\b0 Called Hercules by the Romans, he was the son of \b \cf4 \ATXht8 Zeus\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 and \b \cf4 \ATXht10120 Al
cmene\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 , the wife of Amphitryon of \b \cf4 \ATXht12006 Thebes\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 . The day Heracles was due to be born, the jealous \b \cf4 \ATXht3 Hera\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 flew to \b \cf4 \ATXht10135 Argos\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 to speed up the birth
of Heracles' cousin \b \cf4 \ATXht10520 Eurystheus\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 , while she sent Ilithyia to delay \b \cf4 \ATXht10120 Alcmene\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 's delivery. Thus, Eurystheus was born first and became the head of the house of the Perseids to which both
the newborn children belonged. The divine nature of Heracles (who was then known as Alcides or Alcaeus) was revealed straight-away when, still in swaddling clothes, he strangled two serpents that Hera had sent to attack him. He spent his childhood in Th
ebes and at the age of eighteen was sent by Amphitryon to herd the flocks of King Thespius on Helicon. As the king wished the hero to give him a grandson, he placed one of his fifty daughters in his bed each night and Heracles united with all of them, be
lieving them to be the same girl (another tradition holds that he lay with them all in a single night!). The fifty children born as a result were called the Thespiads. He also begot several children with his wife Megara, daughter of King Creon of Thebes,
but, struck with madness by Hera, killed them. He then went to \b \cf4 \ATXht10404 Delphi\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 to purify himself and was told by the \b \cf4 \ATXht11640 Pythia\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 to place himself in the service of Eurystheus at \b \cf4 \ATXht12013 Tiryns\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 for twelve years. It was the Pythia who gave him the name of Heracles, or "he who receives glory from Hera." And, in fact, glory did come to him from the famous twelve labors, imposed on him by Eurystheus but at the behest of H
era. His subsequent exploits saw Heracles struggling with \b \cf4 \ATXht9 Apollo\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 for possession of the tripod at Delphi; the slave of Queen Omphale of Lydia, who forced him to wear women's clothes; a sailor on the ship \b \i \cf4 \ATXht104 Argos\b0 \i0 \cf0 \ATXht0 during the expedition in search of the Golden Fleece; and a leading combatant in the \b \cf4 \ATXht10704 Gigantomachia\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 . As well as Megara, whom he gave up to his friend and nephew Iolaus after the murder of th
eir children (though it is also said that she was killed along with them), he was married to Deianeira, who was the cause of his earthly death. While, again in exile, Heracles was wandering with his new bride, he killed the centaur Nessus, who tried to r
ape her, with a poisoned arrow. Nessus, as he died, told Deianeira to collect his blood as it would preserve her husband's love forever. Later on, when Heracles fell in love with Princess Iole of Euboea, Deianeira soaked her husband's tunic in the centau
r's blood and the poison of the arrow, still present in the blood, caused him atrocious suffering. At the sight of this, Deianeira killed herself. Heracles, racked with pain, also sought relief in death. He lay down on a stack of wood and ordered it to b
e set alight, but as soon as the flames began to lap his body, he was transported to \b \cf4 \ATXht11507 Olympus\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 where he was endowed with immortality, reconciled with \b \cf4 \ATXht3 Hera\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 , and married to her daughter,
