The best way I've heard Disney's Hercules described is as "a cocktail of various different myths". And that's exactly what it is! Disney had a lot of fun with their version of the legend of Hercules, just as I have had a lot of fun writing my fanfics, but very little of either the film, tv show or my fanfics are actually lifted from "canon" mythology, so in this section of the site, we'll take a look at the way things were in the "true" myths.
If you're interested in reading one version of the "true" Hades-Persephone tale, then you can find Ovid's retelling HERE, which is well worth a read.
Here's a little look at the "true" versions of the characters that feature in the Hercules film and TV show, and also in my fanfiction.
(NB: If the Disney-verse characters don't have a proper alter ego – i.e. Pain & Panic – then you won't find anything on them here!)
Other names: Aides, Aidoneus, Polydegmon, Eubeleus, Dis, Orcus, Tartarus
God of the Netherworld. In day-to-day life, he was usually referred to as Pluto ("giver of wealth") because people preferred not to call him by his dreaded name of Hades, or Aides. The Roman poets also used the names Dis, Orcus and Tartarus as synonymous with Pluto.
Hades was a son of Cronus and Rhea, and brother of Zeus and Poseidon. His wife was Persephone, or Proserpina, the daughter of Demeter. He carried Persephone off from the upper world in order to make her his wife. (Read Ovid's version of "The Rape of Persephone" HERE.)
In the division of the world amongst he and his two brothers, Hades obtained the nether world, the abode of the shades, over which he ruled. His character is described as being fierce and inexorable, and of all the gods he is the one most hated by mortals. Black sheep were often sacrificed to both he and Persephone, and the person offering the sacrifice had to turn his face away as he killed the animal.
The ensign of Hades' power is a staff, with which (like Hermes) he drove the shades into the lower world. He also possessed a helmet which rendered the wearer invisible, and which he sometimes lent to both gods and men. Like the other gods, he was not a faithful husband. The Furies are called his daughters, whilst the nymph Mintho, whom he loved, was metamorphosed by Persephone into the plant called mint, and the nymph Leuce, whom he likewise loved, was changed by him into a white poplar once she had died. Since he is king of the lower world, Hades is also the giver of all the blessings that come from the earth, including the many metals, which explains why wealth is also considered to be one of his spheres of power.
Other names: Proserpina, Core, Cora, Brimo
Persephone was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. In Attica, she was worshipped under the name of Core (that is "the Daughter") and the two were frequently called "The Mother and the Daughter". Homer describes her as the wife of Hades, and the formidable, venerable and majestic queen of the Shades, who rules over the souls of the dead, along with her husband. The story of her being carried off by Hades, and the wanderings of her mother in search of her, are related in Ovid's version of "The Rape of Persephone" HERE.
Other names: Ceres
One of the great divinities of the Greeks, Demeter was regarded as the protectress of agriculture and of all the fruits of the earth. She was a daughter of Cronus and Rhea, and sister of Zeus, by whom she became the mother of Persephone. Zeus, without the knowledge of Demeter, had promised Persephone to Hades, which culmulated in Hades' snatching of the young goddess whilst she was gathering flowers in the Nysian plain in Asia. After wandering for some days in search of her daughter, Demeter learnt from the Sun that it was Hades who had carried her off, after which she quit Olympus in anger and dwelt upon the earth amongst the mortal men, conferring blessings wherever she was kindly received, and severely punishing those who repulsed her. Since the goddess' anger prevented the earth from producing any fruits, Zeus was forced to resolve the matter, and sent Hermes to the lower world to fetch Persephone back. Hades consented, but gave Persephone part of a pomegranate to eat, which she did indeed consume. Hearing of her daughter's return, Demeter returned to Mt. Olympus and her duties, but since Persephone had eaten the fruit from the lower world, she had no choice but to pend a third of every year with Hades, whilst the rest she could live out with her mother. Demeter thus allows the earth to grow for most of the year, but when her daughter goes down into the Underworld, her sorrow causes all life to wither and die, leaving us with winter. (Read Ovid's version of "The Rape of Persephone" HERE.)
Other names: Trivia, Triformis, Tergemina, Triceps, Perseis
A mysterious divinity, Hecate was probably a moon goddess (or an earth goddess), and was commonly represented as being a daughter of Persaeus, or Perses, and was thus called Perseis. She was one of the Titans, and the only one of this race who retained her power under the rule of Zeus. She was honoured by all the immortal gods, and the extensive power possessed by her was probably the reason that she subsequently became identified with several other divinities - for example, Hecate is said to have been Selene or Luna in heaven, Artemis or Diana in earth, and Persephone or Proserpina in the lower world.
Being, as it were, a threefold goddess, she is sometimes described as possessing three bodies or three heads, giving her the epithets of "Tergemina", "Triformis", "Triceps", and so on and so forth. She took an active part in the search for Proserpina when Hades stole the former to the lower world, and, once the latter was found, remained with her as both an attendant and companion. Hecate thus became a deity of the lower world, and is described in this capacity as a mighty and formidable divinity, who sent during the night all manner of demons and terrible phantoms out from that place. Hecate taught sorcery and witchcraft, and dwelt at places where 2 roads crossed, on tombs, as well as near the blood of any murdered persons. She herself wandered about with the souls of the dead, and it was said that the whining and howling of dogs announced her approach. At Athens, at the close of every month, dishes with food were set out for her at the points where 2 roads crossed, and this food was consumed by poor people. The sacrifices offered to her consisted of dogs, honey, and black female lambs.
Other names: Mors
The God of Death, Thanatos was said to have been a son of Night and the twin brother of Sleep (Hypnos).
Thanatos (right) and Hypnos (left) carry off the dead with Hermes' (central)
guidance
Other names: Discordia
The Goddess of Discord, Eris was the friend and sister of Ares, and delighted with him in the tumult of war.
Other names: Parcae, Moirae
The Fates were 3 in number, viz. Clotho, or the ‘spinning fate'; Lachesis, or the one who assigns to man his fate; and Atropos, or the fate that cannot be avoided. Sometimes they appear as divinities of fate in the strict sense of the term, and sometimes only as allegorical divinities of the duration of human life. In the former character they take care that the fate assigned to every being by eternal laws may take its course without obstruction; and both gods and men must submit to them. These grave and mighty goddesses were represented by the earliest artists with staffs or sceptres, the symbol of domination. The Moirae, as the divinities of the duration of human life, which is determined by the two points of birth and of death, are conceived as either goddesses of birth or as goddesses of death.
Cf. Hesiod, Theog.219. The distribution of the functions among the 3 was not strictly observed, for we sometimes find all 3 described as spinning the thread of life, although this was properly function of Clotho alone. Hence Clotho, and sometimes the other fates, are represented with a spindle; and they are said to break or cut off the thread when life is to end. The poets sometimes describe them as aged and hideous women, and even as lame, to indicate the slow march of fate; but in works of art, they are represented as grave maidens, with different attributes, viz. Clotho, with spindle or a roll (the book of fate); Lachesis pointing with staff to the globe; and Atropos, with a pair of scales, or a sundial or cutting instrument.
The Disney version of the Fates also has elements of another infamous trio of women: the Graeae, also known as "the three old women". They were said to have had grey hair from their birth, and had only one tooth and one eye between them, which they borrowed from each other when they wanted to use them.
Other names: Dionysus
The youthful, beautiful, but effeminate god of wine. He was the son of Zeus and Semele (Semele being the daughter of Cadmus of Thebes).
Before Bacchus' birth, Semele was persuaded by Hera, who appeared to her in disguise, to request the father of the gods to appear to her in the same glory in which he appeared to his own wife Hera. Zeus unwillingly complied, and appeared to her in thunder and lightning. Semele, being seized by the flames, gave premature birth to a child; but Zeus saved the child, who was sewed onto his thigh, and the baby was in this way preserved until he came to maturity. After his birth, Dionysus was brought up by the nymphs of Mt. Nysa, who were rewarded by Zeus for their assistance by being placed as Hyades among the stars.
Once Dionysus had grown up, Hera wickedly drove him to insanity, and he ended up wandering through various parts of the earth in this sorry state. He first went to Egypt, then proceeded on through Syria, and through all of Asia, where he, in time, taught the people there how to cultivate their vines to make wine. The most famous part of his wanderings in Asia is his expedition to India, which is said to have lasted three several years. On his return to Europe, he passed through Thrace, but was not well received by Lycurgus, the king of the Edones. He then returned to Thebes, where he compelled the women to quit their houses and to celebrate many Bacchic festivals on Mt. Cithaeron. He also punished Pentheus, who attempted to prevent his worship. Dionysus next went to Argos, where the people first refused to acknowledge him, but - after punishing the women with frenzy - he was recognised as a god.
His last feat was performed on a voyage from Icaria to Naxos. He hired a ship which belonged to Tyrrhenian pirates, but the men, instead of landing at Naxos, steered him toward Asia where they planned to sell him there as a slave. Discovering this, Dionysus changed the mast and oars of the ship into serpents, and himself into a lion; ivy grew around the vessel, and the sound of flutes was heard on every side. The sailors, unsurprisingly, were seized with madness, and all leapt into the sea, where they were metamorphosed into dolphins.
After he had established his divine nature throughout the world, Dionysus took his mother out of the Underworld, called her Thyrone, and rose with her to Olympus.
Various mythological individuals are described as being the offspring of Dionysus, but among the women who won his love, none is more famous than the story of Ariadne.
The worship of Dionysus was no part of the original religion of Greece. In Homer, he does not appear as one of the great divinities - he is simply described as the god who teaches man the preparation of wine, but, as the cultivation of the vine spread throughout Greece, the worship of Dionysus spread as well. After the era of Alexander's expedition to India, the celebration of the Bacchic festivals became more and more wild and dissolute. Dionysus may be taken as the representative of the productive and intoxicating power of nature. Since wine is the natural symbol of this power, it is called "the fruit of Dionysus". On account of the close connection between the cultivation of the soil and the earlier stages of civilisation, Dionysus is regarded as the law-giver and a lover of peace. As the Greek drama had grown out of the dithyrambic choruses at the festival of Dionysus, he was also regarded as the god of tragic art, and as the protector of theatres. In the earliest times the Graces or Charites were the companions of Dionysus, but afterwards we find him accompanied in his expeditions and travels by Bacchantic women, called Lenae, Maenades, Thyiades, Mimallones, Clodones, Bassarae or Bassarides, all of whom are represented in works of art as raging with madness or enthusiasm, their heads thrown backwards, with dishevelled hair, and carrying in their hands thyrsus-staffs (entwined with ivy, and headed with pine cones), cymbals, swords or serpents. Sileni, Pans, satyrs, centaurs, and other beings of a like kind are also constant companions of the god.
The animal most commonly sacrificed to Dionysus was the ram, and, among the things sacred to him are the vine, ivy, laurel, and asphodel, as well as the animals dolphin, serpent, tiger, lynx, panther, and ass. In works of art he tends to appear as a youthful god, always rather feminine. His countenance is often depicted with a languid expression, giving one the impression that he has a laid-back attitude. Either that or he is slightly intoxicated!
Other names: Jupiter
Zeus was the greatest of the Olympian gods, and was a son of Cronus and Rhea, making him brother to Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter and Hera.
It was said that Cronus swallowed his children immediately after they were born, having heard that he would be overthrown by one of them, which undoubtedly terrified his wife, Rhea. When she was pregnant with Zeus, however (five of her children having already been swallowed), she applied to Uranus and Ge to save the life of this next baby. Uranus and Ge responded by sending Rhea to Lyctos in Crete, and asked her to bring up her child there. Rhea obeyed and thus concealed Zeus in a cave at Mt. Aegeaon when he was born, and, instead of handing over the child, she gave to Cronus a stone wrapped up in cloth, which he quickly swallowed in the belief that it was his son. Cronus, by a cunning device of Ge or Metis, was then made to bring up the other children he had previously swallowed, first of all the stone he had believed to be Zeus.
Zeus' next feat was to free the Cyclopes from the bonds with which they had been fettered by Cronus, and they, in their gratitude, provided him with thunder and lightning. On the advice of Ge, Zeus also liberated the hundred-armed Gigantes, Briareos, Cottus and Gyes, so that they might assist him in his fight against the Titans that ruled the earth. The Titans were soon conquered and shut up in Tartarus, where they were henceforth guarded by the Hecatoncheires.
Zeus was to face yet more hardship before he could sit soundly on his throne, however, for Tartarus and Ge together begot the fearsome Typhoeus, who became a fierce opponent of Zeus. The monster began a fearful struggle with Zeus, but was, in time, also conquered, and Zeus finally obtained the dominion of the world.
When Zeus and his brothers distributed amongst themselves the government of the world by lot, Poseidon obtained the sea and Hades the lower world, whilst Zeus acquired both the heavens and the upper regions. The earth, however, remained common to them all. According to the Homeric account, Zeus dwelt on Mt. Olympus in Thessaly, which was believed to penetrate into heaven itself with its lofty summit. He is called the father of the gods and men, and was believed to have been the most high and powerful among the immortals, being the supreme ruler who, with his counsel, manages everything. Zeus is the founder of the "kingly power", as well as of law and order, matters of which he is assisted with by Dice, Themis, and Nemesis. Everything good, as well as bad, comes from Zeus; according to his own choice, he assigns good or evil to mortals, and fate itself was said to be subordinate to him.
He first chose the lady Metis for his wife, who became pregnant with Athena. Zeus took the child out of her body, however, and concealed the baby within his own head. This was on the advice of Uranus and Ge, who had told Zeus that he would retain the supremacy of the world by doing so, for if Metis had given birth to a son, the boy (as fate had ordained it) would have acquired Zeus' sovereignty. Athena later brust forth from his head and fittingly became goddess of wisdom.
By his second wife Themis Zeus became the father of the Horae and Moerae; by Eurnome, he sired the Charites (or Graces); by Demeter, of Persephone; by Mnemosyne, the Muses; by Leto, of Apollo and Artemis; and by Hera, of Hebe, Ares and Ilithyia. Hera did, however, give birth to Hephaestus without the co-operation of Zeus. Though Hera sometimes acts as an independent divinity (she is notoriously ambitious, and often rebels against her lord), she is nevertheless inferior to him, and is always punished for her opposition. Unfairly, though, Zeus' numerous love affairs with other goddesses and mortal women were never concealed from her, making it is no surprise that her jealously was often roused, and that she felt compelled to revenge.
The Greek and Latin poets give to Zeus an immense number of epithets and surnames, which are derived partly from the places where he was worshipped, and partly from his powers and functions. The eagle, the oak, and the summits of mountains were sacred to him, and his sacrifices generally consisted of goats, bulls and cows. The Olympian Zeus sometimes wears a wreath of olive, and the Dodonaean Zeus a wreath of oak leaves. In works of art, Zeus is generally represented as the omnipotent father and king of gods and men.
Other names: Juno, Here
The Greek Hera was a daughter of Cronus and Rhea, and sister and wife of Zeus. According to Homer, she was brought up by Oceanus and Tethys, and afterwards became the wife of Zeus without the knowledge of her parents. Later writers add that she, like the other children of Cronus, was swallowed by her father, but afterwards restored. In the Iliad, Hera is treated by the Olympian gods with the same reverence as her husband. Zeus himself listens to her counsels, and communicates his secrets to her. She is, notwithstanding, far inferior to him in power, and must obey him unconditionally. Unlike Zeus, Hera is not the queen of gods and men, but simply the wife of the supreme god. The idea of her being the queen of heaven, with regal wealth and power, is of much later date. Her character, as described by Homer, is not of a very amiable kind, and her jealously, obstinacy, and quarrelsome disposition sometimes make even her husband tremble, thus frequent disputes arise between Zeus and Hera. On one occasion, Hera, in conjunction with Poseidon and Athena, even contemplated putting Zeus into chains! In such instances, though, Zeus not only threatens her, but physically beats her. He was even once said to have hung her up in the clouds with her hands in chains and with two anvils suspended from her feet. And when Hephaestus attempted to help Hera on one occasion, Zeus hurled the unfortunate god right down from Olympus!
By Zeus, Hera was the mother of Ares and Hebe. Some versions of Greek myth say that Hephaestus was also her son by Zeus, but other versions claim that Zeus did not father him at all.
Hera is the goddess of marriage and of the birth of children, and is represented as the mother of the Ilithyiae. In the Iliad, she is depicted as riding in a chariot drawn by 2 horses (the harnessing and unharnessing of which she is assisted by Hebe and the Horae). She persecuted all of the children which Zeus had by mortal mothers, therefore appearing as the enemy of Dionysus, Hercules, and others. She was worshipped in many parts of Greece, but more especially at Argos, in the neighbourhood of which she had a splendid temple on the road to Mycenae. She also had a splendid temple in Samos. Hera was usually represented as a majestic woman of mature age, with a beautiful forehead, large and widely opened eyes, and wore a grave expression, commanding reverence. Her hair was adorned with a crown or a diadem, and a veil frequently hangs down the back of her head, to characterise her as the bride of Zeus. The diadem, veil, sceptre, and peacock are all things commonly attributed to her.
Familiar monsters re-invented for the TV Show, film, and my fanfics...
The son of Erebos, Charon was responsible for conveying the shades of the dead across the rivers of the lower world in his boat. He had to be paid with an obolus for his services, which was a coin that was placed in the mouth of every corpse before it was buried. If a corpse was buried without an obolus, then it would have no fair to pay the "ferryman", and be unable to enter the Underworld. Charon is represented as an aged man with a dirty beard, and tends to be squalidly dressed.
Cerberus was the famed three-headed dog that guarded the entrance of Hades. Some poets represent him with 50 or 100 heads, but later writers describe him as a monster with only 3. He is also said to have had a serpent for a tail, as well as a mass of serpents around his neck. His den is usually placed on the further side of the Styx, at the spot where Charon landed and delivered the shades of the departed to the Underworld. As one of his Twelve Labours, Hercules had to drag Cerberus to the upper world.
The ‘Harpies', or the ‘robbers' or ‘spoilers', were described by Homer as the carriers of people, causing them to utterly disappear - for example, they are said to have carried off the daughters of Pandoreos. Hesiod represents them as fair-locked and winged maidens; but subsequent writers describe them as disgusting monsters, being birds with the heads of maidens, with long claws and with faces pale with hunger. They were sent by the gods to torment the blind Phineus, and whenever a meal was placed before him, they darted down from the air and either carried it off or rendered it unfit to be eaten. Phineus was delivered from them by Zetes and Calais, sons of Boreas, and 2 of the Argonauts. Virgil places them in the islands called Strophades, in the Ionian sea, where they took up their abode after they had been driven away from Phineus.
Gorgones was the title given to the three frightful maidens named Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, who were the daughters of Phorcys and Ceto. They are sometimes also called the Phorcydes, and some later traditions claim that they lived in Libya. Their most infamous feature is their headful of serpents, which they had instead of hair, but they also possessed wings, brazen claws, and enormous teeth. Medusa alone of the sisters was mortal, and, according to some legends, was at first a beautiful maidenbefore her hair was changed into a mass of serpents by Athena. Medusa had offended the goddess by making love to Poseidon in one of her temples, later giving birth to Chrysaor and Pegasus. Everyone who looked at Medusa was changed into stone because her appearance was so frightening. This led to her becoming widely feared and made killing her incredibly difficult. Ultimately, it was Perseus who brought her down by looking at her reflection in his shiled rather than straight at her, allowing him to strike off her head and destroy her. Athena afterwards placed Medusa's decapitated head in the centre of her shield or breastplate.
Also called the Erinyes, and known by the Romans as the Furaie or Dirae, the Eumenides were the ‘Avenging' Deities. The name Erinyes is the more ancient one; the form Eumenides, which signifies ‘the well meaning', or ‘soothed goddesses', is a mere euphemism because people dreaded to utter the true name of these fearful goddesses. It was said to have been first given them after the aquyital of Orestes by the Areopagus, when the anger of the Erinyes had been soothed. They are represented as the daughters of Earth or Night, and were said to have been fearful winged maidens, with serpents twined in their hair and with blood dripping from their eyes. They lived in the depths of Tartarus.
Later writers usually say that there were three of them in total, and they were called Tisiphone, Alecto, and Megaera. The sacrifices offered to them consisted of black sheep and nephalia, i.e. a drink of honey mixed with water. The crimes which they chiefly punished men for were disobedience towards parents, violation of the laws of hospitality, perjury, murder, violation of the respect due to old age, and improper conduct towards suppliants. Perhaps the most frightening thing about these creatures was the fact that they tormented people not just when they were alive, but also after death, giving the sinful no respite for any crimes they commited.
The Chimaera was a fire-breathing monster, which was part lion, part dragon and part goat. She wrought great havoc in Lycia and the surrounding countries in her time, and was at length killed by the hero, Bellerophon. The origin of this fire-breathing monster must probably be sought for in the volcano of the name Chimaera, near Phaselis, in Lycia.
This monster was the offspring of Typhon and Echidna, and was raised by the goddess Hera. It ravaged the county of Lerna, near Argos, and dwelt in a swamp near the well of Amymone. It had 9 heads, of which the middle one was immortal. Hercules struck off its heads with his club, but in the place of every head he severed, two new ones grew in its place. However, with the assistance of his faithful servant Iolaus, Hercules burned away the heads of the hydra, and buried the ninth (immortal) one under a huge rock. Having thus conquered the monster, he poisoned all his arrows with its bile, making all wounds he inflicted with them incurable.
And finally, a bit of Underworld geography...
Tartarus was the son of Aether and Ge, and by his mother Ge he became the father of the famed Gigantes, Typhoeus and Echidna. In the Iliad, Tartarus is a place beneath the earth which serves as a prison for the rebel Titans, incarcerated by Zeus. It was said to be as far below the Underworld as Heaven is above the Earth, and it was closed off by almighty iron gates. Later poets use the name of Tartarus as being synonymous with the Underworld.
Associated with a Greek verb which means to "hate" or "abhor", Styx is the name of the principal river of the Nether World, which runs around the domain 7 times. It is desribed as a branch of Oceanus, flowing straight from its source. The river Cocytus is a branch of the Styx.
When personified, Styx has been described as a daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. She was a nymph who dwelt at the entrance of Hades, in a lofty grotto which was supported by silver columns, and, by Pallas, she became the mother of Zeleus (zeal), Nike (victory), Bia (strength), and Cratos (power). She was the first of all the immortals who took her children to Zeus, to aid him in his fight against the Titans. In return for their service, Styx's children were allowed to live with Zeus forever, and Styx herself became a divinity by whom the most solemn oaths were sworn. For example, when one of the gods had to take an oath by the Styx, Iris was sent to fetch a cup of water from the river, and the god would then pour out the water as he or she took the oath.
The name of several rivers, all of which were at one time believed to be connected with the lower world.
A river in the lower world from which the shades drank and thus obtained forgetfulness of the past.
The Cocytus, or "‘river of wailing", was a river in Epirus and a tributary of the Acheron. Like the Acheron, the Cocytus was supposed to be connected with the lower world, and hence came to be described as one of the rivers within the Underworld.
The Phlegethon was another river in the lower world, but was different to all the others in that its channels ran with flames rather than water - thus it is also called "the flaming river". It also goes by the title of "Pyriphlegethon", which translates to "flaming with fire".
The Avernus is a lake close to the promontory between Cumae and Puteoli which fills the crater of an extinct volcano. It is surrounded by high banks which, in antiquity, were covered by a gloomy forest, sacred to Hecate. The lake was celebrated in mythology on account of its connection with the lower world. (Near it was the cave pf Cumaean Sibyl, through which Aeneas descended into the lower world.)
Also known as the "Elysian Fields". In Homer, Elysium forms no part of the realms of the dead, and it is placed on the west side of the earth, near Ocean. It is described as a happy land where there is never snow, cold or rain, and where favoured heroes, like Menelaus, pass on without dying to live under the rule of Rhadamanthus. It is the Latin poets who place Elysium in the lower world, where the shades of the Blessed were said to reside.
This page last edited 6th September 2006
