Hercules
Published on Nov 21, 2015
No Description
MORE DECKS TO EXPLORE
PRESENTATION OUTLINE
HERCULES
BY RANCE HALL
Hercules was half man and half god. His mother was some mortal. But his father was a king somewhere the mighty Zeus. But Hercules did not know he was part god until he had grown into a man.
Right from the beginning, Hera, Zeus' wife, was very jealous of Hercules. She tried all kinds of ways to kill him, including sending a couple of big snakes into his crib. Hercules crushed those snakes in a flash! Hercules was incredibly strong, even as a baby!
Zeus loved his little son. He figured that sooner or later Hera might actually find a way to kill little Hercules. To keep his small son safe from attack, Zeus sent him to live with a mortal family on earth. Hercules grew up. He was too big and too strong. One day, his earth father told him he was a god, well, part god anyway.
The rest of the story of Hercules is a bunch of little stories that together tell the tale of how Hercules earned his way into the heavens, to take his place with the gods.
Photo by Kevin M. Gill
Hercules had a cousin named Eurystheus. Eury was the king of a little village in the city-state of Argos. Eury was an evil man. He thought everyone wanted to steal his crown, especially Hercules. One day, when Hera and Eury were chatting about their mutual hatred for Hercules, Hera came up with a plan - a plan to kill Hercules!
Hera helped Eury design 12 Labors that Hercules had to complete. Supposedly, when Hercules had completed the 12 Labors, he would earn his immortality, or so Hera promised. But really, Hera and Eury were certain that one of their "labors" would surely kill Hercules some way.
Photo by jackhynes
Hercules was no fool. He asked the Oracle at Delphi if this was a smart thing to do. The oracle agreed that it was. Actually, the oracle had said, "If you complete 12 Labors, Being an oracle, she never explained what she meant by "immortality" - would he live forever in legend or for real? Hercules never asked.
Photo by chrisinplymouth
