This article is about the Greek divine hero. For the similar figure in Roman mythology, see Hercules.
"Herakles" redirects here. For other uses, see Herakles (disambiguation) and Heracles (disambiguation).
Heracles
God of strength and heroes Divine protector of mankind and the patron of the gymnasium
One of the most famous depictions of Heracles, Farnese Hercules, Roman marble statue on the basis of an original by Lysippos, 216 CE. National Archaeological Museum, Naples, Italy
Abode
Mount Olympus
Symbol
Club, lion skin
Personal information
Born
Thebes, Boeotia, Greece
Died
Mount Oeta, Phocis, Greece
Parents
Zeus and Alcmene
Siblings
maternal: Iphicles, Laonome; paternal: Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Dionysus, Helen of Troy, Perseus and many others
Consort
Megara, Omphale, Deianira, Hebe
Children
Alexiares and Anicetus, Telephus, Hyllus, Tlepolemus
Equivalents
Roman equivalent
Hercules
Etruscan equivalent
Hercle
Canaanite equivalent
Melqart[1]
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Heracles (/ˈhɛrəkliːz/HERR-ə-kleez; Greek: Ἡρακλῆς, lit. "glory/fame of Hera"), born Alcaeus[2] (Ἀλκαῖος, Alkaios) or Alcides[3] (Ἀλκείδης, Alkeidēs), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.[4] 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 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.
^Lima, Rodrigo Araújo de (January 2019). "Herakles/Melqart, the Greek façade of a Phoenician deity". Revista Hélade: Dossiê Fenícios.
^Schmitz, Leonhard (1867). "Alceides". In William Smith (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 98. Archived from the original on 2008-05-27.
^Bibliotheca ii. 4. § 12
^By his adoptive descent through Amphitryon, Heracles receives the epithet Alcides, as "of the line of Alcaeus", father of Amphitryon. Amphitryon's own, mortal son was Iphicles.
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...
Labours of Hercules or Labours of Heracles (Greek: ἆθλοι, âthloi Latin: Labores) are a series of tasks carried out by Heracles, the greatest of the Greek heroes...
was founded on 3 May 1903 as Heracles, after the demigod son of Zeus. They changed their name on 1 July 1974 to SC Heracles '74 and finally settled on the...
from his body. Cerberus is primarily known for his capture by Heracles, the last of Heracles' twelve labours. The etymology of Cerberus' name is uncertain...
Heracles inexpectatus is a giant fossil parrot species from New Zealand, assigned to a monotypic genus Heracles, that lived during the early Miocene approximately...
definitively whether Heracles was Alexander's son or not. Of the ancient sources, both Plutarch and Justin mention Barsine and Heracles but Arrian in the...
of Heracles belongs to Nintendo which also has copyright to the last game in the franchise. The series began in 1987 with Tōjin Makyō Den: Heracles no...
Eurystheus, the king of the Tiryns, sent Heracles (or Hercules) to slay the Hydra, which Hera had raised just to slay Heracles. Upon reaching the swamp near Lake...
origin, thus its legitimacy, to Heracles. In the historical period, several dynasties claimed descent from Heracles, such as the Agiads and Eurypontids...
After Heracles completed his first ten Labours, Eurystheus gave him two more claiming that neither the Hydra counted (because Iolaus helped Heracles) nor...
Hera's request. The first of Heracles' twelve labours, set by King Eurystheus (his cousin), was to slay the Nemean lion. Heracles wandered the area until he...
began. In the myth of the birth of Heracles, it is Hera herself who sits at the door, delaying the birth of Heracles until her protégé, Eurystheus, had...
cultures, showing the story of Heracles as a local adaptation of hero myths already well established. Traditionally, Heracles was the son of Zeus and Alcmene...
Iardanus) set Heracles free and married him, Heracles fathered a son, Cleodaeus, on a slave-woman. This fits, though in Herodotus the son of Heracles and the...
Greek: Ἀχλύς "mist"), in the Hesiodic Shield of Heracles, is one of the figures depicted on Heracles' shield, perhaps representing the personification...
as the half-brother and great-grandfather of Heracles (as they were both children of Zeus, and Heracles' mother was descended from Perseus). Because of...
the same god was worshipped as the Thasian Heracles. So I went on to Thasos, where I found a temple of Heracles which had been built by the Phoenicians who...
(/ˈhɜːrkjʊˌliːz/, US: /-kjə-/) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules...
by Euripides where the children of Heracles are suppliants (the second being Heracles). The Children of Heracles was written by the youngest of the great...
are the farthermost limits reached by Heracles". Since there has been a one-to-one association between Heracles and Melqart since Herodotus, the "Pillars...
and fled. Agrius, repelled by Heracles in a fight. Amphion, tried to plunder Pholus of his wine and was killed by Heracles. Amycus, son of Ophion. He attended...
Heracles General Cement Corporation (Greek: Ανώνυμος Γενική Εταιρία Τσιμέντων Ηρακλής) (Α.Γ.Ε.Τ ΗΡΑΚΛΗΣ) is a Greece-based cement, concrete and aggregates...
poem is the expedition of Heracles and Iolaus against Cycnus, the son of Ares, who challenged Heracles to combat as Heracles was passing through Thessaly...
Alcmene from delivering Heracles. This resulted in the fulfillment of Zeus's oath in that it was Eurystheus rather than Heracles. According to Ovid's Metamorphoses...
among them that Heracles and his crew were abducting their queen, so the Amazons attacked the ship. In the fray that followed, Heracles slew Hippolyta...