in fabulous history, a most renowned Grecian hero, who after his death was ranked amongst the gods, and received divine honours. According to the ancients, there were many persons of the same name. Diodorus mentions three, Cicero six, and some authors extend the number to more than forty. Of all these, one generally called the Theban Hercules is the most celebrated; and to him, as may easily be imagined, the actions of the others have been attributed. He is reported to have been the son of Jupiter by Alcmene, wife to Amphitryon, king of Argos, whom Jupiter enjoyed in the shape of her husband whilst he was absent; and, in order to add the greatest strength to the child, made that amorous night as long as three. Amphitryon having soon afterwards accidentally killed his uncle and father-in-law Electryon, was obliged to fly to Thebes, where Hercules was born. The jealousy of Juno, on account of her husband's amour with Alcmene, prompted her to attempt destroying the infant. For this purpose she sent two serpents to kill him in the cradle, but the young Hercules strangled both of them. He was early instructed in the liberal arts, whilst Castor the son of Tyndarus taught him how to fight, Eurytus how to shoot with a bow and arrows, Autolycus to drive a chariot, Linus to play on the lyre, and Eumolpus to sing. Like the rest of his illustrious contemporaries, he soon afterwards became the pupil of Chiron the centaur, and under him rendered himself the most valiant and accomplished of the age. In the eighteenth year of his age he resolved to deliver the neighbourhood of Mount Cithaeron from a huge lion which preyed on the flocks of Amphitryon his supposed father, and which laid waste the adjacent country. He went to the court of Thespius, king of Thespis, who, sharing in the general calamity, received him kindly, and entertained him during fifty days. The fifty daughters of the king became mothers by Hercules during his stay at Thespis, and some say that it was effected in one night. After he had destroyed the lion of Mount Cithaeron, he delivered his country from the annual tribute of a hundred oxen which it paid to Erinus. Such public services became universally known; and Creon, who then sat on the throne of Thebes, rewarded the patriotic deeds of Hercules by giving him his daughter in marriage, and intrusting him with the government of his kingdom.

Eurystheus, the son of Amphitryon, having succeeded his father, soon became jealous of Hercules; and fearing lest he might be deprived of his crown, left no means untried in order to get rid of him. Of this Hercules was not insensible, because he was perpetually engaging him on some desperate expedition; and therefore went to consult the oracle. But being answered that it was the pleasure of the gods that he should serve Eurystheus twelve years, he fell into a deep melancholy, which at last ended in furious madness. Among other desperate actions which he perpetrated whilst afflicted with this disease, he put away his wife Megara, and murdered all the children he had by her. As an expiation of this crime, the king imposed upon him twelve labours surpassing the power of all other mortals to accomplish, but which nevertheless our hero performed with great ease. The favour of the gods had indeed completely armed him when he undertook his labours. He had received a coat of armour and helmet from Minerva, a sword from Mercury, a horse from Neptune, a shield from Jupiter, a bow and arrows from Apollo, and from Vulcan a golden cuirass and brazen buskin, with a celebrated club, of brass, according to the opinion of some writers.

The first labour imposed upon him was the killing a lion in Nemea, a wood of Achaia, the hide of which was proof against any weapon, so that he was forced to seize him by the throat and strangle him. He carried the dead beast on his shoulders to Mycenae, and ever afterwards clothed himself with the skin. Eurystheus was so astonished at the sight of this beast, and at the courage of Hercules, that he ordered him never to enter the gates of the city when he returned from his expeditions, but to wait for his orders without the walls. He even made himself a brazen vessel, into which he retired whenever Hercules returned. The second labour was to destroy the Lernaean hydra, which had seven heads according to Apollodorus, fifty according to Simonides, and a hundred according to Diodorus. This celebrated monster he first attacked with his arrows; but soon afterwards he came to a close engagement, and by means of his heavy club he destroyed the heads of his enemy. This, however, was productive of no advantage; for as soon as one head was beaten to pieces by the club, two immediately sprang up; and the labour of Hercules would have remained unfinished, had he not commanded his friend Iolaus to burn with a hot iron the root of the head which he had crushed to pieces. This succeeded; Hercules became victorious, and opening the belly of the monster, he dipped his arrows in the gall, to render the wounds which he inflicted incurable. He was ordered in his third labour to bring alive and unhurt into the presence of Eurystheus a stag, famous for its incredible swiftness, its golden horns, and its brazen feet. This celebrated animal frequented the neighbourhood of Ænoe; and Hercules was employed for a whole year in continually pursuing it; but at last he caught it in a trap, or when tired, or, according to others, by slightly wounding it and lessening its swiftness. The fourth labour was to bring alive to Eurystheus a wild boar which ravaged the neighbourhood of Erymanthus. In this expedition he destroyed the centaurs, and caught the boar by closely pursuing him through the deep snow. Eurystheus was so frightened at the sight of the boar, that, according to Diodorus, he hid himself for some days in his brazen vessel. In his fifth labour Hercules was ordered to clean the stables of Augæus, where three thousand oxen had been confined for many years. For his sixth labour he was enjoined to kill the carnivorous birds which ravaged the country near the lake Stymphalis in Arcadia. In his seventh labour he brought alive into Peloponnesus a prodigious wild bull, which laid waste the island of Crete. In his eighth labour he was employed in obtaining the mares of Diomedes, which fed upon human flesh. He killed Diomedes, and gave him to be eaten by his mares, which he brought to Eurystheus. They were sent to Mount Olympus by the king of Mycenæ, where they were devoured by the wild beasts; or, according to others, they were consecrated to Jupiter, and their breed still existed in the age of Alexander the Great. For his ninth labour he was commanded to obtain the girdle of the queen of the Amazons. In his tenth labour he killed the monster Geryon, king of Gades, and brought to Argos his numerous flocks, which fed upon human flesh. This was in Iberia or Spain, in the furthest parts of which he erected his two pillars, as the utmost limits of the then known world. These ten labours he achieved, as the fable says, in about eight years. In this last expedition he is likewise affirmed to have killed Antæus, a famous giant of a monstrous size, who, when weary with wrestling or labour, was immediately refreshed by touching the earth. Hercules overcame him in wrestling, and slew him; and afterwards, on his way through Egypt, the tyrant Busiris. This bloody man used to sacrifice all his guests and strangers upon his altars; and designing to have done the same by Hercules, was slain by him, together with all his attendants. His eleventh labour was the carrying away the Hesperian golden apples kept by a dragon. The last and most perilous of his labours was to bring upon earth the three-headed dog Cerberus. Descending into hell by a cave on Mount Tartarus, he was permitted by Pluto to carry away his friends Theseus and Pirithous, who were condemned to punishment in hell; and Cerberus also was granted to his prayers, provided he made use of no arms but force only to drag him away. Hercules, as some report, carried him back to hell after he had brought him before Eurystheus.

Many other exploits are said to have been performed by Hercules. In particular, he accompanied the Argonauts to Colchis before he delivered himself up to the king of Mycenæ. He assisted the gods in their wars against the giants; and it was through him alone that Jupiter obtained a victory. He conquered Laomedon, and pillaged Troy. Hercules, when Iole, the daughter of Eurytus, king of Æchalia, of whom he was deeply enamoured, was refused to his entreaties, he became the victim of a second fit of insanity, and murdered Iphitus, the only one of the sons of Eurytus who favoured his addresses to Iole. He was some time afterwards purified of the murder, and his insanity ceased; but the gods persecuted him, and he was visited by a disorder which obliged him to apply to the oracle of Delphi for relief. The coldness with which the Pythia received him irritated him, and he resolved to plunder Apollo's temple and carry away the sacred tripod. Apollo opposed him, and a severe conflict began, which nothing but the interference of Jupiter with his thunderbolts could have prevented. He was upon this told by the oracle that he must be sold as a slave, and remain three years in the most abject servitude, to recover from his disorder. He complied; and Mercury, by order of Jupiter, conducted him to Omphale, queen of Lydia, to whom he was sold as a slave. Here he cleared all the country from robbers; and Omphale, who was astonished at the greatness of his exploits, married him. Hercules had Agelaus and Lamon by Omphale, from whom Croesus king of Lydia was descended. He also became enamoured of one of Omphale's female servants, by whom he had Alceus. After he had completed the years of his slavery he returned to Peloponnesus, where he re-established on the throne of Sparta Tyndarus, who had been expelled by Hippocoon. He became one of Dejanira's suitors, and married her after he had overcome all his rivals. He was obliged to leave Calydon, his father-in-law's kingdom, because he had inadvertently killed a man with a blow of his fist; and it was on account of this expulsion that he was not present at the hunting of the Calydonian boar. From Calydon he retired to the court of Ceyx, king of Trachinia. The king received him and his wife with great marks of friendship, and purified him of the murder which he had committed at Calydon. Hercules was still mindful that he had once been refused the hand of Iole; he therefore made war against her father Eurytus, and killed him, with three of his sons. Iole fell into the hands of her father's murderer, and found that she was beloved by Hercules as much as before. She accompanied him to Mount Æta, where he was going to raise an altar and offer a solemn sacrifice to Jupiter. As he had not then the shirt and tunic in which he arrayed himself to offer a sacrifice, he sent Lichas to Trachin to his wife Dejanira, in order to provide himself a proper dress. Dejanira had some time before been attempted by the centaur Nessus, as he was ferrying her over the river Euenus; and Hercules beholding it from the shore, had given him a mortal wound with an arrow. The monster finding himself dying, advised her to mix some oil with the blood which flowed from his wound, and to anoint with it her husband's shirt, pretending that it would infallibly secure him from loving any other woman; and she, too well apprised of his inconstancy, had actually prepared the poisoned ointment accordingly. Lichas coming to her for the garments, unfortunately acquainted her with his having brought away Iole; upon which Dejanira, in a fit of jealousy, anointed his shirt with the fatal mixture. This had no sooner touched his body than he felt the poison diffuse itself through his veins; the violent pain of which caused him to disband his army, and to return to Trachin. His torment still increasing, he sent to consult the oracle for a cure; and was answered, that he should cause himself to be conveyed to Mount Æta, and there rear up a great pile of wood, and leave the rest to Jupiter. By the time he had obeyed the oracle, his pains having become intolerable, he dressed himself in his martial habit, flung himself upon the pile, and desired the bystanders to set fire to it. Others say that he left the charge of it to his son Philoctetes, who, Hercules having performed his father's command, had his bow and arrows given him as a reward for his obedience. At the same time Jupiter, to be as good as his word, sent a flash of lightning, which consumed both the pile and the hero; insomuch that Iolas, coming to take up his bones, found nothing but ashes; from which they concluded that he had passed from earth to heaven, and joined the gods. His friends showed their gratitude to his memory by raising an altar where the burning pile had stood. Menestius the son of Actor offered him a sacrifice of a bull, a wild boar, and a goat, and enjoined the people of Opus yearly to observe the same religious ceremonies. His worship soon became as universal as his fame; and Juno, who had once persecuted him with the utmost fury, forgot her resentment, and gave him her daughter Hebe in marriage. Hercules has received many surnames and epithets, either from the place where his worship was established, or from the labours which he achieved. His temples were numerous and magnificent, and his divinity revered. No dogs or flies ever entered his temple at Rome; and that of Gades, according to Strabo, was always forbidden to women and pigs. The Phoenicians offered quails on his altars; and as it was supposed that he presided over dreams, the sick and infirm were sent to sleep in his temples, that they might receive in their dreams the agreeable presages of their approaching recovery. The white poplar was particularly dedicated to his service.

in Astronomy, one of the constellations of the northern hemisphere. The stars in the constellation Hercules in Ptolemy's catalogue are 29; in Tycho's 28; in the Britannic catalogue 113.

HERCULES'S Pillars, in Antiquity, a name given to two lofty mountains, one situated on the most southern extremity of Spain, and the other on the opposite coast of Africa. They were called by the ancients Abyla and Calpe. They were reckoned the boundaries of the labours of Hercules; and, according to ancient tradition, they were joined together till they were severed by the arm of the hero, and a communication opened between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.