Hercules facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Hercules
God of strength and heroes
Hercules battles Achelous, metamorphed into a serpent, 1824, by François Joseph Bosio. Louvre LL 325.
Abode	Rome
Symbol	Club, Nemean Lion, bow and arrows
Consort	Juventas
Parents	Jupiter and Alcmene
Greek equivalent	Heracles
Etruscan equivalent	Hercle

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.

Mythology

Birth and early life

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

Although he was seen as the champion of the weak and a great protector, Hercules' personal problems started at birth.

Hera sent two witches to prevent the birth, but they were tricked by one of Alcmene's servants and sent to another room. Hera then sent serpents to kill him in his cradle, but Hercules strangled them both.

In one version of the myth, Alcmene abandoned her baby in the woods in order to protect him from Hera's wrath, but he was found by the goddess Athena who brought him to Hera, claiming he was an orphan child left in the woods who needed nourishment. Hera fed Hercules until the infant bit, at which point she pushed him away, spilling her milk across the night sky and so forming the Milky Way. She then gave the infant back to Athena and told her to take care of the baby herself. In feeding the child herself, the goddess gave him further strength and power.

The twelve tasks

Hercules comic book cover (c.1958)

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.

The Nemean Lion

Greek stamp depicting a mosaical image of the encounter between Hercules and Leo,the Nemean Lion.

In Greek mythology, the constellation Leo was identified as the Nemean Lion which was killed by Heracles (Hercules to the Romans) during the first of his twelve labours. The Nemean Lion would take women as hostages to its lair in a cave, luring warriors from nearby towns to save the damsel in distress, to their misfortune.

The Lion couldn't be harmed by weapons.

Realizing that he must defeat the Lion with his bare hands, Hercules slipped into the Lion's cave and engaged it at close quarters. When the Lion pounced, Hercules caught it in midair, one hand grasping the Lion's forelegs and the other its hind legs, and bent it backwards, breaking its back and freeing the trapped maidens.

Zeus commemorated this labor by placing the Lion in the sky.

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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  A fresco from Herculaneum depicting Heracles and Achelous from Greco-Roman mythology, 1st century CE.

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

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

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  Hercules in Olympus with Juno and Minerva, fresco from Herculaneum, 1st century CE

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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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  Heracles and Omphale, Roman fresco, Pompeian Fourth Style (45–79 CE), Naples National Archaeological Museum, Italy

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  Head from statue of Herakles (Hercules) Roman 117–188 CE from villa of the emperor Hadrian at Tivoli, Italy at the British Museum

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  Hercules from Cappadocia or Caesarea 1st century BCE – 1st century CE, Walters Art Museum

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  Hercules Roman 1st century BCE – 1st century CE, Walters Art Museum

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  The Giant Hercules (1589) by Hendrik Goltzius

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  Lucas Faydherbe, Bust of Hercules – collection King Baudouin Foundation

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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 (c. 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 CE