(Marble, Roman copy called
Hercules Farnese, 216 CE)]]
Heracles ( ; ,
Hēraklēs, from
Hēra, "
Hera", and
kleos, "glory"), born
Alcaeus (Ἀλκαῖος,
Alkaios) or
Alcides (Αλκείδης,
Alkeidēs), was a
divine hero in
Greek mythology, the son of
Zeus (Ζεύς) and
Alcmene, foster son of
Amphitryon and great-grandson (and half-brother) of
Perseus (Περσεύς). He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, a paragon of masculinity, the ancestor of royal clans who claimed to be
Heracleidae (Ἡρακλεῖδαι) and a champion of the
Olympian order against
chthonic monsters. In
Rome and the
modern West, he is known as
Hercules, with whom the later
Roman Emperors, in particular
Commodus and
Maximian, often identified themselves. The Romans adopted the Greek version of his life and works essentially unchanged, but added anecdotal detail of their own, some of it linking the hero with the geography of the Central Mediterranean. Details of his
cult were adapted to Rome as well.
Extraordinary strength, courage, ingenuity, and sexual prowess with both males and females were among his characteristic attributes. Although he was not as clever as the likes of Odysseus or Nestor, Heracles used his wits on several occasions when his strength did not suffice, such as when laboring for the king Augeas of Elis, wrestling the giant Antaeus, or tricking Atlas into taking the sky back onto his shoulders. Together with Hermes he was the patron and protector of gymnasia and palaestrae. His iconographic attributes are the lion skin and the club. These qualities did not prevent him from being regarded as a playful figure who used games to relax from his labors and played a great deal with children. By conquering dangerous archaic forces he is said to have "made the world safe for mankind" and to be its benefactor. Heracles was an extremely passionate and emotional individual, capable of doing both great deeds for his friends (such as wrestling with Thanatos on behalf of Prince Admetus, who had regaled Heracles with his hospitality, or restoring his friend Tyndareus to the throne of Sparta after he was overthrown) and being a terrible enemy who would wreak horrible vengeance on those who crossed him, as Augeas, Neleus and Laomedon all found out to their cost.
Origin and character
Many popular stories were told of his life, the most famous being The Twelve
Labours of Heracles; Alexandrian poets of the Hellenistic age drew his mythology into a high poetic and tragic atmosphere. His figure, which initially drew on Near Eastern motifs such as the lion-fight, was known everywhere: his
Etruscan equivalent was
Hercle, a son of
Tinia and
Uni.
Heracles was the greatest of Hellenic chthonic heroes, but unlike other Greek heroes, no tomb was identified as his. Heracles was both hero and god, as Pindar says heroes theos; at the same festival sacrifice was made to him, first as a hero, with a chthonic libation, and then as a god, upon an altar: thus he embodies the closest Greek approach to a "demi-god".
Hero or god?
Heracles' role as a culture hero, whose death could be a subject of mythic telling (see below), was accepted into the
Olympian Pantheon during Classical times. This created an awkwardness in the encounter with
Odysseus in the episode of
Odyssey XI, called the
Nekuia, where Odysseus encounters Heracles in
Hades:
:''And next I caught a glimpse of powerful Heracles—
:''His ghost I mean: the man himself delights
:''in the grand feasts of the deathless gods on high...
:''Around him cries of the dead rang out like cries of birds
:scattering left and right in horror as on he came like night..."
Ancient critics were aware of the problem of the aside that interrupts the vivid and complete description, in which Heracles recognizes Odysseus and hails him, and modern critics find very good reasons for denying that the verses beginning, in Fagles' translation His ghost I mean... were part of the original composition: "once people knew of Heracles' admission to Olympus, they would not tolerate his presence in the underworld", remarks Friedrich Solmsen, noting that the interpolated verses represent a compromise between conflicting representations of Heracles.
It is also said that when Heracles died he shed his mortal skin, which went down to the underworld and he went up to join the gods for being the greatest hero ever known.
Christian dating
In Christian circles a
Euhemerist reading of the widespread Heracles cult was attributed to a historical figure who had been offered cult status after his death. Thus
Eusebius,
Preparation of the Gospel (10.12), reported that
Clement could offer historical dates for Hercules as a king in Argos: "from the reign of Hercules in
Argos to the
deification of Hercules himself and of
Asclepius there are comprised thirty-eight years, according to
Apollodorus the chronicler: and from that point to the deification of
Castor and Pollux fifty-three years: and somewhere about this time was the capture of
Troy."
Readers with a literalist bent, following Clement's reasoning, have asserted from this remark that, since Heracles ruled over Tiryns in Argos at the same time that Eurystheus ruled over Mycenae, and since at about this time Linus was Heracles' teacher, one can conclude, based on Jerome's date—in his universal history, his Chronicon—given to Linus' notoriety in teaching Heracles in 1264 BC, that Heracles' death and deification occurred 38 years later, in approximately 1226 BC.
Cult
The ancient Greeks celebrated the festival of the
Herakleia, which commemorated the death of Heracles, on the second day of the month of Metageitnion (which would fall in late July or early August). What is believed to be an
Egyptian Temple of Heracles in the
Bahariya Oasis dates to 21 BC.
Myths
Birth and childhood
A major factor in the well-known tragedies surrounding Heracles is the hatred that the
goddess Hera, wife of
Zeus, had for him. A full account of Heracles must render it clear why Heracles was so tormented by Hera, when there are many illegitimate offspring sired by Zeus. Heracles was the son of the affair Zeus had with the mortal woman
Alcmene.
Zeus made love to her after disguising himself as her husband,
Amphitryon, home early from war (Amphitryon did return later the same night, and Alcmene became pregnant with his son at the same time, a case of heteropaternal
superfecundation, where a woman carries twins sired by different fathers). Thus, Heracles' very existence proved at least one of Zeus' many illicit affairs, and Hera often conspired against Zeus' mortal offspring, as revenge for her husband's infidelities. His twin mortal brother, son of Amphitryon was Iphicles, father of Heracles' charioteer
Iolaus.
On the night the twins Heracles and Iphicles were to be born, Hera, knowing of her husband Zeus' adultery, persuaded Zeus to swear an oath that the child born that night to a member of the House of Perseus would be High King. Hera did this knowing that while Heracles was to be born a descendant of Perseus, so too was Eurystheus. Once the oath was sworn, Hera hurried to Alcmene's dwelling and slowed the birth of Heracles by forcing Ilithyia, goddess of childbirth, to sit crosslegged with her clothing tied in knots, thereby causing Heracles to be trapped in the womb. Meanwhile, Hera caused Eurystheus to be born prematurely, making him High King in place of Heracles. She would have permanently delayed Heracles' birth had she not been fooled by Galanthis, Alcmene's servant, who lied to Ilithyia, saying that Alcmene had already delivered the baby. Upon hearing this, she jumped in surprise, untying the knots and inadvertently allowing Alcmene to give birth to her twins, Heracles and Iphicles.
The child was originally given the name Alcides by his parents; it was only later that he became known as Heracles. he realized what he had done and fled to the Oracle of Delphi. Unbeknownst to him, the Oracle was guided by Hera. He was directed to serve King Eurystheus for ten years and perform any task Eurystheus required of him. Eurystheus decided to give Heracles ten labours, but after completing them, Heracles was cheated by Eurystheus when he added two more, resulting in the Twelve Labors of Heracles.
Labours of Heracles
,
India, 1st century.]]
Driven mad by Hera, Heracles slew his own children. To expiate the crime, Heracles was required to carry out ten labors set by his archenemy,
Eurystheus, who had become king in Heracles' place. If he succeeded, he would be purified of his sin and, as myth says, he would be granted immortality. Heracles accomplished these tasks, but Eurystheus did not accept the cleansing of the Augean stables because Heracles was going to accept pay for the labor. Neither did he accept the killing of the Lernaean Hydra as Heracles' cousin, Ioloas, had helped him burn the stumps of the heads. Eurysteus set two more tasks (fetching the Golden Apples of Hesperides and capturing
Cerberus), which Heracles performed successfully, bringing the total number of tasks up to twelve.
Not all writers gave the labors in the same order. Apollodorus (2.5.1-2.5.12) gives the following order:
#To kill the Nemean lion.
#To destroy the Lernaean Hydra.
#To capture the Ceryneian Hind.
#To capture the Erymanthian Boar.
#To clean the Augean Stables.
#To kill the Stymphalian Birds.
#To capture the Cretan Bull.
#To round up the Mares of Diomedes.
#To steal the Girdle of Hippolyte.
#To herd the Cattle of Geryon.
#To fetch the Apples of Hesperides.
#To capture Cerberus.
Further adventures
After completing these tasks, Heracles joined the
Argonauts in a search for the
Golden Fleece. They rescued heroines, conquered Troy, and helped the gods fight against the
Gigantes. He also fell in love with Princess
Iole of
Oechalia. King
Eurytus of Oechalia promised his daughter,
Iole, to whoever could beat his sons in an archery contest. Heracles won but Eurytus abandoned his promise. Heracles' advances were spurned by the king and his sons, except for one: Iole's brother
Iphitus. Heracles killed the king and his sons–excluding
Iphitus–and abducted Iole. Iphitus became Heracles' best friend. However, once again, Hera drove Heracles mad and he threw Iphitus over the city wall to his death. Once again, Heracles purified himself through three years of servitude — this time to Queen
Omphale of
Lydia.
Omphale
Omphale was a queen or princess of
Lydia. As penalty for a murder, Heracles was her slave. He was forced to do women's work and wear women's clothes, while she wore the skin of the
Nemean Lion and carried his
olive-wood club. After some time, Omphale freed Heracles and married him. Some sources mention a son born to them who is variously named. It was at that time that the
cercopes, mischievous wood spirits, stole Heracles' weapons. He punished them by tying them to a stick with their faces pointing downward.
Hylas
While walking through the wilderness, Heracles was set upon by the
Dryopians. He killed their king,
Theiodamas, and the others gave up and offered him Prince
Hylas. He took the youth on as his weapons bearer and beloved. Years later, Heracles and Hylas joined the crew of the
Argo. As Argonauts, they only participated in part of the journey. In
Mysia, Hylas was kidnapped by a nymph. Heracles, heartbroken, searched for a long time but Hylas had fallen in love with the nymphs and never showed up again. In other versions, he simply drowned. Either way, the
Argo set sail without them.
Rescue of Prometheus
Hesiod's
Theogony and
Aeschylus'
Prometheus Unbound both tell that Heracles shot and killed the eagle that tortured
Prometheus (which was his punishment by Zeus for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to mortals). Heracles freed the
Titan from his chains and his torments. Prometheus then made predictions regarding further deeds of Heracles.
Heracles' Constellation
On his way back to
Mycenae from
Iberia having obtained the Cattle of
Geryon as his
tenth labour, Heracles came to
Liguria in North-Western
Italy where he engaged into battle with two giants,
Albion and
Bergion or Dercynus, sons of
Poseidon. The opponents were strong; Hercules was in a difficult position so he prayed to his father
Zeus for help. Under the aegis of Zeus, Heracles won the battle. It was this kneeling position of Heracles when prayed to his father Zeus that gave the name
Engonasin (
"", derived from ), meaning "on his knees" or "the Kneeler"
one constellation known as
Heracles' constellation. The story, among others, is described by
Dionysius of Halicarnassus.
Laomedon of Troy
Before the
Trojan War, Poseidon sent a sea monster to attack
Troy. The story is related in several digressions in the
Iliad (7.451-453, 20.145-148, 21.442-457) and is found in Apollodorus'
Bibliotheke (2.5.9).
Laomedon planned on sacrificing his daughter
Hesione to Poseidon in the hope of appeasing him. Heracles happened to arrive (along with
Telamon and
Oicles) and agreed to kill the monster if Laomedon would give him the horses received from Zeus as compensation for Zeus' kidnapping
Ganymede. Laomedon agreed. Heracles killed the monster, but Laomedon went back on his word. Accordingly, in a later expedition, Heracles and his followers attacked Troy and sacked it. Then they slew all Laomedon's sons present there save
Podarces, who was renamed Priam, who saved his own life by giving Heracles a golden veil Hesione had made. Telamon took Hesione as a war prize; they were married and had a son,
Teucer.
Other adventures
Heracles defeated the
Bebryces (ruled by King
Mygdon) and gave their land to Prince
Lycus of
Mysia, son of
Dascylus.
He killed the robber Termerus.
Heracles visited Evander with Antor, who then stayed in Italy.
Heracles killed King Amyntor of the Dolopes for not allowing him into his kingdom. He also killed King Emathion of Arabia.
Heracles killed Lityerses after beating him in a contest of harvesting.
Heracles killed Poriclymenus at Pylos.
Heracles founded the city Tarentum (modern: Taranto) in Italy.
Heracles learned music from Linus (and Eumolpus), but killed him after Linus corrected his mistakes. He learned how to wrestle from Autolycus. He killed the famous boxer Eryx of Sicily in a match.
Heracles was an Argonaut. He killed Alastor and his brothers.
When Hippocoon overthrew his brother, Tyndareus, as King of Sparta, Heracles reinstated the rightful ruler and killed Hippocoon and his sons.
Heracles slew the giants Cycnus, Porphyrion and Mimas. The expedition against Cycnus, in which Iolaus accompanied Heracles, is the ostensible theme of a short epic attributed to Hesiod, The Shield of Heracles.
Heracles killed Antaeus the giant who was immortal while touching the earth, by picking him up and holding him in the air while strangling him.
Heracles went to war with Augeias after he denied him a promised reward for clearing his stables. Augeias remained undefeated due to the skill of his two generals, the Molionides, and after Heracles fell ill, his army was badly beaten. Later, however, he was able to ambush and kill the Molionides, and thus march into Elis, sack it, and kill Augeias and his sons.
Heracles visited the house of Admetus on the day Admetus' wife, Alcestis, had agreed to die in his place. By hiding beside the grave of Alcestis, Heracles was able to surprise Death when he came to collect her, and by squeezing him tight until he relented, was able to persuade Death to return Alcestis to her husband.
Heracles challenged wine god Dionysus to a drinking contest and lost, resulting in his joining the Thiasus for a period.
Heracles also appears in Aristophanes' The Frogs, in which Dionysus seeks out the hero to find a way to the underworld. Heracles is greatly amused by Dionysus' appearance and jokingly offers several ways to commit suicide before finally offering his knowledge of how to get to there.
Heracles appears as the founder of Scythia in Herodotus' text. While Heracles is sleeping out in the wilderness, a half-woman, half-snake creature steals his horses. Heracles eventually finds the creature, but she refuses to return the horses until he has sex with her. After doing so, he takes back his horses, but before leaving, he hands over his belt and bow, and gives instructions as to which of their children should found a new nation in Scythia.
Women
, here on a mid-4th century
Apulian painted vase;
Etruscan mythology adopted this iconic image]]
During the course of his life, Heracles married four times. His first marriage was to
Megara, whose children he murdered in a fit of madness. Apollodoros (
Bibliotheke) recounts that Megara was unharmed and given in marriage to
Iolaus, while in
Euripides' version Heracles killed Megara, too.
His second wife was Omphale, the Lydian queen or princess to whom he was delivered as a slave.
His third marriage was to Deianira, for whom he had to fight the river god Achelous. (Upon Achelous' death, Heracles removed one of his horns and gave it to some nymphs who turned it into the cornucopia.) Soon after they wed, Heracles and Deianira had to cross a river, and a centaur named Nessus offered to help Deianira across but then attempted to rape her. Enraged, Heracles shot the centaur from the opposite shore with a poisoned arrow (tipped with the Lernaean Hydra's blood) and killed him. As he lay dying, Nessus plotted revenge, told Deianira to gather up his blood and spilled semen and, if she ever wanted to prevent Heracles from having affairs with other women, she should apply them to his vestments. Nessus knew that his blood had become tainted by the poisonous blood of the Hydra, and would burn through the skin of anyone it touched.
Later, when Deianira suspected that Heracles was fond of Iole, she soaked a shirt of his in the mixture, creating the poisoned shirt of Nessus. Heracles' servant, Lichas, brought him the shirt and he put it on. Instantly he was in agony, the cloth burning into him. As he tried to remove it, the flesh ripped from his bones. Heracles chose a voluntary death, asking that a pyre be built for him to end his suffering. After death, the gods transformed him into an immortal, or alternatively, the fire burned away the mortal part of the demigod, so that only the god remained. Because his mortal parts had been incinerated, he could now become a full god and join his father and the other Olympians on Mount Olympus. He then married Hebe.
Another episode of his female affairs that stands out was his stay at the palace of Thespius king of Thespiae, who wished him to kill the Lion of Cithaeron. As a reward, the king offered him the chance to make love to his daughters, all fifty of them, in one night. Heracles complied and they all became pregnant and all bore sons. This is sometimes referred to as his Thirteenth Labour. Many of the kings of ancient Greece traced their lines to one or another of these, notably the kings of Sparta and Macedon.
Male lovers
(Fountain mosaic from the
Anzio Nymphaeum)]]
As symbol of masculinity and warriorship, Heracles also had a number of male lovers.
Plutarch, in his
Eroticos, maintains that Heracles' male lovers were beyond counting. Of these, the one most closely linked to Heracles is the
Theban Iolaus. According to a myth thought to be of ancient origins, Iolaus was Heracles' charioteer and squire. Heracles in the end helped Iolaus find a wife. Plutarch reports that down to his own time, male couples would go to Iolaus's tomb in Thebes to swear an oath of loyalty to the hero and to each other.
One of Heracles' male lovers, and one represented in ancient as well as modern art, is Hylas. Though it is of more recent vintage (dated to the third century) than that with Iolaus, it had themes of mentoring in the ways of a warrior and help finding a wife in the end.
Lycurgus also provided Heracles with a male lover—Elacatas, who was honored there with a sanctuary and yearly games. The myth of their love is an ancient one. Abdera's eponymous hero, Abderus, was another of Heracles' lovers. He was said to have been entrusted with—and slain by—the carnivorous mares of Thracian Diomedes. Heracles founded the city of Abdera in Thrace in his memory, where he was honored with athletic games.
Another myth is that of Iphitus. Another story is the one of his love for Nireus, who was "the most beautiful man who came beneath Ilion" (Iliad, 673). But Ptolemy adds that certain authors made Nireus out to be a son of Heracles.
There is also a series of lovers who are either later inventions or purely literary conceits. Among these are Admetus, who assisted in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar; Adonis; Corythus;
Children
Telephus is the son of Heracles and
Auge.
Hyllus is the son of Heracles and
Deianeira or
Melite.
The sons of Heracles and
Hebe are
Alexiares and Anicetus.
There is also, in some versions, reference to an episode where Heracles met and impregnated a half-serpentine woman, known as
Echidna; her children, known as the Dracontidae, were the ancestors of the House of Cadmus.
Death
, Florence)]]
This is described in
Ovid's
Metamorphoses Book IX. Having wrestled and defeated
Achelous, god of the Acheloos river, Heracles takes
Deianeira as his wife. Travelling to
Tiryns, a
centaur,
Nessus, offers to help Deianeira across a fast flowing river while Heracles swims it. However, Nessus is true to the archetype of the mischievous centaur and tries to steal Deianara away while Heracles is still in the water. Angry, Heracles shoots him with his arrows dipped in the poisonous blood of the
Lernaean Hydra. Thinking of revenge, Nessus gives Deianara his
blood-soaked tunic before he dies, telling her it will "excite the love of her husband".
Several years later, rumor tells Deianeira that she has a rival for the love of Heracles. Deianeira, remembering Nessus' words, gives Heracles the bloodstained shirt. Lichas, the herald, delivers the shirt to Heracles. However, it is still covered in the Hydra's blood from Heracles' arrows, and this poisons him, tearing his skin and exposing his bones. Before he dies, Heracles throws Lichas into the sea, thinking he was the one who poisoned him (according to several versions, Lichas turns to stone, becoming a rock standing in the sea, named for him). Heracles then uproots several trees and builds a funeral pyre, which Poeas, father of Philoctetes, lights. As his body burns, only his immortal side is left. Through Zeus' apotheosis, Heracles rises to Olympus as he dies.
No one but Heracles' friend Philoctetes (Poeas in some versions) would light his funeral pyre (in an alternate version, it is Iolaus who lights the pyre). For this action, Philoctetes (or Poeas) received Heracles' bow and arrows, which were later needed by the Greeks to defeat Troy in the Trojan War.
Philoctetes confronted Paris and shot a poisoned arrow at him. The Hydra poison would subsequently lead to the death of Paris. The Trojan War, however, would continue until the Trojan Horse was used to defeat Troy.
In Rome
In Rome, Heracles was honored as
Hercules, and had a number of distinctively Roman myths and practices associated with him under that name.
Heracles in other cultures
divinity
Bahram as Hercules carved in 153 B.C. at
Kermanshah,
Iran.]]
of the
Buddha is another incarnation of Heracles (
Gandhara, 1st century CE)]]
Via the
Greco-Buddhist culture, Heraclean symbolism was transmitted to the far east. An example remains to this day in the
Nio guardian deities in front of Japanese Buddhist temples.
Herodotus connected Heracles both to
Phoenician god
Melqart and to the
Egyptian god
Shu. Temples dedicated to Heracles abounded all along the Mediterranean coastal countries. For example the temple of
Heracles Monoikos (i.e. the lone dweller), built far from any nearby town upon a promontory in what is now the
Côte d'Azur, gave its name to the area's more recent name,
Monaco.
The gateway to the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic ocean, where the southernmost tip of Spain and the northernmost of Morocco face each other, is, classically speaking, referred to as the Pillars of Hercules/Heracles, owing to the story that he set up two massive spires of stone to stabilise the area and ensure the safety of ships sailing between the two landmasses.
Spoken word myths
Bibliography of reconstruction: Homer,
Odyssey, 12.072 (7th c. BC);
Theocritus,
Idylls, 13 (350–310 BC);
Callimachus,
Aetia (Causes), 24. Thiodamas the Dryopian, Fragments, 160. Hymn to Artemis (310–250? BC);
Apollonios Rhodios,
Argonautika, I. 1175 - 1280 (c. 250 BC);
Apollodorus,
Library and Epitome 1.9.19, 2.7.7 (140 BC);
Sextus Propertius,
Elegies, i.20.17ff (50–15 BC);
Ovid,
Ibis, 488 (AD 8–18);
Gaius Valerius Flaccus,
Argonautica, I.110, III.535, 560, IV.1-57 (1st century);
Hyginus,
Fables, 14. Argonauts Assembled (1st century);
Philostratus the Elder,
Images, ii.24 Thiodamas (170–245);
First Vatican Mythographer, 49. Hercules et Hylas
Ancestry
See also
Other figures in Greek mythology punished by the gods include:
Medusa
Prometheus
Sisyphus
Atlas
Tantalus
Ixion
The Danaides
Notes
Modern sources
References
Heracles at Theoi.com Classical literature and art
Timeless Myths – Heracles The life and adventure of Heracles, including his twelve labours.
Heracles, Greek Mythology Link
Heracles (in French)
Vollmer: Herkules (1836, in German)
Burkert, Walter, (1977) 1985. Greek Religion (Harvard University Press).
Further reading
Padilla, Mark W. (1998). "Herakles and Animals in the Origins of Comedy and Satyr Drama". In Le Bestiaire d'Héraclès: IIIe Rencontre héracléenne, edited by Corinne Bonnet, Colette Jourdain-Annequin, and Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge, 217-30. Kernos Suppl. 7. Liège: Centre International d'Etude de la Religion Grecque Antique.
Padilla, Mark W. (1998). "The Myths of Herakles in Ancient Greece: Survey and Profile". Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America.
External links
Heracles
Category:Argonauts
Category:Demigods of Classical mythology
Category:Greek gods
Category:Greek mythology
Category:Greek mythological hero cult
Category:Monomyths
Category:Offspring of Zeus
Category:Oracular gods
Category:Savior gods
Category:Greek culture heroes
Category:Heroes who ventured to Hades
![Kushan worshipper with Zeus/Serapis/Ohrmazd, Bactria, 3rd century CE.[27]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110419022448im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/b4/f6/e402aa189e5588c6987be5f779d6_grande.jpg "Kushan worshipper with Zeus/Serapis/Ohrmazd, Bactria, 3rd century CE.[27]")
![Kushan worshipper with Zeus/Serapis/Ohrmazd, Bactria, 3rd century CE.[27]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110419022448im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/b4/f6/e402aa189e5588c6987be5f779d6_thumb.jpg "Kushan worshipper with Zeus/Serapis/Ohrmazd, Bactria, 3rd century CE.[27]")
