Hercules âDown-Underâ: Antipodean Experiences of the Heroâs Machismo

Matthew P.J. Dillon

Jump to Content

Chapter 17 Hercules âDown-Underâ: Antipodean Experiences of the Heroâs Machismo

In: The Modern Hercules

Author:

Matthew P.J. Dillon

Matthew P.J. Dillon
Search for other papers by Matthew P.J. Dillon in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 376â407

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004440067_019

Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):

â¬42.00â¬35.00Â excl. VAT

Add to Cart

Redeem Access Token

Abstract

Antipodean Herculean academic studies have significant potential. The film Hercules Returns (1993), for example, might suggest that Hercules is as much a household name down-under in the twentieth century as he was early in modern Australian history, where he is (probably) present in the work of the English artist Robert Cleveley in his 1790s engraving Natives of Botany Bay, which transforms an aboriginal inhabitant in his fishing boat into the Belvedere torso. Nevertheless an examination of how the hero has fared in the intervening and succeeding centuries in terra australis is timely.

At an everyday level, both Woolworths (groceries) and dt Australia (dump-truck trays) have used the name Hercules in their branding. The products in question do not reveal manufacturers immersed in the classical tradition, but rather an awareness â not unique to Australian companies â of Hercules as a by-word in the English language for strength, a figure associated with sheer muscle, power and endurance. Further evidence of this is offered by âPlanet Herculesâ, a Aussie strongman website, which emphasises deeds of muscle, such as a mighty Aussie pulling a semi-trailer. For the Australian classical scholar, this appropriation of Hercules is at first somewhat depressing: the twelve labours of Hercules (none of which actually involved lifting, or even for that matter great endurance) are reduced in Antipodean terms to a mining truck tray. Yet this is Olympian glory in the Antipodes: Zeus/Jupiter, Hera/Juno, and Athena/Minerva appear nowhere in the great southern land and for a society which extols drinking as its main national pastime, few âordinary Aussiesâ seem to have heard of the gods Dionysos and Bacchus. On the other hand, there are some scientific and cultural touches: a massive beetle found in the north is Episcaphula hercules and one of the worldâs largest moths, found in northern Australia and Papua New Guinea, is Coscinocera hercules, while artworks featuring Hercules hang in Aussie art galleries and museums, for example G. Rayner Hoffâs relief sculpture Hercules, Deianira and Achelous (1920).

While there is nothing unique in the Aussie appropriation of Hercules as a synonym for strength, what is different is that Hercules is associated with a single strongman dragging a semi-trailer covered with an Australian flag; that Hercules is part and parcel of rugged truck trays bearing hundreds of tonnes of mineral ore; that he is synonymous with the indispensible, strong, durable sandwich bag thousands of Aussie kids take their lunch to school in. These create the identity of Hercules âdown-underâ and the antipodean experiences of the heroâs machismo. There is something respectful, too, about the Aussie cultural transmission of Herculean strength: one will not find here a brand of disposable nappies called âHercules diapersâ as in the US. An ancient hero is preserved in an Australian context, striding the colossal mining landscape, leaving the other gods far away.

Citation Info

Save
Cite
Email this content

Share link with colleague or librarian

You can email a link to this page to a colleague or librarian:
Email this content
or copy the link directly:

https://brill.edhh.ma/abstract/book/edcoll/9789004440067/BP000020.xml
The link was not copied. Your current browser may not support copying via this button.

Link copied successfully

Collapse
Expand

The Modern Hercules

Images of the Hero from the Nineteenth to the Early Twenty-First Century

Series:Â Metaforms, Volume: 21

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004440067

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 31 Oct 2020

Subjects
- Classical Studies
  - Classical Tradition & Reception Studies
- History
  - Intellectual History

Front Matter

Back Matter

Metrics

	All Time	Past 365 days	Past 30 Days
Abstract Views	1012	374	21
Full Text Views	120	9	1
PDF Views & Downloads	142	10	0

African Studies	Education	Media Studies
American Studies	History	Middle East and Islamic Studies
Ancient Near East and Egypt	Human Rights and Humanitarian Law	Musicology
Art History	International Law	Philosophy
Asian Studies	International Relations	Religious Studies
Biblical Studies	Jewish Studies	Slavic and Eurasian Studies
Biology	Languages and Linguistics	Social Sciences
Book History and Cartography	Life Sciences	Theology and World Christianity
Classical Studies	Literature and Cultural Studies

Subjects

Authors

Open Access

Product Information

Company

Contact

Chapter 17 Hercules âDown-Underâ: Antipodean Experiences of the Heroâs Machismo

Abstract

Citation Info

Share link with colleague or librarian

The Modern Hercules

Images of the Hero from the Nineteenth to the Early Twenty-First Century

Table of Contents

Metrics

Metrics

Chapter 17 Hercules âDown-Underâ: Antipodean Experiences of the Heroâs Machismo