Differences Between Greek and Roman Gods and Goddesses
Heracles/Hercules
The Greek and Roman tales of Hercules are simular. Hercules is the god of strength. He was the son of Zeus and Alcene (who
was a mortal woman). Hercules was brought to Olympus to suckle on Hera and when she found out she was nursing a mortal
boy, she ripped him off off her chest and this caused the Milky Way. Hera then tried to kill Hercules by sending two snakes.
Hercules strangled them.
Later in life, Hera drove Hercules into a fit of maddness. This caused Hercules to kill his wife and
children. When he wanted to pay for his crime, Hera told him to become Eurysthes' servant and do the Twelve Labors. The
first labor was to kill the lion of Nemea. This lion had a skin that could not be pierced by any kind of weapon. Hercules
decided to choke the lion using his bare hands. The next labor was to slay the nine headed hydra of Lerna. This monster grew
two more heads every time one was cut off and one of the heads was immortal. Every time Hercules cut off a head, he had an
assistant seal the wound with a red-hot iron bar. This stopped the heads from growing back. When the monster was slain,
Hercules buried the immortal head under a rock.
The next labor was to capture the Arcadian stag that had golden horns. Hercules captured it by using a net. When Artemis
confronted Hercules about why he had her stag in a net, Hercules stated his problem and Artemis let him carry the stag out of
the woods without doing any harm to the stag. After Eurystheus saw the stag, Hercules released it back into the wild.
The fourth labor was to catch the Erymanthian boar. This boar was terrorizing the country. He caught it with a net in the same
means as in the third labor but Hercules did not release it into the wild. The fifth labor was to clean the stables of Augeas. The
stables housed 3,000 cattle and the stables were not cleaned for 30 years. Hercules cleaned the stables by making the rivers
wash away the manure. This was not counted as a labor because Hercules wanted payment for cleaning the stables. The labor
after that one was rid land of the Stymphalian birds. These birds had feathers that seemed to be made of steel. Athena made a
rattle for Hercules to frighten the birds away.
Hercules was then sent to Crete to capture a bull. This bull had mated with the king of Mino's wife and the child that came
out of this affair was the Minotaur. In some stories, the Minotaur was half man and half bull with four hoves. Other stories say
the minotaur had two hoved legs. (The Minotaur was slain by another hero by the name of Theseus.) Hercules brought the bull
back to Tiryns and let it go free there. The eighth labor was to capture the flesh eating mares of Diomedes. Hercules fed the
horses their master and on the way back to Eurystheus, Hercules frightened the horses so much that the mares gave up eating
men and ate grass instead.
For the ninth labor, Hercules was sent to retrive the belt of Hippolyte who was queen of the Amazons. When Hercules asked
for the belt, Hippolyte gave it to him. Hera thought Hercules was completing this task too easily and disguised herself as an
Amazonian and convinced the other women that Hercules was kidnapping the queen. Hercules thought that Hippolyte had
tricked him, so he killed the queen and took the belt. In the tenth labor, Hercules had to get the cattle of Geryon. Geryon had
three bodies and Hercules slayed him.
The eleventh labor was to retrive the golden apples of the Hesperides in a private garden. The apples came from a tree that
Gaia gave to Hera on her wedding day with Zeus. Hercules did not know where these apples were, so he asked Atlas who
was holding up the earth to help. Atlas got the apples for Hercules while Hercules held up the earth and Atlas volunteered to
bring them back to Eurystheus for him. Hercules knew that Atlas would then run off never to come back to Hercules. Hercules
decided to go along with Atlas, but then Hercules said he had to make a pad for himself. Atlas was a simple minded man and
agreed. Hercules then picked up the apples and walked away leaving Atlas to hold up the earth.
The last and final labor was to send Hercules into the underworld. Erystheus told Hercules to bring him the three-headed dog
named Cerberus from the underworld. Hercules told Hades his case and Hades agreed to let Hercules bring the dog to the
surface on one condition. The condition was to bring the dog to the surface but not harmed in any way. Hercules did so, and
when Eurystheus saw the dog, he was frightened. Hercules then returned the dog to Hades and Hercules gained immortality for
himself.
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