Free Custom «Hercules (Greek God)» Essay Paper

He is the greatest of all mythical characters among the Greeks.  According to them, he was the strongest man on earth; he exuded confidence in all difficult situations and considered himself as being at the same level with gods. Besides great physical strength, he was also very brave. He was born to Zeus a god who had infidelity against his wife. He had affairs with the mortals and goddesses alike. Hercules was born to Alcmena, a mortal woman (The Columbia Encyclopedia, 2008). Zeus disguised himself as the husband of Alcmena when her husband was away and slept with her. Hercules was born as a consequence.  This overview gives the main reason why people emulate Hercules and hold him in such high esteem.

This background brought a lot of trouble to him when he was young and even further in all his life. Hera Zeus’ wife was very jealous of his lovers. This made her to pursue his children mercilessly.  Hera tried to kill Hercules but she did not succeed. Even though she did not succeed, Hera persecuted him in all his life, and this led to all his sufferings.

 

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The major sufferings that Hercules went though were the ones that occurred when he killed his wife and children. This was after Hera had struck him with madness. After he had recovered from the insanity, he was very sorry for the act. He was also very guilty about it. This made him seek a way in which he would rid himself of guilt. The oracle at Delphi told him to go to the king of Tiryns and submit himself to any punishment that he would subject him to.

This led to the twelve most significant labors that Hercules had in his life. He began with the killing of the Nemean Lion. The next thing he did was to slay the Lernaean Hydra. The cupturing of Cyrenean Hind was the third labor. The other difficult thing was that he was supposed to seize the Boar. This was Erymanthian.  The other task was to cleaning King Augeas’ stables within one day only. Symphalian birds made his sixth labor. He drove them away. He captured the Cretan bull and brought it to Tiryns alive. This was his seventh toil.  The eighth toil was to take into his custody the Meres of Diomedes, then to bring them to Eurystheus.  The need to obtain the Girdle of the queen of Amazons made up his ninth work. Capturing the catle of Geryon was his tenth hard work. The second last was obtaining the golden apples of the Hesperides. The most difficult one was to capture Cerberus from the Hades. This was his final task.

The greatest lesson that the Greek people get from this story is that it doesn’t matter what your background is. You can still make to fulfill the purpose to which you were created for.  As an immortal, Hercules wanted to fulfill his duties but he had to face the challenges of being mortal too.  This compares to the struggles that people go through in life from the time they are young to the time they become old (House, (n.d)). The challenges are ever increasing in magnitude. We will always have such solutions and life still has to move on.  We also see the sense that when we make mistakes, however much we may be strong, we need to own them up, and pay up the consequences. We also and not just people in Greece, draw from these lessons virtues and values of life.

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Hercules (Greek God)

• He is the greatest of all mythical characters among the Greeks.  According to them, he was the strongest man on earth; he exuded confidence in all difficult situations and considered himself as being at the same level with gods.
• This overview gives the main reason why people emulate Hercules and hold him in such high esteem.

Background of Hercules’ life

• Hercules was born to Alcmena, a mortal woman (The Columbia Encyclopedia, 2008). Zeus disguised himself as the husband of Alcmena when her husband was away and slept with her. Hercules was born as a consequence.  This background brought a lot of trouble to him when he was young and even further in all his life.
• Hera tried to kill Hercules but she did not succeed. Even though she did not succeed, Hera persecuted him in all his life, and this led to all his sufferings. This led to the twelve most significant labors that Hercules had in his life.

The twelve pieces of hard work of Hercules

• He began with the killing of the Nemean Lion.
• The next thing he did was to slay the Lernaean Hydra.
• The cupturing of Cyrenean Hind was the third labor.
• The other difficult thing was that he was supposed to seize the Boar. This was Erymanthian. 
• The other task was to cleaning King Augeas’ stables within one day only.
• Symphalian birds made his sixth labor. He drove them away.
• He captured the Cretan bull and brought it to Tiryns alive. This was his seventh toil. 
• The eighth toil was to take into his custody the Meres of Diomedes, then to bring them to Eurystheus. 
• The need to obtain the Girdle of the queen of Amazons made up his ninth work.
• Capturing the catle of Geryon was his tenth hard work.
• The second last was obtaining the golden apples of the Hesperides.
• The most difficult one was to capture Cerberus from the Hades. This was his final task.

The lessons of the story

• The greatest lesson that the Greek people get from this story is that it doesn’t matter what your background is.
• You can still make to fulfill the purpose to which you were created for. 
• As an immortal, Hercules wanted to fulfill his duties but he had to face the challenges of being mortal too.  This compares to the struggles that people go through in life from the time they are young to the time they become old (House, (n.d)).
• The challenges are ever increasing in magnitude. We will always have such solutions and life still has to move on. 
• We also see the sense that when we make mistakes, however much we may be strong, we need to own them up, and pay up the consequences.

We also and not just people in Greece, draw from these lessons virtues and values of life.