~Mythology~

Heracles (Hercules)

*Son of Zeus (Jupiter)

*Heracles was not a god, but the most popular of all Greek heroes.

His weapons, except for his club which he made himself, were made by various gods of Mt. Olympus.

*Apollo (Phoebus), the God of Prophecy, Healing and Music, made his bow & arrows.

*Athena, (Minerva) The Goddess of Wisdom in war, made his robe.

*Hephaestus (Vulcan), God of Fire, forged his golden breastplate.

*Hermes (Mercury), the Messenger of the gods, made his sword.

*Poseidon (Neptune), God of the Sea, who gave the first horse to mankind, provided horses for Heracles.

Heracles was given the duty of defending the Gates of Olympia after his death.

Heracles' mother was the last mortal Zeus loved. Hera, Zeus' revengeful wife, tricked Zeus into promising that the next baby born in the royal house of Thebes would be king. Zeus agreed because he knew that the Theban princess, Alcmene, would be having his baby soon. Jealous Hera then delayed the birth of Heracles until after another prince, Eurystheus, was born. King Eurystheus later condemned Heracles to serve him until he had accomplished 12 great tasks in 12 years. (*1)

These were called the 12 labors of Heracles and each one was extraordinarily difficult (if not impossible) to accomplish. (*2)

The 12 labors of Heracles were:

1. killing the Nemean Lion (*3), a gigantic lion which raided the area around the city of Nemea; its hide was so tough that no weapon could wound it and its hide could not be pierced by sword or arrow; finally, Heracles strangled the lion with his bare hands; he wore the hide of the Nemean Lion for the rest of his life as protection against weapons.

2. slaying the Lernean Hydra, a 9-headed snake-like monster with 1 head that was immortal and 8 others that regenerated two heads in the place of one;

3. capturing the golden-horned Cerynean stag, which was sacred to Artemis (Diana), Goddess of the Hunt;

4. capturing the Erymanthian boar, which like the Nemean Lion could not be injured or killed by any weapon;

5. cleaning the Augeian stables, which housed thousands of cattle and was the filthiest place in the world since it had never been cleaned;

6. killing the Stymphalian birds, which had caused the local villagers to flee because the birds slaughtered their cattle and carried away their children;

7. bringing back the man-eating mares of King Diomedes, who fed his captives to his horses;

8. capturing the Cretan bull that Poseidon had given to King Minos;

9. capturing the girdle of the queen of the Amazons, Hippolyte;

10. finding and bringing back the cattle of Geryon, a 3-headed king whose 3 bodies were joined at the waist and who was believed to be the strongest man in the world;

11. fetching 3 Golden Apples, which belonged to Hera, from the Garden of the Hesperides, the daughters of Atlas who guarded the garden; and

12. abducting Cerberus, the 3-headed dog who guarded the gates of Hades.

~ Stories about Heracles are plentiful ~

Heracles was famous for eight famous deeds, including killing the powerful giant Antaeus, rescuing Alcestis from Hades; accompanying Jason on his quest to find the golden fleece; rescuing Hesione from the belly of a whale; serving as a slave to the Queen of Lydia, Omphale, who forced him to dress as a woman; stealing the sacred tripod of the Oracle of Delphi when the priestess did not respond to the question he asked; the capture of Troy (long before the Trojan War); and his 12 labors.

Without mass communication media, coins were a means of spreading local news and circulating official announcements. Around 400 B.C., a small gold coin was struck at Syracuse during the Carthaginian occupation of Sicily. The reverse of the coin pictured Heracles strangling the Nemean Lion. Although the reference was somewhat cryptic, the lion symbolized Africa.

The top international coins of all time featured Heracles wearing a lion-skin headdress (the Nimean lion). The coins, issued under Alexander the Great (336-323 B.C.), showed young Heracles (though some think it was a portrait of Alexander himself) wearing a lion-skin headdress and on the reverse, Zeus sits on the throne holding his sacred eagle and a scepter. Long after Alexander's death, many cities copied the Macedonian coinage in his name. These coins were issued from untold mints, represented by certain letters or symbols under and/or to the front of Zeus' throne. From that time until the 18th century, there was no such thing as a true international money.

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(*1) Another story is that Heracles was punishing himself for killing his wife and children in a fit of madness (caused by the wicked Hera). Heracles visited the Oracle at Delphi, who agreed that he should pay a penance for his dreadful acts. She sent him to his cousin, King Eurystheus of Mycenae, for punishment. Rather than having Heracles tortured and killed, Eurystheus decided to use Heracles powers to remove some world dangers. Either way, Eurystheus set Heracles on a dangerous path.

(*2) The term "herculean" has come to mean a task requiring superhuman strength or one of superhuman difficulty.

(*3) The sign of the Zodiac, Leo (latin for lion), is the Nemean lion

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