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Hercules, the Latin and English form of Heracles (or Herakles), the name of a national hero of ancient Greece. He was honored for his physical strength, bravery, and endurance in performing a series of arduous labors, and he was invoked as a god in Greece at least as early as the late 6th century B.C. His cult was probably the earliest nonindigenous cult accepted in Rome.
Hercules was the child of Zeus and Alcmene, the wife of Amphitryon, king of Tiryns and a descendant of Perseus. Zeus had promised the rule of Argos to the next born of this line. Hera delayed Hercules birth, and Eurystheus, son of the king of Argos, was born first. Hera then sent two huge serpents to kill the infant Hercules in his cradle, but the child strangled them effortlessly. Through all his labors, ritual trials, and feats, Hera remained Hercules implacable foe. Ironically, the name Hercules means glory of Hera, perhaps after the legend that he was given to Hera to nurse before she found out his true identity. More likely, the name was a Greek corruption of the name of the Phoenician god Melkart.
The 1 Labors. Following Hercules marriage to Megara, Hera induced in him a fit of madness that caused him to kill Megara and their children. After ritual purification, he was bound to Eurystheus to work out his penance in the execution of the famous 1 labors.
(1) Hercules strangled the Nemean lion, whom no weapon could kill, and from its skin made a garment that rendered him invulnerable () He destroyed the many-headed Lernaean hydra, which could grow two new heads if one head was cut off () He ran down the Cerynian hind, with its hooves of brass and golden antlers, which was sacred to Artemis (4) He captured the great boar of Erymanthus. During this labor he killed his friends the centaurs, including Chiron (5) He cleaned the foul, pestilence-spreading stables of Augeas by diverting the rivers Alphaeus and Peneius so that their waters rushed through the stables (6) He drove away the countless Stymphalian fowls, which were a combination of deadly crane and ostrich (7) He brought to Greece the Cretan bull, avoiding its flaming breath (8) He captured the four man-eating mares of the Thracian king Diomedes () He was sent to steal the girdle of Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons. She gave it to him; however, in a subsequent battle Hercules killed her (10) From the western island of Erythia, he brought back the oxen of Geryon, who was a monster with six heads, six hands, and three torsos (11) He obtained the golden apples from the Garden of the Hesperides, guarded by the sleepless dragon Ladon and the giant Atlas (1) Finally, from the underworld, he fetched the three-headed dog Cerberus, guardian of the gates of Hades.
Later Exploits. While courting Iole, the daughter of King Eurytus, after completing the 1 labors, Hercules was accused by Eurytuss eldest son, Iphitus, of stealing his fathers cattle. Enraged, Hercules flung the boy from a tower. Denied purification at Delphi, he stole the priestesss tripod and fought Apollo until Zeus separated them with a thunderbolt. In punishment he was sold into slavery to Omphale, queen of Lydia. To subdue his rage, she spanked him, dressed him in womens clothing, and set him to spinning. On his release, Hercules offered to rescue Hesione, daughter of Laomedon, king of Ilium, from a sea monster. Hercules leaped down the throat of the monster and cut it to pieces.
Hercules had numerous other adventures before marrying Deianira. She became jealous of Iole, whom Hercules had never ceased loving. Persuaded by the centaur Nessus, whom Hercules had mortally wounded, that his blood was a potent love charm, she sent her husband a shirt dipped in it. Burned by the fiery blood, Hercules rushed about Greece seeking death, denied him by his immortality. Finally, he lit a pyre on Mt. Oeta. His immortal part ascended to Mt. Olympus, where he became reconciled with Hera; his mortal remains rose in smoke to the heavens as the constellation Hercules.
Aspects of the Myth. From remote times Hercules figured in myths originating in all the ancient lands known to the Greeks. They sometimes identified their hero with Egyptian, Hindu, and Phoenician gods. In Rome Hercules was worshiped as a god, and merchants and travelers prayed to him for good fortune and rescue from danger. According to legend, Hercules stopped in Italy, where he put an end to human sacrifice.
Hercules represents a combination of mythic archetypes. He is a masculine hero of superhuman strength and valor, involved in various epic-historic raids and campaigns. The folkloric aspects pit him against monsters and fantastic beasts, climaxed by his descent into Hades. The ancient Dorians revered Hercules as the drainer of marshes and subduer of the wilderness. He has also been interpreted as a solar deity whose 1 labors correspond to the constellations of the zodiac.
Parallels to the Hercules tales can be seen in other folkloric traditions, from the Sumerian Gilgamesh to Beowulf and the indomitable younger brothers of the Grimm fairy tales and the knights errant of Arthurian legend.
Kenneth Rexroth
Author of The Classics Revisited
Bibliography
Brommer, Frank, Herakles, vols. (Böhlau 17 184) [text in German and Greek].
Brommer, Frank, Heracles The Twelve Labors of the Hero in Ancient Art and Literature, tr. and enl. by Shirley J. Schwarz (Caratzas 186) [a translation of Herakles, 15].
Buxton, Richard, Imaginary Greece The Contexts of Mythology (Cambridge 14).
Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources (Johns Hopkins Univ. Press 1).
Grant, Michael, Myths of the Greeks and the Romans (16; reprint, NAL/Dutton 15).
Padilla, Mark W., The Myths of Herakles in Ancient Greece Survey and Profile (Univ. Press of Am. 18).
Schefold, Karl, Myth and Legend in Early Greek Art, tr. by Audrey Hicks (Abrams 166) [a translation of Frühgriechische Sagenbilder, 164].
Schefold, Karl, with Luca Giuliani, Gods and Heroes in Late Archaic Greek Art, tr. by Alan Griffiths (Cambridge 1) [a translation of Götter- und Heldensagen der Griechen in der spätarchaischen Kunst, 178].
Slater, Philip E., The Glory of Hera Greek Mythology and the Greek Family (Princeton Univ. Press 1).
Uhlenbrock, Jaimee P., ed., Herakles Passage of the Hero through 1000 Years of Classical Art (Caratzas 186).
Vollkommer, Rainer, Herakles in the Art of Classical Greece (Oxford Univ. Committee for Archaeology 188).
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