28. Hercules from Ancient Greek Mythology Was Quite Different From Disney’s Hercules
In Disney’s 1997 animated movie, Hercules, the hero is the beloved son of the chief Olympian god Zeus, and his wife the goddess Hera. In the animated musical fantasy comedy, Zeus’ evil brother Hades, god of the dead and king of the underworld, hatches a plot to overthrow Zeus and become the chief god of Mount Olympus. However, the fell plan depends on Hercules’ noninterference, so Hades sends his minions to kidnap and slay him while he was still a baby.
Hercules is kidnapped, but he survives the attempt on his life, and the rest of the movie revolves around his growing up to eventually thwart Hades. According to ancient Greek mythology, however, Hercules – or Heracles as the Greeks called him – was anything but Zeus’ and Hera’s beloved son. Hera, as a matter of fact, hated Hercules with a passion: Zeus cheated on her constantly, and Hercules was Zeus’ son with a mortal woman named Alcmene. As seen below, rather than dote upon baby Hercules, Zeus’ wife went out of her way to mess him up whenever she could. And since she was a goddess, with divine powers, she often messed him up good.
