Hercules/Herakles (Divine protector of mankind)

“Unbelievable! Watch Hercules, the Superhuman Demigod, Conquer Monsters and Save the World!”

• Alias: The Lion of Zeus
• Gender: Male
• Race: Demigod (Son of Zeus and Alcmena)
• Occupation: Legendary Hero, Monster Slayer, and Demigod
• Religion: Devoted worshiper of the  Hellenic Pantheon
• Allies: Zeus, Athena, Iolaus (his nephew and loyal companion), the Argonauts, and other mortal and divine heroes.
• Enemies: Hades, Hera (who often caused him troubles), Nemean Lion, Hydra, Cerberus, and various other mythical creatures.
• Abode/Base of Operations: Though he was a wandering hero, his lineage tied him to Thebes, and later he ascended to Mount Olympus as a god.
• Nationality: Greek (born in Thebes)
• Languages: Ancient Greek, able to understand the languages of various creatures he encountered.
• Alignment: Chaotic good, with a touch of unpredictability due to his divine heritage.
• Affiliation(s): The Olympian Pantheon, Heroic companions, and the city-states he aided during his Labors and adventures.
• Significant Others: Megara (his first wife, though tragic events occurred), and later he became the lover of Hebe, the goddess of youth, whom he married after achieving godhood. Consorts – Megara, Omphale, Deianira, Hebe, Children Alexiares and Anicetus, Telephus, Hyllus, Tlepolemus

The son of Zeus and the mortal woman Alcmene, Herakles is strength personified a champion of the Olympian order against chthonic monsters. By conquering dangerous archaic forces he is said to “make the world safer for mankind” and to be its benefactor.While still an infant, he strangled two huge snakes with his bare hands. Zeus’ wife, Hera, was jealous of the affair that begot Heracles, and she is always conspiring to bring him harm. is a fearless adventurer whose many escapades are the stuff of legend. A robust, cheerful man, he has an appetite for food and women that almost equals that of his divine father.

Although he visits Olympus from time to time, and has been known to aid the gods in their struggles, Heracles spends most of his time in the world of men. He is a stout man with a long beard, usually wearing a lion’s skin for clothing.

Extraordinary strength, courage, ingenuity, and sexual prowess with both males and females were among his characteristic attributes. Although he was not as clever as the likes of Odysseus or Nestor, Heracles used his wits on several occasions when his strength did not suffice, such as when laboring for King Augeias, wrestling the giant Antaeus, or tricking Atlas into taking the sky back onto his shoulders. Together with Hermes he was the patron and protector of gymnasia and palaestrae. His iconographic attributes are the lion skin and the club.

Heracles was both hero and god; at the same festival sacrifice was made to him, first as a hero,with a chthonic libation, and then as a god, upon an altar: thus he embodies the closest Greek approach to a “demi-god”.

Cult of Heracles

The Greeks celebrate the festival of the Herakleia, which commemorated the death of Heracles, on the second day of the month of Metageitnion (which would fall in late July or early August). What is believed to be an Egyptian Temple of Heracles in the Bahariya Oasis dates to 21 BC.

Myths of Heracles

Birth and childhood

A major factor in the well-known tragedies surrounding Heracles is the hatred that the goddess Hera. A full account of Heracles must render it clear why Heracles was so tormented by Hera, when there are many illegitimate offspring sired by Zeus. Heracles was the fruit of the affair Zeus had with the mortal woman Alcmene.

Zeus made love to her after disguising himself as her husband, Amphitryon, home early from war (Amphitryon did return later the same night, and Alcmene became pregnant with his son at the same time, a case of superfecundation, where a woman carries twins sired by different fathers). Thus, Heracles’s very existence proved at least one of Zeus’s many illicit affairs, and Hera often conspired against Zeus’s mortal offspring, as revenge for her husband’s infidelities.

On the night the twins sharing the same mother were to be born, Hera, knowing of her husband Zeus’s adultery, persuaded Zeus to swear an oath that the child born that night to a member of the House of Perseus would be High King. Once the oath was sworn, Hera hurried to Alcmene’s dwelling and slowed the birth causing another boy Eurystheus to be born prematurely, making him High King in place of Heracles.

One of the boys, Iphicles, was Amphitryon’s son and a mortal, while the other was the demi-god Heracles. He was named Heracles in an unsuccessful attempt to mollify Hera. A few months after he was born, Hera sent two serpents to kill him as he lay in his cot. Heracles throttled a snake in each hand and was found by his nurse playing with their limp bodies as if they were child’s toys.

Youth

After killing his music tutor with a lyre, he was sent to tend cattle on a mountain by his foster father Amphitryon. Here, he was visited by two nymphs – Pleasure  and Virtue – who offered him a choice between a pleasant and easy life or a severe but glorious life. He chose the latter. One of Heracles’s challenges was put to him by King Thespius of Thespia who wished him to kill the Lion of Cithaeron. As a reward, the king offered him the chance to impregnate each of his 50 daughters. Accordingly, Heracles did this in one night (sometimes referred to as his 13th Labour).

Later in Thebes, Heracles married King Creon’s daughter, Megara.

Twelve Labors

In a fit of madness induced by Hera, Heracles slew his own and his brother’s children. To expiate the crime, Heracles was required to carry out ten labors set by his arch-enemy, Eurystheus, who had become king in Heracles’ place. Heracles accomplished these tasks, but Hera ordered Eurystheus to give two more tasks to Heracles, which he then carried out

1. The Nemeian Lion .
2. The Hydra of Lernaean.
3. The Ceryneian Hind.
4. The Erymanthian Boar.
5. The Augean Stables.
6. The Stymphalian Birds.
7. The Cretan Bull .
8. The Mares of Diomedes.
9. The Girdle of Hippolyte.
10. The Cattle of Geryon.
11. The Apples of the Hesperides.
12. The Capture of Cerberus, the guardian dog of Hades.

Further adventures

After completing these tasks, Heracles joined the Argonauts in the Search of the Golden Fleece. They rescued heroines, conquered Troy, and helped the gods fight against
the Gigantes. He also fell in love with Princess Iole of Oechalia. Heracles’ advances were spurned by the king and his sons, except for one – Iole’s brother Iphitus. Iphitus became Heracles best friend. But once again, Hera drove Heracles mad and he threw Iphitus over the city wall to his death. Once again, Heracles purified himself through servitude – this time to Queen Omphale of Lydia.

Omphale

Omphale was a queen or princess of Lydia. As penalty for a murder, Heracles was her slave. He was forced to do women’s work and wear women’s clothes, while she wore the skin of the Nemean Lion and carried his olive-wood club. After some time, Omphale freed Heracles and married him. Some sources mention a son born to them who is
variously named. It was at that time that the cercopes, mischievous wood spirits, stole Heracles’ weapons. He punished them by tying them to a stick with their faces pointing downward.

Hylas

While walking through the wilderness, Heracles was set upon by the Dryopians. He killed their king, Theiodamas, and the others gave up and offered him Prince Hylas. He took the youth on as his weapons bearer and beloved. Years later, Heracles and Hylas joined the crew of the Argo. As Argonauts, they only participated in part of the journey. In Mysia, Hylas was kidnapped by a nymph. Heracles, heartbroken, searched for a long time but Hylas had fallen in love with the nymphs and never showed up again. The ship set sail without them.

Iole

King Eurytus of Oechalia promised his daughter, Iole, to whoever could beat his sons in an archery contest. Heracles won but Eurytus abandoned his promise. Heracles killed him and his sons excluding Iphitus and abducted Iole.

Laomedon of Troy

Before the Trojan War, Poseidon sent a sea monster to attack Troy. Laomedon planned on sacrificing his daughter Hesione to Poseidon in the hope of appeasing him. Heracles happened to arrive (along with Telamon and Oicles) and agreed to kill the monster if Laomedon would give him the horses received from Zeus as compensation for Zeus’ kidnapping Ganymede. Laomedon agreed. Heracles killed the monster, but Laomedon went back on his word. Heracles and his followers attacked Troy and sacked it. Then they slew all Laomedon’s sons present there save Podarces, who saved his own life by giving Heracles a golden veil Hesione had made. Telamon took Hesione as a war prize; they were married and had a son, Teucer.

Other adventures

• Heracles defeated the Bebryces (ruled by King Mygdon) and gave their land to Prince Lycus of Mysia, son of Dascylus.
• He killed the robber Termerus.
• Heracles visited Evander with Antor, who then stayed in Italy.
• Heracles killed King Amyntor of the Dolopes for not allowing him into his kingdom. He also killed King Emathion of Arabia.
• Heracles killed Lityerses after beating him in a contest of harvesting.
• Heracles killed Poriclymenus at Pylos.
• Heracles founded the city Tarentum in Italy.
• Heracles learned music from Linus (and Eumolpus), but killed him after Linus corrected his mistakes. He learned how to wrestle from Autolycus. He killed the famous boxer Eryx of Sicily in a match.
• Heracles was an Argonaut. He killed Alastor and his brothers.
• When Hippocoon overthrew his brother, Tyndareus, as King of Sparta, Heracles reinstated the rightful ruler and killed Hippocoon and his sons.
• Heracles slew the giants Cycnus, Porphyrion and Mimas. The expedition against Cycnus, in which Iolaus accompanied Heracles.
• Heracles went to war with Augeias after he denied him a promised reward for clearing his stables. Augeias remained undefeated due to the skill of his two generals, the Molionides, and after Heracles fell ill, his army was badly beaten. Later, however, he was able to ambush and kill the Molionides, and thus march into Elis, sack it, and kill Augeias and his sons.
• Heracles visited the house of Admetus on the day Admetus’ wife, Alcestis, had agreed to die in his place. By hiding beside the grave of Alcestis, Heracles was able to surprise Death when he came to collect her, and by squeezing him tight until he relented, was able to persuade Death to return Alcestis to her husband.

Marriage, liaisons and death

Heracles had numerous liaisons with women. Some of these were linked with later dynasties which claimed descent from his offspring, collectively referred to as the Heracleidae.

Heracles’ women

During the course of his life, Heracles married four times. His first marriage was to Megara, whose three children he murdered in a fit of madness and whom he later
gave in marriage to his beloved Iolaus, because the sight of her was too painful. His second wife was Omphale, the Lydian queen to whom he was delivered as a slave.

His third marriage was to Deianira, for whom he had to fight the river god Achelous. (Upon Achelous’ death, Heracles removed one of his horns and gave it to some nymphs who turned it into the cornucopia.) Soon after they wed, Heracles and Deianira had to cross a river, and a centaur named Nessus offered to help Deianira across but then attempted to rape her.

Enraged, Heracles shot the centaur from the opposite shore with a poisoned arrow (tipped with the Lernaean Hydra’s blood) and killed him. As he lay dying, Nessus plotted revenge and told Deianira to gather up his blood and spilled semen and, if she ever wanted to prevent Heracles from having affairs with other women, she should apply them to his vestments. Nessus knew that his blood had become tainted by the poisonous blood of the Hydra, and would burn through the skin of anyone it touched.

Later, when Deianira suspected that Heracles was fond of Iole, she soaked a shirt of his in the mixture. Heracles’ servant, Lichas, brought him the shirt and he put it on. Instantly he was in agony, the cloth burning into him. As he tried to remove it, the flesh ripped from his bones. Heracles chose a voluntary death, asking that a pyre be built for him to end his suffering. After death the gods transformed him into an immortal, or alternatively, the fire burned away the mortal part of the demi-god, so that only the god remained. Because his mortal parts had been incinerated, he could now become a full god and join his father and the other Olympians on Mount Olympus. He then married Hebe.

No one but Heracles’ friend Philoctetes would light his funeral pyre. For this action, Philoctetes received Heracles’ bow and arrows, which were later needed by the Greeks to defeat Troy in the Trojan War. Philoctetes confronted Paris and shot a poisoned arrow at him. The Hydra poison would subsequently lead to the death of Paris. The Trojan War, however, would continue until the Trojan Horse was used to defeat Troy.

Another episode of his female affairs that stands out was his stay at the palace of King Thespios, who encouraged Heracles to make love to his daughters, all fifty of them, in one night. They all got pregnant and all bore sons. Many of the kings of ancient Greece traced their lines to one or another of these, notably the kings of Sparta and Macedon.

Heracles’ eromenoi

As paragon of masculinity and warriorship, Heracles also had a number of pederastic male beloveds. Heracles’ male lovers were beyond counting. Of these, the one most closely linked to Heracles is the Theban Iolaus. Their story, an initiatory myth thought to be of ancient origin, contains many of the elements of the Greek pederastic apprenticeship in which the older warrior is the educator and the younger his helper in battle.

Thus, Iolaus is Heracles’s charioteer and squire. Also in keeping with the initiatory pattern of the relationship, Heracles in the end gave his pupil a wife, symbolizing his entry into adulthood. Iolaus’s ritual functions paralleled his relationship with Heracles. He was a patron of male love Plutarch reports that down to his own time, male couples would go to Iolaus’s tomb in Thebes to swear an oath of loyalty to the hero and to each other and he presided over initiations in the historical era, such as the one at Agyrion in central Sicily.

Heracles’ children

Telephus is the son of Heracles and Auge. Hyllus is the son of Heracles and Deianeira or Melite. The sons of Heracles and Hebe are Alexiares and Anicetus.

Role-playing Notes

Herakles is a dangerous fellow to have dealings with, for he will take offense at the slightest insult. Anyone tricking, deceiving, or failing to express the proper gratitude
is placing his life in Herakles hands, for the demigod has a violent temper. Heracles will never have anything to do with wizards or priests, as he has a profound distrust of magic.

Duties of the Priesthood

Tv and film

• Hercules the legendary journeys
• Young Hercules