（Ἡρακλῆς), and in Latin HERCULES, the most celebrated of
all the heroes of antiquity. The traditions about him are
not only the richest in substance, but also the most widely
spread; for we find them not only in all the countries round
the Mediterranean, but his wondrous deeds were known in the
most distant countries of the ancient world. The difficulty
of presenting a complete view of these traditions was felt
even by the ancients (Diod. 4.8); and in order to give a
general survey, we must divide the subject, mentioning first
the Greek legends and their gradual development, next the
Roman legends, and lastly those of the East (Egypt,
Phoenicia).
The traditions about Heracles appear in their national
purity down to the time of Herodotus; for although there may
be some foreign ingredients, yet the whole character of the
hero, his armour, his exploits, and the scenes of his
action, are all essentially Greek. But the poets of the time
of Herodotus and of the subsequent periods introduced
considerable alterations, which were probably derived from
the east or Egypt, for every nation of antiquity as well as
of modern times had or has some traditions of heroes of
superhuman strength and power. Now while in the earliest
Greek legends Heracles is a purely human hero, as the
conqueror of men and cities, he afterwards appears as the
subduer of monstrous animals, and is connected in a variety
of ways with astronomical phaenomena. According to Homer
(Hom. Il. 18.118), Heracles was the son of Zeus by Alcmene
of Thebes in Boeotia, and the favourite of his father. (Il.
14.250, 323, 19.98, Od. 11.266, 620, 21.25, 36.) His
stepfather was Amphitryon. (Il. 5.392, Od. 11.269; Hes.
Scut. Herc. 165.) Amphitryon was the son of Alcaeus, the son
of Perseus, and Alcmene was a grand-daughter of Perseus.
Hence Heracles belonged to the family of Perseus. The story
of his birth runs thus. Amphitryon, after having slain
Electryon, was expelled from Argos, and went with his wife
Alcmene to Thebes, where he was received and purified by his
uncle Creon. Alcmene was yet a maiden, in accordance with a
vow which Amphitryon had been obliged to make to Electryon,
and Alcmene continued to refuse him the rights of a husband,
until he should have avenged the death of her brothers on
the Taphians. While Amphitryon was absent from Thebes, Zeus
one night, to which he gave the duration of three other
nights, visited Alcmene, and assuming the appearance of
Amphitryon, and relating to her how her brothers had been
avenged, he begot by her the hero Heracles, the great
bulwark of gods and men. (Respecting the various
modifications of this story see Apollod. 2.4.7, &c.; Hyg.
Fab. 29; Hes. Scut. 3.5, &c.; Pind. I. 7.5, &c., Nem. 10.19,
&c.; Schol. ad Hom. Od. 11.266.) The day on which Heracles
was to be born, Zeus boasted of his becoming the father of a
man who was to rule over the heroic race of Perseus. Hera
prevailed upon him to confirm by an oath that the descendant
of Perseus born that day should be the ruler. When this was
done she hastened to Argos, and there caused the wife of
Sthenelus to give birth to Eurystheus, whereas, by keeping
away the Eileithyiae, she delayed the confinement of
Alcmene, and thus robbed Heracles of the empire which Zeus
had intended for him. Zeus was enraged at the imposition
practised upon him, but could not violate his oath. Alcmene
brought into the world two boys, Heracles, the son of Zeus,
and Iphicles, the son of Amphitryon, who was one night
younger than Heracles. (Hom. Il. 19.95, &c.; Hes. Scut. 1-
56, 80, &c.; Apollod. 2.4.5, &c.) Zeus, in his desire not to
leave Heracles 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. (Diod.
4.9.) Respecting the place of his birth traditions did not
agree; for although the majority of poets and mythographers
relate that he was born at Thebes, Diodorus (4.10) says that
Amphitryon was not expelled from Tiryns till after the birth
of Heracles, and Euripides (Eur. Her. 18) describes Argos as
the native country of the hero.
Nearly all the stories about the childhood and youth of
Heracles, down to the time when he entered the service of
Eurystheus, seem to be inventions of a later age: at least
in the Homeric poems and in Hesiod we only find the general
remarks that he grew strong in body and mind, that in the
confidence in his own power he defied even the immortal
gods, and wounded Hera and Ares, and that under the
protection of Zeus and Athena he escaped the dangers which
Hera prepared for him. But according to Pindar (Pind. N.
1.49, &c.), and other subsequent writers, Heracles was only
a few months old when Hera sent two serpents into the
apartment where Heracles and his brother Iphicles were
sleeping,, but the former killed the serpents with his own
hands. (Comp. Theocrit. 24.1, &c.; Apollod. 2.4.8.) Heracles
was brought up at Thebes, but the detail of his infant life
is again related with various modifications in the different
traditions. It is said that Alcmcne, from fear of Hera,
exposed her son in a field near Thebes, hence called the
field of Heracles; here he was found by Hera and Athena, and
the former was prevailed upon by the latter to put him to
her breast, and she then carried him back to his mother.
(Diod. 4.9; Paus. 9.25.2.) Others said that Hermes carried
the newly-born child to Olympus, and put him to the breast
of Hera while she was asleep, but as she awoke, she pushed
him away, and the milk thus spilled produced the Milky Way.
(Eratosth. Catast. 44; Hygin. Poet. Astr. ii. in fin.) As
the hero grew up, he was instructed by Amphitryon in riding
in a chariot, by Autolycus in wrestling, by Eurytus in
archery, by Castor in fighting with heavy armour, and by
Linus in singing and playing the lyre. (See the different
statements in Theocrit. 24.114, 103, 108; Schol. ad
Theocrit. 13.9, 56; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 49.) Linus was killed
by his pupil with the lyre, because he had censured him.
(Apollod. 2.4.9; Diod. 3.66; Aelian, Ael. VH 3.32.) Being
charged with murder, IIeracles exculpated himself by saying
that the deed was done in self-defence; and Amphitryon, in
order to prevent similar occurrences, sent him to attend to
his cattle. In this manner he spent his life till his
eighteenth year. His height was four cubits, fire beamed
from his eyes, and he never wearied in practising shooting
and hurling his javelin. To this period of his life belongs
the beautiful fable about Heracles before two roads,
invented by the sophist Prodicus, which may be read in
Xenoph. Mem. 2.1, and Cic de Off. 1.32. Pindar (Pind. I.
4.53) calls him small of stature, but of indomitable
courage. His first great adventure, which happened while he
was still watching the oxen of his father, is his fight
against and victory over the lion of Cythaeron. This animal
made great havoc among the flocks of Amphitryon and Thespius
(or Thestius), king of Thespiae, and Heracles promised to
deliver the country of the monster. Thespius, who had fifty
daughters, rewarded Heracles by making him his guest so long
as the chase lasted, and gave up his daughters to him, each
for one night. (Apollod. 2.4.10; comp. Hyg. Fab. 162; Diod.
4.29; Athen. 13.556.) Heracles slew the lion, and henceforth
wore its skin as his ordinary garment, and its mouth and
head as his helmet; others related that the lion's skin of
Heracles was taken from the Nemean lion. On his return to
Thebes, he met the envoys of king Erginus of Orchomenos, who
were going to fetch the annual tribute of one hundred oxen,
which they had compelled the Thebans to pay. Heracles, in
his patriotic indignation, cut off the noses and ears of the
envoys, and thus sent them back to Erginus. The latter
thereupon marched against Thebes; but Heracles, who received
a suit of armour from Athena, defeated and killed the enemy,
and compelled the Orchomenians to pay double the tribute
which they had formerly received from the Thebans. In this
battle against Erginus Heracles lost his father Amphitryon,
though the tragedians make him survive the campaign.
(Apollod. 2.4.11; Diod. 4.10, &c.; Paus. 9.37. 2; Theocrit.
16.105; Eur. Her. 41.) According to some accounts, Erginus
did not fall in the tattle, but coneluded peace with
Heracles. But the gorious manner in which Heracles had
delivered his country procured him immortal fame among the
Thebans, and Creon rewarded him with the hand of his eldest
daughter, Megara, by whom he became the father of several
children, the number and names of whom are stated
differently by the different writers. (Apollod. 2.4.11. 7.8;
Hyg. Fab. 32; Eur. Her. 995; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 38; Schol. ad
Pind. Isthm. 3.104.) The gods, on the other hand, made him
presents of arms : Hermes gave him a sword, Apollo a bow and
arrows, Hephaestus a golden coat of mail, and Athena a
peplus, and he cut for himself a club in the neighbourhood
of Nemea, while, according to others, the club was of brass,
and the gift of Hephaestus. (Apollon. 1.1196; Diod. 4.14.)
After the battle with the Minyans, Hera visited Heracles
with madness, in which he killed his own children by Megara
and two of Iphicles. In his grief he sentenced himself to
exile, and went to Thestius, who purified him. (Apollod.
2.4.12.) Other traditions place this madness at a later
time, and relate the circumstances differently. (Eur. Her.
1000, &c.; Paus. 9.11.1; Hyg. Fab. 32; Schol. ad Pind.
Isthm. 3.104.) He then consulted the oracle of Delphi as to
where he should settle. The Pythia first called him by the
name of Heracles--for hitherto his name had been Alcides or
Alcaeus,--and ordered him to live at Tiryns, to serve
Eurystheus for the space of twelve years, after which he
should become immortal. Heracles accordingly went to Tiryns,
and did as he was bid by Eurystheus.
The accounts of the twelve labours of Heracles are found
only in the later writers, for Homer and Hesiod do not
mention them. Homer only knows that Heracles during his life
on earth was exposed to infinite dangers and sufferings
through the hatred of Hera, that he was subject to
Eurystheus, who imposed upon him many and difficult tasks,
but Homer mentions only one, viz. that he was ordered to
bring Cerberus from the lower world. (Il. 8.363,
&100.15.639, &c., Od. 11.617, &c.) The Iliad further alludes
to his fight with a seamonster, and his expedition to Troy,
to fetch the horses which Laomedon had refused him. (5.638,
&c., 20.145, &c.) On his return from Troy, he was cast,
through the influence of Hera, on the coast of Cos, but Zeus
punished Hera, and carried Heracles safely to Argos.
(14.249, &c., xv 18, &c.) Afterwards Heracles made war
against the Pylians, and destroyed the whole family of their
king Neleus, with the exception of Nestor. He destroyed many
towns, and carried off Astyoche from Ephyra, by whom he
became the father of Tlepolemus. (5.395, &c., 2.657, &c.;
comp. Od 21.14, &c.; Soph. Trach. 239, &c.) Hesiod mentions
several of the feats of Heracles distinctly, but knows
nothing of their number twelve. The selection of these
twelve from the great number of feats ascribed to Heracles
is probably the work of the Alexandrines. They are
enumerated in Euripides (Here. Fur.), Apollodorus, Diodorus
Siculus, and the Greek Anthology (2.651), though none of
them can be considered to have arranged them in any thing
like a chronological order.
1. The fight with the Nemean lion.
The mountain valley of Nemea, between Cleonae and Phlius,
was inhabited by a lion, the offspring of Typhon (or
Orthrus) and Echidna. (Hes. Theog. 327; Apollod. 2.5.1;
comp. Aelian, Ael. NA 12.7, Serv. ad Aen. 8.295.) Eurystheus
ordered Heracles to bring him the skin of this monster. When
Heracles arrived at Cleonac, he was hospitably received by a
poor man called Molorchus. This man was on the point of
offering up a sacrifice, but Heracles persuaded him to delay
it for thirty days until he should return from his fight
with the lion, in order that then they might together offer
sacrifices to Zeus Soter; but Heracles added, that if he
himself should not return, the man should offer a sacrifice
to him as a hero. The thirty days passed away, and as
Heracles did not return, Molorchus made preparations for the
heroic sacrifice; but at that moment Heracles arrived in
triumph over the monster, which was slain, and both
sacrificed to Zeus Soter. Heracles, after having in vain
used his club and arrows against the lion, had blocked up
one of the entrances to the den, and entering by the other,
he strangled the animal with his own hands. According to
Theocritus (25.251, &c.), the contest did not take place in
the den, but in the open air, and Heracles is said to have
lost a finger in the struggle. (Ptolem. Heph. 2.) He
returned to Eurystheus carrying the dead lion on his
shoulders; and Eurystheus, frightened at the gigantic
strength of the hero, took to flight, and ordered him in
future to deliver the account of his exploits outside the
gates of the town. (Diod. 4.11; Apollod., Theocrit. ll. cc.;
comp. MOLORCHUS.）
2. Fights against the Lernean hydra.
This monster, like the lion, was the offspring of Typhon and
Echidna, and was brought up by Hera. It ravaged the country
of Lernae near Argos, and dwelt in a swamp near the well of
Amymone: it was formidable by its nine heads, the middle of
which was immortal. Heracles, with burning arrows, hunted up
the monster, and with his club or a sickle he cut off its
heads; but in the place of the head he cut off, two new ones
grew forth each time, and a gigantic crab came to the
assistance of the hydra, and wounded Heracles. However, with
the assistance of his faithful servant Iolaus, he burned
away the heads of the hydra, and buried the ninth or
immortal one under a huge rock. Having thus conquered the
monster, he poisoned his arrows with its bile, whence the
wounds inflicted by them became incurable. Eurystheus
declared the victory unlawful, as Heracles had won it with
the aid of Iolaus. (Hes. Th. 313, &c.; Apollod. 2.5.2; Diod.
4.11; Eurip. Herc. Fur. 419, 1188, Ion, 192; Ov. Met. 9.70;
Verg. A. 8.300; Paus. 2.36.6, 37.4, 5.5.5; Hyg. Fab. 30.)
3. The stag of Ceryneia in Arcadia.
This animal hand golden antlers and brazen feet. It had been
dedicated to Artemis by the nymph Taygete, because the
goddess had saved her from the pursuit of Zeus. Heracles was
ordered to bring the animal alive to Mycenae. He pursued it
in vain for a whole year: at length it fled from Oenoe to
mount Artemisium in Argolis, and thence to the river Ladon
in Arcadia. Heracles wounded it with an arrow, caught it,
and carried it away on his shoulders. While yet in Arcadia,
he was met by Apollo and Artemis, who were angry with him
for having outraged the animal sacred to Artemis; but
Heracles succeeded in soothing their anger, and carried his
prey to Mycenae. According to some statements, he killed the
stag. (Apollod. 2.5.3; Diod 4.13; Callim. Hymn. in Dian.
100, &c.; Ov. Met. 9.188; Verg. A. 6.803; Pind. O. 3.24, 53;
Eur. Her. 378.)
4. The Erymanthian boar.
This animal, which Heracles was ordered to bring alive, had
descended from mount Erymanthus (according to others, from
mount Lampe,) into Psophis. IIeracles chased him through the
deep snow, and having thus worn him out, he caught him in a
net, and carried him to Mycenae. (Apollod. 2.5.4; Diod.
4.12.) Other traditions place the hunt of the Erymanthian
boar in Thessaly, and some even in Phrygia. (Eur. Her. 368;
Hyg. Fab. 30.) It must be observed that this and subsequent
labours of Heracles are connected with other subordinate
ones, called Πάρεργα, and the first of these parerga is the
fight of Heracles with the Centaurs ; for it is said that in
his pursuit of the boar he came to the centaur Pholus, who
had received from Dionysus a cask of excellent wine.
Heracles opened it, contrary to the wish of his host, and
the delicious fragrance attracted the other centaurs, who
besieged the grotto of Pholus. Heracles drove them away:
they fled to the house of Cheiron, and Heracles, eager in
his pursuit, wounded Cheiron, his old friend. Heracles was
deeply grieved, and tried to save Cheiron; but in vain, for
the wound was fatal. As, however, Cheiron was immortal, and
could not die, he prayed to Zeus to take away his
immortality, and give it to Prometheus. Thus Cheiron was
delivered of his burning pain, and died. Pholus, too, was
wounded by one of the arrows, which by accident fell on his
foot and killed him. This fight with the centaurs gave rise
to the establishment of mysteries, by which Demeter intended
to purify the hero from the blood he had shed against his
own will. (Apollod. 2.5.4; Diod. 4.14; Eur. Her. 364, &c.;
Theocrit. 7.150; Apollon. 1.127; Paus. 8.24.2; Ov. Met.
9.192.)
5. The stables of Augeas.
Eurystheus imposed upon Heracles the task of cleaning the
stables of Augeas in one day. Augeas was king of Elis, and
extremely rich in cattle. Heracles, without mentioning the
command of Eurystheus, went to Augeas, offering in one day
to clean his stables, if he would give him the tenth part of
the cattle for his trouble, or, according to Pausanias (v.
1.7) a part of his territory. Augeas, believing that
Heracles could not possibly accomplish what he promised,
agreed, and Heracles took Phyleus, the son of Augeas, as his
witness, and then led the rivers Alpheius and Peneius
through the stables, which were thus cleaned in the time
fixed upon. But Augeas, who learned that Heracles had
undertaken the work by the command of Eurystheus, refused
the reward, denied his promise, and declared that he would
have the matter decided by a judicial verdict. Phyleus then
bore witness against his father, who exiled him from Elis.
Eurystheus declared the work thus performed to be unlawful,
because Heracles had stipulated with Augeas a payment for
it. (Apollod. 2.5.5; Theocrit. 25.88, &c.; Ptolem. Heph. 5;
Athen. 10.412; Schol. ad Pind. Ol. 11.42.) At a subsequent
time Hferacles, to revenge the faithlessness of Augeas,
marched with an army of Argives and Tirynthians against
Augeas, but in a narrow defile in Elis he was taken by
surprise by Cteatus and Eurytus, and lost a great number of
his warriors. But afterwards Heracles slew Cteatus and
Eurytus, invaded Elis, and killed Augeas and his sons. After
this victory, Heracles marked out the sacred ground on which
the Olympian games were to be celebrated, built altars, and
instituted the Olympian festival and games. (Apollod. 2.7.2;
Paus. 5.1.7. 3.1, &c., 4.1; 8.15.2; Pind. O. 11.25, &c.,
comp. 5.5, 3.13, &c.)
6. The Stymphalian birds.
They were an innumerable swarm of voracious birds, the
daughters of Stymphalus and Ornis. They had brazen claws,
wings, and beaks, used their feathers as arrows, and ate
human flesh. They had been brought up by Ares, and were so
numerous, that with their secretions and feathers they
killed men and beasts, and covered whole fields and meadows.
From fear of the wolves, these birds had taken refuge in a
lake near Stymphalus, from which Heracles was ordered by
Eurvstheus to expel them. When Heracles undertook the task,
Athena provided him with a brazen rattle, by the noise of
which he startled the birds, and, as they attempted to fly
away, he killed them with his arrows. According to some
accounts, he did not kill the birds, but only drove them
away, and afterwards they appeared again in the island of
Aretias, whither they had fled, and where they were found by
the Argonauts. (Apollod. 2.5.6; Hyg. Fab. 30; Paus. 8.22.4,
&c.; Serv. ad Aen. 8.300; Apollon. 2.1037, with the Schol.)
7. The Cretan bull.
According to Acusilaus, this bull was the same as the one
which had carried Europa across the sea; according to
others, he had been sent out of the sea by Poseidon, that
Minos might sacrifice him to the god of the sea. But Minos
was so charmed with the beauty of the animal, that he kept
it, and sacrificed another in its stead. Poseidon punished
Minos, by making the fine bull mad, and causing it to make
great havoc in the island. Heracles was ordered by
Eurystheus to catch the bull, and Minos, of course,
willingly allowed him to do so. Heracles accomplished the
task, and brought the bull home on his shoulders, but he
then set the animal free again. The bull now roamed about
through Greece, and at last came to Marathon, where we meet
it again in the stories of Theseus. (Apollod. 2.5.7; Paus.
1.27.9, 5.10.2; Hyg. Fab. 30; Diod. 4.13, &c.; Serv. ad Aen.
8.294.)
8. The mares of the Thracian Diomedes.
This Diomedes, king of the Bistones in Thrace, fed his
horses with human flesh, and Eurystheus now ordered Heracles
to fetch those animals to Mycenae. For this purpose, the
hero took with him some companions. He made an unexpected
attack on those who guarded the horses in their stables,
took the animals, and conducted them to the sea coast. But
here he was overtaken by the Bistones, and during the
ensuing fight he entrusted the mares to his friend Abderus,
a son of Hermes of Opus, who was eaten up by them; but
Heracles defeated the Bistones, killed Diomedes, whose body
he threw before the mares, built the town of Abdera, in
honour of his unfortunate friend, and then returned to
Mycenae, with the horses which had become tame after eating
the flesh of their master. The horses were afterwards set
free, and destroyed on Mount Olympus by wild beasts.
(Apollod. 2.5.8; Diod. 4.15; Hyg. Fab. 30; Eur. Alc. 483,
493, Herc. Fur. 380, &c.; Gel. 3.9; Ptolem. Heph. 5.)
9. The girdle of the queen of the Amazons.
Hippolyte, the queen of the Anmilzons, (Diodorus calls the
queen Melanippe, and her sister Hippolyte), possessed a
girdle, which she had received from Ares, and Admete, the
daughter of Eurystheus, wished to have it. Heracles was
therefore sent to fetch it, and, accompanied by a number of
volunteers, he sailed out in one vessel. He first landed in
Paros, where he became involved in a quarrel with the sons
of Minos. Having killed two of them, he sailed to Mysia,
where his aid was solicited by Lycus, king of the
Mariandynians, against the Bebryces. Heracles assisted
Lycus, took a district of land from the enemy, which was
given to Lycus, who called it Heracleia. When Heracles at
length arrived in the port of Themiscyra (Thermodon), after
having given to the sea he had crossed the name of Euxeinus,
he was at first kindly received by Hippolyte, who promised
him her girdle. But Hera, in the disguise of an Amazon,
spread the report that the queen of the Amazons was robbed
by a stranger. They immediately rose to her assistance, and
Heracles, believing that the queen had plotted against him,
killed her, took her girdle, and carried it with him. This
expedition, which led the hero into distant countries,
afforded a favourable opportunity to poets and mythographers
for introducing various embellishments and minor adventures,
such as the murder of the Boreades, Calais and Zetes, and
his amour with Echidna, in the country of the Hyperboreans,
by whom he became the father of three sons. On his return he
landed in Troas, where he rescued Hesione from the monster
sent against her by Poseidon, in return for which her father
Laomedon promised him the horses he had received from Zeus
as a compensation for Ganymedes. But, as Laomedon did not
keep his word, Heracles on leaving threatened to make war
against Troy. He therefore landed in Thrace, where he slew
Sarpedon, and at length he returned through Macedonia to
Peloponnesus. (Apollod. 2.5.9; Diod. 4.16; Hdt. 4.9, 10, 82;
Eurip. Herc. Fur. 413, Ion. 1143; Plut. Thes. 26; Hom. Il.
5.649, &c.)
10. The oxen of Geryones in Erytheia.
The fetching of these oxen was a subject which, like the
preceding one, was capable of great poetical embellishments,
owing to the distant regions into which it carried the hero.
The adventure is mentioned by Hesiod, but it is further
developed in the later writers, and more especially by the
Roman poets, who took a more direct interest in it, as it
led the hero to the western parts of the world. The story
runs as follows:--Geryones, the monster with three bodies,
lived in the fabulous island of Erytheia (the reddish), so
called because it lay under the rays of the setting sun in
the west. It was originally conceived to be situated off the
coast of Epeirus, but afterwards it was identified either
with Gades or the Balearian islands, and was at all times
believed to be in the distant west. Gervones kept a herd of
red oxen, which fed together with those of Hades, and were
guarded by the giant Eurytion and the two-headed dog
Orthrus. Heracles was commanded by Eurystheus to fetch those
oxen of Geryones. He traversed Europe, and, having passed
through the countries of several savage nations, he at
length arrived in Libya. Diodorus makes Heracles collect a
large fleet in Crete, to sail against Chrysaor, the wealthy
king of Iberia, and his three sons. On his way he is further
said to have killed Antaeus and Busiris, and to have founded
Hecatompolis. On the frontiers of Libya and Europe he
erected two pillars (Calpe and Abyla) on the two sides of
the straits of Gibraltar, which were hence called the
pillars of Heracles. As on his journey Heracles was annoyed
by the heat of the sun, he shot at Helios, who so much
admired his boldness, that he presented him with a golden
cup or boat, in which he sailed across the ocean to
Ervtheia. He there slew Eurytion, his dog, and Geryones, and
sailed with his booty to Tartessus, where he returned the
golden cup (boat) to Helios. On his way home he passed the
Pyrenees and the Alps, founded Alesia and Nemausus in Gaul,
became the father of the Celts, and then proceeded to the
Ligurians, whose princes, Alebion and Dercynus, attempted to
carry off his oxen, but were slain by him. In his contest
with them, he was assisted by Zeus with a shower of stones,
as he had not enough missiles; hence the campus lapideus
between Massilia and the river Rhodanus. From thence he
proceeded through the country of the Tyrrhenians. In the
neighbourhood of Rhegium one of his oxen jumped into the
sea, and swam to Sicily, where Eryx, the son of Poseidon,
caught and put him among his own cattle. Heracles himself
followed, in search of the ox, and found him, but recovered
him only after a fight with Eryx, in which the latter fell.
According to Diodorus, who is very minute in this part of
his narrative, Heracles returned home by land, through Italy
and Illyricum; but, according to others, he sailed across
the Ionian and Adriatic seas. After reaching Thrace, Hera
made his oxen mad and furious. When, in their pursuit, he
came to the river Strymon, he made himself a road through
it, by means of huge blocks of stone. On reaching the
Hellespont, he had gradually recovered his oxen, and took
them to Eurystheus, who sacrificed then to Hera. (Hes. Th.
287, &c.; Apollod. 2.5.10; Diod. 4.17, &c., 5.17, 25; Hdt.
4.8; Serv. ad Acn. 7.662; Strab. iii. pp. 221, 258, &c.;
Dionys. A. R. 1.34; Pind. N. 3.21.)
These ten labours were performed by Heracles in the space of
eight years and one month; but as Eurystheus declared two of
them to have been performed unlawfully, he commanded him to
accomplish two more, viz. to fetch
11. The golden apples of the Hesperides.
This was particularly difficult, since Heracles did not know
where to find them. They were the apples which Hera had
received at her wedding from Ge, and which she had entrusted
to the keeping of the Hesperides and the dragon Ladon, on
Mount Atlas, in the country of the Hyperboreans. (Apollod.
2.5.11.) In other accounts the apples are described as
sacred to Aphrodite, Dionysus, or Helios; but the abode of
the Hesperides is placed by Hesiod, Apollodorus, and others,
in the west, while later writers specify more particularly
certain places in Libya, or in the Atlantic Ocean. The
mention of the Hyperboreans in this connection renders the
matter very difficult, but it is possible that the ancients
may have conceived the extreme north (the usual seat of the
Hyperboreans), and the extreme west to be contiguous.
Heracles, in order to find the gardens of the Hesperides,
went to the river Echedorus. in Macedonia, after having
killed Termerus in Thessaly. In Macedonia he killed Cycnus,
the son of Ares and Pyrene, who had challenged him. He
thence passed through Illyria, and arrived on the banks of
the river Eridanus, and was informed, by the nymphs in what
manner he might compel the prophetic Nereus to instruct him
as to what road he should take. On the advice of Nereus he
proceeded to Libya. Apollodorus assigns the fight with
Antaeus, and the murder of Busiris, to this expedition; both
Apollodorus and Diodorus now make IIeracles travel further
south and east: thus we find him in Ethiopia, where he kills
Emathion, in Arabia, and in Asia he advances as far as Mount
Caucasus, where he killed the vulture which consumed the
liver of Prometheus, and thus saved the Titan. At length
Heracles arrived at Mount Atlas, among the Hyperboreans.
Prometheus had advised him not to fetch the apples himself,
but to send Atlas, and in the meantime to carry the weight
of heaven for him. Atlas accordingly fetched the apples, but
on his return he refused to take the burden of heaven on his
shoulders again, and declared that he himself would carry
the apples to Eurystheus. Heracles, however, contrived by a
stratagem to get the apples and hastened away. On his return
Eurystheus made him a present of the apples, but Heracles
dedicated them to Athena, who, however, did not keep them,
but restored them to their former place. Some traditions add
to this account that Heracles killed the dragon Ladon.
(Apollod. 2.5.11; Diod. 4.26, &c.; Hes. Th. 215, &c.; Plin.
Nat. 6.31, 36; Plut. Thes. 11; Apollon. 4.1396, &c.; Hyg.
Fab. 31, Poet. Astr. 2.6; Eratosth. Catast. 3.)
12. Cerberus.
To fetch this monster from the lower world is the crown of
the twelve labours of Heracles, and is therefore usually
reckoned as the twelfth or last in the series. It is the
only one that is expressly mentioned in the Homeric poems.
(Od. 11.623, &c.) Later writers have added to the simple
story several particulars, such, e. g. that Heracles,
previous to setting out on his expedition, was initiated by
Eumolpus in the Eleusinian mysteries, in order to purify him
from the murder of the Centaurs. Accompanied by Hermes and
Athena, Heracles descended into Hades, near Cape Taenarum,
in Laconia. On his arrival most of the shades fled before
him, and he found only Meleager and Medusa, with whom he
intended to fight; but, on the command of Hermes, he left
them in peace. Near the gates of Hades he met Theseus and
Peirithous, who stretched their arms imploringly towards
him. He delivered Theseus, but, when he attempted to do the
same for Peirithous, the earth began to tremble. After
having rolled the stone from Ascalaphus, he killed one of
the oxen of Hades, in order to give the shades the blood to
drink, and fought with Menoetius, the herdsman. Upon this,
he asked Pluto permission to take Cerberus, and the request
was granted, on condition of its being done without force of
arms. This was accomplished, for Heracles found Cerberus on
the Acheron, and, notwithstanding the bites of the dragon,
he took the monster, and in the neighbourhood of Troezene he
brought it to the upper world. The place where he appeared
with Cerberus is not the same in all traditions, for some
say that it was at Taenarum, others at Hermione, or
Coroneia, and others again at Heracleia. When Cerberus
appeared in the upper world, it is said that, unable to bear
the light, he spit, and thus called forth the poisonous
plant called aconitun. After having shown the monster to
Eurystheus, Heracles took it back to the lower world. Some
traditions connect the descent of Heracles into the lower
world with a contest with Hades, as we see even in the Iliad
(5.397), and more particularly in the Alcestis of Euripides
(24, 846, &c. See Apollod. 2.5.12; Diod. 4.25, &c.; Plut.
Thes. 30; Paus. 2.31.2, 9.34.4, 3.25.4, 2.35.7; Ov. Met.
7.415, Serv. ad Virg. Georg. 2.152, Aen. 6.617).
After the Labors
Such is the account of the twelve labours of Heracles.
According to Apollodorus, Eurystheus originally required
only ten, and commanded him to perform two more, because he
was dissatisfied with two of them; but Diodorus represents
twelve as the original number required. Along with these
labours (ἆθλοι), the ancients relate a considerable number
of other feats (πάρεργα) which he performed without being
commanded by Eurystheus; some of them are interwoven with
the twelve Α῏θλοι, and others belong to a later period.
Those of the former kind have already been noticed above;
and we now proceed to mention the principal πάρεργα of the
second class. After the accomplishment of the twelve
labours, and being released from the servitude of
Eurystheus, he returned to Thebes. He there gave Megara in
marriage to Iolaus; for, as he had lost the children whom he
had by her, he looked upon his connection with her as
displeasing to the gods (Paus. 10.29), and went to Oechalia.
According to some traditions, Heracles, after his return
from Hades, was seized with madness, in which he killed both
Megara and her children. This madness was a calamity sent to
him by Hera, because he had slain Lycus, king of Thebes,
who, in the belief that Heracles would not return from
Hades, had attempted to murder Megara and her children.
(Hyg. Fab. 32; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 38.) Eurytus, king of
Oechalia, an excellent archer, and the teacher of Heracles
in his art, had promised his daughter Iole to the man who
should excel him and his sons in using the bow. Heracles
engaged in the contest with them, and succeeded, but Eurytus
refused abiding by his promise, saying, that he would not
give his daughter to a man who had murdered Ills own
children. Iphitus, the son of Eurytus, endeavoured to
persuade his father, but in vain. Soon after this the oxen
of Eurytus were carried off, and it was suspected that
Heracles was the offender. Iphitus again defended Heracles,
went to him and requested his assistance in searching after
the oxen. Heracles agreed; but when the two had arrived at
Tiryns, Heracles, in a fit of madness, threw his friend down
from the wall, and killed him. Deiphobus of Amyclae, indeed,
purified Heracles from this murder, but he was,
nevertheless, attacked by a severe illness. Heracles then
repaired to Delphi to obtain a remedy, but the Pythia
refused to answer his questions. A struggle between Heracles
and Apollo ensued, and the combatants were not separated
till Zeus sent a flash of lightning between them. Heracles
now obtained the oracle that he should be restored to
health, if he would sell himself, would serve three years
for wages, and surrender his wages to Eurytus, as an
atonement for the murder of Iphitus. (Apollod. 2.6.1, 2;
Diod. 4.31, &c.; Hom. Il. 2.730, Od. 21.22, &c.; Soph.
Trach. 273, &c.) Heracles was sold to Omphale, queen of
Lydia, and widow of Tmolus. Late writers, especially the
Roman poets, describe Heracles, during his stay with
Omphale, as indulging at times in an effeminate life: he
span wool, it is said, and sometimes he put on the garments
of a woman, while Omphale wore his lion's skin; but,
according to Apollodorus and Diodorus, he nevertheless
performed several great feats. (Ov. Fast. 2.305, Heroid.
9.53; Senec. Hippol. 317, Herc. Fur. 464; Lucian, Dial.
Deor. 13.2; Apollod. 2.6.3; Diod. 4.31, &c.) Among these, we
mention his chaining the Cercopes [CERCOPES], his killing
Syleus and his daughter in Aulis, his defeat of the
plundering Idones, his killing a serpent on the river
Sygaris, and his throwing the blood-thirsty Lytierses into
the Maeander. (Comp. Hygin. Poet. Astr. 2.14; Schol. ad
Theocrit. 10.41; Athen. 10.415.) He further gave to the
island of Doliche the name of Icaria, as he buried in it the
body of Icarus, which had been washed on shore by the waves.
He also undertook an expedition to Colchis, which brought
him in connection with the Argonauts (Apollod. 1.9.16; Hdt.
7.193; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. 1.1289; Ant. Lib. 26); he
took part in the Calydonian hunt, and met Theseus on his
landing from Troezene on the Corinthian isthmus. An
expedition to India, which was mentioned in some traditions,
may likewise be inserted in this place. (Philostr. Vit.
Apoll. 3.4, 6; Arrian, Ind. 8, 9.)
When the period of his servitude and his illness had passed
away, he undertook an expedition against Troy, with 18 ships
and a band of heroes. On his landing, he entrusted the fleet
to Oicles, and with his other companions made an attack upon
the city. Laomedon in the mean time made an attack upon the
ships, and slew Oicles, but was compelled to retreat into
the city, where he was besieged. Telamon was the first who
forced his way into the city, which roused the jealousy of
Heracles to such a degree that lie determined to kill him;
but Telamon quickly collected a heap of stones, and
pretended that he was building an altar to Heracles
καλλίνικος or ἀλεξίκακος. This soothed the anger of the
hero; and after the sons of Laomedon had fallen, Heracles
gave to Telamon Hesione, as a reward for his bravery. (Hom.
Il. 5.641, &c., 14.251, 20.145, &c.; Apollod. 2.6.4; Diod.
4.32, 49; Eur. Tro. 802, &c.)
On his return from Troy, Hera sent a storm to impede his
voyage, which compelled him to land in the island of Cos.
The Meropes, the inhabitants of the island, took him for a
pirate, and received him with a shower of stones; but during
the night he took possession of the island, and killed the
king, Eurypylus. Heracles himself was wounded by Chalcodon,
but was saved by Zeus. After he had ravaged Cos, he went, by
the command of Athena, to Phlegra, and fought against the
Gigantes. (Apollod. 2.7.1; Hom. Il. 14.250, &c.; Pind. N.
4.40.) Respecting his fight against the giants, who were,
according to an oracle, to be conquered by a mortal, see
especially Eur. Her. 177, &c., 852, 1190, &c., 1272. Among
the giants defeated by him we find mention of Alcyoneus, a
name borne by two among them. (Pind. N. 4.43, Isthm. 6.47.)
Soon after his return to Argos, Heracles marched against
Augeas to chastise him for his breach of promise (see
above), and then proceeded to Pylos, which he took, and
killed Periclymenus, a son of Neleus. He then advanced
against Lacedaemon, to punish the sons of Hippocoon, for
having assisted Neleus and slain Oeonus, the son of
Licymnius. (Paus. 3.15.2, 2.18.6; Apollod. 2.7.3; Diod.
4.33.) Heracles took Lacedaemon, and assigned the government
of it to Tyndarens. On his return to Tegea, he became, by
Auge, the father of Telephus [AUGE], and then proceeded to
Calydon, where he demanded Deianeira, the daughter of
Oeneus, for his wife. [DEIANEIRA; ACHELOUS.] The adventures
which now follow are of minor importance, such as the
expedition against the Dryopians, and the assistance he gave
to Aegimius, king of the Dorians, against the Lapithae; but
as these events led to his catastrophe, it is necessary to
subjoin a sketch of them.
Heracles had been married to Deianeira for nearly three
years, when, at a repast in the house of Oeneus, he killed,
by an accident, the boy Eunomus, the son of Architeles. The
father of the boy pardoned the murder, as it had not been
committed intentionally; but Heracles, in accordance with
the law, went into exile with his wife Deianeira. On their
road they came to the river Euenus, across which the centaur
Nessus used to carry travellers for a small sum of money.
Heracles himself forded the river, and gave Deianeira to
Nessus to carry her across. Nessus attempted to outrage her:
Heracles heard her screaming, and as the centaur brought her
to the other side, Heracles shot an arrow into his heart.
The dying centaur called out to Deianeira to take his blood
with her, as it was a sure means for preserving the love of
her husband. (Apollod. 2.7.6; Diod. 4.36; Soph. Trach. 555,
&c.; Ov. Met. 9.201, &c.; Senec. Herc. Oct. 496, &c.; Paus.
10.38.1.) From the river Euenus, Heracles now proceeded
through the country of the Dryopes, where he showed himself
worthy of the epithet "the voracious," which is so often
given to him, especially bv late writers, for in his hunger
he took one of the oxen of Theiodamas, and consumed it all.
At last he arrived in Trachis, where he was kindly received
by Ceyx, and conquered the Dryopes. He then assisted
Aegimius, king of the Dorians, against the Lapithae, and
without accepting a portion of the country which was offered
to him as a reward. Laogoras, the king of the Dryopes, and
his children, were slain. As Heracles proceeded to Iton, in
Thessaly, he was challenged to single combat by Cycnus, a
son of Ares and Pelopia (Hesiod. Scut. Her. 58, &c.); but
Cycnus was slain. King Amyntor of Ormenion refused to allow
Heracles to pass through his dominions, but had to pay for
his presumption with his life. (Apollod. 2.7.7; Diod. 4.36,
&c.)
Heracles now returned to Trachis, and there collected an
army to take vengeance on Eurytus of Oechalia. Apollodorus
and Diodorus agree in making Heracles spend the last years
of his life at Trachis, but Sophocles represents the matter
in a very different light, for, according to him, Heracles
was absent from Trachis upwards of fifteen months without
Deianeira knowing where he was. During that period he was
staying with Omphale in Lydia; and without returning home,
he proceeded from Lydia at once to Oechalia, to gain
possession of Iole, whom he loved. (Soph. Trach. 44, &c.;
248, &c., 351, &c.) With the assistance of his allies,
Heracles took the town of Oechalia, and slew Eurytus and his
sons, but carried his daughter Iole with him as a prisoner.
On his return home he landed at Cenaeum, a promontory of
Euboea, and erected an altar to Zeus Cenaeus, and sent his
companion, Lichas, to Trachis to fetch him a white garment,
which he intended to use during the sacrifice. Deiancira,
who heard from Lichas respecting Iole, began to fear lost
she should supplant her in the affection of her husband, to
prevent which she steeped the white garment he had demanded
in the preparation she had made from the blood of Nessus.
Scarcely had the garment become warm on the body of
Heracles, when the poison which was contained in the
ointment, and had come into it from the poisoned arrow with
which Heracles had killed Nessus, penetrated into all parts
of his body, and caused him the most fearful pains. Heracles
seized Lichas by his feet, and threw him into the sea. He
wrenched off his garment, but it stuck to his flesh, and
with it he tore whole pieces from his body. In this state he
was conveyed to Trachis. Deianeira, on seeing what she had
unwittingly done, hung herself; and Heracles commanded
Hyllus, his eldest son, by Deianeira, to marry Iole as soon
as he should arrive at the age of manhood. He then ascended
Mount Oeta, raised a pile of wood, ascended, and ordered it
to be set on fire. No one ventured to obey him, until at
length Poeas the shepherd, who passed by, was prevailed upon
to comply with the desire of the suffering hero. When the
pile was burning, a cloud came down from heaven, and amid
peals of thunder carried him into Olympus, where he was
honoured with immortality, became reconciled with Hera, and
married her daughter Hebe, by whom he became the father of
Alexiares and Anicetus. (Hom. Od. 11.600, &c.; Hes. Th. 949,
&c.; Soph. Trach. l.c., Philoct. 802; Apollod. 2.7. §. 7;
Diod. 4.38; Ov. Met. 9.155, &c.; Hdt. 7.198; Conon, Narrat.
17; Paus. 3.18.7; Pind. Nem. i. in fin., 10.31, &c., Isthm.
4.55, &c.; Virg. Aen. 8.300, and many other writers.)
The wives and children of Heracles are enumerated by
Apollodorus (2.7.8), but we must refer the reader to the
separate articles. We may, however, observe that among the
very great number of his children, there are no daughters,
and that Euripides is the only writer who mentions Macaria
as a daughter of Heracles by Deianeira. We must also pass
over the long series of his surnames, and proceed to give an
account of his worship in Greece. Immediately after the
apotheosis of Heracles, his friends who were present at the
termination of his earthly career offered sacrifices to him
as a hero; and Menoetius established at Opus the worship of
Heracles as a hero. This example was followed by the
Thebans, until at length Heracles was worshipped throughout
Greece as a divinity (Diod. 4.39; Eur. Her. 1331); but he,
Dionysus and Pan, were regarded as the youngest gods, and
his worship was practised in two ways, for he was worshipped
both as a god and as a hero. (Hdt. 2.44, 145.) One of the
most ancient temples of Heracles in Greece was that at Bura,
in Achaia, where he had a peculiar oracle. (Paus. 7.25.6;
Plut. de Malign. Herod. 31.) In the neighbourhood of
Thermopylae, where Athena, to please him, had called forth
the hot spring, there was an altar of Heracles, surnamed
μελάμπυγος (Schol. ad Aristoph. Nub. 1047; Hdt. 7.176); and
it should be observed that hot springs in general were
sacred to Heracles. (Diod. 5.3; Schol. ad Pind. Ol. 12.25;
Liv. 22.1; Strab. pp. 60, 172, 425, 428.) In Phocis he had a
temple under the name of μισολύνης; and as at Rome, women
were not allowed to take part in his worship, probably on
account of his having been poisoned by Deianeira. (Plut.
Quaest. Rom. 57, de Pyth. Orac. 20; Macr. 1.12.) But temples
and sanctuaries of Heracles existed in all parts of Greece,
especially in those inhabited by the Dorians. The sacrifices
offered to him consisted principally of bulls, boars, rams
and lambs. (Diod. 4.39; Paus. 2.10.1.) Respecting the
festivals celebrated in his honour, see Dict. of Ant. s. v.
Ἠράκλεια.
The worship of Hercules at Rome and in Italy requires a
separate consideration. His worship there is connected by
late, especially Roman writers, with the hero's expedition
to fetch the oxen of Geryones; and the principal points are,
that Hercules in the West abolished human sacrifices among
the Sabines, established the worship of fire, and slew
Cacus, a robber, who had stolen eight of his oxen. (Dionys.
A. R. 1.14; CACUS.) The aborigines, and especially Evander,
honoured the hero with divine worship. (Serv. ad Aen. 8.51,
269.) Hercules, in return, feasted the people, and presented
the king with lands, requesting that sacrifices should be
offered to him every year, according to Greek rites. Two
distinguished families, the Potitii and Pinarii, were
instructed in these Greek rites, and appointed hereditary
managers of the festival. But Hercules made a distinction
between these two families, which continued to exist for a
long time after; for, as Pinarius arrived too late at the
repast, the god punished him by declaring that lie and his
descendants should be excluded for ever from the sacrificial
feast. Thus the custom arose for the Pinarii to act the part
of servants at the feast. (Diod. 4.21; Dionys. A. R. 1.39,
&c.; Liv. 1.40, 5.34; Nepos, Hann. 3; Plut. Quaest. Rom. 18;
Ov. Fast. 1.581.) The Fabia gens traced its origin to
Hercules, and Fauna and Acca Laurentia are called mistresses
of Hercules. In this manner the Romans connected their
earliest legends with Hercules. (Macr. 1.10; August. de Civ.
Dei, 6.7.) It should be observed that in the Italian
traditions the hero bore the name of Recaranus, and this
Recaranus was afterwards identified with the Greek Heracles.
He had two temples at Rome, one was a small round temple of
Hercules Victor, or Hercules Triumphalis, between the river
and the Circus Maximus, in the forum boarium, and contained
a statue, which was dressed in the triumphal robes whenever
a general celebrated a triumph. In front of this statue was
the ara maxima, on which, after a triumph, the tenth of the
booty was deposited for distribution among the citizens.
(Liv. 10.23; Plin. H. N. 34.7, 16 ; Macr. 3.6; Tac. Ann.
12.24; Serv. ad Aen. 12.24; Ath. 5.65; comp. Dionys. A. R.
1.40.) The second temple stood near the porta trigemina, and
contained a bronze statue and the altar on which Hercules
himself was believed to have once offered a sacrifice.
(Dionys. A. R. 1.39, 40; Plut. Quaest. Rom. 60; Plin. Nat.
33.12, 45.) Here the city praetor offered every year a young
cow, which was consumed by the people within the sanctuary.
The Roman Hercules was regarded as the giver of health
(Lydus, de Mens. p. 92), and his priests were called by a
Sabine name Cupenci. (Serv. ad Aen. 12.539.) At Rome he was
further connected with the Muses, whence he is called
Musagetes, and was represented with a lyre, of which there
is no trace in Greece. The identity of the Italian with the
Greek Heracles is attested not only by the resenmblalce in
the traditions and the mode of worship, but by the distinct
belief of the Romans themselves. The Greek colonies had
introduced his worship into Italy, and it was thence carried
to Rome, into Gaul, Spain, arid even Germany. (Tac. Germ.
2.) But it is, nevertheless, in the highest degree probable
that the Greek mythus was engrafted upon, or supplied the
place of that about the Italian Recaranus or Garanus.
[GARANUS.]
The works of art in which Heracles was represented were
extremely numerous, and of the greatest variety, for he was
represented at all the various stages of his life, from the
cradle to his death; but whether he appears as a child, a
youth, a struggling hero, or as the immortal inhabitant of
Olympus, his character is always that of heroic strength and
energy. Specimens of every kind are still extant. In the
works of the archaic style he appeared as a man with heavy
armour (Paus. 3.15.7), but he is usually represented armed
with a club, a Scythian bow, and a lion's skin. His head and
eyes are small in proportion to the other parts of his body;
his hair is short, bristly, and curly, his neck short, fat,
and resembling that of a bull; the lower part of his
forehead projects, and his expression is grave and serious;
his shoulders, arms, breast, and legs display the highest
physical strength, and the strong muscles suggest the
unceasing and extraordinary exertions by which his life is
characterised. The representations of Heracles by Myron and
Parrhasius approached nearest to the ideal which was at
length produced by Lysippus. The socalled Farnesian
Heracles, of which the torso still exists, is the work of
Glycon, in imitation of one by Lysippus. It is the finest
representation of the hero that has come down to us: he is
resting, leaning on his right arm, while the left one is
reclining on his head, and the whole figure is a most
exquisite combination of peculiar softness with the greatest
strength. (Müller, Handb. der Archäol. p. (p. 640, &100.2d
edit.; E. A. Hagen, de Herculis Laboribus Comment. Arch.,
Regiomont. 1827.)
The mythus of Heracles, as it has come down to us, has
unquestionably been developed on Grecian soil; his name is
Greek, and the substance of the fables also is of genuine
Greek growth: the foreign additions which at a later age may
have been incorporated with the Greek mythus can easily be
recognised and separated from it. It is further clear that
real historical elements are interwoven with the fables. The
best treatises on the mythus of Heracles are those of
Buttmann (Mythologus, vol. i. p. 246, &c.), and C. O. Müller
(Dorians, ii. cc. 11 and 12), both of whom regard the hero
as a purely Greek character, though the former considers him
as entirely a poetical creation, and the latter believes
that the whole mythus arose from the proud consciousness of
power which is innate in every man, by means of which he is
able to raise himself to an equality with the immortal gods,
notwithstanding all the obstacles that may be placed in his
way.
Before we conclude, we must add a few remarks respecting the
Heracles of the East, and of the Celtic and Germanic
nations. The ancients themselves expressly mention several
heroes of the name of Heracles, who occur among the
principal nations of the ancient world. Diodorus, e.g.
(3.73, comp. 1.24, 5.64, 76) speaks of three, the most
ancient of whom was the Egyptsian, a son f Zeus, the second
a Cretan, and one of the Idacan Dactyls, and the third or
youngest was Heracles the son of Zeus by Alcmena, who lived
shortly before the Trojan war, and to whom the feats of the
earlier ones were ascribed. Cicero (de Nat. Deor. 3.16)
counts six heroes of this name, and he likewise makes the
last and youngest the son of Zeus and Alcmena. Varro (apud
Serv. ad Aen. 8.564) is said to have reckoned up forty-four
heroes of this name, while Servius (l.c.) assumes only four,
viz. the Tirynthian, the Argive, the Theban, and the Libyan
Heracles. Herodotus (2.42, &c.) tells us that he made
inquiries respecting Heracles: the Egyptian he found to be
decidedly older than the Greek one; but the Egyptians
referred him to Phoenicia as the original source of the
traditions. The Egyptian Heracles, who is mentioned by many
other writers besides Herodotus and Diodorus, is said to
have been called by his Egyptian name Som or Dsom, or,
according to others, Chon (Etym. M. s. v. Χῶν), and,
according to Pausanias (10.17.2), Maceris. According to
Diodorus (1.24), Som was a son of Amon (Zeus); but Cicero
calls him a son of Nilus, while, according to Ptolemaeus
Hephaestion, Heracles himself was originally called Nilus.
This Egyptian Heracles was placed by the Egyptians in the
second of the series of the evolutions of their gods. (Diod.
l.c.; Hdt. 2.43, 145, 3.73; Tac. Ann. 2.6.) The Thebans
placed him 17,000 years before king Amasis, and, according
to Diodorus, 10,000 years before the Trojan war; whereas
Macrobius (Macr. 1.20) states that he had no beginning at
all. The Greek Heracles, according to Diodorus, became the
heir of all the feats and exploits of his elder Egyptian
namesake. The 'Egyptian Heracles, however, is also mentioned
in the second classof the kings; so that the original
divinity, by a process of anthropomorphism, appears as a
man, and in this capacity he bears great resemblance to the
Greek hero. (Diod. 1.17, 24, 3.73.) This may, indeed, be a
mere reflex of the Greek traditions, but the statement that
Osiris, previous to his great expedition, entrusted Heracles
with the government of Egypt, seems to be a genuine Egyptian
legend. The other stories related about the Egyptian
Heracles are of a mysterious nature, and unintelligible, but
the great veneration in which he was held is attested by
several authorities. (Hdt. 2.113; Diod. 5.76; Tac. Ann.
2.60; Macr. 1.20.)
Further traces of the worship of Heracles appear in Thasus,
where Herodotus (2.44) found a temple, said to have been
built by the Phoenicians sent out in search of Europa, five
generations previous to the time of the Greek Heracles. He
was worshipped there principally in the character of a
saviour (σωτήρ, Paus. 5.25.7, 6.11.2).
The Cretan Heracles, one of the Idacan Dactyls, was believed
to have founded the temple of Zeus at Olympia (Paus.
5.13.5), but to have originally come from Egypt. (Diod.
4.18.) The traditions about him resemble those of the Greek
Heracles (Diod. 5.76; Paus. 9.27.5); but it is said that he
lived at a much earlier period than the Greek hero, and that
the latter only imitated him. Eusebius states that his name
was Diodas, and Hieronymus makes it Desanaus. He was
worshipped with funeral sacrifices, and was regarded as a
magician, like other ancient daemones of Crete. (Cic. de
Nat. Deor. 3.16; Diod. 5.64.)
In India, also, we find a Heracles, who was called by the
unintelligible name Διρσάνηρ. (Plin. Nat. 6.16, 22; Hesych.
s.v. Δορσάνηρ.) The later Greeks believed that he was their
own hero, who had visited India, and related that in India
he became the father of many sons and daughters by Pandaea,
and the ancestral hero of the Indian kings. (Arrian, Ind. 8,
9; Diod. 2.39, 17.85, 96; Philostr. Vit. Apoll. 3.46.)
The Phoenician Heracles, whom the Egyptians considered to be
more ancient than their own, was probably identical with the
Egyptian or Libyan Heracles. See the learned disquisition in
Movers (Die Phoenicier, p. 415, &c.) He was worshipped in
all the Phoenician colonies, such as Carthage and Gades,
down to the time of Constantine, and it is said that
children were sacrificed to him. (Plin. Nat. 36.5.)
The Celtic and Germanic Heracles has already been noticed
above, as the founder of Alesia, Nemausus, and the author of
the Celtic race. We become acquainted with him in the
accounts of the expedition of the Greek Heracles to
Geryones. (Hdt. 1.7, 2.45, 91, 113, 4.82; Pind. O. 3.11,
&c.; Tacit. Germ. 3, 9.) We must either suppose that the
Greek Heracles was identified with native heroes of those
northern countries, or that the notions about Heracles had
been introduced there from the East. - A Dictionary of Greek
and Roman biography and mythology, William Smith, Ed.
Read More
