Herakles/Hercles

Herakles or Hercules

Although His birth name given by his mortal stepfather and mother was Alcedes(Alkeidēs) but was changed to Heracles by his father to try to appease Hera.

Also called Herakles (meaning Hera’s glory) and is known as the most popular hero in history. He is the demi-god son of the mortal Alcmene and the God Zeus king of the Olympian gods and god of the sky. He is technically royalty as his mother is the daughter of Electryon son of Perseus and Andromeda. He was meant to rule as a king based on an oath by his father but a trick by Hera instead made his cousin Eurystheus king.

The first two on the left are Hercules as a mortal and on the right is as a God.

When he became a god he became the Gatekeeper of Olympus, and possibly the God of Heroes.

He has a twin half brother Iphicles and a younger half sister Laonome who are the children of his step-father Amphitryon.

Thanks to some rough calculations if he had existed his date of birth would have been 1280 BCE and his mortal death 1224 BCE

He has an weird family tree which I managed to compose, which goes as his mother Alcmene is the daughter of Electryon and Astydamia, Electryon is the son of Perseus and Andromeda Rulers of Argos and Mycnia, Perseus is the son of Danae and Zeus, Danae is the daughter of Acrisius King of Argos and Eurydice of Argos, Acrisius is the son of Abas King of Argos, son of Lynceus and Hypermenstra (one of the 50 Danaides who did not kill her husband) Lynceus was 1 of the 50 sons of Aegyptus King of Aigyptos and Hypermenstra the daughter of Danaus King of Libya and both Danaus and Aegyptus were sons of Belus King of Aigyptos, he was the son of Princess Libya and Poseidon, she was the daughter Epaphus son of Zeus and Io. Eurydice of Argos was the daughter of Lacedaemon King of Lakedaimonia and Princess Sparta, Lacedaemon was the son of Zeus and Taygete the Pleiade, Princess Sparta was the daughter of Eurotas King of Laconia son of Myles King of Laconia son of Lelex King of Megara son of Poseidon and Princess Libya. Alcmene’s mother Anaxo was the daughter of her uncle Alcaeus and Astydamia daughter of Hippodamia of Pisa and Pelops son of Eurynassa and Tantalus son of Zeus and the Oceanid Plouto. Hippodamia was the daughter of Evaret of Argos and Oenamus King of Pisa, Evaret was the other daughter of Acrisius and Eurydice rulers of Argos, Oenamus was the son of Ares and Harpinna a naiad and Ares was the son of Hera.

So he is Hera's 5th great grandson and Step-son and the 4th Great grandson of Ares also his step-brother (As I believe Ares was Hera's son only), Poseidon was his uncle and twice 8th Great Grandfather. Also not only was Zeus his father he was his Great great grandfather, and his 4th, 5th and 10th Great grandfather. Zeus is in his family tree 5 times.

As a demi-god he had great strength, and healing ability, and could possibly see Gods when they were invisible to mortals (as seen in Hercules: The Legendary Journey) its also possible he had other abilities.

He was despised by his step-mother the Goddess Hera queen of the gods and she decided he would be the one to suffer for all his father’s infidelities. She sent a pair of serpents to kill him as a baby but he strangled and killed them. After that she never directly attacked him but used minions and pawns. A reason why could be that his father place a protection order on him preventing any Olympian god from attacking/hurting him. He constantly battled his step-mother through out his life and it wasn’t until he became a god that they finally reconciled.

His original name was Alcides before it was changed. It is also believed he was born in Thebes. Interesting enough there was a buried temple that was dedicated to him found in a city block in the current Thebes and a 2500 year old text states his house was just outside the gates of the ancient city and the area lines up and the text states that a shrine was built on the exact spot of his child hood home.

According to myth he accidentally does bad things like destroying property or killing people, according to myth he accidentally killed his music teacher Linus

He began saving people defending them and protecting cities, he slew a lion roaming Mount Cithaeron that was eating the flocks of King Thespius and while staying for a short time he ended up sleeping with all 50 of Thespius’ daughters and having sons by all except one who had twins. He also helped save Thebes from an attacking army and he married Megara daughter of King Creon, he had 3 sons with her, named Therimachus, Delcoon and Creontiades. But Hera deciding he shouldn’t be happy sent a fit of madness to him and in the fit off madness in some accounts killed all 3 children or killed his entire family. He went to the oracle of Delphi to find out how could atone for what he did and was told he must do a penance under his cousin King Eurystheus of Tiryns in Mycenae. On his way he ended up staying temporarily with the naiad Melite who he fathered a son with named Hyllus, not to be confused with his son by Deianira.

Note: It is said he only killed his children as his wife remained alive and he divorced her and gave her to his nephew Iolaus (who was the son of his brother Iphicles) to marry and they had a daughter Leipephilene.

Eurystheus under orders from Hera declared that he must perform 10 labors in order to clear himself of what he did, except the King and Hera never expected him to be able to perform the labors and survive. He was only supposed to perform 10 labors but the 2nd and 5th labor did not count in Eurystheus opinion because he had help in the second and he was paid for the 5th one as King Augus who owned the Aegean stables told Hercules if he could clean the stables in 1 day he would give him 1/10th of his cattle. The 12 labors were

1. Slay the Nemean Lion.
2. Slay the nine headed Lernaean Hydra.
3. Capture the Ceryneian Hind of Artemis.
4. Capture the Erymanthian Boar.
5. Clean the Augean stables in a single day.
6. Slay the Stymphalian Birds.
7. Capture the Cretan Bull.
8. Steal the Mares of Diomedes.
9. Obtain the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons.
10. Obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon.
11. Steal the apples of the Hesperides
12. Capture and bring back Cerberus.

It should be noted that he was accompanied on many of his labors by his nephew Iolaus.

In the first labor he killed the Nemean lion by beating it to death as no weapon could pernitrate its skin. After killing it he used the animal’s skin as a cloak.

In the second labor He had some help from his nephew Iolaus who cauterized the necks of the hydra’s neck with fire to prevent more heads from emerging, after defeating the Hydra Herakles dipped his arrows into the hydra’s poisonous blood.

In the third labor he was sent to capture the Ceryneian hind which was sacred to Artemis. He managed to capture it without killing or hurting it and brought it back to Eurystheus but it escaped and returned to its home. He chased the hind for a year before he captured it, also as he had not injured or killed the deer and returned it he did not incur the anger of Artemis.

In the fourth labor on his way to get the boar he visited with centaur Chiron for advice on how how to catch the boar who advised him to catch it in winter and drive it into the deep snow, he finally caught the boar and took it back alive. Also interesting enough the boar maybe the same one that killed Adonis. During this labor he joined up with Jason as an argonaut to retrieve the Golden Fleece, but on the way his companion Hylas was abducted by a naiad, he tried searching for him but couldn’t find him and the argonauts sailed on without him, this was orcastrated by Zeus to get him back on his path.

In the fifth labor he completed by diverting two nearby rivers of Alfeios and Pineios to clean way the filthy stables which had not been cleaned in 30 years. King Augeus who owned the Aegean stables told Hercules if he could clean the stables in 1 day he would give him 1/10th of his cattle. But after he refused and was killed.

In the sixth labor he was required to kill the Stymphalian birds which had beaks of Bronze and sharp metallic feathers. He using a rattle scared the birds into the air and managed to kill almost all with his hydra poison dipped arrows. The few that survived left and were later encountered by the Argonauts.

In the seventh labor he journey to crete and was given permission by Minos to take the white bull. The bull was set free and wandered into Marethon and became known as the Marethon bull, it was later sacrificed by Theseus to Zeus.

In the eighth labor he was required to bring back the man eating horses of King Diomedes of the Bistones. He feed the king to the horses and binded there mouths closed and brought them back. They were either allowed to wander Argos which made them calm or they were killed by Zeus using wolves lions and bears.

In the ninth labor came about because Eurystheus daughter Admete wanted the belt of Hippolyta queen of the amazons which was a gift from Ares. Hercules took a few companions including Theseus and traveled to Themiscyra in Turkey in the terme district were the amazons lived. Hippolyta was so impressed with him she agreed to give him the belt. But Hera posed as an Amazon and spread lies to the other amazons and they attacked Hercules ship, he escaped abducting Hippolyta with him and gave her to Theseus. On his return home he helped save King Laomedon of Troy’s daughter Hesione from being sacrificed to a sea serpent.

In his tenth labor he had to travel to the island of Erytheia in the Mediterranean, although some accounts say Geryon resided in Spain. After obtaining the cattle it took him a while to return as he traveled over land with the cattle and while travelling through Liguria in Southern France he was attacked by the Kings Ialebion/Alebian and Derkyonos both sons of Poseidon and he slew them and he ended up staying with the king of celts Bretannus and he ended up bedding his daughter Celtine and siring a son Celtus. He was also waylaid trying to recover the cattle after Hera sent gadflies to annoy the cattle scattering them but he recovered them and then raised the levels of a river so the cattle couldn’t cross but he overcame the obstacle using stones to make the river shallow and crossed with the cattle. The cattle were later sacrificed to Hera.

In the eleventh he was required to get the apples of the Hesperedies which had been gifts from Gaia to Hera on her wedding day and had the Hesperides, nymph daughters of Atlas guard them. This task took him the longest as he had no idea were the garden was. He met up with the giant Antaeus who defeated by preventing him from touching the ground. He also fought with Cyconus a son of Ares but his father interrupted the fight with a lightning bolt. He ended up traveling through Libyia, Egypt were he was waylaid by King Busiris, Arabia, and some accounts Asia. He finally traveled to Illyria were he captured the sea god Nereus who told him the location which was Northern Europe but he would need help and advised him to go to Prometheus. He located and set free Prometheus from his inprisonment who told him he would need Atlas’ help in getting the apples. He traveled through the straights of Gibraltar that were renamed by the greeks as the pillars of hercules and traveled to northern europe were he were he met up with Atlas who agreed to get him the apples if he would up the sky for him and Hercules agreed and Atals retrieved the apples but refused to take back the sky but Hercules outsmarted Atlas by pretending to be pained by the burden and asked for pointers and Atlas took back the sky and Hercules left with Apples. Athena would later return the apples to the garden.

For his final labor he was to capture and bring back Cerberus the three headed guard dog of the underworld. He descended to the underworld to receive permission from Hades his uncle to take the dog and he discovered Theseus and Pirithous trapped in the chair of forgetfulness, who were trapped there because they had been trying to abduct Persephone. He freed Theseus but couldn’t free Pirithous, Hades agreed to let him take Cerberus if he overpowered the dog. He defeated the dog and brought it to Eurystheus who so frightened by the beast told Hercules to return it.

After completing the tasks Hercules gained immortality but not godhood, he continued on his adventures in helping people. He divorced Megara and gave her to Iolaus. He attempted to win Iole a princess of Oechalia and Great Granddaughter of Apollo and Princess Coronis through there son Melaneus, and daughter of King Eurytus. He was refused and was later accused of stealing horses but Iphitus the kings son believed in innocence, but in a fit of madness he accidentally killed him and to atone he became Queen Omphale of Lydia’s servent for three years during which he continued to help he killed Syleus who forced passing people to farm his vineyard, he also caught and released the Cercopes. He also sired a son or sons by Omphale named Lamos and Agelaus, he also had a son by Omphale’s slave named Cleodaeus.

He also assisted the Gods in there battle with Giants during which he saved Hera from a giant trying to ravish her. He returned to Troy and slew King Laomedon (due to him having promised he could marry his daughter if he rescued her then reversed his promise refusing him his daughters hand) leaving his young son Priam as king. He also performed other feet’s (to many to list without making this summary to huge). He also went on to marry Deianira daughter of Queen Althaea and King Oeneus of Calydon, he defeated the river god Achelos to marry her and by her he fathered 4 sons named Hyllus, Ctesippus, Glenus and Oneites, he also had a daughter named Macaria. He had to rescue his wife from the Centaur Nessus by shooting with a poisoned arrow, but as Nessus was dyeing he tricked Deianira by telling that his blood would act as a love potion she could use on Hercules to make him forever love him and she took a vial of his blood which would actually poison him. He later decided he would take Iole and he raised an army and invaded Oechalia and took Iole as his servent and erected a temple to his father but required a fresh tunic to observe the rights he sent his herald Lychus along with Iole back to Trochis to get one but Deianira fearing she was loosing her husband poured Nessus blood onto the tunic and gave it to Lychus but when Hercules put the tunic on he was badly burned from the Hydra blood and in great pain he had a funeral pyre built and he threw himself onto it burning away his mortal part of himself, but Zeus declared that enough was enough and his beloved son had suffered enough and Hera agreed and ended her vendetta against him. Zeus sent down a thunderbolt and brought him to Olympus and made him a God. He married Hebe the goddess of Youth and fathered two sons, Alexiares and Aniketos.

He is featured in numerous movies and some TV shows, four interesting shows and a movie that alter his tale some and in one case a lot is Young Hercules, Hercules the Legendary Journeys, Disney’s Hercules and Mythic Warriors Guardians of Legend. Disney’s Hercules movie and TV show severally alters his tale making him the son of Zeus and Hera and changes the reason for the labors. In the Legendary Journeys Hera directly kills his family and he never has to perform the 12 labors and he is never married to Megara and it is instead his second family that becomes his first. In Mythic warriors replaces the reason Hera hates him and replaces Megara as well with Deianira but his family remains alright.

I have him with brown hair and his father's light sky blue eyes.

Hercules like his father sired numerous children around the Mediterranean collectively known as the Heracleidae. Some of his sons became Kings while many of his descendants became kings all over Greece. He only had five daughters. Procles and Eurysthenes Kings of Sparta were his great great great Grandsons through his son Hyllus.

By Princess Megara of Thebes, 1st wife,
1. Therimachus
2. Creontiades
3. Deicoon
4-8 unamed sons

By Princess Deianira of Calydon, 2nd wife
1. Hyllus
2. Ctesippus
3. Glenus
4. Oneites
5. Macaria, a daughter

By Hebe, Goddess of Youth, 3rd wife
1. Alexiares
2. Anicetus

By Queen Omphale of Lydia
1. Limos
2. Agelaus

By Queen Omphales slave
1. Cleodaeus

By Astydameia, daughter of Ormenius
1. Ctesippus

By Astyoche, daughter of King Phylas of Ephyra
1. Tlepolemus, was a suitor of Helen. He ruled Doros, but the kingdom did not participate in the Trojan War but he did and was a general.

By Princess Auge of Tegea
1. Telephus, a hero and King of Mysia.

By Autonoe, daughter of Piraeus / Iphinoe, daughter of Antaeus
1. Palaemon

By Baletia, daughter of Baletus
1. Brettus

By Barge
1. Bargasus

By Bolbe, a lake Goddess in Thessaly
1. Olynthus

By Celtine, of the Celts, during the 10th labor
1. Celtus

By Chalciope, daughter of Eurypylus of Cos
1. Thessalus

By Chania, nymph
1. Gelon

By Pyrene a half snake woman encountered during the 10th labor
1. Agathyrsus
2. Gelonus
3. Skythes became King of Scythia

By Epicaste, daughter of King Augeas, during the 5th labor
1. Thestalus

By Lavinia, daughter of Evander
1. Pallas

By Meda, Daughter of King Phylas of Ephyra
1. Antiochus

By Melite a naiad, he met on the way to his cousin, she choose him over his father
1. Hyllus

By Myrto, daughter of Menoitios of Opus
1. Eucleia, a daughter

By Palantho of Hyperborea
1. Latinus, King of Latium

By Parthenope, daughter of Stymphalus
1. Everes

By Phialo, daughter of the Arcadian hero Alcimedon
1. Aechmagoras

By Psophis, daughter of Eryx of Sicily who was a boxer who Hercules slew
1. Echephron
2. Promachus

By Rhea, Italian priestess
1. Aventinus

By Tinge, wife of Antaeus
1. Sophax

By the 50 daughters of Thespius
1-51. 51 sons, Procris had twin sons

By Unnamed Celtic woman
1. Galates, King of Galatia

By Unknown consorts
1. Agylleus
2. Amathous
3. Azon
4. Chromis
5. Cyrnus
6. Dexamenus
7. Leucites
8. Manto, a daughter
9. Pandaie, a daughter he fathered in India
10. Phaestus or Rhopalus
11. Lathria, a daughter
12. Ophites, went mad and his father had to kill him.


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