Herodotus on Egyptian Hercules
MarkDLew
(posted in alt.mythology, sci.classics, humanities.classics)
In case anyone is still interested in Egyptian Hercules, here's the
passage from Herodotus (which I assume is the source for some many
authors). It's fairly long, so I've done some trimming. You can find the
whole thing in Herodotus ii:42-45. I'm quoting from the Penguin Classics
edition, tr Selincourt, rev Marincola:
<< ... The Thebans [ie, Egyptian Thebes] and those who follow them explain
the origin of their custom of abstaining from the sacrifice of sheep by a
story of Heracles,[27] who, they say, wished above all things to see Zeus.
Zeus, however, was unwilling that his wish should be gratified. Heracles
persisted, and Zeus had to devise a means of getting out of the
difficulty. His plan was to skin a ram and cut off its head; then, holding
the head before him and covering himself in the fleece, he showed himself
to Heracles. This story explains why the Egyptians represent Zeus with a
ram's head ...
<< I was told that this Heracles was one of the twelve gods. Of the other
Heracles, with whom the Greeks are familiar, I could get no information
anywhere in Egypt. Nevertheless it was not the Egyptians who took the name
Heracles from the Greeks. The opposite is true: it was the Greeks who took
it from the Egyptians -- those Greeks, I mean, who gave the name to the
son of Amphitryon. There is plenty of evidence to prove the truth of this,
in particular the fact that both parents of Heracles -- Amphitryon and
Alcmene -- were of Egyptian origin.[30] ...
<< Nevertheless the Egyptians have had a god named Heracles from time
immemorial. They say that seventeen thousand years before the reign of
Amasis the twelve gods were produced from the eight; and of the twelve
they hold Heracles to be one. ... I made a voyage to Tyre in Phoenicia,
because I had heard that there was a temple there, of great sanctity,
dedicated to Heracles.[33] ... I also saw another temple there, dedicated
to the Thasian Heracles; and I also went to Thasos, where I found a temple
of Heracles built by the Phoenicians who settled there after they had
sailed in search of Europa. Even this was five generations before Heracles
the son of Amphitryon made his appearance in Greece. The result of these
researches is a plain proof that the worship of Heracles is very ancient;
and I think that the wisest course is taken by those Greeks who maintain a
double cult of this deity, with two temples, in one of which they worship
him as Olympian and divine, and in the other pay him such honour as is due
to a hero.>>
Relevant footnotes (by John M Marincola) say:
<< 27. Probably Chonsu, the son of Amon-re and Mut, whose name, connected
with the word for 'travel through', would have suggested the wanderings of
Heracles.
<< 30. In the Iliad Heracles is referred to as the son of Zeus (XIX.98ff)
and the son of Amphitryon (V.392). Amphitryon and Alcmene were descendants
of Perseus and thus Egyptian. [Perseus' Egyptian heritage is discussed
elsewhere in Herodotus, but I won't get into that here.]
<< 33. The temple is that of the Phoenician god Melqart.>>
My personal impression of all this is that Herodotus is mistaken; Heracles
is a Greek name, later attached to some local Egyptian gods as a result of
Greek influence. But I leave it to others to draw their own conclusions.
mdl
Frank Joseph Yurco
The deity Herodotus was identifying as Heracles was the Theban Deity Amun,
who could be manifested as a ram. The reference to him being one of a
group of gods, may reflect upon Amun's origin. He originally was one of
a group of eight deities associated with the primeval flood in the
Hermopolis tradition. He created an explosion in that tradition that
enabled the island of Atum to arise from the flood, whereupon Atum began
the creation, forming of himself, eight deities, Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut,
Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephthys. So, perhaps the information Herodotus
picked up reflected this role of Amun as a creator deity. The ram pro-
vided the association with Heracles.
Most sincerely,
Frank J. Yurco
Egyptologist
University of Chicago
--
Frank Joseph Yurco fjy...@midway.uchicago.edu