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The Story of Hercules

Herakles, or Hercules from the Roman period, was a Greek demi-god who is depicted in a variety of works, many of which tell stories from his life as embodied in Greek mythology. Several depictions of Herakles are found in the collection of the Getty Museum, among them the statue known as the Landsdowne Herakles, and the painted vase known as the Perseus Vase.

Herakles, or Hercules, was a mortal and a bastard son of Zeus. In the temple of Apollo, there is a frieze that runs all round the chamber and that depicts the fight of Herakles with the Amazons and a battle against the Centaurs with a new leading motif, that of Apollo and Artemis as they appear driving a team of stags and bringing help while the bride flees to the old-fashioned statue of the god. An Amphora from about 485 B.C. shows Herakles and Athena pouring a libation, with Herakles characteristically holding a club and carrying his kill over his shoulder.

The story of Hercules is told by a number of Roman writers, including Ovid. However, Ovid gives only a brief account of the life of Hercules, which is unlike his more common and extremely detailed method of presentation: "He never cares to dwell on heroic exploits; he loves best a pathetic story" (Hamilton, 1942, 159). Hamilton says it might seem odd that Ovid skips over the story of Hercules' slaying of his wife and children, but that story had been told well by Euripides so that Ovid may have skipped it for that reason:

He has very little to day about any of the myths the Greek tragedians write of. He passes over also one of the most famous tales about Hercules, how he freed Alcestis from death, which was the subject of another of Euripides' plays (Hamilton, 1942, 159).

Hercules is a semi-divine personage, with Jupiter for a father (Zeus in Greek mythology) and Alcmene for a mother. Alcmene was afraid of Juno (or Hera's) wrath at her husband's infidelity, and she exposed the child in a field outside...

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The Story of Hercules. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 16:07, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1700700.html