Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

122 Herculescourage, including the liberation of PROMETHEUS.He is a slayer of lions and engages in combat withmythical creatures comparable to those found onMesopotamian seals. He thus destroyed the sevenheadedserpent and hunted many others. He is frequentlydepicted wearing a lion skin. His exploitsinclude the cleansing of the Augean stables so as toearn a tenth part of the cattle of the sun, the catchingof the Stymphalos birds, the temporary captureof Cerberus, the hound of Hades, and thepicking of the golden apples of immortality.Herakles became the god-ancestor of theDorian kings. Alexander the Great had an imageof him incorporated into his coinage. Accordingto one legend, Deianeira contrived Herakles’sdeath in a fit of jealous pique with a robe taintedwith the poisoned blood of a centaur, ironicallyfrom one of Herakles’s own arrows, whichinflicted such torture upon him that he committedsuicide by self-immolation on Mount Oita(near Trachis). In a conflicting myth Heraklesslew his wife and children at Thebes. Heraklesenjoyed cult centers in many places, with thenotable exception of Crete. There were majorsanctuaries on Thasos and on Mount Oita, whereevery four years the death of the god was markedby a sacrificial fire festival. A similar rite is knownfrom Tarsos in Cilicia for the god Sandon. Thefestivities were often marked by huge feasts. InRoman culture he becomes HERCULES.HerculesGod. Roman.See also HERAKLES.Heret-KauUnderworld goddess. Egyptian (Lower). Very littleis known of Heret-Kau. She was recognizedchiefly in the Old Kingdom (27th to 22ndcenturies BC), apparently concerned withguardianship of the deceased in the afterlife andsometimes appearing as a figurine in attendanceon ISIS in building foundations.HermaphroditosGod(dess) of uncertain status. Greek. The offspringof HERMES and APHRODITE and the loverof the water nymph Salmakis. Tradition has it thattheir passion for one another was so great thatthey merged into a single androgynous being.HERMESORIGIN Greek. Messenger of the gods.KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP circa 800 BC butprobably earlier until Christianization (circa AD400).SYNONYMS none.CENTER(S) OF CULTPheneos (Arcadia); otherwisefew specific places, but strongly associatedwith wayside shrines and cairns.ART REFERENCES probably certain prehistoricphallic figures marking boundaries; Parthenonfrieze; Hermes of Praxiteles in Olympia.LITERARY SOURCES Iliad, Odyssey (Homer);Theogony (Hesiod).Hermes is the son of a nymph, MAIA, who consortedwith ZEUS. He was born in the Arcadianmountains, a complex, Machiavellian characterfull of trickery and sexual vigor. His most significantconsort is APHRODITE. He is a god ofboundaries, guardian of graves and patron deityof shepherds. Perversely, he patronizes both heraldsand thieves and is a bringer of good fortune.According to legend Hermes as a day-old infantstole the cattle of his elder brother APOLLO whileplaying a lyre. Legend accords to him the inventionof fire, also generated on his first day. Hermes’sskills at theft were put to use by the othergods of Olympus, who sent him to liberate ARES