Keywords:
Hercules (大力神：赫拉克勒斯)
Milky Way (銀河)
Hydra (九頭蛇)
12 Labours of Hercules (十二試煉)
1
Most Greek heroes were said to be demigods born out of a union between a divine father and a mortal mother. They were human but they were said to possess magnificent powers. They were warriors, lovers and world redeemers, but always under the watchful eyes of their parent gods of all the semi-divine heroes.
絕大多數希臘英雄的父親是天神，母親是凡人；這些英雄本是凡人，卻擁有強大神力，他們是勇士、情人、世界的救贖者，但父輩天神常常關注著這群半人半神的凡間英雄。
2
Hercules symbolised the ultimate superhuman. No feat was beyond his reach. He was born the son of a mortal woman and the supreme god Zeus who took advantage of Hercules his mother by disguising himself as her husband. Zeus' wife the goddess Hera became jealous of the infant Hercules, she attempted to have two snakes strangle him and his mother, while they were sleeping. However, the fearless infant killed the snakes with his small but mighty hands. At age eight, Hercules was said to have strangled a lion who had been killing flocks of sheep. As an adult, Hercules’ strength and bravery stood unrivalled but he eventually reached a crossroad in his life.
Hercules象征終極超人。他戰無不勝的Zeus之子（宙斯曾佯裝成了Hercules母親丈夫的模樣，欺騙了Hercules母親）。Zeus之妻Hera嫉妒嬰孩時期的Hercules，趁著Hercules母子二人熟睡時，用蛇纏繞住他們。然而，無所畏懼的嬰孩用強勁有力的小手殺死了蛇。八歲時，據說Hercules扼死了曾傷及羊群的獅子；成年后，Hercules的力量與勇氣依舊無人可及，但最終他抵達了人生的十字路口。
“One day, he was walking down a path and two goddesses appeared to him and they were the personification of justice and of good, and he had to make a choice between an easy path and an easy life and one that would involve being a just person performing labours and deeds for the good of mankind.”
“某日，Hercules沿道路行走，兩位掌控公平、正義的天神顯靈，要他在兩條路上進行選擇：一條是輕松安逸之路；一條是成為正義之士，為人類善行善舉。”
3
At the time, Hercules was not aware of which road he would take. He eventually fell in love and married, but the goddess Hera was still determined to seek revenge on him. She cast a spell over Hercules, and in a fit of madness, he murdered his own children. Later, when he realised what he had done, Hercules contemplated suicide as a last resort. He sought the advice of the Oracle at Delphi, the priestess advised Hercules that he could redeem himself by serving a king for 12 years. The king instructed Hercules to embark on a series of tasks. If he could complete them, he would be elevated to the status of God and allowed to join the other divinities on Mount Olympus. The feats became known as the 12 labours of Hercules.
當時的Hercules沒意識到自己會選擇哪條路。他最終戀愛并結婚，但Hera卻沒有放棄報仇的決心。她給Hercules施了魔咒，使得他癲狂時謀殺了自己的孩子。后來，意識到自己的行為時，Hercules想要自我了結，他抵達Delphi向神請旨，牧師建議他效力某君主12年。國王指揮他完成了一系列任務。若能完成，Hercules將晉升為天神，躋身奧林匹斯山的眾神之位。后來這些任務被稱為Hercules的"十二試煉"。
The 12 Labours of Hercules
Among these dangerous tasks, Hercules had to strangle a voracious lion which had been devouring animals and humans. Alike, he also stabbed and burned the multiple heads of the Hydra, a dragon-like beast who was destroying peasant crops. And he placated a herd of man-eating horses by feeding them the flesh of the master.
這些艱難功績中，Hercules需要扼死吞噬動物和人類的貪婪獅子；同時，他刺傷并焚燒了Hydra的多顆頭顱（Hydra是破壞糧食作物的龍形怪獸）；甚至，他用人肉喂養烈馬，平息了食人烈馬的憤怒。
4
Hercules triumphed in completing his twelve labours and became a symbol of courage at the end of his mortal life. Hercules had to be burned alive to melt all his corruptible and mortal parts. Then, it was said he ascended Mount Olympus to join the rest of the gods in ancient times. Sanctuaries were built all over the Mediterranean in honour of this great hero, but whether Hercules really existed is a riddle buried under a sea of broken marble and fragments of pottery for centuries. Archaeologists have been searching for answers as to whether heroes such as Hercules ever existed or if they were simply figments of imagination sprung from the minds of the ancient Greeks. The answer to these questions may be buried under massive ruins discovered in Hissarlik.
Hercules完成了十二件功績，彌留之際成為了勇氣之象征。Hercules必須被活活燒死，才能了結腐化墮落的塵世情節。據說他榮升到奧林匹斯山巔、躋身古代希臘眾神。地中海地區修建了大量圣所來紀念這位英雄，但Hercules是否曾真實存在一直都是一道謎題，這個謎題藏匿于大片的大理石和陶罐碎片之中。考古學家一直在搜尋謎底，以探尋Hercules這樣的英雄是否存在，亦或他們只是古希臘人憑空想象出來的。這些問題的答案藏匿在Hissarlik的廢墟之下。
Source from: Youtube
Dictated by: Nieve
Translated by: Nieve
