A New System; or, an Analysis of Ancient Mythology. Volume II
By Jacob Bryant
HERCULES.
Similar to the foregoing are the expeditions of Hercules, and the conquests which he is supposed to have performed. After many exploits in Greece, the reputed place of his nativity, he travelled as far as mount Caucasus near Colchis, to free Prometheus, who was there exposed to an eagle or vulture. Upon the Thermodon he engaged with the Amazons, whom he utterly defeated; and then passed over into Thrace. Upon his return into Greece he was ordered to make an expedition into Iberia, a region in the farthest part of Spain; where Chrusaor, a prince of great wealth, resided. Hercules accepts of the commission; but, I know not for what reason, goes first to Crete, and from thence to [824]Libya; and what is extraordinary, proceeds to Egypt. This makes the plan of his supposed rout somewhat irregular and unaccountable. After some time spent in these parts, he builds the city Hecatompulos, said before to have been built by Osiris: and then traverses the whole of Africa westward, till he arrives at the Fretum Gaditanum. Here he erects two pillars; which being finished, he at last enters Iberia. He defeats the sons of Chrusaor, who were in arms to oppose him; and bestows their kingdom upon others. He likewise seizes upon the oxen of Geryon. He then marches into the country of the Celtæ, and [825]founds the city Corunna, and likewise [826]Alesia in Gaul. He afterwards fights with the giants Albion and Bergion near Arelate, in the plain styled Campus Lapideus; where are the salt waters of Salona. He then passes the [827]Alpes; and upon the banks of the Eridanus encounters a person of shepherd race; whom he kills, and seizes his [828]golden flocks. In his way homeward he visits Hetruria, and arrives at the mountain Palatinus upon the Tiber. From thence he goes to the maritime part of Campania, about Cuma, Heraclea, and the lake Aornon. Not far from hence was an adust and fiery region; supposed to have been the celebrated Phlegra, where the giants warred against heaven: in which war Hercules is said to have [829]assisted. Here was an antient oracular temple; and hard by the mountain Vesuvius, which in those days flamed violently, though it did not for many ages afterwards. During his residence here he visited the hot fountains near Misenus and Dicæarchea; and made a large causeway, called in aftertimes Via Herculanea, and Agger Puteolanus. After having visited the Locrians, and the people of Rhegium, he crossed the sea to Sicily; which sea he swam over, holding by the horn of an ox. At his arrival some warm springs burst forth miraculously, to give him an opportunity of bathing. Here he boxed with Eryx; defeated the Sicani; and performed many other exploits. What is remarkable, having in Spain seized upon the cattle of Geryon, he is said to have made them travel over the Pyrenean mountains, and afterwards over the Alpes, into Italy; and from thence cross the sea into Sicily; and being now about to leave that island, he swims with them again to Rhegium: and ranging up the coast of the Adriatic, passes round to Illyria, from thence to Epirus; and so descends to Greece. The whole of these travels is said to have been completed in ten years.
He was also reported, according to [830]Megasthenes and others, to have made an expedition into [831]India, and to have left many memorials of his transactions in those parts. He travelled likewise into the region called afterwards Scythia; the natives of which country were his [832]descendants. He also visited the Hyperboreans. In all these peregrinations he is generally described as proceeding alone: at least we have no intimation of any army to assist in the performance of these great enterprises. He is indeed supposed to have sailed with six ships to [833]Phrygia: but how he came by them is not said; nor whence he raised the men, who went with him. At other times he is represented with a club in his hand, and the skin of an animal upon his shoulders. When he passed over the ocean, he is said to have been wafted in a golden [834]bowl. In Phrygia he freed Hesione from a Cetus, or sea monster, just as Perseus delivered Andromeda. He is mentioned as founding many cities in parts very remote: the sea-coast of Bœtica, and Cantabria, was, according to some writers, peopled by [835]him. By Syncellus he is said to have resided in Italy, and to have reigned in [836]Latium. The Grecians supposed that he was burnt upon Mount Œta: but the people of Gades shewed his Taphos in their [837]city, just as the Egyptians shewed the Taphos of Osiris at Memphis, and elsewhere. Hence it was imagined by many, that Hercules was buried at Gades. The philosopher Megaclides could not be brought to give the least assent to the histories of this [838]hero: and Strabo seems to have thought a great part of them to have been a [839]fable. In short, the whole account of this personage is very inconsistent: and though writers have tried to compromise matters by supposing more persons than one of this name, yet the whole is still incredible, and can never be so adjusted as to merit the least belief. How they multiplied the same Deity, in order to remedy their faulty mythology, may be seen in the following extract from Cicero. [840]Quanquam, quem potissimum Herculem colamus, scire velim: plures enim nobis tradunt ii, qui interiores scrutantur et reconditas literas. Antiquissimum Jove natum, sed item Jove antiquissimo: nam Joves quoque plures in priscis Græcorum literis invenimus. Ex eo igitur et Lysito est is Hercules, quem concertâsse cum Apolline de tripode accepimus. Alter traditur Nilo natus, Ægyptius; quem aiunt Phrygias literas conscripsisse. Tertius est ex Idæis Dactylis, cui inferias afferunt. Quartus Jovis est, et Asteriæ, Latonæ sororis, quem Tyrii maxime colunt; cujus Carthaginem filium ferunt. Quintus in [841]Indiâ, qui Belus dicitur. Sextus hic, ex Alcumenâ quem Jupiter genuit; sed tertius Jupiter: quoniam, ut docebo, plures Joves accepimus.
Hercules was a title given to the chief deity of the Gentiles, who have been multiplied into almost as many personages, as there were countries, where he was worshipped. What has been attributed to this god singly, was the work of Herculeans; a people who went under this title among the many which they assumed; and who were the same as the Osirians, Peresians, and Cuthites. They built Tartessus in Bœtica, and occupied great part of Iberia. They likewise founded [842]Corunna in Cantabria, and [843]Alesia in Gaul: of which there are traditions to this day. Some of them settled near [844]Arelate; others among the [845]Alpes: also at Cuma, and Heraclea in Campania. They were also to be found at Tyre, and in Egypt; and even in the remotest parts of [846]India. In short, wherever there were Heraclidæ, or Herculeans, an Hercules has been supposed. Hence his character has been variously represented. One, while he appears little better than a sturdy vagrant; at other times he is mentioned as a great benefactor; also as the patron of science, the [847]God of eloquence, with the Muses in his train. On this account he had the title of [848]Musagetes; and the Roman general Fulvius dedicated a temple which he had erected to his honour, and inscribed it [849]Herculi Musarum. There are gems, upon which he is represented as presiding among the Deities of [850]Science. He is said to have been swallowed by a Cetus, or large fish, from which he was after some time delivered. This history will hereafter be easily decyphered. He was the chief deity of the [851]Gentile world; the same as Hermes, Osiris, and Dionusus; and his rites were introduced into various parts by the Cuthites. In the detail of his peregrinations is contained, in great measure, an history of that people, and of their settlements. Each of these the Greeks have described as a warlike expedition; and have taken the glory of it to themselves. He is said to have had many sons. One of these was [852]Archemagoras; by which is meant the father or chief of the Magi. There are many others enumerated: the principal of whom are said to have been; [853]Sardus, or Sardon; Cyrnus, Gelonus, Olynthus, Scythus, Galathus, Lydus, Iberus, Celtus, Poimen. As these are all manifestly the names of nations, we may perceive by the purport of this history, that the Sardinians, Corsicans, Iberians, Celtæ, Galatæ, Scythæ, &c. &c. together with those styled Shepherds, were Herculeans; all descended from that [854]Hercules, who was the father of Archemagoras the chief of the Magi.
[823] Iliad Β. v. 811. Μυρινα· ονομα κυριον Αμαζονος. Scholia ibid.
[824] Diodorus Sicul. l. 4. p. 216, 217, 225, 227, &c. See also Justin. l. 44. c. 4. and Apollodorus. l. 2. p. 100.
Hercules of Tyre was said to have been the Son of Athamas, the same as Palæmon.
[825] Ludovicus Nonnius in Hispania. p. 196, 170.
[826] Diodorus Sicul. l. 4. p. 227.
Corunna the same as Kir-Ona.
Many Amonian cities of similar analogy to Alesia.
[827] Diodorus, above.
[828] Χρυσα μηλα—προβατα. Schol. in Apollon. Argonaut. l. 4. v. 1396. εξ Αγροιτου εν γ' Λιβυκων.
[829] Τον Ἡρακλεα, συμμαχουντων αυτῳ των θεων, κρατησαι τῃ μαχῃ, και τους πλειστους ανελοντα την χωραν ηξημερωσαι. Diodorus Sicul. l. 4. p. 229. Strabo. l. 5. p. 376. and l. 6. p. 430.
[830] Strabo. l. 15. p. 1007. and l. 11. p. 771. Diodorus Sic. l. 2. p. 124.
[831] Arrian. Hist. Indica. p. 321.
[832] Herod. l. 4. c. 9. Aristid. Orat. v. 1. p. 85.
[833] Ovid. Metam. l. 11. v. 218.
[834] Poculo Herculem vectum ad Erytheiam. Macrob. Sat. l. 5. c. 21. Apollodorus. l. 2. p. 100. Schol. Apollon. Argonaut. l. 4. v. 1396. from Pherecydes Syrus; and from the Libyca of Agroitas. Λαβων χρυσουν δεπας παρ' Ἡλιου—δια του ωκεανου πλειν.
[835] Strabo. l. 3. p. 237. He was supposed to have been the founder of Tartossus, where he was worshipped under the name of Archaleus. Etymolog. Mag. Γαδαρα.
[836] Syncellus. p. 171.
[837] Pomponius Mela. l. 3. c. 6.
[838] Athenæus. l. 12. c. 512.
[839] Strabo. l. 15. p. 1009. Πλασμα των Ἡρακλειαν ποιουντων.
[840] Nat. Deorum. l. 3. c. 16.
[841] Arrian speaks of this Indian Hercules, together with the others mentioned by Cicero. Ει δε τῳ πιστα ταυτα, αλλος αν ουτος Ἡρακλεης ειη, ουχ ὁ Θηβαιος, η ὁ Τυριος ὁυτος, η ὁ Αιγυπτιος, η τις και κατα ανω χωρην ου ποῤῥω της Ινδων γης ῳκισμενην μεγας βασιλευς. Hist. Ind. p. 319. Varro mentions forty of this name, who were all reputed Deities.
[842] See Ludovicus Nonnius, in Hispan. p. 196, 170.
[843] See Audigier Origines des François. part. 1. p. 225, 230.
[844] Mela. l. 2. c. 5. l. 30.
[845] Petronius. p. 179. Est locus Herculeis aris sacer.
[846] He was worshipped by the Suraceni, a particular Indian nation, who styled him Γηγενης, or the Man of the Earth. Arrian. Hist. Indic. p. 321.
[847] Hercules apud Celtas. See Voss. de Idolat. l. 1. c. 35. l. 2. c. 15.
[848] Eumenius in Orat. pro Scholis instaurandis. See Lilius Gyraldus, Synt. 10. p. 330.
[849] Suetonius in Augusto. c. 29. Livy. l. 40. c. 51.
[850] Johan. Sambuci Emblemata.
[851] He was the same as Osiris, the Sun. Τον εν πασι και δια παντων Ἡλιον. Macrob. Saturn. l. 1. c. 20. p. 207. See Porphyry apud Euseb. Præp. Evang. l. 3. p. 112.
[852] See Lilius Gyraldus Syntag. 10. p. 592. Pausanias expresses the name Αιχμαγορας. l. 8. p. 624.
[853] Lilius Gyrald p. 595.
[854] In the following extracts we may see the character of this Deity among different nations. Ἡρακλεα δε ὁντινα ες Ινδους αφικεσθαι λογος κατεχει παρ' αυτοισιν Ινδοισιν Γηγενεα λεγεσθαι· τουτον τοι Ἡρακλεα μαλιστα προς Συρασηνων γεραιρεσθαι, Ινδικου εθνους. Arrian. Hist. Ind. p. 321.
Αλλα τις αρχαιος εστι θεος Αιγυπτιοισι Ἡρακλεης· ὡς δε αυτοι λεγουσι ετεα εστι επτακισχιλια και μερια ες Αμασιν βασιλευσαντα. Herod. l. 2. c. 43. Αλλ' ισμεν Αιγυπτιους, ὁσον τινα αγουσιν Ἡρακλεα, και Τυριους, ὁτι πρωτον σεβουσι Θεων. Aristid. Orat. v. 1. p. 59. He had at Tyre a Temple, as old as the city. Εφασαν γαρ ἁμα Τυρῳ οικιζομενῃ και το Ἱερον του θεου ἱδρυνθηναι. Herod. l. 2. c. 44.
Εστι γαρ εν Τυρῳ Ἱερον Ἡρακλεους παλαιοτατον, ὡν μνημῃ ανθρωπινῃ διασωσεται· ου του Αργειου Ἡρακλεους. κ. λ. Arrian. Expedit. Alex. p. 88.