these tasks, Hercules was now a "free man" and this is where the Ovid's account picks up.

Heracles conquering Cerberus, guardian of the underworld



However this "twelve labors" leads me to question how much of a "hero" Heracles really was... clearly he only engaged in this heroic and seemingly selfless acts of putting himself at risk in order to ensure the safety of others in order to the fulfill self interested objective of regaining honor from what his past dictates. Although these acts were beneficial to the people as a whole at Heracles's own expense, shouldn't a "hero" be thought of someone who does these things out of a pure motivation to use his god-given strength and advantages to help his fellow man who may not be able to help himself? The only reason Heracles was in any position to be considered a "hero" was his exceptional strength from him divine lineage that enabled him to even complete any of these labors. So I ask, what makes a hero? Circumstance or motivation?

Today's Heros are a Sad Reflection of Present-Day Values





Going over the discussion we had in class a few days ago about our personal connotations and definitions that come to mind when we think about a "hero," I can't help but feel like we excluded some very important concepts associated with this word. A hero is and has always been a great symbolic role model for where he/she (most notoriously a he) originated, someone we aspire and strive to be like. It's really a reflection of the qualities, morals, and abilities that the originating society finds most important and valuable. Considering the implications of what a culture's heroes and role models represent, I can't help but pity the direction our own culture has diverged throughout the few centuries it has existed. 



 



Mike "The Situation" sadly is one of the well-known faces of our nation



Who are our most notorious "heros", the people children aspire to be like and adults envy? No longer are they fictional characters that we exhibit in myths that are there only to provide guidance, morals, and some entertainment; our heroes have become real people within our society, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is when you consider what traits present-day Americans value. More children and adolescents recognize and respect "The Situation" from the reality television series "Jersey Shore" more than their nation's founders and culture. Our population is eager to forgive or excuse those whom they admire for committing morally corrupt acts, and even continue to admire them! (i.e. Tiger Woods, Donald Trump, Chris Brown)  Because our values as a nation in general have digressed so greatly over the past 50 years or so, who we view as heroes shift as well, and not for the better- valuing athletic abilities over intelligence or common sense, annual earnings over morals, etc. When a scholar studying mythologies of our nation comes across the most notoriously admired figures of our time, what do you want him to conclude? I for one am embarrassed already and hope that our citizens can re-evaluate their values sometime soon.

Breaking News! Gods aren't the best role models... go figure?!

The Hittitian myth about the inconsolable god who threw unjustified temper tantrums just willy-nilly really solidified the assertion that most gods in a society's myth are simply the culture's idea of an "ideal" citizen to follow after or aspire to be, but they still exhibit certain human follies. In our most recently read myth, Telepinu, the god of fertility, grew furious at the world for a reason known not even to his divine family and doomed the crops and people of Hittite in his selfish rage. This is an obvious portrayal that even the gods aren't flawless and sucum to some of  the most detrimental emotions that characteristically skew a mortal's judgement, such as anger in the Hittitian myth, or lust seen in many many Greek/Roman myths (i.e. Zeus the womanizer and Hera the jealous wife who gets cheated on quite frequently).

This concept is also supported by stories that not only depict the gods "stooping" to "level" of the mortals they rule over, but seeking the assitance of them as well. In the same Hittitian myth about Telepinu's inconsolable rage, the only solution was to beg for the application of the limited magic that humans possess, but it prevailed in ridding of the angry god's rage when no divine power could. Many predominant Greek myths oftentimes incorporate the theme of gods only being able to display certain powers or complete some sort of task on earth by  the compliance of a faithful human. Perhaps this is because humans themselves cannot fathom what qualitities a completely "perfect" being would possess; ultimately being the creators of these myths themselves, it's no wonder their idols have the same follies that they struggled with on a daily basis.

Battle of the Sexes

Throughout the past few weeks' discussions of THE GREAT GODDESS and her once unchallenged predominance over the cultures from which these myths under inspection once originated, I've been pondering quite a bit about the implication of the transition from the goddess being supreme to the god, and what that says about what human beings view as the great "purpose" of life during that time period... 

In class we learned that a variety of tangible factors played into this transition including change in lifestyle from agricultural means, the installment of a formal military and law, and the introduction to new technology, war tactics, and even deities from conquering cultures; there is no doubt these factors play a major role in the alteration of a civiliation and the way it conveys, conducts, and hopes to maintain itself (a.k.a the myths associated with them), it must adapt to the seemingly more successful techniques of surviving through utilization of these categories that male gods now govern over (military/war, hunting vs gathering, technology of every sort). This transition within the myths of these ancient society depicts the same transition of these societies in their way of life, and if you think about it that's one heck of a change so quickly, to go from growing everything by hand, being one with Mother Earth and appreciating everything it provides for your family, to hunting Mother Earth's fellow children and using them to sustain your own life... quite a drastic transition I should say!

I feel that the shift in focus seen within these myths not only demonstrate how those cultures changed their lifestyle, but how they changed their way of viewing life and its purpose. Myths that asserted the goddess's goverinng dominance rather than the god's, concepts such as sharing the earth and its resources with fellow beings like animals and even gods and cherishing what your "mother" (the earth) has priveledged you with and making the most out of it the life that she herself gave were promoted. Once the god became the predominant being, the focus shifted to asserting dominance over animals and plants, taking as much as you can from the earth while you can (survival of the fittest/natural selection), and seperation from/serving under the gods rather than being more related to them as under the Great Goddess who birthed them all. Although these both can be seen within the very same societies, I venture to call these two different cultures; I propose that while socieites were living in the "goddess" era, the concepts under her reign promoted making the most out of the life you have now, conservation, strive for fulfillment out of the bare minimum, and optimism- in my eyes equivalent to making your own "heaven on earth", not fearing or looking forward death, heaven, or hell because you have already made the most of the moments in your life while you were living, regardless of the existance of any of the above (wow that was a horribly long, run-on sentence, I apologize). Under the reign of the supreme sky god, I believe the expression "balls to the wall" would fit nicely here... haha no but really, societies strove to get things done as fast/effieciently as they could while in the meantime sacrificing their happiness and fellow animals and human beings of the earth in the attempt to acheive happiness sometime in the future. To me this portrays "living" life in preparation for/avoidance of something beyond that - a heaven or a hell - but really they're going through what may be their only time of existence sacrificing their precious moments for or in fear of something beyond that. That's how most of today's society lives their life as well, always for tomorrow and never for today, and because that's today's status quo, its not easy at all on those who don't wish to follow.

Incest, the natural steriods of ancient times?

For some reason, upon reading the selections that were assigned and discused in class throughout this week, I began thinking about how all myths without fail and regardless of the purpose of the myth or the culture from which it originated, incorporate and embrace incest. Whether we see it among generations or gods or the two surviving mortals of an apocalyptic flood who "just happen" to be brother/sister... it's everywhere!! I guess what I find most interesting is the fact that in all mythologies throughout the ages, the product of two directly related gods usually results in a more powerful and dominant god or goddess when compared to a god that resulted from non-incestual parents... Horus (of the Egyptian myth "Osiris, Isis, and Horus") is a prime example recently looked into, his parents Osiris and Isis whom "loved one another from the time they shared their mother's womb" (pg 16, gross.) produced a very powerful warrior who goes on to rule Upper and Lower Egypt and become the intermediary between the living and the dead, pretty important guy. And don't even get me started on all the Greek/Roman gods, we all know that at least every other one of them is "their own grandpa". This prevelant motif throughout numerous cultures and ages leads me to believe that the people of these times viewed incestual relationships as necessary in order to produce stronger offspring, as modeled by their gods, why else would it be incorporated so frequently? I just find it rather comical that it was accepted so openly as common practice or at least something to look up to (since all their gods were doin' it), while in today's society it's viewed as absolutely taboo (illegal also, if I'm not mistaken..) and the offspring of such a union is viewed as genetically inferior or weaker... Food for thought!