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Heracles

Immensely strong, brave and sometimes hot-tempered: Heracles is the hero who faces monsters and impossible tasks and, alone among mortals, becomes a god.

Heracles, whom the Romans called Hercules, is the greatest and most popular Greek hero. Son of Zeus and the mortal princess Alcmene, he had superhuman strength. His name means "glory of Hera", yet the queen of the gods hated and persecuted him all his life. His story is that of a man who, through toil and suffering, wins immortality.

Birth and childhood

Alcmene was the wife of Amphitryon, a king of Tiryns living in exile at Thebes. Zeus, taking her husband's form, lay with her, and twins were born: Heracles, son of Zeus, and Iphicles, son of Amphitryon. Jealous Hera sent two great snakes into the cradle: baby Heracles grabbed them and strangled them with his hands. As a boy he was taught by the best masters; at eighteen he killed a lion ravaging Mount Cithaeron and wore its skin.

Madness and the labours

Heracles married Megara, daughter of the king of Thebes, and had children. But Hera sent him a fit of madness, in which he killed his wife and children. Coming to his senses in despair, he asked the oracle of Delphi how to atone. The Pythia ordered him to serve his cousin Eurystheus, king of Tiryns and Mycenae, for twelve years: these were the famous twelve labours.

The life of Heracles in brief
  1. BirthSon of Zeus and Alcmene, born at Thebes; strangles the snakes sent by Hera.
  2. YouthKills the lion of Cithaeron and frees Thebes from the Minyans.
  3. The crimeSeized by madness sent by Hera, kills his wife and children.
  4. The twelve laboursIn the service of Eurystheus he faces monsters and impossible tasks.
  5. Other deedsSails with the Argonauts, frees Prometheus, helps the gods against the Giants, founds the Olympic Games in one tradition.
  6. DeathDies burned by the poisoned robe of Nessus and mounts a pyre on Mount Oeta.
  7. ApotheosisWelcomed onto Olympus, reconciled with Hera, he marries Hebe.

Other deeds

  • He joined the Argonauts but left the voyage to search for his young companion Hylas, carried off by nymphs.
  • He freed Prometheus by killing the eagle that ate his liver.
  • He fought beside the gods in the Gigantomachy: an oracle said the gods would win only with a mortal's help.
  • He brought Alcestis back to life, wrestling her from Death for his friend Admetus.
  • In one tradition he founded the Olympic Games.
  • At the western edge of the world he set up the Pillars of Hercules, the Strait of Gibraltar.

Death and apotheosis

Heracles married Deianira. On a journey the centaur Nessus tried to carry her off, and the hero shot him with an arrow poisoned with the Hydra's blood. Dying, Nessus told Deianira to keep his blood as a love charm. Years later, jealous, Deianira soaked a robe in it and gave it to her husband: the poison burned Heracles's skin, and in agony he had a pyre built on Mount Oeta. As the flames rose, a thunderclap lifted him to Olympus: Zeus made him immortal, Hera was reconciled with him and gave him her daughter Hebe, youth, as his wife.

See also the twelve labours, monsters and Perseus, his ancestor.