Another male lover was Cyparissus, a descendant of Heracles.

In Greek mythology, Alcmene or Alcmena () was the mother of Heracles.

In Homer's Iliad, when Alcmene was about to give birth to Heracles, Zeus announced to all the gods that on that day a child, descended from Zeus himself, would be born who would rule all those around him.

As soon as Lucina leapt up, Alcmene was released from her spell and gave birth to Heracles.

It is said that after Heracles was apotheosised, Hyllus, having pursued and killed Eurystheus, cut off Eurystheus ' head and gave it to Alcmene, who gouged out the eyes with weaving pins.

More purely Hellenic myth would have Amathus settled instead by one of the sons of Heracles, thus accounting for the fact that he was worshiped there.

One of the tasks imposed upon Heracles by Eurystheus was to obtain possession of the girdle of the Amazonian queen Hippolyta.

* Andromache, an Amazon who fought Heracles and was defeated ; only known from vase paintings.

When Alexander was trying to show that he is divine so that the Greeks and Macedonians would perform proskynesis to him, Anaxarchus said that Alexander could " more justly be considered a god than Dionysus or Heracles " ( Arrian, 104 )

Its mythical foundation was attributed to Heracles ( on behalf of his fallen friend Abderus ), its historical one to a colony from Klazomenai.

According to the Roman poet Ovid ( Fasti v. 379 ), the constellation honors the centaur Chiron, who was tutor to many of the earlier Greek heroes including Heracles ( Hercules ), Theseus, and Jason, the leader of the Argonauts.

Capturing Cerberus, without using weapons, was the final labour assigned to Heracles ( Hercules ) by King Eurystheus, in recompense for the killing of his own children by Megara after he was driven insane by Hera, and therefore was the most dangerous and difficult.

When Heracles had pulled Theseus first from his chair, some of his thigh stuck to it ( this explains the supposedly lean thighs of Athenians ), but the earth shook at the attempt to liberate Pirithous, whose desire to have the wife of a god for himself was so insulting he was doomed to stay behind.

Heracles was able to overpower Cerberus and proceeded to sling the beast over his back, dragging it out of the underworld through a cavern entrance in the Peloponnese and bringing it to Eurystheus.

The king was so frightened of the beast that he jumped into a pithos, and asked Heracles to return it to the underworld in return for releasing him from his labors.

Capturing Cerberus alive was the twelfth and final labour of Heracles.

In Greek mythology, Eurystheus ( pronounced, meaning " broad strength " in folk etymology and pronounced ) was king of Tiryns, one of three Mycenaean strongholds in the Argolid, although other authors including Homer and Euripides cast him as ruler of Argos: Sthenelus was his father and the " victorious horsewoman " Nicippe his mother, and he was a grandson of the hero Perseus, as was his opponent Heracles.

In the contest of wills between Hera and Zeus over whose candidate would be hero, fated to defeat the remaining creatures representing an old order and bring about the reign of the Twelve Olympians, Eurystheus was Hera's candidate and Heracles — though his name implies that at one archaic stage of myth-making he had carried " Hera's fame " — was the candidate of Zeus.

However the Shield of Heracles is now known to be spurious and probably was written in the sixth century BC.

For example the temple of Heracles Monoikos ( i. e. the lone dweller ), built far from any nearby town upon a promontory in what is now the Côte d ' Azur, gave its name to the area's more recent name, Monaco.

Bacchylides begins his ode with the tale of Heracles fighting the Nemean lion, employing the battle to explain why pancration tournaments are now held during the Nemean games.

The allusion to Heracles ’ fight with the lion is also meant to incite why it is that Pytheas fights for the wreaths of the games: to obtain the undying glory that the heroes of old now possess for their deeds.

The latter reminded her of mighty Heracles ( now, an Olympian himself ) who held the record of wounding not one but two Olympians as a human.

Heracles ( now a god ) or Athena later persuaded Philoctetes to join the Achaeans again.

In the genealogy given by Herodotus, someone may have grafted the tradition of a Lydian son of Heracles at the top end of it, so that Ninus and Belus in the list now become descendants of Heracles, who just happen to bear the same names as the more famous Ninus and Belus.

In the initial arguments over the rule of the empire Nearchus supported Heracles, Alexander ’ s son by Barsine – the king ’ s mistress was now his mother-in-law.

Heracles and Geryon on an Attic black-figured amphora with a thick layer of transparent gloss, c. 540 BC, now in the Staatliche Antikensammlungen | Munich State Collection of Antiquities.

Heracles and Ares fight over the corpse of Cycnus, in the lower register an animal frieze, signed by the potter Kolchos, attributed to the painter Lydos, Attic wine jug, c. 560 BC, found in Vulci, now in the Berlin Collection of Classical Antiquities, Altes Museum

Heracles and Athena, black-figure side of a belly amphora by the Andokides Painter, c. 520 / 510 BC, from Vulci, now in the Munich State Collection of Antiquities

Heracles, Cerberus and Eurystheus on a hydria by the Eagle Painter, c. 525 BC, now in the Louvre, Paris

Heracles fighting the Lernaean Hydra | Hydra of Lerna on a hydria by the Eagle Painter, c. 525 BC, now in the Getty Villa, Malibu, California

Heracles kills the Nemean Lion, front side of a pseudo-Chalcidian neck amphora by the Polyphemus Group, c. 560 / 540 BC, found in Reggio di Calabria, now in the Louvre, Paris.

Alexander knew of a temple to Melkart, whom he identified with the Greek god Heracles, within the new city walls and informed the inhabitants that they would be spared if he were allowed to make sacrifice in the temple ( the old port had been abandoned and the Tyrians were now living on an offshore island half a mile from the mainland ).

When Heracles is sent by Elohim as " a prophet of the uncircumcision " to overcome " the twelve evil angels of the creation ," i. e. the maternal angels, Babel, now identical with Omphale, beguiles and enfeebles him ( p. 156 ; x.

As he died, he told her his blood, now mixed with the poison of the Lernaean Hydra in which Heracles ' arrow had been dipped, would keep Heracles from loving any other woman more than her, if she follows his instructions.

In addition, Gemini ( in combination with Canis Major, Orion, Auriga, and the deserted area now called Camelopardalis ) may form the origin of the myth of the Cattle of Geryon, one of The Twelve Labours of Heracles.

This appears to be the conclusion of the play ; however, as they are leaving, Heracles ( now a deity ) appears above them and tells Philoctetes that if he goes to Troy then he will be cured and the Greeks will win.

Ovid's version of this story ( Heroides 9 ) has Heracles under the erotic control of Iole.

Augeias remained undefeated due to the skill of his two generals, the Molionides, and after Heracles fell ill, his army was badly beaten.

By offering to make him a general of his own army and placing him as governor of Peloponnesus, he convinces Polyperchon to change allegiance to him instead of Heracles.

Sophax in his turn was father of Diodorus who conquered many Libyan peoples with his army of Olbians and Mycenaeans brought to Libya by Heracles.

After Heracles had married Deianeira, he returned to Oechalia with an army.

Heracles, who had become a god many years earlier, came down from Olympus and told Philoctetes to go and that he would be healed by the son of Asclepius and win great honor as a hero of the Achaean army.

At that point Polyperchon, a regent of Macedon who had been replaced by Cassander and had all but disappeared for the previous six years, began championing Heracles as Alexander's true heir, and Polyperchon began forming an army.