Greek PantheonHero
Heracles
Also known as Hercules, Alcides
The most famous Greek hero, son of Zeus, celebrated for superhuman strength and the Twelve Labors he performed in atonement for killing his own children in a fit of madness sent by Hera.
About Heracles
Son of Zeus, Enemy of Hera
Heracles was born to the mortal woman Alcmene after Zeus visited her disguised as her own husband, making Heracles Zeus's son and a permanent target of Hera's jealousy. Hera's persecution shapes his whole story, from the serpents she sent to kill him in his cradle (which he strangled as an infant) to the madness she later inflicted on him.
The Twelve Labors
Accounts differ on the order of the catastrophe involving Megara and their children. In Pseudo-Apollodorus's Bibliotheca (2.4.12–2.5.1), Hera's madness follows the Minyan war; after the killings, Heracles goes to Delphi and is ordered into Eurystheus's service, making the Labors an expiation. Euripides' Heracles instead places the madness after Heracles has completed Eurystheus's commands and returned from Hades with Cerberus (610–615, 830–865). The Labors themselves include killing the Nemean Lion and the Lernaean Hydra, capturing the Erymanthian Boar and the Ceryneian Hind, cleaning the Augean stables in a day, driving off the Stymphalian Birds, capturing the Cretan Bull and the Mares of Diomedes, taking the girdle of the Amazon queen Hippolyta, herding the cattle of Geryon, stealing the apples of the Hesperides, and finally dragging the three-headed hound Cerberus up from the underworld.
Death and Apotheosis
Heracles later married Deianira, who was tricked by the dying centaur Nessus into keeping a robe soaked in poisoned blood as a supposed love-charm. When she used it, the robe burned Heracles's flesh so badly that he built his own funeral pyre on Mount Oeta and had it lit. As his mortal body burned away, Zeus took him up to Olympus, where he became a god and finally reconciled with Hera.
On parentage: Zeus visited Alcmene in the guise of her husband Amphitryon.
Key deeds
- Strangled two serpents sent by Hera while still an infant
- Completed the Twelve Labors set by King Eurystheus
- Dragged the hound Cerberus up from the underworld
- Freed Prometheus from his chains on the Caucasus
- Died and was raised to godhood on Olympus
Fate
Died in agony wearing a robe poisoned with the blood of the centaur Nessus; he built his own funeral pyre, and Zeus took him up to Olympus as a god upon his death.
Across traditions
Parallel figures
Heroes and gods who play a part like Heracles's in other traditions.
Hindu PantheonArjunaIllustrationBoth are divinely fathered heroes who complete a long series of near-impossible trials as penance or duty.
In the museums
Heracles in art
Real objects in public collections, released into the public domain by the museums that hold them. Dates refer to when each object was made. Objects made within the tradition come first, later depictions after.
(opens the museum record)
Ancient object
Bronze statuette of Herakles (opens the museum record)
An Italic representation of the hero. The museum places it among statuettes showing Herakles advancing with club and bow; it does not identify a particular labour.
(opens the museum record)Ancient object
Sardonyx cameo fragment with Hercules tying up Cerberus (opens the museum record)
A sardonyx cameo fragment the museum titles Hercules Tying Up Cerberus, showing the hero's final labor of capturing the three-headed hound of the underworld.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Apollodorus, Bibliotheca
- Apollodorus, Bibliotheca
Appears in
Ancient and classical works featuring this figure.
burns on Mount Oeta after the poisoned robe of Nessus and ascends as a god (Book 9)
Greatest of Greek heroes whose Twelve Labors, conquests, and apotheosis are systematically cataloged (Book II.4.8-II.7.8)
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Hero legends were retold for centuries, and the sources often disagree on parentage, deeds and death. This entry follows the best-known versions and notes the main alternatives.
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