Heracles

Heracles was the greek hero, son of Zeus and Alcmene. He is an icon for masculinity. Most commonly known for his extraordinary strength, Heracles is also known for his courage and sexuality. He is often pictured fighting a lion or wearing a lion skin and holding a club. Hera, Zeus's wife, hates Heracles and he often has to deal with her vengence.

Heracles is best known for the story The Twelve Labours of Heracles. In the story, Hera drives Heracles mad, and in a fit of rage, he kills his family and friends. When he calms down, he is greatly regrets his actions and calls to Apollo to fix his wrongs. Apollo gives Heracles 12 labours to complete. The labours were:

1. Kill the lion of Nemea. He strangled it without further ado.

2. Kill the nine-headed Hydra. Two new heads would grow on the Hydra from each fresh wound, and one was immortal. Heracles burned the eight and put the immortal one under a rock.

3. Capture the Ceryneian Hind. After running after it for many months, he finally trapped it.

4. Kill the wild boar of Erymanthus. A wild battle, but pretty straightforward: Heracles won.

5. Clean the Augean Stables of King Augeas. He succeeded only by diverting a nearby river to wash the muck away.

6. Kill the carnivorous birds of Stymphalis.

7. Capture the wild bull of Crete.

8. Capture the man-eating mares of Diomedes.

9. Obtain the girdle of Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons (not all that easy, actually).

10. Capture the oxen of Geryon.

11. Take the golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides, which was always guarded by the dragon Ladon. Heracles tricked Atlas into getting he apples by offering to hold the Earth for Atlas. When he returned with the apples, Heracles asked him to take the Earth for a moment so he could go get a pillow for his aching shoulders. Atlas did so, and Heracles left with his apples.

12. Bring Cerberus, the three-headed dog of Hades, to the surface world.

Heracles returned to Thebes and married Deianira. Later, he shot the centaur Nessus with a poisoned arrow. Deianira salvaged Nessus' blood with the promise it would preserve Heracles' love. She sent him a garment soaked in the blood and it killed him. He was taken to Olympus where he was endowed with immortality.

Heracles is often seen extremely muscular and with a beard. He wasn't known for his intelligence, although there was a few times he used wit when his strength wouldn't suffice. He is probably one of the most popular heros from Greek Mythology, more commonly known as Hercules.

Works Cited:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heracles

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/heracles.html

http://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Heroes/Heracles/heracles.html