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Atlantean Research Journal, and Atlantis from 1950 cont.
The Labours of Hercules, By Edgerton Sykes
Sykes
mentions the "Head of Medusa" he observed a series of classical myths
about the "Labours of Hercules" which referred to the military
activities of the first Hellenic sttlers on the mainland of
Eurystheus
of Argos, the capital city of Argolis, and it was under his flag his long
campaign was fought. Heracles means a "gift of Hera' one of the old
pre-Hellenic mother goddesses, and is an ironic reflection on it that he spent
the whole of the Labours, in order to wipe out all trace of the influence of
Hera in the Middle Seas. In listing the order of the campaigns, I have altered
the usual sequence of several of the Labours, in order to fit them into the
picture. They are as follows:
1. The Lion
of Nemea, in
2. The
Hydra, in
3. The
Birds of Stymphalos, in
4. The Hind
of Ceryneia, in
5. The Boar
of Erymanthus, in
6. The
Stables of Augeas, in
7. The
Minotaur, in
8. The
Mares of Diomedes, in
9. The Oxen
of Geryon, in Erythia
10. The
Girdle of the Amazons, in
11. The
Apples of the Hesperides, in the Canaries
12. The
Hell Hound, Cerberus
There were
also certain subsidiary campaigns, as below:-
a. King
Orchemenos, in
b. King
Neleus, in Pylos (Between Labour 6 and 7)
c. King
Achelous, in Echinades (Between Labours 6 and 7)
d. King
Laodemon, in
It is of
interest to note that of the various clans who were mythologiaclly related to
Chrysaor and Callirhoe, no fewer than eight were liquidated by Hercules:
Cerberus, Charybdis, the Eagle of Prometheus, Hydra, Laidon, the Lion of Nemea,
Orthus, and Scylla. The Chimeria was killed by Bellerphon (Bootes), the Dragon
of Colchis by Cadmus or Jason (Argo), the Gorgons and the Graiae by Perseus,
and the Sphinx of Oedipus. The events to which we are referring seem to have
taken place between the third and second millennium before Christ. At this
time, the Hellenic settlers, who had been living in comparative amity with the
previous sea borne civilization with its goddesses and gods, decided that the
time had come to abolish all trace of them. One day it might be possible to
sort out the various threads in the Greek myth, the possibility that Zeus was
originally a mother goddess being a typical example. However, for the moment,
we are concerned with the desperate battle for existance being put up by the
adherants of Poseidon, Neerus (Chief of the Neerids), Atlas and Hera. That the
various mythological monsters: cuttle fish, dragons, serpents, lions, boars,
birds, etc., were clan totems of the Poseidon worshippers seems farily evident.
There also exists a possibilty thatt their spiritual center was the Echirades
Islands, off the East Coast of Ithaca, where lived Achelous the King of the Sirens,
who was defeated by Hercules in one of his earlier campaigns. This Achelous
comes into the picture in one or more of the stories. Tiryns, the fortified
city with cyclopean walls from which all expeditions started, was founded
between 2,000 and 3,000 B.C., shortly before these happenings, and was
rediscovered by Henry Schliemann towards the end of this last century. Because
of these military campaigns old chieftains were forced out onto remote Islands
in exile as well as their old religions this was similar to what the Spaniards
did later in Mexico to the Aztec. Before returning to Tiryns, Hercules had been
a commander of the ruler of Thebes, during which time he broke up a minor tribe
living at mount Cithaeron, captured a sisterhood of fifty priestesses, who
were, presumably, raped and or murdered, and finally killed by King Orchemenos,
ruler of a town some thirty miles from Tiryns, with whom the Thebans were
involved in a dispute. It was this last episode that brought his military
capacities to the attention of the Argive King, Eurystheus, by whom he
appointed commander and chief of the forces of Argolis and made the Prince of
Tiryns. This may have been more attractive than the lordship of the then tiny
City of Megera-some twenty miles west of Athens-which had been offered him by
Creon the King of Thebes in reward for his services.
Sykes goes
on about the listing of the Labours which we stop here for now.
Orichalcum
and the Orichalcum of the Atlanteans ,By E. Sykes and I. Tournier 1950
cont.
Atlantean Research Journal List
of years and articles.
