Jesus vs Hercules

Myths and Religion are generally presumed to be two entirely different things. Myths are seen as stories shared between groups of people that are part of a cultural identity, while Religion is a belief that a group of people of a cultural identity share. Although they differ in certain aspects, they still hold similarities. Comparable to bible stories, myths have different versions which are both inspirational, as well as entertaining to those who do not believe them to be true. Along with this major similarity, there are parallels to specific stories. Various nurturing aspects of Hercules from Greek mythology, and Jesus Christ from the Bible are similar, including their birth, life and ultimately death in their respective lives. Right from their births, Jesus and Hercules’ lives are comparable. Jesus was born of a virgin mother, Mary, while Hercules was born of Alcmene, who was impregnated by Zeus. Although both their mothers were not virgins, their birth was similar in the sense that they were both half mortal and half god. Jesus and Hercules both had mortal mothers and gods as fathers. They were both raised by other men who played the role of a father in their lives – Joseph for Jesus, and (name) for Hercules. As babies, Jesus and Hercules’ lives were both in danger. Herod, who was the king at the time Jesus was born, wanted him killed as he was afraid Jesus was to be the next king. To solve this, he sent out armies of men to kill every newborn in the city. Jesus was saved when an angel appeared in Joseph’s dream to warn them about the danger. In the case of Hercules, his stepmother was the one that wanted him killed. She was jealous that her husband Zeus slept with multiple women and wanted baby Hercules dead. She let two venomous serpents into his crib, but being the son of Zeus, Hercules was born with great strength, and was able to easily catch and strangle the serpents to death. During their time on earth, Jesus and Hercules lived fairly normal lives as men in their towns. Jesus started to perform miracles in his home town around the age of thirty where as Hercules was always seen as a mighty strong man. Hercules and Jesus were both icons, Jesus the icon of Christianity and Hercules the icon for the Greeks. They both had many followers as young men who seemed to have later been abandoned during times or turmoil and danger. Jesus when he was preaching about God lost many followers as the Pharisees claimed Jesus’ works a cult, where as Hercules lost his followers when cursed by Hera his stepmother in a fit of anger killed his own wife and children. Although many seem to think of Hercules as a redeemer and saviour, Hercules did not save the world in any sense nor did he ‘redeem’ people as a whole. He defeated bad guys and rescued good guys, but never granted salvation from sin or died to save any followers as Jesus gave up his life to save the world. During the few end years of their lives, Jesus and Hercules were made to suffer a great deal. Jesus had to live being ridiculed and shamed where as Hercules lived in exile away from everyone as he spent twelve years doing the twelve labour he brought on himself to make up for the remorse he felt for brutally murdering his family. Ultimately Jesus and Hercules both met with violent deaths, Jesus died on the cross out of own free will for the love of his people, even though he did not voluntarily decide to die on a cross. Hercules on the other hand voluntarily decided to died on a pyre of fire as stories mention he wanted to get rid of the body that was responsible with the killing of his family.