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Hercules Hercules is the Roman name for the Greek divine
hero Heracles, who was the son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. In classical mythology,
Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.
The Romans adapted the Greek hero's iconography and myths for their literature and art under
the name Hercules. In later Western art and literature and in popular culture, Hercules
is more commonly used than Heracles as the name of the hero. Hercules was a multifaceted
figure with contradictory characteristics, which enabled later artists and writers to
pick and choose how to represent him. This article provides an introduction to representations
of Hercules in the later tradition. Labours
Hercules is known for his many adventures, which took him to the far reaches of the Greco-Roman
world. One cycle of these adventures became canonical as the "Twelve Labours," but the
list has variations. One traditional order of the labours is found in the Bibliotheca
as follows: Slay the Nemean Lion.
Slay the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra. Capture the Golden Hind of Artemis.
Capture the Erymanthian Boar. Clean the Augean stables in a single day.
Slay the Stymphalian Birds. Capture the Cretan Bull.
Steal the Mares of Diomedes. Obtain the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the
Amazons. Obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon.
Steal the apples of the Hesperides. Capture and bring back Cerberus.
Side adventures Hercules had a greater number of "deeds on
the side" (parerga) that have been popular subjects for art, including:
Roman era The Latin name Hercules was borrowed through
Etruscan, where it is represented variously as Heracle, Hercle, and other forms. Hercules
was a favorite subject for Etruscan art, and appears often on bronze mirrors. The Etruscan
form Herceler derives from the Greek Heracles via syncope. A mild oath invoking Hercules
(Hercule! or Mehercle!) was a common interjection in Classical Latin.
Hercules had a number of myths that were distinctly Roman. One of these is Hercules' defeat of
Cacus, who was terrorizing the countryside of Rome. The hero was associated with the
Aventine Hill through his son Aventinus. Mark Antony considered him a personal patron god,
as did the emperor Commodus. Hercules received various forms of religious veneration, including
as a deity concerned with children and childbirth, in part because of myths about his precocious
infancy, and in part because he fathered countless children. Roman brides wore a special belt
tied with the "knot of Hercules", which was supposed to be hard to untie. The comic playwright
Plautus presents the myth of Hercules' conception as a sex comedy in his play Amphitryon; Seneca
wrote the tragedy Hercules Furens about his bout with madness. During the Roman Imperial
era, Hercules was worshipped locally from Hispania through Gaul.
Germanic association Tacitus records a special affinity of the
Germanic peoples for Hercules. In chapter 3 of his Germania, Tacitus states:
In the Roman era Hercules' Club amulets appear from the 2nd to 3rd century, distributed over
the empire (including Roman Britain, c.f. Cool 1986), mostly made of gold, shaped like
wooden clubs. A specimen found in Köln-Nippes bears the inscription "DEO HER", confirming
the association with Hercules. In the 5th to 7th centuries, during the Migration
Period, the amulet is theorized to have rapidly spread from the Elbe Germanic area across
Europe. These Germanic "Donar's Clubs" were made from deer antler, bone or wood, more
rarely also from bronze or precious metals.They are found exclusively in female graves, apparently
worn either as a belt pendant, or as an ear pendant. The amulet type is replaced by the
Viking Age Thor's hammer pendants in the course of the Christianization of Scandinavia from
the 8th to 9th century. Medieval mythography
After the Roman Empire became Christianized, mythological narratives were often reinterpreted
as allegory, influenced by the philosophy of late antiquity. In the 4th century, Servius
had described Hercules' return from the underworld as representing his ability to overcome earthly
desires and vices, or the earth itself as a consumer of bodies. In medieval mythography,
Hercules was one of the heroes seen as a strong role model who demonstrated both valor and
wisdom, with the monsters he battles as moral obstacles. One glossator noted that when Hercules
became a constellation, he showed that strength was necessary to gain entrance to Heaven.
Medieval mythography was written almost entirely in Latin, and original Greek texts were little
used as sources for Hercules' myths. Renaissance mythography
The Renaissance and the invention of the printing press brought a renewed interest in and publication
of Greek literature. Renaissance mythography drew more extensively on the Greek tradition
of Heracles, typically under the Romanized name Hercules, or the alternate name Alcides.
In a chapter of his book Mythologiae (1567), the influential mythographer Natale Conti
collected and summarized an extensive range of myths concerning the birth, adventures,
and death of the hero under his Roman name Hercules. Conti begins his lengthy chapter
on Hercules with an overview description that continues the moralizing impulse of the Middle
Ages: In art
In Roman works of art and in Renaissance and post-Renaissance art, Hercules can be identified
by his attributes, the lion skin and the gnarled club (his favorite weapon); in mosaic he is
shown tanned bronze, a virile aspect. Modern era
In numismatics Hercules was among the earliest figures on
ancient Roman coinage, and has been the main motif of many collector coins and medals since.
One example is the 20 euro Baroque Silver coin issued on September 11, 2002. The obverse
side of the coin shows the Grand Staircase in the town palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy
in Vienna, currently the Austrian Ministry of Finance. Gods and demi-gods hold its flights,
while Hercules stands at the turn of the stairs. In films
A series of nineteen Italian Hercules movies were made in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
The actors who played Hercules in these films were Steve Reeves, Gordon Scott, Kirk Morris,
Mickey Hargitay, Mark Forest, Alan Steel, Dan Vadis, Brad Harris, Reg Park, Peter Lupus
(billed as Rock Stevens) and Michael Lane. A number of English-dubbed Italian films that
featured the name of Hercules in their title were not intended to be movies about Hercules.