MR2

• Heracles/Hercules

  The universal hero of ancient Greek and Roman mythology
• Heracles was the son of the god Zeus and the mortal woman Alcmene
• Birth of Heracles


  1. Alcmene and Amphitryon lived in Thebes

  2. Zeus visited Alcmene and took Amphitryon's form

  3. Alcmene became pregnant with two children, one Zeus' and one Amphitryon's

  4. Hera made Zeus vow the first son of the House of Perseus would rule

  5. Hera prolonged Alcmene's labour until Eurystheus was born first

  6. Heracles was born but held no official power

  7. Hera sent snakes to kill Heracles but he strangled them

  8. Athena became Heracles' protector
• Key individuals


  • Alcmene
  • Amphitryon
  • Eileithyia
  • Eurystheus
  • Iphicles
  • Sthenelus
• Homeric Hymn to Heracles the Lion Hearted


  Poem outlining key aspects of Heracles' life, written around 700BC and attributed to Homer
• Heracles married Megara but killed her and their children when driven mad by Hera
• Heracles' Twelve Labours


  1. Eurystheus initially challenged Heracles to 10 labours

  2. Heracles completed 10 labours but received help on 2, so Eurystheus demanded 2 more

  3. Labour 1: Nemean Lion

  4. Labour 2: Lernaean Hydra

  5. Labour 3: Golden Hind

  6. Labour 4: Erymanthian Boar

  7. Labour 5: Augean Stables

  8. Labour 6: Stymphalian Birds
• Differing accounts of the labours


  • Diodorus Siculus
  • Pseudo-Apollodorus
• Heracles founded the Olympic Games to commemorate his victory over the Augean Stables
• Heracles shot the Stymphalian Birds down either with his arrows or a sling shot
• Diodorus Siculus was a Greek historian who lived in the first century BC and wrote the Bibliotheca Historia (Library of History)
• The Bibliotheca was originally believed to have been written by Apollodorus of Athens who lived in the second century BC, but a later reference made it impossible for him to have been the author, so it is now attributed to Pseudo-Apollodorus
• Diodorus Siculus and Pseudo-Apollodorus differed in their accounts of how Heracles defeated the Stymphalian Birds
• Diodorus Siculus' account


  Heracles fashioned a bronze rattle to make a terrible noise and frighten the birds away
• Pseudo-Apollodorus' account


  Athena got some bronze noise-makers from Hephaistos and gave them to Heracles, who shook them from a mountain to frighten the birds, then shot them with his arrows
• Diodorus Siculus was a historian, while the writer of the Bibliotheca was a mythographer, which may explain the differing accounts
• Heracles' seventh labour: The Cretan Bull

  1. Heracles crept up behind the bull and strangled it, but released his grip before the bull passed out

  2. Heracles rode the bull across the sea to Greece

  3. Upon returning, Eurystheus was terrified and hid, then Heracles let the bull loose and it was later defeated by Theseus
• Heracles' eighth labour: The Mares of Diomedes


  1. Heracles defeated the stablemen

  2. While Heracles fought Diomedes, the horses overpowered and ate Heracles' companion Abderos

  3. Heracles fed Diomedes to his own horses after defeating him

  4. Heracles took the horses back to Eurystheus, and they were either freed to roam the plains of Argos or killed by wild animals
• Heracles' ninth labour: The Belt of Hippolyte

  1. Hippolyte freely offered her belt to Heracles, but Hera spread rumours that Heracles planned to steal the queen

  2. The Amazons attacked Heracles and his men, and Heracles killed Hippolyte and took the belt
• Heracles' tenth labour: The Cattle of Geryon


  1. Heracles defeated the herdsman Eurytion and his dog Orthrus

  2. Geryon, a three-headed and three-bodied creature, rushed after Heracles, who defeated him with his club and bow

  3. Heracles returned the cattle to Eurystheus, who sacrificed them to Hera
• Heracles' eleventh labour: The Apples of the Hesperides

  1. Heracles' journey took him from Northern Africa to the Near East and Illyria, where he fought the river Achelous

  2. On Mount Caucasus, Heracles killed the eagle tormenting Prometheus, who told him how to acquire the apples

  3. Heracles tricked Atlas into taking the apples back himself, then ran off with them

  4. Athena returned the apples to the garden
• Heracles' twelfth labour: Cerberus

  1. Heracles was initiated in the Eleusinian Mysteries

  2. Heracles captured Cerberus without weapons using the stranglehold that had proved successful against the Nemean Lion and Cretan Bull

  3. Heracles presented Cerberus to Eurystheus, then returned him to Hades to guard the underworld
• The traditional date for the founding of the Olympic Games was 776BC, although some form of festival had taken place since long before this
• Pelops and Hippodamia

  Pelops bribed Oinomaos' charioteer to replace his bronze linchpins with ones made of wax, causing Oinomaos' chariot to crash and kill him, allowing Pelops to marry Hippodamia and set up the Olympics as funerary games in Oinomaos' honour
• Heracles and the Augean Stables


  After completing the labour, Augeas refused to pay Heracles, so Heracles collected an army and marched on Elis, taking the city, celebrating the Olympian Games, and founding an altar of Pelops and six altars of the twelve gods
• The ancient Greeks could pick and choose which stories they believed about the founding of the Olympic Games, and there is no evidence of conflict arising from these competing stories
• The labours of Heracles are represented on twelve metopes on the Temple of Zeus at Olympia
• Objectives of the sculptor of the Heracles metopes

  • Create a scene that could be easily recognisable
  • Create realism in the scene
  • Fill the space so as not to leave big blank areas
• Metope showing Heracles wrestling the Cretan Bull


  • Heracles holds his club even though the myth suggests he strangled the bull
  • Heracles' body is well sculpted with correct proportions and movement
  • The sculptor has used diagonals and Heracles' raised club arm to fill the space
• The diagram shows where the Heracles metopes and pediment are found on the Temple of Zeus at Olympia
• Heracles metopes


  Sculptural reliefs depicting the labours of Heracles (Hercules)
• Pediment

  Triangular space above the entrance of a temple
• Temple of Zeus at Olympia


  An ancient Greek temple in Olympia, Greece
• The checklist is to consider when evaluating the "Effectiveness" of the Heracles Metope Sculptures
• Criteria to evaluate the Heracles Metope Sculptures


  • Use of Space
  • Symmetry and Angles
  • Foreshortening
  • Realism
  • Drapery
  • Movement
  • Emotion
• The Romans inherited their ideas about Hercules from the Greeks
• Hercules and Cacus


  A story from the Roman epic Aeneid, explaining why Hercules' cult was founded in Rome
• The story took place during Hercules' tenth labour, the cattle of Geryon
• The story was set about 500 years before Romulus founded Rome
• The cult of Hercules in Rome stemmed from the story of Hercules and Cacus