Hades and Hercules

Hades
Son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea
Three Older Sisters: Hestia, Demeter, Hera
Two Younger Brothers: Poseidon, Zeus

The only mortals who visited the Underworld:

Hercules, Odysseus, Aeneas, Orpheus, and
Theseus.

Hades, while King of the Underworld, was not “Death”

The embodiment of Death was Thanatos
 Details of Hades
• Hades carried a two-pronged fork that would shatter all.
• Greeks would bang their fists on the ground so Hades would hear.
• Helmet made by the Cyclopes (given to Perseus to kill Medusa).
• Hades sat on an black throne.
 Hercules
Greek Herakles

Most famous and beloved of ancient

heroes.

Parentage: Zeus + mortal Alcmene

Husband: Amphitryon (King of
Thebes)
Herakles ‘glorious gift of Hera’

Hera decided to pay Zeus back for his

infidelity by making the rest of Hercules'
life as miserable as she could
 Early Life
• Hera sends two snakes to kill
Hercules
• Hercules, in his crib, strangles
one in each hand.

Hercules’ Teachers
• Chariot driving: Amphitryon, king of
Thebes, son of Alcaeus, and grandson of
Perseus (Medusa killer).
• Wrestling: Autolycus, son of Mercury
• Heavy Fighting: Castor, another son of
Zeus
• Singing and Playing the Lyre: Linus, a
son of Apollo
2nd Century Mosaic Antakya, Turkey
 Banishment
• In a fit of rage Hercules
kills Linus.
• Amphitryon banishes him
to become a herdsman.
• While in the country, he
kills a marauding lion and
forever wears the skin a
his clothes.
• He also carries a huge
club he carved from a
tree.
 Hercules
Returns &
12 Labors
• He returns to Thebes and helps his father defend the city; Amphitryon
dies; Hercules marries princess Megara.
• They have two children.
• Hera sends him into a fit of madness and he murders Megara and his
children
• Athena puts him to sleep to wear off the madness.
• Hercules goes to the Delphic oracle, and Apollo tells him he has 12 labors
to perform before he finds peace.
• Apollo promises to make Hercules a god if all 12 labors are completed.
 Hercules’ 12 Labors
• 1 Kill a lion with his bare hands.
• 2 Kill the Hydra (snake w/nine heads—cut one head off, two come
back.
– Burns eight heads, buries the ninth under a rock; makes poison arrows
• 3 Capture a stag.
• 4 Kill a boar.
• 5 Clean stables: 3,000 oxen; stables cleaned 30 years ago.
• 6 Kill deadly birds (w/Athena’ help & poisonous arrows)
• 7 Capture the Cretan bull (same bull from Mino’s tale)
• 8 Capture man-eating horses.
• 9 Capture the girdle of Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons.
• 10 Capture the oxen of Geryon (3-headed monster)
• 11 Capture the golden apples of the Hesperides (Atlas’ daughters)
• 12 Bring Cerberus from the Underworld (Athena & Mercury help, Hades
agrees)
 Hercules End
• While finishing his last
labor, he meets his
second wife, Deianira.
• She gives Hercules a
cloak she made and
smears oil on the inside
(given by a centaur who
said it’d make him love
her forever).
• It burns his body, he
tries to pull it off, it burns
deeper.
• Hercules asks for a
funeral pyre to be made
(better than pain).
 Hercules the god
• As the fire starts (Philoctetes
lights it), Zeus takes pity on his
son.
• Hera agrees.
• Athena brings Hercules from
the pyre to Mt. Olympus

Other stories about Hercules:

2. Rescued damsels, including
Hesione, a princess of Troy
3. Fought with Apollo
4. Helped the gods in a battle against
the Giants who tried to take over Mt.
Olympus right after his “death”.