Ancestors of Perseus and Hercules

Zeus - was the god of the sky and ruler of the Olympian gods. He overthrew his
father, Cronus, and then drew lots with his brothers Poseidon and Hades, in order to
decide who would succeed their father on the throne. Zeus won the draw and became
the supreme ruler of the gods, as well as lord of the sky and rain. His weapon was a
thunderbolt which he hurled at those who displeased or defied him, especially liars and
oath breakers. He was married to Hera but often tested her patience, as he was
infamous for his many affairs.Zeus, the presiding deity of the universe, ruler of the skies
and the earth, was regarded by the Greeks as the god of all natural phenomena on the
sky; the personification of the laws of nature; the ruler of the state; and finally, the
father of gods and men.
Using his shield, the Aegis, Zeus could create all natural phenomena related to the air
and the sky, such as storms, tempests, and intense darkness. At his command, mighty
thunders would flash and lightning’s would roll, wreaking havoc; or the skies would
open to rejuvenate the earth with life-giving water.
As the personification of the operations of nature, he represented the grand laws of
unchanging and harmonious order, by which both the natural and the spiritual world
were governed. He was the god of regulated time as marked by the changing seasons
and the regular succession of day and night, in contrast to what his father Cronus
represented before him; absolute time, i.e. eternity.
As the ruler of the state, he was the source of kingly power, the upholder of all
institutions connected to the state, and the friend and patron of princes, whom he
guarded and assisted with his advice and counsel. He was also the protector of the
people, and watched over the welfare of the whole community.As the father of the
gods, Zeus ascertained that each deity perform their individual duty, punished their
misdeeds, settled their disputes, and acted towards them on all occasions as their all-
knowing counselor and mighty friend.
As the father of men, he took a paternal interest in the actions and well-being of
mortals. He watched over them with tender solicitude, rewarding truth, charity, and
fairness, while severely punishing perjury and cruelty. Even the poorest and most
forlorn wanderer could find a powerful advocate in Zeus, for he, as a wise and merciful
paternal figure, demanded that the wealthy inhabitants of the earth be attentive to the
needs of their less fortunate fellow citizens.

IO- was the princess of Argos, who Zeus fell in love with. To try to keep Hera from
noticing, he covered the world with a thick blanket of clouds. However, as soon as Hera
saw that, she immediately became suspicious. She came down from Mount Olympus
and began dispersing the clouds. Zeus did some quick thinking and changed Io's form
from a lovely maiden; so, as the clouds dispersed, Hera found Zeus standing next to a
white heifer. He then swore that he had never seen the cow before and that it had just
sprang right out of the earth. Seeing right through this, Hera faked liking the cow so
much that she wanted to have it as a present. As turning such a reasonable request
down would have given the whole thing away, Zeus presented her with the cow. She
sent the cow away and arranged Argus Panoptes to watch over it. Since Argus had a
hundred eyes and could have some of them sleep while keeping others awake, he made
for a fine watchman.Desperate, Zeus sent Hermes to fetch Io. Disguised as a shepherd,
Hermes had to employ all his skill as a musician and storyteller to gain Argus' confidence
and lull him to sleep. Once asleep, Hermes killed Argus; later, Hera took his eyes and set
them into the tail of her favorite bird, the peacock. While Io was now free, Hera sent the
mother of all gadflies to sting the still bovine Io. The ghost of Argus pursued her as well.
This pushed her towards madness and in her efforts to escape, she wandered the world.
During her journeys, she came across Prometheus while chained, who gave her hope.
He predicted that although she would have to wander for many years, she would
eventually be changed back into human form and would bear a child. He predicted that
a descendant of this child would be a great hero and would set him free; his predictions
came true. Because of her journeys, many geographical features were named after her,
including the Ionian Sea, and the Bosporus (which means ford of the cow). She
eventually reached the Nile where Zeus restored her human form. She bore Epaphus
and eleven generations later, her descendant Heracles would set Prometheus free.-

EPAPHUS-was the son of Zeus and Io; his name, meaning "touch", shows the
way he was born - that is, by Zeus' touch. He was born either on the island of Euboea, or
in Egypt, on the river Nile. When he grew up, he became the king of Egypt. Moreover,
he was considered to have been the founder of the city of Memphis, Egypt; his wife was
also called Memphis and the two of them had a daughter, Libya.

POSEIDON- is the god of the sea and protector of all aquatic features. Brother
of Zeus and Hades, after the overthrow of their father,Cronus, he drew lots with them
to share the universe. He ended up becoming lord of the sea. He was widely worshipped
by seamen. He married Amphitrite, one of the granddaughters of the Titan Oceanus.
At one point he desired Demeter. To deter him, Demeter asked him to make the most
beautiful animal that the world had ever seen. So, in an effort to impress her, Poseidon
created the first horse. In some accounts, his first attempts were unsuccessful and
created a variety of other animals in his quest; thus, by the time the horse was created,
his passion for Demeter had diminished.
His weapon was a trident, with which he could make the earth shake, causing
earthquakes, and shatter any object. He was second to Zeus in power amongst the gods.
He was considered by Greeks to have a difficult quarrelsome personality. Combined
with his greed, he had a series of disputes with other gods during his various attempts
to take over the cities they were patrons of.
 LYBIA - was one of the mythic outlands that encircled the familiar Greek world
of the Hellenes and their "foreign" neighbors.
Personified as an individual, Libya was the daughter of Epaphus—King of Egypt, and the
son of Zeus and Io—and Memphis. Libya was ravished by the god Poseidon to whom she
bore twin sons, Belus and Agenor. Some sources name a third son, named Lelex.

BELUS - in classical Greek or classical Latin texts (and later material based on
them) in an Assyrian context refers to one or another purportedly ancient and
historically mythical Assyrian king, such king in part at least a euhemerization of the
Babylonian god BelMarduk.
Belus most commonly appears as the father of Ninus, who otherwise mostly appears as
the first known Assyrian king. Ctesias provides no information about Ninus' parentage.
But already in Herodotus there is a Ninus son of Belus among the ancestors of the
Heraclid dynasty of Lydia, though here Belus is strangely and uniquely made a grandson
of Heracles. See Omphale for discussion.
A fragment by Castor of Rhodes, preserved only in the Armenian translation of Eusebius
of Caesarea, makes Belus king of Assyria at the time when Zeus and the other gods
fought first the Titans and then the giants. Castor says Belus was considered a god after
his death, but that he does not know how many years Belus reigned.
Belus elsewhere is a vague, ancestral figure. It was suggested in The Two Babylons by
Alexander Hislop that he was originally a conqueror who fathered king Ninus the first,
and that after Ninus' death his wife Semiramis began to claim Ninus as a Sun god, Cush
(Belus) as the Lord God, herself as the mother goddess and her son Tammuz as the god
of love, in an effort to control her subjects better after the death of her husband, and to
allow her to rule as her newborn son's regent.
Some versions of the tale of Adonis make Adonis the son of Theias or Thias the King of
Assyria, who is the son of Belus.
Ovid's Metamorphoses (4.212f) speaks of King Orchamus who ruled the Achaemenid
cities of Persia as the 7th in line from ancient Belus the founder. But no other extant
sources mention either Orchamus or his daughters Leucothoe and Clytie.
Nonnus in his Dionysiaca (18.5f) brings in King Staphylus of Assyria and his son Botrys
who entertain Dionysus, characters unknown elsewhere. Staphylus claims to be
grandson of Belus.
DiodorusSiculus (6.5.1) introduces the Roman god Picus (normally son of Saturn) as a
king of Italy and calls him brother of Ninus (and therefore perhaps son of Belus).
The odd connection between Picus and Ninus reappears in John of Nikiû's Chronicle
(6.2f) which relates that Cronus was the first king of Assyria and Persia, that he married
an Assyrian woman named Rhea and that she bore him Picus (who was also called Zeus)
and Ninus who founded the city of Ninus (Nineveh). Cronus removed to Italy but was
then slain by his son Zeus Picus because he devoured his children. Then Zeus became
the father of Belus by his own sister. After the disappearance of Zeus Picus (who
apparently reigned over both Italy and Assyria), Belus son of Zeus Picus succeeded to
the throne in Assyria (later Faunus who is elsewhere always the son of Picus reigns in
Italy before moving to Egypt and turning into Hermes Trismegistus father of
Hephaestus). Upon the death of Belus, his uncle Ninus became king and then married
his own mother who was previously called Rhea but is now reintroduced under the
name of Semiramis. It is explained that from that time on this custom was maintained
so that Persians allegedly thought nothing of taking a mother or sister or daughter as a
wife.
Later historians and chronographers make no mention of such stories. They either do
not mention Belus at all or accept him as father of Ninus. They also dispute as to
whether the Biblical Nimrod was the same as Belus, the father of Belus or a more
distant ancestor of Belus.
It is likely that this Assyrian Belus should mostly not be distinguished from the
euhemerized BablyonianBelus. But some chronographers make a distinction between
them.

AEGYPTUS -was the son of Belus] and Achiroe, a naiad daughter of Nile. He
ruled Arabia and conquered nearby country ruled by people called Melampodes and
called it by his name. Aegyptus fathered fifty sons, who were all but one murdered by
forty nine of the fifty daughters of Aegyptus' twin brother, Danaus, eponym of the
Danaids.
A scholium on a line in Euripides, Hecuba 886, reverses these origins, placing the twin
brothers at first in Argolis, whence Aegyptus was expelled and fled to the land that was
named after him. In the more common version,[3] Aegyptus commanded that his fifty
sons marry the fifty Danaides, and Danaus with his daughters fled to Argos, ruled by
Pelasgus[4] or by Gelanor, whom Danaus replaced. When Aegyptus and his sons arrived
to take the Danaides, Danaus relinquished them, to spare the Argives the pain of a
battle; however, he instructed his daughters to kill their husbands on their wedding
night. Forty-nine followed through, but one, Hypermnestra ("greatly wooed"), refused,
because her husband, Lynceus the "lynx-man", honored her wish to remain a virgin.
Danaus was angry with his disobedient daughter and threw her to the Argive courts.
Aphrodite intervened and saved her. Lynceus and Hypermnestra founded the lineage of
Argive kings, a Danaid Dynasty.
In some versions, Lynceus later slew Danaus as revenge for the death of his brothers,
and the Danaides were punished in the underworld by being forced to carry water
through a jug with holes, or a sieve, so that the water always leaked out.
The story of Danaus and his daughters, and the reason for their flight from marriage,
provided the theme of Aeschylus
 DANAUS -was the twin brother of Aegyptus, a mythical king of Egypt. The myth
of Danaus is a foundation legend (or re-foundation legend) of Argos, one of the
foremost Mycenaean cities of the Peloponnesus. In Homer's Iliad, "Danaans" ("tribe of
Danaus") and "Argives" commonly designate the Greek forces opposed to the Trojans.

CEPHEUS I -In Greek mythology, Cepheus was the name of two kings in
Aethiopia, grandfather and grandson. The better known Cepheus is the son of Agenor
and grandson of the other Cepheus. He was married to Cassiopeia, with whom he had a
beautiful daughter, Andromeda. At some point, his wife committed hubris by boasting
that she and her daughter were more beautiful than the daughters of the sea god
Nereus, the Nereids. This triggered the wrath of god Poseidon, who either flooded the
lands of Aethiopia or sent a terrible sea creature called Cetus to ravage the coasts of the
area. Cepheus and Cassiopeia consulted an oracle on what they should do, and they
were advised to sacrifice their daughter to Cetus in order to appease the god. They
chained Andromeda to a rock close to the sea, but as Cetus drew close, the hero Perseus
arrived in time to save her and kill the monster.

LYNCEUS - Lynceus was a king of Argos in Greek mythology, one of the fifty
sons of Aegyptus. Aegyptus had a twin brother Danaus, who had fifty daughters
collectively known as the Danaides. Aegyptus said that his sons should marry the
Danaides, who fled with their father to Argos which was then ruled by Pelasgus. When
Aegyptus and his sons arrived in Argos, Danaus agreed to give them his daughters in
order to avoid a battle. However, he had instructed them to kill their husbands on their
wedding night. All of them agreed; however, one of them, Hypermnestra, did not follow
through, because her husband Lynceus had accepted her wish to remain a virgin.
Danaus was furious with Hyrpemnestra, but the goddess Aphrodite managed to save
her from her father's wrath. Lynceus then killed Danaus as revenge for his brothers'
death.

HYPERMNESTRA -was the daughter of Danaus. Danaus was the twin brother
of Aegyptus and son of Belus. He had fifty daughters, the Danaides, and Aegyptus had
fifty sons. Aegyptus commanded that his sons marry the Danaides and Danaus fled to
Argos, ruled by King Pelasgus. When Aegyptus and his sons arrived to take the Danaides,
Danaus gave them to spare the Argives the pain of a battle. However, he instructed his
daughters to kill their husbands on their wedding night. Forty-nine followed through,
but one, Hypermnestra refused because her husband, Lynceus,[1] honored her wish to
remain a virgin. Danaus was angry with his disobedient daughter and threw her to the
Argive courts. Aphrodite intervened and saved her. Lynceus later killed Danaus as
revenge for the death of his brothers. Lynceus and Hypermnestra then began a dynasty
of Argive kings (the Danaid Dynasty), beginning with Abas. In some versions of the
legend, the Danaides were punished in the underworld by being forced to carry water
through a jug with holes, or a sieve, so the water always leaked out. Hypermnestra,
however, went straight to Elysium.

ABAS - was the son of Lynceus of the royal family of Argos, and Hypermnestra,
the last of the Danaides. His name derives from a Semitic word for 'father'.
Abas founded the city of Abae, Phocis, now in modern day central Greece.
When he informed his father of the death of Danaus, he was rewarded with the shield
of his grandfather, which was sacred to Hera. This shield performed various marvels,
and the mere sight of it could subdue a river. (See Serv. ad Verg. Aen.iii. 286).He was
said to be so fearsome a warrior that even after his death, enemies of his royal
household could be put to flight simply by the sight of his former shield.With his wife
Ocalea (or Aglaea, depending on the source), he had three sons: the twins Acrisius and
Proetus, and Lyrcos, and one daughter, Idomene. He bequeathed his kingdom to
Acrisius and Proetus, bidding them to rule alternately, but they quarrelled even while
they still shared their mother's womb.

ACRISIUS - Acrisius was the king of Argos, son of Abas and Aglaea and twin
brother of Proetus. When their father died, Acrisius slyly possessed all of the inheritance
and expelled his brother. However, assisted by his father – in – law Iobates, Proetus
managed to take his share of the kingdom and became the ruler of the city of
Tiryns.Acrisius had one daughter, Danae; after consulting the Oracle of Delphi, he found
out that he would be killed by his daughter’s son. As his daughter was childless at the
time, Acrisius incarcerated her so as to remain a virgin. However, Zeus, who had fallen in
love with her, sneaked into her cell and impregnated her. Acrisius, enraged that his
daughter now had a child, locked both of them in a chest and threw it into the sea. The
chest washed up on the island of Seriphos, and was found by a fisherman, who took
care of Danae and her son, Perseus.Many years later, Acrisius moved to the city of
Larissa and attended at some funeral games, in which his grandson participated,
unbeknown to either of them. During the games, a bad throw of the discus by Perseus
resulted in hitting Acrisius on the head, causing his grandfather’s instant death, and thus
fulfilling the prophecy of the oracle.

DANAE -Danae was the daughter of King Acrisius of Argos and Queen Eurydice,
in Greek mythology.
Acrisius was disappointed that he had no sons to give his throne, and asked an oracle for
help. The answer he got was that his grandson would kill him. At that point, Danae was
childless, and to keep the prophecy from coming true, Acrisius locked her in a tower.
However, Zeus had seen Danae and had grown fond of her; so, during the night, he
appeared to her in the form of golden rain and impregnated her. She gave birth to a
baby, which she named Perseus.
When Acrisius found out what had happened, he was infuriated; however, he did not
want to kill his grandson out of fear of the Furies. So, he locked Danae and Perseus in a
chest and threw it at sea. The chest drifted away and reached the island of Seriphos,
where Dictys, a fisherman and the local ruler's brother, helped the mother and the child.
The king of Seriphos, Polydectes, fell in love with Danae and tried to forcefully marry
her. However, Perseus did not let him. Furious, but also not wanting to outright kill
Perseus, Polydectes said that he would stop pursuing his mother if Perseus would slay
Medusa and bring back his head. So it happened, and Danae was saved.
When Perseus reached adulthood, he became a great hero and managed to fulfill a
number of feats. He eventually decided to return to Argos and see his grandfather, but
after finding out about the prophecy, she changed course and went to Larissa in order
to participate in the athletic games that were held there. What he did not know, though,
was that Acrisius also attended the event. While Perseus was throwing the discus, an
accidental misthrow caused the discus to land on his grandfather's head, and resulting
in his instant death. Thus, the prophecy was fulfilled.

CASSIOPEA - Cassiopeia or Cassiepeia is the name given to several characters

in Greek mythology. However, one is prevalent in the myths of ancient Greeks.
Cassiopeia, the queen of Aethiopia, was the wife of King Cepheus, daughter of Coronus
and Zeuxo. Very beautiful and vain, she committed hubris by saying that she and her
daughter Andromeda were more beautiful that the daughters of the sea god Nereus,
called the Nereids. As a result, Poseidon was infuriated and sent the sea monster Cetus
to plague the coasts of Aethiopia. According to other sources, he did not send a
monster, but caused the lands to flood. Consulting an oracle, Cepheus and Cassiopeia
had to sacrifice Andromeda in order to appease the wrath of Poseidon; they chained her
daughter to a rock next to the sea as a sacrifice to Cetus. However, Perseus managed to
save her and kill the beast; he then married Andromeda. Unhappy that Cassiopeia was
not punished, Poseidon tied her to a chair in the heavens, so that she would revolve
upside down half of the time. This is how the constellation took its name, resembling
the torture chair that was used for Cassiopeia's punishment.
Cassiopeia Is also called Cassiepeia, Kassiope, Kassiopeia, Kassiepeia.

PERSEUS - According to the myth, there once was a king named Acrisius, who
had a beautiful daughter named Danae. The Oracle of Apollo told Acrisius that there
would come a day when Danae's son would kill him; so he locked Danae in a bronze
tower so that she would never marry or have children.
The tower had no doors, except for one very small window. Danae was very sad, until
one day, a bright golden light came through the small window; a man appeared holding
a thunderbolt in his hand and although Danae knew he was a god, she didn't know
which one. The man said, "Yes, I am a god and I wish to make you my wife. I can turn
this dark prison into a wonderful, sunny and blooming land."
Indeed, the horrible prison turned into fields as beautiful as the Elysian Fields
themselves, but one day Acrisius saw light coming out of the small window. He told his
men to tear down one of the walls. When he entered, he saw Danae smiling and holding
a baby on her lap. This was Perseus. Acrisius was furious, so he locked Danae and baby
Perseus in a large chest and cast them out to sea.

ANDROMEDA - Andromeda was a princess in Greek mythology. She was the

daughter of King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia, who ruled in the region of Aethiopia,
which consisted of the Upper Nile region, along with areas south of the Sahara desert.
Her mother boasted that Andromeda was more beautiful than the Nereids, daughters of
Nereus and Doris, and companions of Poseidon; thus, she committed hubris and
Poseidon decided to send a sea monster, Cetus, to ravage the lands of Aethiopia. After
consulting an oracle, the king and queen chained Andromeda to a rock, in order to be
sacrificed to the monster. However, the hero Perseus was nearby and heard of the
imminent death of Andromeda; when the monster emerged from the sea, he managed
to kill it, either by slaying it with a knife, or by exposing it to Medusa’s head and turning
it into stone. Thus, Andromeda was saved. Perseus married her and she followed him on
his journey back to Greece. They had nine children together. After her death, the
goddess Athena placed her on the sky as a constellation, nearby her beloved husband
Perseus and her mother Cassiopeia.

ELECTRYON - King of Mycenae. Son of Perseus and Andromeda. Brother of

Sthelenus. Husband of Anaxo.Father of Alcmene. His eight real sons (or six in some
versions) were killed by cattle-raiders but Lycimnus, an illegitimate son by his concubine
Midea, survived and avenged their deaths by conquering the raiders' lands. Electryon
was accidentally killed when a club thrown by Amphitryon rebounded off the horn of a
cow and struck him. Referred to as Electryon.

ALCAEUS - a son of Perseus and Andromeda, was married to either

Astydameia, the daughter of Pelops and Hippodamia, or Laonome, daughter of Guneus,
or else Hipponome, daughter of Menoeceus, by whom he became the father of
Amphitryon, Anaxo and Perimede.
Alcaeus, the original name of Heracles (according to DiodorusSiculus), which was given
to him on account of his descent from Alcaeus, the son of Perseus mentioned above.
Alcaeus, a son of Heracles by a female slave of Iardanus, from whom the dynasty of the
Heraclids in Lydia were believed to be descended.DiodorusSiculus writes that this son of
Heracles is named "Cleolaus".
Alcaeus, a general of Rhadamanthus, according to DiodorusSiculus, who presented him
with the island of Paros.The Bibliotheca relates that he was a son of Androgeus (the son
of Minos and Pasiphaë) and brother of Sthenelus, and that when Heracles, on his
expedition to fetch the girdle of Ares, which was in the possession of the queen of the
Amazons, arrived at Paros, some of his companions were slain by the sons of Minos.
Heracles, in his anger, slew all the descendants of Minos except Alcaeus and Sthenelus,
whom he took with him, and to whom he afterwards gave the island of Thasus as their
home.
Alcaeus, son of Margasus and Phyllis, a Carian ally of the Trojans in the Trojan War. He
was killed by Meges.

ALCMENE - Alcmene was the wife of Amphitryon in Greek mythology. The

couple had two children, Iphicles and Laonome; however, she was mainly known for
being the mother of the demigod hero Heracles by the god Zeus. She was the daughter
of Electryon and either Anaxo, Lysidice or Eurydice. Her husband Amphitryon killed her
father accidentally, and she followed him to Thebes, where he was purified by the king
of the city, Creon. When Amphitryon went on an expedition against the Taphians and
Teleboans, Zeus, disguised as Amphitryon, appeared in front of Alcmene and slept with
her. The next day, the real Amphitryonreturned , only to hear from his wife that she had
seen him the night before and slept with him. The seer Tiresias then told them what had
happened.
The union of Zeus and Alcmene resulted in her being pregnant to Heracles. When the
demigod was about to be born, Zeus announced to all Olympians that a child would be
born on that day that would rule all those near him. After Hera made Zeus swear an
oath that this would indeed happen, she went to the wife of Sthenelus and forced her to
give birth to the baby Eurystheus, even though she was only seven months into her
pregnancy. The goddess then prevented Alcmene from giving birth to Heracles until the
next day.
There are two versions of how Alcmene died. According to the first, she was on her way
from Argos to Thebes, and died in Megara. The descendants of Heracles then quarreled
about where to bury her, some insisting to take her body to Argos, and the others to
Thebes in order to be buried with Amphitryon. In the end, the oracle of Delphi was
consnulted and said that she should be buried in Megara. The other version has it that
when she died, she turned to stone.
Alcmene Is also called Alcmen
 AMPHITRYON – Amphitryon was the son of Alcaeus in Greek mythology, king
of Tiryns. He was a general in Thebes, who married Alcmene, daughter of Electryon, king
of Mycenae. He accidentally killed Electryon, and was exiled by Electryon's brother,
Sthenelus, along with his wife. Together, they fled to Thebes, where Amphitryon was
purified by the king of the city, Creon. Alcmene had refused to marry Amphitryon until
he avenged the death of her brothers, so he had gone on an expedition against the
Taphians. While there, Zeus visited Alcmene having taken the form of Amphitryon and
slept with her; Alcmene became pregnant to Heracles. When Amphitryon returned from
the expedition, Alcmene was startled as she told him he visited her the previous night.
The seer Tiresias revealed what Zeus had done. Amphitryon had two children with
Alcmene, Iphicles and Laonome. He died while fighting agains the Minyans.

HERCULES –Heracles (or Hercules) is best known as the strongest of all

mortals, and even stronger than many gods. He was the deciding factor in the
triumphant victory of the Olympians over the giants. He was the last mortal son of Zeus,
and the only man born of a mortal woman to become a god upon his death.
Offsetting his strength was a noticeable lack of intelligence or wisdom. Once, when the
temperature was very high, he pulled his bow out and threatened to shoot at the sun.
This, coupled with strong emotions in one so powerful, frequently got Heracles in
trouble. While his friend and cousin Theseus ruled Athens, Heracles had trouble ruling
himself. His pride was easily offended. He took up grudges easily and never forgot them.
His appetites for food, wine, and women were as massive as his strength. Many of
Heracles' great deeds occurred while doing penance for stupid acts done in anger or
carelessness.
It would be easy to view Heracles as a muscle-bound buffoon. Indeed, many of the
Greek comedy playwrights used his character this way. Even among serious critics, he
was often seen as a primitive, brutal, and violent man. There is much evidence to
support this view; his weapon of choice was a massive club; his customary garment was
a lion skin, with the head still attached; he impiously wounded some of the gods; he
threatened a priestess of Apollo at Delphi when an answer to his questions was not
forthcoming. He created most of his own problems.

IPHICLES - Brother of Heracles. Although they were twins, only Heracles was
an immortal hero. It was understood that Iphicles was the son of Alcmene and her
mortal husband, while Heracles was the son of Alcmene and Zeus. Iphicles was the
father of Heracles' charioteer, Iolaus, who helped him slay the Hydra.