Samson: Jewish Hercules?

Samson is one of the first superheros: a strongman capable of levelling buildings, killing lions with his bare hands and defeating hordes of barbarians. However, like every superman, he had his Kryptonite: his treacherous wife Delilah who discovered the secret of his strength and cut his hair. Did the Jews base Samson on the Greek demigod Hercules? Both killed a lion, both preferred to use clubs, and both committed suicide: Hercules by fire and Samson by bringing down the pagan temple

Weren't the Philistines Greek colonists? The Jews may have developed the Samson myth to counterbalance the pagans' Hercules and prove their religion's superiority. Perhaps Samson was originally a brave warrior whose deeds were exaggerated to superhuman proportions, like America's Davy Crockett?

But CV for only 30 years,we have had and will be more,lot of movie&song remakes.Why did not they do the same?Every group of people,known today as nation(name of their leader&God we accepted as their name) have adopted world known literature heritage?

Heracle was the one that defends people with bare hands,his name told us!Samson has also same purpose,to defend but I need oldest archaic form of the name in old texts.Last cycle of human civilization started in this area.No matter what do American citizens today present,their roots were in other parts of the world,Europe&Africa&Asia...Same was with those people.Emigrants have created new states and civilization was going on.People and story tales remakes have been always the same:which version we are using now depends of actual state version of course.Walt Disney production rules know!I believe
Samson was older than Heracle&Hercules.


Edited by medenaywe - 25-Sep-2011 at 10:32

Tell me more Olios!Please.What kind of person does describe this word in Turkish language Olios?We have here "Samsu(o?)reja" as pejorative for person that is tall but useless.

Edited by medenaywe - 25-Sep-2011 at 15:05

Originally posted by medenaywe Tell me more Olios!Please.What kind of person does describe this word in Turkish language Olios?We have here "Samsu(o?)reja" as pejorative for person that is tall but useless.

I have just seen Samson Statu in Russia, in viki commons so I thought maybe he have been in Blacksea  region. We have got cities whose names were coming from Ceasar, Hadrian, Hercules, Alexander so why not Samson?




Edited by Ollios - 26-Sep-2011 at 05:03

Samson and Hercules both slew a lion.

But Samson also tied three hundred foxes into pairs by their tales, set them alight and released them into the Philitines' crops; slew a thousand Philistines with the jaw bone of an ass; caused a spring to appear from where the jawbone was discarded; carried away the city gates of Gaza; broke every attempt to bind him; was a judge and a riddler; was betrayed by his lover Delilah; had his head shaved, becaming weak and was captured and blinded; then regained his strength and pulled down the pillars in the temple of Dagon in Gaza, killing two thousand Philistine men and women, aswell as himself.

All these events are distinct from those of Hercules. And none of Hercules' other feats - his slaying of monsters starting from the cradle, the murder of his own family, his twelve labours - is reflected in Samson.

The only commonality is the lion motif. Lions are dangerous animals. To overpower one would equal strong man in anyone's eyes. A strong man was therefore expected to have overpowered at least one dangerous animal in his exploits.

The Jews might not have copied the Greek myth word for word, but who's to say they didn't borrow elements of this story, either during their war with the Philistines, or in later years when they became Hellenized?

I can't see any parallels here but the common humanity of people - every culture has it's heroes, and they tend to do heroic stuff, because otherwise they would not be heroes. I fail see Samson as a hero though - in the OT he is represented as a person who was led away form his god and got punished for it, not like a hero proper.

The element of his strength being in his hair is remoniscent of certain Russian folk tales, about a mean wizard whose name was Koschei Bessemrnui /the second name meaning Immortal/. According to one of the variations of the tale his life force was in 3 golden hairs on his head, and the princess he abducted had to find way to neutralize him pulling them out before the knight comes and kills him; and when she questioned him as to where was his life, 3 times he gave her wrong answer.

So, one can wonder if the tale was created as a result of the OT story, or it a result of older independent legendary tradition in Russia, because another versions of the story place the life-force of the said dude in an egg that a goose was sitting on in a secret place. Anyway, the hair thing exists in other cultures too, like the Maori in New Zealand, the ancient Buddists, etc. In some aboriginal cultures the hair as well as nails have to be destroyed immediately after being cut, because they can be used by witches to destroy the person they belong too. In the Middle Ages the same was believed in Europe.

Anyway, my point is that people tend to think in similar ways about many things, so more than mere similarity have to be established in order one to prove a cultural borrowing - the timing has to be right, connections like trade etc have to had been established, etc.

Samson and Hercules House in Norwich. Since this photo was taken the 17th century carvings have been repainted