Herakles as Hero and the Story of Herakles in the Iliad
The three general characteristics of the hero are (1) s/he is extreme, in both good and bad ways; (2) s/he is unseasonal; and (3) s/he has a ritually antagonistic relationship with the god or goddess most like him/her. This relationship is for the hero a sort of fatal attraction. The example of Herakles, the best known Panhellenic hero, shows these qualties well. He is extreme in that he can accomplish feats that no other mortal can (in addition to the Labors, Herakles is also the mortal who is the key ally in the gods' victory over the giants in the Gigantomachy). He also can do extremely horrific acts, like killing his wife and children in a murderous rage.
That Herakles is unseasonal is seen in his name and life story. The ancient Greek word for natural time, natural life, natural life-cycle, was hôra. Other definitions: 'season, seasonality; time; timeliness'. (The English word hour is derived from Greek hôra.)
The goddess of hôra (plural hôrai) was Hêra (the two forms hôra and Hêra are related to each other). She was the goddess of seasons, in charge of making everything happen on time, happen in season, happen in a timely way, etc. Herakles = Hêraklês 'he who has the kleos of Hêra'. As we saw in our previous discussion of the concept of the hero, the hero is one who has kleos. The kleos of Herakles comes from Hera, who is also his ritually antagontistic god.
That Hera, who controls seasonality, is important for any hero can be seen in that the word meaning 'hero', hêrôs, is related to these two words hôra and Hêra. An important qualification: the hero is unseasonal during his/her lifetime. The precise moment when everything comes together for the hero is the moment of death. The hero is "on time" at the hôra or 'time' of death.
