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Was Hercules a real person ?

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by Rachel (U5769524) on Monday, 30th October 2006

  I was asked this question by a young pupil the other day and I could not think of a good and true answer. Does anyone know the facts?

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  Posted by an ex-nordmann - it has ceased to exist (U3472955) on Monday, 30th October 2006

  Hercules is the Roman name for Heracles. Heracles is a character from a mythological cycle that is believed to have been at least half a millennium old when it was first recorded in writing (about 800BC). Scolars disagree over to what extent the Olympian theatre of mythological characters was compiled from extraneous sources and which originated with the Greeks themselves. Some can be traced back to Mycenaean times, but others have a provenance unknown before they became recorded. Others seem to have gained acceptance and popularity between Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔr's hayday and the later classical Greek times.
  
  Heracles belongs to the former category - he had become an established demigod by Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔr's time. Given that his father is Zeus, the most potent of the Hellenic pantheon, and that no tale is told of him that does not involve supernatural abilities, it is most likely that Heracles represents something of an idealised version of the Greek male in the early Bronze Age, flaws and all. In this way he is almost what your pupil suggested - as human a deity as you're ever likely to find.

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  Posted by TonyG (U1830405) on Monday, 30th October 2006

  Like many characters from Greek myths and legends, Heracles' deeds are often recorded as those of a real person. Apollonius of Rhodes records him as one of Jason's crew on the Argo. It's all legend, though. There is no historical Hercules / Heracles.

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  Posted by Slimdaddy101 (U2553470) on Wednesday, 1st November 2006

  He was a big brown bear that used to be on TV and do bear his tricks when I was a wee laddie.

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  Posted by RainbowFfolly (U3345048) on Thursday, 2nd November 2006

  Hi slimdaddy101,
  
  Are you sure? I remember him as the horse who worked for a couple of TV rag and bone men down Shepherds Bush...
  
  RF

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  Posted by Nik (U1777139) on Sunday, 5th November 2006

  I more or less believe that most of what is written in ancient/medieval nations/tribes' mythologies were based on real people but through the lapse of time stories were embellished with whatever people could think of or stories of two different persons could be joined as the story of one person as the end target of narrators (say 80-100-150 years after the events) would not be so much to tell a real story but to entertain their audience. Even ancient writers were wandering that the anthropomorphism of gods implied that these were great people of some previous era (more or less like what are saints for christians). Sometimes we get perplexed with the entry-salad 'god', 'hero' and lose the main dish, that is the roast meat.
  
  In ancient Greek mythology there were at least 2 or I think 3 different Hercules (only the one was the real-hero, others were minor) that makes us think that Hercules had been a common name for a man in pre-archaic times (Mycenean or earlier). There were also some 2-3 different Dionysus (one more like a God, one a human, another an army leader etc.) and so on. How can we be certain when even later figures like Pythagoras have never been proved to had lived in the 6th century as we suppose?
  
  But then I will bring you to the reality: how can you go back to history so far and see what is a myth and what was the reality hidden behind it when for an even such as the WWII, so recent (only half a century) and despite the tons of photographic material and movies and papers and so much other evidence existing in 10s of countries, the reality is not known and circulate 100s if not 1000s of myths?

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  Posted by Slimdaddy101 (U2553470) on Thursday, 9th November 2006

  Hi Rainbowfolly,
  
  He was a bear for sure, and not just your average run of the mill bear:
  
  
  
  

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