Heracles waged a victorious war against the kingdom of Orchomenus in Boeotia and married Megara, daughter of Creon, king of Thebes, but he killed her and their children in a fit of madness sent by Hera and, consequently, was obliged to become the servant of Eurystheus. When Heracles grew up, he had to serve Eurystheus and also suffer the vengeful persecution of Hera his first exploit was the strangling of two serpents that she had sent to kill him in his cradle. Zeus swore that the next son born of the Perseid house should become ruler of Greece, but-by a trick of Zeus’s jealous wife, Hera-another child, the sickly Eurystheus, was born first and became king. Traditionally, Heracles was the son of Zeus and Alcmene ( see Amphitryon), granddaughter of Perseus.
Heracles (Greek Herakles, Roman Hercules) was one of the most famous Greco-Roman legendary heroes.
