Herakles and Hercules

Download or read book Herakles and Hercules written by Hugh Bowden and published by Classical Press of Wales. This book was released on 2005-12-31 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Herakles and Hercules: two names for a figure of pervasive appeal in Antiquity. He was a hero of myth and a god with cult associations. He was ancestor of Macedonian kings, patron of Carthaginian generals and of Roman emperors, and a role model for Stoic philosophers. As a performer of the famous labours, wanderer, liberator, madman and murderer of kin, Herakles-Hercules has retained his fascination down to the present. The eleven new studies in this volume explore why this figure appealed so widely in Antiquity. They examine his role in ancient myth and philosophy, drama and art, as well as in politics and propaganda, warfare and religion.