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63-518: Accounts of their origins vary depending on the context, but they are usually known as sons of Theia and Oceanus , thus ancient spirits. They were proverbial as liars, cheats, and accomplished knaves. They once stole Heracles ' weapons, during the time he was the penitent servant of Omphale in Lydia . He seized and bound them at Ephesus and punished them by tying them to a shoulder pole he slung over his shoulder with their faces pointing downwards,

126-466: A funeral pyre on Mount Oeta , which Poeas , father of Philoctetes , lights. As his body burns, only his immortal side is left. Through Zeus's apotheosis , Heracles rises to Olympus as he dies. No one but Heracles's friend Philoctetes ( Poeas in some versions) would light his funeral pyre (in an alternative version, it is Iolaus who lights the pyre). For this action, Philoctetes or Poeas received Heracles's bow and arrows, which were later needed by

189-464: A cave. When he asked whether she knew anything about his horses, she answered, that they were in her own possession, but that she would not give them up, unless he would consent to stay with her for a time. Heracles accepted the request, and became by her the father of Agathyrsus , Gelonus , and Scythes . The last of them became king of the Scythians, according to his father's arrangement, because he

252-433: A consequence of Heracles's refusal to live a simple life, as offered by Amphitryon . It was indicated that he preferred the extravagant violence of the heroic life and that its ghosts eventually manifested in his madness and that the hallucinatory visions defined Heracles's character. A major factor in the well-known tragedies surrounding Heracles is the hatred that the goddess Hera , wife of Zeus , had for him. Heracles

315-580: A fit of madness, induced by Hera, Heracles killed his children and Megara. After his madness had been cured with hellebore by Antikyreus, the founder of Antikyra , he realized what he had done and fled to the Oracle of Delphi . Unbeknownst to him, the Oracle was guided by Hera. He was directed to serve King Eurystheus for ten years and perform any task Eurystheus required of him. Eurystheus decided to give Heracles ten labours, but after completing them, Heracles

378-546: A god, and having finally reconciled with Hera, he got her daughter Hebe as his fourth and final wife. They had two sons together, Alexiares and Anicetus . When Typhon attacked Olympus, all gods transformed into animals and ran terrified to Egypt; Heracles became a fawn. In the Dialogues of the Gods , a satirical work by Lucian of Samosata , Heracles and another recently deified mortal, Asclepius , fight over which gets

441-411: A golden veil Hesione had made. Telamon took Hesione as a war prize and they had a son, Teucer . After Heracles had performed his Labours, gods told him that before he passed into the company of the gods, he should create a colony at Sardinia and make his sons, whom he had with the daughters of Thespius , the leaders of the settlement. When his sons became adults, he sent them together with Iolaus to

504-521: A king. See O. Keller, op. cit. , p. 11, fig. 2. Cline identified the monkey species in 1991 as guenons, or blue monkeys , which have bluish fur over their green skins. Scholars generally assume that the appearance of the blue monkey in Aegean iconography was due to the import of the actual animal from north Africa; they were iconic religious animals in Egypt Further references to

567-468: A long time but Hylas had fallen in love with the nymphs and never showed up again. In other versions, he simply drowned. Either way, the Argo set sail without them. Hesiod 's Theogony and Aeschylus ' Prometheus Unbound both tell that Heracles shot and killed the eagle that tortured Prometheus (which was his punishment by Zeus for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to mortals). Heracles freed

630-446: A patron deity, contributing to the spread of his cult. There was the case of the royal house of Macedonia, which claimed lineal descent from the hero, primarily for purposes of divine protection and legitimator of actions. The earliest evidence that shows the worship of Heracles in popular cult was in 6th century BCE (121–122 and 160–165) via an ancient inscription from Phaleron. After the 4th century BCE, Heracles became identified with

693-638: A sea monster (Greek: kētŏs, Latin: cetus ) to attack Troy . The story is related in several digressions in the Iliad (7.451–53; 20.145–48; 21.442–57) and is found in pseudo-Apollodorus's Bibliotheke (2.5.9). This expedition became the theme of the Eastern pediment of the Temple of Aphaea . Laomedon planned on sacrificing his daughter Hesione to Poseidon in the hope of appeasing him. Heracles happened to arrive (along with Telamon and Oicles ) and agreed to kill

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756-474: A snake in each hand and strangled them. He was found by his nurse playing with them on his cot as if they were toys. Astonished, Amphitryon sent for the seer Tiresias , who prophesied an unusual future for the boy, saying he would vanquish numerous monsters. After killing his music tutor Linus with a lyre , he was sent to tend cattle on a mountain by his foster father Amphitryon. Here, according to an allegorical parable , " The Choice of Heracles ", invented by

819-731: Is not to be confused with Theia , sister to Oceanus and Tethys and mother of Helios , Selene and Eos . The Oceanid nymph Theia became the mother of the Cercopes, two mischievous impish thieves, by her own father Oceanus. When her sons stole from the hero Heracles , he seized and bound them and was about to kill them; Theia begged him to let her sons go. They were then transformed into either monkeys or stone. Heracles Heracles ( / ˈ h ɛr ə k l iː z / HERR -ə-kleez ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Ἡρακλῆς , lit.  "glory/fame of Hera "), born Alcaeus ( Ἀλκαῖος , Alkaios ) or Alcides ( Ἀλκείδης , Alkeidēs ),

882-468: Is still in the water. Angry, Heracles shoots him with his arrows dipped in the poisonous blood of the Lernaean Hydra . Thinking of revenge, Nessus gives Deianira his blood-soaked tunic before he dies, telling her it will "excite the love of her husband". Several years later, rumor tells Deianira that she has a rival for the love of Heracles. Deianira, remembering Nessus's words, gives Heracles

945-495: The Bahariya Oasis dates to 21 BCE. A reassessment of Ptolemy 's descriptions of the island of Malta attempted to link the site at Ras ir-Raħeb with a temple to Heracles, but the arguments are not conclusive. Several ancient cities were named Heraclea in his honor. A very small island close to the island of Lemnos was called Neai (Νέαι), from νέω, which means "I dive/swim", because Heracles swam there. According to

1008-526: The Cercopes can be found by the following classical authors: Theia (Oceanid) In Greek mythology , Theia ( / ˈ θ iː ə / ; Ancient Greek : Θεία , romanized :  Theía , lit.   'divine', also rendered Thea or Thia ) is one of the three thousand Oceanid nymphs , daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys , and the mother of the Cercopes . She

1071-586: The Titan from his chains and his torments. Prometheus then made predictions regarding further deeds of Heracles. On his way back to Mycenae from Iberia , having obtained the Cattle of Geryon as his tenth labour , Heracles came to Liguria in North-Western Italy where he engaged in battle with two giants, Albion and Bergion or Dercynus, sons of Poseidon . The opponents were strong; Heracles

1134-551: The club . These qualities did not prevent him from being regarded as a playful figure who used games to relax from his labors and played a great deal with children. By conquering dangerous archaic forces he is said to have "made the world safe for mankind" and to be its benefactor. Heracles was an extremely passionate and emotional individual, capable of doing both great deeds for his friends (such as wrestling with Thanatos on behalf of Prince Admetus , who had regaled Heracles with his hospitality, or restoring his friend Tyndareus to

1197-479: The deification of Heracles himself and of Asclepius there are comprised thirty-eight years, according to Apollodorus the chronicler: and from that point to the deification of Castor and Pollux fifty-three years: and somewhere about this time was the capture of Troy ." Readers with a literalist bent, following Clement's reasoning, have asserted from this remark that, since Heracles ruled over Tiryns in Argos at

1260-539: The modern West , he is known as Hercules , with whom the later Roman emperors , in particular Commodus and Maximian , often identified themselves. Details of his cult were adapted to Rome as well. Many popular stories were told of his life, the most famous being The Twelve Labours of Heracles ; Alexandrian poets of the Hellenistic age drew his mythology into a high poetic and tragic atmosphere. His figure, which initially drew on Near Eastern motifs such as

1323-412: The Cercopes has been interpreted as a reminiscence of Phoenician traders bringing apes to Greek markets. See O. Keller, Thiere des classischen Alterthums (Innsbruck, 1887), p. 1. The interpretation may perhaps be supported by an Assyrian bas-relief which represents a Herculean male figure carrying an ape on his head and leading another ape by a leash, the animals being apparently brought as tribute to

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1386-512: The Dryopes "because they gave no heed to justice in their lives". After the death of their king, the Dryopes gave in and offered him Prince Hylas . He took the youth on as his weapons bearer. Years later, Heracles and Hylas joined the crew of the Argo . As Argonauts, they only participated in part of the journey. In Mysia , Hylas was kidnapped by the nymphs of a local spring. Heracles, searched for

1449-635: The Greek legends, the Herculaneum in Italy was founded by him. Several poleis provided two separate sanctuaries for Heracles, one recognizing him as a god, the other only as a hero. Sacrifice was made to him as a hero and as a god within the same festival. This ambiguity helped create the Heracles cult especially when historians (e.g. Herodotus) and artists encouraged worship such as the painters during

1512-589: The Greeks to defeat Troy in the Trojan War. Philoctetes confronted Paris and shot a poisoned arrow at him. The Hydra poison subsequently led to the death of Paris. The Trojan War, however, continued until the Trojan Horse was used to defeat Troy . According to Herodotus , Heracles lived 900 years before Herodotus's own time (c. 1300 BCE). After his death in the pyre, Heracles ascended to Olympus as

1575-560: The Phoenician God Melqart Oitaeans worshiped Heracles and called him Cornopion (Κορνοπίων) because he helped them get rid of locusts (which they called cornopes ), while the citizens of Erythrae at Mima called him Ipoctonus (ἰποκτόνος) because he destroyed the vine-eating ips (ἀμπελοφάγων ἰπῶν), a kind of cynips wasp, there. Near the town of Bura in Achaea , there was a statue of Heracles on

1638-546: The River Buraicus and an oracle in a cave. People who consulted this oracle first prayed before the statue, then threw four dice from a mound that was always kept ready onto a table. These dice were marked with certain characters, the significance of which was elucidated by an artwork shown in the cave. Because of this town Heracles had the epithet Buraicus (Βουραϊκός). Extraordinary strength, courage , ingenuity, and sexual prowess with both males and females were among

1701-515: The bloodstained shirt. Lichas, the herald, delivers the shirt to Heracles. However, it is still covered in the Hydra's blood from Heracles's arrows, and this poisons him, tearing his skin and exposing his bones. Before he dies, Heracles throws Lichas into the sea, thinking he was the one who poisoned him (according to several versions, Lichas turns to stone, becoming a rock standing in the sea, named for him). Heracles then uproots several trees and builds

1764-417: The characteristics commonly attributed to him. Heracles used his wits on several occasions when his strength did not suffice, such as when laboring for the king Augeas of Elis , wrestling the giant Antaeus , or tricking Atlas into taking the sky back onto his shoulders. Together with Hermes he was the patron and protector of gymnasia and palaestrae . His iconographic attributes are the lion skin and

1827-532: The countryside," concluded Shaw (1993). When Greek mythographers attempted to account for the name Pithecusae (“Ape Islands”) given to Ischia and Procida by the Bay of Naples , where no monkeys had been seen within human memory, they were reduced to alleging that they must have been deceitful men whom Zeus punished by turning them into apes. When scholars attempted to account for this exotic image they have been forced to search farther afield: The story of Herakles and

1890-689: The crocus-gathering Xeste 3 fresco, where the monkey's ritual aspect, attending an enthroned female, is interpreted by Nanno Marinatos as servants of the divinity, acting as intermediary between humanity and the divine world. Green monkeys appear in Crete itself in the "House of the Frescoes" at Knossos , Monkeys are absent from Greek art. In Minoan art, it is assumed that they were exotic pets: "... the monkeys, which were imported to Crete, were pets that would have been placed where they could be seen and used by their owners, rather than simply abandoned in

1953-566: The dead rang out like cries of birds scattering left and right in horror as on he came like night ... Ancient critics were aware of the problem of the aside that interrupts the vivid and complete description, in which Heracles recognizes Odysseus and hails him, and some modern critics deny that the verse's beginning, in Fagles's translation His ghost I mean ... , was part of the original composition: "once people knew of Heracles' admission to Olympus, they would not tolerate his presence in

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2016-465: The infant Heracles, but he was taken up and brought to Hera by his half-sister Athena , who played an important role as protectress of heroes. Hera did not recognize Heracles and nursed him out of pity . Heracles suckled so strongly that he caused Hera pain, and she pushed him away. Her milk sprayed across the heavens and there formed the Milky Way. Athena brought the infant back to his mother, and he

2079-617: The island. This is described in Sophocles 's Trachiniae and in Ovid 's Metamorphoses Book IX. Having wrestled and defeated Achelous , god of the Acheloos river, Heracles takes Deianira as his wife. Travelling to Tiryns , a centaur , Nessus , offers to help Deianira across a fast flowing river while Heracles swims it. However, Nessus is true to the archetype of the mischievous centaur and tries to steal Deianira away while Heracles

2142-513: The joy in the mysteries in the sequence of cult rituals. Also, like the case of Apollo, the cult of Heracles had been sustained through the years by absorbing local cult figures such as those who share the same nature. He was also constantly invoked as a patron for men, especially the young ones. For example, he was considered the ideal in warfare so he presided over gymnasiums and the ephebes or those men undergoing military training. There were ancient towns and cities that also adopted Heracles as

2205-400: The king and his sons, except for one: Iole's brother Iphitus . Heracles killed the king and his sons—excluding Iphitus—and abducted Iole. Iphitus became Heracles's best friend. However, once again, Hera drove Heracles mad and he threw Iphitus over the city wall to his death. Once again, Heracles purified himself through three years of servitude—this time to Queen Omphale of Lydia . Omphale

2268-476: The kings of Sparta and Macedon . Yet another episode of his female affairs that stands out was when he carried away the oxen of Geryon , he also visited the country of the Scythians . Once there, while asleep, his horses suddenly disappeared. When he woke and wandered about in search of them, he came into the country of Hylaea . He then found the dracaena of Scythia (sometimes identified as Echidna ) in

2331-595: The labours: the cleansing of the Augean stables, because Heracles was going to accept pay for the labour; and the killing of the Lernaean Hydra, as Heracles's nephew, Iolaus , had helped him burn the stumps of the multiplying heads. Eurystheus set two more tasks, fetching the Golden Apples of Hesperides and capturing Cerberus . In the end, with ease, the hero successfully performed each added task, bringing

2394-423: The lion-fight, was widely known. Heracles was the greatest of Hellenic chthonic heroes, but unlike other Greek heroes, no tomb was identified as his. Heracles was both hero and god, as Pindar says heros theos ; at the same festival sacrifice was made to him, first as a hero, with a chthonic libation , and then as a god, upon an altar: thus he embodies the closest Greek approach to a " demi-god ". The core of

2457-423: The monster if Laomedon would give him the horses received from Zeus as compensation for Zeus's kidnapping Ganymede . Laomedon agreed. Heracles killed the monster, but Laomedon went back on his word. Accordingly, in a later expedition, Heracles and his followers attacked Troy and sacked it. Then they slew all Laomedon's sons present there save Podarces , who was renamed Priam, who saved his own life by giving Heracles

2520-416: The most prestigious seat on the table of the gods, each arguing that they are the one who deserve it. Zeus intervenes, and rules in favour of Asclepius, reasoning that the best seat should go to the one who became a god first. Heracles also appears to Philoctetes , stranded and abandoned by the other Greeks on Lemnos island, and through his deus ex machina intervention, Philoctetes is convinced to join

2583-599: The night Heracles and Iphicles were to be born, Hera, knowing of her husband Zeus's adultery, persuaded Zeus to swear an oath that the child born that night to a member of the House of Perseus would become High King. Hera did this knowing that while Heracles was to be born a descendant of Perseus, so too was Eurystheus . Once the oath was sworn, Hera hurried to Alcmene's dwelling and slowed the birth of Heracles and Iphicles by forcing Ilithyia , goddess of childbirth, to sit cross-legged with her clothing tied in knots, thereby causing

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2646-644: The only way they appear on Greek vases. Their mother, Theia, begged Heracles to let her sons go. This particular myth is depicted on a metope at Temple C at Selinus . According to Pherecydes , the Cercopes were turned to stone. In another myth, designed to explain their name ("tail-men" in Greek), Zeus changed the Cercopes into monkeys . This story inspired modern zoologists to name the genus of monkeys depicted in Minoan frescoes as Cercopithecus . Monkeys figure in four Minoan frescos at Akrotiri , most famously in

2709-582: The other Greeks at Troy , where he kills Paris with Heracles's arrows. In Christian circles, a Euhemerist reading of the widespread Heracles cult was attributed to a historical figure who had been offered cult status after his death. Thus Eusebius , Preparation of the Gospel (10.12), reported that Clement could offer historical dates for Heracles as a king in Argos: "from the reign of Heracles in Argos to

2772-494: The same roof; one of them was his wife Deianeira . In the works of Euripides involving Heracles, his actions were partly driven by forces outside rational human control. By highlighting the divine causation of his madness, Euripides problematized Heracles's character and status within the civilized context. This aspect is also highlighted in Hercules Furens where Seneca linked the hero's madness to an illusion and

2835-465: The same time that Eurystheus ruled over Mycenae , and since at about this time Linus was Heracles's teacher, one can conclude, based on Jerome 's date—in his universal history , his Chronicon —given to Linus's notoriety in teaching Heracles in 1264 BCE, that Heracles's death and deification occurred 38 years later, in approximately 1226 BCE. During the course of his life, Heracles married four times. An episode of his female affairs that stands out

2898-408: The same time, a case of heteropaternal superfecundation , where a woman carries twins sired by different fathers). Thus, Heracles's very existence proved at least one of Zeus's many illicit affairs, and Hera often conspired against Zeus's mortal offspring as revenge for her husband's infidelities. His twin mortal brother, son of Amphitryon, was Iphicles , father of Heracles's charioteer Iolaus . On

2961-524: The sophist Prodicus (c. 400 BCE) and reported in Xenophon 's Memorabilia 2.1.21–34, he was visited by two allegorical figures—Vice and Virtue—who offered him a choice between a pleasant and easy life or a severe but glorious life: he chose the latter. This was part of a pattern of "ethicizing" Heracles over the 5th century BCE. Later, in Thebes , Heracles married King Creon 's daughter, Megara . In

3024-487: The story of Heracles has been identified by Walter Burkert as originating in Neolithic hunter culture and traditions of shamanistic crossings into the netherworld. It is possible that the myths surrounding Heracles were based on the life of a real person or several people whose accomplishments became exaggerated with time. Heracles's role as a culture hero, whose death could be a subject of mythic telling (see below),

3087-463: The throne of Sparta after he was overthrown) and being a terrible enemy who would wreak horrible vengeance on those who crossed him, as Augeas, Neleus , and Laomedon all found out to their cost. There was also a coldness to his character, which was demonstrated by Sophocles's depiction of the hero in The Trachiniae . Heracles threatened his marriage with his desire to bring two women under

3150-494: The time of the Peisistratos , who often presented Heracles entering Olympus in their works. Some sources explained that the cult of Heracles persisted because of the hero's ascent to heaven and his suffering, which became the basis for festivals, ritual, rites, and the organization of mysteries. There is the observation, for example, that sufferings ( pathea ) gave rise to the rituals of grief and mourning, which came before

3213-456: The total number of labours up to twelve. Not all versions and writers give the labours in the same order. The Bibliotheca (2.5.1–2.5.12) gives the following order: After completing these tasks, Heracles fell in love with Princess Iole of Oechalia . King Eurytus of Oechalia promised his daughter, Iole , to whoever could beat his sons in an archery contest. Heracles won but Eurytus abandoned his promise. Heracles's advances were spurned by

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3276-508: The twins to be trapped in the womb. Meanwhile, Hera caused Eurystheus to be born prematurely, making him High King in place of Heracles. She would have permanently delayed Heracles's birth had she not been fooled by Galanthis , Alcmene's servant, who lied to Ilithyia, saying that Alcmene had already delivered the baby. Upon hearing this, she jumped in surprise, loosing the knots and inadvertently allowing Alcmene to give birth to Heracles and Iphicles. Fear of Hera's revenge led Alcmene to expose

3339-475: The underworld", remarks Friedrich Solmsen , noting that the interpolated verses represent a compromise between conflicting representations of Heracles. The ancient Greeks celebrated the festival of the Heracleia , which commemorated the death of Heracles, on the second day of the month of Metageitnion (which would fall in late July or early August). What is believed to be an Egyptian Temple of Heracles in

3402-418: The victim of Hera's jealousy, made her promise that, if Heracles executed twelve great works in the service of Eurystheus, he should become immortal. In the play Herakles by Euripides , Heracles is driven to madness by Hera and kills his children after his twelve labours. Despite the difficulty, Heracles accomplished these tasks, but Eurystheus in the end did not accept the success the hero had with two of

3465-514: Was a divine hero in Greek mythology , the son of Zeus and Alcmene , and the foster son of Amphitryon . He was a descendant and half-brother (as they are both sired by the god Zeus ) of Perseus . He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, the ancestor of royal clans who claimed to be Heracleidae ( Ἡρακλεῖδαι ), and a champion of the Olympian order against chthonic monsters. In Rome and

3528-540: Was a queen or princess of Lydia . As penalty for a murder, imposed by Xenoclea , the Delphic Oracle , Heracles was to serve as her slave for a year. He was forced to do women's work and to wear women's clothes, while she wore the skin of the Nemean Lion and carried his olive-wood club. After some time, Omphale freed Heracles and married him. Some sources mention a son born to them who is variously named. It

3591-578: Was accepted into the Olympian Pantheon during Classical times. This created an awkwardness in the encounter with Odysseus in the episode of Odyssey XI, called the Nekuia , where Odysseus encounters Heracles in Hades : And next I caught a glimpse of powerful Heracles— His ghost I mean: the man himself delights in the grand feasts of the deathless gods on high ... Around him cries of

3654-473: Was at that time that the cercopes , mischievous wood spirits, stole Heracles's weapons. He punished them by tying them to a stick with their faces pointing downward. While walking through the wilderness, Heracles was set upon by the Dryopes . In Apollonius of Rhodes 's Argonautica , it is recalled that Heracles had mercilessly slain their king, Theiodamas , over one of the latter's bulls, and made war upon

3717-502: Was cheated by Eurystheus when he added two more, resulting in the Twelve Labors of Heracles. If he succeeded, he would be purified of his sin and, as myth says, he would become a god, and be granted immortality. Other traditions place Heracles's madness at a later time and relate the circumstances differently. In some traditions, there was only a divine reason for Heracles's twelve labours: Zeus, in his desire not to leave Heracles

3780-496: Was his stay at the palace of Thespius , king of Thespiae , who wished him to kill the Lion of Cithaeron . As a reward, the king offered him the chance to perform sexual intercourse with all fifty of his daughters in one night. Heracles complied and they all became pregnant and all bore sons. This is sometimes referred to as his Thirteenth Labour. Many of the kings of ancient Greece traced their lines to one or another of these, notably

3843-614: Was in a difficult position so he prayed to his father Zeus for help. Under the aegis of Zeus, Heracles won the battle. It was this kneeling position of Heracles when he prayed to his father Zeus that gave the name Engonasin ( "Εγγόνασιν" , derived from "εν γόνασιν"), meaning "on his knees" or "the Kneeler", to the constellation known as Heracles's constellation . The story, among others, is described by Dionysius of Halicarnassus . Before Homer 's Trojan War, Heracles had made an expedition to Troy and sacked it. Previously, Poseidon had sent

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3906-430: Was subsequently raised by his parents. The child was originally given the name Alcides by his parents; it was only later that he became known as Heracles. He was renamed Heracles in an unsuccessful attempt to mollify Hera, with Heracles meaning Hera's "pride" or "glory". He and his twin were just eight months old when Hera sent two giant snakes into the children's chamber. Iphicles cried from fear, but his brother grabbed

3969-432: Was the son of the affair Zeus had with the mortal woman Alcmene . When Zeus desired Alcmene, he decided to make one night last three by ordering Helios , the god of the sun, not to rise for three days, so he would have more time with Alcmene. Zeus made love to her after disguising himself as her husband, Amphitryon , home early from war (Amphitryon did return later the same night, and Alcmene became pregnant with his son at

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