"Heracle" redirects here. Not to be confused with Heracles.
Hercle
Drawing of a scene on an Etruscan mirror in which Uni suckles the adult Hercle before he ascends to immortality
Personal information
Parents
Tinia and a mortal woman (raised and adopted by Uni)
Siblings
Menrva (half-sister)
Equivalents
Greek equivalent
Heracles
Roman equivalent
Hercules
Canaanite equivalent
Melqart[1]
Egyptian equivalent
Heryshaf
Germanic equivalent
Hercules Magusanus
In Etruscan religion, Hercle (also Heracle or Hercl), the son of Tinia and Uni, was a version of the Greek Heracles, depicted as a muscular figure often carrying a club and wearing a lionskin. He is a popular subject in Etruscan art, particularly bronze mirrors, which show him engaged in adventures not known from the Greek myths of Heracles or the Roman and later classical myths of Hercules.[2]
In the Etruscan tradition, Uni (Roman Juno) grants Hercle access to a life among the immortals by offering her breast milk to him.[3][4][5] Hercle was the first man elevated to a godhood through his deeds and Etruscan aristocrats tried to identify with this ascension, as reflected in artwork and literature.
Hercle differed in many aspects from the Greek Heracles.[5] He seems to have enjoyed a special status in Italy in general.[5] In art, he is shown to be a defender of an unknown goddess against creatures on the other side of a human border, showing his status as a Liminal deity.[5] In Etruria, he was also associated with running water.[5] He was also the master of animals, the protector of flocks and herds, and of herdsmen.[5]
^Nancy Thomson de Grummond, Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2006), pp. 12–13.
^De Grummond, Etruscan Myth, pp. 83–84.
^The Religion of the Etruscans. University of Texas Press. 2006. ISBN 0-292-70687-1.
^ abcdefThe Etruscan World. Routledge. 2013. ISBN 978-0-415-67308-2.
In Etruscan religion, Hercle (also Heracle or Hercl), the son of Tinia and Uni, was a version of the Greek Heracles, depicted as a muscular figure often...
borrowed through Etruscan, where it is represented variously as Heracle, Hercle, and other forms. Hercules was a favorite subject for Etruscan art, and...
but this is speculation. Tinia was the husband of Uni and the father of Hercle. Like many other Etruscan deities, his name is gender neutral. The Etruscans...
with Hercle (Heracles) or Perseus. The name Turms is of distinctively Etruscan origin, like that of Fufluns but in contrast to deities such as Hercle and...
The 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...
trade; Turms, messenger of the gods; Fufluns, god of wine; the heroic figure Hercle; and a number of underworld deities such as Catha, Lur, Suri, Thanr and...
religion, however, emphasized the role that Juno (as Uni) played in endowing Hercle with his divine nature through the drinking of her breast milk. Intercidona...
head of her father, Tinia. Also, she commonly is seen as the protector of Hercle (Heracles) and Pherse (Perseus). On a bronze mirror found at Praeneste,...
mirror from Perugia, Leinth is presented as a heavily clothed woman. A young Hercle, distinguished by his club and lion-skin cape, stands over a defeated Cerberus...
A Roman fresco from Herculaneum depicting Hercules (from Etruscan Hercle and ultimately Greek Herakles) and Achelous (patron deity of the Achelous River...
has the face of a young man. He is also often winged and being held by Hercle or Menrva, who are charged with the protection and care of infants. He is...
other cases, the scribe sometimes inserted a vowel: Greek Hēraklēs became Hercle by syncopation and then was expanded to Herecele. Pallottino regarded this...
named from Fufluns. Horta Goddess of agriculture (highly conjectural). Hercle, Hercele, Herecele, Herkle, Hrcle Etruscan form of the Greek hero Hēraklēs...
A Roman fresco from Herculaneum depicting Hercules (from Etruscan Hercle and ultimately Greek Heracles) and Achelous (patron deity of the Achelous River...
v t e Hercules (Heracles) Hercle Ercole Hercule Alcide Family Zeus (father) Alcmene (mother) Megara, Omphale, Deianira, and Hebe (wives) Heracleidae (children)...
fragments, and more importantly, the number of statuettes found depicting Hercle, the Etruscan version of Greek divine hero, Heracles. Artifacts found at...
villa in Trivicum welcomed us' Another example comes from Plautus: dīs hercle habeō grātiam, nam ni intellexēs, numquam, crēdo, āmitterēs! (Plautus) 'thank...
60 Wayman Britt G United States Los Angeles Lakers Michigan (Sr.) 4 61 Hercle Ivy# G United States Houston Rockets Iowa State (Sr.) 4 62 Paul Miller#...
Chremes says to Pythias in the fifth scene of the fourth act (732), verbum hercle hoc verum erit "sine Cerere et Libero friget Venus" ('That saying, "Without...
Menerva (Etruscan spelling) and the other a temple that had statues of Turms, Hercle, Apollo (the Apollo of Veii) and Leto on the roof, which has come to be...
of value 20, 10 and 5 units, is on the same metrological standard as the Hercle and Menvra 20-units, male and female head 10, and male head 5, 21⁄5 and...
Global Information