Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today’s video we’re going to explore an
interesting question, which is whether Hercules was stronger than the gods or, at the very least,
possessed the strength of a god. Of course, Hercules did ascend to godhood at the end of
his life. His accomplishments were so awe-inspiring and his suffering
so profound that the gods granted him this honor. But we’re not concerned with the version
of Hercules that achieved immortality; our focus is Hercules as he was when he roamed the earth
performing all manner of heroics while the frailty of mortality still permeated his flesh.
We’re going to unpack this question by looking at 5 times Hercules found himself at odds with
gods or beings with god-like strength. You can expect a wrestling match against Thanatos,
the god of death, a stint of holding the heavens aloft on one’s shoulders, a scuffle with Apollo,
a serious wound suffered by Hades, the lord of the underworld,
and a war against the giants, a monstrous race boasting god-like power.
Let’s get into it.
Starting us off is the time Hercules wounded Hades.
This exchange doesn’t quite illuminate Hercules’ strength to the same degree as the subsequent
entries do, but nonetheless, he does wound Hades, one of the most powerful gods in Greek mythology,
even if it is at range with bow and arrow. In the Iliad, there’s a passage that described Hades and
Hercules pitted against each other because they supported opposing sides when the city of Pylos
was besieged. Here’s the passage: “the son of thunder-shielded Zeus. . .shot. . .[Hades] in
Pylos - there with the troops of battle dead - and surrendered death to pain. But Hades made his way
to craggy Olympus, climbed to the house of Zeus, stabbed with agony, grief-struck to the heart,
the shaft driven into his massive shoulder grinding down his spirit … But the healer
applied his pain-killing drugs and sealed Hades’ wound - he was not born to die.
Following this, we have Hercules’ involvement in the Gigantomachy,
which was the war between the gods and the giants,
a formidable race - though technically not immortal - possessing god-like power.
Hercules was instrumental to the Gods defeating the giants. You see,
none of the giants could die unless they suffered damage from a mortal, so each fight between one
of the giants and one of the gods was punctuated by Hercules shooting a couple of arrows at them,
much like you would pump a couple of extra silver bullets into a vampire or werewolf after they were
brought down . Each fallen giant bristled with at least a couple of Hercules’ arrow shafts.
But beyond serving as a sort of Kryptonite used to deliver killing blows, Hercules also joined
the fray, fighting in the thick of it, using his prodigious strength. Alcyoneus, one of the
two most powerful giants, was even more resilient than the rest of his ilk. Not only did his death
require grievous harm inflicted by a mortal, but he also could not die while his feet touched
ground in his homeland. Hercules pincushioned him with arrows, but when the giant fell to earth,
he was reinvigorated by the land of his birth; so Hercules used his incredible strength to
manhandle the giant beyond the boundaries of Pallene, where death finally took him.
Next we have Hercules’ encounter with Atlas
Hercules' eleventh labour was to retrieve the golden Apples of the Hesperides.
The Titan Atlas, condemned to forever bear the heavens upon his shoulders,
was adjacent to the garden of the Hesperides, and in one version, Prometheus counseled Hercules
to have Atlas fetch the apples for him. Of course, for this to happen, there was a big,
incredibly heavy catch, which was that Hercules would have to temporarily stand in Atlas’ place,
holding up the sky while the Titan ran this quick errand on the heroes behalf. Atlas grabs
the apples, and Hercules holds the heavens aloft. But after the task is complete, apples in hand, an
opportunistic mood strikes Atlas; he realizes that he doesn’t want to resume his eternal punishment,
that he’s happy walking around unburdened, that he’s not sandwiched between the earth and
the heavens as if they’re some cosmic hydraulic press. He decides not to relinquish his freedom,
but Hercules tricks him, asking if Atlas would briefly hold up the heavens while he found
something to cushion his shoulders with. This ruse dupes Atlas - who’s apparently very gullible,
and Hercules, after passing the heavens back to Atlas, promptly collects the apples and leaves.
Next we have the wrestling match against death.
Admetus was the son of King Pheres, who founded Pherae. After Admetus succeeded his father as
regent, Apollo was sent to serve him as punishment for the killing of the Cyclopes, which, in turn,
was done by Apollo in retaliation for Zeus killing his son, Asclepius. Far from abusing his position,
Admetus was kind to Apollo, and a friendship blossomed between them. Admetus sought to marry
Alcestis, but her father, King Pelias of Iolcos, would only allow her to marry the man who could
yoke a lion and a boar to a chariot. Left to his own devices, Admetus could not have managed this,
but Apollo acted on his behalf and completed the challenge, winning Admetus a wife. Apollo also
bestowed Admetus with a special privilege, which was that someone else could volunteer to take his
place if death were upon him., and this, as it would turn out, would create a strange series
of events when Admetus fell gravely ill. He was still a young man, but despite that, neither of
his parents would volunteer to take his place, offering themselves up to die in their son's
place, as was the privilege afforded to Admetus. Alcestis stepped up and volunteered herself, love
driving her to sacrifice herself in her husband’s place, but death would not claim her; for Hercules
challenged and defeated Thanatos in a wrestling match, keeping the two lovers united in life.
Our final entry on this list is Hercules’ scuffle with Apollo.
After completing his legendary 12 labours, which he did to atone for the murder of his wife and
children - even though he only murdered them because Hera cursed him with madness - Hercules
was ready to get back on the market and find himself another wife. He caught wind of an
archery contest in which the victor would be given King Oichalia’s daughter’s hand in marriage as a
prize if they could defeat the king and all his sons. Hercules won, but the offer was withdrawn,
for it was known that Hercules’ last wife died by his hand, and those who hosted the contest
were fearful that history would repeat itself. Hercules, disappointed but not dejected, left,
but coinciding with his departure was the theft of Euboea’s, one of the King son’s,
cattle. Thinking this some petty revenge for reneging on their promise, Hercules was blamed
without a shred of evidence, but another of the sons, Iphitos, believed him to be innocent;
so he went to find Hercules to ask him for his help in recovering the cattle. Incidentally, he
intercepted Hercules as he was traveling back from Pherae, which was where Hercules wrestled death.
Hercules agreed to help, but later that night, he was stricken with another bout of madness;
and he hurled Iphitos off a balcony. This murder, though he wasn’t in his right mind, struck
Hercules with a baleful disease. He traveled to Delphi where he sought the oracle, imploring
her to divulge what he must do to recover from his ailment. The oracle refused to answer him,
so Hercules decided to ransack the temple, seize the tripod, and establish his own oracle
somewhere else, but Apollo descended from the heavens and materialized before Hercules
before he could carry out his impulsive plan. The two of them fought, but they were separated
when Zeus hurled a lightning bolt between them. The oracle then told Hercules what he wanted to
know after the fighting had ceased. She told him that he had to sell himself into slavery,
which he did. But for the purposes of this video, the real point here is that Hercules was able to
fight Apollo - a scuffle, really, by the sounds of it - and emerge from the exchange unscathed.
And that’s it for this video. Let us know in the comments if you think the
five encounters in this video prove Hercules to be stronger than all of the gods, or, at least,
strong enough for it to be reasonably stated that he possessed god-like strength.