HERCULES (Gr. Herakles), called likewise Alcides, after his grandfather Alemus, was the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the most celebrated hero of the Greek legends, the ideal of human perfection, as conceived in the heroic ages; i.e., the greatest physical strength, connected with every high quality of mind and character which these ages recognized. He had a bitter enemy in Hera, who, knowing that the child who should be born that day was fated to rule over all the descendants of Perseus, contrived to pro long the travail of Alcmene, who was the daughter of Alcmus, son of Perseus, and hasten that of the wife of Sthenelus, another son of Perseus, who, after a pregnancy of seven months, gave birth to a son, named Eurysthens. Eurystheus thus, by decree of Fate, became chief of the Perseidw. Pindar and other subsequent writers relate that, while yet in his cradle, Hercules showed his divine origin by strangling two serpents sent/by Hera to destroy him. By 'Amphitryon's care, Ire was instructed in all arts by the first masters. Amphitryon now sent him into the country, where he tended the flocks till he was 18 years of age. During this period, as the sophist Prodikos relates in his poem, Hercules, meeting the goddesses of Pleasure and Virtue at the crossways, chose the latter to be the constant companion of his life.
His first exploit was the slaying of a lion which haunted !Mt. Cithaeron and ravaged the dominions of king Thespios. Hercules was kindly received by the king, and at length succeeded in destroying the lion. On his return to his native city of Thebes, he not only freed it from the disgrace of having to pay tribute to the Orchomenians, but compelled them to pay double the tribute which they had formerly received. In return for this service, Croon, king of Thebes, gave him his daughter Megara in marriage. At this time, Eurystheus summoned Hercules to appear before him, and ordered him to perform the labors which, by priority of birth, he was empowered to impose upon him. Hercules, unwilling to obey, went to Delphi to consult the oracle, and was told that he must perform ten labors imposed by Eurystheus, after which he should attain to immor tality. This reply plunged Hercules into the deepest melancholy, which Hera increased to madness, so that he killed his own children by Megara. When he recovered his senses, he returned, submitted to Eurystheus, and addressed himself to the performance of the labors imposed upon him.—The first labor was to destroy the lion which haunted the forests of Nemta and Clebilk, and could not be wounded by the arrows of a mortal. Hercules boldly attacked him with his club, but in and finally obliged to. strangle hint with his hands. From this time, lie wore the lion's skin as armor.—The
second was to destroy the Lernman hydra, which be accomplished with the assistance of his friend lolaus; but because Hercules obtained assistance iu this labor, Eurystheus refused to count it.—His third was to catch the hind of Diana, famous for its swiftness, its golden horns, and brazen feet.—The fourth was to bring alive to Eurystheus a wild boar which ravaged the neighborhood of Erymanthus.—The fifth was to cleanse the stables of Augeas, king of Elis. where 3,000 oxen had been confined for many years, which lie accomplished in one day, by turning the rivers Alpheus and Pencils through the stables. But as Hercules had gone to Augeas, and offered to perform this service on payment of a tenth of the cattle, and concealed the fact that he had been commanded to perform it by Eurystheus, the latter, hearing of this, judged that it must not be -counted as one of the labors.—His sixth was to destroy the carnivorous birds, with brazen wings, beaks, and claws, which ravaged the country near the lake Stymphidis, in Arcadia.—The seventh was to bring alive to Peloponnesus a bull, remarkable for his beauty and strength, which Poseidon, at the prayer of Minos, had given to Minos, king of Crete, in order that he might sacrifice it, which Minos afterwards refusing to do, Poseidon made the bull mad, and it laid waste the island. Hercules brought the bull on his shoulders to Eurvstheus, who set it at liberty. It appears again as the Marathonian bull in the story of Theseus.—The eighth labor was to obtain the mares of Diomedes, king of the Bistones in Thrace, which fed upon human fiesh.—The ninth was to bring the girdle of Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons.—The tenth labor was to kill the monster Geryon, and bring his herds to Argos. These were all the labors which were originally imposed on Hercules, but as Eurystheus declared the second and fifth unlawfully performed Hercules was ordered to perform two more.—The eleventh was to obtain the golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides. Atlas, who knew where to find the apples, brought them to Hercules, who meanwhile supported the vault of heaven; but accord ing to others, Hercules went. himself and stole the apples, after slaying the dragon who guarded them.—The last and most dangerous labor was to bring from the infernal regions the three-headed dog Cerberus. Pluto promised him Cerberus on condition that he should not employ but only force. When Hercules had brougat the monster to Eurystheus, the latter, pale with fright, commanded him to be removed. Hercules set him at liberty; whereupon Cerberus immediately sank into the earth. Hercules was now free from his state of servitude.