The Twelve Labours of Hercules
Page 37
T H E E N D
An Apology To Scholars
Readers who are as smart as a whip, or possibly bright as a button, will have noticed that not everything in this book is absolutely true. To be more correct, my story differs in some important aspects from how the experts agree the story should be told. I can only say, in my defence, that I have made these changes because my intention was to be more entertaining than educational. Indeed, I could argue that such changes are part of the glorious ‘oral tradition’, where storytellers round campfires would often add their own twists and turns to familiar stories in order to hold their audience in rapt attention. However, I fear I’m about three thousand years too late to claim to be a part of this oral tradition. Besides, some of my changes are pretty significant. In deference to scholars, who take this sort of thing seriously, I’ve listed my major crimes below …
I have called my hero (one of my heroes) Hercules, which is the name given to him by the Romans. The Greeks called him Heracles, which means ‘Glory of Hera’ – Hera being a goddess and wife of Zeus. This is now helpful, as below I’ll use ‘Heracles’ when referring to the hero of scholarly Greek myth, and ‘Hercules’ when referring to the hero of this story.
Hera did not like Heracles. She was not his mother, but still he was her husband’s son – in other words, Hera was like a wicked stepmother to Hercacles. She prevented Heracles from becoming king by causing his cousin, Eurystheus to be born first so that he became heir to the throne. Later, Hera sent two serpents into the nursery of Heracles in order to kill him, but Heracles strangled them both.
Not one to forget a grudge, when Heracles was a grown man, and at the height of his powers, Hera drove him mad. In this madness he succeeded in killing his entire family (no earthquake stopped him). As punishment, Zeus was forced to agree that Heracles must become a servant of Eurystheus and perform, at his bidding, ten labours. Hera and Eurystheus conspired and schemed to try to make the labours impossible – they even increased the number to twelve, saying that Heracles ‘cheated’ on two of them – but Heracles confounded them every time.
As I chose not to include Hera’s hatred in my story, I needed another motivation for Hercules to undertake the labours. The battle against the giants is genuine, but the use of the magic herb is my invention – Heracles dispatches the giants in more traditional fashion. It is also true that Heracles could not, at first, kill Alcyoneus. The king of the giants was constantly regenerated by contact with the soil of his native land. Heracles had to drag him into a different country before he could be killed. I prefer the idea that Alcyoneus remains alive, chained at the centre of the earth, his angry struggles being the cause of earthquakes to this very day.
Pittheus and the city of Troezen are borrowed from the story of Theseus. Eurystheus is weak, cowardly, stupid and dishonourable – not really my kind of guy. To fit the story, I needed someone who could be a mentor and benefactor to Hercules, helping him through his journey to becoming a better man. This change was also helpful, given my decision to gloss over the feud between Hera and Heracles.
Perseus, of course, did not accompany Heracles to steal Hippolyte’s Girdle, as he was not alive at the time – Perseus was a distant ancestor of Heracles. In fact it was Peleus and, possibly, Theseus who were part of the crew.
I’m sure there are numerous other deviations and embellishments that you will have spotted. If you are interested in studying the myths as a scholarly pursuit, I would recommend:
Graves, Robert, The Greek Myths, The Complete and Definitive Edition (London, 1955; combined, reprinted, 2011)
About The Author
Joe Corcoran was born in Sheffield, grew up in Manchester, was educated in Cambridge and now works in London. He is a devoted husband to Mickey and proud father of Toby, who is the patient recipient of many stories in the making. They live in a nice little house in Twickenham, home of English rugby and match day traffic congestion. Together, Joe and Toby wage an eternal battle against urban foxes - especially their droppings.
The income from his writing being negative, Joe pays the rent by working for a big multi-national. He is an expert in supply chain, which is the art of getting the things that people want to sell to the place where people want to buy them, and he travels the world dispensing advice on the subject. When he is not travelling, Joe works in an office in central London. He commutes every day by train, which provides his main opportunity for writing stories.