person

Hercules

also: Alcides, son of Alcmene

The hero of the play; son of Jupiter and Alcmene, called Alcides (grandson of Alceus). After his labors and his descent to the underworld, Juno drives him mad to kill his own wife and children.

Reading notes

Agamemnon §840 Alcides
Hercules, called Alcides (grandson of Alceus), Argos's greatest son, raised to heaven after his twelve labors.
The Pumpkinification of the Divine Claudius §9 Hercules
The deified hero, sent to vet the newcomer; he lobbies the gods for Claudius because 'his own affair is at stake'.
On Benefits §1.13.1 Hercules
The Greek hero and demigod; for the Stoics a model of virtue who 'conquered nothing for himself' but freed the world of evils, set against Alexander.
On Benefits §7.3.1 Hercules
The hero whose labors ranged to the edges of the earth; with Liber, the model of Alexander's boundless reach.
On the Firmness of the Wise Man §2.1 Hercules
The labor-bearing hero; the Stoics read his career of monster-slaying allegorically as the wise man's victory over terror and desire.
On Tranquility of Mind §16.4 Hercules
Hercules, who ended his labors by mounting his own pyre on Mount Oeta and so passed to the gods; here a pattern of glory won by enduring death.
Moral Letters to Lucilius §5.50.5 by Hercules
A common Roman oath (mehercules), invoking the deified hero Hercules; an emphatic 'truly,' carrying no religious weight here.
Hercules (Mad) §31 Hercules
The hero, son of Jupiter and Alcmene, called Alcides; Juno complains that her every labor has only enlarged his glory.
Hercules on Oeta §1 Alcides
A standard name for Hercules, 'descendant of Alceus' (his mortal grandfather).
Medea §634 Alcides
Hercules (Alcides, grandson of Alceus); the Argonaut who later burned alive on Oeta and crossed living into Hades.
Octavia §202 Alcides
Hercules ('descendant of Alceus'), deified after death and married to Hebe, reconciling him with Juno.
Oedipus §745 Herculean Thebes
Thebes as the birthplace of Hercules; 'the battles of brothers' foretells the war of Oedipus's sons.
Phaedra §316 Alcmena's son
Hercules, who in his enslavement to Omphale of Lydia put on women's dress and spun wool.
The Phoenician Women §307 Herculean grove
The garden of the Hesperides, guarded by a dragon, where Hercules fetched the golden apples; Oedipus offers to face that serpent.
Thyestes §789 Lion of Hercules
The constellation Leo, identified with the Nemean lion slain by Hercules.
The Trojan Women §136 Hercules
The great hero (Alcides); his bow twice sacked Troy, and he spared the boy Priam — an example Andromache later invokes.