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HERCULES & CUCHULAIN.
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Compares heroes of Roman & Celtic mythologies. Divine vs. human qualities, adventures, relationships, interpretations.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Compares heroes of Roman & Celtic mythologies. Divine vs. human qualities, adventures, relationships, interpretations.
Paper Introduction:
INTRODUCTION
Different mythologies from different regions of the world have similar patterns which seem to indicate that the idea of the hero is one with a universal message and that derives from a universal impetus in human beings to have someone to look up to, some to serve as a champion, and someone on whom to base a certain philosophical view of life and how to direct it. Yet often these mythologies offer more than similar patterns and have even closer agreement in terms of specific aspects of the stories and lives of heroes. An examination of the Roman version of the story of Hercules and the Celtic myth of Cuchulain shows a number of areas of agreement indicating similar patterns. The agreement is not so close as to imply borrowing, but rather it shows different ways of expressing certain human needs, attitudes, and
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AsCuchulain's sword fell from his grasp, it cut off Lugaid's hand. New York: Mentor, 1942.MacCulloch, John Arnott. Other incidents also took place in this cycle as different leaderstried to stop Cuchulain from fighting Medb by trying to bribe him withdifferent things. His friends concealed him in the Glen of the Deaf, butCatalin's daughters discovered this and created a ghostly army out of puff-balls and withered leaves, while Lug's witches created soldiers out oftrees, sod, and stones. Alternative versions 2. While instances of borrowing arepossible, it is more likely that there are certain human needs that aresatisfied by these stories and that help shape these stories in a certainway. In one version of the Cuchulain story,he kills his own son by accident, and this occurs in the Persian andGermanic traditions as well (Rutherford 92-93). Cuchulain A. One of these elements is the simple need for a hero, for someone whois stronger, more powerful, and more daring than the average human beingand who serves as a model for the mass of human beings, as a potentialsavior for a society, as the explanation for various natural phenomena thathave been given mythic origins or causes, and so on. Each has different points ofvulnerability. Introduction A. In another versionof the story, the infant was carried by Mercury to Mt. Both are heroes who are stronger and altogether more favored thanthe common man, but at the same time each is beset by massive problems fargreater than any faced by the common man. Celtic Mythology. CUCHULAIN Celtic mythology is not as well known as Greek and Roman mythology,but Celtic mythology has been highly influential on other mythologicalcreations and on literature and other artistic expressions. Lugh was widely worshipped as a Celtic god,and in Gaul his equivalent was Lugus. Herculeseventually arrived at Mount Atlas in Africa. His mother was a charioteer, which is an association withhorses. He wa sin agony, but he could not die asothers could. OUTLINEI. Ultimately,Hercules was tormented by a curse put upon him by his dying wife if ever heshould be unfaithful to her. This would be the beginning of the story of the twelvelabors of Hercules, requiring the hero to make his way to the distantcorners of the earth to accomplish the tasks that would make him famous andassure his place among the gods (Warner 94). He wasa hero to the people of Thebes, and Creon, the king, gave him his daughterin marriage. Cuchulain as a Celtic hero E. He then visited the great cliffs at Delphi tosee the oracle of Apollo and to ask how he could purify his sin. Dechtine learns later through a vision that she ispregnant by Lugh, and this is a matter of considerable embarrassment as sheis betrothed to Sualdam. By the end of this cycle,Cuchulain was still only 17 years old, and he only had a few years left tolive. The most important adventure in Cuchulain's career is told in the"Cattle-raid of Cualnge," and there are a number of prefatory tales thatbelong to this cycle. Cuchulain was the chief figure in the court of Conchobar, said tohave been the King of Ulster at the beginning of the Christian era. Both heroes are revered for theirhumanity as much as for their strength, and each has become a central heroin a wide range of myths extending beyond the borders of the place wherethose myths were originally created. This story has been told in many forms by differentpoets: The poets, led by the analogy of the lovely appearance of the western sky at sunset, viewed the west as a region of brightness and glory. Rutherford cites the motif of magic apples linking Greek myth--magicapples grow in the Garden of Hesperides--and apples are also found inCeltic myth--Avalon is taken from the Celtic word for apple. Characteristics C. The Stories of the Greeks. Alcmene was afraid of Juno(or Hera's) wrath at her husband's infidelity, and she exposed the child ina field outside the walls of Thebes. INTRODUCTION Different mythologies from different regions of the world havesimilar patterns which seem to indicate that the idea of the hero is onewith a universal message and that derives from a universal impetus in humanbeings to have someone to look up to, some to serve as a champion, andsomeone on whom to base a certain philosophical view of life and how todirect it. Hamilton notes that Hercules accomplished all the exploits asked ofhim and that as a result it would seem he had earned ease and tranquilityfor the rest of his life. These heroes connect humanbeings with the powers that are greater than themselves. However, this was not to be. In another incident, Medb sendsher women to bid Cuchulain to put on a false beard because her warrior,Loch, refuses to fight a beardless youth. theheroes of this court were members of the Red Branch, called this after aroom in Conchobar's palace at Emain Macha. Hercules A. However, Ovid givesonly a brief account of the life of Hercules, which is unlike his morecommon and extremely detailed method of presentation: "He never cares todwell on heroic exploits; he loves best a pathetic story" (Hamilton 159).Hamilton says it might seem odd that Ovid skips over the story of Hercules'slaying of his wife and children, but that story had been told well byEuripides so that Ovid may have skipped it for that reason: He has very little to day about any of the myths the Greek tragedians write of. One of theincidents concerns the warning given by the goddess Morrigan, who came inthe form of a bird to tell the bull to beware of Medb's men. The stories concerning Cuchulain, who is more prominent than his King, Conchobar, were current among the tribes of Ulster; those about Fionn were popular first in Leinster and Munster, then over all Ireland and the West Highlands; those about Arthur were found among the Brythons (MacCulloch 139). Hercules is a semi-divine personage, with Jupiter for a father (Zeusin Greek mythology) and Alcmene for a mother. The hero is often ofdivine or semi-divine origin, and the latter is true of both Hercules andCuchulain. Originally a Greek hero B. Birth of Cuchulain 1. The owner of the bull refused to give it up, so Medbcollected an enormous force to march against Ulster at the time when theUlstermen were in their period of debility--this occurred each year as theresult of Macha's curse. HERCULES Hercules is the Roman name for the Greek hero Heracles, and his storyis told by a number of Roman writers, including Ovid. In another passage, Cuchulain rejects Morrigan's advances,and she wounds and then later heals him. Greenwich, Connecticut: Fawcett, 1961.Graves, Robert. The Greek Myths: Volume 2. Major stories about Cuchulain 1. Story of his birth 1. A certain kind of saga formed about some of these, acycle that would tell of their birth, their deeds, their lives, and theirdeath or departure to Elysium. Cuchulain slew many of the army, but he also made an agreement sothat each day he would meet one warrior in single combat while allowing thearmy to proceed. Semi-divine origin 3. His mother was Dechtine, Conchobar's daughter, and interestinglyshe is also Conchobar's charioteer. Lugus may be the Gaulish god equatedby Caesar with Mercury: Tempting as these identifications are, it must be confessed that they rest upon comparatively slender evidence and on what may be merely apparent coincidences, while they are of an extremely speculative character (MacCulloch 159). Groups of tribes would have their own hero, andoccasionally he would attain wider popularity and be adapted by othertribes. In the Esus story, the hero is a woodman who cuts downtrees to bar the way of Medb's army. Morrigan broke his chariot to try to keep him fromfighting. Medb's forces were defeated, but she sent thebull away before it could be recovered. Cuchulain couldnot be restrained from fighting back, not even in the face of a prophecy ofhis own death. He wastold that he had to go to Mycenae and for twelve years obey all thecommands of his kinsman, the cowardly king Eurystheus. The agreement is not so close as toimply borrowing, but rather it shows different ways of expressing certainhuman needs, attitudes, and desires which go into shaping mythology inevery society. Cuchulain said a spell over somegrass and placed it on his chin so that everyone would think he had a beard(MacCulloch 149-152). That child is Setanta, nicknamed Cuchulain: It is generally agreed that the original of this story has been badly mangled, particularly since it is plain from later passages that Lugh, in spite of Dechtine's self-induced abortion, still regards Cuchulain as his son (Rutherford 92). Fedelm the propetess,also Conchobar's daughter, appeard to Medb and prophesied disaster becauseof Cuchulain. With 5 heifers, the bull fled to the Heifer's Glen, but he was ultimately capturedby Medb's army. The Age of Fable. Rutherford finds that there are a number of parallels between thestory of Cuchulain and the stories of other heroes in differentmythologies. There is a need for heroes, as noted, and there is a need for directhuman communication with the gods. Some believe that the saga of Cuchulainwas known in Gaul and that the name Setanta is akin to that of theSetantii, Celtic tribes living in the district between the Ribble andMorecambe Bay, which would suggest a British ancestry for the hero.Another critic, d'Arbois, believes that the Gauls of Belgium had a heronamed Esus who can be identified with Cuchulain. They joined with others and marched towardUlster, again when the Ulstermen were in their debility. Three of these champions weremore prominent and were occasionally rivals--Cuchulain, Conall thevictorious, and Loegaire the Triumphant. The similaritiesbetween the two stories show how human beings facing these powers tend toexplain those powers in a similar fashion in different parts of the world. The stories of these two heroes also show how the creators of thosestories tried to explain certain natural phenomena in mythological terms.Different locations are associated with the exploits of each hero, andthose locations have acquired some of their characteristics because ofbattles suppose to have taken place there. Mythology. Another storyholds that Juno sent two serpents to kill the child, and Hercules killedthem both with his prodigious strength even though he was still but aninfant (Graves 9 -91). The Labors of Hercules 1. The fact that both mythologieshave apples as part of their narrative does not mean the two stories areclosely related. He believes the story hada Gaulish origin and may have been taught by the Druids before it wascarried to Ulster. Cuchulain was the son of the godLugh, so his origin is semi-divine, like that of Hercules in Roman myth.Also like Hercules, Cuchulain was strong and performed great feats.Cuchulain is also a handsome figure and very attractive to women, whichcaused Conchobar's warriors to be concerned for their wives (MacCulloch 139-143). Patterns of mythology B. The stories show a wide rangeof mood, from comedy to tragedy. She is seduced by the sun god, Lugh,at a remote and mysterious home to which she and her party have been led bythe song of a bird. The next was a more delicate labor,acquiring the girdle of the queen of the Amazons. It was noted above how golden apples play a part in both mythologiesand how in the case of the Greeks these golden apples may have been amisunderstanding of the Spanish orange. Rutherford also sees Cuchulain as reflecting the Celtic obsessionwith horses. There are also moments of supremepsychological insight (Rutherford 13). Massive effortswere mounted to prevent Cuchulain from fighting, for his friends knew hecould not survive. He decided that since death would not come to him, he wouldgo to death by killing himself. One of the more important of the tasks wasgetting the golden apples of the Hesperides, and the problem was thatHercules did not know where to find them. Death of CuchulainIV. Atlas was the father of theHesperides, and Hercules decided to send Atlas to find the apples for him.He took over Atlas's task of holding up the world while Atlas went andretrieved the apples. The Celtshad many myths regarding ideal heroic figures or actual heroes who becamemythical figures. The gods in both mythologies have directcommunication with human beings and have sexual relations with human beingsas well. Some were of divine origin, and they would differ from ordinarymen in terms of size, appearance, or power: The three heroes best known, each the center of a group, are Cuchulain, Fionn, and Arthur. There were around these figures otherswhose stories were also recounted and who may have been the subjects ofseparate sagas. The obsession with horses is seen in Scythian legends aswell. The flames rushed up and carried Hercules to heaven,where he was reconciled to Hera, his enemy throughout his life, and wherehe married her daughter Hebe, thereafter to remain among the gods (Hamilton171-172). He had his followers build a funeral pyre,and he asked his youthful follower, Philoctetes, to hold the torch to setthe wood on fire. Son-slayingsare found in various mythologies. These individual combats and the many other daring deedsundertaken by Cuchulain constitute much of this cycle. He passes over also one of the most famous tales about Hercules, how he freed Alcestis from death, which was the subject of another of Euripides' plays (Hamilton 159). Hence they placed in it the Isles of the Blest, the ruddy Isle Erytheia, on which the bright oxen of Geryon were pastured, and the Isle of the Hesperides. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1967. Boston: Marshall Jones, 1918.Rutherford, Ward. In both versions, milk spurted when the child either sucked toohard or was pulled away, and this created the Milky Way. Eurystheus ordered Hercules to bringhim the skin of this creature, and Hercules finally strangled the beastwith his bare hands. The story of Cuchulain is told in the Ulster Cycle. Hercules, of course, was a Greek herofirst, and the Romans took over many of the Greek myths with only someemendations and made the Greek heroes their own. Similarities seen in different mythological systems C. In keeping with his greater power, Hercules faces greaterdangers and must perform more daring exploits as a result. Still, the human side of both Hercules and Cuchulaingives these heroes a different aspect, as if they were "one of us" to thepeople who created the mythology. these were the apples that Junohad received at her wedding from the goddess of the earth. The godly world inhabited by each of these heroes is a world wherehuman passions have been projected on the deities so that rather than actas deities might be expected to, keeping some distance from the passions ofthe world, they instead exhibit human passions heightened because they arepart of the behavior of the gods. Cuchulain was told this was only a mythicillusion, but he believed that Ulster was being attacked. Wellingborough, Northamptonshire: Aquarian Press, 1987.Warner, Rex. The apples are supposed by some to be the oranges of Spain, of which the Greeks had heard some obscure accounts (Bulfinch 137). The first of the Twelve labors was the Nemean lion, a terrible beastthat infested the Valley of Nemea. The second labor was slaying the Hydra, which hadravaged the region of Argos and which lived in a swamp. Olympus for the samepurpose. Death of HerculesIII. Cuchulain and Sualtam were not affected by thiscurse, however, and they fought against Medb's army. In the ensuing fight, Cuchulain slew many foes. The stories are an attempt to explain those powersand in a way to give them a human face--it may be a god behind the face,but the gods are conceived in human terms. Baltimore: Penguin, 1955.Hamilton, Edith. Juno, however, afflicted Hercules with a sudden madness sothat he did not know what he was doing, and in his frenzy he killed bothhis wife and his children. The resentment of Juno continued into the adulthood of the hero, andHercules could not seem to escape from her wrath from time to time. Works CitedBulfinch, Thomas. In time, the Ulstermen recovered from their debility andgathered to fight the enemy. The storiescan be considered a supreme literary achievement, marked by an abundance ofincident and liveliness of characterization. His father was the sun god, Lugh, and the son was strong,heroic, and the champion of Ireland. It is believed that the saga of Cuchulain had an influence on themythologies of adjacent regions. Other correspondences are found tostories related to Cuchulain. Another labor was thecleaning of the Augean stables. Need for heroesII. Such relations are often more rape than anything else, showingthe greater power of the gods and the fact that they view human beings aslesser creatures. He then came to his senses and experiencedhorror at what he had done. Cuchulain is the weaker of the two--he is mortal, whileHercules is not. In one version of the story, she then lies downso as to crush the child within her, and later a child is fathered bySualdam. Yet often these mythologies offer more than similar patternsand have even closer agreement in terms of specific aspects of the storiesand lives of heroes. The oracle furtherstated that once he had completed his many labors, he would be receivedamong the gods. An examination of the Roman version of the story ofHercules and the Celtic myth of Cuchulain shows a number of areas ofagreement indicating similar patterns. Semi-divine origin B. One of the most important figures in Celtic mythology is Cuchulain(variously spelled, including Cu Chulainn or Cuchulainn), part god and partepic hero. Continuing enmity of Juno D. Alternative versions 2. SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES As has been noted, Hercules and Cuchulain are both of semi-divineorigin. Hercules accomplishedeach of the twelve tasks. The story of the birth of Cuchulain has actually been confused, forthere is more than one version, though in both Cuchulain is of semi-divineorigin. They studied the magic arts with an eye tocausing Cuchulain's death. His story is told in Irish myth, andthe poet William Butler Yeats built much of his poetry on aspects of thismythology. Nor does it mean they are related because of othersimilarities between the two heroes. As warrior 2. Ultimately,though, he was slain by Lugaid, who cut off Cuchulain's head. "Celtic." The Mythology of All Races: Volume III, Louis Herbert Gray (ed.). Both Hercules and Cuchulain have this human face, and they are alsobeset by human problems, including marital problems, various enemies, andhuman passions that get the better of them. In this story, Queen Medb of Connaught wanted theDonn or Brown Bull of Cualnge in Ulster as an equivalent to her husband'sbull, the Findbennach, or "White-Horned." These bulls were rebirths ofsemi-divinities. These stories help explain a difficultworld, a world that may seem to be governed by rules and powers beyondhuman comprehension. Conallavenged his friend by cutting of Lugaid's head in battle (MacCulloch 154-156). Hercules as an exaple of a Roman hero D. what led to his death was the slaying of Cuori and of Catalin.Catalin's wife had three monster sons and three daughters posthumously, andthey were nurtured by Medb. Hercules finallymanaged to burn away the heads of the Hydra. Important labors E. Circumstances leading to the labors 2. Jupiter tricked his wife into breast-feeding the infant, and this made the child immortal. Similarities and Differences----------------------- 1
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