The best works of world literature. The Labors of Hercules: a summary (myths of Ancient Greece)

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Ancient Greek and Roman civilizations are considered the cradle of European culture. The literature of that time, preserved in myths and legends, handwritten scrolls and retold lists, found a vivid reflection in almost all types of art - painting, sculpture, architecture, music, cinema. Greek and Roman mythology is especially popular. And Hercules, aka Hercules, a fearless strongman, has become a household name!

Hero's biography

The Greeks themselves were very fond of retelling the exploits of Hercules to each other. Brief content (myths of Ancient Greece and other sources) they can be found in various written documents of subsequent eras. The main character of these stories is a difficult face. He is the son of the god Zeus himself, the supreme ruler of Olympus, the thunderstorm and the lord of all other deities and mere mortals. BUThis mother is an ordinary woman. The offspring of such unions were called heroes. After all, they were endowed with enormous physical strength, military prowess and, most importantly, immortality. And about how you can use all this, we can tell the exploits of Hercules (summary). The myths of ancient Greece tell that he had to do them at the behest of the jealous wife of Zeus, Hera. After all, it was she who took up arms against the illegitimate offspring of her unfaithful spouse and ordered him to be in the service of the cowardly and stupid Ephristheus. The hero had to perform 12 most difficult tasks for his release.

Myth content

The story about them is included in the concept of "the exploits of Hercules." The summary (myths of Ancient Greece - the main source of information) is as follows.

1. 

   In the Kiferon mountains a ferocious cannibal lion roams with such a strong skin that it is impossible to break through with anything. Hercules managed to lure the beast into a trap by cunning, strangle him, and the hero began to use the skin taken from the Nemean lion as his main clothes.

2. The massacre of the Lernaean Hydra is included in the labors of Hercules in a vivid episode. The summary (the myths of Ancient Greece, by the way, explain where the constellation of Cancer and Hydra came from in the sky!) It is very interesting. Hydra is a monstrous multi-headed snake that devours all living things or poisons with its poison (bile). When Hercules fought with her, he was supported by all the inhabitants of land, water and sky. Only cancer crawled out of its hole and bit the hero. For which he was crushed. However, the generous giantthrew it high into the sky, and the shrew became a constellation.
3. Listing the exploits of Hercules, a brief summary of them, it is worth mentioning the victory over birds with steel feathers, sharp as arrows - Stimfalsky. And the cleaning of the Augean stables, the extraction of the magic apples of the Hesperides, for which our hero had to play the role of an Atlantean, the taming of the mighty boar from Erymphania and the equally terrible bull from the island of Crete - all this also added glory and honor to the strength and courage of Hercules!

…And other stories

What else is interesting about the exploits of Hercules? The content of the myths brought us such stories: the hero caught the favorite of Artemis, the Cyrene doe; de alt with Diomedes himself, a hard-hearted king who fed foreign travelers to his wild steeds; stole the belt from Hippolyta herself, the leader of the Amazons - wayward warrior maidens. And even the cows from the three-headed Gerion - a terrible kind of giant - he managed to steal! In total, the hero has about 50 miraculous feats on his account. No wonder there was even a cult of Hercules in Greece! Here he is - a popular character of myths!

In Russian, the historian-writer B. Kuhn most fully outlined the content of most of the myths of the ancient Greeks.