Hercules Research Paper

The meaning of Greek Mythology, “The body of myths and teachings that belong to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world.” The Greeks have told myths about many of the well-known Gods and Goddess. Zeus, the King of the Gods, Hera, the Queen of the Goddess, Hades, the King of the Underground, Poseidon, the King of the Sea, and Aphrodite, the Queen of Beauty. Just like all of the powerful Gods and Goddess, Hercules was one of the most common Gods known. (Crane) The strongest moral of all, Hercules has different myths that started his life. One was being that Zeus, the most powerful God, cheated on his wife, Hera, the queen of Gods. With Zeus having the power he had, he did not focus on Hera. This meaning

According to, “GreekMythology.com”, he was seen has a brutal and violent man. When taking on his 12 labors, one labor was to kill a lion. After winning the battle, Hercules got the skin of the lion and turned it into his customary garment. The head was still attached to the rest of the lion’s body. Hercules would use the head as a helmet. Along with the skin of the lion, Hercules would also carry around his weapon of choice, a massive club. He would then use the club on the other labors that were assigned to him. Although Hercules did create most of his problems, he would do anything to help a friend. This then changed the way that the Romans viewed Hercules. He changed from the bad to the

A supernatural lion, which cannot die from being stabbed by a sword or a spear. This fight was not easy for Hercules. In order to kill the lion he had to go into the cave of which the lion lived and fight him face to face. Hercules did not use his massive club, instead he killed him with his own hands. This was the first victory for Hercules out of 12. The 2nd labor, given to Hercules by his coward cousin, King Eurystheus, was the labor of killing “The Hydra”. A Hydra is a monster that is hard to defeat. Located in the swamps of Lerna, the mythmakers told that the Hydra either had 10,000 heads or 10. Nobody dared to get close enough to count them all. While fighting against the Hydra, Hercules realized that when he chopped off one the heads, two more would grow where the missing head was. Now, Eurystheus gave the 3rd labor, which was, hunting a female deer for an entire year to capture “The Cerynitian Hind”. Having golden horns, this deer was sacred to the Goddess of hunting, Artemis. After finally tracking the deer down on the banks of the River Ladon located in Arcadia, Hercules did not want to draw blood from the animal. He did not want to displease Artemis. So in order to successfully capture the hind, Hercules had to make the perfect shot. “He fired an arrow between the tendons and bones of the two forelegs, pinning it down.” Even though blood was not drawn from the animal, Artemis was displeased.