Herakles Ideological Analysis

Introduction

Myths survive because they operate at the highest ideological level and help create a unifying general ideology and address society as whole and not just a subgroup but it will include contradictions that arise from the opposed interests of the sub-groups These will be ambiguities, motives or ethics of the characters and mutually exclusive motifs

Freedom in Herakles

Freedom or Eleutheria is what separated the Greeks from their slaves. Freedom makes men truly human. Aristole even went as far as to say that freedom was a choice. Those governed by good character would never be enslaved. The ideology says those who cannot govern are slaves and this is to the benefit of the slaves as well as the free. This could be construed as a confusion of culture for nature. Slavs have no view point so no impact on cultural ideology.

To the aristocratic greek any paid work was akin to slavery. Gain drives the merchant the whip drives the slave. The aristocrat trained for competition and wars and did not to so by compulsion. To the working classes they saw the aristocrats as a type of social parasites. The working classes saw honor in virtue through industriousness. These are polar ideologies and Greek literature will declare a preference of one over the other.

Nicole Laraux says that Herakles is above politics because all Greeks claimed him yet Marxist Peter Rose says ideology can exist at above the City State level. Yet Herakles is not seen as purely an aristicratic hero.

As Greece developed they moved on from inter-family fights to more competition based feuds. In the Oddessy Eurylaos chides Odysseus for not taking part in the games and compares him unfavourable with the greedy merchant class. The ideas can be summarized as follows

Class

Aristocracy. Activity' was sports, Object was glory Motive was free choice  
Merchants.  Activity' was trade, Object was money Motive was greed
Labourese. Activity' was Agriculture, Object was food Motive was necessity

Herakles deeds are called athloi or contests

Greek Mythology