对赫拉克勒斯英语简介

Heracles was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus (Ζεύς) and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon[4] and great-grandson (and half-brother) of Perseus (∏ερσεύς) He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, a paragon of masculinity, the ancestor of royal clans who claimed to be Heracleidae (Ἡρακλεῖδαι) and a champion of the Olympian order against chthonic monsters In Rome and the modern West, he is known as Hercules, with whom the later Roman Emperors, in particular Commodus and Maximian, often identified themselves The Romans adopted the Greek version of his life and works essentially unchanged, but added anecdotal detail of their own, some of it linking the hero with the geography of the Central Mediterranean Details of his cult were adapted to Rome as well

Extraordinary strength, courage, ingenuity, and sexual prowess with both males and females were among his characteristic attributes Although he was not as clever as the likes of Odysseus or Nestor, Heracles used his wits on several occasions when his strength did not suffice, such as when laboring for the king Augeas of Elis, wrestling the giant Antaeus, or tricking Atlas into taking the sky back onto his shoulders Together with Hermes he was the patron and protector of gymnasia and palaestrae[5] His iconographic attributes are the lion skin and the club These qualities did not prevent him from being regarded as a playful figure who used games to relax from his labors and played a great deal with children[6] By conquering dangerous archaic forces he is said to have "made the world safe for mankind" and to be its benefactor[7] Heracles was an extremely passionate and emotional individual, capable of doing both great deeds for his friends (such as wrestling with Thanatos on behalf of Prince Admetus, who had regaled Heracles with his hospitality, or restoring his friend Tyndareus to the throne of Sparta after he was overthrown) and being a terrible enemy who would wreak horrible vengeance on those who crossed him, as Augeas, Neleus and Laomedon all found out to their cost
Many popular stories were told of his life, the most famous being The Twelve Labours of Heracles; Alexandrian poets of the Hellenistic age drew his mythology into a high poetic and tragic atmosphere[8] His figure, which initially drew on Near Eastern motifs such as the lion-fight, was known everywhere: his Etruscan equivalent was Hercle, a son of Tinia and Uni

Heracles was the greatest of Hellenic chthonic heroes, but unlike other Greek heroes, no tomb was identified as his Heracles was both hero and god, as Pindar says heroes theos; at the same festival sacrifice was made to him, first as a hero, with a chthonic libation, and then as a god, upon an altar: thus he embodies the closest Greek approach to a "demi-god"[8] The core of the story of Heracles has been identified by Walter Burkert as originating in Neolithic hunter culture and traditions of shamanistic crossings into the netherworld[9]

Hero or god
Heracles' role as a culture hero, whose death could be a subject of mythic telling (see below), was accepted into the Olympian Pantheon during Classical times This created an awkwardness in the encounter with Odysseus in the episode of Odyssey XI, called the Nekuia, where Odysseus encounters Heracles in Hades:

And next I caught a glimpse of powerful Heracles—
His ghost I mean: the man himself delights
in the grand feasts of the deathless gods on high
Around him cries of the dead rang out like cries of birds
scattering left and right in horror as on he came like night"[10]
Ancient critics were aware of the problem of the aside that interrupts the vivid and complete description, in which Heracles recognizes Odysseus and hails him, and modern critics find very good reasons for denying that the verses beginning, in Fagles' translation His ghost I mean were part of the original composition: "once people knew of Heracles' admission to Olympus, they would not tolerate his presence in the underworld", remarks Friedrich Solmsen,[11] noting that the interpolated verses represent a compromise between conflicting representations of Heracles

It is also said that when Heracles died he shed his mortal skin, which went down to the underworld and he went up to join the gods for being the greatest hero ever known

Christian dating
In Christian circles a Euhemerist reading of the widespread Heracles cult was attributed to a historical figure who had been offered cult status after his death Thus Eusebius, Preparation of the Gospel (1012), reported that Clement could offer historical dates for Hercules as a king in Argos: "from the reign of Hercules in Argos to the deification of Hercules himself and of Asclepius there are comprised thirty-eight years, according to Apollodorus the chronicler: and from that point to the deification of Castor and Pollux fifty-three years: and somewhere about this time was the capture of Troy"

Readers with a literalist bent, following Clement's reasoning, have asserted from this remark that, since Heracles ruled over Tiryns in Argos at the same time that Eurystheus ruled over Mycenae, and since at about this time Linus was Heracles' teacher, one can conclude, based on Jerome's date—in his universal history, his Chronicon—given to Linus' notoriety in teaching Heracles in 1264 BC, that Heracles' death and deification occurred 38 years later, in approximately 1226 BC
Birth and childhood

Herakles as a boy strangling a snake (Marble, Roman artwork, 2nd century CE)A major factor in the well-known tragedies surrounding Heracles is the hatred that the goddess Hera, wife of Zeus, had for him A full account of Heracles must render it clear why Heracles was so tormented by Hera, when there are many illegitimate offspring sired by Zeus Heracles was the son of the affair Zeus had with the mortal woman Alcmene Zeus made love to her after disguising himself as her husband, Amphitryon, home early from war (Amphitryon did return later the same night, and Alcmene became pregnant with his son at the same time, a case of heteropaternal superfecundation, where a woman carries twins sired by different fathers)[12] Thus, Heracles' very existence proved at least one of Zeus' many illicit affairs, and Hera often conspired against Zeus' mortal offspring, as revenge for her husband's infidelities His twin mortal brother, son of Amphitryon was Iphicles, father of Heracles' charioteer Iolaus

On the night the twins Heracles and Iphicles were to be born, Hera, knowing of her husband Zeus' adultery, persuaded Zeus to swear an oath that the child born that night to a member of the House of Perseus would be High King Hera did this knowing that while Heracles was to be born a descendant of Perseus, so too was Eurystheus Once the oath was sworn, Hera hurried to Alcmene's dwelling and slowed the birth of Heracles by forcing Ilithyia, goddess of childbirth, to sit crosslegged with her clothing tied in knots, thereby causing Heracles to be trapped in the womb Meanwhile, Hera caused Eurystheus to be born prematurely, making him High King in place of Heracles She would have permanently delayed Heracles' birth had she not been fooled by Galanthis, Alcmene's servant, who lied to Ilithyia, saying that Alcmene had already delivered the baby Upon hearing this, she jumped in surprise, untying the knots and inadvertently allowing Alcmene to give birth to her twins, Heracles and Iphicles

The child was originally given the name Alcides by his parents; it was only later that he became known as Heracles[4] He was renamed Heracles in an unsuccessful attempt to mollify Hera A few months after he was born, Hera sent two serpents to kill him as he lay in his cot Heracles throttled a snake in each hand and was found by his nurse playing with their limp bodies as if they were child's toys

Youth
After killing his music tutor Linus with a lyre, he was sent to tend cattle on a mountain by his foster father Amphitryon Here, according to an allegorical parable, "The Choice of Heracles", invented by the sophist Prodicus (ca 400 BC) and reported in Xenophon's Memorabilia 2121-34, he was visited by two nymphs—Pleasure and Virtue—who offered him a choice between a pleasant and easy life or a severe but glorious life: he chose the latter

Later in Thebes, Heracles married King Creon's daughter, Megara In a fit of madness, induced by Hera, Heracles killed his children by Megara After his madness had been cured with hellebore by Antikyreus, the founder of Antikyra,[13] he realized what he had done and fled to the Oracle of Delphi Unbeknownst to him, the Oracle was guided by Hera He was directed to serve King Eurystheus for ten years and perform any task, which he required Eurystheus decided to give Heracles ten labours but after completing them, he said he cheated and added two more, resulting in the Twelve Labors of Heracles

Labours of Heracles

The fight of Heracles and the Nemean lion is one of his most famous feats (Side B from an black-figure Attic amphora, ca 540 BCE)
His 11th feat was to capture the apple of Hesperides (Gilded bronze, Roman artwork, 2nd century CE)Main article: Labours of Hercules
Driven mad by Hera, Heracles slew his own children To expiate the crime, Heracles was required to carry out ten labors set by his archenemy, Eurystheus, who had become king in Heracles' place If he succeeded, he would be purified of his sin and, as myth says, he would be granted immortality Heracles accomplished these tasks, but Eurystheus did not accept the cleansing of the Augean stables because Heracles was going to accept pay for the labor Neither did he accept the killing of the Lernaean Hydra as Heracles' cousin, Ioloas, had helped him burn the stumps of the heads Eurysteus set two more tasks (fetching the Golden Apples of Hesperides and capturing Cerberus), which Heracles performed successfully, bringing the total number of tasks up to twelve