Heracles

Roman name: Hercules

Functions: son of Zeusmortal heroand eventually a god

The Birth of Heracles

Heracles was the son of Zeus and a mortal woman named Alcmene. Alcmene was married to Amphitryonthe heir to the throne of Tiryns. But Alcmene refused to consummate her marriage until Amphitryon had avenged the murder of her brotherswho had been killed by the Taphian Pirates. So before even sleeping with his wifeAmphitryon traveled to the Taphian Islands (off the western coast of Greecenear Ithaca) and stayed there for several weeks until he had killed all of the Taphian Pirates. On the night before Amphitryon returned from his journeyZeus came to Alcmene in the form and shape of her husband. He told her that he had just come home from killing the pirates. Alcmene was overjoyedand gladly allowed him into her bed. The next day when the real Amphitryon returned homehe wondered why she did not give him a hero’s welcome. After speaking with his wifehe discovered the truth: Alcmene had spent the previous night with someone else. Amphitryon did not believe Alcmene’s storythat the man she had been with had looked and sounded exactly like himbut the seer Teiresias told him that the interloper had been Zeus himself and that Alcmene’s story was true. Now Amphitryon believed her and they finally consummated their marriage.

When Hera discovered that Alcmene was pregnant with Zeus’ childshe was very unhappyneedless to say. When Alcmene went into laborHera sent Eileithyia to prevent the birth from taking place. Eileithyia sat outside the delivery room crossing her fingers and legswhich halted the delivery. (No birth can take place unless Eileithyia is physically present and allows the birth to proceed.) Alcmenewho was pregnant with twin boyswas in a bad state and was close to breathing her last breath when her nurseGalanthiscame up with a trick to break Eileithyia’s spell. She shouted that the baby had already come. Eileithyiain confusion as to how this could have happenedjumped up and broke her spellallowing Alcmene to deliver two baby boys. In her anger at being trickedEileithyia turned Galanthis into a weasel. The two babies were named Iphicles and Heracles. But the parents did not know which one of their sons was Zeus’ child and which one was the child of Amphitryon.

Heracles’ Early Adventures

Hera did not leave Heracles alone for long. When he was about eighteen months oldshe sent two snakes to kill both Iphicles and Heracles while they were sleeping in their crib. While Iphicles screamed in terror and cowered in the cornerHeracles grabbed hold of the snakes and strangled one in each hand. Any doubt as to which was the son of Zeus and which the son of Amphitryon was solved by this event.

As he grewHeracles learned many important skills from great teachersbut he had a short temper and did not realize his own strength. When his music teacherLinus (who was the brother of Orpheus)reprimanded him for not practicing enoughHeracles took his chair and smashed it over Linus’ headkilling him instantly. Amphitryon decided to send Heracles to live at his country estate to protect his family.

By the time Heracles was seventeenhe had grown to be a tall and strong youth. Around the same timea lion was roaming in the area of Mount Cithaeron and was terrorizing the countryside. Thespiusthe king of the areaasked Heracles to come and stay with him and help his men kill the lion. Thespius also happened to have fifty daughters. For fifty days Heracles went out to find the lionand each night Thespius sent a different daughter in to sleep with Heraclesthough Heracles thought it was the same daughter each night. After the fifty daysHeracles had killed the lion and all of Thespius’ fifty daughters were pregnant.

Hera Sends Madness

Heracles stayed in the area of Thebes [see Thebae on map] long enough to distinguish himself in a war the Thebans were fighting against a people called the Minyans. The king of Thebes was so happy to have had Heracles’ help that he offered his daughterMegarato Heracles as a wife. Megara and Heracles married and had two sons. They lived for a few years in peacebut Hera was still out to torment Heraclesso she sent madness to drive him mad. In his madnessHeracles killed his wife and children. When he regained his sanityHeracles was devastated and decided to go to the Oracle at Delphi [map] to ask Apollo how he could be purified for this murder. The Pythia told him that he must go to Tiryns and perform twelve labors for the rulerEurystheus. If he could complete all twelve labors successfullyhe would not only be purified of the murdersbut he would achieve immortality. (The rule is that if a hero has one mortal parenthe or she is mortal. So Heracles was born a mortaland this was his opportunity to achieve immortality.) Heracles did manage to successfully complete his twelve labors [see 12 Labors of Heracles].

The Death of Iphitus

After these twelve laborsHeracles set outlooking for a new wife with whom he could start over. Eurytus of Oechaliawho had taught Heracles how to shoot a bow and arrowwas looking for a husband for his daughterIole. Eurytus had set up the condition that whoever could beat him in an archery contest would win Ioleand Heracles won easily.

HoweverEurytus knew about the misfortunes Heracles had had with Megara and refused to give Iole to Heracles. Heracles was furiousbut at this point there was nothing he could do. At the same time this was happeningsome of Eurytus’ mares went missing (sources vary on whether Heracles had anything to do with the disappearance). Eurytus’ sonIphituswho believed Heracles was innocentwent with Heracles to find the mares. The two eventually ended up in Tiryns at Heracles’ house. After they located the maresthe two friends were drinking on the roof of Heracles’ house. What happened after that is not clearbut somehow they got into an argument and Heracles ended up throwing Iphitus from the roof. Heracles was stricken with a disease as punishment for his crime. When he consulted the Delphic Oraclethe Pythia told Heracles that he had to sell himself as a slave for three years for whatever price Iphitus’ sons established.

Omphale

Heracles did as the Pythia said and he was sold to Omphalethe Queen and ruler of Lydiawho had inherited power from her late husband. The kingdom of Lydia had some enemiesand now that Omphale had control of the kingdomthose enemies took the opportunity to cause problems. Heracles used his strength and fortitude to solve these problems for Omphalewho was incredibly grateful. She freed Heracles and the disease left him.

Deïaneira

After many yearsand many adventuresHeracles found himself in Calydonwhere he fell in love with King Oeneus’ daughterDeïaneira. Heracles had a rival for her handthoughin Acheloüsa local river god. The two fought until Heracles managed to break off one of the god’s hornswhich caused the god to yield. Heracles and Deïaneira marriedbut they were not able to live happily very long. Heraclesstill not aware of his strengthkilled Oeneus’ cupbearer when he gave the boy a quick blow as punishment for some offense. Oeneus forgave his son-in-lawbut Heraclesin his guiltinsisted that he go into exile for his crime. Heracles left Calydon with Deïaneira in tow.

At some point in their tripHeracles and Deïaneira came to a very deep and very large lake. Heracles could easily swim across the lakebut Deïaneira could notand Heracles could not carry her while swimming across. Just at that timethe centaur Nessus approached the newlyweds and offered to ferry Deïaneira across the river. Heracles gratefully agreed to let Nessus swim across the river carrying Deïaneira on his back. Halfway across the lakehoweverNessus began to rape Deïaneira. Heracles heard her screams and shot off one of his arrows dipped in the Hydra’s blood. Of coursethe arrow hit its mark andas Nessus knewHydra’s blood was a deadly poison. But Nessus decided to get back at Heracleseven though he would not live to see his revenge. As he lay dyingNessus told Deïaneira that if she took some of his blood and wiped it on a robe for Heracles to wearit would act as a love potion. Of coursethis was a lie. Deïaneira was aware of her husband’s wandering affectionsso she collected some of Nessus’ blood and kept it in case she ever had need of it. She had no idea that the deadly Hydra poison was also a part of her “love potion”.

The Death and Apotheosis of Heracles

Deïaneira was justified in her suspicions of her husbandalthough nothing happened right away. But many years laterHeracles decided to get revenge on Eurytuswho had refused to give Heracles his daughterIolein marriage. Heracles killed Eurytus and his sons in battle and brought Iole back home to be his concubine. Deïaneira knew about her husband’s many affairsbut she did not want to live in the same house with a younger rivalso she decided to put Nessus’ plan into action. She smeared Nessus’ blood on a beautiful new robe and gave it to her husband when he returned homebringing Iole with him. Heracles put on the handsome robe to give a thanksgiving offering to Zeus for a successful return homebut as soon as he put on the robehis skin immediately caught fire. When Heracles tried to take off the robeparts of his skin came off with itand Heracles (now with parts of his skin missing) continued to burn. Realizing the terrible mistake she had madeDeïaneira took her own life. But Heracles was in agony; he could not take off the robe (because it was sticking to his skin)but he could not put out the fireand Heracles was burning so slowly that it seemed to be taking forever for him to die. Heracles decided to end his life as soon as possible.

He took his son Hyllus up into the mountains and asked him to build a funeral pyre Hyllus agreed to build the pyrebut he refused to light it because he could not bear to end his father’s life. A passing shepherd and his sonPhiloctetesagreed to light the pyreand so Heracles gave his famous bow and arrows to Philoctetes.

The fire burned away Heracles’ mortal flesh and he became immortal. He was taken up to Olympus to live with the other gods and he married his half-sisterHebe. And Hera finally put aside her anger against him. It seems that Heracles could only find peace after his death.