Brandi, Meagan, Lindsay, Jennifer, Shane
• Born in Thebes
• Son of Zeus and Alcmena
 “…who had visited Amphitryon’s wife,
Alcmena, in the shape of her husband when
the general was away fighting.” (Page 228)
• Thought to be son of Amphitryon
• Has a half brother, Iphicles
• Perseus was his grandfather and half brother
• “Hera, as always, was furiously jealous and she
determined to kill Hercules.” (pg. 228)
 Hercules acted as Zeus when Zeus was away at
war and they had a child, Iphicles, together which
made Hera angry
• Killed two snakes as an infant
• “He shall be the hero of all mankind.” (pg. 228)
• Strength
• Nobody on Earth could kill
him, unless he wanted to
die
• “Greatness of soul”
• Bold
• Willing to redeem himself
when guilty
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Slow wits
Aggressive
Arrogant and over confident
Let his emotions get the
best of him
• Doesn’t think things
through
The hero of Athens was Thesus. Thesus
was compassionate and smart, qualities
valued by Athenians (unlike Hercules).
• Threatened to shoot the sun because he was too hot
• Threatened to punish the waves for rocking his boat
• He unintentionally killed his music teacher “He flew
into a rage and brained him with his lute” (pg.229)
• On his 11th Labor, Atlas tried to trick Hercules by saying
he would take the golden apples to Eurystheus.
Hercules asked Atlas to hold the world for one second,
took the apples, and left. This didn’t show Hercule’s
intelligence, but rather the stupidity of Atlas.
• Conquered the Minyans, won the Princess,
Megara, and married her
• Killed a lion by the time he was 18, wore the
fur as a cloak
• Always punished himself for his wrongdoings
• Accidentally stabbed a boy
• Got drunk at his friend’s wife’s funeral
• Hercules had three sons with his wife Megara
• Hera caused him to go mad so he killed all of his
family members
• He didn’t remember anything when he came
back to his senses
• Amphitryon tried to comfort him and tell
Hercules that it wasn’t his fault
• Hercules seeks redemption by fighting Death in
order to bring Alcestis back after getting drunk at
her funeral.
• 1st: Kill the lion of Nemea
• 2nd: Kill a creature with 9 heads called the
Hydra
• 3rd: Bring back alive a stag with horns of gold
• 4th: Capture a great boar from a mountain
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5th: Clean the Augean stables in a single day
6th: Drive away the Stymphalian birds
7th: Fetch a savage bull
8th: Get the man-eating mares of King
Diometes of Thrace
• 9th: Bring back the girdle of Hippolyta, the
Queen of the Amazon
• 10th: Bring back the cattle of Geryon
• 11th: Bring back the golden apples of the
Hesperides
• 12th: Bring Cerberus, the three headed dog,
up from Hades
• Hercules fought Achelous because he was in
love with the girl Hercules wanted to marry
• Achelous didn’t want to fight, which made
Hercules more angry
• Achelous took form of a bull and Hercules
broke off one of his horns
• Hercules married the young princess,
Deianira, as his prize
• Admetus was supposed to die, unless someone
would die for him and Alcestis, his wife, offered
to die
• Hercules stayed the night at Admetus’ house and
didn’t know about his wife
• Hercules got drunk the night of the funeral
• Hercules found out after that Alcestis died, and
brought her back from the dead because he felt
bad about being breaking the rile of hospitality
• Deianira, Hercules’ wife at the time thought Hercules
was cheating on her with Iole, King Eurytus’ daughter
• “…Centaur Nessus…told Deianira to take some of his
blood and use it as a charm for Hercules if ever he
loved another woman more than her. When she heard
about Iole, it seemed to her that the time had come
and she anointed a robe with blood and sent it to
Hercules.” (page 243)
• When Hercules put the robe on, it put him in a lot of
pain, but didn’t kill him.
• Deianira heard what she had done to Hercules and
killed herself and in the end he did the same.
• “Since death would not come to him, he
would go to death.” (Page 243)
• Hercules had people build a wooden structure
for him to lay on.
• He laid down, and they set the wood on fire,
killing him.
• In heaven, he married Hera’s daughter, Hebe.
• Even after he died, he still was not at peace
with himself or the Gods
Guilt and Redemption
“ …by his sorrow for wrongdoing and his willingness
to do anything to expiate it, he showed greatness of
soul.” (Page 227)
Example: hercules felt bad for getting drunk at
Admetus’ house whose wife, Alcestis had just died,
and blamed himself. Then he brought Alcestis back
by fighting Death so Admetus could be happy.
“As always he heaped blame upon himself. He had
been a fool, a drunken fool, when the man he cared
for was crushed with grief.” (Page 241)
Hercules- Hero
• “Hercules was the strongest man on Earth and he
had the supreme self-confidence magnificent
physical strength gives.” (Page 225)
Hera- Shrew
• “Hera, as always, was furiously jealous and she
determines to kill Hercules.” (Page 228)
“But at the darkest midnight when all was silent
in the house two great snakes came crawling in
the nursery.” (Page 228)
• Snakes(serpents): represent pure force or evil
and destruction
• Darkness: despair
“…gave him to do were the Labors of Hercules.
There were 12 of them…”(Page 232)
• The number 12: the completed heavenly cycle
“The flames rushed up and Hercules was seen
no longer on Earth.” (Page 244)
• Fire: rebirth
“…when Hercules was taking her home, they
had reached a river where the Centaur Nessus
acted as a ferry-man, carrying travelers over the
water.” (Page 243)
• River: rebirth and death
• Don’t let your emotions get the best of you.
Whenever Hercules let his anger and violence get out of
control, he regretted the outcome. He learned to control
his anger.
• You can’t survive with just physical strength
“Hercules was the strongest man on Earth…” (Page 225)
“His intellect was not strong. His emotions were.” (Page
226)
Hercules constantly let his emotions take over and never
thought things through before doing them.