King Electryon ruled in Mycenae. The teleboi, led by the sons of King Pterelai, stole his herd from him. The TV fighters killed the sons of Electrion when they wanted to recapture the stolen property. King Electryon then announced that he would give the hand of his beautiful daughter Alcmene to the one who would return his flocks to him and avenge the death of his sons. The hero Amphitryon managed to return the herds to Electryon without a fight, since the king of the TV fighters Pterelaus entrusted the king of Elis Polyxenes with guarding the stolen herds, and he gave them to Amphitryon. Amphitryon returned his herds to Electryon and received the hand of Alcmene. Amphitryon did not stay long in Mycenae. During a wedding feast, in a dispute over herds, Amphitryon killed Electryon, and he and his wife Alcmene had to flee from Mycenae. Alcmene followed her young husband to a foreign land only on the condition that he would take revenge on the sons of Pterelai for the murder of her brothers. Therefore, having arrived in Thebes, to King Creon, with whom Amphitryon found refuge, he set off with an army against the TV fighters. In his absence, Zeus, captivated by the beauty of Alcmene, appeared to her, taking on the image of Amphitryon. Amphitryon soon returned. And from Zeus and Amphitryon two twin sons were to be born to Alcmene.
On the day when the great son of Zeus and Alcmene was to be born, the gods gathered on high Olympus. Rejoicing that his son would soon be born, the aegis-power Zeus said to the gods:
“Listen, gods and goddesses, to what I tell you: my heart tells me to say this!” Today a great hero will be born; he will rule over all his relatives who descend from my son, the great Perseus.
But Zeus’s wife, royal Hera, angry that Zeus took the mortal Alcmene as his wife, decided by cunning to deprive Alcmene’s son of power over all the Perseids - she already hated the son of Zeus before he was born. Therefore, hiding her cunning in the depths of her heart, Hera said to Zeus:
- You are telling a lie, great thunderer! You will never keep your word! Give me the great inviolable oath of the gods that the one who is born today as the first of the Perseid race will rule over his relatives.
The goddess of deception Ata took possession of Zeus’s mind, and, unaware of Hera’s cunning, the thunderer made an unbreakable oath. Hera immediately left bright Olympus and rushed to Argos in her golden chariot. There she hastened the birth of a son to the godlike wife of the Perseid Sthenel, and on that day a weak, sick child, the son of Sthenel, Eurystheus, was born in the gens of Perseus. Hera quickly returned to bright Olympus and said to the great cloud-killer Zeus:
- Oh, father Zeus, throwing lightning, listen to me! Now the son Eurystheus was born in glorious Argos to the Perseid Sthenel. He was the first to be born today and should rule over all the descendants of Perseus.
The great Zeus was saddened; now he only understood all the deceit of Hera. He was angry with the goddess of deception Atu, who had taken possession of his mind; in anger, Zeus grabbed her by the hair and threw her down from bright Olympus. The ruler of gods and people forbade her to come to Olympus. Since then, the goddess of deception Ata has lived among people.
Zeus made the fate of his son easier. He concluded an unbreakable agreement with Hera that his son would not be under the rule of Eurystheus all his life. He will perform only twelve great feats on behalf of Eurystheus, and after that he will not only be freed from his power, but will even receive immortality. The Thunderer knew that his son would have to overcome many great dangers, so he ordered his beloved daughter Pallas Athena to help the son of Alcmene. Zeus often had to grieve later when he saw his son carrying out great labors in the service of the weak and cowardly Eurystheus, but he could not break the oath given to Hera.
On the same day as the birth of her son Sthenel, twins were born to Alcmene: the eldest, the son of Zeus, named Alcides at birth, and the younger, the son of Amphitryon, named Iphicles. Alcides was the greatest son of Greece. He was later named by the soothsayer Pythia Hercules. Under this name he became famous, received immortality and was accepted into the host of the bright gods of Olympus.
Hera began to pursue Hercules from the very first day of his life. Having learned that Hercules was born and was lying, wrapped in swaddling clothes, with her brother Iphicles, she sent two snakes to destroy the newborn hero. It was already night when the snakes crawled into Alkmena’s chamber, their eyes sparkling. They quietly crawled to the cradle where the twins lay, and were about to wrap themselves around the body of little Hercules and strangle him, when the son of Zeus woke up. He stretched out his small hands to the snakes, grabbed them by the necks and squeezed them with such force that he immediately strangled them. Alcmene jumped up from her bed in horror; Seeing the snakes in the cradle, the women who were alone screamed loudly. Everyone rushed to Alcides' cradle. Amphitryon came running to the scream of the women with a drawn sword. They all surrounded the cradle and saw an extraordinary miracle: the little newborn Hercules was holding two huge strangled snakes, which were still writhing weakly in his tiny hands. Amazed by the strength of his adopted son, Amphitryon called the soothsayer Tiresias and asked him about the fate of the newborn. Then the prophetic elder told how many great feats Hercules would accomplish, and predicted that he would achieve immortality at the end of his life.
Having learned what great glory awaited Alcmene's eldest son, Amphitryon gave him an education worthy of a hero. Amphitryon not only cared about developing the strength of Hercules, he also cared about his education. He was taught to read, write, sing and play the cithara. But Hercules was far from being as successful in science and music as he was in wrestling, archery and the ability to wield weapons. Often the music teacher, Orpheus' brother Lin, had to get angry with his student and even punish him. One day during a lesson, Lin hit Hercules, irritated by his reluctance to learn. An angry Hercules grabbed the cithara and hit Lin on the head with it. Young Hercules did not calculate the force of the blow. The blow of the cithara was so strong that Lin fell dead on the spot. Hercules was summoned to court for this murder. Justifying himself, the son of Alcmene said:
“After all, the fairest of judges, Rhadamanthus, says that anyone who is struck can return blow for blow.”
The judges acquitted Hercules, but his stepfather Amphitryon, fearing that something similar would happen, sent Hercules to the wooded Kietharon to graze his flocks.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru