Hercules Research Paper

More clearly than the Bible, Greek/Roman mythology helps outline the life cycle that almost always applies to the traditional archetypal hero. With basic knowledge of the Bible we can determine right from wrong and its influence in real life when reading mythology. As the reader we experience this when seeing the actions the hero takes, as explained by Frye when he states, "... the central myth of the hero whose mysterious birth, triumph and marriage, death and betrayal and eventual rebirth..." (Frye, 67), explaining the archetypical story outline of the tragic hero. As an example of the archetype, the story of Hercules starts with the mysterious birth of a being that is half god and half man, with his father famously being Zeus. Following Hercules' diverse birth we also know he triumphed over the leader of the underworld named Hades, while also

Zeus: He is the king of all gods and goddesses, ruler of Mount Olympus. Zeus is the god of sky and thunder. His symbols would be the thunderbolt, Eagle, Bull, and the Oak tree. In relation to the other gods and goddesses Poseidon and Hades are known as his brothers and Hera is known as his sister and his wife. Cronus and Rhea were the parents of Zeus. His father wanted to swallow him like the rest of his older siblings because Cronus was afraid of his children gaining more power than him. Before Cronus had a chance to swallow Zeus, Rhea took him to Mount Crete. When Zeus got older he caused his father to throw up his brothers and sisters and together they destroyed Cronus.

Myth, a myth is a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining something natural that a culture believes. Myths are very important to religion and they help to define different cultures through storytelling and legends. Personally I had many different myths to choose from, having a very mixed background. I chose a tale that meant something to me and my family, the myth of how the rainbow was made. This legend is a Native American tale, told by the Tohono O’odham people. Its very light and happy that’s one of the reasons why it was told to me was a kid. This myth may seem like just a children's story but it has a deeper meaning that anyone can interpret for themselves. First of all

My Favorite Constellation is Hercules. Hercules is the fifth largest constellation in the sky, occupying an area of 1225 square feet in the sky. I've chosen this constellation because I quite enjoy the Greek myth behind it.

In 1949, Joseph Campbell, a writer and mythologist, published a book titled The Hero with a Thousand Faces. In it, Campbell proposed his theory that hundreds of hero stories can be summed up in a twelve-step pattern. Half of the cycle takes place in the hero’s regular world. The other half takes place in a special, unknown world. The cycle doesn’t only apply to ancient heroes; many modern heroes, such as Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games series, and Harry Potter of the Harry Potter series, fit in this sequence. Evidently, modern hero characters can be traced back to this simple pattern. One such hero that has been introduced in recent decades is Hercules, from the 1997 Disney movie Hercules. Hercules, like countless other heroes, fits

Hercules was as well a very self confident person, but this made him feel in a way that he was just like the gods. This also led him to many problems in the future. The problem in this myth is that he had too much confidence in himself that he was always put in violent circumstances. This was very important because

The interesting Greek God that people misunderstand is Hades. He’s famous for being the relative of Zeus and Poseidon. Hades is the god of the Underworld/hell and the keeper of laws of death. Not that many people worshipped Hades but the reason why they do is for human sacrifices of those who commit crimes or other of the same idea. It is important to know about him because he’s one of the gods to rule the 3 different parts of the world, Sky, Sea, and the Underworld.

In Greek mythology Hercules is known for his strength and courage, considered as half man and half god. He was an adventurous superhuman born from mortal mother and the son of god Zeus. Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus decided to kill Hercules after his birth. Hercules then married the Theben princess Megara and had three children. However, Hera wasn’t happy about him. She was filled hatred of him, and as time goes, this situation made him to kill his wife and all his children. Hercules then felt guilty about the crime he had done. Hercules was charged to serve his cousin, king Eurystheus, and the ‘twelve labors’ were given to him as punishments. Those labors are a call to adventure that made Hercules to cross the threshold

Hercules was a well known hero he had many trials which made him famous. Hercules had strength and courage.

Mythology, as defined by Dictionary, is a set of stories, traditions, or beliefs associated with a particular group or history of an event. Some of the the most well known myths today, were once written and told by ancient Greeks and Egyptians. Theseus, a Greek myth as told by Robert Graves, is a story about a young man gifted with super strength, who sets out to defeat the Minotaur in order to save the people of his home land. Osiris and Isis, written by Padraic Colum, is an Egyptian myth about Egyptians beliefs in how the world came to be. Both myths, although telling different stories, share the same specific purposes, to explain how gods and goddesses interact with humans, and to teach a moral lesson.

Physical strength is an essential characteristic of a hero and is associated the most with Hercules. Unlike other heroes, Hercules used his strength in his first heroic deed to help others, rather than proving himself to gain the title of a hero. The gods needed the help of a mortal to conquer the Giants who were inflicting terror on Olympos, and they chose Hercules. Hercules shot one of the two Giants with his bow and arrow, wounding him fatally, then dragged him to a land where he could die. “Hercules… played an important part” when defeating these supernatural creatures (Hamilton 167). Hercules’ killing of one of the Giants that the gods couldn’t kill on their own shows that he possessed godly strength and gives him the characteristics of a hero. Furthermore, Hercules helped the Thebans fight the Minyans, and won Princess Megara’s hand in marriage. “The grateful citizens” depended on the strength of Hercules for winning the battle against the Minyans (Hamilton 169). The people of Greece valued Hercules immensely, to the point where they believed he was worthy of being married to Thebes’ Princess. Additionally, strength was extremely important in Greek culture considering the fact that this was a time of war, and strength is what Greece needed to protect themselves. Thus Hercules, the strongest man, is the most valued hero in Greece.

My favorite myth is the myth of Persephone the daughter of Zeus they were brother and sister that is kind of weird. Her original name was Cora which means girl. One day she was picking flowers and had found Hades Zeus's brother he had risen from the underworld. Then he kidnapped her and made her his wife. Cora was very upset with Hades because he had kippnaped her, Demeter was so enraged that she said she would make all mankind starve. Then Zeus had to ask Hades to give Cora back but Hades was not a dumb guy and he gave her a snake right before she left once she ate 6 of the seeds that meant that she had to stay in the underworld for 6 months of the year and the other six months on Olimps with he parents. When she went back to the underworld

My favorite myth is called the golden fleece. It is basically a Greek mythology myth where the golden fleece is the fleece of the gold- haired winged ram, which was held in Colchich, but the fleece is a symbol of authority, and kingship. The story is a tale by Robert graves, and the golden fleece seemed like an Interesting myth. Why I like this myth is that it a Greek type of myth, and Greeks seem very Interesting when it comes to myths. Also the pictures in Greek mythology looks like there are many symbols that are myths that are written by the Greeks.

My favorite Myth is The Midas Touch from greek Mythology. The Moral of the story is that riches are not the most important thing in life. The way this myth goes is that a satyr a half man half goat parties to hard one night and finds himself drunk. While he was drunk he fell asleep in a rosebush of the Palace where the king Midas lives. While he was asleep the next morning Princess Zoe went outside and found him sleeping there and thought he was a normal goat but in reality he was a satyr and he was ugly.

"I am a 31 yr. old adoptee, I was adopted at birth it was prearranged prior to my birth, my sister who is 3 yrs younger also a prearranged adoption at birth...actually we were picked up by our adopted parents around six to nine weeks but my understanding is I was never with my birth mother I was either in the hospital or at the agency until they came to get us" ("Open Adoption").