Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/697

 HERCULES 679 Oscans, Pelaegians, Tyrrhenians, and Sam- ites, but its history is obscure, and it was jver of great importance. The inscriptions tow that under the Romans it had the rights a municipium, and that it was governed dth its own laws by demarchs and archons. Strabo describes it as situated on a projecting leadland, and Sisenna as built on elevated )und between two rivers, and surrounded )y low walls. Its healthy situation rendered a place of resort for wealthy Romans, who lilt magnificent villas in the city and its sub- rbs. It suffered severely from an earthquake A. D. 63, and Seneca said then that what ~mained was not safe. In August, 79, Vesu- dus threw out for eight days and nights tor- ents of mud, filling the city to the roofs of the louses, and afterward showers of ashes and rents of lava, forming a deposit varying n 70 to 112 ft. in depth. A second settle- lent formed near the site of the buried city let with a similar fate in 472. Thereafter jven the situation of Herculaneum was forgot- 3n. It was not mentioned except in a few rorks of the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, id was supposed to be buried under the mod- site of Torre del Greco. The discovery of le real site was due to the sinking of a well Resina in 1709, which brought to light some lents of mosaic and statues. For the his- >ry of the excavations, see POMPEII. HERCULES (Gr. 'Hpa/eA^), the most renowned 1 the mythical heroes of antiquity, son of Ju- iter by Alcmena, the granddaughter of Per- 3us. He was destined by Jupiter to occupy le throne of Perseus, but by the contrivance Juno was superseded by Eurystheus, the idson of that hero. His name originally ras Abides or Alcaeus; it was changed to lercules by the Delphic oracle, which ordered im to live at Tiryns and serve Eurystheus 12 rears. When Jupiter saw that Juno had ac- iplished the disinheritance of Hercules, he lade her promise that Hercules should become imortal on the completion of 12 great works Eurystheus. There is some difference in le accounts of these labors, but the most com- lon enumeration is the following: 1. The 'it with the Nemean lion. The valley of Temea between Cleonae and Phlius was infest- ed by a monstrous lion. Hercules blocked up me of the entrances to the den, entered it by the other, strangled the lion, and brought the to Eurystheus. 2. The fight with the irnasan hydra. In the district of Lernse, near Lrgos, dwelt a huge hydra having nine heads, le middle one immortal. Hercules, having ised the hydra from its lair, cut off its heads, it in place of every head cut off two new les sprang up. With the assistance of his 3rvant lolaus, he burned the mortal heads, id buried the immortal one under a rock. 3. le capture of the Arcadian stag. This animal golden horns and brazen feet, and was of irpassing swiftness. Hercules was ordered bring it alive to Mycenaa. For a whole year he pursued it in vain. At length, weary of pursuing, the hero wounded it with an arrow, caught it, and carried it to Mycenae. 4. The hunt of the Erymanthian boar. This boar had descended from Mt. Erymanthus into Psophis, and Hercules was ordered to bring him alive to Eurystheus. He chased the brute through the deep snow till, having tired him down, he caught him in a net. 5. The cleansing of the Augean stables. Augeas, king of Elis, had a herd of 3,000 oxen, whose stalls had not been cleansed for 30 years. Eurystheus command- ed Hercules to clean them in one day. He ac- complished it by turning the rivers Alpheus and Peneus through the stables. 6. The de- struction of the Stymphalian birds, an innu- merable swarm of voracious creatures, with claws, wings, and beaks of brass, that used their feathers as arrows and fed upon human flesh. They had taken refuge in a lake near Stymphalus, whence Hercules startled them with a rattle, and killed them with his arrows as they attempted to fly away. 7. The cap- ture of the Cretan bull. This bull was a sacri- ficial gift from Neptune to Minos ; but as Minos neglected to sacrifice him, Neptune caused the bull to go mad, and to make great havoc in Crete. Hercules was commanded to catch him, and bring him to Mycenae. He did so, but then set the animal free to the great terror of Greece. 8. The abduction of the mares of Di- omedes, a Thracian prince who fed them with human flesh. Eurystheus sent Hercules to bring them to him. Hercules had conducted them to the seacoast, when he was overtaken and attacked. He vanquished the Thracians, slew Diomedes, and cast his body to the mares, which became tame after eating the flesh of their master. Hercules then embarked with them, and brought them to Eurystheus. 9. The seizure of the girdle of Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons, which she had received from Mars. Hercules set sail from the Peloponnesus, and landed at Themiscyra, where he was hospita- bly entertained by Hippolyte, who promised him the girdle. But the malignity of Juno rousing the Amazons against him, he, deeming the queen a party to the conspiracy, slew her, possessed himself of her girdle, and arrived with it in safety at Mycense. 10. The capture of the oxen of Geryones, a monster who lived in the island of Erythia, and who had a herd of red oxen which fed with those of Helios, and were guarded by the giant Eurytion and the two-headed dog Orthrus. Erythia was in the ocean far to the west, and in his journey to it Hercules erected the pillars of Calpe and Abyla, hence called the pillars of Hercules. He killed Orthrus, Eurytion, and Geryones, and, after overcoming the efforts of gods and men to deprive him of them, brought the oxen to Eurystheus. 11. The getting of the golden apples of the Hesperides. These apples had been presented by Terra to Juno, by whom they had been intrusted to the keeping of the Hesperides and the dragon Ladon, in somo