Herakles – מילון אנגלי-אנגלי
Heracles
Heracles ( ; ,
Herakles, from
Hera, "
Hera", and
kleos, "glory"), born
Alcaeus (,
Alkaios) or
Alcides (,
Alkeides), was a
divine hero in
Greek mythology, the son of
Zeus and
Alcmene, foster son of
Amphitryon and great-grandson/half-brother of
Perseus. He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, a paragon of masculinity, the ancestor of royal clans who claimed to be
Heracleidae and a champion of the
Olympian order against
chthonic monsters. In
Rome and the
modern West, he is known as
Hercules, with whom the later
Roman Emperors, in particular
Commodus and
Maximian, often identified themselves. The Romans adopted the Greek version of his life and works essentially unchanged, but added anecdotal detail of their own, some of it linking the hero with the geography of the Central Mediterranean. Details of his
cult were adapted to Rome as well.
Herakles
Noun
1. (classical mythology) a hero noted for his strength; performed 12 immense labors to gain immortality
(synonym) Hercules, Heracles, Alcides
(hypernym) mythical being
(classification) classical mythology
Herakles
n.
Heracles, Hercules, hero of great strength and courage (Classical Mythology); tragedy by Euripides
Heracles
[Greek heroic] Heracles (Latin: Hercules) is the son of the god Zeus and Alcmene. His gift was fabulous strength; he strangled two serpents in his cradle, and killed a lion before manhood. Heracles' main antagonist was Hera. She eventually drove him mad, during which time he killed his own children and his brother's. He was so grieved upon recovery that he exiled himself and consulted the oracle of Apollo. The oracle told him to perform twelve labors These Twelve Labors were: Kill the lion of Nemea. He strangled it without further ado. Kill the nine-headed Hydra. Two new heads would grow on the Hydra from each fresh wound, and one was immortal. Heracles burned the eight and put the immortal one under a rock. Capture the Ceryneian Hind. After running after it for many months, he finally trapped it. Kill the wild boar of Erymanthus. A wild battle, but pretty straightforward: Heracles won. Clean the Augean Stables of King Augeas. He succeeded only by diverting a nearby river to wash the muck awa...
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Heracles
Heracles Herakles (Greek)
Hercules (Latin) [probably from
heros free man, cf Latin
herus lord of a household; or "renowned through Hera"] Son of Zeus and Alcmene, greatest of the Greek heroes. He delivers Prometheus from Zeus, and slays the two serpents representing the nodes of the moon. The passage of the sun through the zodiacal signs typifies the twelve labors of Heracles, in this case denoting the energies of the cosmic Logos working on various planes, and also in the microcosmic sphere the trials through which an initiant must pass before reaching adeptship. In one of his highest aspects he is a solar entity, self-born, and possibly equivalent to Thor of Scandinavia (SD 1:131-2). He is the first-begotten, in some ways equivalent to Bel of
Asia Minor and to Siva in India (SD 2:492). He is one of the minor logoi who strive to endow humankind with higher faculties. Again, he appears as the sun god who descends to Hades (cave of initiation) in order to deliver the denizens there from their bonds, thus being equivalent to Mahasura and Lucifer.
The name Heracles was often given to heroes and demigods who imbodied his particular characteristics.
