Heracles
| 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 |
| Genealogy | |
| Born | |
| Died | |
| 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 | |
| Canaanite | Melqart |
| Roman | Hercules |
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| Deities |
| Heroes and heroism |
| Related |
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Ancient Greece portal Myths portal |
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Heracles (/ˈhɛrəkliːz/ ⓘ HERR-ə-kleez; Ancient Greek: Ἡρακλῆς, lit. 'glory/fame of Hera'), born Alcaeus (Ἀλκαῖος, Alkaios) or Alcides (Ἀλκείδης, Alkeidēs), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon. 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.