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A History of Natural Bodybuilding (1120 BC - 500BC

How many times have you been to a local school during recess and heard the following statements / questions?

“He-Man’s way stronger than Hercules! Oh, yeah? What about Goku then? He can lift a mountain! So what? It’s well known that my dad is the strongest in the world!” (and then smile as you realise it's your son speaking!)

Almost every child these days has been exposed to feats of superhuman strength and bodybuilding thanks to shows such as “Masters of the Universe”, “Dragonball Z” and of course their own parents (especially if they are competition weightlifters or bodybuilders), but it’s nothing new really. People have been fascinated by people who’ve been able to do more than most people since the dawn of time. So if a definitive list was to be drawn up of all the strongest / muscled men who have influenced history, it might look something like this:

Samson (approx 1,120BC – 1,080BC)

Samson was born in Canaan (modern day Israel) at the end of the twelfth century BC, but the question is raised as to whether he existed or not. What we do know is that his birth was preceded by an angel telling his mother that she would give birth to a Nazirite (from a different part of the Middle East) and that whatever was to happen, his hair couldn’t be cut. The reason for this strange request, well, this was demonstrated when Samson was about eighteen when a mountain lion pounced on him. About a minute later, Samson went on his way. And whilst in the Canaanite army, he managed to bump off a thousand Philistines (from what is modern day Georgia) with just a jawbone. This brought him to the attention of the Philistine nation and to one woman in particular named Delilah and when she was told that she’s get a reward for finding out the secret of Samson’s strength leading to some scenes that wouldn’t go amiss in a torture chamber, she found out about his hair and cut it whilst he was asleep. Well, now Samson was as weak as a baby and as a result was humiliated by the Philistines, until a national celebration when the Philistines decided to show off its biggest scalp. But as enough time had elapsed for his hair to grow back, Samson (after praying to God) brought the temple down around their ears and also committed suicide at the same time. When news arrived in Canaan of what happened, Samson’s brothers bought his body back home and he was buried between Zorah and Eshtaol in the same plot as his father.

Hercules (approx. 550BC – 500BC)

Like Samson, whilst the debate rages about whether or not there really was a Hercules (the latest suggestion is that he was perhaps a chieftain-vassal of the kingdom of Argos near the Gulf of Corinth in Greece) what can’t be denied is that in terms of superhuman feats, his twelve labours can’t be beaten, but what about his history? Well, using a combination of the legend and the history of Greece, we can determine that he was born about 550BC and was the result of what could be termed a “liaison dangereux” between Zeus, the king of the Greek gods and Alcmene. Why was this liaison dangerous? Well, firstly both Zeus and Alcmene were married (to Hera and Amphitryon respectively) and secondly, any cross breeding between gods and mortals was always likely to create ructions. The first of which was felt on Mount Olympus, when Hera found out what had happened and well, putting it politely “sought a termination”. Anyway, Hercules was born (despite Hera’s best efforts) and the name that the parents chose pushed Hera over the edge and she sent two snakes to deal with Hercules. Which would have worked, if the second ruction of a god / mortal breeding programme hadn’t occurred. Baby Hercules thought that the snakes were toys and started to use them as a rattle. The reason? He was possessed of superhuman strength. Hera was furious and spent the rest of Hercules’ life making it miserable as possible. After several years, Hercules got married to Megara and they had two lovely children. Well, this was too much for Hera to bare and so made Hercules kill his wife and children in a fit of madness. When Hercules recovered and saw what had happened, he made an offering to Apollo (the gods’ version of People’s Court) and asked forgiveness. He was told in no uncertain terms that he would have to work off his debt by performing several tasks and after a consultation with the Oracle at Delphi, he went to see and told him what happened and that the gods had commanded him to be King Eurystheus’s personal slave. Now, this king was no dummy and so ordered Hercules to perform ten tasks

Task 1: Slay the Nemean lion (and when he did he wore the skin as proof)
Task 2: Slay the nine-headed Hydra of Lerna
Task 3: Capture of the elusive hind (stag) of Arcadia
Task 4: Capture the wild boar of Mount Erymanthus
Task 5: Clean (by sunset that day) the cattle stables of King Augeas of Elis
Task 6: Shoot the monstrous man-eating birds of the Stymphalian marshes
Task 7: Capture of the mad bull that terrorized the island of Crete
Task 8: Capture of the man-eating mares of King Diomedes of the Bistones
Task 9: Take the girdle of Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons (and before you ask, yes, they did exist in what is now Azerbaijan)
Task 10: Seize the cattle of the three-bodied giant Geryon, who ruled the island Erytheia

Now as you can imagine, that took Hercules several years, but when reports came back to King Eurystheus that Hercules was on the way back, he panicked and came up with two extra tasks.

Task 11: Bring back the golden apples kept at the world's end by the Hesperides
Task 12: Fetch up from the lower world (Hades) the triple-headed dog Cerberus, guardian of its gates

Well, as you can imagine when that last task was completed, Hercules was not going to be bossed around by anyone and became a freelance agent, dealing with minor emergencies such as preventing the Princess of Troy from being eaten by a sea monster, and even helping his father prevent a “corporate takeover” of Mount Olympus. After all these adventures, Hercules fell in love again and married for the second time. His wife this time was called Deianira and when he came back from his trip to Olympus, she had a present waiting for him. A cloak that she had woven herself with a little added extra. A special balm given to her by a centaur that would make Hercules the most “active” man on earth by ensuring them a fruitful relationship. However, guess who had given the centaur the balm in the first place? That’s right Hera, and as you might have guessed this wasn’t the 6th century BC’s version of Viagra but was in fact a deadly poison and as soon as Hercules put the cloak on, he’d had it. He asked his friends to sacrifice him to the gods to prevent the poison from killing him, and as his friends set fire to the funeral pyre, Hera relented. As the funeral pyre burned, Athena was sent down to take Hercules back to his ancestral home and even today can be seen in the stars.