Heracles (Herakles; Glory of Hera)

Greek The

greatest hero of Greek mythology, he was called

Hercules by the Romans. Heracles was the son of

the god Zeus and of a mortal, Alcmene, who was the

wife of Amphitryon of Thebes. Both Alcmene and

Amphitryon were descendants of the hero Perseus.

Heracles was a superman and demigod and a supreme

athlete but at the same time a man of many human

weaknesses. He performed seemingly impossible

tasks, fought in battle, loved many women including

Deianira who would eventually cause his death, and

was afflicted by murderous madness and sudden rages.

Zeus snatched Heracles from his funeral pyre and

took him to Olympus, where Heracles was worshiped

like a god, became immortal, and married Hebe.

Heracles’ name, Glory of Hera, suggests an origin

among ancient people who worshiped the goddess

Hera, wife of Zeus. The myth of Heracles is based

perhaps on a historical figure, possibly a lord of tiryns

(in Argos) whose military prowess led to the Homeric

legend of his having met and conquered death. Later,

invaders of the Peloponnesus, the southern peninsula

of what is now called Greece, adapted the cycle of the

Heracles hero myths to fit their own ancestry.

The Childhood of Heracles Heracles’ mother,

Alcmene, was married to Amphitryon, also a descendant

of Perseus. While Amphitryon was at war, Zeus

visited Alcmene disguised as her husband. He wished to

father a son that would be a champion of both humans

and gods. This son was Heracles. When Amphitryon

came back the next evening, he, too, fathered a son

with Alcmene. His name was iphicles.

Hera, the wife of Zeus, was, as usual, jealous and

angry at the dalliance of her husband. Using her

magic arts, she contrived the premature birth of

Eurystheus, another descendant of Perseus. Eurystheus

was born a few minutes before Heracles and

therefore became ruler of Argos. Heracles was obliged

to serve him, and this he did most heroically.

One legend has it that Hera sent two serpents

to the cradle of the infant Heracles to kill him, but

the baby managed to strangle both serpents with

his supernormal strength. Another legend holds that

Amphitryon sent the serpents, knowing that one of

the twins belonged to Zeus. Thus, while his own son,

Iphicles, cried pitifully, the son of the god was able to

vanquish the serpents.

Amphitryon made sure that his godlike stepson

was trained in all the arts of fighting, wrestling, and

boxing. Heracles became a supreme athlete.

Heracles, The Young Hero Heracles was the

greatest of the Greek heroes. When Heracles was

a boy, his stepfather sent him to tend his cattle in

the mountains and to develop athletic skills. A ferocious

lion came from Mount Kithaeron to devour

Amphitryon’s cattle. Heracles killed the lion and ever

after wore its pelt (though some say that the pelt

worn by Heracles was that of the Nemean lion; see

The Twelve Labors of Heracles, right).

Heracles then did battle with Erginus, King

of Orchomenos, who attacked Thebes. Amphitryon

died in this struggle. The victorious Heracles

became the idol of Thebes. Creon, the new king of

Thebes, gave his daughter Megara (2) to Heracles

in marriage. The marriage was not a happy one, and

in later years, in a fit of madness sent upon him by

the goddess Hera, Heracles killed his children and

possibly his wife as well. He went to the oracle at

Delphi for advice. As atonement for the dreadful

killings, the oracle put Heracles into the servitude

of his cousin, King Eurystheus, who would impose

upon the young hero the Twelve Labors, seemingly

impossible tasks.

The Twelve Labors of Heracles Like many a

hero in mythologies from all over the world, Heracles,

the greatest Greek hero, fought and won battles with

extraordinary creatures that represented man’s ancient

strife with evil and the forces of darkness. Because of

a fit of madness, in which he killed his children and

his brother’s children, Heracles, son of the god Zeus

and the mortal Alcmene, was put into the service of

King Eurystheus, a descendant of Perseus and ruler of

Argos. To atone for his sins, Heracles had to perform

12 almost impossible tasks over the course of 12 years.

In all of them, he emerged as a victorious hero against

unbelievable odds. The order of the Twelve Labors

varies in some sources but they are thought to begin

with the killing of the ferocious Nemean lion and end

with either the stealing of the apples of the Hesperides

or the vanquishing of the dog Cerberus.

1. The Nemean Lion The lion was gigantic,

an offspring of Selene. It lived in a cave

with two entrances. After many futile battles,

Heracles sealed off one mouth of the cave and

strangled the trapped lion with his bare hands.

Ever afterward, he wore the pelt and head of

the lion. The two mouths of the lion’s cave

perhaps symbolize the entry of Heracles into

the battles (the Twelve Labors) from which

he would eventually escape, after death, into

rebirth and immortality.

2. The Hydra of Lernaea The Hydra was a

many-headed monster who grew a new head

each time Heracles lopped off the previous

one. With the help of his companion iolaus,

who burned the stumps of the heads and

prevented them from growing again, Heracles

vanquished the monster. He dipped his arrows

in the blood of the Hydra, which contained

a deadly poison. Most mythographers are

68 heracles

still puzzled as to the exact meaning of the

Lernaean Hydra.

3. The Wild Boar of Erymanthus The boar

was a huge beast that Heracles hunted through

deep fields of snow. He captured the boar and

delivered it to Eurystheus. The king was so

terrified at the sight of the beast that he hid

himself in his bronze jar.

4. The Hind of Ceryneia This beautiful

Arcadian deer had feet of bronze and antlers

(surprising for a hind) that shone like gold,

and ran so swiftly that it took Heracles a year

to capture it. He carried it unharmed to King

Eurystheus.

5. The Stymphalian Birds These monstrous

birds had wings, beaks, and claws of bronze.

They fed on human flesh and were so numerous

that when they took flight their hordes blotted

out the Sun. Heracles terrified them with the

shattering noise from a bronze rattle that the

goddess Athene helped him make. The birds

flew away and were never seen again.

This legend may refer to Heracles’ reputation

as a healer, expert at getting rid of fever

demons. In ancient times, fevers were little

understood and often proved fatal. Since they

occurred frequently in marshy places, they

were identified with marsh birds such as

cranes and ibises, large birds on which the

Stymphalian birds may have been modeled.

6. The Augean Stables The Sixth Labor of

Heracles was to clean, in one day, the pestilent,

dung-filled stables of the cattle of King Elis

of Augeus. Heracles did this by diverting the

courses of two nearby rivers and sending their

cleansing waters rushing through the stables.

“Cleaning the Augean stables” has come to

mean getting rid of noxious rubbish in any area,

whether physical, moral, religious, or legal.

7. The Cretan Bull Heracles captured the

Bull that had been terrorizing the island

of Crete and returned with it to Greece.

Theseus later killed the bull. The combat of

a man with a bull was one of the ritual tasks

imposed on heroes (see the stories of Theseus

and Jason).

8. The Horses of Diomedes Heracles captured

the horses (some say they were wild

mares) of Diomedes (2) of Thrace. It was said

that Diomedes fed the horses on human flesh

Heracles killed Diomedes and gave his flesh

to the horses, after which, it is said, the beasts

became quite tame. The taming of wild horses

was an important rite in many ancient cultures.

9. The Girdle of the Amazon Eurystheus

asked Heracles to obtain the girdle of Queen

Hippolyta of the Amazons, for his daughter.

Some versions of the legend say that Hippolyta

fell in love with Heracles and gave him

her girdle. Other versions say that Hippolyta

was later abducted by Theseus.

10. The Cattle of Geryon Geryon was a threeheaded

monster whose fine red cattle were the

envy of everyone, including Eurystheus, who

ordered Heracles to capture them. Heracles

did this on the way erecting the Pillars of Hercules

(now known as the Straits of Gibraltar),

where Africa and Europe face each other at the

western end of the Mediterranean Sea. Stealing

another man’s cattle was an ancient custom; a

prospective husband bought his bride from the

proceeds of a successful cattle raid.

11. The Stealing of Cerberus Cerberus, the

fearsome three-headed dog, guarded the gates

of the Underworld. Eurystheus ordered Heracles

to bring him the monster, never expecting

the hero to return to the land of the living.

However, with the help of the gods Hermes

and Athene, Heracles overcame both Hades,

god of the underworld, and the monstrous

dog. When Eurystheus saw the huge creature,

he jumped into his bronze jar in terror.

The three heads of Cerberus may have

represented the three seasons vanquished by

the demigod who became immortal.

12. The Apples of the Hesperides Heracles’

final task was to bring some of the golden

apples of the Hesperides (daughters of Atlas)

to Eurystheus. The apples belonged to Hera

who set the dragon Ladon to guard them.

Only the Titan Atlas, who carried the sky on

his shoulders, knew where the apple orchard

was. Heracles took the sky from Atlas and

persuaded him to fetch some apples. He then

tricked the Titan into taking back the weight

of the sky.

The explanation for this labor may lie in

the primitive ritual in which the candidate for

a kingship or immortality (Heracles) had to

overcome a monster (Ladon) and rob it of its

treasure (the golden apples).

The Exploits of Heracles There is no clear

chronology for the exploits of Heracles, but rather

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a patchwork of events, with some confusion about

the order in which they took place. For example,

it is not clear at what point the goddess Hera, wife

of Zeus, angry at the dalliance of her husband with

Alcmene, took revenge upon Heracles by sending

him fits of murderous madness. Among his crimes

were the killing of his own children and, some say, his

wife Megara, and the killing of Iphitus, a guest in his

house. Such deeds were unforgivable. Even the oracle

at Delphi refused to help Heracles after the killing of

Iphitus. In another fit of madness, Heracles ravaged

the oracle’s shrine and attacked his halfbrother, the

god Apollo. As a result of this outrage, Heracles

became a slave to Omphale, queen of Lydia.

Among his exploits for Omphale was the capture

of the clever thieves called the Cercopes. Heracles

also killed Syleus, the king of Aulis, who had forced

strangers to work in his vineyards and then, instead

of paying them, cut their throats. Heracles rid the

banks of the Sagaris from a gigantic serpent and then

killed Lityerses, another evil man who forced people

to work for him and then killed them. Omphale so

admired Heracles that she set him free.

After his servitude to Omphale, Heracles offered

his services to Laomedon, king of Troy. Laomedon

had incurred the wrath of the sea god, Poseidon, who

sent a monster to ravage Troy. The oracle told Laomedon

that only the sacrifice of his beautiful daughter,

Hesione, would appease the monster and save Troy.

Laomedon chained the girl to a rock to await her fate.

Heracles agreed to rescue the maiden in return for two

magical horses that had been a gift from Zeus to Laomedon.

But Laomedon, his daughter now safe, reneged

on his agreement and Heracles killed him. Heracles

then gave Hesione to his friend Telamon in marriage.

Priam, now king of Troy, demanded the return of his

sister, Hesione. The Greeks refused to return her. The

subsequent ill-feeling between the nations of Troy and

Greece was one cause of the Trojan War.

Heracles, Deianira, and the Centaur Heracles,

the mortal hero, spent his life engaging in one heroic

exploit after another. Sometimes Heracles sought

adventure, sometimes he sought revenge for injustice,

and sometimes he had to flee from the punishment

due him for acts committed in madness.

After many bold deeds, Heracles came to Calydon,

in Aetolia, whose king, Oeneus, had a beautiful

daughter, Deianira. Deianira was constantly plagued

by the attentions of Achelous, who appeared to her

in the form of a river, a dragon, and a bull. After a

furious contest, Heracles vanquished Achelous and

won the hand of the beautiful Deianira, with whom

he bore a son, Hyllus.

Heracles, Deianira, and Hyllus fled from Calydon

after Heracles, again afflicted by rage, killed an

innocent cupbearer, Eunomus.

When they came to the river Evenus, a Centaur,

Nessus, offered to carry Deianira on his back, while

Heracles swam across. When they reached the other

side, the centaur tried to carry Deianira off. Heracles

shot him with his arrow. As he lay dying, Nessus told

Deianira to collect some of his blood and use it as a

love potion if she ever thought that her husband was

straying. Deianira respected the wishes of the dying

beast and took his blood in a vial that she carried. This

potion would eventually cause the death of Heracles.

The Death of Heracles The last expedition

of Heracles was against his old enemy Eurytus.

Heracles slew Eurytus and carried off his daughter,

iole, with whom he had been in love before he had

met his present wife, Deianira. When Deianira heard

about the beautiful maiden, she remembered the vial

of blood that she had taken from Nessus. Innocently

thinking that the potion would bring Heracles back

to her, she soaked a shirt in a liquid made from the

blood in the vial and sent it to her husband with his

messenger, Lichas.

As soon as Heracles put on the fateful shirt, he

began to writhe with pain, for the potion was a deadly

one, and proved fatal to Heracles. He commanded a

funeral pyre to be built and laid himself upon it. His

son, Hyllus, told him that Deianira had not intended

his death and had killed herself in despair. Heracles,

in his last throes of agony, gave Iole to his son in

marriage. No one wanted to light the funeral pyre,

but at last, Philoctetes (or his father, Poeas) set the

wood on fire. Immediately, a cloud descended from

the sky, and in a display of thunder and lightning,

Zeus snatched his son from death and bore him to

Olympus, where he would become immortal.

herbs Greek The mythic power of herbs to

transform people and to restore life to the dead features

prominently in several Greek myths. Gaia, the

Earth Mother, the oldest goddess in Greek mythology,

found an herb that would protect the Gigantes

(Giants), some of her children, in their war with

the Olympian gods. Zeus, the supreme god among

the Olympians, who were themselves descendants

of Gaia, obtained that herb and used it to help him

defeat the giants in their war against the gods.

The herb moly helped Odysseus resist the efforts of

the goddess-sorceress Circe to turn him into a swine

when he landed on the island of Achaea. The heroine

Moria used an herb known as balis to restore her

brother to life after he had been bitten by a snake.

Dittany, a creeping herb of the mint family that

is native to Greece, was known as the herb of Venus

and was also the sacred herb of Artemis, goddess of

childbirth and chastity. Some historians suggest that

women in ancient Greece used dittany, also known as

ditamy, to bring on menstruation.