Based upon your prior knowledge or cultural literacy, what do you know
about Hercules, the famous Greek hero? Please specify, explain, argue,
and share your understanding of Hercules. Complete this blog during
class today.
Before reading the passage that discusses Hercules, in Edith Hamilton's "Greek Mythology", I had very little knowledge of the Hercules myth. I did know that Hercules was the strongest man to have ever lived. I saw Hercules as a cocky individual. I also knew that what Hercules had in strength he somewhat made up for in lack of intelligence. After reading Edith Hamilton's Hercules myth my perspective on Hercules has changed. I now see Hercules as a misguided hero. Hercules means well, but every now and then accidentally kills someone. Hercules story is really of mistake and consequence. Hercules often killed, and then payed the price for his actions, always working to make it right. He is a little more clever than I originally gave him credit for. I thought it was hilarious how Hercules tricked Atlas into taking the weight of the world back. Hercules is my favorite hero of Greek mythology so far because he has the most outrageous power, yet is the most able to relate to because he is kind of dumb and always wants to right his wrongs.
Some prior knowledge I have of Hercules is that he was very strong and not the most intelligent person around. Other than those couple of things I don't know very much about Hercules and his myth.
Before reading more about him, I didn't gain very much knowledge about Hercules just from the movies he has based on him. I learned he had to undergo his 12 tasks because he murdered his family, when he overcame these tasks it baffled many people and it earned him his reputation he has today. I also learned that he wasn't the most intelligent person, but what he lacked in brainpower he made up for in pure strength and bravery.
Before reading the story I didn't know too much about Hercules. I knew that he was considered one of the strongest men alive and that he was somewhat cocky. After reading the story Hercules makes me think of a child. He acts very quickly on his emotions but always feels guilty for anything he does wrong and does everything in his power to make it right.
To me Hercules is the son of a God and he had to be tested by the gods to prove he was worthy of living at Olympus. He was a hero who wasn't afraid of anything or anyone and always got the job done.
I knew a little bit, but just the common knowledge of him from what I've seen from movies and such. But I know that he is the son of Zeus, which gives him a strength like no other. He had to do 12 labors, don't remember why, but they included the Lion, the Boar, and a three headed dog Cerberus. I also know that he was said to have killed his family.
Before reading the myth of Hercules I didn't know much about Hercules. All I knew was that he was a very strong individual with super strength. I view Hercules different now that I have read the myth. Hercules is a strong individual who lacks in intelligence. He means good but sometimes he screws up and hurts someone. He then tries to fix his mistake and often does but screws another thing up in the process. The myth of Hercules isn't telling a story about a strong person, it's telling a story of a good heart who wants everything to be right.
Hercules was one of the most famous Greek heroes, mainly because he was the strongest. He also had to complete many different challenges in order to prove himself worthy of the title of strongest hero. He was consumed with hubris, and this led him to many problems. He accidentally murdered his family, and was in turn accidentally murdered with centaur's blood. He was greatly praised and criticized, and will remain the most famous Greek hero.
My only previous knowledge of Hercules is from the Disney movie and what we have talked about in class. In the movie, Hercules is a part-god with mortal parents(I think). Because of his godly ancestry, he has super-human strength. He also falls in love with Megara, which does match up somewhat with the myth, seeing as he ends up killing Megara and their son. When the gods find out that Hercules has committed this crime, they punish him by making him complete 12 nearly impossible tasks, all of which he completes. He then goes on to remarry, but I'm not sure if he has children again or not. Also, Hercules is the Roman name while Heracles is Greek. I find it interesting that his Greek name is similar to Hera--does it have any connection or significance?
Before reading about him there wasn't much I knew other then what the movies depicted him as. You grow up looking at Hercules as this big strong valiant hero but they never tell you that he actually killed his family. When I learned this It kind of changed my views about him. How is he such a great hero when he did such a terrible deed? I guess you can just never jump to conclusions too quickly. Before learning about him I knew that he went on quests for his labors or something like that. Now I know that that is true. All in all, before reading about Hercules I really didn't know much about him, but after reading about him I learned some very useful things in judging what kind of hero he actually was
I don't really know much about Hercules besides the information that I got from the Disney movie. And you can't really take that as hard facts. All I know is that Hercules was a hero that was a son of Zeus. One thing that I did learn from the text was that Hercules was a dumb man, threatening to shoot the sun with an arrow when he was too hot. I also knew that he was the strongest man in Greece and that is why he lacked brain power. But despite all of these he was a humble man he was very generous and would punish himself when he did what was in his eye was wrong.
I didn't know too much about Hercules before this unit. All I really knew was whatever the Disney version of the movie taught me when I was little. Now, after taking some time to look at this hero I know much more. I know now that he is not just a clumsy but strong guy who doesn't have much intelligence, he is a hero that just takes a couple wrong turns in the process of doing what is right. I learned that he has killed before and I didn't really know that from before. When he kills though, he pays for what he is done. Just becuase he is a hero, does not mean he is let off the hook.
Before reading Hercules in Edith Hamilton's book, Greek Mythology I knew very little about Hercules. I knew he was a very strong man but had very little cognitive ability. I also knew that he killed his family. With my prior knowledge I think that Hercules is a possible hero. His body strength definitely suits that of a hero. Whereas his cognitive ability is not good for a hero. A hero cannot accidentally kill someone every once in awhile.
Previous to examining this text, my knowledge of Hercules was limited to modern portrayals of his character. He is more often recognized for his strength than the details of his endeavors which leads people, myself included, to limit their perception of what it means to be a hero. I had not known that he killed his family, a fact which reveals the dangerous influence of power and blood lust on seemingly heroic figures. While it is admirable that he attempts to accept punishment for his deeds, his great strength means the conflicting forces of good and evil that exist in the world lead him to face greater consequences for his actions.
Hercules was a hero mostly defined by his strength, tasks (pillars) and relation to Zeus. He is most commonly thought of when the word hero is spoken. He has been the center of 50 some movies and has been exploited in other means. From other reading in the class, we know that Hercules was the cousin of Theseus, accompanied the argonauts on the quest of the golden fleece and killed his wife and sons in a fit of insanity. From discussions and parts of reading, it is quite interesting that Hercules or Heracles is a name taken and formed to the goddess Hera, who through out his mortal life, made it her mission to bring suffering upon him. Hercules, found through reading, is a hero guided by his first impulses. The first twist of his gut is enough for the hero to strike someone down. But a contrasting characteristic is Hercules desire and need to always be punished and "cleansed" of his wrong doings. It is almost as if that his after thought and reflection of actions is through that cleansing.
I knew a fair amount about the Hercules myth before taking another look at it. Hercules was the result of an affair between Zeus and the mortal woman Alcmena, which enraged Hera quite a bit. She attempted to kill him when he was an infant, sending snakes into his crib, but he killed them with his bare hands. After that, he grew up to be a great hero, but not before Hera drove him temporarily mad and caused him to kill his wife and children. For this action, he was set to serve his cousin in 10 labors, to which he could tell him to do anything. Hercules accomplished all these labors and acquired fame for them, though he had to do two extra labors because he had aid with cleaning the Augean stables and the killing of the Hydra. Hercules at first glance might seem just like a regular hero, one who has confidence and pride and does what he wants to reach an end, but in reality, Hercules was a man who just had a bad hand dealt to him, and he fought to overcome this throughout his whole life. All because of his birth did he receive anguish, and he tried his best to move past the baddest parts of his life to make anew and keep going.
My basic knowledge of Hercules comes mainly from the Disney movie. Sure, before that I had known he was a super strong, buff guy who fought monsters, but the Disney movie provided me with a little more understanding. It may not have been accurate, but I discovered that Hercules was cocky and a bit rude. Hercules was cocky because every demon that Hades threw at him, he was able to crush with his bare hands. So in a way, he had every right to be cocky. Although he was cocky, in the end Hercules realized his mistakes, saved the damsel in distress, and didn't die. I had no other prior knowledge of the myth.
I knew that Hercules was a famous hero in Greece who was stronger than any man alive and also the son of Zeus. However it seems that even though Hercules is a great hero he is also very cocky and can be unintelligent sometimes which I think he gets from his father Zeus. The reason I say that is because while Zeus is a strong god he often gets tricked or played by different people and can be very arrogant towards the other gods of Olympus.
Before the myth, I understood that Hercules was the strongest man and had to endure many trials. Sometimes he seemed very witty but overall he was pretty absent-minded. After I read the myth it cleared things up about him. He was put through a lot by the gods with his wife and children, and then to compensate for it in a way, he had to complete the 12 labors. Those labors changed him for better and for worse. When he starts to blame everything on everyone else towards the end of the myth, acting like he's innocent and can't be blamed for certain things, so he becomes a servant to a queen. After all of these events Hercules is defended in his angers and trials, but eventually he thinks that the world owes him and he gets somewhat berserk.
Hercules is a great Greek hero who underwent 12 tasks to prove his greatness. Hercules killed his earthly parents even though his father is actually Zeus. Zeus wielded a large mallet or club and wore a lion pelt cloak from the Nemian Lion. He is thought to be the more brutish of all the Greek heroes like Theseus and Perceus who tend to think out their battle strategies more than Hercules.
Based on my prior knowledge of Hercules, I see Hercules as somewhat of a famous, yet dumb celebrity that acts and reacts too quickly to the situation at hand. He is portrayed in movies as the strongest, most impressive mortal in the world, and he knows it. Although strong, he seems to be very simple minded and block headed. Hercules struggles more with the punishments than other people typically do, so his life isn't as simple and clean cut as it seems.
I knew that Hercules was a famous hero in Greece who was stronger than any man alive and also the son of Zeus. However it seems that even though Hercules is a great hero he is also very cocky and can be unintelligent sometimes which I think he gets from his father Zeus. The reason I say that is because while Zeus is a strong god he often gets tricked or played by different people and can be very arrogant towards the other gods of Olympus.
hercules was the son of zeus and had to complete 12 labors to regain his immortality and his spot in olympus as punishment for his murders, he was very strong but also unintelligent and cocky which hurt him in his attempts to complete the seemingly impossible labors.
Before this class some things I knew about Hercules was that he completed many challenging task like cleaning the stables and slaying the lion. He was the son of Zeus and was very strong. My understanding of Hercules was limited mostly to movies I had seen as well as a few books that brought Greek Mythology into them. What I knew before coming into this class was the idealized version of Hercules, none of the flaws or negative things that go along with the actual myth. While he was a great hero, he still did many things that are not good which is different than what many people imagine when they think of a hero.
Hercules was a very strong son of Zeus. His brawn outweighed his brains, though, which ultimately hurt him while attempting the trials. He was idolized in movies and other media that I've read, but I never knew about the real myth including the murders and negativity that's in his myth.
28 comments:
Before reading the passage that discusses Hercules, in Edith Hamilton's "Greek Mythology", I had very little knowledge of the Hercules myth. I did know that Hercules was the strongest man to have ever lived. I saw Hercules as a cocky individual. I also knew that what Hercules had in strength he somewhat made up for in lack of intelligence. After reading Edith Hamilton's Hercules myth my perspective on Hercules has changed. I now see Hercules as a misguided hero. Hercules means well, but every now and then accidentally kills someone. Hercules story is really of mistake and consequence. Hercules often killed, and then payed the price for his actions, always working to make it right. He is a little more clever than I originally gave him credit for. I thought it was hilarious how Hercules tricked Atlas into taking the weight of the world back. Hercules is my favorite hero of Greek mythology so far because he has the most outrageous power, yet is the most able to relate to because he is kind of dumb and always wants to right his wrongs.
Some prior knowledge I have of Hercules is that he was very strong and not the most intelligent person around. Other than those couple of things I don't know very much about Hercules and his myth.
Before reading more about him, I didn't gain very much knowledge about Hercules just from the movies he has based on him. I learned he had to undergo his 12 tasks because he murdered his family, when he overcame these tasks it baffled many people and it earned him his reputation he has today. I also learned that he wasn't the most intelligent person, but what he lacked in brainpower he made up for in pure strength and bravery.
Before reading the story I didn't know too much about Hercules. I knew that he was considered one of the strongest men alive and that he was somewhat cocky. After reading the story Hercules makes me think of a child. He acts very quickly on his emotions but always feels guilty for anything he does wrong and does everything in his power to make it right.
I don't know much about Hercules, aside from the fact that his name was associated with strength and pride.
To me Hercules is the son of a God and he had to be tested by the gods to prove he was worthy of living at Olympus. He was a hero who wasn't afraid of anything or anyone and always got the job done.
I knew a little bit, but just the common knowledge of him from what I've seen from movies and such. But I know that he is the son of Zeus, which gives him a strength like no other. He had to do 12 labors, don't remember why, but they included the Lion, the Boar, and a three headed dog Cerberus. I also know that he was said to have killed his family.
Before reading the myth of Hercules I didn't know much about Hercules. All I knew was that he was a very strong individual with super strength. I view Hercules different now that I have read the myth. Hercules is a strong individual who lacks in intelligence. He means good but sometimes he screws up and hurts someone. He then tries to fix his mistake and often does but screws another thing up in the process. The myth of Hercules isn't telling a story about a strong person, it's telling a story of a good heart who wants everything to be right.
Hercules was one of the most famous Greek heroes, mainly because he was the strongest. He also had to complete many different challenges in order to prove himself worthy of the title of strongest hero. He was consumed with hubris, and this led him to many problems. He accidentally murdered his family, and was in turn accidentally murdered with centaur's blood. He was greatly praised and criticized, and will remain the most famous Greek hero.
My only previous knowledge of Hercules is from the Disney movie and what we have talked about in class. In the movie, Hercules is a part-god with mortal parents(I think). Because of his godly ancestry, he has super-human strength. He also falls in love with Megara, which does match up somewhat with the myth, seeing as he ends up killing Megara and their son. When the gods find out that Hercules has committed this crime, they punish him by making him complete 12 nearly impossible tasks, all of which he completes. He then goes on to remarry, but I'm not sure if he has children again or not. Also, Hercules is the Roman name while Heracles is Greek. I find it interesting that his Greek name is similar to Hera--does it have any connection or significance?
Before reading about him there wasn't much I knew other then what the movies depicted him as. You grow up looking at Hercules as this big strong valiant hero but they never tell you that he actually killed his family. When I learned this It kind of changed my views about him. How is he such a great hero when he did such a terrible deed? I guess you can just never jump to conclusions too quickly. Before learning about him I knew that he went on quests for his labors or something like that. Now I know that that is true. All in all, before reading about Hercules I really didn't know much about him, but after reading about him I learned some very useful things in judging what kind of hero he actually was
I don't really know much about Hercules besides the information that I got from the Disney movie. And you can't really take that as hard facts. All I know is that Hercules was a hero that was a son of Zeus. One thing that I did learn from the text was that Hercules was a dumb man, threatening to shoot the sun with an arrow when he was too hot. I also knew that he was the strongest man in Greece and that is why he lacked brain power. But despite all of these he was a humble man he was very generous and would punish himself when he did what was in his eye was wrong.
I didn't know too much about Hercules before this unit. All I really knew was whatever the Disney version of the movie taught me when I was little. Now, after taking some time to look at this hero I know much more. I know now that he is not just a clumsy but strong guy who doesn't have much intelligence, he is a hero that just takes a couple wrong turns in the process of doing what is right. I learned that he has killed before and I didn't really know that from before. When he kills though, he pays for what he is done. Just becuase he is a hero, does not mean he is let off the hook.
Before reading Hercules in Edith Hamilton's book, Greek Mythology I knew very little about Hercules. I knew he was a very strong man but had very little cognitive ability. I also knew that he killed his family. With my prior knowledge I think that Hercules is a possible hero. His body strength definitely suits that of a hero. Whereas his cognitive ability is not good for a hero. A hero cannot accidentally kill someone every once in awhile.
Previous to examining this text, my knowledge of Hercules was limited to modern portrayals of his character. He is more often recognized for his strength than the details of his endeavors which leads people, myself included, to limit their perception of what it means to be a hero. I had not known that he killed his family, a fact which reveals the dangerous influence of power and blood lust on seemingly heroic figures. While it is admirable that he attempts to accept punishment for his deeds, his great strength means the conflicting forces of good and evil that exist in the world lead him to face greater consequences for his actions.
Hercules was a hero mostly defined by his strength, tasks (pillars) and relation to Zeus. He is most commonly thought of when the word hero is spoken. He has been the center of 50 some movies and has been exploited in other means. From other reading in the class, we know that Hercules was the cousin of Theseus, accompanied the argonauts on the quest of the golden fleece and killed his wife and sons in a fit of insanity. From discussions and parts of reading, it is quite interesting that Hercules or Heracles is a name taken and formed to the goddess Hera, who through out his mortal life, made it her mission to bring suffering upon him. Hercules, found through reading, is a hero guided by his first impulses. The first twist of his gut is enough for the hero to strike someone down. But a contrasting characteristic is Hercules desire and need to always be punished and "cleansed" of his wrong doings. It is almost as if that his after thought and reflection of actions is through that cleansing.
I knew a fair amount about the Hercules myth before taking another look at it. Hercules was the result of an affair between Zeus and the mortal woman Alcmena, which enraged Hera quite a bit. She attempted to kill him when he was an infant, sending snakes into his crib, but he killed them with his bare hands. After that, he grew up to be a great hero, but not before Hera drove him temporarily mad and caused him to kill his wife and children. For this action, he was set to serve his cousin in 10 labors, to which he could tell him to do anything. Hercules accomplished all these labors and acquired fame for them, though he had to do two extra labors because he had aid with cleaning the Augean stables and the killing of the Hydra. Hercules at first glance might seem just like a regular hero, one who has confidence and pride and does what he wants to reach an end, but in reality, Hercules was a man who just had a bad hand dealt to him, and he fought to overcome this throughout his whole life. All because of his birth did he receive anguish, and he tried his best to move past the baddest parts of his life to make anew and keep going.
My basic knowledge of Hercules comes mainly from the Disney movie. Sure, before that I had known he was a super strong, buff guy who fought monsters, but the Disney movie provided me with a little more understanding. It may not have been accurate, but I discovered that Hercules was cocky and a bit rude. Hercules was cocky because every demon that Hades threw at him, he was able to crush with his bare hands. So in a way, he had every right to be cocky. Although he was cocky, in the end Hercules realized his mistakes, saved the damsel in distress, and didn't die. I had no other prior knowledge of the myth.
I knew that Hercules was a famous hero in Greece who was stronger than any man alive and also the son of Zeus. However it seems that even though Hercules is a great hero he is also very cocky and can be unintelligent sometimes which I think he gets from his father Zeus. The reason I say that is because while Zeus is a strong god he often gets tricked or played by different people and can be very arrogant towards the other gods of Olympus.
Before the myth, I understood that Hercules was the strongest man and had to endure many trials. Sometimes he seemed very witty but overall he was pretty absent-minded. After I read the myth it cleared things up about him. He was put through a lot by the gods with his wife and children, and then to compensate for it in a way, he had to complete the 12 labors. Those labors changed him for better and for worse. When he starts to blame everything on everyone else towards the end of the myth, acting like he's innocent and can't be blamed for certain things, so he becomes a servant to a queen. After all of these events Hercules is defended in his angers and trials, but eventually he thinks that the world owes him and he gets somewhat berserk.
Hercules is a great Greek hero who underwent 12 tasks to prove his greatness. Hercules killed his earthly parents even though his father is actually Zeus. Zeus wielded a large mallet or club and wore a lion pelt cloak from the Nemian Lion. He is thought to be the more brutish of all the Greek heroes like Theseus and Perceus who tend to think out their battle strategies more than Hercules.
Based on my prior knowledge of Hercules, I see Hercules as somewhat of a famous, yet dumb celebrity that acts and reacts too quickly to the situation at hand. He is portrayed in movies as the strongest, most impressive mortal in the world, and he knows it. Although strong, he seems to be very simple minded and block headed. Hercules struggles more with the punishments than other people typically do, so his life isn't as simple and clean cut as it seems.
I knew that Hercules was a famous hero in Greece who was stronger than any man alive and also the son of Zeus. However it seems that even though Hercules is a great hero he is also very cocky and can be unintelligent sometimes which I think he gets from his father Zeus. The reason I say that is because while Zeus is a strong god he often gets tricked or played by different people and can be very arrogant towards the other gods of Olympus.
hercules was the son of zeus and had to complete 12 labors to regain his immortality and his spot in olympus as punishment for his murders, he was very strong but also unintelligent and cocky which hurt him in his attempts to complete the seemingly impossible labors.
Before this class some things I knew about Hercules was that he completed many challenging task like cleaning the stables and slaying the lion. He was the son of Zeus and was very strong. My understanding of Hercules was limited mostly to movies I had seen as well as a few books that brought Greek Mythology into them. What I knew before coming into this class was the idealized version of Hercules, none of the flaws or negative things that go along with the actual myth. While he was a great hero, he still did many things that are not good which is different than what many people imagine when they think of a hero.
Hercules was a very strong son of Zeus. His brawn outweighed his brains, though, which ultimately hurt him while attempting the trials. He was idolized in movies and other media that I've read, but I never knew about the real myth including the murders and negativity that's in his myth.
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