Classical Wisdom Litterae - April 2019

if the mother’s servant hadn’t fooled the Goddess of childbirth. The quick witted help convinced Ilithyia that the babies had already been born. Seeing her task as pointless, the goddess jumped up, undid the knots and allowed the birth of the twins to proceed. After this, Heracles’ mother was worried about Hera… she might enact revenge. So Alcmene exposed her half god child, who was taken up by Athena to see Hera. Zeus’ wife did not recognize her mini-semi-mortal enemy and inadvertently nursed him out of pity. The super strong infant, however, suckled so intensely that Hera pushed him away due to pain. Her milk then sprayed across the sky, forming the Milky Way. Heracles, meanwhile, acquired supernatural powers from the divine milk and was returned to his mother.

She sent down two enormous serpents to the babies’ crib so she might be rid of them. Unlike his twin brother, Heracles was not afraid, and grabbed the reptiles. His parents found him happily babbling away in baby gibberish, holding the strangled snakes as if they were toys. Heracles’ strength, and partial divinity, was confirmed by the act. The young boy then grew into a huge, powerful and courageous man that legends are made of. Sure, he killed his music teacher with a lyre, but overall he was destined for greatness. He was prophesied an unusual future, full of vanquishing monsters and making myths. Heracles then moved to Thebes where he married King Creon’s daughter, Megara and started a family. Unfortunately at this moment Hera stepped back into Heracles’ life. She drove him so mad that he murdered all of his children, and maybe even his wife as well. After being cured of his temporary insanity, he fled to the Oracle of Delphi to search for a way to expiate his sins.

Despite her accidental gift, Hera was still on a warpath.

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