Today we will review the figure of Hercules or Heracles. The quintessential hero of Greek mythology that will last forever.
Hercules. The hero.
Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-reaching adventures. The Romans adapted the iconography and myths of the Greek hero for their literature and art under the name Hercules. In later Western art and literature and in popular culture, Hercules is more commonly used than Heracles as the hero’s name.
Hercules was a multifaceted figure with contradictory characteristics, which allowed later artists and writers to choose how to depict him. This article offers an overview of this hero of Greek mythology.
Who was Hercules?
Heracles or Hercules, as he has been more popularly known since Roman times, was the greatest of all Greek heroes, “one who surpassed all men of whom the memory of the beginning of time has made an account.” A half-god of superhuman strength and violent passions, Herakles was the epitome of bravery and masculinity in the ancient world and the most notable champion of the Olympian order, which he staunchly protected from various chronic monsters and earthly villains.
Although his short temper and lack of composure caused him and quite a few innocent mortals undeserved trouble, the magnitude of his labors was of such an order as to earn him the prize of immortality. Protagonist of hundreds of myths whose chronology is impossible to decipher, Heracles is undoubtedly one of the most emblematic figures of Greek mythology.
Etymology of Hercules
Greek hero, son of Zeus and Alcmene, worshipped by the Romans as a god of strength, c. 1200 (originally in reference to the Pillars of Hercules), also Hercules, from Latin Hercles (Etruscan Hercules), from Greek Hērakles, literally “Glory of Hera”; from Hera (q.v.) + -kles “fame,” a common ending in Greek proper names, related to kleos “rumor, report, news; good report, fame, glory,” from PIE *klew-yo-, root suffix form *kleu- “to hear.”
Used figuratively in reference to strength from late 14c. The vocative form of Hercules was a common Roman interjection (especially I Hercules!) “certainly, certainly”.
History of Hercules
Heracles was known for his extraordinary strength, courage and intelligence. When his muscular strength was not enough, he would resort to his wits to outwit King Augas of Elis or trick Atlas into taking the weight of the heavens once again.
With Hermes, Heracles was the patron and protector of gymnastics, and was a playful individual who played with and entertained children. He was often portrayed with a lion’s skin and a club. The most famous stories of his life were The Twelve Labors of Herakles.
Birth
Herakles was born to the mortal woman Alcmene and Zeus, who disguised himself as her husband Amphitrite at home early in the war. The existence of Herakles was proof of the illicit affairs of Zeus and HERA, his wife, enraged by this conspiracy against him as revenge for her husband’s infidelities.
Heracles was born with a mortal twin, Iphicles, whose father was the real Amphitryon. Fearful of Hera’s revenge, Alcmene exposed Herakles, but he was brought to Hera by ATHENA (the protector of heroes), and Hera did not recognize him and nursed him out of pity.
With this divine milk, Heracles acquired supernatural powers and Athena returned him to his parents who raised him and named him Alcides, and only later would he be known as Heracles as an attempt to pacify Hera.
This attempt did not work, and when Heracles and Iphicles were eight months old, Hera sent two giant snakes to their chambers. Heracles, even at a young age, was able to grab and strangle the snakes.
In Thebes, Herakles married Megara, the daughter of King Creon. Hera, still spiteful, provoked a fit of madness in Herakles and killed his children. After his madness was cured by a Hellenist, he fled, ashamed, to the Oracle of Delphi.
Unfortunately for Heracles, Hera guided the Oracle, and he was ordered to serve his sworn enemy, King Eurystheus, for ten years and to perform any task asked of him in payment for his crime of killing his sons.
The curse of Hera
Interestingly, the sending of the serpents was not Hera’s first misdeed against Herakles, and it certainly would not be her last. Namely, just before the birth of Heracles, Hera had persuaded Zeus to promise that the next child born into the House of Perseus would become a High King, and the next one his servant.
In truth, it was not so difficult for Hera to convince the Supreme God to make such an oath, since the next son should have been Herakles. However, once Zeus gave his word, Hera ordered Eileithyia to delay Herakles’ arrival into the world until the premature birth of Eurystheus – an event that would eventually lead to Herakles’ celebrated labors.
Heracles’ Mentors
Heracles had several mentors. His father Amphitryon taught him to drive a chariot; Autolycus, the grandfather of Odysseus, taught him to fight; Eurytus, the king of Oechalia, instructed Herakles in archery; Castor, the mortal twin Dioscuri, trained Herakles in fencing and Harpalycus of Phanotè, a fearsome son of Hermes, in boxing.
He acquired the art of writing and learned the secrets of literature from Linus, son of a muse, who may also have taught Heracles the lyre; others say that Heracles’ music teacher had in fact been Eumolpus, the son of Philamon. Either way, Heracles’ education was entrusted to the best of the best; even as a child, Heracles surpassed them all.
Hercules Wifes
Megara was the first wife of the Greek hero Heracles (better known as Hercules). She was the daughter of King Creon of Thebes who gave her in marriage to Hercules in gratitude for her help in taking back Creon’s kingdom from the Minyans.
The story of Megara is best known through the work of the Greek playwright Euripides (480-406 BC) and the later Roman playwright Seneca (4 BC -65 AD), both authors of plays about Hercules and Megara. Her story was known long before Euripides wrote his play, however, and different versions of her brief life with Hercules differ in detail and chronology, but tell the same basic story.
Nothing is known of Megara before her marriage to Hercules. He was the son of Zeus, king of the gods, and a mortal woman named Alcmene. Zeus was married to the goddess Hera, but was known for his relationships with mortal women. He transformed himself to appear as Alcmene’s husband, slept with her, and thus conceived Hercules.
Hera, who was always infuriated by her husband’s tricks, set about making Hercules’ life as miserable as possible. Her revenge was made difficult, as Hercules was a demigod and possessed superhuman strength and endurance but, nevertheless, she certainly did her best to try to destroy him at every opportunity.
Second wife of Hercules
Heracles’ second wife was Deianira , sister of the mighty hero Meleager . Shortly after their marriage, Deianira was sinisterly attacked by the Centaur Nessus , whom Heracles subsequently killed with his infallible arrows dipped in the poisonous blood of the Hydra of Lerna.
With his dying breath, Nessus convinced Deianira to take his blood-covered (and thus poisonous) shirt and wear it as a love charm for when she feels as if her husband is about to be unfaithful.
Deianira kept Nessus’ shirt for years before she finally gave it to him.Heracles, fearing that he had fallen in love with Iole. However, the moment Heracles put on the shirt, the poison began to devour his flesh, causing the mighty hero so much pain that even he could not bear it.
Children of Hercules
Megara and Hercules had three children (although some sources claim eight children): Therimachus, Deicoon and Creontiades. The couple was content with their family until Hercules was called away on an adventure and the kingdom was left defenseless. The exact fate of Hercules depends on which version of the story you read. In Euripides’ play Heracles (written between 420 and 415 BC), he is performing the last of his famous twelve labors and is in the underworld attempting to subdue the three-headed dog Cerberus.
Heracles or Hercules and the twelve labors
Hercules received 12 labors to be purified of his sins and with them he would be granted immortality. These twelve labors are:
- Kill the lion of Nemea
- Kill the Hydra of Lerna
- Capture the hind of cerinea
- Capture the boar Erimanthus
- Clean the stables of Augeias in a single day
- Kill the birds of Stymphalus
- Capture the Bull of Crete
- Steal the Mares of Diomedes
- Steal the belt of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons
- Steal the cattle of the monster Geryon
- Take the apples of the Hesperides
- Capture Cerberus and bring him out of the underworld.
After completing this task, with the help and encounters of numerous characters from Greek mythology, Herakles joined the Argonauts in the quest for the Golden Fleece. Heracles would fall in love with Princess Iole of Oechalia, her father, King Euritus, promised his hand in marriage to anyone who could beat his sons in an archery contest.
To purify himself of that sin, Herakles was servant to Queen Omphale of Lydia for 3 years, doing women’s work and dressed as a woman. Eventually, he was freed and married his captor, some sources mention a son born to both of them.
Heracles would go on to be part of many more adventures and tribulations; his life ended when he married Deianira, who, deceived by a former enemy of Heracles, accidentally poisoned her husband through a shirt dipped in poison. As Heracles was a demigod, he suffered a painful and slow death.
Other legends of Herakles
Sometimes called Alexikakos, i.e., “The Avernus of Evil“, Heracles did not rest even after completing these twelve labors, which would surely have guaranteed him immortality for himself.
In fact, some say he was busy fighting monsters and villains even in the midst of grueling exploits, spending basically every spare moment of his life purging the world of evil, even if he was often the one to decide what was evil and what was not. It would be impossible to list, let alone describe, all of Heracles’ efforts and victims in such a short space; the brief catalog that follows does justice to none of them.
Killing Prometheus’ eagle.
On his way to the westernmost tip of the world, where the golden apples of the Hesperides grew, Herakles encountered the chained Prometheus and shot the giant eagle that had tormented the Titan for centuries; in return, Prometheus gave him instructions on how to get Atlas on his side and effortlessly search for the golden apples for his eleventh labor.
Busiris, Emathion and Antaeus
During this same journey, Herakles killed Busiris, the king of Egypt, and Emathion, the king of Arabia; he then defeated the giant Antaeus whom he raised and locked in a bear hug so that he could not draw strength from his mother, the Earth, a trait that had practically made him invincible in the past.
Freeing Theseus from Hades
While attempting to capture Cerberus from the underworld, Heracles encountered Theseus and Spiritual, eternally stuck to two seats in Hades because of his misguided attempt to kidnap Persephone; he managed to lift Theseus from his seat and free him, but an earthquake warned him to stop there and leave Spiritual behind him.
Slaying Iphithus and fighting Apollo
After Eurithus, Herakles’ former archery coach, refused to give the hero his daughter Iole in marriage even though Herakles had won her hand in an archery match, Herakles savagely killed Iphithus, Eurithus’ son and Iole’s brother. Because of the murder, Heracles suffered a terrible illness, so he went to the Oracle at Delphi for advice on what to do.
When he received no answer, he took the Oracle’s tripod and would have broken it if Apollo had not intervened; a fight broke out between the two and who knows what would have happened if Zeus had not hurled a thunderbolt to separate the mighty opponents.
Serving Omphale
Now, Heracles got his answer: once again he was supposed to be someone’s servant as an act of atonement for the murder of Iphitus. This time, however, he was the slave of a queen, more specifically the queen of Libya, Omphale. While working for Omphale, Herakles performed many valiant feats, from the capture of Cecropes to the annihilation of Libya’s fiercest enemies, the Ithones.
The Argonauts
Around this time, Herakles decided to join the Argonautic expedition. Naturally, he was unanimously elected to be the captain of the voyage, but, nevertheless, he decided to resign in favor of Jason. Shortly after learning that his beloved Hylas had been kidnapped by the nymphs, Heracles abandoned the expedition altogether.
Myths of Hercules
The Myth of Hercules: Before the birth of Hercules, Jupiter had explained in the council of the gods that the first descendant of Perseus should be the ruler of all others of his race. This honor was destined for the son of Perseus and Alcmene; but Juno was jealous and caused Eurystheus, who was also a descendant of Perseus, to be born before Theseus. So Eurystheus became king in Mycenae, and the later Hercules remained inferior to him.
Eurystheus noted with anxiety the growing fame of his young kinsman, and called his subject, demanding him to perform certain great tasks or labors. When Hercules did not immediately obey, Jupiter himself sent him a message to perform his service to the King of Greece.
Hercules and the Hydra
However, the hero son of a god could not easily decide to render service to a mere mortal. So he traveled to Delphi and questioned the oracle as to what he should do. This was the answer:
“The lordship of Eurystheus will be qualified on condition that Hercules perform ten labors which Eurystheus will assign to him. When this is done, Hercules will be numbered among the immortal gods“. Hercules got into serious trouble. Serving a man of lesser importance than himself damaged his dignity and self-esteem; but Jupiter did not listen to his complaints.
Other myths of Heracles
Herakles’ adventures began in the eighteenth year of his life when he slew the Lion of Cithaeron; an exceptional specimen of virility and manhood, by the time he was nineteen, he had fathered more than fifty sons and defeated an entire army.
The Lion of Cithaeron
The lion of Mount Cithaeron fed on the flocks of Amphitryon and Thespius, the king of Thespiae; while he was with the latter, Herakles slew the beast after hunting it fiercely for fifty days straight. Having defeated the lion, Herakles clothed himself in fur and from then on wore the lion’s scalp as his helmet.
Amazed by the boy’s power and determination – and wishing that all his daughters had a son to bear – night after night, Thespius managed to send each of his fifty daughters to Herakles’ bed. Thinking that his bedfellow was always the same, Heracles had sex with all of them and had at least one child with each of them.
The heralds of Erginus
Returning triumphantly from the hunt, Heracles encountered the heralds of Erginus, sent by King Minyan to collect the annual Theban tribute of one hundred cows. After learning of their intentions.
Heracles “cut off their ears, noses and hands, and having tied them with ropes from their necks, told them to take that tribute to Erginus and the Minyans.” Furious, Erginus rallied the Minyan army and marched against Thebes, but instead met his death at the hands of Heracles, who subsequently forced the Minyans to pay double the original tribute to the Thebans.
The folly of Herakles
Out of a deep sense of gratitude, Creon, the king of Thebes, gave Heracles to his eldest daughter Megara, with whom Heracles had at least two and as many as eight children. Anyway, after being beaten madly by the jealous Hera, Herakles killed them all.
To purify himself of this horrible sin, he was instructed by the Delphic oracle to serve Eurystheus, the king of the Tyrians, for the next twelve years of his life and carry out all the tasks with which he would be burdened. Initially ten, these would become the famous twelve labors of Heracles.
Death of Hercules
Hercules was married to Deianeira. One day, long after Hercules’ marriage to Deianeira, the centaur Nessus offered them a ride across a wide river they had to cross. Nessus went first with Deianeira, but tried to kidnap her. When Hercules realized the centaur’s true intention, Hercules pursued him and shot him with an arrow poisoned with Hydra’s blood.
Before he died, Nessus told Deianeira to take some of his blood and treasure it, as it was a very powerful medicine and: if she ever thought that Hercules was being unfaithful to her, the centaur told her that the blood would return her love. Deianeira kept the vial of blood.
Many years after that incident she heard rumors that Hercules had fallen in love with another woman. She smeared some blood on a tunic and sent it to Hercules by a servant named Lichas.
Nessus blood
Lichas spilled some blood on the ground and when the sun’s rays fell on him, the blood began to burn. Because of this, Deianeira became suspicious of Nessus’ advice and decided to send another servant to fetch Lichas before he could deliver the blood-soaked robe to Hercules.
He arrived too late. Hercules had already put on the tunic and when he did, blood still poisoned by the same arrow used by Hercules, burned into his flesh. When he jumped into a nearby river hoping to extinguish the fire, he only made matters worse. When he tried to tear her tunic from her body, her organs were torn off with it as well.
Furious, Hercules caught Lichas and threw him into the sea. He then told his friend Philoctetes to build him a pyre on the mountain Oata. He was burned to death at the stake. Before he died, Hercules offered his bow and arrows as a token of gratitude to Philoctetes. His father Zeus then made him a god. Deianeira, after hearing what he had caused, committed suicide.
