| Aren’t there some striking parallels between the Jesus and Hercules stories? |
| Most of us are somewhat familiar with Hercules (aka Alcides and closely
related to the Heracles legend).
Here are the critics' claims: 1) Born of a virgin According to the legend, Zeus disguised himself as King Amphitryon of Troezen, then paid a visit to the king's wife, Alcmene, slept with her and impregnated her. Nine months later, out pops Hercules along with a twin brother, Iphicles, who was fathered by the king. So we can easily scratch out the idea of Hercules' mom being a virgin. 2) Was the son of God This one is true, Zeus being the primary god in Greek mythology. 3) Was known as the 'savior of the world' and the 'redeemer'. He was not known by either of these titles, neither did he save the world in any sense or did he 'redeem' people as a whole. He defeated badguys and rescued goodguys, but never granted salvation from sin or died to save any of his followers. 4) Before he was born, his parents wandered to a bigger town. His father (Zeus) and mother (Alcmene) didn't travel together at all. Except for their brief fling when Zeus was disguised as Amphitryon, they weren't ever together. 5) Prophets foretold his birth and that he would be a king. Which prophets were those? No such thing appears in the Hercules story. 6) His birth was announced by a "heavenly display" and "celestial music". Not in any version I've ever seen. Also, there is no celestial music at Jesus' birth, either. 7) Was born on December 25th Again, not true of the historical Jesus. Also not true of Hercules in any tradition. 8) There was an attempt made on his life while he was an infant. There was indeed an attempt on his life while he was still an infant, when his step-mother, Juno, put a serpent in his cradle (which Hercules kills), but this hardly compares to Jesus. 9) Was shown all of the kingdoms of the world from a high mountain. Nope. 10) Walked on water. Nope. 11) Met with a violent death and was resurrected. The closest thing I've found to a violent death and resurrection is a story in which Nessus tricks Deianara (Herc's wife) into poisoning him. Hercules doesn't actually die, but the gods intervene and give him eternal life, and he ascends to Mount Olympus. 12) His mother and favorite disciple stood by him when he died. Again, Hercules never really 'died' in any version of the story, and I can find no mention of his mother or any disciple in the one version in which Deianara poisons him. 13) As he died, tells his mother "Do not cry, I'm going to Heaven." Nope. 14) Last words were "It is finished". Nope. 15) When he dies, the Earth trembles and darkness covers the land. Not in any version I've seen. 16) Ascended to Heaven when he died. Again, he never really died in any version. In the one in which he has a near-death experience (see #11 above), he does ascend to Mount Olympus, which is a realm populated only by gods, so it's not the Greek equivalent of Heaven. 17) Is said to have conquered death. According to whom? I suppose the idea that he survived many death-defying situations could mean that he 'conquered death' in some sense, but certainly not in the sense that Jesus did.
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