Hercules
the Ancient Greek and Roman Demi-God History and his depictions on
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Hercules is the Roman name for
the Greek divine hero Heracles,
who was the son of Zeus (Roman
equivalent Jupiter)
and the mortal Alcmene.
In classical
mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous
far-ranging adventures.
The Romans adapted the Greek hero's iconography and myths for their literature
and art under the name Hercules.
In later Western
art and literature and in popular
culture, Hercules is
more commonly used than Heracles as
the name of the hero. Hercules was a multifaceted figure with contradictory
characteristics, which enabled later artists and writers to pick and choose how
to represent him. This
article provides an introduction to representations of Hercules in the later
tradition.
Labours
Hercules is known for his many adventures, which took him to the far reaches of
the Greco-Roman
world. One cycle of these adventures became canonical as
the "Twelve Labours," but the list has variations. One traditional order of the
labours is found in theBibliotheca as
follows:
- Slay the Nemean
Lion.
- Slay the nine-headed Lernaean
Hydra.
- Capture the Golden
Hind of Artemis.
- Capture the Erymanthian
Boar.
- Clean the Augean stables
in a single day.
- Slay the Stymphalian
Birds.
- Capture the Cretan
Bull.
- Steal the Mares
of Diomedes.
- Obtain the girdle of Hippolyta,
Queen of the Amazons.
- Obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon.
- Steal the apples of the Hesperides.
- Capture and bring back Cerberus.
Side adventures
Hercules had a greater number of "deeds
on the side" (parerga) that
have been popular subjects for art, including:
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Wrestling
with Achelous(16th-century
plaque)
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Roman era
The Latin name Hercules was
borrowed through Etruscan,
where it is represented variously as Heracle,
Hercle, and other forms. Hercules was a favorite subject for Etruscan
art, and appears often on bronze
mirrors. The Etruscan form Herceler derives
from the Greek Heracles via syncope.
A mild oath invoking Hercules (Hercule! or Mehercle!)
was a common interjection in Classical
Latin.
Baby Hercules strangling a snake sent
to kill him in his cradle(Roman
marble, 2nd century CE)
Hercules had a number of myths that
were distinctly Roman. One of these is Hercules' defeat of Cacus,
who was terrorizing the countryside of Rome. The hero was associated with the Aventine
Hill through his son Aventinus. Mark
Antony considered him a personal
patron god, as did the emperor Commodus.
Hercules received various forms of religious
veneration, including as a deity
concerned with children and childbirth, in part because of myths about his
precocious infancy, and in part because he fathered countless children. Roman
brides wore a special belt tied with the "knot
of Hercules", which was supposed to be hard to untie. The
comic playwright Plautus presents
the myth of Hercules' conception as a sex comedy in his play Amphitryon; Senecawrote
the tragedy Hercules Furens about
his bout with madness. During the Roman
Imperial era, Hercules was worshipped locally from Hispania through Gaul.
Germanic association
Tacitus records a special
affinity of the Germanic
peoples for Hercules. In chapter
3 of his Germania,
Tacitus states:
... they say that
Hercules, too, once visited them; and when going into battle, they sang of
him first of all heroes. They have also those songs of theirs, by the
recital of this barditus as
they call it, they rouse their courage, while from the note they augur the
result of the approaching conflict. For, as their line shouts, they inspire
or feel alarm.
In the Roman era Hercules'
Club amulets appear from the 2nd
to 3rd century, distributed over the empire (including Roman
Britain, c.f. Cool 1986), mostly made of gold, shaped like wooden clubs. A
specimen found in Köln-Nippes bears
the inscription "DEO HER[culi]",
confirming the association with Hercules.
In the 5th to 7th centuries, during the Migration
Period, the amulet is theorized to have rapidly spread from the Elbe
Germanic area across Europe.
These Germanic "Donar's
Clubs" were made from deer antler, bone or wood, more rarely also from bronze or
precious metals.They are found exclusively in female graves, apparently worn
either as a belt pendant, or as an ear pendant. The amulet type is replaced by
the Viking
Age Thor's
hammer pendants in the course of
the Christianization
of Scandinavia from the 8th to
9th century.
Medieval mythography
After the Roman Empire became Christianized,
mythological narratives were often reinterpreted as allegory,
influenced by the philosophy of late
antiquity. In the 4th century, Servius had
described Hercules' return from the underworld as representing his ability to
overcome earthly desires and vices, or the earth itself as a consumer of bodies. In
medieval mythography, Hercules was one of the heroes seen as a strong role model
who demonstrated both valor and wisdom, with the monsters he battles as moral
obstacles. One glossator noted
that when Hercules
became a constellation, he showed that strength was necessary to gain
entrance to Heaven.
Medieval mythography was written almost entirely in Latin, and original Greek
texts were little used as sources for Hercules' myths.
Renaissance mythography
The Renaissance and
the invention of the printing
press brought a renewed interest
in and publication of Greek literature. Renaissance mythography drew more
extensively on the Greek tradition of Heracles, typically under the Romanized
name Hercules, or the alternate name Alcides.
In a chapter of his book Mythologiae (1567),
the influential mythographer Natale
Conti collected and summarized an
extensive range of myths concerning the birth, adventures, and death of the hero
under his Roman name Hercules. Conti begins his lengthy chapter on Hercules with
an overview description that continues the moralizing impulse of the Middle
Ages:
Hercules, who
subdued and destroyed monsters, bandits, and criminals, was justly famous
and renowned for his great courage. His great and glorious reputation was
worldwide, and so firmly entrenched that he'll always be remembered. In fact
the ancients honored him with his own temples, altars, ceremonies, and
priests. But it was his wisdom and great soul that earned those honors;
noble blood, physical strength, and political power just aren't good enough.
In art
In Roman works of art and in Renaissance and post-Renaissance art, Hercules can
be identified by his attributes, the lion
skin and the gnarled club (his
favorite weapon); in mosaic he
is shown tanned bronze, a virile aspect.
Roman era
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Hercules and Iolaus (1st
century CE mosaic from the Anzio Nymphaeum, Rome)
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Hercules
bronze statuette, 2nd century CE (museum of Alanya, Turkey)
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Modern era
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The
Drunken Hercules(1612-1614) by Rubens
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In numismatics
Hercules was among the earliest figures on ancient Roman coinage, and has been
the main motif of many collector coins and medals since. One example is the 20
euro Baroque Silver coin issued
on September 11, 2002. The obverse side of the coin shows the Grand Staircase in
the town palace of Prince
Eugene of Savoy in Vienna,
currently the Austrian Ministry of Finance. Gods and demi-gods hold
its flights, while Hercules stands at the turn of the stairs.
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Juno, with Hercules fighting a Centaur on
reverse (Roman, 215–15 BCE)
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Club over
his shoulder on a Roman denarius (ca.
100 BCE)
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Maximinus II and
Hercules with club and lionskin (Roman, 313 CE)
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Commemorative 5-francpiece
(1996), Hercules in center
Other cultural
references
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Hercules as heraldic
supporters in the royal
arms of Greece,
in use 1863–1973. The phrase "Ηρακλείς του στέμματος" ("Defenders of
the Crown") has pejorative connotations ("chief henchmen") in Greek.
In films
A series of nineteen Italian Hercules movies were made in the late 1950s and
early 1960s. The actors who played Hercules in these films were Steve
Reeves, Gordon
Scott, Kirk Morris, Mickey
Hargitay, Mark Forest, Alan Steel, Dan
Vadis, Brad
Harris, Reg
Park, Peter
Lupus (billed as Rock
Stevens) and Michael Lane. A number of English-dubbed Italian films that
featured the name of Hercules in their title were not intended to be movies
about Hercules.
See also
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