Herakles is quite famous & perhaps even more under his Roman name of Hercules. Movies, tv shows, plays were made of him. He shows up in plays, books, comics, etc.. The portrayal of the God is rather one-dimensional at best. Herakles is a complex figure in Hellenic mythology and religion. He is known for his 12 labours. Like I said, he was a complex figure. He is a hero and God at the same time. Odysseos encountered the hero in Hades (Underworld) but that ghost was the mortal part of the hero. It seems to imply that the ancient Greeks envisioned the hero as having a mortal part and a divine part and that they were separate from each other.

This meant that when Herakles died on Earth and was deified, the mortal part went to Hades (Underworld) and the divine part went to Olympos (Heaven).

Extraordinary strength, courage, ingenuity, and sexual prowess with both males and females were among the characteristics commonly attributed to him. Herakles used his wits on several occasions when his strength did not suffice, such as when laboring for the king Augeas of Elis, wrestling the giant Antaeos, or tricking Atlas into taking the sky back onto his shoulders. Together with Hermes he was the patron and protector of gymnasia and palaestrae. His iconographic attributes are the lion skin and the club. These qualities did not prevent him from being regarded as a playful figure who used games to relax from his labors and played a great deal with children By conquering dangerous archaic forces he is said to have “made the world safe for mankind” and to be its benefactor. Heracles was an extremely passionate and emotional individual, capable of doing both great deeds for his friends (such as wrestling with Thanatos on behalf of Prince Admetos, who had regaled Heracles with his hospitality, or restoring his friend Tyndareos to the throne of Sparta after he was overthrown) and being a terrible enemy who would wreak horrible vengeance on those who crossed him, as Augias ,Neleos, and Laomedon all found out to their cost. There was also a coldness to his character, which was demonstrated by Sophocles’s depiction of the hero in The Trachiniae. Herakles threatened his marriage with his desire to bring two women under the same roof; one of them was his wife Deianeira.

In the works of Euripides involving Herakles, his actions were partly driven by forces outside rational human control. By highlighting the divine causation of his madness, Euripides problematized Herakles’s character and status within the civilized context. This aspect is also highlighted in Hercules Furens where Seneca the hero’s madness to an illusion and a consequence of Herakles’s refusal to live a simple life, as offered by Amphitryon. It was indicated that he preferred the extravagant violence of the heroic life and that its ghosts eventually manifested in his madness and that the hallucinatory visions defined Heracles’s character. This goes against the modern take on Herakles/Hercules where he is envisioned as a all good, person who doesn’t do anything questionable and is straight, while Herakles’ sexuality seemed to have be fluid: both straight and bi at the same time. In that regard he is no different from most Gods like Apollon, Zeus, Dionysos.Herakles is compared with the Phoenician Melqart and the Sumerian Giglamesh. What they have in common is that They are the greatest heroes of their respectful pantheon, were the strongest and more divine than human, which could explain their personality. Upon looking at the Orphic hymn to Herakles, there are a few things that stand out. While it is not onlogical to call Herakles a Titan, but He himself was not a Titan. His grandfather Kronos and grandmother Rhea are Titans. His Divine Father Zeus is also a Titan, next to an Olympian. Zeus is the second generation of Titans. One could give Him the nickname of Titan pure because He stood a Titan among demigods. There was no one stronger than He was.

This line is somewhat weird: “Almighty Titan, prudent and benign, of various forms, eternal and divine,
Father of Time, the theme of general praise, ineffable, adored in various ways”. This seem to imply that Herakles was an incarnation of another God who came to Earth in a human form. To me, its similar to Yawheh who had sent his son to Earth. Being the son of Zeus, He was always divine and destined to become divine. But being called “Father of Time” is weird. If it is implied that He is the father of Khronos who was equated with Kronos, the grandfather of Herakles. The question here is, is it Kronos, Father of the Olympian Gods, or Khronos the Protogenos? It does matter, while later on the two were syncronized, at one time, they were seperate deities. If the author meant to imply it was Kronos, and not Khronos, than it could meant that by being “Father of Time”, it could either meant Khaos or Ouranos. Or am I overthinking here?

“Self-born, with primogenial fires you shine, and various names and strength of heart are yours.” This is also weird. This seems to imply that He wasn’t born as a son of Zeus and Alkmene but that He gave birth to himself. That is, if i Read that correctly? Could this line imply that Herakles was destined to be born, decreed by the Moiriae, even the Gods were powerless against these trio Goddesses. While Zeus is called Moiragetes, Leader of the Moirai, but it could be ceremonial as the Moirai are older, more powerful than Zeus.

The rest of the Orphic hymn seem to deal with His labours and his role as protector of evil and diseases. This Orphic hymn seems to suggest that He was similar to Dionysos, an unique God among the Hellenic Gods. While Dionysos might be imported, even though His name was already mentioned by the Myceneans, Herakles is purely Hellenic. His cult might be influenced by Sumerian Gilgamesh and the Phoenician Melqart, its uniqely Hellas. By looking at the Homeric and Orphic hymn to Herakles, the difference between them is that the Orphic one is way more layerd with theology than the Homeric one. The Homeric one is just a shortened version of his myths and his life. Which is fine. I have no issue with the Homeric hymn. It was something I noticed, comparing the two hymns to each other.

Hymns to Herakles

Homeric hymn to Herakles

I will sing of Heracles,

the son of Zeus and much the mightiest of men on earth.

Alcmena bare him in Thebes, the city of lovely dances,

when the dark-clouded Son of Kronos had lain with her.

Once he used to wander over unmeasured tracts of land

and sea at the bidding of King Eurystheus,

and himself did many deeds of violence

and endured many; but now he lives happily in the glorious home of snowy Olympus,

and has neat-ankled Hebe for his wife.
Hail, lord, son of Zeus’ Give me success and prosperity.

Orphic Hymn 11: To Herakles

Hear, powerful, Herakles untamed and strong, to whom vast hands, and mighty works belong,
Almighty Titan, prudent and benign, of various forms, eternal and divine,
Father of Time, the theme of general praise, ineffable, adored in various ways.
Magnanimous, in divination skilled and in the athletic labors of the field.
‘Tis yours, strong archer, all things to devour, supreme, all-helping, all-producing power;
To you mankind as their deliverer pray, whose arm can chase the savage tribes away:
Unwearied, earth’s best blossom, offspring fair, to whom calm peace, and peaceful works are dear.
Self-born, with primordial fires you shine, and various names and strength of heart are yours.
Your mighty head supports the morning light, and bears untamed, the silent gloomy night;
From east to west imbued with strength divine, twelve glorious labors to absolve were yours;
Supremely skilled, you reign in heaven’s abodes, yourself a God amidst the immortal Gods.
With arms unshaken, infinite, divine, come, blessed power, and to our rites incline;
The mitigations of disease convey, and drive disastrous maladies away.
Come, shake the branch with your almighty arm, dismiss your darts and noxious fate disarm.

Epithets of Herakles

Alexikakos: Averter

Apotropais: Averter of Evil

Soter: Savior

Bouraïko: derived from Achaean town of Bura

Charops: bright-eyed or joyful-looking, 

Menutes: Indicator

Invictus: The Conquerer

Anax: Lord

Leontothymos: Lion-Hearted

Mekisteos: surname of Herakles

Makistos: surname of Herakles

Monoikos: the solitary

Olympios: the Olympian

Palaemon: the wrestler

Promakhos: surname

Ipoktonos: Killer of Vine worms

Kornopion: Locust Scarer

Rhinloloustes: Nose-Clipper

Hippodetos: Horse-Binder

Mantiklos: Of Mantiklos

Kynosarges: White Dog

Parastates: comrade