PART 6 – Ch

PART 6 – Ch.XXXIX.4

The great Pelasgian empire

(Decline of the Pelasgian empire)

XXXIX. 4. The reign of Hercules (‘Erachles, Herclus).

The most ancient kings who had reigned over Egypt were not of African origin. They belonged to the immense pastoral population from the north of Thrace, which in the course of a number of centuries had migrated without pause to the southern and western countries.

The valley of the Nile or Egypt constituted in those times only a simple province of the great Pelasgian empire, subjected to the dynasty of the Arimii or Piromii.

In this study we shall follow therefore the line of the ancient kings who had ruled over the southern and northern parts, at the Nile and at the Lower Danube, as represented on one hand in Egyptian antiquities, and on the other hand in our epic songs, the only indigenous sources left from those obscure times, about the lives and deeds of those kings.

After Mars, the political reign over the valley of the Nile passes on to Hercules; this is what the fragments left from the history of the priest Manetho say.

Hercules, contemporary of Saturn and Atlas, of Jove and Osyris, has played a significant role in the history of Pelasgian civilization.

In Greek sources and in Romanian traditions though, he appears more as a great army commander, in the service of the southern kings who aspired to the throne and the inheritance of Saturn.

During the expedition of Osyris, Hercules receives the task of the military defense of Egypt; and in the war with the Giants, he is the supreme commander of the armies gathered by Jove from the southern parts of the empire.

He later appears in the service of king Eurystheus of Mycenae. On his order Hercules executes a number of difficult tasks, called aerumnas by Latin authors, and undertakes a number of expeditions in the regions to the north of Hellada. He was the first to enter with a powerful war fleet in the waters of the Danube, to occupy the country of Geryon. For this difficult expedition, writes Diodorus Siculus (l. IV. 17, 18), he had prepared a magnificent war fleet, and had gathered a great number of elite troupes, worthy of participating in this expedition, because it was known to the entire world that Chrysaor (the father of Geryon) had got his name from his immense wealth, and that he had three sons, renowned for their physical bodily strength, and for their brave deeds in wars. Geryon and his two brothers divided their large war forces in three parts, but Hercules defeated all three in singular fights, conquered their country, and led away their famous oxen herds.

The regions from the western parts of Atlas mountain (or the southern Carpathians) were called in those times Hesperia by Ovid (Metam. IV. 628; IV. 214), or “the country from the sundown”, “juxta solem cadentem” by Virgil. Against this region, famous for its great riches in gold and in flocks, had been directed the legendary expedition of Hercules, which the ancient poets present under the name “The stealing of the golden apples of the Hesperides”.

The memory of another expedition of Hercules has been also preserved in a poetic form, the expedition to Istria (Pindar, Ol. III. 45) and the Hyperboreans (or to Scythia), where Hercules chased the hind with the golden horns, consecrated to Diana by a daughter of king Atlas.

It is probable that in these regions had also taken place his battles with Zetes and Calais, the sons of king Boreas, and his war with Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons, a daughter of Mars.

About Hercules was also said that he had cut the high mountains in order to open a road towards the western regions (Livy, Hist. Rom. v. 34. 6; Silius Ital. III. 495), later called “the road of Hercules”, that he had moved riverbeds, had dried lakes and swamps, and had killed the most dangerous wild animals (Plato, Critias, Ed. Didot, v. II, 255. 45).

To Hercules was also attributed the erection of the two grand columns near Oceanos, in the country called Atlantis; either in memory of his expedition against Geryon, or destined to indicate either the dangerous rocks and straits of the river Oceanos, or the extreme reaches to where navigation was possible on this river, so important in the history of the ancient world.

About Hercules was also said that he had traveled the entire ancient world, from India to the western Ocean; expeditions whose political purpose had been without doubt to gather again the ancient provinces of the Pelasgian empire under a single authority, under a single monarchy.

With Homer, he has the title anaxi (Hymn. XIV); in Greek inscriptions he is called basileus (C. I. Gr. nr. 5986), and in Roman inscriptions he also has the epithet Augustus (C. I. L. vol. III. nr. 1025, 1339).

With Herodotus he figures as the father of Agathyrsus, who had ruled over the regions near Mures, of Scythes, the first founder of the national dynasty of the Scythians, and of Gelonus, the first king of the Gelonii.

Hercules had also crossed the vast regions of Scythia and Germany. The Scythians venerated him as a god (Herodotus, lib. IV. 59), and the Germans considered him the first hero of the ancient times (Tacitus, Germ. c. 2).

In Dacia he was venerated as a local god of the warm waters which spring from the mountains of Mihadia (C. I. L. vol. III. nr. 1566). Herodotus mentions his footsteps, two ells long, imprinted in a rock near the river Tyras (Nistru), as memorable antique traces of him.

Hercules commanded a supreme authority in the regions of the Carpathians and the Black Sea. In this quality he used his power and prestige like a true despot. He dethroned and distributed kingdoms, organized the public, social and religious life of the occupied territories, and punished severely those impious and disobedient. This is how we can explain why he appears in the history of Manetho as a king of Egypt, and in the Greek inscriptions with the title basileus.

His usual weapons were those from the north of the lower Istru: the bow, the broadsword (arpe) and the mace, or club. He had learnt the art to draw and fire the bow from a Scythian called Teutarus, and was considered as the most famous archer of prehistoric times.

According to Greek genealogies, Hercules was the son of Jove, but of the oldest Jove (Cicero, N. D. III. 16), and was called in Latin inscriptions: Herclus Jovius and Hercules Jovius.

In Romanian folk traditions he figures under the name “Iovan Iorgovan, arm like a mace”, “Iorgovan, the strong and great” (Tocilescu, Mater. Folk, p. 1271), and is one of the most illustrious national heroes of the countries from the lower Danube. His name Iovan indicates that he was the son of Iov (Jovis antiquissimi), and his co-name Iorgovan corresponds to the Greek form Georgos, either because he himself had drawn the first furrows with the plough, or because he was considered as son of Zeus Georgos (C. I. Gr. nr. 523).

In Romanian epic songs he is called “son of Ramlean” (Teodorescu, Poesii pop. p. 419), Captain Ramlean (Alecsandri, Poesii pop. p. 14) and a “Brave Romanian” (Catana, Balade, p. 49; Alexici, Texte, I), similar with the name Hercoles Romanillianus, as he appears in Roman inscriptions (Fabretti, Closs. Ital. p. 584).

A son of his was called Chromis (Statius, Theb. Lib. vI. 346), Chromin with Silius Italicus (Pun. I. 442). His mother was called Alcmene by the Greek authors, a corrupt form of Al(c)mana = Armana, Hercules himself having been called Almannus by the ancient Germans (Dupuis, Origine d. tous les cultes, Tome VI. 442). Finally, he is also called “son of emperor” (Catana, Balade, p. 56; Alexici, Texte, I. p. 109; Gazeta Trans. Nr. 140. 1894).

So, by origin, Hercules was a son of the barbarian country from the north of the lower Istru, and Arim by nationality.

The symbol of Hercules, as emblem of courage and victory, appears to have been in use also in the countries of Dacia. Two war standards of Stephan the Great, which today are preserved at the monastery Zographos at Mount Athos, show the image of St. George (Hercules) with the fabulous hydra, defeated and fallen under his feet. At 394ad, Theodosius the Great, in this battle with Eugenius, who had usurped the throne of Valentinianus II, tells his army: at the head of our armies is the cross, and at the head of the enemy mob is the image of Hercules (Theodoretus, Ep. Cyri Eccl. Hist. lib. V. c. 24).

A more difficult matter is presented by his Greek name ‘Erachles, in Latin language Hercules, Hercoles and Hercles, and Hercele, Herce and Ercle in Etruscan inscriptions (Fabretti, Gloss. Ital. p. 583). The form of his name cannot be explained either in the Egyptian language, or in the Greek language. In any case though, we have here just a simple epithet, as are almost all the names of the gods of antiquity.

Hercules under the name ‘Archles also figures in the Egyptian lists of the kings of the shepherds’ dynasty (Manetho, Fragm. In Fragm. Hist. gr. II. 568, 570), and he is similarly named “son of shepherd” in Romanian folk poetry (Teodorescu, Poesii pop. p. 415). Doubtless, ‘Archles is the same name as Hercles of the Romans, and Ercle of the Etruscans.

According to Homer, Hercules was the master of the fight with the bow (Odyss. VIII. 225).

The Greeks gave him also the epithet of toxophoros (Euripides, Troad. 802), “arcas” in Romanian (TN – arcas = archer; arc = bow).

Apollo, who had himself the epithet toxophoros (Homer, Hymn. in Apoll. 13. 126), was also called ‘Archas by the Greeks (Fragm. Hist. gr. II. 133), although by origin he was not from Arcadia.

Hercules is also given the epithet “great archer” in a religious carol from Banat, where his epic name was replaced though with that of “St.Peter” (Alexici, Texte, I. p. 155).

It seems therefore that the etymology of the name ‘Erachles, Latin Hercules, is reduced to an ancient Pelasgian word, formed from the same root as the Romanian “arcas”. (We find in Romanian folk language also the form “harc = arc”, bow).

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