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The real story of Hercules: He was more brutal and with a more tragic fate than the popular version tells
2024-12-31 17:42:01 / MISTERE&KURIOZITETE
By Alexandra Dantzer
The Greek demigod Heracles, or as he is better known by his Roman name Hercules, has served as an inspiration for several epic adventure films or series. We have seen Hercules face many trials and tribulations in overcoming the wrath of Hades. The classic hero's journey story features unconditional love, helping friends, and impossible obstacles to overcome.
His odyssey ends with the moral that perseverance and hardship lead to justice and the triumph of good. Even the original myth comes with a certain moral, and was worshiped by the Greeks and Romans. According to this myth, Hercules suffers like humans, but has divine features. He was outwardly like any human, but endowed with superpowers, which teaches people that even heroes suffer.
This was intended to show that human tragedies are justified, and possible to overcome, as even demigods suffer the injustices of everyday life. The film version of the Hollywood company "Disney", although based very much on the myth, leaves out some very terrible and tragic parts of the hero's journey.
In the famous film version, Hercules' father, Zeus, is portrayed as a loving God. His mother Hera, also appears as a compassionate wife and mother. The reality of this myth is completely different. Zeus was a cruel and immoral tyrant. Besides terrorizing the dead, he didn't hesitate to use violence to get what he wanted.
He was unwilling to have an official partner, so Hercules himself was an illegitimate child. His real mother was a woman named Alcmene, whom Zeus tricked into sleeping with her, having assumed the form of her husband, Amphitryon.
Therefore, Hera despised Hercules from the day he was born. She first called two witches to prevent his birth. When that didn't work, he sent two snakes to strangle him in his cradle. Hercules displayed his strength, and although he was a child, he managed to drown the snakes and defend himself.
As he grew older and stronger, Hera became more and more enraged with rage. She tried to destroy him in every possible way. His love story with Megara was not a happy one. In the film, Megara is introduced as an assistant to Hades, who gradually falls in love with Hercules.
She abandoned her master, and resisted his wishes to destroy Hercules. Their love story ends with Hercules willing to sacrifice his life for her, rescuing her from the underworld, and finally gaining her well-deserved status. In the original myth, Megara is his first wife who bore him 3 sons.
Hera sickened Hercules with uncontrollable madness, and in one of his severe nervous breakdowns he killed his wife along with their children. After he came to his senses and realized what he had done, he felt great regret, a regret that accompanied him for the rest of his life.
Even his second love story does not have a happy ending. His wife, Deianira, accidentally killed him using a deadly poison. She was tricked by a centaur named Nesus, who gave her a poisoned shirt to give to her husband if she noticed his eye start to wander.
Unknowingly she followed the advice, insisting that Hercules wear her gift. But within moments, his skin became irritated and began to itch. Hercules created a grapevine himself to help himself die faster. Deianira, consumed by guilt, commits suicide.
Nor was Pegasus the friendly companion of Hercules. Contrary to what is shown in the film, in the original myth, Hercules had no relation to Pegasus. While Pegasus has existed in mythology, he was the friend of another hero, Bellerophon.
Unfortunately, he was also not a benevolent mythical horse. The story of its origin is even darker. He is said to have sprung from Medusa's butchered neck. There are many other aspects of Hercules' life that are left out, or embellished, in the more entertaining modern versions of the story.
For example, these include his battles to atone for his murder, performing his famous Twelve Acts of Courage, one of which was the slaying of the Hydra. But as expected, in the original myth he killed the Hydra using much more violence than the "Disney" film version presents us.
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