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Hercules
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Hercules is the Roman name for the
mythical Greek demigod Heracles, son of
Zeus, the Roman Jupiter, and the mortal
Alcmena. Early Roman sources suggest
that the imported Greek hero supplanted a
mythic Italic shepherd called "Recaranus"
or "Garanus", famous for his strength,
who dedicated the Ara Maxima that
became associated with the earliest
Roman cult of Hercules.
Etymology
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Hercules's Latin name is not directly
borrowed from Greek Heracles but is a
modification of the Etruscan name Hercle,
which derives from the Greek name via
syncope, Heracles translates to "The Glory
of Hera". An oath invoking Hercules
(Hercle! or Mehercle!) was a common
Interjection in Classical Latin.
Myths of Hercules
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The Romans adopted the myths of Heracles including his
twelve labors, essentially unchanged, but added
anecdotal detail of their own, some of it linking Hercules
with the geography of the Western Mediterranean.
In Roman mythology, Acca Larentia was Hercules's
mistress. She was married to Tarutius, a wealthy
merchant. When he died, she gave his money to charity.
In another version, she was the wife of Faustulus.
In Aeneid 8.195ff., Vergilius relates a myth about
Hercules' defeating the monstrous Cacus, who lived in a
cave under the Palatine Hill (one of the eventual Seven
Hills of Rome).
Roman cult
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In their popular culture the Romans adopted the
Etruscan Hercle, a hero-figure that had already been
influenced by Greek culture — especially in the
conventions of his representation — but who had
experienced an autonomous development. Etruscan
Hercle appears in the elaborate illustrative engraved
designs on the backs of Etruscan bronze mirrors made
during the fourth century BC, which were favoured grave
goods. Their specific literary references have been lost,
with the loss of all Etruscan literature, but the image of
the mature, bearded Hercules suckling at Uni/Juno's
breast, engraved on a mirror back from Volterra, is
distinctively Etruscan. This Hercle/Hercules — the Hercle
of the interjection "Mehercle!" — remained a popular cult
figure in the Roman legions.
Death of Hercules
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Hercules was married to Deianeira. Long after their
marriage, one day the centaur Nessus offered to ferry
them across a wide river that they had to cross. Nessus
set off with Deianeira first, but tried to abduct her. When
Hercules realized the centaur's real intention, Hercules
chased after him and shot him with a poisoned arrow.
Before he died Nessus told Deianeira to take some of his
blood and treasure it: if she ever thought Hercules was
being unfaithful, the centaur told her, the blood would
restore his love. Deianeira kept the phial of blood. Many
years later after that incident she heard rumours that
Hercules has fallen in love with another woman. She
smeared some of the blood on his shirt and sent it to
Hercules. When he put on the shirt, the blood still
poisoned from the same arrow used by Hercules, burnt
into his flesh and eventually he died in pain.
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