How Hercules, the Greek hero, died

Hercules was a hero from Greek mythology. Herodotus and numerous ancient historians, poets, and playwrights describe him as the mightiest warrior and demigod of the Heroic Age. Hercules was the son of Alcmene and the god Zeus, who took on the appearance of Alcmene’s husband, Host, for one night, thus conceiving the hero. It should be noted that Hercules is the Roman name of this demigod; His name in Ancient Greece was Heracles.

Hercules is famous for the twelve labors he had to perform to redeem himself for having killed, in a fit of madness imposed by the goddess Hera, his wife Megara and their children. However, the myth of his death and subsequent apotheosis also figures prominently in Greek mythology, appearing in the works of Pindar, Sophocles, and Euripides, as well as Homer’s Odyssey. It was not unusual for Greek heroes to achieve immortality as reward for his exploits, but Hercules was the only one who, after his earthly death, ascended Mount Olympus to live among the gods.

deianira

Deianira was the third wife of Hercules. Deianira, which in ancient Greek means that she defeats the heroes , was the daughter of Altea and Eneo, king of Calidon, who had promised her in marriage to the god Acheloos. Deyanira, who was a woman with a strong personality and who practiced the arts of war, did not want to marry him. Captivated by the beauty of the Kaledonian princess, Hercules fought and defeated Acheloos and later married Deianira. Deianira and Hercules would have two children: Macaria and Hilo.

After their wedding, when they traveled to visit Meleagro, Deyanira’s brother, the newlyweds had to cross the Eveno River. There was the centaur Neso, son of Ixion and the cloud nymph Nephele. Neso offered to help Deyanira to cross the river but after crossing it he tried to kidnap her from her. From the other bank, Hercules saw what was happening, pursued the centaur and shot him with an arrow that mortally wounded him: the arrow was poisoned with the blood of the Lernaean Hydra, which Hercules had killed in the second of his twelve. jobs. While he was dying, Nessus told Deianira to save some of her blood and, when he felt that she was losing Hercules’ love, he would use it as a potion to win him back. Deianira did not know it at the time, but Nessus was setting him up.

Iole and Deianira’s jealousy

Years after the crossing of the Evenus river, Hercules attacked Ecalia together with the warriors of Tiryns. The king of Ecalia was Eurytus and he had a daughter named Iole. Hercules had previously fallen in love with Iole, but her father denied him her hand, knowing the fate of Megara and her children. Some time later, Eurytus promised his daughter in marriage to whoever won an archery tournament. Hercules participated, but when he was about to win, Eurytus suspended the competition, breaking his commitment. Hercules remembered that event, and Iole, so after conquering Ecalia he killed Eurytus and all his children and relatives, also kidnapping Iole.

After the victory celebrations, Hercules asked Deyanira to send him a new tunic, since his clothes were destroyed by the battle. Deyanira, jealous of Iole and feeling that she was losing the love of Hercules, put the blood of Neso on the tunic. As he put on the robe, the poison touched Hercules’ skin, which he felt was burning. He tried to remove the garment but the poison was attached to his skin and although he did not kill him, the pain was unbearable. The hero requested that a pyre be built; he perched on it and asked his friend Philoctetes to light it. When Deianira learned that her actions had caused the death of her husband, she felt so guilty that she committed suicide.

the apotheosis of hercules

Hercules was burned to death on Philoctetes’s pyre, but while it was burning, lightning struck it. Hercules’s companions could never find his ashes: Zeus had collected his son and taken him to Mount Olympus. There he convinced the goddess Hera, who had done so much harm to Hercules during his earthly existence, to adopt him, thus giving him a divine rebirth. Hera then gave Hercules her beautiful daughter Hebe in marriage. According to later calculations that take into account the dates of sources such as Apollodorus, the death and deification of Hercules would have occurred approximately in the year 1226 BC.

Sources

Gregory Zorzos. Heracles , 2009.

Hidalgo de la Vega, Sayas Abengochea, Roldan Hervas. History of ancient Greece. University of Salamanca, Spain, 1998.

Philip Holt. Herakles’ Apotheosis in Lost Greek Literature and Art . L’Antiquité Classique 61:38–59, 1992.

HA Shapiro. ‘Heros Theos:’ The Death and Apotheosis of Herakles . The Classical World 77.1 (): 7–18, 1983.