1/14/2024 0 Comments Who was hesperides![]() Literature, poetry, and writing he learned from Linus, the son of Apollo and the Muse Calliope. His stepfather trained him in charioteering. An Excellent EducationĪs the son of Zeus and the stepson of Amphitryon (who became a prominent general in Thebes), Heracles had access to an array of impressive tutors both mortal and mythic. Athena then returned the nourished Heracles to his mother, with Hera none the wiser that she had just saved the child she had so recently tried to kill. The infant suckled so hard it caused the goddess pain, and when she pulled him away her milk splattered across the sky, forming the Milky Way. Not recognizing the sickly child as Zeus’ spawn, Hera actually nursed little Heracles. The abandoned infant was rescued by Athena, who took her half-brother to Hera herself. Legend says that Alcmene had initially been so fearful of Hera that she had abandoned the infant outdoors, leaving him to his fate. In an attempt to placate Hera’s wrath, however, the child was renamed “Heracles,” or “Hera’s glory,” meaning the hero was ironically named after his most enduring foe.īut in an even greater irony, Hera – who had already tried to kill the newborn Heracles once – saved the child’s life. At birth, the child had been named Alcides. While Heracles is one of the most famous names in Greek Mythology, it’s interesting to note that he wasn’t known by that name initially. Heracles’ Birth Name and an Ironic Nursemaid The infant strangled both snakes and played with them like toys, slaying his first monsters before he was even weaned. Instead of killing the child, she gave him his first chance to display his divine strength. ![]() ![]() This didn’t work out as she had planned, however. She also attempted to murder the child outright while he was still in the cradle, sending a pair of snakes to kill the infant. Heracles’ First BattleĪnd Hera didn’t stop trying to curtail Heracles’ destiny. But Hera had secretly beseeched her daughter Eileithyia (goddess of childbirth) to both delay Heracles’ arrival while at the same time cause the premature birth of Eurystheus, Heracles’ cousin and the future king of Tiryns. Zeus readily agreed to this promise, expecting that the next child born of Perseus’ line would be Heracles. Even before the child was born, Hera – in furious jealousy over her husband’s trysts – began machinations against Heracles by exacting a promise from Zeus that the next descendant of Perseus would be a king, while the one born after that would be his servant. The Wicked Stepmotherīut from the very beginning, Heracles had an adversary – Zeus’ wife, the goddess Hera. An account of this origin story, in the form of a comedic play, can be found in Amphitryon by the Roman playwright Plautus. While he was away on a heroic journey of his own (avenging his wife’s brothers), Zeus visited Alcmene disguised as her husband.įrom that tryst, Alcmene conceived Heracles, and when the real Amphitryon returned the same night, Alcmene conceived a son with him as well, Iphicles. Zeus had a habit of fathering heroes, and in fact, one of his earlier progeny – the hero Perseus – was the grandfather of Heracles’ mother, Alcmene.Īlcmene had been the wife of Amphitryon, an exiled prince of Tiryns who had fled with her to Thebes after accidentally killing his uncle. Heracles is the son of the greatest Greek gods – Zeus, king of the Olympian gods. Labor #11: Stealing the Golden Apples of the Hesperides.Labor #9: Taking the Girdle of Hippolyte.Labor #8: Stealing the Mares of Diomedes.Labor #6: Killing the Stymphalian Birds.Labor #5 Cleaning the Augean Stables in a Day.Labor #4: Capturing the Erymanthian Boar.Heracles’ Birth Name and an Ironic Nursemaid.
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