He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, the ancestor of royal clans who claimed to beHeracleidae (Ἡρακλεῖδαι), and a champion of theOlympian order againstchthonic monsters. InRome and themodernWest, he is known asHercules, with whom the laterRoman emperors, in particularCommodus andMaximian, often identified themselves. Details of hiscult were adapted to Rome as well.
Origin
Many popular stories were told of his life, the most famous being the twelveLabours of Hercules;Alexandrian poets of theHellenistic age drew his mythology into a high poetic and tragic atmosphere.[6] His figure, which initially drew on Near Eastern motifs such as the lion-fight, was widely known.
Heracles was the greatest of Hellenicchthonic heroes, but unlike other Greek heroes, no tomb was identified as his. Heracles was both hero and god, asPindar saysheros theos; at the same festival sacrifice was made to him, first as a hero, with a chthoniclibation, and then as a god, upon an altar: thus he embodies the closest Greek approach to a "demi-god".[6]
The core of the story of Heracles has been identified byWalter Burkert as originating in Neolithic hunter culture and traditions ofshamanistic crossings into the netherworld.[7] It is possible that the myths surrounding Heracles were based on the life of a real person or several people whose accomplishments became exaggerated with time.[8]
Hero or god
Heracles's role as a culture hero, whose death could be a subject of mythic telling (see below), was accepted into theOlympian Pantheon during Classical times. This created an awkwardness in the encounter withOdysseus in the episode ofOdyssey XI, called theNekuia, where Odysseus encounters Heracles inHades:
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 ...[9]
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 some modern critics deny that the verse's beginning, in Fagles's translationHis ghost I mean ..., was part of the original composition: "once people knew of Heracles' admission to Olympus, they would not tolerate his presence in the underworld", remarksFriedrich Solmsen,[10] noting that the interpolated verses represent a compromise between conflicting representations of Heracles.
Cult
The ancient Greeks celebrated the festival of theHeracleia, which commemorated the death of Heracles, on the second day of the month ofMetageitnion (which would fall in late July or early August). What is believed to be anEgyptian Temple of Heracles in theBahariya Oasis dates to 21 BCE. A reassessment ofPtolemy's descriptions of the island ofMalta attempted to link the site atRas ir-Raħeb with a temple to Heracles,[11] but the arguments are not conclusive.[12] Several ancient cities were namedHeraclea in his honor. A very small island close to the island ofLemnos was called Neai (Νέαι), from νέω, which means "I dive/swim", because Heracles swam there.[13] According to the Greek legends, theHerculaneum in Italy was founded by him.[14]
Severalpoleis provided two separate sanctuaries for Heracles, one recognizing him as a god, the other only as a hero.[15] Sacrifice was made to him as a hero and as a god within the same festival.[16] This ambiguity helped create the Heracles cult especially when historians (e.g. Herodotus) and artists encouraged worship such as the painters during the time of thePeisistratos, who often presented Heracles entering Olympus in their works.[15]
Some sources explained that the cult of Heracles persisted because of the hero's ascent to heaven and his suffering, which became the basis for festivals, ritual, rites, and the organization of mysteries.[17] There is the observation, for example, that sufferings (pathea) gave rise to the rituals of grief and mourning, which came before the joy in the mysteries in the sequence of cult rituals.[17] Also, like the case of Apollo, the cult of Heracles had been sustained through the years by absorbing local cult figures such as those who share the same nature.[18] He was also constantly invoked as a patron for men, especially the young ones. For example, he was considered the ideal in warfare so he presided over gymnasiums and theephebes or those men undergoing military training.[18]
There were ancient towns and cities that also adopted Heracles as a patron deity, contributing to the spread of his cult. There was the case of the royal house of Macedonia, which claimed lineal descent from the hero,[19] primarily for purposes of divine protection and legitimator of actions.
The earliest evidence that shows the worship of Heracles in popular cult was in 6th century BCE (121–122 and 160–165) via an ancient inscription from Phaleron.[18] After the 4th century BCE, Heracles became identified with the Phoenician GodMelqart[20]
Oitaeans worshiped Heracles and called him Cornopion (Κορνοπίων) because he helped them get rid oflocusts (which they calledcornopes), while the citizens ofErythrae atMima called him Ipoctonus (ἰποκτόνος) because he destroyed the vine-eatingips (ἀμπελοφάγων ἰπῶν), a kind ofcynips wasp, there.[21][22][23]
Near the town ofBura inAchaea, there was a statue of Heracles on the RiverBuraicus and an oracle in a cave. People who consulted this oracle first prayed before the statue, then threw four dice from a mound that was always kept ready onto a table. These dice were marked with certain characters, the significance of which was elucidated by an artwork shown in the cave. Because of this town Heracles had the epithet Buraicus (Βουραϊκός).[24]
Extraordinary strength,courage, ingenuity, and sexual prowess with both males and females were among the characteristics commonly attributed to him. Heracles used his wits on several occasions when his strength did not suffice, such as when laboring for the kingAugeas ofElis, wrestling the giantAntaeus, or trickingAtlas into taking the sky back onto his shoulders. Together withHermes he was the patron and protector ofgymnasia andpalaestrae.[25] His iconographic attributes are thelion skin and theclub. 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.[26] By conquering dangerous archaic forces he is said to have "made the world safe for mankind" and to be its benefactor.[27] Heracles was an extremely passionate and emotional individual, capable of doing both great deeds for his friends (such as wrestling withThanatos on behalf of PrinceAdmetus, who had regaled Heracles with his hospitality, or restoring his friendTyndareus to the throne ofSparta after he was overthrown) and being a terrible enemy who would wreak horrible vengeance on those who crossed him, as Augeas,Neleus, andLaomedon all found out to their cost. There was also a coldness to his character, which was demonstrated by Sophocles's depiction of the hero inThe Trachiniae. Heracles threatened his marriage with his desire to bring two women under the same roof; one of them was his wifeDeianeira.[28]
In the works ofEuripides involving Heracles, his actions were partly driven by forces outside rational human control. By highlighting the divine causation of his madness, Euripides problematized Heracles's character and status within the civilized context.[29] This aspect is also highlighted inHercules Furens whereSeneca linked the hero's madness to an illusion and a consequence of Heracles's refusal to live a simple life, as offered byAmphitryon. It was indicated that he preferred the extravagant violence of the heroic life and that its ghosts eventually manifested in his madness and that the hallucinatory visions defined Heracles's character.[30]
Mythology
Birth and childhood
Heracles stranglingsnakes (detail from an Attic red-figured stamnos, c. 480–470 BCE)
A major factor in the well-known tragedies surrounding Heracles is the hatred that thegoddessHera, wife ofZeus, had for him. Heracles was the son of the affair Zeus had with the mortal womanAlcmene. When Zeus desired Alcmene, he decided to make one night last three by orderingHelios, the god of the sun, not to rise for three days, so he would have more time with Alcmene.[31] 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 heteropaternalsuperfecundation, where a woman carries twins sired by different fathers).[32] 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. His twin mortal brother, son of Amphitryon, wasIphicles, father of Heracles's charioteerIolaus.
On the night Heracles and Iphicles 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 ofPerseus would become High King. Hera did this knowing that while Heracles was to be born a descendant of Perseus, so too wasEurystheus. Once the oath was sworn, Hera hurried to Alcmene's dwelling and slowed the birth of Heracles and Iphicles by forcingIlithyia, goddess of childbirth, to sit cross-legged with her clothing tied in knots, thereby causing the twins 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's birth had she not been fooled byGalanthis, Alcmene's servant, who lied to Ilithyia, saying thatAlcmene had already delivered the baby. Upon hearing this, she jumped in surprise, loosing the knots and inadvertently allowing Alcmene to give birth to Heracles and Iphicles.
Heracles as a boy strangling a snake (marble, Roman artwork, 2nd century CE).Capitoline Museums inRome, Italy
Fear of Hera's revenge led Alcmene toexpose the infant Heracles, but he was taken up and brought to Hera by his half-sisterAthena, who played an important role as protectress of heroes. Hera did not recognize Heracles andnursed him out of pity. Heracles suckled so strongly that he caused Hera pain, and she pushed him away. Her milk sprayed across the heavens and there formed the Milky Way. Athena brought the infant back to his mother, and he was subsequently raised by his parents.[33]
The child was originally given the name Alcides by his parents; it was only later that he became known as Heracles.[5] He and his twin were just eight months old when Hera sent two giant snakes into the children's chamber. Iphicles cried from fear, but his brother grabbed a snake in each hand and strangled them. He was found by his nurse playing with them on his cot as if they were toys. Astonished, Amphitryon sent for the seerTiresias, who prophesied an unusual future for the boy, saying he would vanquish numerous monsters.
After killing his music tutorLinus with alyre, he was sent to tend cattle on a mountain by his foster father Amphitryon. Here, according to an allegoricalparable, "The Choice of Heracles", invented by the sophistProdicus (c. 400 BCE) and reported inXenophon'sMemorabilia 2.1.21–34, he was visited by two allegorical figures—Vice and Virtue—who offered him a choice between a pleasant and easy life or a severe but glorious life: he chose the latter. This was part of a pattern of "ethicizing" Heracles over the 5th century BCE.[34]
All 12 labours of Heracles, Mosaic of Llíria (Valencia, Spain)
In a fit of madness, induced by Hera, Heracles killed his children and Megara. After his madness had been cured withhellebore by Antikyreus, the founder ofAntikyra,[35] he realized what he had done and fled to theOracle of Delphi. Unbeknownst to him, the Oracle was guided by Hera. He was directed to serve KingEurystheus 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. If he succeeded, he would be purified of his sin and, as myth says, he would become a god, and be granted immortality.
Other traditions place Heracles's madness at a later time and relate the circumstances differently.[36] In some traditions, there was only a divine reason for Heracles's twelve labours: Zeus, in his desire not to leave Heracles the victim of Hera's jealousy, made her promise that, if Heracles executed twelve great works in the service of Eurystheus, he should become immortal.[36] In the playHerakles byEuripides, Heracles is driven to madness by Hera and kills his children after his twelve labours.
Despite the difficulty, Heracles accomplished these tasks, but Eurystheus in the end did not accept the success the hero had with two of the labours: the cleansing of the Augean stables, because Heracles was going to accept pay for the labour; and the killing of the Lernaean Hydra, as Heracles's nephew,Iolaus, had helped him burn the stumps of the multiplying heads.
Eurystheus set two more tasks, fetching the Golden Apples of Hesperides and capturingCerberus. In the end, with ease, the hero successfully performed each added task, bringing the total number of labours up to twelve.
Not all versions and writers give the labours in the same order. TheBibliotheca (2.5.1–2.5.12) gives the following order:
Heracles defeated a lion that was attacking the city ofNemea with his bare hands. After he succeeded he wore the skin as a cloak to demonstrate his power over the opponent he had defeated.
Heracles slaying the Lernaean HydraA fire-breathing monster with multiple serpent heads. When one head was cut off, two would grow in its place. It lived in a swamp nearLerna. Hera had sent it in hopes it would destroy Heracles's home city because she thought it was invincible. With help from his nephewIolaus, he defeated the monster and dipped his arrows in its poisoned blood, thus envenomizing them.
Heracles and Ceryneian Hind byLysipposNot to kill, but to catch, this hind that was sacred toArtemis. A different, but still difficult, task. It cost time, but, having chased it for a year, Heracles wore out the Hind. Artemis intervened, but as soon as Heracles explained the situation to her, she allowed him to take it, and he presented it alive toEurystheus.
A fearsome marauding boar on the loose. Eurystheus set Heracles the Labour of catching it, and bringing it toMycenae. Again, a time-consuming task, but the tireless hero found the beast, captured it, and brought it to its final spot. Patience is the heroic quality in the third and fourth Labours.
The Augean stables were the home of 3,000 cattle with poisoned faeces which Augeas had been given by his fatherHelios. Heracles was given the near impossible task of cleaning the stables of the diseased faeces. He accomplished it by digging ditches on both sides of the stables, moving them into the ditches, and then diverting therivers Alpheios andPineios to wash the ditches clean.
These aggressive man-eating birds were terrorizing a forest nearLake Stymphalia in northern Arcadia. Heracles scared them with a rattle given to him by Athena, to frighten them into flight away from the forest, allowing him to shoot many of them with his bow and arrow and bring back this proof of his success to Eurystheus.
The harmful bull, father of theMinotaur, was laying waste to the lands roundKnossos onCrete. It embodied the rage ofPoseidon at having his gift (the Bull) toMinos diverted from the intention to sacrifice it to himself. Heracles captured it, and carried it on his shoulders to Eurystheus inTiryns. Eurystheus released it, when it wandered toMarathon which it then terrorized, until killed byTheseus.
Stealing the horses fromDiomedes's stables that had been trained by their owner to feed on human flesh was his next challenge. Heracles's task was to capture them and hand them over to Eurystheus. He accomplished this task by feeding King Diomedes to the animals before binding their mouths shut.
Hippolyta was an Amazon queen and she had a belt given to her by her fatherAres. Heracles had to retrieve the belt and return it to Eurystheus. He and his band of companions received a rough welcome because, ordered by Hera, the Amazons were supposed to attack them; however, against all odds, Heracles completed the task and secured the belt for Eurystheus.
The next challenge was to capture the herd guarded by a two-headed dog calledOrthrus, which belonged to Geryon; a giant with three heads and six arms who lived inErytheia. While travelling to Erytheia, he passed through the Libyan desert and was so annoyed by the heat he shot an arrow at Helios, the sun. Helios, impressed, lent him his giant cup which Heracles used to find Orthrus, the herdsman Erytion and the owner, Geryon. He killed the first two with his club and the third with a poisoned arrow. Heracles then herded the cattle and, with difficulty, took them to Eurystheus.
Hercules stealing the golden apples from the Garden of the HesperidesThese sacred fruits were protected by Hera who had setLadon, a fearsome hundred-headed dragon as the guardian. Heracles had to first find where the garden was; he askedNereus for help. He came acrossPrometheus on his journey. Heracles shot the eagle eating at his liver, and in return he helped Heracles with knowledge that his brother would know where the garden was. His brotherAtlas offered him help with the apples if he would hold up the heavens while he was gone. Atlas tricked him and did not return. Heracles returned the trickery and managed to get Atlas taking the burden of the heavens once again, and returned the apples to Mycenae.
His last labour and undoubtedly the riskiest. Eurystheus was so frustrated that Heracles was completing all the tasks that he had given him that he imposed one he believed to be impossible: Heracles had to go down into the underworld ofHades and capture the ferocious three-headed dog Cerberus who guarded the gates. He used the souls to help convince Hades to hand over the dog. He agreed to give him the dog if he used no weapons to obtain him. Heracles succeeded and took the creature back to Mycenae, causing Eurystheus to be fearful of the power and strength of this hero.
Further adventures
After completing these tasks, Heracles fell in love with PrincessIole ofOechalia.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's advances were spurned by the king and his sons, except for one: Iole's brotherIphitus. Heracles killed the king and his sons—excluding Iphitus—and abducted Iole. Iphitus became Heracles's 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 QueenOmphale ofLydia.
Omphale was a queen or princess ofLydia. As penalty for a murder, imposed byXenoclea, theDelphic Oracle, Heracles was to serve as her slave for a year. He was forced to do women's work and to wear women's clothes, while she wore the skin of theNemean Lion and carried hisolive-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 thecercopes, mischievous wood spirits, stole Heracles's 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 theDryopes. InApollonius of Rhodes'sArgonautica, it is recalled that Heracles had mercilessly slain their king,Theiodamas, over one of the latter's bulls, and made war upon the Dryopes "because they gave no heed to justice in their lives".[37] After the death of their king, the Dryopes gave in and offered him PrinceHylas. He took the youth on as his weapons bearer. Years later, Heracles and Hylas joined the crew of theArgo. As Argonauts, they only participated in part of the journey. InMysia, Hylas was kidnapped by the nymphs of a local spring. Heracles, 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, theArgo set sail without them.
Rescue of Prometheus
Hesiod'sTheogony andAeschylus'Prometheus Unbound both tell that Heracles shot and killed the eagle that torturedPrometheus (which was his punishment by Zeus for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to mortals). Heracles freed theTitan from his chains and his torments. Prometheus then made predictions regarding further deeds of Heracles.
Heracles's constellation
On his way back toMycenae fromIberia, having obtained the Cattle ofGeryon as histenth labour, Heracles came toLiguria in North-WesternItaly where he engaged in battle with two giants,Albion andBergion or Dercynus, sons ofPoseidon. The opponents were strong; Heracles was in a difficult position so he prayed to his fatherZeus for help. Under the aegis of Zeus, Heracles won the battle. It was this kneeling position of Heracles when he prayed to his father Zeus that gave the nameEngonasin ("Εγγόνασιν", derived from "εν γόνασιν"), meaning "on his knees" or "the Kneeler",to the constellation known asHeracles's constellation. The story, among others, is described byDionysius of Halicarnassus.[38]
BeforeHomer's Trojan War, Heracles had made an expedition to Troy and sacked it. Previously, Poseidon had sent a sea monster (Greek: kētŏs, Latin:cetus) to attackTroy. The story is related in several digressions in theIliad (7.451–53; 20.145–48; 21.442–57) and is found in pseudo-Apollodorus'sBibliotheke (2.5.9). This expedition became the theme of the Eastern pediment of theTemple of Aphaea.Laomedon planned on sacrificing his daughterHesione to Poseidon in the hope of appeasing him. Heracles happened to arrive (along withTelamon andOicles) and agreed to kill the monster if Laomedon would give him the horses received from Zeus as compensation for Zeus's kidnappingGanymede. 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 savePodarces, 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 and they had a son,Teucer.
Colony at Sardinia
After Heracles had performed his Labours, gods told him that before he passed into the company of the gods, he should create a colony atSardinia and make his sons, whom he had with the daughters ofThespius, the leaders of the settlement. When his sons became adults, he sent them together withIolaus to the island.[39][40]
Other adventures
Heracles fighting the servants of the Egyptian KingBusiris, AtticPelike, c. 470 BCE
Heracles learned music fromLinus (andEumolpus), but killed him after Linus corrected his mistakes and caned him with rods. He learned how to wrestle fromAutolycus. He killed the famous boxerEryx ofSicily in a match.
WhenHippocoon overthrew his brother,Tyndareus, as King ofSparta, Heracles reinstated the rightful ruler and killed Hippocoon and his sons.
Heracles killedCycnus, the son ofAres. The expedition against Cycnus, in which Iolaus accompanied Heracles, is the ostensible theme of a short epic attributed toHesiod,Shield of Heracles.
When Ares tried to avenge Cycnus, Heracles defeated him, with the help ofAthena.
Heracles killedAntaeus the giant who was immortal while touching the earth, by picking him up and holding him in the air while strangling him.
Pygmies tried to kill Heracles because they were brothers of Antaeus and wanted to avenge Antaeus's death, but failed.[41][42]
Heracles went to war withAugeias 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 ofAdmetus on the day Admetus's wife,Alcestis, had agreed to die in his place. Admetus, not wanting to turn Heracles away, nor wanting to burden him with his sadness, welcomes him and instructs the servants not to inform Heracles of what has occurred. Heracles, thus unaware of Alcestis's fate, enjoys the hospitality of Admetus's house, drinking and revelling, which angers the servants, who wish to mourn as is their right. One scolds the guest and Heracles is ashamed of his actions. 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 godDionysus to a drinking contest and lost, resulting in his joining theThiasus for a period.
Heracles also appears inAristophanes'sThe Frogs, in which Dionysus seeks out the hero to find a way to the underworld. Heracles is greatly amused by Dionysus's appearance and jokingly offers several ways to commit suicide before finally offering his knowledge of how to get to there.
Heracles appears as the ancestral hero of Scythia in Herodotus's 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.
In the fifth book of theNew History, ascribed byPhotius toPtolemy Hephaestion, mention that Heracles did not wear the skin of the Nemean lion, but that of a certain Lion giant killed by Heracles whom he had challenged to single combat.[43]
This is described inSophocles'sTrachiniae and inOvid'sMetamorphoses Book IX. Having wrestled and defeatedAchelous, god of the Acheloos river, Heracles takesDeianira as his wife. Travelling toTiryns, acentaur,Nessus, offers to help Deianira across a fast flowing river while Heracles swims it. However, Nessus is true to the archetype of the mischievous centaur and tries to steal Deianira away while Heracles is still in the water. Angry, Heracles shoots him with his arrows dipped in the poisonous blood of theLernaean Hydra. Thinking of revenge, Nessus gives Deianira hisblood-soaked tunic before he dies, telling her it will "excite the love of her husband".[47]
Several years later,rumor tells Deianira that she has a rival for the love of Heracles. Deianira, remembering Nessus's 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's arrows, and this poisons him, tearing his skin and exposing his bones. Before he dies, Heracles throwsLichas 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 afuneral pyre onMount Oeta, whichPoeas, father ofPhiloctetes, lights. As his body burns, only his immortal side is left. Through Zeus'sapotheosis, Heracles rises to Olympus as he dies.
No one but Heracles's friendPhiloctetes (Poeas in some versions) would light his funeral pyre (in an alternative version, it isIolaus who lights the pyre). For this action, Philoctetes or Poeas received Heracles's bow and arrows, which were later needed by the Greeks to defeat Troy in the Trojan War.
Philoctetes confrontedParis and shot apoisoned arrow at him. The Hydra poison subsequently led to the death of Paris. The Trojan War, however, continued until theTrojan Horse was used to defeatTroy.
According toHerodotus, Heracles lived 900 years before Herodotus's own time (c. 1300 BCE).[48]
Godhood
After his death in the pyre, Heracles ascended to Olympus as a god, and having finally reconciled with Hera, he got her daughterHebe as his fourth and final wife. They had two sons together,Alexiares and Anicetus.
WhenTyphon attacked Olympus, all gods transformed into animals and ran terrified to Egypt; Heracles became a fawn.[49]
In theDialogues of the Gods, a satirical work byLucian ofSamosata, Heracles and another recently deified mortal,Asclepius, fight over which gets the most prestigious seat on the table of the gods, each arguing that they are the one who deserve it. Zeus intervenes, and rules in favour of Asclepius, reasoning that the best seat should go to the one who became a god first.[50]
Heracles also appears toPhiloctetes, stranded and abandoned by the other Greeks onLemnos island, and through hisdeus ex machina intervention, Philoctetes is convinced to join the other Greeks atTroy, where he killsParis with Heracles's arrows.[51]
Christian chronology
In Christian circles, aEuhemerist reading of the widespread Heracles cult was attributed to a historical figure who had been offered cult status after his death. ThusEusebius,Preparation of the Gospel (10.12), reported thatClement could offer historical dates for Heracles as a king in Argos: "from the reign of Heracles inArgos to thedeification of Heracles himself and ofAsclepius there are comprised thirty-eight years, according toApollodorus the chronicler: and from that point to the deification ofCastor and Pollux fifty-three years: and somewhere about this time was the capture ofTroy."
Readers with a literalist bent, following Clement's reasoning, have asserted from this remark that, since Heracles ruled overTiryns in Argos at the same time thatEurystheus ruled overMycenae, and since at about this timeLinus was Heracles's teacher, one can conclude, based onJerome's date—in hisuniversal history, hisChronicon—given to Linus's notoriety in teaching Heracles in 1264 BCE, that Heracles's death and deification occurred 38 years later, in approximately 1226 BCE.
Lovers
Women
Marriages
During the course of his life, Heracles married four times.
Heracles waged a victorious war against the kingdom of Orchomenus in Boeotia and married his first wifeMegara, daughter of Creon, king of Thebes. But he killed their children in a fit of madness sent by Hera and, consequently, was obliged to become the servant of Eurystheus. According to Pseudo-Apollodorus (Bibliotheca,2.4.12) Megara was unharmed. According to Hyginus (Fabulae, 32), Heracles also killed Megara.
An insane Heracles is depicted killing his son while Megara stands horrified on the right side of the scene (National Archaeological Museum, Madrid, c. 350–320 B.C.E.)
His second wife wasOmphale, theLydian queen to whom he was delivered as a slave (Hyginus, Fabulae, 32).
His third marriage was toDeianira, for whom he had to fight the river godAchelous (upon Achelous's defeat, Heracles removed one of his horns and gave it to some nymphs who turned it into thecornucopia). Soon after they wed, Heracles and Deianira had to cross a river, and acentaur namedNessus offered to help Deianira across but then attempted torape 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 ofIole, she soaked a shirt of his in the mixture, creating the poisonedshirt of Nessus. Heracles's 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 apyre 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. After his mortal parts had been incinerated, he could become a full god and join his father and the other Olympians onMount Olympus.
An episode of his female affairs that stands out was his stay at the palace ofThespius, king ofThespiae, who wished him to kill theLion of Cithaeron. As a reward, the king offered him the chance to performsexual intercourse with all fifty of his daughters in one night. Heracles complied and they all became pregnant and all bore sons. This is sometimes referred to as his Thirteenth Labour.[52] Many of the kings of ancient Greece traced their lines to one or another of these, notably the kings ofSparta andMacedon.
Yet another episode of his female affairs that stands out was when he carried away the oxen ofGeryon, he also visited the country of theScythians. Once there, while asleep, his horses suddenly disappeared. When he woke and wandered about in search of them, he came into the country ofHylaea. He then found thedracaena ofScythia (sometimes identified asEchidna) in a cave. When he asked whether she knew anything about his horses, she answered, that they were in her own possession, but that she would not give them up, unless he would consent to stay with her for a time. Heracles accepted the request, and became by her the father ofAgathyrsus,Gelonus, andScythes. The last of them became king of the Scythians, according to his father's arrangement, because he was the only one among the three brothers that was able to manage the bow which Heracles had left behind and to use his father's girdle.[53]
Heracles andIolaus (Fountain mosaic from theAnzio Nymphaeum)
Many myths were later 'homosexualized' after the development of the ancient Greek practice ofpederasty and athletic nudity c. 630 BC.[55]Plutarch, in hisEroticos, maintains that Heracles's male lovers were beyond counting. Of these, the one most closely linked to Heracles is theThebanIolaus. According to a myth thought to be of ancient origins, Iolaus was Heracles's 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.[56][57] He also mentionsAdmetus, known in myth for assisting theCalydonian boar hunt, as one of Heracles's male lovers.[58][59]
One of Heracles's male lovers, and one represented in ancient as well as modern art, isHylas, who sailed with Heracles on theArgo.[60][59]
Another reputed male lover of Heracles is Elacatas, who was honored inSparta with a sanctuary and yearly games, Elacatea. The myth of their love is an ancient one.[61]
Abdera's eponymous hero,Abderus, was another of Heracles's lovers. He was said to have been entrusted with—and slain by—the carnivorous mares of ThracianDiomedes. Heracles founded the city of Abdera inThrace in his memory, where he was honored with athletic games.[62]
Another story is the one of his love forNireus, 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.[64]
Pausanias makes mention ofSostratus, a youth of Dyme,Achaea, as a lover of Heracles. Sostratus was said to have died young and to have been buried by Heracles outside the city. The tomb was still there in historical times, and the inhabitants of Dyme honored Sostratus as ahero.[65] The youth seems to have also been referred to asPolystratus.
Ascholiast commenting onApollonius'sArgonautica lists the following male lovers of Heracles: "Hylas,Philoctetes,Diomus,Perithoas, andPhrix, after whom a city inLibya was named".[70] Diomus is also mentioned by Stephanus of Byzantium as the eponym of thedemeDiomeia of the Atticphyle Aegeis: Heracles is said to have fallen in love with Diomus when he was received as guest by Diomus's father Collytus.[71] Perithoas and Phrix are otherwise unknown, and so is the version that suggests a sexual relationship between Heracles and Philoctetes.[citation needed]
Heracles and his sonTelephus. (Marble, Roman copy of the 1st or 2nd century CE)
All of Heracles's marriages and almost all of his affairs resulted in births of a number of sons and at least four daughters.One of the most prominent isHyllus, the son of Heracles andDeianeira orMelite. The termHeracleidae, although it could refer to all of Heracles's children and further descendants, is most commonly used to indicate the descendants of Hyllus, in the context of their lasting struggle for return to Peloponnesus, out of where Hyllus and his brothers—the children of Heracles by Deianeira—were thought to have been expelled by Eurystheus.
The children of Heracles by Megara are collectively well known because of their ill fate, but there is some disagreement among sources as to their number and individual names. Apollodorus lists three, Therimachus, Creontiades and Deicoon;[72] to these Hyginus[73] adds Ophitus and, probably by mistake, Archelaus, who is otherwise known to have belonged to the Heracleidae, but to have lived several generations later. A scholiast onPindar' s odes provides a list of seven completely different names: Anicetus, Chersibius, Mecistophonus, Menebrontes, Patrocles, Polydorus, Toxocleitus.[74]
Other well-known children of Heracles includeTelephus, king ofMysia (byAuge), andTlepolemus, one of the Greek commanders in theTrojan War (by Astyoche).
According toHerodotus, a line of 22Kings of Lydia descended from Heracles and Omphale. The line was called Tylonids after his Lydian name.
In Rome, Heracles was honored asHercules, and had a number of distinctively Roman myths and practices associated with him under that name.
Egypt
Herodotus connected Heracles to theEgyptian godShu. Also he was associated withKhonsu, another Egyptian god who was in some ways similar to Shu. As Khonsu, Heracles was worshipped at the now sunken city ofHeracleion, where a large temple was constructed.
Most often the Egyptians identified Heracles withHeryshaf, transcribed inGreek asArsaphes orHarsaphes (Ἁρσαφής).[95] He was an ancientram-god whose cult was centered inHerakleopolis Magna.
Via theGreco-Buddhist culture, Heraclean symbolism was transmitted to the Far East. An example remains to this day in theNio guardian deities in front of Japanese Buddhist temples.
Sallust mentions in his work on theJugurthine War that the Africans believe Heracles to have died inSpain where, his multicultural army being left without a leader, theMedes,Persians, andArmenians who were once under his command split off and populated the Mediterranean coast of Africa.[97]
Temples dedicated to Heracles abounded all along the Mediterranean coastal countries. For example, the temple ofHeracles Monoikos (i.e. the lone dweller), built far from any nearby town upon a promontory in what is now theCôte 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 thePillars 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.
Uses of Heracles as a name
In various languages, variants of Heracles's name are used as a male given name, such as Iraklis (Greek:Ηρακλής) in Modern Greek andIrakli (Georgian:ირაკლი,romanized:irak'li) in Georgian.
There are many teams around the world that have this name or have Heracles as their symbol. The most popular inGreece isG.S. Iraklis Thessaloniki.
Heracleum is a genus of flowering plants in the carrot familyApiaceae. Some of the species in this genus are quite large. In particular, the giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) is exceptionally large, growing up to 5 m tall.
^abBy his adoptive descent through Amphitryon, Heracles receives the epithetAlcides, as "of the line ofAlcaeus", father of Amphitryon. Amphitryon's own, mortal son wasIphicles.
^abBurkert, Walter (1987).Ancient Mystery Cults. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. pp. 75–76.ISBN978-0674033870.
^abcHornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony; Eidinow, Esther (2014).The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 367.ISBN978-0198706779.
^Carney, Elizabeth (2015).King and Court in Ancient Macedonia: Rivalry, Treason and Conspiracy. Swansea: The Classical Press of Wales. p. 66.ISBN978-1910589083.
^Andrew Ford,Aristotle as Poet, Oxford, 2011, p. 208 n. 5, citing, in addition to Prodicus/Xenophon,Antisthenes,Herodorus (esp.FGrHist 31 F 14), and (in the 4th century)Plato's use of "Heracles as a figure for Socrates' life (and death?):Apology 22a, cf.Theaetetus 175a,Lysis 205c."
^Pausanias Χ 3.1, 36.5.Ptolemaeus,Geogr. Hyph. ΙΙ 184. 12. Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. "Ἀντίκυρα"
^abSmith, W., ed. (1870).Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography And Mythology. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company. pp. 393–394. ark:/13960/t9f47mp93.
^Richard Hunter, translator,Jason and the Golden Fleece (Oxford:Clarendon Press), 1993, pp. 31f.
^Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History Book 5 "Heracles did not wear the skin of the Nemean lion, but that of a certain Lion, one of the giants killed by Heracles whom he had challenged to single combat."
^In Stephanus of Byzantium s. v.Phaistos, Rhopalus is the son of Heracles and Phaestus his own son; inPausanias,Description of Greece, 2. 6. 7, vice versa (Phaestus son, Rhopalus grandson)
Burkert, Walter, (1977) 1985.Greek Religion (Harvard University Press).
Kerenyi, Karl (1959).The Heroes of the Greeks. New York/London: Thames and Hudson.
Further reading
Bär, Silvio (2018).Herakles im griechischen Epos : Studien zur Narrativität und Poetizität eines Helden. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.ISBN978-3-515-12206-1.
Burkert, Walter. 1982. "Heracles and the Master of Animals." InStructure and History in Greek Mythology and Ritual, 78–98. Sather Classical Lectures 47. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
Frade, Sofia (2015).Heracles and Athenian propaganda: politics, imagery and drama. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd.ISBN9781472505590.
Haubold, Johannes. 2005. "Heracles in the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women." InThe Hesiodic Catalogue of Women: Constructions and Reconstructions. Edited by Richard Hunter, 85–98. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Karanika, Andromache. 2011. "The End of the Nekyia: Odysseus, Heracles, and the Gorgon in the Underworld."Arethusa 44.1: 1–27.
Padilla, Mark W. 1998. "Herakles and Animals in the Origins of Comedy and Satyr Drama". InLe Bestiaire d'Héraclès: IIIe Rencontre héracléenne, edited byCorinne 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.
Papadimitropoulos, Loukas. 2008. "Heracles as Tragic Hero." Classical World 101.2: 131–38.doi:10.1353/clw.2008.0015
Papadopoulou, Thalia. 2005.Heracles and Euripidean Tragedy. Cambridge Classical Studies. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Segal, Charles Paul. 1961. "The Character and Cults of Dionysus and the Unity of theFrogs."Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 65:207–42.doi:10.2307/310837.JSTOR310837.
Stafford, Emma. 2012.Herakles. Gods and Heroes of the Ancient World. New York: Routledge.
Strid, Ove. 2013. "The Homeric Prefiguration of Sophocles' Heracles."Hermes 141.4: 381–400.JSTOR43652880.
Woodford, Susan. 1971. "Cults of Herakles in Attica." InStudies Presented to George M. A. Hanfmann. Edited by David Gordon Mitten, John Griffiths Pedley, and Jane Ayer Scott, 211–25. Monographs in Art and Archaeology 2. Mainz, Germany: Verlag Philipp von Zabern.
Euripides. The Children of Herakles. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.
Euripides. Heracles. England:Shirley A. Barlow, 1996. Greek Version: Oxford University Press, 1981.
Lucian. Dialogues of the Dead. Dialogues of the Sea-Gods. Dialogues of the Gods. Dialogues of the Courtesans. Translated by M. D. MacLeod. Loeb Classical Library 431. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1961.
_in_the_form_of_the_heads_of_Herakles_and_of_a_woman_MET_DP118168.jpg)
%2c_National_Archaeological_Museum_of_Spain%2c_Madrid_(15457108142).jpg)
_02.jpg)
_11.jpg)
.jpg)
![The Mathura Herakles, strangling the Nemean lion (Kolkata Indian Museum).[96]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aMathura_Herakles.jpg)
