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1. ATLAS BRINGING HERAKLES THE APPLES OF THE HESPERIDES SKIN
2. ATLAS BRINGING HERAKLES THE APPLES OF THE HESPERIDES SERIES

If you see someone with a lion’s head on their own, it’s likely Herakles, or someone trying to emulate him.HERACLES, or HERAKLES (HERCULES), the most popular of Greek heroes, is associated especially with the area around Argos and with Thebes, where he was born.ĮLECTRYON ELEKTRYON, son of Perseus and king of Mycenae, fought with Pterelaüs, king of the Teleboans. It’s this skin, which he used as a hooded cloak, that the hero became known for in art.

ATLAS BRINGING HERAKLES THE APPLES OF THE HESPERIDES SKIN

The lion that was terrorizing the hills about Nemea had skin that was impenetrable to weapons and so Herakles, when he faced it, choked it to death with his brute strength and then used the claws to skin it. Then again, perhaps as Hera is the root cause of his Labours, his triumphs reflect on her? I – The Nemean Lion This first labour is probably his most famous, and takes us to the ancient land of the Argolid peninsula. It’s curious that the name ‘Herakles’ means ‘Glory of Hera’, since she persecuted him so much throughout his life. He had to complete all tasks set for him by the king, and this is the origin of The Twelve Labours.

The Oracle told him to go to Tyrins and serve its king, Eurystheus, for twelve years, as punishment for his brutal crime.

When his sanity returned, he was overcome with grief and went to the Oracle at Delphi for advice. Temple of Apollo at Delphi Hera stepped in to afflict Herakles with madness, causing him to kill his wife and children. After all, this is a Greek story, and tragedy is never far behind to bring even the mightiest of heroes back to Earth. This is where things sour for the young hero. King Creon of Thebes rewarded Herakles for helping him against his enemy, Erginus, king of the Minyans by giving him the hand of his daughter Megara, with whom the hero had several children. Herakles was a man of extreme prowess, deeds, emotion and appetites. During that time, he stayed with the king of Thespiae who was so impressed with the youth that he had him beget children on all fifty of his daughters. When he was 18 years of age, Herakles began to really make a name for himself by slaying a lion on the slopes of Mount Cithaeron after hunting it for fifty days. Herakles strangled the snakes with his bare baby hands. Out of jealousy, Hera, Queen of the Gods and wife of Zeus, sent two snakes to kill the baby Herakles in his cot. From the beginning, Herakles showed that he was not a ‘normal’ person. Zeus came to her in the guise of her mortal husband, Amphitryon, and so Herakles was born. He was the son of Zeus who begat him on Alcmene, a granddaughter of Perseus and Andromeda. In our modern age, we’ve seen him in comics, television shows, and movies.Īerial view Tiryns But who was Herakles? Where did he come from? Herakles was born in the city of Thebes. Their portrayal decorated the ancient world from the images on vases to the metopes on the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. The Twelve Labours of Herakles have been the subject of art, sculpture and song for ages. There are countless triumphant deeds associated with Herakles, but for our purposes here, I’m going to cover the most famous of all – The Twelve Labours.

ATLAS BRINGING HERAKLES THE APPLES OF THE HESPERIDES SERIES

So, this post is going to be the first in a two-part series on the hero. There are so many stories related to Herakles (‘Hercules’ of you were Roman) in mythology that it’s impossible to cover all of them in a simple blog post.

Far and away, the greatest hero of all was Herakles. Many an ancient king and warrior has tried to emulate the actions and personae of these heroes, and even claimed descent from them. For millennia people have been inspired by Perseus, Jason and the Argonauts, Theseus, Achilles and Odysseus. Some of the most timeless stories in western literature are about the heroes of ancient Greece.