Hercules facts for kids

Hercules comic book cover (c.1958)

Hercules is a hero in Roman mythology. He is a mortal son of Alcmene and Zeus. Hercules is known for his great strength. In Greek mythology he is named Herakles, but he has some different stories.

The twelve tasks

In one of the more well known stories of Hercules, he had to complete twelve tasks. These tasks were:

• Kill the Nemean Lion and bring back its fur.
• Kill the Lernaean Hydra.
• Capture the Ceryneian Hind.
• Capture the Erymanthian Boar.
• Clean the Augean stables in a single day.
• Kill the Stymphalian Birds.
• Capture the Cretan Bull.
• Steal the Mares of Diomedes.
• Get the Girdle of Hippolyte.
• Get the Cows of Geryon.
• Steal the Apples of the Hesperides.
• Capture Cerberus, the guardian dog of The Underworld and bring him back.

Other versions

Hercules is also a character in Marvel Comics. He was an ally of the mighty Thor. He is the leader and a founding member of the super team the Champions. He was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1962.

Hercules also appears in the 1997 Disney movie of the same name, in which he is voiced by Tate Donovan.

Images for kids

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  Hercules capturing the Erymanthian Boar, by J.M. Félix Magdalena (b. 1941)

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  This Roman statuette is a copy after a Greek original that depicts the hero at an advanced age. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

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  Baby Hercules strangling a snake sent to kill him in his cradle (Roman marble, 2nd century CE).

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  Hercules and the Nemean lion in the 15th-century Histoires de Troyes

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  Hercules (Hatra, Iraq, Parthian period, 1st-2nd century CE)

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  Hercules bronze statuette, 2nd century CE (museum of Alanya, Turkey)

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  Hercules and the Nemean Lion (detail), silver plate, 6th century (Cabinet des Médailles, Paris)

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  Henry IV of France, as Hercules vanquishing the Lernaean Hydra (i.e. the Catholic League), by Toussaint Dubreuil, c. 1600. Louvre Museum

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  Juno, with Hercules fighting a Centaur on reverse (Roman, 215–15 BCE)

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  Club over his shoulder on a Roman denarius (ca. 100 BCE)

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  Maximinus II and Hercules with club and lionskin (Roman, 313 CE)

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  Commemorative 5-franc piece (1996), Hercules in center

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  Hercules, as seen on a Denarius of the Roman Emperor Caracalla. Dated 212 AD.

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  Pillars of Hercules, representing the Strait of Gibraltar (19th-century conjecture of the Tabula Peutingeriana)

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  The Cudgel of Hercules, a tall limestone rock formation, with Pieskowa Skała Castle in the background