Heracles: The Greatest Ancient Greek Hero
For every time and place, there are ideal characteristics of heroes. According to Ancient Greeks, a hero is someone who has an unusual birth, has difficulty operating as a normal human, battles monsters, and is extraordinary in intelligence and physical ability. Straddling the mortal and immortal divide, the ultimate Ancient Greek hero achieves immortality by joining the gods on Mount Olympus and through having his stories told even after his bodily death. Heracles, son of Zeus, is the truest Greek hero because of his outstanding intelligence and strength which he utilizes to vanquish an impressive number of monsters, and because he achieves immortality through his stories lasting after his death and his ascension to Mount Olympus where he lives for eternity with the Greek gods.
Heracles is an outstanding hero for his incredible strength which he uses to battle monsters. Heracles’ defeat of the Nemean Lion is a prime example of his strength. Heracles narrates, “I throttled him mightily with my stout hands, reaching round from behind lest he lacerate my flesh with his claws. I set solidly my heels on his hind feet and pressed them down to the ground — my knees took care of his sides — until I raised his body up breathless in my arms and stretched it out. Sire Haides received his life” (Theocritus 132). Another example of Heracles’ strength is his capture of Cerberus. “[T]he savage Stygian dog [Kerberos (Cerberus)] frightens the shades; tossing back and forth his triple heads. . . Around his head, foul with corruption, serpents lap . . . and in his twisted tail a long snake hisses. His rage matches his shape” (Seneca 598, 782 ff). Heracles faces this beast and captures it, “[Heracles] found Kerberos at the gates of Akheron (Acheron), and there . . . he threw his arms round its head and hung on, despite bites from the serpent-tail, until he convinced the beast with his choke-hold” (Pseudo-Apollodorus 125). The slaying of the three-bodied giant named Geryon is among the most brutal of Heracles’ impressive kills. “[Geryon] kept his shield in front of (his chest, but the other struck his brow with a stone); and from his head (immediately with a great clatter) fell the helmet with its horse-hair plume . . . [Herakles arrow] (Bringing) the end that is hateful (death), having (doom) on its head, befouled with blood and with . . . gall, the anguish of the dapple-necked Hydra, destroyer of men [i.e. Herakles used an arrow poisoned with the Hydra’s venom]; and in silence he thrust it cunningly into his brow, and it cut through the flesh and bones by divine dispensation; and the arrow held straight on the crown of his head . . . Geryon drooped his neck to one side, like a poppy which spoiling its tender beauty suddenly sheds its petals” (Stesichorus Fragment S15). Heracles is able to wrestle with and use an arrow to stab the mighty Geryon. Heracles’ physical abilities are awe-inspiring. Strength, however, is not his only impressive heroic attribute.
Heracles’ intellect allows him to defeat a variety of monsters as well. The hero’s fight with the Hydra exemplifies his intelligence. “By throwing flaming spears at her he forced her to emerge, and as she did he was able to catch hold . . . he was unable to help matters by striking her with his club, for as soon as one head was pounded off two others would grow in its place [He] called on his own behalf to Iolaos for help. Iolaos made some torches by setting fire to a portion of the adjoining woods, and, by using these to burn the buddings of the heads, he kept them from growing. When he had overcome this problem, Herakles lopped off the immortal head, which he buried and covered with a heavy boulder at the side of the road that runs through Lerna to Elaios (Elaeus)” (Pseudo-Apollodorus 77–80). Heracles’ intelligence is also exemplified by his use of the Hydra’s venom. “He cut up the Hydra’s body and dipped his arrows in its venom” (Pseudo-Apollodorus 77–80). Heracles uses his poison arrows to slay several enemies and creatures, including Centaur Nessus and Arcadian Centaurs. “[He] pierced Nessus with his arrows. As he died, Nessus, knowing how poisonous the arrows were, since they had been dipped in the gall of the Lernaean Hydra, drew out some of his blood…” (Pseudo-Hyginus 34) and “The man shooting at Kentauroi (Centaurs), some of which he has killed, is plainly Herakles, and the exploit one of his” (Pausanias 5.19.9). The dead bodies of the centaurs are said to have polluted a river because of the poison from Heracles’ arrows. “Some Greeks say that Khiron (Chiron), other[s] that Pylenor another Kentauros (Centaur), when shot by Herakles fled wounded to this river and washed his hurt in it, and that it was the Hydra’s poison which gave the Anigros its nasty smell” (Pausanias 5.5.9–10). Not only is Heracles able to defeat a creature with endlessly multiplying heads, he is smart enough to utilize its poison for future battles. Intelligence and strength aside, Heracles stands out as the truest Ancient Greek hero for an achievement beyond slaying multitudes monsters.
Heracles is the ancient Greek hero who achieves immortality and joins the ranks of Greek gods on Mount Olympus. According to one story, Heracles attains immortality by taking it from another being. Heracles accidentally shoots the centaur Chiron with a poisoned arrow and “In horror Herakles ran to him, pulled out the arrow and dressed the wound with a salve that Kheiron handed him. The festering wound was incurable, however, and Kheiron [Chiron] . . . yearned for death, but could not die because he was immortal. Prometheus thereupon proposed Herakles to Zeus, to become immortal in place of Kheiron: and so Kheiron died” (Pseudo-Apollodorus 83–87). In a different version, Heracles’ dying body, infected with the Hydra’s poison, disappears and his friends believe he has ascended to the heavens. “Hercules was thrown into the fire . . . a large dark cloud producing noisy thunder descended over them . . . the cloud ascended again and . . . Hercules’ friends realized that Hercules had disappeared. From then on it was told that Hercules ascended to Mount Olympus to be among the gods . . . and remained on mount Olympus forever as an immortal” (Black). After his ascent, Heracles is worshiped as a god. “In Greece they worship a number of deified human beings . . . Palaemon throughout the whole of Greece, as also Hercules [Herakles])” (Cicero 15) and “In a building right in front of the entrance [of the temple of Zeus Soter in Aigion] are images, of bronze like the others, representing Poseidon, Herakles, Zeus and Athena. They are called gods from Argos…” (Pausanias 7.23.10). His achievement of immortality makes Heracles the ultimate Ancient Greek hero.
Heracles is the greatest ancient Greek hero, in part because of the many creatures he vanquishes by employing strength and strategy, but also because he attains immortality with the Greek gods on Mount Olympus. Heracles is still a model for heroes in today’s world, including his appearance as a hero character in Marvel Comics and the characteristic superhuman strength which Superman and The Hulk exhibit (Hercules in Popular Culture). From Disney’s Hercules to the phrase “herculean power,” Heracles continues to be an influence in modern culture. Heracles (Hercules) remains immortalized as long as humans remember his legend.
Bibliography
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Cicero. Nature of the Gods, Academics. Translation by Rackham, M. A. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1933.
“Hercules in Popular Culture.” Hercules in Popular Culture (n. d.), people.uncw.edu/deagona/herakles/popmain.htm.
Pausanias. Description of Greece. Translation by Jones, W. H. S. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1962.
Apollodorus. The Library of Greek Mythology. Translation by Aldrich, Keith. Lawrence, Kansas: Coronado Press, 1975.
Hyginus. The Myths of Hyginus. Translation by Grant, M. Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Publications, 1960.
Stesichorus, Geryoneis Fragment S15 (from Papyri). Retrieved from http://www.theoi.com/Gigante/GiganteGeryon.html (18 April 2018).
Theocritus. Idylls. Translation by Rist, A. The University of North Carolina Press, 2011.
