The archetype of Heracles
The Eurystheus motif. Heracles is inserted into the genealogy to justify the Dorian claim to kingship. As this insertion is a fiction, there can be no tradition making Heracles into a king of Tiryns, but his original myth records him as engaged in certain labours, hence an aetiological account that serves all needs is the fiction that his kingship of Mycenae was usurped by his cousin Eurystheus. Hercules then became a cult hero of the Dorian people, embodying physical prowess, martial virtue and indomitable courage. This helped to develop the Heracles archetype as the archetype of heroic struggle against adversity, hence he attracted every kind of victory over adversity, and this evolved into the canon of the twelve labours. Some of these are instances of the Perseus mythologem.
In the original mythologem, Heracles was surely another incarnation of Dionysus in his matriarchal form as the vegetation man-god sacrificed to the Goddess, and it is surely no great inference to infer that Heracles was originally sacrificed to the goddess Hera. That fits his location to Argos, since Hera had one of her two main sanctuaries near Argos. Since he was sacrificed to Hera, in the transformation under patriarchy, Hera was transposed into his enemy, and the aetiological explanation of Hera’s jealousy of Zeus’s many offspring was introduced. This was exploited to explain how Eurystheus came to be King of Mycenae in his place – it was all a plot of Hera, and the lack of omniscience of the Zeus-archetype was overlooked.
In the original mythologem, Heracles was surely another incarnation of Dionysus in his matriarchal form as the vegetation man-god sacrificed to the Goddess, and it is surely no great inference to infer that Heracles was originally sacrificed to the goddess Hera. That fits his location to Argos, since Hera had one of her two main sanctuaries near Argos. Since he was sacrificed to Hera, in the transformation under patriarchy, Hera was transposed into his enemy, and the aetiological explanation of Hera’s jealousy of Zeus’s many offspring was introduced. This was exploited to explain how Eurystheus came to be King of Mycenae in his place – it was all a plot of Hera, and the lack of omniscience of the Zeus-archetype was overlooked.
Questions
1. Did the Eurystheus motif belong to the original myth of Heracles? If it was a later addition, how did it come about?
2. What is the connection between Heracles and Hera? Was Heracles originally the sacrificial victim of Hera, later transposed under patriarchy, into the son of Zeus?
3. Is the later development of the myth Heracles primarily a Dorian cult?
2. What is the connection between Heracles and Hera? Was Heracles originally the sacrificial victim of Hera, later transposed under patriarchy, into the son of Zeus?
3. Is the later development of the myth Heracles primarily a Dorian cult?
Second extract
c.400. He [Heracles] becomes the super hero archetype and is also associated with his father Zeus and an ethical mission. In the contemporary period this has evolved into the super hero archetype, set in the context of a Manichaean conflict of good and evil; his antagonist is a super villain, and he strives to defend society against crime and injustice.
Question
1. Is the Heracles archetype the original form of the contemporary ethical super hero?
2. What does the predominance of the super hero archetype in contemporary culture say about it? What is the religious signification of the super hero archetyp in contemporary culture?
2. What does the predominance of the super hero archetype in contemporary culture say about it? What is the religious signification of the super hero archetyp in contemporary culture?