Hercules is perhaps the most famous Greek hero of all time. So much so, that in English, “herculean” is used to describe something so tough that only this hero could do. I imagine Hercules to be a muscular wreck. Someone so profoundly powerful, that it becomes useless.
Yes, he faced a lot of hardships in life and became a god posthumously… So? The twelve labors of Hercules is his most famous adventure. He wanted to get the throne he deserved and for that his brother, the current kind, gave him some “impossible” tasks, that were apparently so impossible that the hero completed all of them. His labors were as follows:
- Slay the Nemean lion.
- Slay the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra.
- Capture the Ceryneian Hind.
- 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 Amazon.
- Obtain the cattle of the three-bodied giant Geryon.
- Steal three of the golden apples of the Hesperides.
- Capture and bring back Cerberus.
Yes, to be honest, he did do a lot. But he shouldn’t be famed that much for what he had done. Simply because of his ways of life. In most myths he becomes arrogant of his feats later in his life. Also, he was driven mad and he killed his wife and his children. Though it is disputed that this was because of the meddling wife of his father, his stepmom Hera, it doesn’t stop it from being a crime. A lot of years later Heracles fell in love with Iole. Deianeira, realizing that Iole was a dangerous rival, sent Heracles a garment smeared with the blood of Nessus. The blood proved to be a powerful poison, and Heracles died. Though it is also disputed that the garment sent was actually smeared with the blood by Iole herself as she was tricked into thinking that it would heal him.
Overall, Hercules was a hero whose feats overshadowed his personality and fate. Though this is completely my opinion and many people would disagree and say that this was all the work of Hera,I would rather partly blame it of the hero himself.
Thoughts Of Kairav 