Heracles

Greek · demigod · heroic age · Recorded classification

Son of Zeus and Alcmene. Apollodorus relates his labours, ascent from the pyre on Oeta, reconciliation with Hera, and marriage to Hebe.

Parentage

Recorded default; alternative parentage accounts are listed separately below.

paternal: Zeus
maternal: Alcmene

Parentage accounts

Each account is a separate source claim. The parentage and children listed outside these accounts use the recorded default. Selecting an account in the interactive app updates its lineage, descent classification and inherited-power candidates. Linked pedigree accounts are selected together; other records retain their recorded parentage. Claims of ancestry are not proof of biological descent or attested powers.

Satyrus: transmitted divine ancestryThe quoted pedigree explicitly calls Heracles son of Zeus but does not name his mother. Other accounts remain separately available. This is a dynastic ancestry claim, not established biological history.
Claimed divine ancestry; fraction unquantified because the account is incomplete.
- father: ZeusSatyrus, dynastic genealogy preserved in Theophilus, To Autolycus 2.7 (Greek text) (primary)
Satyrus, dynastic genealogy preserved in Theophilus, To Autolycus 2.7 (Greek text) (primary)

Children

Children in alternative accounts

Hyllus: Satyrus: transmitted divine ancestrySatyrus, dynastic genealogy preserved in Theophilus, To Autolycus 2.7 (Greek text) (primary)

Names and tradition associations

Heracles Greek · same recordApollodorus, Library 2.4.8–12; 2.7.7 (primary)
Herakles Greek · same recordApollodorus, Library 2.4.8–12; 2.7.7 (primary)
Alcides Greek · same recordApollodorus, Library 2.4.8–12; 2.7.7 (primary)
Hercle Etruscan · resolvedPyrgi tablets c.500 BCE; Tomb of the Augurs (Tarquinia, c.530 BCE); engraved bronze mirrors (Bonfante 1990) (primary)
Hercules Roman · resolvedOvid, Metamorphoses 9.211–323 (primary)

Variant accounts

apotheosisHomer's Nekyia (Od. 11) shows Heracles in Hades, not on Olympus. Either denies full apotheosis or implies eidolon-doubling — mortal residue in Hades, divine portion on Olympus. Apollodorus harmonizes via the latter.Hom. Od. 11.601-627 (primary)

Domains

labor
gateway protection
athletic contest
threshold
monster slaying
apotheosis deification

Powers

physical strength extreme
endurance superhuman
wrestling skill
archery skill
Slay beasts with bare hands and overwhelming might
Ascend from the funeral pyre to immortality and Olympus
Ascend to godhood / become immortal
Exert superhuman strength

Epithets

ἀλεξίκακος greek · secondaryaverter of evilPaus. 1.32.5 (secondary)
καλλίνικος greek · hymnicof the beautiful victoryArchilochus fr. 324 (secondary)
θηροκτόνος greek · tragedianbeast-slayerEur. HF 1271 (primary)
Καλλίνικος greek · Kallinikos · cultOf glorious victory; the triumphant Heracles hailed after his laboursArchilochus fr. 324 (the τήνελλα καλλίνικε refrain); Paus. 9.11.6 (primary)
Ἀλεξίκακος greek · Alexikakos · cultAverter of evil; protector who wards off harm and plagueLact. Plac. on Stat. Theb. (cf. Heracles Alexikakos); Farnell, Greek Hero Cults (secondary)
Μελάμπυγος greek · Melampygos · literaryBlack-buttocked; the robust virile Heracles of the Kerkopes taleschol. Hdt. 7.216; Suda s.v. Μελάμπυγος (secondary)
Βουφάγος greek · Bouphagos · literaryOx-eater; the gluttonous hero who devours a whole oxcf. Pind. fr. 168 (Heracles' appetite); Lex. on the comic Heracles (primary)
Σωτήρ Ancient Greek · Soter · cultsaviour, delivererPausanias, Description of Greece 9.27.5 (secondary)

Relations

mentor: Chiron (the wise centaur, mentor of Heracles, Achilles, Asclepius, Jason) · GreekApollod. 2.5.4 (primary)
companion: IphiclesReciprocal of greek_apollod_iphicles.companion (the heteropaternal mortal twin).Apollod. 2.4.8-9 (primary)
killer of: Augeas (king of Elis whose stables Heracles cleaned; son of Helios in dominant tradition; not registered as Helios-line cascade) · GreekAfter Augeas refused payment for the cleansing of his stables (the Fifth Labor), Heracles returned to Elis and killed him.Apollod. 2.7.2; Diod. 4.33.4 (primary)
killer of: HippolytaKilled during the Ninth Labor (the Girdle of Hippolyta) after Hera-induced fight broke out among the Amazons.Apollod. 2.5.9 (primary)
killer of: CalaisKilled Calais (with his twin Zetes) after the Argonautic abandonment of Heracles at Mysia.Apollod. 1.9.20; Apoll. Rhod. 1.1298-1308 (primary)
killer of: ZetesKilled Zetes (with his twin Calais) after the Argonautic abandonment of Heracles at Mysia.Apollod. 1.9.20; Apoll. Rhod. 1.1298-1308 (primary)
killer of: NeleusKilled Neleus and eleven of his twelve sons during the sack of Pylos after Neleus refused purification.Apollod. 2.7.3 (primary)
killer of: LinusKilled his music-tutor Linus with the lyre after Linus rebuked him for errors in the lesson; tried under a law of Rhadamanthys allowing self-defense and acquitted.Apollod. 2.4.9; Theoc. Idyll 24.105-110 (primary)
enemy: EurystheusThe canonical-rivalry of the Twelve Labors imposition; Hera-engineered through the accelerated-birth deception. Eurystheus imposes the Twelve Labors on Heracles per the Perseid-kingship-prerogative-oath that Zeus had spoken.Hom. Il. 19.95-133; Apollod. 2.5.1-12 (primary)
enemy: HeraHom. Il. 14.250-256 (primary)
ally: AthenaApollod. 2.5.11 (primary)
companion: IolausApollod. 2.5.2 (primary)
former spouse: MegaraApollod. 2.4.12 (primary)
spouse: DeianiraApollod. 2.7.5-7 (primary)
lover: OmphaleApollod. 2.6.3 (primary)
lover: AugeApollod. 2.7.4 (primary)
spouse: HebePost-apotheosis marriage on Olympus.Hes. Theog. 950-955 (primary)
equated with: MelqartGreeks identified Phoenician Melqart with Heracles from at least the 5th c. BCE. The Cadiz/Gades cult was the syncretic meeting-point — Phoenician colonial foundation that became the principal "Heracles" cult site in the western Mediterranean. Distinct entries retained because Melqart predates the equation by centuries with independent Tyrian-civic identity (the Tyrian biennial egersis ritual, the cypress-wood-only sacrifice taboo, the Herodotean detail that women were excluded from the rite).Hdt. 2.43-44 (Herodotus visits both the Tyrian Heracles temple and the Egyptian Heracles to investigate the equation; concludes the Phoenician Melqart cult is the older); Diod. 5.20; Sil. Italicus 3.21 (primary); Hdt. 2.43-44 (Herodotus visits both the Tyrian Heracles temple and the Egyptian Heracles to investigate the equation; concludes the Phoenician Melqart cult is the older); Diod. 5.20; Sil. Italicus 3.21 (primary)
interpretatio: MelqartHdt visits Tyre to compare 'Heracles' cults and concludes the Tyrian god is older. Preserves the mortal-divine civic hero with apotheosis (Melqart's egersis ~ Heracles' pyre); breaks on the Labors.Herodotus, Histories 2.44 (the Tyrian Heracles) (primary)
interpretatio: SantaSandas/Sandon of Tarsus was honored with an annual pyre Greeks read as Heracles' self-immolation. Preserves the burning-hero apotheosis; breaks on Santa's plague-and-death warband character.Dio Chrysostom, Oration 33.47 (the pyre of Herakles at Tarsus) (primary); M. Hutter, 'Aspects of Luwian Religion', in H. C. Melchert (ed.), The Luwians (2003) (secondary)
syncretism: VerethragnaCommagene formally fuses Verethragna (Artagnes) with Herakles(-Ares). Preserves irresistible victorious strength; breaks on Verethragna's ten incarnations and abstract 'victory' nature — no labors, no biography.OGIS 383 (Nemrud Dagh: Artagnes-Herakles-Ares) (primary)
equated with: VahagnArmenian tradition renders Vahagn as Heracles (so the hellenizing translators). Preserves the dragon-slaying strongman; breaks on Vahagn's fiery birth from the reed and his storm-born cosmology.J. R. Russell, Zoroastrianism in Armenia (1987) (secondary)
equated with: NergalAt Hatra (and Palmyra) Nergal is rendered in Heracles' club-and-lionskin type. Preserves the irresistible warrior who conquers death's realm; breaks on Nergal's plague-lordship and underworld throne.W. al-Salihi, 'Hercules-Nergal at Hatra', Iraq 33 (1971) (secondary)
interpretatio: Strongman Forefather (Scythian Heracles)Reciprocal of scythian_herakles.interpretatio — Pontic Greeks told the Scythian genealogy with Heracles fathering Scythes on the snake-legged maiden; Hdt also lists 'Heracles' among Scythian gods. Preserves the strongman-forefather; the native name is lost.Herodotus, Histories 4.8-10, 4.59 (primary)
lover: Astyoche daughter of PhylasReciprocal of greek_apollod_astyoche.lover — Bore Tlepolemus to Heracles; Astyoche already listed as Tlepolemus's mother in the registry.Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2.7.6 (Heracles fathers Tlepolemus on Astyoche, daughter of Phylas) (primary); Homer, Iliad 2.653-660 (Tlepolemus son of Heracles, Rhodian contingent) (primary)
counterpart of: HeraklesThe hymn addresses this deity in an Orphic ritual context; Greek genealogy is not imported.Orphic Hymns, 11 (Thomas Taylor numbering; modern hymn 12) (primary)
counterpart of: HerculesTradition-specific counterpart; this link does not transfer parentage.Virgil, Aeneid 8.184–305 (primary)
child (dynastic pedigree): HyllusNamed child in the Satyrus pedigree; this claim does not alter conventional default parentage.Satyrus, dynastic genealogy preserved in Theophilus, To Autolycus 2.7 (Greek text) (primary)
father (dynastic pedigree): ZeusNamed parent in the Satyrus pedigree; select that account to display the claimed lineage.Satyrus, dynastic genealogy preserved in Theophilus, To Autolycus 2.7 (Greek text) (primary)
ancestor of: Ptolemy I SoterTheocritus presents Heracles as an ancestor of Ptolemy. This is a distant descent claim, not direct parenthood.Theocritus, Idyll 17.13-33 (primary)

Sources

existence: Hom. Il. 14.323; Hes. Sh. passim; Apollod. 2.4.8-2.7.7 (primary)
parentage: Hes. Sh. 1-56; Apollod. 2.4.8 (primary)
apotheosis: Apollod. 2.7.7; Diod. 4.38-39; Hes. Theog. 950-955 (primary)
identification: Hdt. 2.43-44 (primary)
Son of Zeus and Alcmene. Apollodorus relates his labours, ascent from the pyre on Oeta, reconciliation with Hera, and marriage to Hebe.: Apollodorus, Library 2.4.8–12; 2.7.7 (primary)

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