   #copyright

Heracles

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Ancient History,
Classical History and Mythology

   Hercules, a Roman bronze (Louvre Museum)
   Enlarge
   Hercules, a Roman bronze ( Louvre Museum)

   In Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles ("glory of Hera", or Alcides,
   original name) "Ἥpα + κλέος, Ἡpακλῆς)" was a divine hero, the son of
   Zeus and Alcmene, stepson of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus.
   He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, a paragon of masculinity, the
   ancestor of royal clans 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 Maximinus, 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 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 King Augeias, 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.

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.
   Ruins in Kos of the temple to Heracles, the Herakleion
   Enlarge
   Ruins in Kos of the temple to Heracles, the Herakleion

   The greatest of Hellenic chthonic heroes, yet unlike other Greek
   heroes, in that no tomb of Heracles was identified, 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". The core of the story of Heracles has been
   identified by Walter Burkert as originating in Neolithic hunter culture
   and traditions of shamanistic crossings into the netherworld.

Christian dating

   In Christian circles a Euhemerist reading of the widespread
   Heracles/Hercules cult was attributed to a historical figure who had
   been offered cult status after his death, Thus Eusebius, Preparation of
   the Gospel (10.12), 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."

   Christian readers with a literalist bent 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— for Linus' notoriety in teaching
   Heracles in 1264 BC that Heracles' death and deification occurred 38
   years later in approximately 1226 BC.

Cult of Heracles

   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 of Heracles

Birth and childhood

      Topics in Greek mythology

   Gods

     * Primordial gods and Titans
     * Zeus and the Olympians
     * Pan and the nymphs
     * Apollo and Dionysus
     * Sea-gods and Earth-gods

   Heroes

     * Heracles and his Labors
     * Achilles and the Trojan War
     * Odysseus and the Odyssey
     * Jason and the Argonauts
     * Perseus and the Gorgon
     * Oedipus and Thebes
     * Theseus and the Minotaur
     * Triptolemus and the
       Eleusinian Mysteries

   Related

     * Satyrs, centaurs and dragons
     * Ancient Greek religion

   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 fruit 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
   superfecundation, where a woman carries twins sired by different
   fathers). Thus, Heracles's very existence proved at least one of Zeus's
   many illicit affairs, and Hera often conspired against Zeus's mortal
   offspring, as revenge for her husband's infidelities.

   On the night the twins sharing the same mother were to be born, Hera,
   knowing of her husband Zeus's 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. Once the oath was sworn, Hera hurried to Alcmene's
   dwelling and slowed the birth by sitting crosslegged with her clothing
   tied in knots. Meanwhile, she caused another boy Eurystheus to be born
   prematurely, making him High King in place of Heracles. She would have
   permanently delayed Heracles's birth had she not been foiled by
   Galanthis, her servant, who lied to her that she had already delivered
   the baby. Upon hearing this Hera jumped in surprise, therefore untying
   the knots and finally allowing Alcmene to give birth. The child was
   originally given the name Alcides by his parents; it was only later on
   that he became known as Heracles.

   One of the boys, Iphicles, was Amphitryon's son and a mortal, while the
   other was the demi-god Heracles. Heracles was named in an unsuccessful
   attempt to mollify Hera. A few months after he was born, Hera sent two
   serpents to kill him as he lay in his cot. Heracles throttled a snake
   in each hand and was found by his nurse playing with their limp bodies
   as if they were child's toys.

Youth

   After killing his music tutor with a lyre, he was sent to tend cattle
   on a mountain by his foster father Amphitryon. Here, he was visited by
   two nymphs - Pleasure and Virtue - who offered him a choice between a
   pleasant and easy life or a severe but glorious life. He chose the
   latter. One of Heracles' challenges was put to him by King Thespius of
   Thespia who wished him to kill the Lion of Cithaeron. As a reward, the
   king offered him the chance to impregnate each of his 50 daughters.
   Accordingly, Heracles did this in one night (sometimes referred to as
   his 13th Labour).

   Later in Thebes, Heracles married King Creon's daughter, Megara.
   However, Hera drove Heracles into a fit of madness during which he
   killed his wife and children. Upon realizing what he had done, he fled
   to the Oracle of Delphi. Unbeknownst to him, the Oracle was guided by
   Hera. He was directed to serve King Eurystheus for 12 years and perform
   any task which he required, resulting in the Twelve Labours of
   Hercules.

Twelve Labors

   In a fit of madness induced by Hera, Heracles slew his own and his
   brother's children. To expiate the crime, Heracles was required to
   carry out ten labors set by his arch-enemy, Eurystheus, who had become
   king in Heracles' place. Heracles accomplished these tasks, but Hera
   ordered Eurystheus to give two more tasks to Heracles, which he then
   carried out.

   Not all writers gave the labors in the same order, but the Capture of
   Cerberus is always depicted as Heracles' final task. (Note: in Alice
   Bailey's Labors of Hercules, the Capture of Cerberus is associated with
   Capricorn and is therefore 10th.) Apollodorus (2.5.1-2.5.12) gives the
   following order:
    1. The Nemean Lion.
    2. The Lernaean Hydra.
    3. The Ceryneian Hind.
    4. The Erymanthian Boar.
    5. The Augean Stables.
    6. The Stymphalian Birds.
    7. The Cretan Bull.
    8. The Mares of Diomedes.
    9. The Girdle of Hippolyte.
   10. The Cattle of Geryon.
   11. The Apples of the Hesperides.
   12. The Capture of Cerberus, the guardian dog of Hades.

Further adventures

   After completing these tasks, Heracles joined the Argonauts in the
   search of 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. Heracles' advances were spurned by the king
   and his sons, except for one - Iole's brother Iphitus. Iphitus became
   Heracles best friend. But once again, Hera drove Heracles mad and he
   threw Iphitus over the city wall to his death. Once again, Heracles
   purified himself through 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. For further details see Omphale. 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. The ship set sail without them. Story of Heracles and
   Hylas

Iole

   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 killed him and his sons–excluding Iphitus–and
   abducted Iole.

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 also 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 and
   slew all Laomedon's sons present there save Podarces, 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 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 Hercules
       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.

Marriage, liaisons and death

   Heracles had numerous liaisons with women. Some of these were linked
   with later dynasties which claimed descent from his offspring,
   collectively referred to as the Heracleidae.

Heracles' women

   During the course of his life, Heracles married four times. His first
   marriage was to Megara, whose three children he murdered in a fit of
   madness and whom he later gave in marriage to his beloved Iolaus,
   because the sight of her was too painful. 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 Lernean Hydra's blood) and
   killed him. As he lay dying, Nessus plotted revenge and 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.
   The Death of Hercules, by Francisco de Zurbarán
   Enlarge
   The Death of Hercules, by Francisco de Zurbarán

   Later, when Deianira suspected that Heracles was fond of Iole, she
   soaked a shirt of his in the mixture. 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 demi-god, 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.

   No one but Heracles' friend Philoctetes (in some versions: Iolaus or
   Poeas) would light his funeral 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.

   Another episode of his female affairs that stands out was his stay at
   the palace of King Thespios, who encouraged Heracles to make love to
   his daughters, all fifty of them, in one night. They all got pregnant
   and all bore sons. Many of the kings of ancient Greece traced their
   lines to one or another of these, notably the kings of Sparta and
   Macedon.

Heracles' eromenoi

   Heracles and Iolaus, with Eros between them.4th c. BCE Etruscan ritual
   vessel
   Enlarge
   Heracles and Iolaus, with Eros between them.
   4th c. BCE Etruscan ritual vessel

   As paragon of masculinity and warriorship, Heracles also had a number
   of pederastic male beloveds. Plutarch, in his Eroticos, maintains that
   Heracles' eromenoi (male lovers) were beyond counting. Of these, the
   one most closely linked to Heracles is the Theban Iolaus. Their story,
   an initiatory myth thought to be of ancient origin, contains many of
   the elements of the Greek pederastic apprenticeship in which the older
   warrior is the educator and the younger his helper in battle. Thus
   Iolaus is Heracles' charioteer and squire. Also in keeping with the
   initiatory pattern of the relationship, Heracles in the end gives his
   pupil a wife, symbolizing his entry into adulthood. Iolaus' ritual
   functions parallelled his relationship with Heracles. He was a patron
   of male love—Plutarch reports that down to his own time male couples
   would go to Iolaus' tomb in Thebes to swear an oath of loyalty to the
   hero and to each other—and he presided over initiations in the
   historical era, such as the one at Agyrion in central Sicily. The tomb
   of Iolaus is also mentioned by Pindar.

   One of Heracles' best known love affairs, and one frequently
   represented in ancient as well as modern art, is the one with Hylas.
   Though it is of more recent vintage (dated to the third century) than
   that with Iolaus, it too exemplifies in detail the normal cycle of a
   youth's initiatory process, consisting of education through service to
   a warrior, including sexual relations, and concluding with promotion to
   adult status and marriage.

   Sparta, as a warrior city where pederastic pedagogy—ostensibly of a
   chaste nature—was enshrined in the laws given by Lycurgus, the
   legendary legislator, also provided Heracles with an eromenos—
   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' beloveds. In what is considered to be
   initiatory myth, he was said to have been entrusted with—and slain
   by—the carnivorous mares of Thracian Diomedes. Hercules founded the
   city of Abdera in Thrace in his memory, where he was honored with
   athletic games. The topos of death in such stories is thought to
   symbolize the passage from one stage of life to another.

   Among the lesser-known myths is that of Iphitus. Heracles' subsequent
   murder of Iphitus is held to be evocative of an initiatory ritual.
   Another such story is the one of his love for Nireus, who was "the most
   beautiful man who came beneath Ilion" (Iliad, 673). Ptolemy adds that
   certain authors made Nireus out to be a son of Heracles, a fact thought
   to authenticate this tradition. The last in this category—despite the
   fact that Greek literature preserves no mention of this role—is the
   story of Philoctetes. He is also heir to the hero—and thus surely his
   disciple—and is the one who lights his pyre. Later he is the initiator
   of Neoptolemus, son of Achilles.

   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; and Nestor, who was
   said to have been loved for his wisdom. His role as eromenos was
   perhaps to explain why he was the only son of Neleus to be spared by
   the hero.

Heracles' 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.

Heracles 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.

Modern and ancient interpretations

   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 Sea
   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 Cote d'Azur, gave its name to the area's more recent
   name, Monaco.

   Heracles was cannonized by Aleister Crowley as a saint in Ecclesia
   Gnostica Catholica.

   Heracles appeared as a villain in the pages of Wonder Woman.

   Hercules is the mentor and ancestor of Herry Hercules from Class of the
   Titans

Spoken-word myths – audio files

                    Heracles myths as told by story tellers
   1. Heracles and Hylas, read by Timothy Carter
   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
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heracles"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
