Hercules
Retelling By: Ashley Campbell

The story of Hercules is one of many heroic deeds, but in his life he was not always the hero. Much to his detriment someone was out to see that he failed in life far before he was even born. That person would be his "stepmother." I call her his stepmother because she was the wife of his father, but she was by no means motherly. Hercules was the son of Zeus, the most powerful god, and Alcmene, a mortal woman. Alcmene was one of many of Zeus' extramarital lovers. You see, Zeus felt that his power also gave him the right to do whatever he wanted with whomever he wanted. The results of his "extracurricular activities" rarely had any effect on him, but the one with Alcmene definitely had an effect on Hercules. Hera's rage with Zeus' affair turned out to be the burden of Hercules. To make the story even more interesting the name Hercules means "glorious gift of Hera" in Greek. Alcmene giving the small child that name made Hera even more determind to put an end to Hercules.

When Hercules was a baby, Hera sent two snakes into his crib in hopes that they would kill him. As a baby, Hercules was still able to strangle both of the snakes with his bare hands. After this failed attempt, Hera's anger and frustration grew larger. She decided that since she was unable to end his life as a small child, then she was going to make the rest of his life miserable. For the next few years of Hercules' life, she was successful at doing just that.

For the next few years Hera's need for revenge subsided. Hercules was able to meet a woman, get married, and have two children. Things for him and his family were beginning to look up, but as you and I both know Hera had something to say about that. Hera, being the nice stepmother that she was, sent Hercules a fit of madness. He became full of rage and he was unable to control himself and his actions. During this time of madness, Hercules took the lives of his wife, children, and a few of his brothers. Hercules loved his wife and his children very much, but his actions at that time were completely out of his control.

When Hercules snapped out of his state of madness, he realized what he had done. He was so upset with what he had done that he could not cope on his own. He sought out guidance from Apollo, the god of prophecy. He asked Apollo to cleanse him of what he had done. Apollo would be able to purify him, but not without some extra work from Hercules. Hercules was to complete ten heroic labors, but the ten labors were eventually expanded to twelve. To pour a little salt on the wound, Hercules had to go to Tiryns and complete the tasks while serving King Eurystheus. King Eurystheus was a difficult man to serve, so Hercules had his work cut out for him.

Hercules served King Eurystheus for twelve years and he completed his twelve heroic labors as well. Thanks to his accomplishments Hercules was purified of the horrible things he had done, and he also became immortal. This immortality assured Hercules that when he died he would become a god, instead of becoming a member of the underworld. Hercules went on about his life as a normal half mortal, half god. He was also fortunate enough to remarry, but his adventures as Hercules did not end there.......

 

 

 *Author's Note: For my story retelling the events of Hercules' life stayed the same. I tried to be as detailed as possible, but I did not want to give meaningless facts. I wanted to be sure and include exactly who Hercules' parents were, because a lot of children's stories about Hercules omit that portion. I also tried to make the story a little more interesting by adding a little humor and a little sarcasm, especially where Hera was involved. I chose to include this story in my storybook because the constellation Hercules is one of the most famous constellations and learning about stories through the famous constellations is a great approach, I think. A major difference in my story and the Greek story is the spelling of the name Hercules. Hercules is actually the Roman use of the word. The Greek spelling is actually Heracles, but I used the Roman form because it is the spelling everyone recognizes and uses most often.

 

~Another little side note about the Constellation of Hercules. Hercules is best viewed during the summer months, July to be exact, and it is the fifth largest constellation in the sky.