IIE'RCULES (in Greek, Hemcles), a celebrated hero of Greek mythology, the offspring of Zeus by Alcmene, daughter of Electryon, a son of Perseus, and king of Myeenm. His reputed father was Amphitryon (son of Alcmue, another of the children of Perseus), who having accidentally killed his father-in-law Electryon, was compelled to leave /lyceum, and take refuge In Thebes: here Hercules was born and educated, and here his early feats of strength and valour were done, such as slaying the lion of Cithaeron, delivering Thebes from the tribute to Erginus, king of Orchomenoa, and taking in marriage the daughter of Croon.
Being fated to serve Eurystheus, king of Mycenre, he performed what are called his labours, in obedience to the commands of his master. They are so well known that we need only enumerate them : the first was to bring the akin of the Nemean lion ; the second, to destroy the Hydra ; the third, to catch the hind of Artemis; the fourth, to bring to Eurystheus the Erymanthian boar alive; the fifth, to cleanse the stables of Augeas; the sixth, to drive away the water fowl of Lake Stymphalis; the seventh, to fetch the Cretan bull; the eighth, to bring to Mycenm the mares of Diomedes ; the ninth, to obtain the girdle of Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons; the tenth, to bring the oxen of Geryon from the island of Erythia ; the eleventh, to bring the apples of the Hesperides; the twelfth, to conduct Cerberus from the under world. Many other exploits did he perform, such as the taking of Troy, which are all related by the mythologists, Apollo dorus and others. But we have already gone into somewhat unneces sary detail, as our object will rather be to point out the classes to which these traditions belong, than to give our readers information with which they cau supply themselves elsewhere.
There are then three distinct kinds of tradition relatiog to Hercules: the first consisting of stories drawn from some eastern or other religion and applied to the Theban hero. Such are his wanderings round the coasts of Greece, which exhibit in a mythical form the establishment of the worship of a wandering god of the Phoenicians. Such also is his voluntary death on Mount (Eta ; and, according to Muller (‘Dorians,' i. 444), his murdering his children. Another, and the second class of traditions, are those which represeut him performing labours such as would naturally be those of a young community, (Pausan., viii. 14.) A third class exhibits him in the light of a con queror and destroyer of tyrants, and here the awkwardness of ascribing the deeds of the Peloponnesian hero to the Theban Hercules is most striking; for while on the one hand he is serving Eurystheus as a slave, on the other he appears as one who forms alliances and disposes of kingdoms.
But this is all legendary ; his connection with biography and history consists iu his being the assumed ancestor of the Heraclidm. According to tradition, after the death of Hercules his children took refuge in Attica, in order to escape the persecution of Eurystheus. They were hospitably received by Theseus, and with the assistance of the Athenians defeated Eurystheus. After the battle the Hemelidaa
are said to have obtained possession of the whole of the Peloponneaus; but they had not remained in the country long before a pestilence again drove them back to Attica. They attempted soon afterwards to march again into the Peloponnesus, but were met at the Isthmus by an army consisting of Arcadians, Ionians, and Achnans. In a single battle with Echemus, king of Tegea, Hyllus, the eldest sou of Hercules, was slain, and the Heraclidm promised not to invade the Pelopounesus for a hundred years from that time. (Herod., ix. 26; Pausan., i. 41.) They did not however observe their engagement, for both Cleodmus, sou of Hyllus, aud his grandson Aristomachus, rcnowed the attempt, but withoul, success. The Heraclidm retreated to Doris, where they obtained a considerable arffly to assist them in the recovery of their dominions. With the aid of an .iEtolian chief named Oxylus, they crossed from Naupactus to the southern side of tho Corinthian Gulf eighty years after the Trojan war. (Thucyd., i. 12.) A battle took place between the Dorians under the command of the sons of Aristomachus and the Pcloponnesians under that of Tisamenus, the grandson of Agamemnon, iu which the latter were defeated, and all the Peloponnesus, except Arcadia and Achma, fell into the hands of the Heraclidm. Ells was assigned to Oxylus, and the rest of the Pelopounesus was divided between the three sons of Aristomachus : Temenus obtained possession of Argos ; Cresphontes of Messenia; and Aristodemus, or his sons Eurysthenes and Procles (for according to the general tradition Aristodemus did not live to enter the Peloponnesus), of Lacedumon. The land of the conquered country was divided among the Dorians, and the old inhabitants were obliged to emigrate, or were reduced to an inferior caste. (Pausan,, ii. 18; iii. 1 ; iv. 3.) Such is the traditional account of that important event in Grecian history, usually called 'the return of the Heraclidm, by which the Dorians obtained possession of the greater part of the Pelopoonesus. It is asserted by the universal tradition of antiquity that the Dorians were led to this conquest by Adman chiefs; but this fact has been doubted by many modern writers, who have considered it impro bable that the Dorians should have been commanded by foreign chiefs. It has been supposed that the Heraclidre were the hereditary princes of the Doric race, who were descended from a Dorian Hercules ; and that the story of tho Heraclidaa being descended from the Argive Hercules, who performed the commands of Eurystheus, was not invented till after the conquest of the Peloponnesus. (Muller, 'Dorians,' voL L p. 57, Eng. Trans.) Though the general tradition assigned the complete conquest of the Peloponnesus to the sons of Aristomachus, it appears probable from other traditions that the greater part of the Polopennesus was not reduced by the Dorians till long afterwards.
('l'hirlwall, History of Greece, vol. i. pp. 262-273.)