Hercules
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Jul 14, 2023 · Heracles, the son of Zeus and Alcmene (a mortal woman), was a Greek hero and demigod. Because he was the product of one of Zeus’ many affairs, Heracles was hated and hounded by Zeus’ jealous wife Hera. Hera ensured that Heracles’ life was filled with hardship and tragedy. Of all Heracles’ heroic deeds, the most important were the Twelve ...
Mar 8, 2023 · Cerberus was the offspring of Typhoeus and Echidna and the guard dog of the Underworld. A servant of Hades (the Greek god of the dead), Cerberus prevented the inhabitants of the Underworld from returning to the land of the living. He was well suited to this task: in most traditions, Cerberus was a gigantic hound with three heads and a mane of ...
Mar 6, 2023 · Hercules and the Hydra by Antonio del Pollaiuolo (1475) Uffizi Gallery, Florence / Google Arts and Culture Public Domain. The myth of Heracles’ madness predates Euripides and continued to be represented in literature and art after the Heracles. But despite its many idiosyncrasies, Euripides’ version of Heracles’ madness is perhaps the ...
Mar 11, 2023 · Alcestis, the daughter of Pelias, was a Greek princess known for her beauty as well as her virtue. She was married to Admetus, the king of Pherae in the northern Greek region of Thessaly. Alcestis proved herself a paragon of matrimonial devotion when it came time for Admetus to die. The god Apollo, who loved Admetus, devised a way for him to ...
Jan 26, 2023 · The Stymphalian Birds were the last of Heracles’ “Peloponnesian Labors” (at least by Apollodorus’ count). The Stymphalian Birds had infested the woods around Lake Stymphalus in Arcadia. In some traditions they were aggressive, though earlier accounts seem to have imagined them merely as pests, with the main complaint being their large ...
Jul 11, 2023 · Hippolyta, daughter of Ares and Otrera, was a queen of the Amazons. She was best known for her girdle, which was said to signify her supremacy among the Amazons. Unfortunately, the hero and strongman Heracles was ordered to steal this girdle for his ninth labor. When Hippolyta and the other warlike Amazons resisted, Heracles fought and killed ...
Mar 8, 2023 · Hercules and the Hydra by Antonio del Pollaiuolo (1475) Uffizi Gallery, Florence / Google Arts and Culture Public Domain. The Heracles of the Shield of Heracles represents the hero just as these new developments were taking shape. In this poem, however, Heracles fights like the heroes of Homer, with shield, spear, and chariot; the club and lion ...
Sep 11, 2023 · The most complete accounts of Antaeus’ myth come from Roman rather than Greek literature. Some of the earliest sources to describe how Heracles (Hercules to the Romans) defeated Antaeus are the Metamorphoses and the Ibis by Ovid (43 BCE–17/18 CE) and the mythological handbook of Hyginus or “Pseudo-Hyginus” (first century CE or later).
Mar 22, 2023 · The Erymanthian Boar was known exclusively for its role in Heracles’ famous Twelve Labors. These were assigned to the hero by Eurystheus, the king of Mycenae, who in turn was guided by Heracles’ divine nemesis, Hera. The labors were meant to destroy Heracles, but the inimitable hero was able to complete them all (much to Hera’s chagrin).
Dec 7, 2022 · Hades was also a fixture of the 1990s TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. In video games, Hades appears as a recurring character in the God of War series (the palace of Hades is a featured level in God of War III), as well as in Age of Mythology and Age of Empires.
