Primary Sources Analysis Assignment - Hercules Myth

Hercules was born a mortal, but his father was Zeus, the king of the gods. Hera, the wife of Zeus, was hostile to the children of her husband and mortal mothers, and she made Hercules' life difficult.

Hera sent two snakes to kill Hercules in his crib, but he strangled them. Athena, the patron of heroes, saw Hercules and took him to Mount Olympus to raise.

Later, when Hercules was a young adult, Hera cast a spell on him and made him lose his mind. In a confused and angry state, he killed his own wife and children.

When he awakened from his "temporary insanity," Hercules was shocked and upset by what he'd done. He prayed to the god Apollo for guidance, and the god's oracle told him he would have to serve Eurystheus, the king of Tiryns and Mycenae, for twelve years, in punishment for the murders.

As part of his sentence, Hercules had to perform twelve Labors, feats so difficult that they seemed impossible. Hercules' first task would be to bring King Eurystheus the skin of an invulnerable lion which terrorized the hills around Nemea. The second labor of Hercules was to kill the Lernean Hydra, a monstrous serpent with nine heads, that attacked with poisonous venom. Each of the other labors increased in difficulty and complexity.

Fortunately, Hercules had the help of Hermes and Athena, sympathetic deities who showed up when he really needed help. By the end of these Labors, Hercules was, without a doubt, Greece's greatest hero.

His struggles made Hercules the perfect embodiment of an idea the Greeks called pathos, the experience of virtuous struggle and suffering which would lead to fame and, in Hercules' case, immortality.