Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today’s video, we’re going to be discussing
Achilles vs Hercules.
In this head-to-head, we’re going to have each hero at their most powerful, meaning
all weapons, armor, and enhancements are fair game - the only caveat being our version of
Hercules will be his most powerful mortal version. Hercules ascends to godhood at the
end of his life, and something about the god-version of Hercules going up against Achilles just
doesn’t seem sporting. Although, it may very turn out that any version of Hercules
just isn’t sporting when set against Achilles.
We’re going to start off by taking a look at the armor and weapons each hero will be
equipped with, as well as an important event for each that led to the development of their
battle abilities; then we’ll look at relevant feats each hero accomplished to get an idea
of their respective powers; and finally, we’ll have them face-off to see which hero will
emerge victorious.
Let’s get into it.
There are two versions that describe Thetis, Achilles’ mother, attempting to imbue her
son with immortality. One has her place him in fiery embers at night and anoint him with
ambrosia during the day. This was interrupted, though. Peleus, Achilles’ father, fearing
for his son’s life, ended this treatment before the transformation could be completed,
leaving Achilles mortal. And isn’t this just confounding? Why intervene? What father
wouldn’t want to come home to their wife feeding their son to the fireplace? The second
version has Thetis dip Achilles by his ankles into the river Styx, one of the rivers of
the underworld. Thetis was successful in this second version, but the process was ultimately
flawed, leaving Achilles with two weak points, his heels. It should be noted that there is
no mention of Achilles having any form immortality in the Iliad - the myth involving him being
dipped into the river Styx was likely conceived much later, and was probably based off the
events of the Iliad - specifically, the indestructible armor that Hephaestus, the smith god, forged
for Achilles and the fact that Achilles was killed by an arrow piercing his heel. This
is lent credence by Achilles being wounded in the Trojan War: here’s a passage from
the Iliad that describes this:
“But the fighting Asteropaeus, quick, ambidextrous, hurled both spears at once--one shaft hit
the shield, no breakthrough, the shaft could not smash through, the gold blocked it, forged
in the god’s gift. But the other grazed Achilles’ strong right arm and dark blood
gushed as the spear shot past his back, stabbing the earth hard, still lusting to sink in flesh”
Regardless of what would be considered accurate with the events of the Iliad, we’re going
to bestow upon Achilles the near invincibility given him by his reckless mom when she grabbed
his feet and dunked him in a river, which must have looked like some peasant washing
their dirty pants in a river, or perhaps a drunk blacksmith quenching a red hot blade
in a barrel of water. What’s more, we’re also going to stack said invincibility with
the armor and shield Hephaestus forged for him, which was as near indestructible as anything
could be. This is to say that the only way anyone or anything is going to kill Achilles
in this contest is by brutalizing his heels. All other attacks would be rebuffed becaused
the rest of him would be impervious to harm.
Hercules was weaned on Hera’s breast milk, which was made possible by Zeus lying to Hera
about Hercules’ parentage. It was said that Hercules sucked so hard at Hera’s breast
that he caused her great pain. Though Hercules hurting Hera’s nipple and Hercules being
the spawn of Zeus’ infidelity set Hera against him as a life-long enemy, being weaned on
the milk of a goddess was surely a contributing factor in engendering his incredible strength,
which exceeded by far that of any other mortal.
Hercules’ three armaments of note were his Nemean lion pelt, his club, and his bow with
poison-tipped arrows. Let’s take a quick look at each.
Hercules first labor was to kill the Nemean Lion, a feat thought to be impossible, for
the Lion’s pelt was impenetrable, unable to be sliced or pierced by any weapon. Relying
on his immense strength, rather than on any weapon he could wield, Hercules physically
overpowered the lion, throttling and then strangling it. He used one of the lion’s
own claws to remove the pelt from the carcass, thereafter draping it over his shoulders and
wearing it as a cloak.
His second labor was to slay the Lernean Hydra, which Hercules did by severing its many heads,
quickly cauterizing each stump so that no new heads could grow back. Once the Hydra
was defeated, Hercules dipped his arrows in the Hydra’s venom, coating them with a lethality
that spelled certain death for any without immortality.
The third signature armament was the great club that Hercules carried, the making of
which has multiple origin stories. One has Hercules tear an olive tree from the earth,
using the uprooted trunk to bludgeon his enemies; Another has Hephaestus forge a club for hercules;
and yet another version says that hercules cut a club for himself in Nemea.
Other accounts even have Hercules gifted all manner of armor and weaponry. Here’s a passage
from Apollodorus’
“Heracles...received a sword from Hermes, a bow and arrows from Apollo, a golden breastplate
from Hephaistos, and a robe from Athene.”
To summarize, Achilles has two levels of protection: his intrinsic invincibility - except for his
heels, of course - and then, on top of that, his divine armor forged for him by Hephaestus.
Redundant? Yes. But hey, this guy is going to need every edge he can get if he’s going
to have any chance against the raging volcano of destructive power that is Hercules. Hercules
has the Nemean lion pelt, which is virtually indestructible, draped over him, and he has
his bow, his poisoned arrows, a massive club that sounds as if it would be more appropriate
in the hands of a cave troll, and we’ll include the sword that Hermes was said to
have gifted him.
With weapons and armor covered, let’s dive into the heroics performed by each hero so
as to get a feel for the death-dealing power they each possess.
Achilles was a singular talent. He wielded sword and spear with such prowess that they
seemed extensions of his own body. He was the greatest warrior of the Trojan war. No
other was his match, Trojan or Greek, meaning he was the greatest warrior of his time. Because
of a slight dealt by Agamemnon, the commander-in-chief of all the Greek kings assembled to besiege
Troy, Achilles withdrew himself and his men from the war, and such was his impact on the
battlefield that the advantage turned against the Greeks in his absence. Had the death of
Achilles dearest friend Patroclus not unleashed his wrath and pulled him back into the war,
the Trojans may quite possibly have defeated the Greeks.
Achilles’ prowess in battle is best showcased right after he’s decked out in the new armor
Hephaestus forged for him. Freshly adorned in his new armaments, Achilles goes on a rampage
and steamrolls everyone in his path, driving back his enemies to the gates of Troy. He
goes berserk, and fights with a half-crazed, blood-drunk ferocity that almost makes him
an army unto himself. So many people are slaughtered by him, that the bodies of the countless dead
turn a river red and dam its flow. Here’s a passage from the Iliad that describes this
onslaught:
Like inhuman fire raging on through the mountain gorges splinter-dry, setting ablaze big stands
of timber, the wind swirling the huge fireball left and right--chaos of fire--Achilles storming
on with brandished spear like a frenzied god of battle trampling all he killed and the
earth ran black with blood….
The awards, accolades, and honors Hercules amassed over the course of his tragic and
legendary life are almost too many to enumerate. Because he was so prolific in defeating armies,
besting beasts, and triumphing in the face of more seemingly-impossible, death-defying
feats and heroics than all of the other Greek heroes combined, we’re going to have to
pick and choose which exploits to include, curating from his life’s work.
Here’s a list of some of his achievements:
He strangled two big snakes to death when he was a mere infant
He slapped his music teacher, accidentally killing him, when he was but a boy
He led the Thebans in war and was said to have almost single-handedly defeated the Minyans,
trouncing them. He killed the Nemean Lion
He killed the Lernean Hydra He killed Orthos, a two-headed dog, and then
he killed the dog’s master, Geryon, a triple-bodied giant.
He temporarily held up the expanse of the sky on his shoulders
Bare-handed, he subdued Cerberus, the Hound of Hades, carrying the beast out of the underworld.
And after Hercules had cleansed himself of the sins of his past with the completion of
his 12 labors, he fought in many wars, destroying many armies, and razing many cities.
Without delving too deeply, instead of relying only on a cursory inspection of the accomplishments
of each hero, it seems obvious that Hercules is far superior to Achilles. Perhaps if Hercules’
exploits were limited only to his battles and wars against other humans, then choosing
between the two would prove more difficult. But the fact remains that Hercules’ legend
is founded on his encounters with gods and monsters, not ordinary men or even heroes.
Following the passage shared earlier in which Achilles became a one-man-army and pressed
the Trojan forces, Achilles ends up in a life-or-death fight against the god of the river he just
choked with bloated corpses. Yes, you heard that right: he killed so many people that
a river rose up against him. Here’s a passage from the Iliad that describes this encounter:
“Achilles...plunged in the river’s heart and the river charged against him, churning,
surging, all his rapids rising in white fury and drove the mass of corpses choking tight
his channel, the ruck Achilles killed...so the relentless tide kept overtaking Achilles,
yes for all his speed--for gods are stronger than men...Achilles kept on leaping, high,
desperate now as the river kept on dragging down…[and Achilles bellowed:] now look what
a wretched death I’m doomed to suffer, trapped in this monstrous river like some boy, some
pig-boy swept away, trying to ford a winter torrent in a storm.”
Left to his own devices, the wrath of the river god surely would have killed Achilles.
But the gods heard Achilles’ cry of bemoaning, and so they descended from Mt. Olympus to
rescue him. This is the only time in the Iliad Achilles found himself pitted against a foe
that wasn’t a human, facing instead a supernatural force in the form of an irate river personified
into a god. This fight deeply diminishes Achilles’ own status relative to that of Hercules, who
specialized in fighting the supernatural, whether monster or god.
In addition to the escapades already mentioned, Hercules struggled against gods on several
occasions. And no, he never needed to be rescued. To ascertain the location of the Hesperides,
Hercules locked his arms around the sea god Nereus and held the god fast until the god
divulged the location Hercules needed. When the oracle of Delphi would not give Hercules
answers, Hercules sought to establish a new oracle. This provoked Apollo, who attacked
Hercules. The two were separated, neither defeating the other, when Zeus hurled a lightning
bolt between them. And when Hercules marched against the city of Pylos, he wounded Hades
who came to the city’s defense. Hercules emerging unscathed from three scuffles with
three different gods compared to Achilles needing to be bailed out the first time he
was confronted by an enemy who wasn’t another human speaks for itself.
The events of the Iliad are also an argument that asserts Hercules’ dominance over Achilles.
The Trojan War was a protracted, ten-year slog, even though all the armies of Greece
and all the finest heroes of Greece, Achilles among them, were rallied in common purpose.
One thousand warships, the largest force ever assembled by Greece, set sail. Juxtaposing
this against Hercules’ own attack on Troy years earlier makes Hercules seem like some
elemental aspect of destruction, an awesome force of nature. Hercules sacked Troy, and
it definitely didn’t take ten years. He sailed there with six ships, besieged the
city, and quickly breached the walls, killing king Laomedon, the father of king Priam, who
was the ruling king during the Trojan war. What took Achilles and all the soldiers of
Greece ten years, one thousand ships, and countless casualties, Hercules accomplished
with only a handful of ships in a fraction of the time.
Finally, there’s what happened after each Hero died. Achilles' soul went to Hades. Hercules
was made a god and ascended to the heights of Mount Olympus. Need we say more? Hercules’
suffering was so profound and his accomplishments so amazing that they made him a god. Achilles,
here, is utterly outclassed.
What Achilles really has going for him here is his almost-invincibility, against a foe
like Hercules, though, this presents more of a minor obstacle to be overcome, not an
insurmountable complication; for - as you’ll recall, Hercules was faced with this very
same problem when he fought the Nemean lion, which was invulnerable to any weapon a man
could wield, and no, the Nemean lion didn’t have vulnerable heels. Certainly, Hercules
would be able to throttle, thrash, man-handle, and mangle Achilles in similar fashion. Hercules
was able to hold a shape shifting sea god in the crushing grip of his arms, he probably
wouldn't even break a sweat holding achilles in that same way.
Here’s how this would look: Achilles hurls a couple of spears. Hercules dodges them (he
was able to kill a poisonous multi-headed hydra - presumably without being bitten or
he would have died from poisoning - and he pursued a fleet-footed, golden-antlered deer
for a year; so assuming that Hercules would dodge these spears is fair.) Plus there’s
the numerous wars Hercules fought in without getting impaled like some boar being rundown
in the woods. If there were boulders nearby, Hercules could always launch a couple of those
to smash and stun Achilles. (normally, this would be the perfect time for Hercules to
use his bow, but he would have to hit Achilles’ heels, which doesn’t sound feasible.) Close-quarters
fighting follows. Hercules opts for his club. A mighty swing from Hercules sends Achilles
crashing to the ground. Hercules dispenses with his weapons and descends barehanded upon
Achilles. What ensues looks like a father wrestling with his son. A murderous father.
Hercules, now sitting on a prone, incapacitated Achilles, relentlessly hammer-fists Achilles’
heels until they are pulverized. Achilles, his heels now with the structural integrity
of sand lumped into fleshy-sacs, is blinded by pain. Hercules, having already inflicted
the maximum amount of damage on the only parts that can be damaged, leaves Achilles. Achilles,
now alone, in constant, excruciating pain, and unable to walk, becomes afflicted by blood
poisoning when the fat in the marrow of his bones enters his bloodstream. (This is what’s
known as Fat Embolism Syndrome, or FES). Unfortunately, dieing of FES takes quite a long time as poisonings
go. Achilles’ suffering doubles, but death’s release is no closer. Unable to bear his torturous
existence any longer, Achilles bites off his own tongue. Unfortunately, he doesn’t lose
quite enough blood to die. Achilles dies of dehydration a day later.
Hercules 1 - Achilles 0
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