Zeus, Hercules' father, was the most powerful of the gods. That meant Zeus could do anything he pleased, but it also meant that sometimes Zeus was not a very good husband to his wife, Hera, the queen of the gods. When Alcmene's husband, Amphitryon, was away, Zeus made her pregnant. This made Hera so angry that she tried to prevent the baby from being born.
When Alcmene gave birth to the baby anyway, she named him Herakles. The Romans pronounced the name "Hercules," and so do we today. The name Herakles means "glorious gift of Hera" in Greek, and that got Hera angrier still. Then she tried to kill the baby by sending snakes into his crib. But little Hercules was one strong baby, and he strangled the snakes, one in each hand, before they could bite him.
Louvre G , Attic red figure stamnos, c. The baby Hercules wrestles with the snakes Hera has sent to his crib. How could she get even? Hera knew that she would lose in a fight, and that she wasn't powerful enough to prevent Zeus from having his way. Hera decided to pay Zeus back for his infidelity by making the rest of Hercules' life as miserable as she could. Eurystheus and the 12 Labors When Hercules grew up and had become a great warrior, he married Megara. They had two children. Hercules and Megara were very happy, but life didn't turn out for them the way it does in the movie.
Hera sent a fit of madness to Hercules that put him into so great a rage, he murdered Megara and the children. When Hercules regained his senses and saw the horrible thing that he had done, he asked the god Apollo to rid him of this pollution. Apollo commanded the hero to do certain tasks as a punishment for his wrongs, so that the evil might be cleansed from his spirit.
Ancient History and Latin Expert. Gill is a Latinist, writer, and teacher of ancient history and Latin. Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. Gill, N. The 10 Greatest Heroes of Greek Mythology. Top Special Animals in Greek Mythology. Your Privacy Rights. To change or withdraw your consent choices for ThoughtCo. At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page. These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data.
We and our partners process data to: Actively scan device characteristics for identification. I Accept Show Purposes. In the cave he came upon the sleeping Medusa. By viewing Medusa's reflection in his polished shield, he safely approached and cut off her head. 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. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, the son of Zeus and Hera. In the Iliad, his father Zeus tells him that he is the god most hateful to him. An association with Ares endows places and objects with a savage, dangerous, or militarized quality.
Achilles ' most notable feat during the Trojan War was the slaying of the Trojan prince Hector outside the gates of Troy. Although the death of Achilles is not presented in the Iliad, other sources concur that he was killed near the end of the Trojan War by Paris, who shot him in the heel with an arrow. God of War Many years after the events of God of War III, Kratos , having survived his apparent death from releasing the power of Hope in Greece, ended up in ancient Scandinavia in the Norse realm of Midgard with a young son named Atreus, who is unaware of his true nature.
Zeus -or his mother- Rhea turned Atalanta and Hippomenes into lions after they had sex together in one of his temples. Other accounts say that Aphrodite changed them into lions because they did not give her proper honor. Once Hercules completed every one of the labors , Apollo declared, he would be absolved of his guilt and achieve immortality.
First, Apollo sent Hercules to the hills of Nemea to kill a lion that was terrorizing the people of the region. Hercules possesses the typical powers of an Olympian god, including superhuman strength, durability, speed, reflexes, stamina and endurance.
Amazingly, archaeology has confirmed many of their assumptions. The walls of Troy show evidence of destruction in about and BC, dates that roughly correspond to the sacking of the city by Hercules and the end of the Trojan War.
Other sites show similar evidence of sieges, battles, and construction that match dates given for mythological events. Even more incredibly, astronomy can help confirm the timeline for the birth of Hercules. Descriptions of the magically lengthened night of his conception point to a solar eclipse , which occurred in the region on February 10, BC.
The science and archaeology does not support the historical existence of any particular character, but provides evidence about how the Greeks developed their legends to fit actual events.
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