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Of all the heroes, Her’a cles, better known by Roman name, Her’cu les, was by far the most widely honored and the greatest, and the stories of his deeds of prowess are many. His mother was Alc me’na, a grandchild of Perseus, and a daughter of E lec’try on, king of Mycenæ. Her father married her to a famous warrior, Amphi’try on by name, who by accident killed his father-in-law and was forced with his wife to flee to Thebes. On one occasion when Amphitryon was away fighting, Zeus visited Alcmena in the form of her husband, and later, when twin sons were born to her, the one, Heracles, was declared to be Zeus's son, while the other was the son of Amphitryon.

Now just before Heracles' birth Zeus had declared in the assembly of the gods that a descendant of Perseus would soon be born who should rule mightily over Mycenæ. Hera, always jealous of Zeus's children by other wives, plotted to foil his purpose. She extracted from him a promise that the child first born on a certain day should be the ruler in that land. Having secured this, she retarded the birth of Heracles and brought his cousin Eu rys’theus first to the light. Nor did her jealous hatred end there, for throughout his life Heracles suffered labors and great unhappiness at her hands.

Fig. 64. Heracles.

His troubles and dangers began in his babyhood. For one night when Heracles and his twin serpents, brother were ten months old, their mother had laid them side by side in their father's great curved shield, and rocking the shining cradle had hushed them to sleep: "Sleep, my babes, sleep sweetly and light; sleep, brothers twain, goodly children. Heaven prosper your slumbering now and your awakening to-morrow." At midnight Hera sent two terrible serpents with evil gleaming eyes and. poisonous fangs to kill Heracles. Then the babies awoke, and the mortal's son cried aloud and tried to slip from the cradle, but Heracles gripped the poisonous serpents by the throats and strangled them with his baby hands. Alcmena heard the cry and called upon her husband to make haste and see what was wrong. Calling on his slaves to follow, Amphitryon sprang from his bed and rushed to the cradle. There was Heracles capering with joy and holding out the strangled serpents for his father to see. His parents, appalled at the evil omen, consulted a seer as to what it might mean, and were told that their son was to be a mighty hero, who, after many labors, should go to share the life of the immortals.

So Heracles, commonly known as Amphitryon's son, grew strong and active; from his father he learned to drive a chariot, from a son of Hermes all kinds of athletic games, and from a son of Apollo he learned music. This unfortunate tutor was the first to feel his pupil's power, for in a moment of rage the boy killed him with a blow of his lyre. Then Amphitryon sent him to be brought up among the shepherds. It is told that once at cross-roads Heracles met two women, Duty and Pleasure, and that each asked him to take her as his guide. Notwithstanding the enticing offers Pleasure made him, the hero chose Duty and followed her through life.

Fig. 65. Heracles strangling the Serpents.

When he was grown, Heracles married the daughter of the king of Thebes. But Hera, who still hated Alcmena's son, sent a cursed madness upon him so that he threw his own children into the fire. Seeking purification from his crime, he left his country and his wife and journeyed to Delphi. The god commanded that he should serve his cousin Eurystheus and so make atonement. Thus, as Hera had planned, Zeus's son became the servant of Eurystheus, at whose bidding he performed twelve great labors. The number was twelve because Heracles is a sun-god, and the labors follow the course of the sun through the months, beginning near at hand in Argolis and ending in the lower world.

Fig. 66. Five of Heracles' Labors.

A ferocious lion, whose lair was a cave in the mountains of Argolis, was ravaging the country round. Eurystheus ordered Heracles to rid him of this terror. Finding that his arrows did not even pierce the beast's hide, Heracles finally caught him in his cave and strangled him; then he bore him back to Mycenæ. But Eurystheus was so terrified by the sight of the dead lion that he ordered the hero never thereafter to enter the city, but to display his spoils outside the walls. The skin of the lion, impervious to all weapons, Heracles always afterwards wore.

In the marsh of Lerna, also in Argolis, lived the Hydra, a serpent with nine heads, and so poisonous that its touch or its foul breath caused death. This beast Heracles attacked with his sword, but finding that as he cut off one head two grew in its place, he ordered his nephew and faithful companion Io la’us, to burn each neck the instant he had severed the head. One head was immortal; this he buried under a stone. The Hydra seems to represent the malaria coming from a marsh, until it is dried up by the sun.

The The scene of the next three labors was Arcadia. First, Heracles caught a fierce wild boar in a net and brought it alive to Eurystheus, who was so fearful of it that he jumped into a large jar and only peeped out at it over the rim.

Next, a golden-horned doe, unlike most does very dangerous, had to be caught. Its brazen Doe. hoofs never knew fatigue, and it led Heracles a chase for a whole year before it was caught and brought to Mycenæ.

Fig. 67. Heracles killing the Hydra.

Near the Stym pha’li an Lake lived huge birds with arrow-like feathers and mighty talons, who used to snatch men and beasts and carry them away. At Athena's suggestion, Heracles aroused these birds with cymbals and then shot them with arrows which he had dipped in the Hydra's poison.

His next task carried the hero to Elis, where he was sent to clean the stables of Au ge’as, which had not been cleaned in thirty years. This he accomplished by turning the course of the river Alphe’us so that it flowed through the stables. King Augeas cheated him of the reward he had promised, and later, when he was free, Heracles took vengeance upon him and, at the same time, established in Elis the Olympic Games in honor of his father Zeus.

Fig. 68. Heracles carrying the Boar.

King Minos of Crete had been presented with a beautiful bull by Poseidon, but, as he refused to offer it in sacrifice, it had been driven mad and was a menace to the whole island. Heracles tamed the brute and rode it across the sea back to Greece. Later the bull escaped and went to Marathon, where the hero Theseus finally killed it.

Di o me’des was a son of Ares and ruled as king in the savage land of Thrace. He had marvelous horses whom he fed on the flesh of men. When Heracles attempted to capture these fierce beasts, the Thracians in great numbers attacked him, but he and lolaüs drove them off and bore the horses back to Eurystheus.

Fig. 69. Amazon.

Hip pol’y ta was at this time the queen of the Amazons, a warlike tribe of women that lived near the Euxine Sea. Ares had given her a girdle, and Eurystheus' daughter coveted it. When Heracles arrived at her court and asked for the girdle, Hippolyta was so struck by his strength and beauty that she would have given it him, had not Hera, unwilling that he should get off so easily, roused the other Amazons to attack him. Then Heracles, thinking that the queen had played him false, killed her. On his way home from this adventure, when he had come to Troy, he found the king La om’e don in great trouble. For when Poseidon and Apollo had built for him the walls of his city, he had failed to give {hem the reward he had promised. Poseidon had, therefore, sent a dreadful sea-monster to ravage the coast, and nothing would free the city from this terror but that Hesi’one, Laomedon’s daughter, should be offered to the monster. The maiden was waiting to be devoured when Heracles came and agreed to kill the serpent in return for the gift of some wonderful horses that Laomedon had received from Zeus in payment for his stolen son, Gan’y mede. The incorrigible king cheated Heracles, too, and later paid for his dishonesty with his life.

His tenth labor called Heracles to the far west, where the sun sinks into the stream of Ocean. Here lived Ge’ry on, an extraordinary being with three bodies, six legs and six arms, and a pair of monstrous wings. He was very rich, and thousands of glorious red cattle fed on his land under the guard of an ever watchful dog and a strong herdsman. Heracles sailed thither in a golden bowl, which the sun had given him, using his lion's skin as a sail. As he passed through the straits that separate Europe from Africa, he landed and set up the Pillars of Hercules as a monument of his feat. On arriving at the country of Geryon he was attacked first by the dog and then by the herdsman, but he killed them both, and finally, after a terrific struggle, crushed Geryon himself and drove off the cattle. Just what route he took on his homeward way it is difficult to say, but he seems to have visited all the lands of western Europe and to have had many adventures and done many marvelous deeds. On the Aventine Hill, later a part of Rome, he met and killed the giant Cacus, who had stolen some of his cattle, dragging them off to his cave by the tails so that their tracks might mislead Heracles. But the other cattle lowed as they passed the cave, and the captives answered them, thus betraying the hiding-place. Approaching Greece from the north, at last he brought the cattle to Eurystheus, who sacrificed them to Hera.

Fig. 70. Heracles in the bowl of the Sun.

The When Zeus had married Hera, she had presented him with some golden apples, which were kept up in the north near the land of the Hyperboreans and were guarded by a dragon. To learn just where to find them Heracles must catch and hold Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea, who, like Proteus, had the power of changing his form. But whether he became a raging lion or a flame of fire or flowing water, Heracles held him fast and at length had his question answered. On his way he had various adventures, for in Libya he met the giant Antaeus, a son of Earth, who was accustomed to challenge all comers to wrestle with him. As every time he fell to earth he rose with redoubled strength, he had always been the victor, and a temple near by was adorned with the skulls of his victims. Heracles conquered him by holding him up in his arms, away from his mother Earth, until he crushed in his ribs. While the hero was sleeping after this combat, the Pygmies swarmed about him and tried to bury him alive in the sand, but he awoke and amused himself by picking them up and bundling them into his hon's skin to carry home with him. In Egypt the king tried to sacrifice him, as he did all strangers, to Zeus, but Heracles burst his bonds and dashed out the brains of his captors. In the Caucasus Mountains he found and freed Prometheus, who for ages had been bound there for having disobeyed Zeus and given fire to men. (See p. 10.) At last he came to the garden where the apples grew and there found Atlas holding up the heavens. (This would make it seem that the garden was in the west, but mythological geography is sometimes hard to follow.) He persuaded Atlas to get the apples for him, taking the giant's burden while he was gone. Atlas returned with the apples but refused to take up his burden again, preferring to be the bearer of the apples to Eurystheus. Heracles, pretending to agree, asked him to take the heavens only for one moment while he put a cushion on his shoulder. The stupid giant was taken in, and, of course, once the transfer had been made, Heracles went on his way leaving Atlas to his old burden.

His twelfth and last labor took Heracles to the lower world. Here he was guided and assisted by Athena and Hermes, and with their help safely passed by the dangers of the way and came to the presence of King Pluto. The king agreed to let him take the three-headed watchdog, Cerberus, if he could get him without using a weapon. This his great strength enabled him to do, and he took the dog to Mycenæ. Cerberus was afterwards returned to the lower world.

Although his twelve labors were now ended, Heracles had no rest; Hera's hate still pursued him. While he was staying with a certain king, he killed his host's son, out of resentment for an imagined injury, and because of this violation of hospitality he suffered from a painful illness. When he went to Delphi to ask how he might escape this trouble, Apollo refused to answer, whereupon Heracles stole the tripod and was about to set up an oracle of his own. Apollo hastened to defend his sacred shrine, and the combatants were parted only by a thunderbolt from Zeus. They thereupon swore loyal friendship with one another, and Apollo gave the hero an answer to his question. He might expiate his crime by having himself sold as a slave at public auction and giving the price to the family of the slain man. Om’pha le, Queen of Libya, having bought him, he served her faithfully for the allotted term. Part of the time he was fighting his mistress' enemies and keeping her country from harm, but most of the time he sat at her feet in womanish clothes, employed in spinning and weaving and other feminine tasks.

At the end of his term of service he turned his attention to avenging himself on the faithless Laomedon. Assembling a force of men and ships he attacked Troy and took it, putting to the sword the king and all his sons except Priam. Him he made king in his father's place.

On his return to Greece he married De jan i’ra, after fighting and conquering her former unwelcome lover, the river-god Ach e lo’us. Ancheloüs in the struggle took the form of a bull, and the horn which Heracles broke off was afterwards used as the horn of plenty or cornucopia. After this victory again he was attacked by his madness and killed a boy at his father-in-law's court. Self-exiled, with his wife, he left the country, and starting again on his wanderings, came to a river where the centaur Nessus acted as ferryman. When Nessus, after carrying Dejanira over on his back, attempted to run away with her, Heracles drew one of his poisoned arrows and shot him. Before he died he gave Dejanira a vial filled with his own blood, telling her that if her husband's love ever seemed to fail she should dip a robe in the blood and his love would be restored.

Not long after this the hero undertook to punish a king who had once refused to give him his daughter in marriage. He took the city and carried off the princess I’o le as his captive. Stopping on his way home to sacrifice to Zeus, he sent a messenger to get him a suitable garment to wear at the sacrifice. Then Dejanira, fearing that his love had turned from her to the captive Iole, remembered the centaur's advice and sent him a robe that she had dipped in the blood. When Heracles put it on, it clung to his body and ate into his flesh like fire. In his agony he threw the messenger that had brought the garment into the sea, and then, preferring death to such torture, having ordered a great funeral-pyre to be raised on a mountain-top, he laid himself upon it and begged his friends to set fire to it. All refused to be responsible for the hero's death, until at length Phil oc te’tes, partly from pity and partly because of Heracles' offer of his famous bow and arrows, applied the torch. Amid columns of smoke, and thunder and lightning sent by Zeus to glorify the end of his son, the hero's spirit left the earth. Thereafter he was taken into Olympus and made a god, and Hera, relenting, gave him to wife her own daughter Hebe. His earthly wife Dejanira, in grief and remorse, killed herself.

Fig. 71. Nessus running off with Dejanira.

Heracles was worshiped both as a hero and as a god, and was called upon especially m the palestra and in all athletic contests. Young men regarded him as their special friend and helper. In Athens a temple was built in honor of Heracles, the Warder off of Evil, in memory of his many good deeds to men, and in Rome, as Hercules, he was worshiped as the Unconquered and the Defender. He is represented as a gigantic man of remarkable muscular development. His lion's skin hangs over his shoulder and his club is in his hand.