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Portrait of Heracles

Myth · Greek

Heracles

Greek mythology — hero, later a god

The strongest of the Greek heroes, a son of Zeus pursued all his life by Hera's jealousy. Driven mad by her, he killed his own wife and children, and in penance served King Eurystheus of Tiryns through the Twelve Labours. Club, bow and lion skin are his badge; the Romans called him Hercules and, uniquely among heroes, he ended his story as a god on Olympus.

How to spot them

  • ▸Lion skin worn as a cloak, its jaws over his head, and a huge knotted club
  • ▸Son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene; hounded from birth by Hera
  • ▸Quiz clue: 'Eurystheus', 'Tiryns', 'Nemean', 'Lernaean', 'Cerynitian hind'
  • ▸Roman name Hercules; his pillars flank the Strait of Gibraltar
  • ▸Strangled two serpents in his cradle

Stories & episodes

The Twelve Labours

Ten tasks set by Eurystheus, two disallowed, making twelve in the canonical list

Strangled a lion whose hide no weapon could pierce, then wore its skin

The first labour, at Nemea; he used the beast's own claws to skin it

Burned each neck stump so the many-headed swamp beast could not regrow

The Lernaean Hydra, cauterised with his nephew Iolaus's help — disallowed by Eurystheus

Cleared thirty years of dung in a single day by diverting two rivers

The stables of Augeas, flushed by the Alpheus and Peneus

Held up the sky while a Titan fetched three golden apples

Atlas retrieved the apples of the Hesperides, then had to be tricked into taking the sky back

Dragged the three-headed hound of the dead up into the daylight

The twelfth and last labour, performed without weapons

Died in a poisoned shirt and was burned alive on a pyre on Mount Oeta

The centaur Nessus's blood, given to him by Deianira as a love charm

Shot the eagle and freed the fire-thief chained in the Caucasus

One of the side-adventures, releasing Prometheus after generations of torture

Quick-fire facts

  • •Son of Zeus and Alcmene; his mortal twin was Iphicles
  • •The Romans called him Hercules; the Etruscans Hercle
  • •The Delphic oracle sent him to serve Eurystheus of Tiryns after Hera's madness made him kill his children
  • •The labours: Nemean lion, Lernaean Hydra, Cerynitian hind, Erymanthian boar, Augean stables, Stymphalian birds, Cretan bull, mares of Diomedes, girdle of Hippolyta, cattle of Geryon, apples of the Hesperides, Cerberus
  • •The Hydra and the Augean stables were disallowed — for taking help and for taking payment
  • •The Pillars of Hercules are Gibraltar and Jebel Musa, said to be split by him
  • •Deified after death, he married Hebe, goddess of youth, on Olympus
  • •Euripides' Heracles and Sophocles' Women of Trachis dramatise his madness and his death
  • •He sailed for a time with the Argonauts but was left behind in Mysia searching for Hylas

Drill it — 9 cards

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Sources