Encuclopaedia Americana

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1831 Excerpt: ...after its completion. We must not forget that the Greek Hercules is of Phoenician origin, his native city, Thebes, being a Phoenician colony. The Phoenician Hercules, as the patron and symbol of the nation, accompanied them wherever they went and settled, and thus the travels of Hercules appear as a symbol of the extension of this nation by commerce and navigation, and of the civilization which was a consequence of it. It is possible that no Hercules ever existed, in which case we must consider theHeraclidesas merely descendants of the Gneco-PhoBnician colony of Thebes. A Theban Hercules, however, may have existed, and this is rendered probable by the circumstance that an old tradition says that his name was not originally Hercules, but Alcatus, and that he received the former name ftom the god Hercules. (Sext. Empir., Adv. Phys. 557 td. Fabric.) However that may be, every thing reported of any other Hercules was transferred to this Alcaeus, or Theban Hercules, and these traditions became the foundation of the tales of the fabulous hero. After this fusion of different traditions, tl»e Greek Hercules became the symbol of the history of Greeian civilization. This was accomplished in three different ways:--first, physically, as by the draining of morasses and lakes, the digging of canals, and the extirpation of forests, and the Wild beasts which infested them, &c.; secondly, commercially, by navigation and intercourse with distant countries; thirdly, in a politico-religious way, by the institution of sacred games, laws, &c. All this was effected by the Phcenieo-Theban Hercules, to whom a great number of cities, Phoenician colonies, traced back their origin. They celebrated feasts in honor of him, at which they sang of his exploits. The original as...