Greek Heroes: The Story Of Theseus And Hercules

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Theseus and Hercules In the time where Greek culture flourished, and literature began to bloom, there were many stories, about many different Greek aspects of life. There was two very great heros in the writings of Greeks. These two heroes, are the mighty Hercules and the intellectual Theseus. These two men truly give reason to the things that happened in Greece, and they both showed the qualities of a great hero, and also the side of ignorance they had. However these two literary characters also had their vast differences in personality, background and physical builds. Greek literature often gave insight to things that happened in the time of the Greek Civilization. The story of Hercules gives much insight to the god and myths in Greece …show more content…
A hero must do things to help others or do something to have a massive impact to the universe or world around them. In the story of Hercules, the hero was born a demigod. Hercules father, the mighty king of the gods, having in another one of his many affairs had the child Hercules with Alcmena. Hera, the goddess, and wife of the mighty Zeus was fierce with jealousy, and tried to kill Hercules with many different tactics, which he fiercely over came and changed the lives of Greeks forever, for example at the time time when the half blood was a baby, she sent witches on Hercules, who he defeated as only a mere baby. (Hamilton 87) . Hercules was also faced with many challenges in his life, most commonly known as the twelve labors. In these labors Hercules was put against intense challenges that he overcame. Theseus as a child was sent to an island with his mother. When Theseus was older and properly trained he would be sent to his father, in Athens. Theseus however, wanted to stay on the island and live the life of a regular person, not a king and train to become a hero, like the mighty Hercules (Hamilton 80). Once Theseus was ready, he went to his father, and then took on the task of fighting a minotaur in a labyrinth, and throughout his life had many run ins with gods, including the sinister Hades who forced Thesus to sit in “the chair of forgetfulness” (Hamilton 83). These are the traits and qualities a hero must have to get the title of a