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The Labours of Hercules or Labours of Heracles (Ancient Greek: ἆθλοι, âthloi [1] Latin: Labores) are a series of tasks carried out by Heracles, the greatest of the Greek heroes, whose name was later romanised as Hercules. They were accomplished in the service of King Eurystheus. The episodes were later connected by a continuous narrative.
The core of the story of Heracles has been identified by Walter Burkert as originating in Neolithic hunter culture and traditions of shamanistic crossings into the netherworld. [7] It is possible that the myths surrounding Heracles were based on the life of a real person or several people whose accomplishments became exaggerated with time. [8]
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Hercules was venerated as a divinized hero and incorporated into the legends of Rome's founding. The Romans adapted Greek myths and the iconography of Heracles into their own literature and art, but the hero developed distinctly Roman characteristics.
Hercules was a favorite subject for Etruscan art, and appears often on bronze mirrors. The Etruscan form Herceler derives from the Greek Heracles via syncope. A mild oath invoking Hercules (Hercule! or Mehercle!) was a common interjection in Classical Latin. [4] Hercules had a number of myths that were distinctly Roman.
In Book IV of Marcus Annaeus Lucanus' epic poem Pharsalia (c. AD 65-61), the story of Heracles' victory over Antaeus is told to the Roman Curio by an unnamed Libyan citizen. The learned client king Juba II (died 23 BC), husband of the daughter of Antony and Cleopatra, claimed his descent from a liaison of Heracles with Tinga, the consort of ...
The title page of Étienne Clavier's 1805 edition and French translation of the Bibliotheca. The Bibliotheca (Ancient Greek: Βιβλιοθήκη, Bibliothēkē, 'Library'), is a compendium of Greek myths and heroic legends, genealogical tables and histories arranged in three books, generally dated to the first or second century AD. [1]
Hercules and Lichas (Pavel Sorokin, 1849). In Greek mythology , Lichas ( / ˈ l aɪ k ə s / LY -kəs ; Ancient Greek : Λίχας ) was Heracles ' servant, who brought the poisoned shirt from Deianira to Hercules because of Deianira's jealousy of Iole , which killed him.
Ancient drachma from Larissa, around 420 BC, depicting Heracles with the Cretan Bull.Now in the Palais de Rumine, Lausanne, Switzerland. Minos was king in Crete.In order to confirm his right to rule, rather than any of his brothers, he prayed Poseidon send him a snow-white bull as a sign.