Hercules

[Daniel]

Hercules

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about Hercules in classical mythology. For the Greek divine hero from which Hercules was adapted, see Heracles. For other uses, see Hercules (disambiguation).

Hercules and the Hydra (ca. 1475) byAntonio del Pollaiuolo; the hero wears his characteristic lionskin and wields a club

Hercules is the Roman name for the Greek divine hero Heracles, who was the son of Zeus (Roman equivalent Jupiter) and the mortal Alcmene. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.

The Romans adapted the Greek hero's iconography and myths for their literature and art under the name Hercules. In laterWestern art and literature and in popular culture, Hercules is more commonly used than Heracles as the name of the hero. Hercules was a multifaceted figure with contradictory characteristics, which enabled later artists and writers to pick and choose how to represent him.^[1] This article provides an introduction to representations of Hercules in the later tradition.

헤라클레스 [Heracles]그리스·로마 신화 | 브리태니커

(그) Herakles 로마어로는 Hercules.

그리스·로마 시대의 가장 유명한 전설적인 영웅.

헤라클레스

그에 관한 아주 복잡한 신화의 배후에는 아르고스 왕국의 가신(家臣)이며 족장인 실재인물이 있었던 것 같다. 그러나 전설에 따르면 헤라클레스는 제우스와 페르세우스의 손녀딸 알크메네(→ 암피트리온 )의 아들이다. 제우스는 페르세우스 집안에서 다음에 태어날 아이로 그리스의 통치자를 삼겠다고 맹세했지만, 제우스의 질투심 많은 아내 헤라의 계략으로 병약한 또다른 아이 에우리스테오스가 먼저 태어나 왕이 되었다.

성장한 헤라클레스는 에우리스테오스를 섬겨야 했고, 복수심이 강한 헤라의 박해에 시달려야 했다. 사실 그의 첫번째 공훈은 헤라가 요람에 있는 그를 죽이려고 보낸 뱀 2마리를 목졸라 죽인 일이다.

뒤에 헤라클레스는 보이오티아의 오르코메노스 왕국과의 전쟁에서 승리했고, 왕녀인 메가라와 결혼했다. 그러나 그는 헤라가 내린 광기의 발작으로 그녀와 아이들을 죽였고, 다시 에우리스테오스의 신하가 될 수밖에 없었다. 헤라클레스에게 그 유명한 노역들을 겪게 한 것도 에우리스테오스였다. 뒤에 헤라클레스의 노역은 보통 다음과 같은 12가지로 정리되었다.

① 네메아의 사자를 죽이는 일로서 이후로 헤라클레스는 그 가죽을 입었고,

② 9개의 머리를 가진 레르나의 히드라를 죽이는 일,

③ 아르카디아의 잡기 힘든 사슴을 잡는 일,

④ 에리만토스 산의 멧돼지를 잡는 일,

⑤ 엘리스 왕 아우게이아스 의 외양간을 단 하루 만에 청소하는 일,

⑥ 스팀팔리아 늪지에 사는 사람을 먹는 괴물새들을 쏘아 죽이는 일,

⑦ 크레타 섬을 공포에 떨게 했던 미친 소를 잡는 일,

⑧ 비스토네스의 디오메데스 왕의 사람을 잡아먹는 암말들을 잡는 일, ⑨ 아마존 여왕 히폴리토스의 허리띠를 가져오는 일,

⑩ 서쪽 끝에 있는 에리테이아('붉은 색'이라는 뜻) 섬을 다스리는 몸이 3개인 거인 게리온의 소떼를 잡는 일,

⑪ 헤스페리데스가 세상 끝에서 지키고 있는 황금사과를 가져오는 일,

⑫ 지하세계에서 그곳의 문을 지키는 머리가 3개인 개 케르베로스를 데려오는 일 등이다(→ 아우게이아스).

이 노역들을 다 마친 헤라클레스는 군사원정을 포함한 다른 일들을 시작했다. 또 데이아네이라에게 청혼하기 위해 강의 신 아켈루스와 싸워 이겼다. 데이아네이라를 집으로 데리고 오는 도중 켄타우로스인 네소스가 그녀를 범하려 하자 헤라클레스는 독화살로 그를 쏘았다. 켄타우로스는 죽어가면서 데이아네이라에게 자신의 상처에서 나오는 피를 보관하라고 하면서 그 피가 묻은 옷을 입는 사람은 그녀를 영원히 사랑하게 되리라고 일러주었다.

몇 년 뒤 헤라클레스가 오이칼리아 왕 에우리토이의 딸 이올레와 사랑에 빠지자, 데이아네이라는 이올레가 자기의 경쟁자임을 알고 네소스의 피가 묻은 옷을 헤라클레스에게 보냈다. 그러나 사실 이 피는 강력한 독이었으므로 헤라클레스는 죽게 된다. 그의 시체는 오이타(지금의 그리스 오이티) 산의 장작더미에 놓여 몸은 타버리고 영혼은 하늘로 올라갔다. 하늘에서 그는 헤라와 화해하고 헤베와 결혼했다.

예술과 문학에서 헤라클레스는 보통 키에 엄청나게 힘이 세고 대식가·호주가·바람둥이이며, 보통은 친절하지만 가끔씩 무섭게 화를 내는 사람으로 묘사되어 있다. 그의 독특한 무기는 활이지만 곤봉도 가끔 사용했다. 이탈리아에서 그는 상인과 무역업자들의 신으로 숭상되었으나, 그밖의 사람들도 그에게 행운과 위험으로부터의 구원을 빌었다.

Hercules is known for his many adventures, which took him to the far reaches of the Greco-Roman world. One cycle of these adventures became canonical as the "Twelve Labours," but the list has variations. One traditional order of the labours is found in theBibliotheca as follows:^[2]

1.     Slay the Nemean Lion.

2.     Slay the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra.

3.     Capture the Golden Hind of Artemis.

4.     Capture the Erymanthian Boar.

5.     Clean the Augean stables in a single day.

6.     Slay the Stymphalian Birds.

7.     Capture the Cretan Bull.

8.     Steal the Mares of Diomedes.

9.     Obtain the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons.

10.   Obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon.

11.   Steal the apples of the Hesperides.

12.   Capture and bring back Cerberus.

Side adventures

Roman era

The Latin name Hercules was borrowed through Etruscan, where it is represented variously as Heracle, Hercle, and other forms. Hercules was a favorite subject for Etruscan art, and appears often on bronze mirrors. The Etruscan form Hercelerderives from the Greek Heracles via syncope. A mild oath invoking Hercules (Hercule! or Mehercle!) was a common interjectionin Classical Latin.^[3]

Hercules had a number of myths that were distinctly Roman. One of these is Hercules' defeat of Cacus, who was terrorizing the countryside of Rome. The hero was associated with theAventine Hill through his son Aventinus. Mark Antony considered him a personal patron god, as did the emperor Commodus. Hercules received various forms of religious veneration, including as a deity concerned with children and childbirth, in part because of myths about his precocious infancy, and in part because he fathered countless children. Roman brides wore a special belt tied with the "knot of Hercules", which was supposed to be hard to untie.^[4] The comic playwright Plautus presents the myth of Hercules' conception as a sex comedy in his play Amphitryon; Seneca wrote the tragedy Hercules Furens about his bout with madness. During the Roman Imperial era, Hercules was worshipped locally from Hispania through Gaul.

Germanic association

Tacitus records a special affinity of the Germanic peoples for Hercules. In chapter 3 of hisGermania, Tacitus states:

... they say that Hercules, too, once visited them; and when going into battle, they sang of him first of all heroes. They have also those songs of theirs, by the recital of this barditus^[5] as they call it, they rouse their courage, while from the note they augur the result of the approaching conflict. For, as their line shouts, they inspire or feel alarm.

In the Roman era Hercules' Club amulets appear from the 2nd to 3rd century, distributed over the empire (including Roman Britain, c.f. Cool 1986), mostly made of gold, shaped like wooden clubs. A specimen found in Köln-Nippes bears the inscription "DEO HER[culi]", confirm‎ing the association with Hercules.

In the 5th to 7th centuries, during the Migration Period, the amulet is theorized to have rapidly spread from the Elbe Germanic area across Europe. These Germanic "Donar's Clubs" were made from deer antler, bone or wood, more rarely also from bronze or precious metals.They are found exclusively in female graves, apparently worn either as a belt pendant, or as an ear pendant. The amulet type is replaced by the Viking Age Thor's hammer pendants in the course of the Christianization of Scandinavia from the 8th to 9th century.

Medieval mythography

After the Roman Empire became Christianized, mythological narratives were often reinterpreted as allegory, influenced by the philosophy of late antiquity. In the 4th century, Servius had described Hercules' return from the underworld as representing his ability to overcome earthly desires and vices, or the earth itself as a consumer of bodies.^[6] In medieval mythography, Hercules was one of the heroes seen as a strong role model who demonstrated both valor and wisdom, with the monsters he battles as moral obstacles.^[7]One glossator noted that when Hercules became a constellation, he showed that strength was necessary to gain entrance to Heaven.^[8]

Medieval mythography was written almost entirely in Latin, and original Greek texts were little used as sources for Hercules' myths.

Renaissance mythography

The Renaissance and the invention of the printing press brought a renewed interest in and publication of Greek literature. Renaissance mythography drew more extensively on the Greek tradition of Heracles, typically under the Romanized name Hercules, or the alternate name Alcides. In a chapter of his book Mythologiae (1567), the influential mythographer Natale Conti collected and summarized an extensive range of myths concerning the birth, adventures, and death of the hero under his Roman name Hercules. Conti begins his lengthy chapter on Hercules with an overview description that continues the moralizing impulse of the Middle Ages:

Hercules, who subdued and destroyed monsters, bandits, and criminals, was justly famous and renowned for his great courage. His great and glorious reputation was worldwide, and so firmly entrenched that he'll always be remembered. In fact the ancients honored him with his own temples, altars, ceremonies, and priests. But it was his wisdom and great soul that earned those honors; noble blood, physical strength, and political power just aren't good enough.^[9]

·         Hercules, Deianira and the Centaur Nessus, byBartholomäus Spranger, 1580 - 1582

·         Henry IV of France, as Hercules vanquishing theLernaean Hydra (i.e. theCatholic League), byToussaint Dubreuil, circa 1600. Louvre Museum

Other cultural references Hercules as heraldic supporters in the royal arms of Greece, in use 1863–1973. The phrase "Ηρακλείς του στέμματος" ("Defenders of the Crown") has pejorative connotations ("chief henchmen") in Greek.

In films

For a list of films featuring Hercules, see Hercules in popular culture#Filmography.

A series of nineteen Italian Hercules movies were made in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The actors who played Hercules in these films were Steve Reeves, Gordon Scott, Kirk Morris, Mickey Hargitay, Mark Forest, Alan Steel, Dan Vadis, Brad Harris, Reg Park, Peter Lupus (billed as Rock Stevens) and Michael Lane. A number of English-dubbed Italian films that featured the name of Hercules in their title were not intended to be movies about Hercules.

See also

·         Hercules (comics)

·         Hercules in popular culture of the 20th and 21st centuries

·         Sword-and-sandal

·         Hercules: The Legendary Journeys

·         Strength (Tarot card)

·         Samson

·         Gilgamesh

·         Demigod

References

Notes

1.     Jump up^ "Hercules," in The Classical Tradition (Harvard University Press, 2010), p. 426.

2.     Jump up^ Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheke 2.5.1-2.5.12.

3.     Jump up^ W. M. Lindsay, "Mehercle and Herc(v)lvs. [Mehercle and Herc(u)lus]" The Classical Quarterly 12.2 (April 1918:58).

4.     Jump up^ Festus 55 (edition of Lindsay); William Warde Fowler, The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic (London, 1908), p. 142; Karen K. Hersch, The Roman Wedding: Ritual and Meaning in Antiquity (Cambridge University Press, 2010), pp. 101, 110, 211.

5.     Jump up^ or, baritus, there being scribal variants. In the 17th century, the word entered the German language as barditus and was associated with the Celtic bards.

6.     Jump up^ Servius, note to Aeneid 6.395; Jane Chance, Medieval Mythography: From Roman North Africa to the School of Chartres, A.D. 433–1177 (University Press of Florida, 1994), p. 91.

7.     Jump up^ Chance, Medieval Mythography, pp. 168, 218, 413.

8.     Jump up^ Chance, Medieval Mythography, p. 219.

9.     Jump up^ Natale Conti, Mythologiae Book 7, Chapter 1, as translated by John Mulryan and Steven Brown (Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2006), vol. 2, p. 566.

10.   Jump up^ Hercules almost suggests "Hero". The Classical and Hellenistic convention in frescoes and mosaics, adopted by the Romans, is to show women as pale-skinned and men as tanned dark from their outdoor arena of action and exercising in the gymnasium.(See also Reed.edu, jpg file. Reed.edu, subject).

Sources

·         Charlotte Coffin. "Hercules" in Peyré, Yves (ed.) A Dictionary of Shakespeare's Classical Mythology (2009)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hercules.

·         Hercules discovery in Israel

·         Etruscan mirror illustrated Uni and Hercle

·         Hercle and Menerva on an Etruscan mirror from Città di Castello, c 300 B.C.: Badisches

·         The Apples of the Hesperides

·         Images of Hercules

·         Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (ca 2,500 images of Hercules)

·         Texts on Wikisource:

·         "Hercules". The Nuttall Encyclopædia. 1907.

·         "Hercules". The New Student's Reference Work. 1914.

·         “Hercules and the Wagoner,” by Aesop

·         “Hercules,” from Heroes Every Child Should Know by H. W. Mabie