XVI – THESSALIAN-PELOPONNESIAN MYTHOLOGY OF HERCULES – HERCULES’S TRAVELS IN H

XVI – THESSALIAN-PELOPONNESIAN MYTHOLOGY OF HERCULES – HERCULES’S TRAVELS IN HYPERBOREA AND ALONG THE DANUBE

In Hellenic mythology, Hercules was the greatest, strongest and most glorious hero. The greatest legends told about Hercules were created by the Dorians. The Dorians were the third wave of people to arrive in the South Balkans, following the indigenous Pelasgians and Achaeans who arrived in the region during the 16th century BC. They migrated from the north to Pelasgia during the 12th century BC. The legends had a dual purpose:

1) They claimed Hercules, son of Zeus, as a Dorian hero in order to emphasize that the Dorians too were of divine origin.

2) The legends of Hercules represented a synthesis between the indigenous Pelasgians, Danai, Achaeans, Pelopidi and the Herculean Dorians (Thomson, G.: I Arhaia Eilliniki Koinonia-to Proistoriko Algaio, p. 190, Athina, 1954) i.e. later Hellenes.

The name Hercules ('Ηρακλης) is etymologically coined from the noun 'Hρα - Hera and the verb kληζω, κλεω – klezo, kleo – meaning to celebrate, to germinate, to be proud, i.e. “Hera’s celebration”. In mythology, Hercules was born in Boeotia but his native soil was Argolida in the Peloponnesus, the first place where the Dorians originally took residence before expelling the Achaeans.

Hercules was the son of Zeus and Amfitrion’s wife Alkmena. Amfitrion was king of Mikena (Mycenae) from the Danai Dynasty. Amfitrion’s mother Nikipa was Pelops’s daughter from the Pelopidi Dynasty. Hercules’s half-brother Ifikles was Alkmena and Amfitrion’s son but not of Zeus. Hercules’s original name was Alkevs (Αλκενς), named after his grandfather. The newborn Alkevs (Alkid), through Zeus and Athena’s deception, was brought to breastfeed on the goddess Hera while she was sleeping. And so by drinking her divine milk he became immortal. Hercules received some of his early education from his stepfather Amfitrion. But because he was penalized with having to look after Kiteron’s cattle, his education did not resume until he was 18 years old. Hercules was recognized as being the son of Zeus because of his strength, large stature and bravery. He chose the path of virtue because the Oracle Pitia told him that he would be glorious if he returned to king Evristei and served him for twelve years and, during that time, if he performed twelve heroic deeds. Pitia from Delphi then gave him the name Hercules meaning Hera’s celebration.

His maternal grandfather, Evristei, king of Mikena, gave Hercules twelve difficult tasks, six of which were to be performed in the Peloponnesus and the other six outside of the Peloponnesus. The tasks to be performed inside the Peloponnesus were: to kill the fierce lion of Nemea, to kill the deadly Hydra of Lerna, to capture the golden-horned Arcadian stag, to capture the huge wild boar of Erymanthus, to drive a flock of ferocious birds away from the woods near Lake Stymphalus and to clean king Augeas’s stables. The other six tasks performed outside of the Peloponnesus were: to travel to Crete and capture king Minos’s bull, to take king Diomedes’s horses of Thrace to Eurystheus, to get Hippolyta’s, the Amazon queen, belt, to capture Gerion’s cattle, to steal Hesperides’s Golden Apples and the capture of Cerberus in the underworld, and to capture the Kerian stag in Hyperborea.

Diomedes’s mares and the Amazon queen’s belt

After Hercules completed his tasks in the Peloponnesus, he left by boat and went to the remote north where he first visited Diomed, the Bistonian king in Thrace and owner of the ferocious mares. The mares subsisted on human flesh. Any outsider who dared enter the king’s domain was to his mares. Hercules’s task was to steal four of the mares. After a fierce battle Hercules subdued the king and sent his mares to Evristei in the Peloponnesus. Together with the mares he also sent Hipolita’s belt, which he obtained after defeating the queen in battle. The Amazons were granddaughters of Zeus and Hera, daughters of the god Arei (Ares) of the twelve Olympic gods. According to Herodotus (Herodotus, History, V, 8, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988) the Amazon homeland was Temiskir in Termodont, i.e. the modern day plain of Termachai in Sinop, Turkey’s Black Sea coast. But others have claimed that the Amazon inhabited Thrace and Illyria. (Vergilius, Aeneis, XI, 659) The name Amazons (Αµαζσνες) was coined from the word ‘α’, a – meaning no, not, without and the word ‘µαζος’, ‘µαστος’ – mazos, mastos meaning breast, small hill, i.e. those who do not have breasts. It was believed that the Amazons removed their right breast so as not to interfere with the tightening of the elbow when throwing spears.

The Kerian stag – Homolian mountains

During his stay in the Peloponnesus, Hercules tirelessly searched for the Kerian stag of Teiget for an entire year, which eventually led him to the

north, all the way to the River Istar in the land of the Hyperboreans and the River Kladon. (Apollodori, Bibliotheca (I-II, BC), II, 5, 3)

The stag was fast and colourful with bronze hooves and golden horns. The Hyperboreans devoted this stag to their goddess Artemis. When the goddess was still a child and was staying with her brother in this part of the world, she once saw five strong stags feed on the Homolean slopes with their horns gleaming in the sun. Artemis ran after them and managed to catch four, one by one, and then harnessed them to pull carriages. The fifth escaped into the Kerian Mountains.

Hercules’s task was to capture the Kerian stag alive, without use of force and to take it to Evristei. After long wandering through the Homolian Mountains, Hercules finally spotted the stag but it was too fast for him to catch. So, to slow it down he threw a stick at it and hit it the leg, in the area of the Achilles tendon, so that it did not shed a drop of its blood. He then ambushed it and loaded it on his shoulders. On his way, Hercules was intercepted by Artemis and Apollo and scolded for wounding their sacred animal. But after Hercules explained that he had to wound the animal in order to catch it and deliver it to Evristei as ordered, they forgave him.

There are many place names with the name “Tsepe”, “Kepe” in the geographic onomastic of Eastern Serbia, especially in the Homolski Mountains. Examples of these are “Tserie”, a village northwest of Nish, “Tseranska” cave near the village, Cave Tsere-moshnia located south of the city Kuchevo, and two horonyms named Tsere-tina located on the banks of the Danube River. These horonyms, even today, are very rich hunting grounds for deer, mouflons (wild sheep), wild goats and other animals. There are six other places for hunting besides the Danube national park in Gierdap gorge. The village “Kladushnitsa” and the city “Kladovo” are toponyms named after the mythological Kladon.

In mythology the Keri were flying demonic beings that caused death, infections, infirmity, old age, fever and blindness. They were as black as night, with bulged eyes and tongues, and had teeth like wild beasts. The Keri stuck their long and curved dart like fingernails into the bodies of wounded and dead warriors in the battlefields, tore apart their bodies and drank their blood. Red gowns hung on their shoulders full of human blood. (Homer, Iliad and Odyssey, XVIII, 535, Novi Sad, 1985. (Prev. MN Gjurigj))

The legend of the Kerian (Artemis’s) stag survived in this region up until the arrival of the Romans, towards the end of the first century AD. In Roman culture, Artemis’s cult is similar to the cult of goddess Diana, which dates back to 399 BC. Diana was the patroness of wild animals, hunting, the sun, motherhood and fertility. As a sign of respect for the region where the legend of goddess Artemis survived, the Romans, during Emperor Trajan’s (53-117 AD) rule, built a large stone setting Castrum Diana I and II in Karatash near Kladushnitsa, whose ruins have been preserved to this day on the right bank of the Danube River.

Gerion’s herd

Hercules’s next task was to go to Eritia and take Gerion’s extraordinarily beautiful cattle. According to Herodotus (Herodotus, History, IV, 8, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988) Hercules went north. On his way he crossed Ehedor, a small river in Macedonia, where Kikno (swan), son Arei and Pirena (Πρηνα - Pirin Mountain), challenged him to a duel. But Zeus threw a lightning bolt between the contestants and ended the dual. Herodotus goes on to say: “… Gerion did not live in the Black Sea, but in Okean (Danube), on an island which the Hellenes call Eritia… And when Heracles came to this country, now called Scythia, which was originally uninhabited, he saw that it was winter and ice so he put on the skin of the lion and fell asleep. The horses pulling his cart, which at that time were in pasture, mysteriously disappeared...”

Hercules lived through many vicissitudes and on his way destroyed many wild beasts. When he finally encountered the Nereidi nymphs, daughters of Zeus and Themida (Tamish), they showed him where the prophetic Marine deity Nerei (River Nera) lived. Hercules persuaded the old and gray sea god into telling him how to get to Ritia to find Gerion’s herds, as well as how to find Hera’s garden with the golden apples.

From what we are told, Eritia was an island on the Danube River later known as Ada Kale and Gerion, grandson of Titan Okean, was king of Tartes (Gierdap) because the island itself was called Tartesus or Eritrea (ερνθρη, Ερνθ, ερνθρος – erit, eritros – meaning red, yellowish red). This latest name probably comes from the natural giant red rock, today located on the left bank of the Danube River in Lipinski Vir.

According to Pausanias (Pauzania, Periigissis tis Ellados, IV, 36, (прев. Pasini: Vodič po Heladi), Logos, Split, 1989), king Gerion was considered to be the strongest man alive. He had three heads, three torsos joined at the waist and six hands. He ruled the “island Eritia on the other side of Okean’s current” i.e. Danube with waterfalls. Gerion possessed the world’s best and most beautiful yellow-red cattle. The pasture on the island was very rich, so rich that the milk did not yield any whey. Because of that the milk was dedicated to the goddess Hera, hence the second part of the neologism θεία - teia – i.e. belonging to the deity. There were famous olive orchards, figs, oranges, dates etc. in Eretia. The cattle were looked after by the well-respected Evrition, son of god Arei and by Ortro, the two-headed guard dog.

To get to the island, Hercules had to borrow sun god Helius’s golden goblet (ship). After he landed on the island, Hercules killed both Evrition and the dog Ortro with his club. Hercules then stole king Gerion’s cattle without paying him anything. He loaded the cattle onto his boat and went against the flow of the Danube waters where he collected olive tree seedlings. When Menet, the guard of Hade’s flocks on the same island, informed the king about his cattle being stolen, Gerion caught up to Hercules at the River Antema (Ανθεµα - anthema is equivalent to αναθεµα - anathema, meaning curse). This toponym today is located on the opposite side of the river Eritia (Ada Kale) at trigonometric point 324 between the villages Klichevats and Rechitsa at the right bank of the Danube River in the Mlava (Stiga) Delta, at the Tartes exit. During a terrible duel between Hercules and Gerion, Hercules shot all three of Gerions torsos with a single arrow and finished him off with his club. Then a tree miraculously sprouted from where Gerion’s blood was spilled (a dogwood or pomegranate tree). Hercules then returned the “golden goblet” boat to god Helius and guided Gerion’s herd of cattle along the right bank of the Danube River. He then entered Hade’s underworld to capture Cerberus, the multi-headed dog, and fulfill his next task. However, on the way the herd of cattle was attacked by gadflies.

Capturing Cerberus

Taking the dog Cerberus from Tartarus, in the underworld was one of the hardest tasks Hercules had undertaken. After days of traveling from Antema, Hercules, with help from Athena, finally arrived at the River Stigna (Mlava). According to Homer (Homer, Iliad and Odyssey, XVIII, 369, Novi Sad, 1985. (Prev. MN Gjurigj)): “… when Evristei sent a locksmith to Hades, to bring the sea dog from Ereb to Hades, he instructed him to make sure that the dog could never exit the Stigna River precipice...” Along the Stigna and Mogila, Hercules finally reached the Homolska cave, where he asked Hades to hand over Cerberus. Hades, standing by his wife Persephone, with a rough voice said: “He is yours if you can subdue him without using your club or arrows.” Hercules found Cerberus tethered in chains at the end of the Aheron gate (abyss or even βαθος bathos - personification of the Batusha River, a tributary of the Mlava River). He then boldly grabbed the dog and squeezed the dog’s neck out of which three heads with a mane of snakes were sticking out. Cerberus attempted to hit Hercules with his tail but Hercules’s lion skin protected him as he proceeded to strangle Cerberus until the dog stopped struggling. (Graves, R., The Greek Myths, Penguin Books, Middlesex, 1972)

While in the underworld, Hercules met with Persephone, mistress of the underworld, who asked him to release Menetei, Hade’s herd guardian, from his strong grip. Menetei had attacked Hercules because Hercules had killed a calf and sacrificed it to the souls of the dead so that they could feed on its blood. There Hercules also met Melagrei’s shadow. Melagrei was Arei’s son and a mythical hero who hunted the Caledonian wild boar. His shadow advised Hercules to marry his sister Deianira.

Upon his return from Tartarus, the underworld, Hercules made a wreath from the plants which Hades (Ada Island on the Stiga River) had planted in the Elisian Fields in memory of his love for the beautiful nymph Leuka, daughter of Okean and Tetia. The outer leaves of the wreath turned black to match the colour of the underworld and the leaves around Hercules’s head turned silvery white from his divine sweat (Silver Lake).

Since then, Leuka (the white poplar tree) has been dedicated to Hercules and the colour of its leaves are a reminder that Hercules existed in both worlds. There are many poplar trees in existence in this region, even today, as well as villages carrying the name Leuka.

In the ambience of Homoli and Stishko Pole, on the right tributary of the Mlava River called “Busur”, Hercules met Busirid (busiris – the god Osiris), god of the Egyptian underworld. Busirid was known for his cruelty because he made sacrificed, to Zeus, all foreigners who came to Egypt. As soon as they met, Busirid abducted Hercules, tied him up, decorated him with flowers and led him to the altar to be sacrificed. Hercules did not resist and calmly approached the altar, but when the ritual began he broke all shackles and killed Busirid and all other participants who took part in the ceremony. Euripides wrote a satirical drama to commemorate this event.

In Stishko or Pozharevachko Field (Flegraion Pedion - Pozharevachko Field), Hercules helped his father Zeus beat the giant Alkionei, son of Uranus and Geia, during the Gigantomahia (battle with the giants). Alkionei was well known for his exceptional height and strength. (Apollodori, Bibliotheca, (I-II century BC)) The Gigantomahia is outlined in the description of Ada Tsiganlia.

Hesperidinian gardens

Hercules’s next task was to obtain fruit from the golden apple tree which Mother Earth gave Hera as a wedding gift when she married Zeus. Hera, who was delighted with her gift, planted the tree in their divine garden, west of Tartes and Stiga “where the horses that pulled Helius’s chariot retired in the country of the Hesperiditi”. There, in the country of the Hyperborean (Herodotus, History, IV, 184, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988), “is Atlant’s flock of a thousand sheep and his herd of a thousand cattle which roam on the green pastures. This was where the divine garden with the golden apples was located”.

After Nerei (the river Nera), god of the waters, revealed the secret to Hercules of how to find the Hesperiditi, Hercules continued on his journey against the flow of the Danube River. When he reached the village Vincha he discovered that the Danube had three flows of water: “a big flow”, “a medium flow” and “a small flow” and that this was a rare complex because of the four adi (islands). The adi were: “Chaklian”, “Forko-tumats”, “Stefanats” and “Donia”. South, around Chaklian Ada, was “the small flow” while to the northeast was “the medium flow”. From that Hercules deduced that the basin with the “small flow” was the shortest sailing distance (because it was only 7 km, unlike the rest of its length which was as long as 19 km), but it was also the most dangerous because of the underwater rocks and the many logs floating in the water. Also, its right bank was high and filled with mud, logs and stones (Bela Stena).

Encounter with Kako in Ada Chaklian on the Danube

Being very close to his destination, Hercules decided to take a little rest. Being tired from his last struggle and from the long trip, he fell asleep while Gerion’s cattle were grazing. Kako, the native warrior, lived in Ada Chaklian (etymologically a compound word made up of the word κακ, κακος, kakos meaning bad and the word Lian meaning many). Kako was a monster who lived in a cave (probably in Bela Stena). He ravaged the vicinity and attacked and killed anyone who ventured on the island. While Hercules was sleeping, Kako stole four oxen and four cows from Gerion’s cattle and hid them well in his cave. To cover their tracks Kako pulled the cattle by their tails and made them walk backwards and then erased some of the hoof prints with a branch. When Hercules woke up, he noticed that some of the cattle were missing and went looking for them. By following the tracks, by listening for the mooing sounds and with help from Kako’s sister Kaka, Hercules was able to find the missing cattle in Kako’s cave. Hercules blessed Kaka for her help in finding the cattle and later she became an enigmatic old Roman goddess, whose cult was followed by vestal virgins, diplomats, preparers of food and bread makers.

Before long Kako was back and a fight broke out between him and Hercules. Kako the monster was capable of vomiting smoke and flames and burnt the entire area up to the Herini gardens where the golden apples were located. Later the city Panchevo was built on this area. Panchevo is etymologically coined from the words “pan” meaning everything and “keo” meaning to burn, i.e. “The City where everything burns”. During the terrible battle Hercules realized that he had run out of arrows and his club was broken. That is when he called on his father Zeus (Danube) to help him. Zeus brought him many stones (from Bela Stena) with which Hercules was able to subdue and kill Kako. And thus to commemorate this event the island was named Ada “Chaklian” meaning “very bad” island, i.e. the personification of overcoming all obstacles; logs, stones, sand, etc. including having to travel upstream along the “small flow” of the watershed.

Hera’s Golden Apples

To get to the Hesperiditi apples Hercules left Ada Chaklian and went to Ada Forkotumats through the “big flow” confluence of the Danube.

After arriving at Ada Forkotumats, Hercules came across the two brothers Forko and Taumant, sons of Pont and Geia. Forko or Forkei (Φορκος or Φορκνος – meaning wild boar according to Graves) (Graves, R., The Greek Myths, Penguin Books, Middlesex, 1972) was the god of reefs and waves. He was married to his sister Keta, who, amongst others, bore him the Hesperiditi, Fokiditi (Gray) and Skila who, according to Hesiod (Hesiodus, Fragmenta & Theogonia, p. 270 and further) was the dragon which guarded the Hesperidi apples. It also has been said that later Forko became ruler of Corsica and Sardinia and that he drowned in the sea during a naval battle which he was leading together with Atlant, formerly his countryman, while they were living in Hyperborea. (Herodotus, History, IV, 184, Matica Srpska, Belgrade, 1988) The Forkiditi were two beautiful sisters also called Grai (gray) because they were gray from birth. The word “Forkiditi” translated means children of a female pig and “Forkida” on its own means “mother pig”. (Graves, R., The Greek Myths, Penguin Books, Middlesex, 1972) Later it was said that there was a third Forkida named “Perso” who had the appearance of a swan. All three together possessed one eye and one tooth. Their duty was to supervise the road that led to the Gorgonites who lived in Hades (Homer, The Iliad and The Odyssey, V, 741, 349, Novi Sad, 1985 (prev. MN Gjurigj)) in Stishki in the Homoli caves.

Skila (Σκυλλω Skilo, meaning to tear apart, to torture, i.e. one that tears apart), Forko’s daughter, was an immortal water monster who lived in the caves under the cliffs whose peaks were covered by foaming waves and fog. When Hercules crossed the “large flow” in the Danube Basin, Skila grabbed one of Gerion’s calves. Suddenly and without knowing that the monster was Forko’s daughter, Hercules shot Skila with his arrows and killed her. Broken hearted, her father Forko quickly collected Skila’s body and shone lit torches on it, which eventually brought her back to life. (Lycophron, Alexandra, 45)

Ladon (one who embraces), Forko and Keta’s immortal dragon son, was tasked by the goddess Hera to guard the golden apples that grew on the tree of life. Ladon had hundreds of heads and was always awake. He always lay curled up around the tree and spoke different languages. When Hercules arrived at the Hespediti garden the first thing he did was shoot Ladon with poisoned arrows. Then, to make this battle permanent, Zeus transferred Ladon to the Dragon constellation. The scene of killing Ladon was a common motif during the Hellenistic and Roman era.

After conducting a reconnaissance of the terrain, Hercules wanted once again to pay the old water god Nerei (River Nera) and the river nymphs, daughters of Zeus and Temida, a visit and ask them for advice. When Hercules turned west, where Zeus married Hera, to his right was the nymph Themida,today’s River Tamish or Temish, to his left in front of him were Zeus (Danube) and Ada Forkotumats and far behind him was Hera (the Deliblatska Cave called Heronia). Hercules did not care about the arguments the myth writers had as to whether the Hesperiditi were born from Forko and Keta or from Zeus and Themida.

When Hercules arrived at the Herini gardens, today’s Panchevachki Rit (hill), he once again was reminded of Taumant’s words. Taumant (Θανµας Taumas meaning miracle, miraculous) was Forko’s brother and husband to the beautiful Electra (Ἠλέκτρα – Ilektra meaning to shine, amber). Taumant told Hercules that if he was on his way to Mikena in that part of the country and if he needed anything, to go and ask his daughter Irida (Ιρις Iris meaning cunning, fast, long). She was the tireless golden winged ambassador of the gods, who lived in the west, on the Iriskian crown of Fruska Gora. At the same time the miracle worker Taumant reminded Hercules to pay attention to the mysterious word Melon (µηλον) which had a double meaning; “sheep” and “apple”. Further on, where the apples were located, there were Atlant’s cattle and his sheep on the left. At this place Hercules encountered two streams that emptied into the Danube. The one on the left was named “Sebesh” (σεβω, σεβτζω is etymologically derived from the word “sebo”, “sebizo” meaning to be in fear, to carry out pious duty). There also existed the toponym “Ovchanski Sebesh” and the village “Ovcha”. The creek on the right was named “Butush” (βουτης butes meaning cattle) where, located opposite of the water flow, was Iabukoviot Rit and a little to the northwest near Tamish was the village Iabuka. Hercules figured this was the place where Atlant’s cattle should be.

The old god Nerei advised Hercules not to pick the apples himself so he had Atlant (Ατλς, atlas meaning bearer) pick them for him. Atlant (Atlas) was a Titan, son of Iapet and the okeanida Klimenta. Atlant had many daughters, including the Hesperiditi. He also had a son named Hesper. Because Atlant participated in the battle of the Titans against the gods, Zeus had him punished by making him hold the sky over his head with his arms. This was in the land of the Hesperiditi, i.e. Hyperborea. Hercules asked Atlant if he could do him a favour, which Atlant gladly accepted just to take the load off and be able to rest for a while. Hercules then bent his head forward and put the weight of the sky on his own shoulders. Atlant was back in no time with three golden apples which the Hesperiditi picked for him and decided he wanted to take them to Evristei himself because he immensely enjoyed being free. Realizing what Atlant was trying to do, Hercules agreed to his demand, but because Nerei told him to never agree to any such or similar offers, Hercules tricked Atlant by asking him to hold the sky, just for a moment, so that he could adjust his head. The unsuspecting Atlas put the apples down on the ground and then took the sky from Hercules. Hercules then carefully picked up the Hesperiditi golden apples, collected from Hera’s Garden in Panchevachki Rit, gathered Gerion’s cattle and continued his trek further down the Danube.

The apples were a source of youth and immortality for the gods of Olympus, that is why they were often “apples of discord”, quarrels and even wars. According to Homer (Homer, The Iliad and The Odyssey, XXIV, Novi Sad, 1985. (Prev. MN Gjurigj)), a golden apple was the cause of the Trojan War. Namely, Zeus, father of all gods, in order to dilute the human race and to celebrate his own beautiful daughter Helena, decided to cause a World War. In order to do that Zeus collaborated with his second wife Temida (River Tamish) the nymph, in the presence of Arei’s (Aries – Ada Ratno Ostrovo) sister the goddess Eridite (Ερτς, Eris meaning to bicker, to quarrel, to fight), instigator of discord, quarrel and war, with whom he decided to start a major war. The task of starting the war was entrusted to Erida. During a wedding attended by all the gods except Erida, who was not invited, Erida decided to crash the party and began to quarrel with the guests of the gods. Then while Hera, Aphrodite and Athena were holding hands and having a friendly conversation, Erida dropped a golden apple by their feet upon which were written the words “To the most beautiful!” As each of the three goddesses considered herself to be the most beautiful all three thought the apple was for her but none of the gods wanted to judge them. So to solve the problem Zeus ordered Paris, the Trojan prince and son of Priam, to hand over the apple to the most beautiful of the three goddesses. To gain his favour the goddesses made him all kinds of promises. Hera promised to take care of him and make him master of the entire world. Athena promised to make him famous, while Aphrodite promised him the world’s most beautiful and famous Helena, daughter of Zeus and wife of Menelei, to be his wife. And so Paris decided to give Aphrodite the golden apple thus declaring that she was the most beautiful of the three goddesses. So, with Aphrodite’s intervention, during a celebration in Crete, also attended by Helena and her husband, Helena glanced over at Paris, the Trojan prince, and passionately fell in love with him. She then willingly left her husband Menelei, king of Sparta, and traveled to Troy with Paris. And thus began the Trojan or “First World War” in 1192 BC. Hercules did not take part in this war because he lived during a prior era.

Encounter at Krchedin Ada

On his way through the land of the Hyperboreans, Hercules continued to follow the flow of the Danube River until he arrived at Ada Krchedin (etymologically coined from the word καρκτνος, karkinos meaning cancer and the word Ατδης Haides - Hades or the word τδετν- idein meaning to be, to look like, i.e. crab, lobster). Here Hercules met Karkin (Καρκτνας) the demon and a fight broke out. Karkin bit Hercules’s heel and tried to disable him and stop him from fighting but Hercules continued to fight until he killed him. The goddess Hera, who hated Hercules, moved Karkin to the sky where he shines in the Cancer constellation, among the twelve signs of the zodiac. The story of Hercules’s struggle with Karkin (Cancer) is closely tied to the myth with the Hydra from Lern, where Hera nurtured the Hydra and the Cancer because of her hatred of Hercules. The Hydra of Lern often confuses the classic mythology writers because Lern is in Argolida in the sea, (Pauzania, Periigissis tis Ellados, II, 37, (prev. Pasini: Vodič po Heladi), Logos, plit, 1989) whereas a “sea monster” needed to live in deep puddles and such puddles did not exist in the neighbouring rivers Friks and Erazin.

Encounter with the Keri at Ada Cherevichka

When Hercules arrived at Ada Cherevichka (etymologically κηρες, keres) opposite the Novi Sad flow, he met up with the Keri. The Keri were demonic creatures, sisters of Moira and Apata (the city Apatin), children of the goddess of the night. There was a lot said about the Keri in mythology. In some stories they were the souls of the dead who were expelled from their homes. In other stories they were demons, black as night, but mostly they were demonic creatures, which ate human flesh and putrefied everything in life that they touched. They were described as bird like creatures with bulging eyes, teeth like boars, swollen tongues, long claws and bronze feathers which fell to the ground and killed everything.

In Hercules’s myth, these bird-like creatures were located in Arcadia, in Stimfalia City, and were known as the Stimfalian birds. But according to Pausanias (Pauzania, Periigissis tis Ellados, VIII, 22, (prev. Pasini: Vodič po Heladi), Logos, plit, 1989), these birds could not have survived in Stimfalia because there was no water there during the summer. In the vicinity of Stimfalian, however, there was a source of water which, during the winter, developed into a very small lake which overflowed into a small river called Stimfa. The lake and river dried up during the summer but their water reappeared as a stream in Argolida where it was called Erazin. In earlier times the locals probably called these birds by a different name. Hercules drove these birds in the direction of the Black Sea or towards Africa to the Arabian wilderness. “There these birds live as wild beasts among the other beasts of Africa where the people are just as wild as the lions and leopards”.

Even today, numerous migratory birds do fly over and stop in the Danube waters and island wetlands, so the stories about the “birds” are true to this day.

Encounter with Nes at Ada Nestinska

After arriving in Nestinska Ada, near the village Chelarevo (probably etymologically derived from the word κελαρνζω kelarizo meaning flowing, splashing, swashing), Hercules ran into the centaur Nes (Νέσσος or Νέσιος, Nes or Nest), son of Okean and Tetina. Nes was in a unique position because the gods put him in charge of ferrying passengers across the river. When Hercules ran into Nes he was with his future wife Deianira. Hercules himself could have carried Deianira across the river but it would have been risky because the river was running wild, swollen with rainwater. Nes suggested it would be safer if Hercules swam across the river and he would take Deianira across. Nes was strong and very experienced so Hercules paid him for his services and entrusted Deianira to him. Then when Hercules made it to the opposite bank of the Danube River he heard Deianira calling for help. Nes had her pinned on the ground and was attempting to rape her. Hercules quickly took out his bow and a poisonous arrow and aimed it directly at the Centaur’s heart. But before he died, to take revenge on Hercules, the monster Nes persuaded Deianira to take his seed that was spilled on the ground and mix it with his blood, seeping from his wound, and to add olive oil on the mixture in order to make a wonder love potion. When applied on Hercules, Nes told Deianira, this potion would cement Hercules’s love for her. One day, a few months later, when Hercules had captured the beautiful Iola, Deianira felt that she might losing her husband’s love, so she gave Hercules a shirt to wear that was dipped in Nes’s blood mixture. The so-called “wonder love poison” soon turned into a nightmare for Hercules and his family. When the shirt touched Hercules’s body the contaminated blood permeated his body and mixed with his blood which then began to boil and burn his belly and muscles. Hercules cried out calling for help and then desperately pulled off the shirt which came off together with his skin and muscles. Exasperated by the incident and unable to cope, Hercules left and went to the top of Mount Eta in Ftia where he created a large funeral log pile. He then laid on the skin of the Nemeian lion and, while the log pile was burning, Zeus raised him into heaven where he was accepted among the gods. He then reconciled his differences with Hera.

Hercules was a Doric hero. It is believed that his myths were created in different places at various parts of the Hellenistic world.

Because there is a close relationship between the works of Hercules, on one hand, and those of Zeus and Hera on the other, i.e. with the Danube hydrological system in Pannonia, it can be concluded that their archetypal creators are also the creators of the cultural myth of the Lipinski Vir population and the Middle Podunavie in general.

In analyzing the works of Hercules origination from various mytho-graphic sources, we find that they diametrically differ in sequence, place of occurrence, actions taken and sometimes even all three. One thing that was determined, with much certainty, during our study was that the Danube was the “golden middle” of all these events, because all onomastics, toponyms, horonyms, theonyms, etc. are situated along the Danube waterways in Mid Podunavie which represents a single functional unit.

Most of the confusion created by myth writers of all generations regarding events at the “Holy” Ada Eritia (Ada Kale) is the location of the large red rocks. The large red rocks are located in Lipinski Vir, on the left bank of the Danube River, also known as Eritrea or Eritria. Unfortunately many believed that the rocks were at a different location, some even believed they were located in Spain. Pausanias (Pauzania, Periigissis tis Ellados, IV, 36, (prev. Pasini: Vodič po Heladi), Logos, plit, 1989) has glorified Gerion’s cattle by saying that people in those days measured their wealth in the form of herds of cattle, horses, or sheep and that Gerion’s cattle were particularly high priced. With this kind of cattle breed, trade was made possible in Thessaly, Thebes, in the Peloponnesus, in Sicily, Italy and even Spain. Homer, in his Iliad, has even written a poem about Ifidamant of Troy, son of Antenor, who, as a wedding gift, gave his guardsman one hundred of Gerion’s cattle. All this probably influenced myth writers to create the myth of Gerion’s cattle that came from the Danube, i.e. beyond Okean’s stream or beyond the Danube waterfalls.

The large Stishko valley and the Mlava River are mythological places. The Mlava River has numerous tributaries that carry mythological names such as Busar, Orlovacha, Mogila, Batusha, etc., some of which run underground in the Homolian Caves where Persephone reigned and was protected by the dog Cerberus, whose waters ran into Okean’s basin and created Ada - Hades. This place was where Hercules’s most difficult task took place; it was also the most difficult mythological rebus about its geographical location. Later Hellenic myth writers attempted to move these events that took place in Stiga to Arcadia in the Peloponnesus. Suspecting this, Pausanias (Pauzania, Periigissis tis Ellados, VII, 18, (prev. Pasini: Vodič po Heladi), Logos, plit, 1989) said: “When Hesiod in Theagonia, as well as Lin (mythical poet) were reciting poetry about Styx being the daughter of Okean, and wife of Palant, I felt that everything was wrong ... Homer used the name Styx the most in his poetry... And the Cretan Epimenid, in his poetry, said that Styx was the daughter of Okean. The water that drips from the side of the Norakridi first falls on a tall rock in the river Kratida. This water brings death to man and every other creature.” From this, it is evident that the water that reached Arcadia was “dripping” from the ridge of Mount Aronian and created a creek about 4 km long which flowed into the Kratida stream, whose total length was about 20 km and flowed into the Corinthian Gulf. Here there are no caves, no abysses, no Stishko Pole, no Hades (ADA), no tributaries and no float that carries “the souls of the dead”. But in Mlava (Stiga) in Mid – Podunavie, corresponding with Hesiod’s theory, Stiga’s waters are Okean’s basin where one tenth of its waters flow. (Hesiodus, Fragmenta & Theogonia, p. 361 and beyond)

Myth writers have also arbitrarily spoken about the location where the giganto-Maheia took place, particularly where Hercules participated in it. Hesiod (Hesiodus, Fragmenta & Theogonia, p. 183) chose well when he mentioned the Flegreian Valley, which means Pozharevachko or Stishko Pole (valley), as the place of the giganto-Maheia having taken place. Such a location was never identified in Hellada.

Also, the geographical locations of the Hesperiditi gardens with the golden apples, which are mentioned in mythology, are imprecise and vague with myth writers claiming them to be in Libya or elsewhere in West Africa or Europe. Our research, however, has solved that problem. By analyzing maps and by comparing onomastics and meanings of names, it is clear to us that the Hesperiditi gardens were located in the triangle: Belgrade-Panchevo-Vincha, i.e. Panchevachkiot Rit (Panchevo Hill), where the villages Iabuka (Apples) and Ovcha (Sheep) are located. (µηλο Melo meaning apple or sheep).