Greek myth about the creation of the world. Myths of Ancient Greece

Every nation has a myth about the creation of the world (sometimes more than one), and often these myths are as similar as two peas in a pod, and sometimes the similarity is quite conditional.

Greece .

In Greece, there was more than one myth about the creation of the world - there were patriarchal and matriarchal versions. One of the matriarchal versions sounded like this: Mother Earth Gaia arose from Chaos and gave birth to Uranus (“Sky”) in a dream. Uranus rose to his assigned place in the sky and poured out his gratitude to his mother in the form of rain, which fertilized the earth, and the seeds that had been dormant in it awoke to life.

Patriarchal version: in the beginning there was nothing but Gaia and Chaos. From Chaos appeared Erebus (darkness), from the night - ether and day. The earth gave birth to the sea, and then the great Ocean and other children. The children's father, Uranus, planned to destroy them, jealous of the love that Gaia felt for them. But the youngest of the children - Kronos, in revenge, castrated his father and threw the severed parts into the sea - this is how Aphrodite appeared, and the blood of Uranus, which fell to the ground, gave birth to Furies. Kronos became the supreme deity and took Rhea as his wife. Kronos, fearing to be overthrown, swallowed his children (Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon). Only the youngest managed to escape - Zeus, who overthrew Kronos a few years later. Zeus freed his brothers and sisters and became the supreme deity.

Egypt .

God Ra emerged from the Watery Abyss, and then all living beings emerged from his mouth. First, Ra exhaled Shu - the first air, then - the first moisture of Tefnut. From air and moisture, Ra created the Eye of Ra, the goddess Hathor, to see what he was doing. When Ra's eye appeared, he began to cry, and from his tears people appeared.

Hathor was angry with Ra because she existed separately from his body. Then Ra found a place for Hathor on his forehead, after which he created snakes, from which all other creatures appeared.

Japan .

At first there was only the endless oily sea of ​​Chaos, then the three “kami” spirits decided that the world should be created from this sea. The spirits gave birth to many gods and goddesses, including Izanaki, who was given a magic spear, and Izanami.

Izanaki and Izanami descended from the sky, and Izanaki began to stir the sea with his spear, and when he pulled out the spear, several drops collected at its tip, which fell back into the sea and formed an island.

Then Izanaki and Izanami discovered differences in their anatomy, which resulted in Izanami conceiving many wonderful things. The first creature they conceived turned out to be a leech. They put her in a reed basket and let her float on the water. Afterwards, Izanami gave birth to Foam Island, which was useless. The next thing that Izanami gave birth to was the islands of Japan, waterfalls, mountains and other natural wonders. Then Izanami gave birth to the Five Spirits, who burned her badly and she became ill. Her vomit turned into the prince and princess of the Metal Mountains, from which all the mines originated. Her urine became spirit Fresh Water, and feces are clay.

When Izanami descended into the Land of Night, Izanaki cried and decided to return his wife. But when he went down to get her, he was frightened by her appearance - Izanami had already begun to decompose. Frightened, Izanaki ran away, but Izanami sent the Night Spirit to bring him back. The fleeing Izanaki threw down his combs, which turned into vines and bamboo thickets, and the Night Spirit stopped to feast on grapes and young shoots.

Then Izanami sent eight thunder spirits and all the warriors from the Land of Night after her husband, but Izanaki began throwing peaches at them, and they ran away. Then Izanami promised her husband that she would take a thousand people every day if he avoided her. To this Izanaki replied that he would give life to a thousand people every day. Thus death came into the world, but the human race did not perish.

When Izanaki washed away the dirt of the Land of Night, gods and goddesses were born - Amaterasu - the solar goddess and ancestor of the emperor, Tsukiyomi no Mikoto - the Moon and Susano-o - the god of the storm.

Madagascar .

The Creator saw that his daughter, Mother Earth, was making small dolls from clay, and he became interested. He talked to his daughter about these dolls and breathed life into them. This is how people appeared.

Time passed, people multiplied and prospered, they gave praise to Mother Earth, but forgot about the Creator. Then the Creator took away the souls of half the people, but these souls belonged to the old people. Since it was the Creator who gave souls to people, he has the right to take them back, and since Mother Earth created people’s bodies, after death people’s bodies return to the earth.

Finland .

The goddess of air, Ilma, had a virgin daughter, Luonnatar, who lived in the stars. Feeling lonely, Luonnatar descended from the sky to the sea, where she swam for seven hundred years, not finding a place to rest.

Then she met a drake who was looking for a place for a nest. Finding nothing, he went down to the knee of Luonnatar and built a nest there, laid eggs and hatched them for three days. Luonnatar was in great pain - the nest burned her skin, and she turned the nest over, dropping the eggs into the water. But the eggs, falling into the sea, changed shape: the yolk became the sun, the white became the moon, the spots on the shell turned into stars, and the black specks into clouds.

In the beginning there was nothing, neither Heaven nor Earth. Chaos alone - dark and boundless - filled everything. He was the source and beginning of life. Everything came from it: the world, the Earth, and the immortal gods.

At first, Gaia, the goddess of the Earth, emerged from Chaos, a universal safe haven, giving life to everything that lives and grows on it. In the depths of the deep earth, in its darkest core, the gloomy Tartarus was born - a terrible abyss full of darkness. As far from the earth as from the bright Sky, so far lies Tartarus. Tartarus is fenced off from the world with a copper fence, night reigns in his kingdom, the roots of the earth entangle him and he is washed by the bitter-salty sea.

From Chaos the most beautiful Eros was also born, which, with the power of Love, spilled in the world forever, can conquer hearts.

Boundless Chaos gave birth to the Eternal Darkness - Erebus and the Black Night - Nyukta, they, combined, gave birth to the eternal Light - Ether and the bright Day - Hemera. Light spread throughout the world, and night and day began to replace each other.

The foremother of the gods, Gaia, gave birth to an equal Starry Sky - Uranus, which, like an endless cover, envelops the Earth. Gaia-Earth reaches out to him, raising sharp mountain peaks, giving birth, not yet united with Uranus, to the ever-noisy Sea.

Mother Earth gave birth to the Sky, Mountains and Sea, and they have no father.

Uranus took the fertile Gaia as his wife, and six sons and daughters - mighty titans - were born to the divine couple. Their firstborn, the son Ocean, deep, whose waters gently wash the Earth, shared his bed with Tethys, giving life to all the rivers that rush to the sea. The gray Ocean gave birth to three thousand sons - river gods - and three thousand daughters - oceanids, so that they would give joy and prosperity to all living things, filling them with moisture.

Another pair of titans - Hyperion and Theia - gave birth to the Sun-Helios, Selene-Moon and the beautiful Eos-Dawn. From Eos came the stars that sparkle in the sky at night, and the winds - the swift northern wind Boreas, the eastern wind Eurus, the moisture-filled southern Not and the gentle western wind Zephyr, bringing white foam clouds of rain.

Three more giants - the Cyclops - were also given birth to by Mother Gaia, who were similar to the titans in everything, but had only one eye in their forehead. Gaia also gave birth to three hundred-armed and fifty-headed giants, the Hecatoncheires, possessing immeasurable strength. Nothing could stand against them. They were so strong and terrible that Father Uranus hated them at first sight, and imprisoned them in the bowels of the Earth so that they could not be born again.

Mother Gaia suffered, the terrible burden contained in her depths crushed her. And then she called her children, telling them that Lord Uranus was the first to plan the crime, and punishment should fall on him. However, the titans were afraid to go against their father; only the cunning Cronus - the youngest of the titan children born by Gaia - agreed to help the Mother overthrow Uranus. With the iron sickle that Gaia handed over, Cronus cut off his Father’s reproductive member. From the drops of blood that spilled onto the ground, the terrible Erinyes were born, who knew no mercy. From the foam of the sea, which for a long time washed a piece of divine flesh, the beautiful Aphrodite, the goddess of love, was born.

The crippled Uranus became angry, cursing his children. The punishment for villainy was the terrible deities born of the Goddess of the Night: Tanata - death, Eridu - discord, Apatu - deception, Ker - destruction, Hypnos - a dream with a swarm of dark, heavy visions, Nemesis who knows no mercy - revenge for crimes. Nyukta gave birth to many deities that bring suffering into the world.

These gods brought horror, strife and misfortune into the world, where Cronus reigned on the throne of his father.

1. Pelasgian creation myth

In the beginning, Eurynome, the goddess of all things, rose naked from Chaos and found herself with nothing to fall back on. So she separated the sky from the sea and began her lonely dance over its waves. In her dance she moved towards the south, and a wind appeared behind her, which seemed quite suitable to her to begin creation. Turning around, she caught this north wind, squeezed it in her palms - and the great serpent Ophion appeared before her eyes. To warm herself, Eurynome danced more and more furiously, until desire awoke in Ophion, and he wrapped his arms around her divine loins to possess her. That is why the north wind, which is also called Boreas, fertilizes: that is why mares, turning their backs to this wind, give birth to foals without the help of a stallion 1. Eurynome conceived a child in the same way.

B. Then she turned into a dove, sat down like a hen on the waves and, after the allotted time had passed, laid the World Egg. At her request, Ophion wrapped himself around this egg seven times and hatched it until it split in two. And from it appeared everything that exists in the world: the sun, the moon, planets, stars, the earth and its mountains, rivers, trees, grass and living beings.

C. Eurynome and Ophion settled on Olympus, but he offended her by declaring himself the creator of the Universe. For this, she hit him on the head with her heel, knocked out all his teeth and banished him to the gloomy underground caves 2.

D. After this, the goddess created seven planetary forces, placing a Titanide and a Titan at the head of each. Theia and Hyperion owned the Sun; Phoebe and Atlas - by the Moon; Dione and Crius - by the planet Mars; Metis and Coi - by the planet Mercury; Themis and Eurymedon - by the planet Jupiter; Tethys and Ocean - by the planet Venus; Rhea and Cronus - planet Saturn 3. But the first man was Pelasgus, the ancestor of all Pelasgians; he came out of the land of Arcadia, and others came after him, whom he taught to make huts and eat acorns, and also make clothes from pork skins, in which the poor people of Euboea and Phocis still walk 4.

1 Pliny. Natural History VIII.67; Homer. Iliad XX. 223-224.

2 Only scattered fragments of this pre-Hellenic myth survive in Greek literature. The largest of them can be found in Apollonius of Rhodes (Argonautica, I. 496-505) and Tsets (scholia to Lycophron, 1191); however, this myth cannot be overlooked in the Orphic mysteries. The above version can be reconstructed on the basis of the Berossian fragment and the Phoenician cosmogony, which Philo of Byblos and Damascus quote; based on Canaanite elements in the Hebrew version of the creation myth, based on Hyginus (Myths 197 - see 62a); based on the Boeotian legend of the dragon's teeth (see 58.5); and also based on ancient ritual art. Evidence that all Pelasgians considered Ophion their ancestor is their collective sacrifices, peloria (Athenaeus. XIV.45.639-640), i.e. Ophion in their view is Pelor, or “great serpent.”

3 Apollodorus. I.3; Hesiod, Theogony, 133 et seq.; Stephen of Byzantium under the word Adana; Aristophanes. Birds, 692 et seq.; Clement of Rome, Sermons, VI.4.72; Prokl. Commentary on Plato's Timaeus, III, pp. 183, 26-189, 12 Diehl.

4 Pausanias. VIII.1.2.

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1. In this archaic religious system there were as yet neither gods nor priests, but there were universal goddesses and their priestesses, women being the dominant sex, and men their intimidated victims. Paternity was not recognized; the causes of conception were considered to be the wind, eaten beans, or an accidentally swallowed insect; inheritance went through the maternal line, and snakes were considered the embodiment of the dead.

2. Ophion, or Boreas, is the serpent demiurge from Hebrew and Egyptian myths; in ancient Mediterranean art, the goddess was constantly depicted with him. Pelasgians Pelasgians is the collective name for the ancient, pre-Greek population of Greece. Apparently their original area of ​​settlement was northern Greece; in the east of Thessaly there is the region of Pelasgiotis, and Zeus of Dodon was called Pelasgic. But even in antiquity, this name began to be used more and more widely, covering the ancient population of all of Greece, and over time also passed to the ancient population of Italy. Therefore, it is unlikely that this name should be associated with any specific people, as Graves does. There are several variants of the pedigree of Pelasgus - the mythical ancestor of the Pelasgians; in them he is most often associated with Arcadia or Argos. The difference between the Pelasgic creation myth and the next one, the Orphic one, is not very clearly visible in Graves. In Apollo of Rhodes himself, it is Orpheus who narrates about Eurynome and Ophion, albeit as a literary character, but nevertheless this is important evidence in favor of the fact that this is precisely the Orphic tradition of the origin of the world. And of course, Graves had no reason to rename this myth “Pelasgian.” Generally speaking, both the Serpent-Ophion and the egg are considered traditionally Orphic elements of the myth, influenced by the East., born from the earth and claiming to have sprung from the teeth of Ophion, were probably Neolithic people, bearers of the "painted pottery" culture. They came to mainland Greece around the middle of the fourth millennium BC. Population of the Early Helladic culture According to the accepted chronology, the Early Helladic period is ca. 2800 - approx. 2000 to. AD; Middle Helladic - approx. 2000 - approx. 1500 BC; Late Helladic - ca. 1500 - approx. 1200 BC, who migrated from Asia Minor through the Cyclades, discovered them in the Peloponnese seven centuries later. However, they easily began to call all the pre-Hellenic inhabitants of Greece Pelasgians. Thus, Euripides (according to Strabo V. II.4) indicates that the Pelasgians took the name of the Danaans after the arrival of Danae and his fifty daughters in Argos. The criticism of their promiscuity (Herodotus VI.137) probably refers to the pre-Hellenic custom of group marriage, Strabo in the same passage reports that the people who lived in Athens were known as "pelargi" ("storks"); it is possible that this was their totem bird.

3. The Titans and Titanides had their analogues in ancient Babylonian and Palestinian astrology in the form of deities who ruled the seven days of the sacred planetary week. They could have entered Greece through the Canaanite or Hittite colony that existed on the Isthmus of Corinth at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. (see 67.2), or even through the ancient Helladic people. But when Greece abandoned the cult of the Titans and the seven-day week ceased to appear in the official calendar, the number of Titans, according to some authors, reached twelve - perhaps the number of zodiac signs. Hesiod, Apollodorus, Stephen of Byzantium, Pausanias and others give conflicting lists of their names. In Babylonian myth, all the planetary rulers of the week, namely Shamash, Sin, Nergal, Bel, Beltida and Ninib, were male, with the exception of Beltida, the goddess of love. However, in the Germanic week, which the Celts adopted from the eastern Mediterranean, Sunday, Tuesday and Friday were under the jurisdiction of the Titanides, not the Titans. Based on the divine status of the pairs of daughters and sons of Aeolus (see 43.4), as well as the myth of Niobe (see 77.1), it can be assumed that when this system first reached pre-Hellenic Greece, it was decided to pair the Titanides and Titans in order to thus protect interests of the goddess. However, very soon, from the fourteen titans, only seven remained, of both sexes. The following functions were assigned to the planets: the Sun - for illumination, the Moon - for witchcraft, Mars - for growth, Mercury - for wisdom, Jupiter - for laws, Venus - for love, Saturn - for peace. The astrologers of classical Greece, like the Babylonians, dedicated the planets to Helios, Selene, Ares, Hermes (or Apollo), Zeus, Aphrodite and Cronus, whose Latin names given above formed the basis for the names of the days of the week in French, Italian and Spanish.

4. In the end, following the logic of the myth, Zeus swallowed up all the Titans, including the more ancient hypostasis of himself (cf. the worship of the Jews in Jerusalem to the transcendental god, consisting of all the planetary Rulers of the week, which was reflected in the creation of the Seven Candlesticks, as well as seven pillars of wisdom). The seven planetary pillars installed in Sparta next to the horse monument, according to Pausanias (III.20.9), were decorated in an ancient manner and could be associated with Egyptian rites introduced by the Pelasgians (Herodotus II.57). It is impossible to say with certainty who exactly - the Jews or the Egyptians - adopted this theory from each other, however, the statue of the so-called Heliopolitan Zeus, which A. B. Cook examines in his work “Zeus” (I.570-576), was in its own way Egyptian nature. Its front part was decorated with busts of the seven rulers of the planets, and the busts of the remaining Olympians decorated the back of the statue. A bronze figurine of this god was found in Spanish Tortosa, and a second one of the same type was found in Phoenician Byblos. A marble stele discovered in Marseilles depicts seven planetary busts, as well as a human-sized statue of Hermes, whose importance as the creator of astronomy was probably strongly emphasized. In Rome, according to Quintus Valerius Soranus, Jupiter was considered a transcendental god, although in this city, unlike Marseille, Byblos and, probably, Tortosa, the week was not observed. However, the Lords of the planets were never allowed to influence the official Olympic cult, since their nature was always perceived as unGreek (Herodotus I.131), and adherence to them was considered unpatriotic: Aristophanes (“Peace”, 403 et seq.) puts into the mouth of Trigaeus the words that that the moon and the “fraudster Helios” were preparing a conspiracy to treacherously give Greece into the hands of the barbarian Persians.

5. Pausanias's assertion that Pelasgus was the first man demonstrates the continuity of the tradition of Neolithic culture in Arcadia down to the classical period.

2. Homeric and Orphic creation myths

They say that all the gods and all living beings arose in the flow of the Ocean, which washes the whole world, and that the mother of all his children was Tethys 1.

B. However, the Orphics claim that the black-winged Night, the goddess before whom even Zeus 2 trembled, responded to the courtship of the Wind and laid a silver egg into the womb of Darkness; and that Eros, sometimes called Phanetus, was hatched from this egg and set the Universe in motion. Eros was bisexual, had golden wings behind his back, and from four heads sometimes a bull's roar or a lion's roar, the hiss of a snake or the bleating of a ram could be heard. Night, which named him Erikepai and Phaethon-Protogon 3, settled with him in the cave, manifesting itself in the form of a triad: Night, Order and Justice. Rhea's mother inevitably sat in front of the cave and beat a bronze tambourine, drawing people's attention to the oracles of the goddess. Fanet created the earth, sky, sun and moon, but the Universe continued to be ruled by a triad of goddesses until their scepter passed to Uranus 4.

1 Homer, Iliad XIV.201.

2 Ibid XIV.261.

3 Orphic fragments 60, 61 and 70.

4 Ibid 86.

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1. The Homeric myth is a variant of the Pelasgian creation myth (see 1.2), since Tethys rose above the sea like Eurynome, and the Ocean encircled the universe like Ophion.

2. The Orphic myth is another version, influenced by the later mystical teaching about love (Eros) and theories concerning the actual relations between the sexes. The silver egg of the night is the moon, since silver was considered a lunar metal. Like Erikepai, the god of love Fanet is a loudly buzzing celestial bee, the son of the Great Goddess (see 18.4). The Hive was considered an ideal republic; he also confirmed the myth of the Golden Age, when honey dripped straight from the trees (see 5. b). Rhea beat a bronze tambourine to prevent bees from swarming in in the wrong place and scare away evil forces. In the mysteries, an imitation of the roar of a bull served to scare away evil forces. Like Phaeton-Protogonus ("primordial shining one"), Phanetus was the sun, which the Orphics made a symbol of light (see 28. d), and his four heads corresponded to beings symbolizing the four seasons. According to Macrobius, the Colophonian oracle identified Phanetus with the transcendental god Yao: Zeus (ram) - Spring; Helios (leo) - Summer; Hades (snake) - Winter; Dionysus (bull) - New Year.

With the establishment of patriarchy, the scepter of Night passed to Uranus.

3. Olympic myth of creation

At the beginning of all things, Mother Earth arose from Chaos and gave birth to a son, Uranus, in a dream. Looking tenderly at his sleeping mother from the heights of the mountain peaks, he rained fertilizing rain on her perineum, and she gave birth to herbs, flowers and trees, as well as their corresponding animals and birds. From the same rain, rivers began to flow, and all the depressions filled with water, forming lakes and rivers.

B. Her first children were half-humans - the hundred-armed giants Briareus, Gies and Kott. Then three wild one-eyed Cyclopes appeared - builders of giant walls and forges, first in Thrace, and then in Crete and Lycia 1, whose sons Odysseus met in Sicily 2. Their names were Bront, Sterop and Arg. When Apollo killed them in revenge for the death of Asclepius, their shadows settled in the dark caves of Mount Etna.

C. The Libyans, however, claim that Garamant was born before the hundred-handed and that when he rose from the valley, he made a sacrifice to mother earth in the form of a sweet acorn 3 .

1 Apollodorus I.1-2; Euripides, Chrysippus. Quote From: Sextus Empiricus. Against physicists II.315; Lucretius I.250 and II.991 et seq.

2 Homer. Odyssey IX.106-566 et seq.

3 Apollonius of Rhodes IV. 1493 et ​​seq.

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1. The patriarchal myth of Uranus received official recognition within the framework of the Olympian religious system. Uranus, whose name came to mean "sky", seems to have won the position of prime father, since he was identified with the shepherd god Varuna, belonging to the male triad of the Aryans; the Greek name for god comes from the shape masculine the words Ur-ana (“queen of the mountains,” “queen of summer,” “queen of the winds,” or “queen of the wild bulls”) are the goddess in her orgiastic solstice form. The marriage of Uranus to mother earth points to the early Hellenic invasion of northern Greece, which allowed the people who worshiped Varuna to claim that their god was the father of the local tribes, while acknowledging that he was the son of mother earth. A mention of the fact that earth and heaven parted from each other due to mortal enmity, but then amicably united, can be found in Euripides (“Wise Melanippe”, fr. 484) and in Apollonius of Rhodes (“Argonautica” I. 496-498 ). The mortal enmity must be an indication of the clash of patriarchal and matriarchal principles as a result of the Hellenic invasion. Gies ("earth-born") had another form of the name - gigas ("giant"), and giants in myth are associated with the mountains of northern Greece. Briareus (“strong”) was also called Aegeon (Iliad I. 403), and the people who worshiped him could have been the Livio-Thracians, whose goat goddess Aegis (see 8.1) gave the name Aegean Sea. Cotto may have been an eponym for the Cotti, who worshiped the orgiastic Cotitto, whose cult from Thrace spread throughout northeastern Europe.

2. The Cyclopes are probably reminiscent of the community of ancient Helladic bronze-smiths. Cyclops means "round-eyed"; it is quite possible that they had a tattoo on their forehead in the form of concentric circles in honor of the sun, the source of fire in their furnaces; the Thracians continued to tattoo until the classical era (see 28.1). Concentric circles are part of the blacksmith's mysteries: to forge a bowl, helmet or ritual mask, blacksmiths marked the flat metal disk they were working by drawing circles diverging from the center. The Cyclopes could also have been one-eyed in the sense that blacksmiths often covered one eye with something to protect it from flying sparks. Later, these connections were forgotten and mythographers, showing enough imagination, made the Cyclopes the inhabitants of the caves of the Etna volcano, perhaps in order to explain the appearance of fire and smoke above the crater (see 35.1). There were close cultural ties between Thrace, Crete and Lycia, and throughout these areas the Cyclopes were well known. Early Helladic culture even spread to Sicily, but it is possible that the presence of Cyclopes in Sicily (as first suggested by S. Butler Butler S. (Butler, 1835-1902) - English scientist, creator of the theory according to which the author of the Odyssey is a woman, namely the heroine of the poem Nausicaä (see: The authoress of the Odyssey, 1897).) is explained by the Sicilian origin of the Odyssey (see 170.b). The names Bront, Sterop and Arg (“thunder”, “lightning” and “Perun”) appeared later.

3. Garamante is the eponymous ancestor of the Libyan Garamantes, who inhabited the Jado oasis south of Fezzan and in 19 BC. conquered by the Roman commander L. Balbus. They presumably belonged to the Cushitic Berbers. In the II century. AD They were conquered by the Lemta Berber tribe, which had a matrilineal organization, and later mixed with the black population of the southern bank of the upper Niger, adopting their language. Now the descendants of the Garamantes live only in one village called Koromantse. Garamante comes from the words gara, man and te, meaning "people of the land of Gara". It is possible that Gara goes back to the name of the goddess Ker, Kre or Kar (see 82.6 and 86.2), after whom, in particular, the Carians called themselves and who was traditionally associated with beekeeping. Edible acorns (traditional food of the population of the ancient world before the appearance of grain crops) grew in Libya. The Garamante settlement called “Ammon” united with the northern Greek settlement of Dodona into a religious league, which, according to F. Petrie. Petrie F. (Petrie, 1853-1942) - famous English archaeologist. Studied Stonehenge, ancient metrology. Since 1880 for many years conducted systematic excavations in Egypt, and became especially famous for his excavations of Memphis. At the end of his life he conducted excavations in Palestine., could have existed as early as the third millennium BC. Both settlements had ancient oracle oaks (see 57.a). Herodotus characterizes the Garamantes as a peaceful but powerful people who grew grain and grazed livestock (IV. 174 and 183).

4. Two philosophical creation myths

They say that the first was Darkness, and from the Darkness arose Chaos. From the union of Darkness with Chaos, Night, Day, Erebus and Air emerged.

From the union of Night with Erebus arose Doom, Old Age, Death, Murder, Voluptuousness, Sleep, Dreams, Quarrel, Sadness, Annoyance, Nemesis, Joy, Friendship, Compassion, Moirai and Hesperides.

From the union of Air and Day arose Gaia-Earth, Sky and Sea.

From the union of Air and Gaia-Earth arose Fear, Tiring Labor, Rage, Enmity, Deception, Oaths, Blinding of the Soul, Intemperance, Controversy, Oblivion, Sorrow, Pride, Battles, as well as Ocean, Metis and the Titans, Tartarus and the Three Erinyes, or furies.

From the union of Earth and Tartarus, giants arose.

B. From the union of the Sea and its rivers the Nereids arose. However, there were no mortal people until, with the permission of the goddess Athena, Prometheus, the son of Iapetus, molded them in the image of the gods. For this purpose, he took earth and water from Panope (Phocis), and Athena breathed life into them 1 .

C. It is also said that the god of all things - whoever he may be, for some call him "Nature" - suddenly emerging from Chaos, separated the earth from the heavens, the water from the earth, and the upper air from the lower. He brought the elements into the order that we see now. He divided the earth into zones: very hot, very cold and moderate; He created valleys and mountains on it and clothed them with grass and trees. He established a rotating firmament above the earth, strewn it with stars and assigned abodes to the four winds. He also populated the waters with fish, the earth with animals, and sent the sun, moon and five planets into the sky. Finally, he created a man who - one of all animals - turned his gaze to the heavens and saw the sun, moon and stars, unless it is true that Prometheus, the son of Japetus, himself fashioned the first people from earth and water, and the soul in them appeared thanks to the wandering divine elements preserved from the time of first creation 2.

1 Hesiod. Theogony 211-232; Apollodorus I.7.1; Lucian. Prometheus or Caucasus 13; Pausanias X.4.3.

2 Ovid. Metamorphoses I.1-88.

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1. In Hesiod’s “Theogony,” on which the first of these philosophical myths is based, the list of abstractions for some reason suddenly contains Nereids, titans and giants, which the author considered necessary to include here.

2. The second myth, which is found only in Ovid, was borrowed by later Greeks from the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh, the introductory part of which tells how the goddess Aruru created the first man, Zabani, from a piece of clay. However, although Zeus was the world god for many centuries, mythographers were forced to admit that the creator of all things could well have been a creature feminine. The ancient Jews, who inherited the creation myth from the “Pelasgians,” or Canaanites, felt a similar bewilderment: in the book of Genesis, the feminine “spirit of God” sits like a hen on the surface of the waters, although the World Egg is not mentioned. Eve, "the mother of all living things," must strike the serpent on the head, although he is not sent to the underworld until the end of the world.

3. Similarly, in the Talmudic version of the creation myth, the Archangel Michael - an analogue of Prometheus - creates Adam from dust not by order of the mother of all living things, but by order of Yahweh, who then breathes life into man and gives him to Eve; she, like Pandora, becomes the cause of all the misfortunes of mankind (see 39. j).

4. Greek philosophers distinguished man, created by Prometheus, from imperfect earthly creatures, partially destroyed by Zeus, and partially washed away by the Deucalion flood (see 38. p). The same distinction can be found in the Bible (Gen. 6:2-4), where the “sons of God” are contrasted with the “daughters of men” whom they marry.

5. The Epic of Gilgamesh tablets are fairly late in date and very uncertain. In them, the "Shining Mother of the Void" is declared to be the creator of everything, with Aruru being just one of the goddess's many titles. The main theme of the myth is the confusing rebellion against the matriarchal order of the goddess, raised by the gods of the new patriarchal order. Marduk - main god city ​​of Babylon - ultimately defeats the goddess, the sea hydra in the form of Tiamat, after which he rather brazenly declares that it was he, and no one else, who created grass, earth, rivers, animals, birds and humanity. Marduk, this upstart god, was not the first to claim victory over Tiamat and the creation of the world. Before him, a similar claim was made by the god Bel, whose name is a masculine form of Belet-ili, the Sumerian mother goddess. The transition from matriarchy to patriarchy in Mesopotamia, as in a number of other places, probably took the form of a coup by the queen's co-husband, to whom she transferred executive power, allowing him to take her name, clothes and sacred objects (see 136.4).

5. Five centuries of humanity

Some deny that Prometheus created humans or that humans grew from the dragon's teeth. They say that the earth gave birth to men as the best of its fruits precisely in Attica 1 and that the first man was Alalcomeneus, who grew up near Lake Copaides in Boeotia even before the moon appeared. He gave advice to Zeus when he quarreled with Hera, and raised Athena when she was still just a girl 2.

B. These people were called the Golden Generation and worshiped Cronus. They lived without worries and labor, eating acorns, wild fruits and honey that dripped straight from the trees, drinking sheep and goat milk, never growing old, dancing and laughing a lot. Death was no more terrible for them than sleep. There are no longer any of them left, but their spirits still exist: they have become benign demons, givers of good luck and defenders of justice.

C. Then there were the people of the Silver Age, who ate bread, which was also of divine origin. These people obeyed their mothers in everything and did not dare to disobey them, although they lived to be a hundred years old. They were grumpy and ignorant and never made sacrifices to the gods, but they were good because they did not fight with each other. Zeus destroyed them all.

D. Then came the people of the Copper Age, who were in no way similar to the former; they were all armed with copper weapons. They ate meat and bread, loved to fight, and were rude and cruel. The Black Death took them all.

E. The fourth people were also people of copper, but they differed from their predecessors in nobility and kindness, since they were children of gods and mortal mothers. They covered themselves with glory during the siege of Thebes, during the voyage of the Argonauts and during the Trojan War. They became heroes, and “the islands are inhabited by the Blessed.”

F. The fifth were the current iron people, the unworthy descendants of the fourth generation. They became embittered, unjust, evil, wicked towards their parents and deceitful 3.

1 Plato. Menexen 237d-238a.

2 Hippolytus. Refutation of all heresies V.6.3.; Eusebius, On the Gospel Preparation III.1.3.

3 Hesiod. Works and days 109-201 and scholia.

* * *

1. Although the myth of the Golden Age stems from the tradition of tribal worship of the bee-goddess, the savagery of this period, which preceded the advent of agriculture, had already been forgotten by the time of Hesiod, leaving only the idealistic conviction that people had once lived in harmony, as bees (see 2.2). Hesiod was a peasant with a small plot of land, and his difficult life made him gloomy and pessimistic. Myth about Silver Age bears traces of matriarchy, similar to those that existed in the classical era among the Picts and the Black Sea Mossinians (see 151.e), as well as among individual tribes on the Balearic Islands and on the coast of the Gulf of Sirte. Men were still considered the despised sex, but agriculture had already emerged and wars were fought infrequently. The third people were the ancient Hellenes: Bronze Age shepherds who worshiped the goddess and her son Poseidon, their cult tree being ash (see 6.4 and 57.1). The fourth people were the warrior kings of the Mycenaean era. The fifth people were the Dorians of the 12th century. BC, who used iron tools and destroyed the Mycenaean civilization.

Alalcomeneus is a fictitious character whose name is the masculine form of Alalcomeneus, an epithet of Athena (Iliad IV.8) as the patroness of Boeotia. He instilled patriarchal dogma that no woman, not even a goddess, was capable of intelligent action without male advice.

Greece and myths- the concept is inseparable. It seems that everything in this country - every plant, river or mountain - has its own fabulous story, passed down from generation to generation. And this is no coincidence, since myths reflect in allegorical form the entire structure of the world and the philosophy of life of the ancient Greeks.

And the name Hellas () itself also has a mythological origin, because The mythical patriarch Hellenes is considered the ancestor of all Hellenes (Greeks). The names of the mountain ranges crossing Greece, the seas washing its shores, the islands scattered in these seas, lakes and rivers are associated with myths. As well as the names of regions, cities and villages. I’ll tell you about some stories that I really want to believe. It should be added that there are so many myths that even for the same toponym there are several versions. Because myths are oral creativity, and have come down to us already recorded by ancient writers and historians, the most famous of whom is Homer. I'll start with the name Balkan Peninsula , on which Greece is located. The current "Balkan" is of Turkish origin, meaning simply "mountain range". But earlier the peninsula was named after Amos, the son of the god Boreas and the nymph Orifinas. The sister and at the same time the wife of Emos was called Rodopi. Their love was so strong that they addressed each other by the names of the supreme gods, Zeus and Hera. For their insolence they were punished by being turned into mountains.

History of the origin of the toponym Peloponnese, peninsulas on peninsulas, no less cruel. According to legend, the ruler of this part of Greece was Pelops, the son of Tantalus, who in his youth was offered by his bloodthirsty father as a dinner to the gods. But the gods did not eat his body, and, having resurrected the young man, left him on Olympus. And Tantalus was doomed to eternal (tantalum) torment. Further, Pelops himself either descends to live among the people, or is forced to flee, but subsequently becomes the king of Olympia, Arcadia and the entire peninsula, which was named in his honor. By the way, his descendant was the famous Homeric king Agamemnon, the leader of the troops that besieged Troy.

One of the most beautiful islands in Greece Kerkyra(or Corfu) has a romantic history of the origin of its name: Poseidon, the god of the seas, fell in love with the young beauty Corcyra, daughter of Asopus and the nymph Metope, kidnapped her and hid her on a hitherto unknown island, which he named after her. Corkyra eventually turned into Kerkyra. Another story about lovers remains in the myths about the island Rhodes. This name was borne by the daughter of Poseidon and Amphitrite (or Aphrodite), who was the beloved of the Sun god Helios. It was on this island, freshly born from the foam, that the nymph Rhodes united in marriage with her beloved.

Origin of the name Aegean Sea Many people know it thanks to the good Soviet cartoon. The story is this: Theseus, the son of the Athenian king Aegeus, went to Crete to fight the monster there - the Minotaur. In case of victory, he promised his father to raise white sails on his ship, and in case of defeat, black ones. With the help of the Cretan princess, he defeated the Minotaur and went home, forgetting to change the sails. Seeing his son's mourning ship in the distance, Aegeus, out of grief, threw himself off a cliff into the sea, which was named after him.

Ionian Sea bears the name of the princess and at the same time priestess Io, who was seduced by the supreme god Zeus. However, his wife Hera decided to take revenge on the girl by turning her into a white cow and then killing her at the hands of the giant Argos. With the help of the god Hermes, Io managed to escape. She found refuge and human form in Egypt, for which she had to swim across the sea, which is called the Ionian.

Myths Ancient Greece They also tell about the origin of the universe, the relationship to the divine and human passions. They are of interest to us, primarily because they give us an understanding of how European culture was formed.

Dear readers!
In November 2012, I published an essay “Hercules - Classics of Mythology or Mythology of the Classics?”, which aroused great interest from readers and a sharp reaction from the authorities, represented by the TV channel TV 3. And this is not surprising, since “my Hercules” from a legendary hero turned into Antihero. But I claim that Hercules is an Anti-Hero, a cold-blooded, maniacal killer not only of warriors, but also of women and children, a thief, robber and brigand. Who needed to make Hercules a Hero? The answer to this question can be found in the history of ancient Greece. Hercules was turned into a Hero and mythologized by the Dorians, the conquerors of ancient Greece. Their new Hero, Hercules, was supposed to “justify” the countless cruel crimes of the Dorians. And for the defeated Achaeans (one of the main ancient Greek tribes), Hercules was a cruel conqueror who ravaged dozens of cities and killed many warriors, kings, women, children and old people.
These are the anti-heroes-hercules that have appeared in Ukraine these days, on the Maidan. And it’s scary that the USA and Europe are doing everything to turn these murderers into new “Hero-Hercules...”
That's why I decided to remind everyone about Hercules the Antihero in a new, edited version of my essay. (Published in the almanac “Swan” No. 704 dated March 23, 2014, USA, Boston)

HERCULES ANTIHERO

Is there any other mythological hero as fundamental, as majestic, as revered, as authoritative and as indisputable as Hercules? Probably not. Hercules is a classic of ancient Greek mythology. Hercules is a modern classic, since the “glorious exploits” of Hercules have survived to this day, they are studied in literature lessons in the sixth grade of all Russian schools. Teachers " highest category» are developing teaching methods and lesson plans for studying the exploits of Hercules, so that our children absorb the spirit of the hero and learn life from his actions.
But heroes, just like antiheroes, are created by people. People put heroes on pedestals, and people knock heroes off their pedestals. And this is the same classic of the genre.
The author is not going to rewrite classical mythology, and certainly not to overthrow Hercules from his pedestal. Today this is (alas) impossible. Hercules is a Hero for the Ages (?) But no one deprived the author of the opportunity for a creative approach to established views on classical historical mythology. Having carefully studied life path Hercules, the author realized that irony, sarcasm and even disrespect towards the legendary “hero” are acceptable and justified. Moreover, the author takes the liberty of asserting that the Hero Hercules, erected on a pedestal, is in fact an Anti-Hero. Are you ready for this take on the classic Hero? By the way, Hercules simply means “hero”. Our “hero” from birth had the name Alcides, which he later abandoned (more on this below), becoming simply Hercules.
If you carefully (as a researcher) study the life path and description of the exploits of Hercules, known to us from the legends and myths of ancient Greece, according to Homer and Ovid, you can discover amazing things. The three main virtues of Hercules are clearly revealed.
First virtue. Uncomplaining servility before King Ephrystheus, who hired Alcides-Hercules to serve, giving him the nickname “Hercules.” But why did the son of Zeus begin to serve the cowardly and insignificant king Ephrystheus? He had a lot to say about this serious reason. After the murder of his wife and children (three sons) in Fifa, and at the same time his nephews (mythology explains this as an attack of madness sent down on him by the Goddess Hero), Hercules fled from justice to Mycenae, where he was ruled cousin Efrysfey. The king of Mycenae knew what a terrible crime Hercules had committed and, taking him into his service, openly and with impunity mocked him. No matter how King Eurystheus mocked Hercules, he gave him all sorts of absurd orders. Hercules humiliatedly endured everything and complied with it meekly, just to avoid justice. Just look at the 11th labor of Hercules, when Eurystheus sent him to the underworld of Hades, for terrible dog Kerberus (Cerberus), and only to order Hercules to take Cerberus back to hell. What about the eighth feat? Was it worth sailing to distant lands for the horses of Diomedes, stealing the horses, killing a bunch of people there, including King Diomedes, so that King Eurystheus would immediately release the horses? Well, would a self-respecting hero endure such bullying? But Hercules endured, and it’s clear why - to avoid justice for the murder of his family. And remember the story of Hercules’ slavery to Queen Lydia Omphale, to whom he was profitably sold by Euphrystheus for three whole years. And all three years the queen openly mocked Hercules. For all three years, the hero Hercules wore a woman’s dress and sat at the loom! But Hercules, like a slave, resignedly endured these humiliations.
Second virtue. Tendency to theft and robbery. Hercules stole Diomedes' horses. He stole the cows of the giant Geryon (the 10th labor of Hercules, in which Helios the Sun helped him!). It should be noted that if any of the Greek kings lost cattle, everyone immediately blamed Hercules for the theft. Such was the glorious reputation of Hercules! And the story with Hippolyta’s belt (9th labor)? In fact, Hercules went to the land of the Amazons in order to either steal the belt or kill all the Amazons and take possession of the belt. From mythology it is clear that Hercules killed the Amazons. Is it heroic to fight with women? But in ancient Greece such acts were considered “feats”, since then all of Greece lived by robberies, armed attacks and wars.
Third virtue. Manic vindictiveness and cruelty, developing into a manic passion for murder. This is perhaps the main feature of Hercules’ nature. This “virtue” manifested itself in Hercules from childhood. Remember how the boy Hercules hit his music teacher on the head with a lyre (something like a lyre) and killed him. Why did he kill? And because the teacher dared to punish a capricious student. Well, how do you like this “innocent” childish prank that went unpunished?
We already know that as a young man, in his first marriage to Megara, Hercules, in a fit of rage, killed his children - three sons, and then, at the same time, killed the children of his brother Iphicles. This sick tendency to kill children manifested itself in Hercules in his third marriage to Deenira. The little boy poured water on Hercules' hands, intended for washing his feet. The penalty for the mistake was severe. Hercules hit the boy so hard that the baby fell dead. And this cold-blooded murder went unpunished.
Remember why Hercules killed King Augeas? Only because he did not receive the promised payment from him for cleaning the stables. Carefully re-read the sixth labor of Hercules, and you will see that the river waters, which cleansed the stables, also destroyed them. And do you have to pay for this kind of work? And for refusing to pay - do you have to kill? Do you remember how you killed him? In a “fair” fight - with a poisoned deadly arrow! Hercules at the same time dealt with all of Augeas’s allies. He killed the king of Pylos, Neleus, and his eleven sons. The most amazing thing is that in honor of his “glorious victories” Hercules established the Olympic Games! The same Olympic Games that are held on our planet every four years.
What about the murder of King Diomedes? King Ephrystheus ordered Hercules to steal the famous horses that devour people from King Diomedes. Stealing, robbing, killing - this was what the “hero” Hercules liked. The horses were stolen, and Poor Diomedes fell from the sword of Hercules, only because he tried to recapture his wonderful horses, which Hercules stole from him. And the fate of King Leomedon? The king did not want to give the horses to Hercules, which he liked so much, and the hero harbored a terrible grudge against the king. After some time, Hercules specifically attacked Troy to kill King Leomedon - and he killed! And the poor Sicilian king Eryx? Why did he die at the hands of Hercules? And because he did not want to return to the hero one cow that had strayed from the herd of cows stolen by Hercules from the giant Geryon! And the twelfth feat of the hero? When Hercules headed to the gardens of the Hesperides to steal golden apples that belonged to Hera herself, the wife of Zeus (!), he met the prophetic old man Nereus on his way. Only Nereus knew the way to the Hesperides Gardens, but he did not want to reveal this secret to Hercules. Well, in vain. You made it worse for yourself. Hercules tormented the old man so much, tormented and tortured him so much that the poor old man split. Truly a heroic feat! Once, in a fit of rage, Hercules killed his best friend Ifita. How Hercules killed the good old centaur Chiron, you remember - with a poisoned arrow, intoxicated with wine. In fact, poisoned arrows were Hercules' favorite "tool". You can kill anyone without any problems. The main thing is to become a winner! Even mythological stories do not whitewash the “cowardice” of Hercules. Thus, the king of Lydia Lycus argued that Hercules was a coward, avoiding a fair fight and preferring to kill his opponents with his poisoned arrows.
But modern ideologists from history and mythology have their own view of the murders committed by Hercules, and they convey this view, which should be “the only true one,” to the people with the help of channel TV 3 (12/26/2012 “Battles of the Gods. Hercules”) . Just look at their assertion that the first (and almost the only) person Hercules killed was King Diomedes, whose horses Hercules stole. At the same time, it was especially emphasized that the “FIRST MAN” whom Hercules killed was Diomedes. “Smart and honest” ideologists completely forgot about the early murders of Hercules: King Augeas; King Neleus and his eleven sons; kings Leomedont and Eryx; a little boy who poured water on Hercules’ hands, intended for washing his feet, and several dozen more warriors who defended their kings... Not a word about this!
What confuses me most is that Hercules killed his compatriots right and left. He did not defend Greece from enemies, like the Russian Hero Ilya Muromets, he terrorized Greece, but went down in History as the greatest ancient Greek hero. Why is this so? There is a historical explanation for this. Such great hero needed by the Dorians, one of the main ancient Greek tribes. At the turn of the 13th-12th centuries BC, the Dorians invaded the territory of Central Greece (“Dorian Invasion”), which marked the beginning of the colonization of Greece. At this time, the mythologization of Hercules by the Dorians as a glorious and invincible hero took place. And for the defeated Achaeans (one of the main ancient Greek tribes), Hercules was a cruel conqueror who ravaged dozens of cities and killed many warriors, kings, women, children and old people.
I'm already tired of listing all the murders of Hercules. Yes, to be honest, I just don’t feel at ease. The fact that Hercules had a seriously disturbed psyche is beyond doubt. Medical fact. Even Hercules himself realized that attacks of madness were coming over him. It would be naive to believe that the mind of Hercules was eclipsed by the wrath of the Goddess Hera. This was “normal”, natural behavior of a warrior, a “hero” in conditions of continuous wars and robberies. Today, Hercules would be recognized as a murderous maniac, extremely dangerous to society, but not a hero worthy of imitation.
Now, let’s briefly analyze the exploits of Hercules and try to objectively evaluate his heroism. The first feat was strangling the Nemean lion. Counted. Hero.
The second labor is the Lernaean Hydra. In place of each severed head, the hydra immediately grew two new ones. Hercules was exhausted from fighting the hydra. In addition, he was grabbed by the leg by a monstrous cancer. And Hercules could not stand it, and called his friend Iolaus to help. Iolaus killed the crab. And then he began to burn the hydra’s necks, from which Hercules knocked off the heads. That's how the hydra was defeated. I think that Iolaus showed real heroism and ingenuity, and the glory went to Hercules. Any objective judge would not chalk this victory up to Hercules.
The third feat is the Stymphalian birds. Monstrous birds made of copper and bronze, shooting deadly feather arrows. Remember how Pallas Athena helped Hercules? She gave Hercules two copper tympani. Their roar scared the birds so much that they flew away somewhere forever. (There is a version that they flew to Georgia. That is why Zurab Tsereteli loves working with bronze so much). So who is the hero: Hercules or Pallas Athena?
The fourth feat is the Kerenean Hind. Amazing animal with golden horns. Probably the only copy in the Red Book. Hercules did not spare either an arrow or a doe for the sake of the next “feat”.
The fifth feat is the Erymanthian boar and the centaurs. Well, Hercules killed the boar. At the same time he killed his friend the centaur Chiron with a poisoned arrow. Feat? The sixth feat is the barnyard of King Augeas. We have already dealt with this “feat”. A lot of crap... manure, a lot of blood, brutal murders committed by Hercules, and on the plus side - the Olympic Games. And thanks for that.
The seventh labor is the Cretan bull. Hercules swam from Crete to Greece on a mad bull. His king Eurystheus set the bull free, and the mad bull began to rush throughout Greece! I really don’t know, maybe in Greece swimming on a mad bull is really considered a feat?
The eighth labor is the horses of Diomedes. Already figured it out. One can only add that the man-eating horses devoured Hercules’ beloved friend Abdera, the son of Hermes. Stealing horses. Murder of Diomedes. Death of a friend. Feat? Crime! But mythology tries to whitewash Hercules: he, they say, “was forced to kill the villain Diomedes, who fed people to his terrible horses.” So Hercules saved people from two evils at once. You have to be very naive to perceive this act of Hercules as a heroic feat.
The ninth labor is Hippolyta's belt. If anyone thinks that killing women is a feat, then count this “feat” to Hercules.
The tenth labor is the cows of Geryon. Hercules stole a herd of cows from the giant Geryon, and “courageously” killed the giant himself with a poisoned deadly arrow. A little later, Hercules killed the Sicilian king Eryx for appropriating one cow for himself. A remarkable feat. Theft and murder went unpunished.
Eleventh labor - Cerberus. This has already been mentioned. Hercules pulled Cerberus out of hell and then brought him back to hell. A dubious feat for sane people, but “unparalleled heroism and fearlessness” for those who cultivated the image of the hero Hercules.
The twelfth labor is the theft of the apples of the Hesperides. All that is impressive in this “feat” of Hercules is his torture of the old man Nereus, from whom he knocked out the road to the Hesperides.
I wonder how many labors of Hercules you counted? More than one?
What do you think now about the classic mythology genre? Do you still see Hercules as an unquestioned hero? Do you want to be like Hercules? But our children in literature lessons in schools are presented with Hercules as a hero from whom they should follow an example...
In conclusion, it is absolutely necessary to dwell on last minutes life of Hercules. How did he die? This question was answered 2500 years ago by the Athenian playwright and tragedian Sophocles (496-406 BC) in his tragedy “The Trachian Women”. Let me remind you of the plot of this Sophoclean tragedy in my brief poetic summary:

"FUCKYANKS"
The tragedy of Sophocles, Athenian playwright and tragedian (496-406 BC)

Who are the “fucking girls”? That's what the girls from the city of Trakh'ina were called,
that they lived in this small, remote place.
Here the hero Hercules ended his life,
It all happened, as Sophocles says, something like this:
When, in the service of Ephrystheus, an insignificant king,
Hercules performed his deeds (only wasting his strength in vain),
in the kingdom of the dead he met the mighty Mele "agr,
who noted with dignity the exploits of our hero
and Dejanira, his sister, proposed to Hercules as a wife.
Hercules went to Dejanira to marry her,
but the river god Ahela decided to take away his “daughter-in-law.”
A battle took place between them, in which Hercules won
and without much difficulty he received Deianira as his wife.
When Hercules and his wife were returning home,
he met a mighty centaur at the crossing.
The centaur really liked Deianira,
and he decided that he would get her by force.
But Hercules had arrows with deadly poison.
The centaur was unlucky to be nearby.
Hercules struck the centaur with a poisoned arrow.
(I didn’t want to fight him, I was afraid that I wouldn’t have enough strength.
How can one not remember what King Lycus said about Hercules:
“Hercules is not a hero, but a coward. He will only see danger, in an instant
kills the enemy with a poisoned arrow,
but he doesn’t know the fair rules of the fight”).
The centaur, dying, gave his blood to Deianira
and at the same time he said to her:
“If Hercules suddenly falls in love with another,
smear his clothes with my blood, and he will forget the other.”
One day, Hercules was visiting Ehalia and his time there was not in vain.
Hercules took a liking to the young maiden Iola - the daughter of the king.
Hercules demanded that his daughter be given to himself as a concubine,
but the king’s son did not allow his sister to be taken away:
“You, pathetic slave, who served the insignificant king so resignedly for 12 years,
You don’t deserve the king’s daughter, my sister!”
Hercules was offended and he threw the king’s son off the wall.
Of course he killed. How not to admit your guilt.
And again he fell into slavery for three years
(For some reason, no one in Trakhino found out about this).
And the faithful wife waits for her husband patiently, doomedly,
enthusiastically embroidering my husband's clothes.
Three years have passed. Hercules became free.
Revenge! Revenge! And he killed everyone in Ehalia. Like this!
And he captured young women (they would be suitable as concubines)
and, of course, they will be useful as slaves!).
He sent the concubines to Trakhina,
and he told his wife and the messenger,
that very soon he will return on his own,
only the sacrifices will be celebrated in heaven.
And one of the newly sent slaves told his wife,
that among the captives there is Iola, whom Hercules has already tasted.
Then jealousy flared up in Deianira’s heart,
She sent a messenger with a cloak to Hercules,
and sprinkled the cloak of the murdered centaur with blood,
and so that Hercules would not stop loving her, she asked Heaven.
I didn’t know that the blood was poisoned with a deadly poison,
but I was only thinking about Hercules being nearby.

Hercules lit a fire for sacrifices,
when a messenger with a cloak from the house galloped up to him.
Our hero threw his cloak over his naked torso,
the poison came to life from the fire of the fire, penetrated the hero and knocked him to the ground.
And then Hercules realized that the poison of his arrow had returned to him,
cruel, unbearable pain turned around.
Monstrous pain burns him,
our hero suffers in cruel torment,
I can't bear the pain anymore,
and he ordered his friends to burn himself on a sacrificial pyre.

This is how our hero died.
Having learned about this, the wife committed suicide.
And the son of Hercules took young Iola as his wife,
so before his death Hercules ordered his son...

This is how Hercules “left us” with a completely unheroic death. This episode is also reflected in the mythology of Hercules (“The Death of Hercules”, “The Poisoned Cloak of Hercules” and is depicted in the paintings of great artists (for example, the painting by Francisco de Subaran “The Death of Hercules”, Museo del Prado)

We open the book by N.A. Kun “Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece” (1957 edition) on page 167 and read: “Hercules, having erected an altar, was already preparing to make sacrifices to the gods and, first of all, to his father Zeus, when Lichas came with a cloak. The son of Zeus put on his cloak and began the sacrifice. .. The fire that burned hotly on the altars warmed the body of Hercules... and the poisoned cloak stuck to the body of Hercules. Convulsions ran through Hercules’ body, and he felt terrible pain...” The cloak was poisoned with a deadly poison. Hercules experienced inhuman torment and begged his friends to kill him. It is better to die quickly than to suffer painfully indefinitely. Friends fulfilled the will of Hercules and burned him at the stake. This is what really happened. Hercules did not intend to die and commit self-immolation. He was going to live and live forever! The brutal poisoning of Hercules was an accident.
But modern ideologists from history are trying to present the death of Hercules as the greatest, the courageous act of Hercules, as a conscious act of self-immolation. Like, Hercules could no longer bear his cross as a murderer of family, children, innocent people, and therefore made the courageous decision to commit an act of self-immolation in order to cleanse himself of filth, of his sins. And a special program on TV 3 was dedicated to this frank ideological concoction (on December 26, 2012 at 20:45, the documentary “Battle of the Gods. Hercules”). Who really needs, for educational, ideological purposes, of course, Hercules to look like a shining example to be emulated as “Hero of the Soviet Union.” When mythology becomes a tool of ideology, it begins to be rewritten. Maybe N.A.’s book is already getting ready for re-release. Kun's "Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece", into which the necessary ideological adjustments will be made?
P.S. Don’t you think that today in Ukraine, on the Maidan, new “heroes” like Hercules are being born?

19.11.2012 - 05.11.2014

And now that the reader has seen the new Hercules, I offer nine funny tales about the exploits of the hero Hercules. I think that the author (me) has every reason and, of course, the creative right, to treat the exploits of Hercules with humor and irony.

Yours, Alexey Leonidovich Gorshkov

TALES ABOUT THE EXPLOITS OF THE BOGATYR HERCULES

Childhood of Hercules

A long time ago, so long ago that it’s hard to even remember, in one small country called Greece, there lived a hero named Hercules. Since childhood, he was so strong that his peers were afraid to even approach him. Yes, try it, come over. You'll get hit on the head right away, just in case, so that everyone knows how strong Hercules is. Hercules did not go to school. Why? There is strength - no need for intelligence. So he showed everyone his strength. As a child they tried to teach him to write, read, sing and play the cithara, but little Hercules preferred to master the bow and sword. One day, during a music lesson, his music teacher Lin, the brother of the famous Orpheus, punished Hercules, irritated by his reluctance to learn. Little Hercules flew into a rage, grabbed the cithara and hit Lin on the head with it. The blow was so strong that poor Lin fell dead. The court acquitted Hercules because he was a minor illegitimate son of Zeus.
For days the boy disappeared somewhere, and returned home hungry, like a wolf, and ate so much of everything that even ten adults would not be able to handle. Very soon his poor parents were no longer able to feed the hero. And then Hercules wondered, how can he continue to live with an empty stomach?
And that same night, as he thought about this, he had a dream. He dreams that he is lying on green grass in the forest, enjoying strawberries. Suddenly, a beautiful young girl in translucent clothes comes up to him and says: “Hercules! Life is a holiday! Live like a guest at a feast. Eat deliciously, sleep well, have fun with friends and girlfriends. Come with me and I will turn your life into sweet bliss! By the way, my name is Nega.” But then another young woman, wearing the warrior’s armor sparkling, approaches Hercules and says: “Rest can only be appreciated after hard work. Sad is the fate of a man who lives as a guest at someone else's feast. Nobody likes overstaying guests and slackers. People love heroes! I am the invincible Athena. If you want to be a hero, follow my path."
After this dream, Hercules left his parents' house and went for a walk around Greece. All day long he ran around his little Greece, and gave such slaps to everyone who came to hand that the poor fellows scattered across the numerous islands neighboring Greece. They say that the Greeks settled on the islands, which they later annexed to Greece. Maybe this was the first labor of Hercules?
Well, so the glorious hero Hercules lived and grew up until he was sixteen years old. By this time he had already walked all over Greece, slapped everyone on the head, and reached Mycenae, where the residence of the Greek king Eurystheus, who was a relative of Hercules, was located. And the king, of course, had heard a lot about the heroic strength of Hercules and his exploits. The king was afraid, as if he too would have to move to some small island. The king did not want this at all. He could not have been better off on the royal throne. And, since the king went to school as a child and gained a little intelligence, he decided to outwit the hero Hercules. King Eurystheus called the hero Hercules to his throne and said to him:
“I’ve heard about your heroic strength, but I just don’t believe that you are stronger than anyone in the world.”
Hercules was offended, clenched his fists and shouted:
- Yes, right now, as soon as I give you a slap on the head, you’ll fly first class all the way to Rhodes!
King Eurystheus did not want to fly anywhere, so he hastened to calm the hero.
- Well, hush, hush, hush... don’t fume! But whether you are stronger than everyone else in the world, this still needs to be checked.
- So check it! Hurry up! Otherwise I'm hungry!
Here the king says to him:
- To test your strength, I will give you the first task. An unprecedented monster appeared in the mountains of Nemea. Huge lion. This lion is the size of an elephant. And angry and strong, like a thousand lions. No one has been able to deal with him until now. Go ahead and kill this lion. And if you kill, you will receive a royal reward. If you fail, you will become my slave.
- Yes, I’ll kill this mangy cat with one left hand! - Hercules said arrogantly, and headed to the mountains of Nemea to look for a shabby cat.

THE FIRST LABOR OF HERCULES

Nemean lion

Hercules approached the Nemean Mountains and began to look for Leo. I searched all day, and only in the evening I found a huge cave where Leo lived. Here we should remember that in those distant times people did not have the kind of weapons that they have now. There were no rifles. There were no pistols. There were no grenades. Well, there was nothing that could kill such a monster. All Hercules had was a bow and arrows, a spear and a club.
Hercules approached the cave and shouted loudly:
- Well, come out, Lyova from Mogilev! I'll rip your head off right now!
A huge lion reluctantly came out of the cave and roared so loudly that the trees bent and all the leaves fell off.
- Who dared to wake me up?! Is it you, you insignificant little man?
- Now you will understand who woke you up, fat hippopotamus! - Hercules exclaimed.
He took his bow and shot three arrows at the Lion, one after the other. But the arrows bounced off the Lion's skin. Hercules threw his spear. But the spear broke on the Lion's skin. Then Hercules launched his mighty club at Leo. But the Lion opened his huge mouth and swallowed the club like a fly.
And then a huge lion rushed at Hercules, and would certainly have crushed him like a cockroach if the hero had not managed to jump to the side. And as soon as he jumped back, he started running as fast as he could. The lion is behind him. Hercules from him. The monster attacks - the hero retreats. And so the lion managed to drive Hercules to the edge of the abyss. It’s time for Hercules to read some kind of prayer, but he doesn’t know a single one. Hercules looked around and saw a huge bird flying in the sky. The hero took out a grilled chicken from his saddle bag, which he was going to have a snack with after he dealt with Lev, and threw it up. The huge bird saw the small bird, albeit fried, and swooped down. And a huge lion approaches Hercules with huge leaps. Yes, the hero managed to jump and grab the tail of a huge bird. Well, this mighty bird carried Hercules right out of the Lion’s mouth. And the huge lion ran so fast that his braking distance was insufficient to stop on the edge of the abyss, and he fell off the cliff into the abyss.
And Hercules ordered the huge Eagle to land if he did not want something to be torn away from him. The eagle, of course, immediately landed, and Hercules let him go, and even left him a roast bird - as a bonus. Hercules found a dead Lion, cut off his head, chopped off all four paws and tore off his skin. The shoemaker sewed two pairs of strong sandals from the lion's paws - Hercules ran in them for a hundred years, and they never wore down. From the skin of a lion, the furrier sewed a pair of capes for Hercules that not a single arrow could pierce. Why not a bulletproof vest?! And Hercules brought the head of the lion to King Eurystheus. The cunning king then put this head up for auction at Sotheby's. They say that the head of the Nemean lion was bought for a lot of money by some anonymous buyer from Russia.
So Hercules accomplished his first feat. I’m not sure that this was a feat, but the Greeks insist on it. I won't argue.

SECOND LABOR OF HERCULES

Lernaean Hydra

When Hercules brought King Eurystheus his first battle trophy - the head of a huge lion, the king questioned the hero's feat. Were there any witnesses? Oh, they weren’t! So you can't prove that you killed the lion? No, brother. It won't work that way. If you want to get into the Guinness Book of Records, you must provide documentary evidence of your feat, and also a bunch of witnesses. So, buddy, I'm giving you one more chance. Go and kill the Lernaean Hydra, who lives three kilometers from the city of Lerna. Find out the exact address from my secretary.
And the cunning Eurystheus sent Hydra to kill Hercules because he loved cranberries in sugar. And cranberries grew only in that swamp and nowhere else. And when the terrible Hydra appeared in that swamp, they stopped collecting cranberries. Who wants to die for the sake of the king’s whim?
Hercules had to go fight Hydra. He found her in a huge swamp two and a half kilometers from Lerna. Hercules approached the paradise of the swamp and shouted loudly:
- Hey, Hydra-Mydra! Get out! Let's measure our strength!
At his cry, a huge snake head, the size of a barrel, poked out of the swamp. Behind her is the second one. Next is the third. Fourth. Fifth. Sixth. Seventh. Eighth. Ninth! Although Hercules did not know how to count, since he did not study at school, he realized that Hydra had many heads. This means that there will be difficult work ahead.
And all nine heads of the Hydra, when they saw Hercules, began to hiss with a terrible hiss, from the sound of which you can die with fear:
- So it’s you, insignificant little man! It is you, Hercules, who kills me sibling Nemean lion! Now I will tear you into small pieces!
- Let's see who can defeat whom, swamp creature! - exclaimed the hero.
Hercules grabbed the club and, well, let’s hit the hydra’s heads. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! He knocked off all the heads, but only saw that in place of the cut off heads, new ones immediately grew. Hercules began waving his club again. And all the Hydra's heads grew back. Hercules fought for three hours without a break, but he just couldn’t defeat the Hydra. Yes, here his friend Iolaus helped him, whom Hercules took with him as a witness so that he could apply for the feat in the Guinness Book. While Hercules was waving his club, Iolaus dragged a barrel of gunpowder to the swamp, which he took with him, just in case. Iolaus inserted a wick into the barrel, set it on fire, and threw the barrel into the swamp. And he shouts to his friend: “Go away, Hercules! Now it’s crazy!” Hercules barely managed to get out of the swamp.
Then it exploded. It tore the hydra into thousands of pieces, and scattered these pieces throughout Greece. Since then, the hydra has been sitting in every swamp in Greece. Now do you understand why there are no cranberries in Greece? Now the Greeks buy cranberries from Russia.
Hercules found a pair of severed heads of the Hydra in a marshy swamp, and, as a trophy, brought them to King Eurystheus. And King Eurystheus again does not believe him. Why did you only bring two heads? Hydra had nine of them. And you only have one witness. I told you that there must be a whole bunch of witnesses. So, my friend, here's another task for you. Go and kill all the Stymphalian birds. They do not allow people and animals to live. And no one can deal with them. So you prove that you are the strongest!
And you ask: where did the two hydrina heads go? That's right - right there. For Sotheby's auction.

THE THIRD LABOR OF HERCULES

Stymphalian birds

Hercules walked for two days and two nights to the city of Stymphala, in the vicinity of which terrible birds ruled. Their beaks and claws were made of copper and bronze. Their huge carcasses were covered with copper and bronze feathers. It was these feathers that scattered with swift arrows, killing all living things. A huge flock of these birds settled in a dense forest at the foot of a high hill. Moreover, one half of the flock was copper, and the other was bronze.
Hercules wondered how to cope with these birds? There are thousands of them, but he only has fifty arrows. And then Palada Athena appeared to him and said: “Take this iron mouthpiece and go to the top of the hill. At night, when the birds are sleeping, take a megaphone and scream into it as much as you can! The birds will get scared and start fighting each other.”
Hercules took the iron mouthpiece and headed towards the hill. He approached the hill and saw that the entire hill was surrounded by a high fence, and near the closed iron gates, there was a watchman’s booth, and a sign on it: “Private territory. No entry allowed! And just below it is written in clumsy handwriting: “Entrance – 1000 drachmas.” Well, since Hercules was illiterate (he didn’t go to school), he couldn’t read the inscription, but simply kicked out the iron gate with his left foot and climbed to the top of the hill. The hero hid behind a huge boulder and sat in the shelter until nightfall, satisfying his hunger with his favorite grilled chicken. And when night came, Hercules began to shout into his iron mouthpiece at the top of his lungs: “I’ll kill you!” I'll kill everyone! I’ll rip everyone’s heads off!” There was such a commotion in the forest! You can’t see anything, you can only hear the sound of copper and bronze ringing. Here bird arrows flew towards Hercules. He managed to hide behind a boulder, but several arrows hit him, but the skin of the Nemean lion saved him.
In the morning, Hercules sees that the entire huge flock of birds has gathered at the watering hole - a small lake on the edge of the forest. “So much for you! - thought Hercules. “I can’t handle these birds.” He went down the hill, went up to the watchman's booth, and in it the watchman was fast asleep. Doesn't look like a Greek. He looks not like a Kyrgyz, not like an Uzbek, not like an African. Hercules woke him up and asked:
- Why are you sleeping so calmly? Aren't you afraid of birds?
- I'm not afraid. “They are afraid of me,” the watchman answers.
- Why are they afraid of you, such a bastard? – Hercules was surprised.
“They are afraid because they know that I can kill them all,” the watchman answers calmly.
- Kill??? – Hercules didn’t believe it.
- Very simple. I'll do some magic on a dead rat and they'll kill each other.
- Well, then do some magic, come on! - Hercules ordered.
- I can’t. “I need their feathers,” the watchman answers.
Hercules pulled out from the lion's skin two feathers stuck in it - copper and bronze - and handed them to the watchman.
- Here, take it. Do some magic, come on!
The watchman, either Kyrgyz, or Uzbek, or African, thought for a moment and said:
- It’s better not to cast magic on a rat, but on dead birds. Bring me some. Red and bronze.
And on the lawn, after a night fight of birds, about a dozen dead birds lay. Hercules brought copper and bronze birds and gave them to the watchman. Well, then I began the ritual of witchcraft. He took the carcass of a bronze bird and stuck a copper feather into it. A bronze feather was stuck into the copper bird. And he began to mutter something, I don’t understand what. And then, as he waved his hands, as he screamed, that’s where it all began.
The whole flock of birds rose into the air and immediately split in half. On one side there are copper birds, and on the other there are bronze birds. And a mortal battle began between them. The birds fought all day, and by evening the bronze ones began to overcome the red ones. The Reds could not stand it and flew away from the battlefield. And the bronze ones also flew away somewhere from these parts and never returned.
Hercules was surprised at the watchman’s witchcraft, and as a sign of gratitude, he replaced the iron gate, which he had demolished the other day. Then the hero picked up a couple of dead birds and headed to the palace of Eurystheus. And the king again did not count Hercules for his feat, citing the fact that half of the birds had scattered somewhere. And there was an order - to kill everyone!
They say that a flock of bronze birds found refuge somewhere in the Caucasus mountains. And there were so many of them there that Zurab Tsereteli still has no problems with bronze. And the red birds reached distant Russia, where many centuries later they caused such unrest that the great country turned red for 74 years.
Here's the story.

FOURTH LABOR OF HERCULES

Kerynean fallow deer

After a six-month vacation, which King Eurystheus gave to Hercules, the king summoned the hero to himself and ordered new trip going to. He ordered Hercules to catch a doe with golden horns and deliver her alive to his palace. The king knew that this doe was listed in the Red Book, so he ordered not to kill it, but to bring it alive. Seeing Hercules off on the road, the king joked: for you, hero, winner of the Nemean lion, Lernaean hydra and bronze birds, this task of mine will be simple fun.
Hercules headed to the mountains of Arcadia, where this wonderful doe lived. After many days of searching, he finally saw the doe. Hercules chased after her, but the doe ran faster than the wind, and it was impossible to catch up with her. It's much simpler these days. I got on a helicopter with some governor and prosecutor, and in no time caught up with any doe and any other goat from any Red Book. And Hercules had to run after the doe on his own two feet. Good thing - the sturdy sandals saved his feet from the sharp rocks. For a whole year Hercules chased the doe. I was completely exhausted. I lost ten kilograms. And the doe seems to be playing with him. He lets you in and quickly disappears. He stops and waits again. Hercules could not stand such mockery, and one day he shot an arrow at this nasty doe. The arrow hit the doe's leg. The poor animal became lame and could no longer run. Here Hercules caught the doe. He put her on his shoulders and headed back.
Suddenly he sees a beautiful maiden in the form of a ranger coming towards him. She approached Hercules and introduced herself:
- Artemis. Reserve security service.
And Hercules says to her:
- I have no time to chat, beauty. I hasten to King Eurystheus with the trophy. If you want, leave your address. When I'm free, we'll chat.
And Artemis says to him in a stern, stern voice:
- You are a young man, you injured a rare animal, which is listed in the Red Book. There is no other doe like this on earth - this is the only one. You committed a crime, and now you're going to prison."
Hercules did not want to sit in prison at all, especially since he had heard a lot about the inclinations of the prisoners. And he began to beg Artemis to let him go. Artemis took pity on him and forgave him. And Hercules, before saying goodbye, says to her:
- Listen, Artemis. Do me a favor. Give me a document proving that I caught a golden-horned doe.”
“No problem,” Artemis answered and handed him a piece of paper with a seal.
Hercules was delighted that he now had documentary evidence of his feat. This means that soon his name will be written down in the Guinness Book forever.
When Hercules returned to the palace of Eurystheus, the first thing he did was hand the king a document with a seal.
- What is this? - Was the king surprised? -Where is the doe?
- I caught the doe, but the ranger Artemis took it from me. And instead of a doe, she gave me this document with a seal confirming my feat,” Hercules proudly declared.
The king read the document and angrily exclaimed:
- Idiot! This is a fine! I need to pay a fine of one hundred thousand drachmas or face prison!
Hercules immediately retreated to the door, and the king shouted after him:
- These are the idiots who will ruin my Greece, in the end! Get out of my sight!
For three whole months Hercules hid in some wilderness, fearing the wrath of the king. And for the first time the hero regretted that he did not go to school.

22.10.2012
THE FIFTH LABOR OF HERCULES
Erymanthian boar
While Hercules was hiding from the royal wrath, his peasants living near Mount Erymanthos came to King Eurystheus with a request to save them from the wild boar that was destroying all their crops. The king called the Minister of the Interior, Grandfather, and ordered him to find Hercules and give him the royal order - to find and kill the wild boar. The minister's detectives quickly found Hercules and handed him the royal order. Hercules began to get ready for the journey. And his friend Iolaus says to him: take me with you - I’ll come in handy.
While Hercules and Iolaus walked to Mount Erymanthos, Iolaus told that the wild boar's rookery was guarded by evil and ruthless centaurs - horses with human bodies and heads. And among all these centaurs, only two - Phol and Chiron - are friendly towards people.
On the way Hercules and Iolaus met big cave, in which the good old centaur Fol lived. Fol sat alone all day long and was terribly bored. And when he saw two travelers, he was very happy and invited them to visit. Pholus began to treat Hercules and Iolaus with the best wine, the aroma of which spread throughout the entire area. The smell of wine reached the centaurs and enraged them. “Who is Fol sharing our wine with?” After all, this wine belonged not only to Fol, but to all of them. And the centaurs galloped to Fola's cave. And when they arrived, they saw Hercules and Iolaus and invited them to surrender without a fight.
- The Greeks don't give up! - Hercules exclaimed and began to throw arrows from his bow at the centaurs. The centaurs were frightened by the poisoned arrows and began to run in all directions. Yes, that's the problem. Drunk, Hercules shot one arrow at the old, gray-haired, wise, kind centaur Chiron, and mortally wounded him. The arrow was poisoned with poison from which there was no escape. Phol ran up to his friend Chiron, pulled the arrow out of his wound, and dropped it through carelessness. An arrow pierced Fol's leg and he died instantly.
Hercules carried the bodies of Chiron and Pholus into the cave, blocked the entrance with stones, and went to the forest in which the boar lived. And the centaur Fol managed to open the way to the boar for him while they were drinking wine. Hercules found the boar's lair. The boar jumped out of his lair and quickly rushed at Hercules. Hercules barely had time to jump to the side, otherwise the boar would have ripped open his stomach with its huge fangs. And the boar ran into a pine tree so hard that it broke the tree and died from the terrible blow. Hercules brought the dead boar to King Eurystheus, but he again did not count his feat. Drunken “exploits” do not count as exploits. 10/22/2012
THE SIXTH LABOR OF HERCULES
Augean stables

The king of Elis, Augeas, had huge herds of horses, and since no one wanted, even for good money, to clean the stables from manure, over time, the stables were filled with horse goods to nowhere. Even the horses themselves refused to enter their stables, much less sleep in them. Here you go. Since Augeas did not have his own full-time sewer man, he turned to the neighboring king, Eurystheus, with a request to help in this dirty business. Eurystheus immediately remembered how Hercules had set him up for one hundred thousand drachmas, and ordered him to go to Augeas and clean out his stables. Hercules reached Augeas, saw his countless herds of horses and dirty stables, and said:
- That's it, King Augeias. I will clean out your stables in one day, but on condition that I receive one tenth of your horses for the work.
Augeas understood that it was impossible to clear all the stables of manure in one day, and therefore willingly agreed to this condition.
“Give me a shovel,” Hercules demanded.
- Bring a shovel to the hero! - Augeas ordered.
Hercules got to work. First of all, he broke down the walls of the stables on both sides. Then he began to work diligently with a shovel. He began to destroy a large dam, which protected the city from the harmful floods of two rivers - Alpheus and Penea. The hero worked hard for half a day until he destroyed the dam. The rapid flow instantly cleared the stables of manure, demolishing all the stables and half the city at the same time. When Hercules demanded a well-deserved reward from King Augeas, the greedy Augeas refused to pay. “Like, you, Hercules, destroyed half of my city. So, you have to pay me, not I you.” The hero Hercules took terrible revenge on the king of Elis for such an insult. He killed him in a fair fight with a poisoned arrow from a bow. And after that, he made sacrifices to the Olympic gods and established the Olympic Games, which have been held since then every four years.
This was probably the first work of Hercules, which he completed independently - without anyone’s help. Who would have thought that Hercules had such talent as a sewer man! Maybe this was his calling?
We should be grateful to Hercules for establishing the Olympic Games. True, I admit, I could not even think that in order to establish the Olympic Games, it was necessary to get rid of a pile of manure and the king.
22.10.2012
THE SEVENTH LABOR OF HERCULES
Cretan bull

One day, a snow-white bull with golden horns swam to the shore of the island of Crete. King Minos of Crete was so amazed by this event that he promised to sacrifice this bull to the god of the seas, Poseidon. But then Minos felt sorry for this unusually beautiful bull, and he sacrificed another bull to Poseidon. But gods, that’s what gods are for, that they see everything and know everything. Poseidon was angry with Minos and sent the white bull into a frenzy. The mad bull rushed all over the island and destroyed everything in its path.
It was then that King Minos turned to King Eurystheus with a request to catch the mad bull. You already guessed that Eurystheus entrusted this action to Hercules. Hercules arrived in Cyprus on the next line flight of the Onassis ship company, and as soon as he landed on the shores of Cyprus, he immediately asked: “Well, where is the mad bull?” When he found out that a mad bull was running all over the island, the first thing he did was get himself vaccinated against rabies, have a snack, and then he started running all over the island. Don't get used to it! Finally, he came face to face with a mad bull. Without hesitation, Hercules punched the bull in the nose, and while he was shaking his head in pain, he jumped on his back and shouted menacingly: “Come on, go ahead!” Otherwise, yay... I'll tear it off! Although the bull was mad, he understood that he was in danger - if he lost his egg... then the cows would no longer be interesting. Therefore, the bull did not resist. He ran to the sea, threw himself into the water and swam towards Greece. And when the bull swam to Greece, he ran away again, and now began to rush all over Greece. But what was Hercules’ fault in this? He did his job. The bull was delivered to Greece. But the feat was again not counted. What kind of feat is it - to swim on a mad bull in the sea?

22.10.2012
THE EIGHTH LABOR OF HERCULES
Horses of Diomedes

The king of Thrace, Diomedes, had horses of marvelous beauty and incredible strength. Since childhood, they have been chained to stalls with triple chains. Because they were always striving for freedom, not wanting to serve anyone. And these wonderful horses never ate ordinary horse food: grass, hay, oats. They ate only human flesh.
King Eurystheus ordered Hercules to get to Thrace, steal the horses of Diomedes and bring them to Mycenae. Hercules sailed to Thrace on a ship, along with his beloved friend Abdera. Hercules came to King Diomedes and said to him:
- Sell, king, your horses. I will pay you thirty thousand drachmas for them.
- Yes, my horses are not worth a million drachmas! - Diomedes laughs.
“Well, since they don’t cost anything, give them away just like that,” says Hercules.
- You've lost your mind, buddy! Where has it been seen that priceless horses are given to some stranger at his first request? Maybe you're drunk? So go and get some sleep!
Hercules was terribly offended by the words of King Diomedes, and harbored a mortal grudge against him. At night, Hercules and his companions sneaked into the stables of Diomedes and took his horses to his ship. Diomedes and his soldiers rushed after Hercules. A battle began, in which Hercules emerged victorious, killing King Diomedes and his soldiers. When Hercules boarded the ship, he was horrified to see how the horses of Diomedes were devouring his beloved friend Abdera.
Hercules arranged a magnificent funeral for his beloved friend. Near his grave he founded a city, which he called Abdera. When Hercules brought the horses to Eurystheus, he ordered them to be released. The horses ran away into the mountains, covered with dense forest, where they were torn to pieces by wild animals with pleasure.
This is the story of the eighth labor of Hercules. Although, to be honest, I don’t understand at all - what was the feat? Hercules stole the horses and lost his beloved friend. He killed King Diomedes, who was defending his horses. Somehow I don’t dare call this a feat. But the Greeks insist on this. Well, okay, the Greeks know better.

THE NINTH LABOR OF HERCULES

Belt of Hippolyta

Where the Fermodon River flows into the waters of the Eucine Sea, stands the city of Themiscyra, the main city of the Amazon country. This country is ruled by militant Amazon women. They despise men and are proud of their invincibility. And the Amazons are ruled by the powerful Hippolyta. The god of war Ares gave Hippolyta a leather belt, and as long as she wears this belt, no one can defeat her and the Amazons.
The young, but wayward and capricious daughter of King Eurystheus, Admet, found out about this. She came to her father and demanded that he take out this leather belt of Hippolyta and give it to her for her birthday. Eurystheus immediately ordered Hercules to bring him Hippolyta's belt.
Hercules gathered a small detachment of warriors and set off on a long journey on one ship. On the path of Hercules there was the island of Paros, where the hero was going to replenish his supplies of food and water. Unexpectedly, the sons of the ruler of the island, Minos, killed two of Hercules’ companions. The enraged Hercules killed half of the inhabitants of Paros, drove the survivors into the city, and threatened to starve everyone to death. The inhabitants of Paros were frightened and gave Hercules, instead of his two killed warriors, the grandchildren of Myros - Alcaeus and Sthenel.
Hercules swam further, not forgetting to shed the blood of those he did not like along the way. Finally he sailed to Themiscyra. Hercules went ashore along with his squad, and on the shore he was met by Hippolyta herself and many Amazons. At first, the Amazons wanted to kill the detachment of Hercules, but the queen stopped them. She was attracted by the mighty hero Hercules, and she invited him and his warriors to a feast. The Amazons and their guests feasted all day, and at night the Amazons took the guests to their bedrooms. And for every warrior from Hercules’s squad there were ten Amazons. And Hercules spent that night and many subsequent nights with fifty Amazons and their queen Hippolyta. Hercules and his warriors stayed in the hospitable land of the Amazons for almost a whole year. And when the time came to return home, Queen Hippolyta gave Hercules her leather belt.
They say that soon after the departure of Hercules, children were born to the Amazons. And fifty boys, when they started talking, said - we won’t go to school!
Hercules returned to Mycenae and gave Hippolyta’s belt to King Eurystheus. The king gave the belt to his beloved daughter Admete. But Admeta was afraid to own this belt and gave it to the temple of the goddess Hera.
Well, was it worth Hercules embarking on such dangerous adventures? Although it was probably worth it. Perhaps this is the greatest feat of Hercules. How do you think?
22.10.2012