Hercules Reaction Paper

1616 Words7 Pages

I’m sure everyone in this class has heard about the Greek hero Hercules. Whether you have heard about him in pop culture through the Dwayne Johnson movie version or the animated Disney version, which is personally my favorite, or you read his myth. It doesn’t matter. I am going to be talking about the Greek myth about one of Greece 's greatest hero, Hercules, and the twelve labors. Some background information of the myth is that it is a greek myth and it is a hero myth. The characters you will be seeing throughout this myth are Hercules (hero of the tale/protagonist), Zeus (father of Hercules/the leader of the gods of olympus), Hera (Zeus’s wife/antagonist), Alceme (Hercules’ mortal mother), the oracle of Delphi Athena (Goddess of wisdom and war), Hades (god of the underworld), Iolaus (Hercules’ nephew), King Eurystheus, King Diomedes, Hippolyta (queen of the Amazons), Prometheus, and Atlas. Before we start the tale of this hero, let me tell you a bit about the greek’s cultural beliefs. In Greek mythology, people believe in the gods of Olympus. Athena (goddess of wisdom and battle strategy), Apollo (god of music and poetry), Artemis (goddess of hunt), Ares (god of war), Aphrodite (goddess of beauty and love), Hephaestus (god of fire and …show more content…

The twelve labours of Hercules was created in 600 BC and during that time, people were still learning moral lessons in life. From a physiological perspective according to psychology today, this myth taught us “the vital secrets of human existence,” one of them being that in our lives there is going to be difficult times that will make us feel that world is against us and everything seems impossible. However, times like this will help us “discover our inner courage, cleverness, strength and fortitude,” helping us become stronger mentally and better