Heracles was the strongest and most worshipped hero of Ancient Greece
Relief of Heracles lying on a lion pelt . National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Greece
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Ever since he was a child, Heracles made it obvious that he was not a common mortal but was in possession of extraordinary strengths and divine gifts.
Heracles was born in Thebes, Greece, when Zeus managed to seduce his love, Alkmene, by transforming himself into her husband. The affair of Zeus with Alkmene resulted in the hatred of Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus, and her determination to destroy Heracles in any way possible.
By the time Heracles was only eight months old, Hera sent out two snakes to his cradle, where he was sleeping with his brother Iphicles, in order to destroy him. The strength of the boy, though, was so immense that he managed to strangle the snakes with his bare hands.
When he reached manhood, Heracles married Megara, a princess of Thebes and together they had five children. Hera, however, who still hadn't got her revenge, armed Heracles with a destroying anger, which made him kill both his wife and his children.
When Heracles realized what he had done, he repentantly referred to the Delphic oracle, asking the Greek god Apollo what needed to be done in order to be forgiven for his faults. Apollo advised him to return to his place of origin in order to serve Eurystheus, the King of Tiryns , close to Mycenae. However, Eurystheus was on the side of Hera and tried to exterminate the hero. For this purpose he assigned the hero twelve challenging labors.
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