Hercules (mythology)

I

Introduction

Hercules (mythology), in Greek mythology, hero noted for his strength and courage and for his many legendary exploits. Hercules is the Roman name for the Greek hero Heracles. He was the son of the god Zeus and Alcmene, wife of the Theban general Amphitryon. Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus, was determined to kill her unfaithful husband’s offspring, and shortly after Hercules’ birth she sent two great serpents to destroy him. Hercules, although still a baby, strangled the snakes. As a young man Hercules killed a lion with his bare hands. As a trophy of his adventure, he wore the skin of the lion as a cloak and its head as a helmet.

The hero next conquered a tribe that had been exacting tribute from Thebes. As a reward, he was given the hand of the Theban princess Megara, by whom he had three children. Hera, still relentless in her hatred of Hercules, sent a fit of madness upon him during which he killed his wife and children. In horror and remorse at his deed Hercules would have slain himself, but he was told by the oracle at Delphi that he should purge himself by becoming the servant of his cousin Eurystheus, king of Mycenae. Eurystheus, urged on by Hera, devised as a penance the 12 difficult tasks, the “Labors of Hercules.”

II

The Twelve Labors

The first task was to kill the lion of Nemea, a beast that could not be wounded by any weapon. Hercules stunned the lion with his club first and then strangled it. He then killed the Hydra that lived in a swamp in Lerna. This monster had nine heads: One head was immortal; when one of the others was chopped off, two grew back in its place. Hercules seared each mortal neck with a burning torch to prevent reproduction of two heads; he buried the immortal head under a rock. He then dipped his arrows into the Hydra’s blood to make them poisonous. Hercules’ next labor was to capture alive a stag with golden horns and bronze hoofs that was sacred to Artemis, goddess of the hunt, and the fourth labor was to capture a great boar that had its lair on Mount Erímanthos. Hercules then had to clean up in one day the 30 years of accumulated filth left by thousands of cattle in the Augean stables. He diverted the streams of two rivers, causing them to flow through the stables. Hercules next drove off a huge flock of man-eating birds with bronze beaks, claws, and wings that lived near Lake Stymphalus. To fulfill the seventh labor Hercules brought to Eurystheus a mad bull that Poseidon, god of the sea, had sent to terrorize Crete (Kríti).

To bring back the man-eating mares of Diomedes, king of Thrace, Hercules killed Diomedes, then drove the mares to Mycenae. Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, was willing to help Hercules with his ninth labor. As Hippolyta was about to give Hercules her girdle, which Eurystheus wanted for his daughter, Hera made Hippolyta’s forces believe Hercules was trying to abduct the queen. Hercules killed Hippolyta, thinking she was responsible for the ensuing attack, and escaped from the Amazons with the girdle. On his way to the island of Erythia to capture the oxen of the three-headed monster Geryon, Hercules set up two great rocks (the mountains Gibraltar and Ceuta, which now flank the Strait of Gibraltar) as a memorial of his journey. After Hercules had brought back the oxen, he was sent to fetch the golden apples of the Hesperides. Because Hercules did not know where these apples were, he sought help from Atlas, father of the Hesperides. Atlas agreed to help him if Hercules would support the world on his shoulders while Atlas got the apples. The old man did not wish to resume his burden, but Hercules tricked Atlas into taking the world back. The 12th and most difficult labor of Hercules was to bring back the three-headed dog Cerberus from the lower world. Hades, god of the dead, gave Hercules permission to take the beast if he used no weapons. Hercules captured Cerberus, brought him to Mycenae, and then carried him back to Hades.

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III

Death of the Hero

Hercules later married Deianira, whom he won from the river god Achelous. When the centaur Nessus attacked Deianira, Hercules wounded him with an arrow that he had poisoned in the blood of the Hydra. The dying centaur told Deianira to take some of his blood, which he said was a powerful love charm but was really a poison. Believing that Hercules had fallen in love with the princess Iole, Deianira later sent him a tunic dipped in the blood. When he put it on, the pain caused by the poison was so great that he killed himself on a funeral pyre. After death he was brought by the gods to Olympus and married to Hebe, goddess of youth.

Hercules was worshiped by the Greeks as both a god and as a mortal hero. He is usually represented as strong and muscular, clad in a lion skin and carrying a club. The most famous statue of the mythical hero is in the National Museum in Naples.

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