His figure, which initially drew on Near Eastern motifs such as the lion-fight, was widely known. Many popular stories were told of his life, the most famous being The Twelve Labours of Heracles Alexandrian poets of the Hellenistic age drew his mythology into a high poetic and tragic atmosphere. Maternal: Iphicles, Laonome paternal: Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Dionysus, Helen of Troy, Perseus and many othersĪlexiares and Anicetus, Telephus, Hyllus, Tlepolemus
