Heracles was the son of Zeus and Alcmene, a descendant of Perseus and the wife of Amphitryon. While Amphitryon was away at war, Zeus came to Alcmene disguised as her husband. To satisfy his lust, the god caused the night to stretch out to three times its normal length. On the same night, however, Alcmene’s husband returned and also had intercourse with her. As a result she became pregnant with two male children, one the semidivine Heracles, the other the mortal Iphicles. Most ancient writers say that Heracles was born at Thebes, because that is where Amphitryon lived, but in some accounts he is linked with Argos, which was Alcmene’s family’s home. Some mythographers suggest that Heracles—“glory of Hera”—was so named to appease the wrath of Zeus’s wife, who was jealous of the children that Zeus had through other females.
It was Hera who caused most of Heracles’ subsequent troubles. Zeus had foolishly boasted that the next child born in the line of Perseus would rule over Argos; Hera responded by making her daughter, Eileithyia, goddess of childbirth, delay the birth of Heracles so that his cousin, Eurystheus, could be born first (and prematurely). Alcmene eventually carried her twins for a painful 10 months. Even so, after Heracles was born some of the other goddesses tricked Hera into briefly suckling the baby with her own milk in order to ensure his immortality. When he clamped down too hard on her nipple, however, Hera yanked him away, and the spurting milk formed the Milky Way.
After the baby was returned to his mother, Hera sent serpents into his nursery to try to kill him. Since she was unsure which of the two newborn children belonged to Zeus, she sent two snakes to kill both twins. The mortal baby began to cry when he saw the danger, but Heracles grabbed both snakes and strangled them. The parents were shocked when they rushed into the room. They knew then that they had a supernatural child who possessed fantastic strength, and they decided that he deserved a special education. The best teachers were appointed, one of whom was Linus. While Heracles excelled in the more physically demanding arts, such as archery and wrestling, he failed miserably at music, Linus’s specialty. One day, when Linus was ridiculing Heracles for being clumsy and incompetent, the boy picked up the instrument that he was playing and struck Linus over the head with it, killing him.
The 12 Labors of Heracles
1. Skinning the Nemean Lion.
2. Killing the Hydra of Lerna.
3. Capturing the Arcadian stag.
4. Capturing the Erymanthion boar.
5. Cleaning the Augean stables.
6. Shooting the birds of the Stymphalian marshes.
7. Capturing the Cretan bull.
8. Capturing the human-eating horses of Diomedes.
9. Obtaining the belt of the Amazon queen Hippolyte.
10. Driving the cattle of Geryon from the far west to Greece.
11. Fetching the golden apples of the Hesperides.
12. Capturing Cerberus, the three-headed watchdog of the underworld.
Right:
This Greek vase from the eighth century BCE depicts Heracles wrestling with the Nemean lion.
Below: This statue by French sculptor Franyois-Joseph Bosio (1768—1845) depicts Heracles slaying the monstrous Hydra, the second of his 12 labors.
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