Herakles Undying:
A Look At Herakles in Cult

Regional Cults of Herakles
There are many regional cults of Herakles throughout Greece.  Walter Burkert attributes the number of these cults to the fact that there are so many versions (and no established chronology) of the twelve labors.  Because there were so many different cults, some worshipped Herakles as a hero and some as a god.  The fact that Herakles can be associated with a number of non-Greek gods, whether by a similarity of labors or physical appearance, may also contribute to the variety of cults. (KG)

Herakles as a Healer and Protector
 One of Herakles most popular epithets was the “Kallinikos” meaning “the triumphant”. Inscriptions of “Kallinikos” on several Greek buildings revere Herakles as a protector against evil spirits. Similar inscriptions were found on houses in Pompeii and in Thasos and Egypt (CIL IV, 733): “Herakleis,” translated as “Herakles save us” and “Apotropaios,” translated as “averter of evil.”  

W.K.C. Guthrie comments on the Greeks’ belief in Herakles and cult worship, stating that for the Greeks, Herakles was a man who died and rose to Mt. Olympus were he was then a god.  The most important part of the transformation is that he was first looked at as a man. (KG)

Herakles and Fertility
The are several stories of Herakles increasing the fertility of the land.   According to Pausanias (8.14.1) Herakles opened the subterranean outlets of Lake Phineus in Arcadia, while according to Diodoros, he filled up the outlet of the Lake Phineus (4.22 2-3).  Consequently he made the land more fertile.  This motif is also reflected in Herakles’ fifth labor, which was to clean the Augean stables. Augeas, king of Elis, had a herd of three thousand oxen, whose stalls had not been cleaned for thirty years. Herakles brought the rivers Alpheus and Peneus through them, and cleaned them in one day. The result made a great fertilizer for the surrounding countryside.  [Library of Apollodorus] (KG)

Duality of Herakles
In ancient Greece there were two different views of Herakles; one as a god and the other as a hero. Modern scholars have had problems trying to identify which Herakles is worshipped by different regional cults. Archeologists have found proof of dual worship in inscriptions on buildings and in literature. Some primary sources like Pausanias record double worship of Herakles. Describing the sacrifice, performed at the shrine of Herakles in Sikyon, Pausanias writes, “They say that Phaistos came to Sikyon and found them making an offerings to Herakles as to a hero. He [Phaistos] did not think it right to do anything of this sort, but rather to sacrifice to him as a god. And to this day the Sikyonians have slain a lamb and roasted the thighs on the altar, they eat some of the meat as form a sacrifice and offer the rest as to a hero. (Paus.ii.10.1) (KG)

Evidence of Duality in Literature
The earliest mention of Herakles in literature was in Homer’s Iliad. Herakles is not one of the main characters in the epic but Homer uses the image of Herakles as the dead hero of past times.

Achilles:
And I too shall meet my fate, at whatever time it pleases Zeus and the other immortal gods to accomplish it. Yea not even the mighty Herakles escaped death…(xviii,115)

Hesiod tells the story of Herakles and the twelve labors that he accomplished and explains the death of Herakles as “He became a god and an Olympian.” Herakles was a mortal whose human efforts raised him to status of a god.  Pindar designates Herakles by the phrase “hero-god” (Nem. iii, 22). (KG)

Useful Links:

An article on Herakles and Healing Cults in the Peloponnesos