Editing Heracles (section)

==Lovers==

===Women===

====Marriages====

During the course of his life, Heracles married four times.

* Heracles waged a victorious war against the kingdom of Orchomenus in Boeotia and married his first wife [[Megara (wife of Heracles)|Megara]], daughter of Creon, king of Thebes. But he killed their children in a fit of madness sent by Hera and, consequently, was obliged to become the servant of Eurystheus. According to Pseudo-Apollodorus (Bibliotheca, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.4.12&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022 2.4.12]) Megara was unharmed. According to Hyginus (Fabulae, 32), Heracles also killed Megara.
[[File:HeraclesLocoObraTeatral.jpg|thumb|263x263px|An insane Heracles is depicted killing his son while Megara stands horrified on the right side of the scene ([[National Archaeological Museum, Madrid]], c. 350–320 B.C.E.)]]
* His second wife was [[Omphale]], the [[Lydia]]n queen to whom he was delivered as a slave (Hyginus, Fabulae, 32).
* His third marriage was to [[Deianira]], for whom he had to fight the river god [[Achelous]] (upon Achelous's defeat, Heracles removed one of his horns and gave it to some nymphs who turned it into the [[cornucopia]]). Soon after they wed, Heracles and Deianira had to cross a river, and a [[centaur]] named [[Nessus (mythology)|Nessus]] offered to help Deianira across but then attempted to [[rape]] her. Enraged, Heracles shot the centaur from the opposite shore with a poisoned arrow (tipped with the Lernaean Hydra's blood) and killed him. As he lay dying, Nessus plotted revenge, told Deianira to gather up his blood and spilled semen and, if she ever wanted to prevent Heracles from having affairs with other women, she should apply them to his vestments. Nessus knew that his blood had become tainted by the poisonous blood of the Hydra, and would burn through the skin of anyone it touched. Later, when Deianira suspected that Heracles was fond of [[Iole]], she soaked a shirt of his in the mixture, creating the poisoned [[shirt of Nessus]]. Heracles's servant, [[Lichas]], brought him the shirt and he put it on. Instantly he was in agony, the cloth burning into him. As he tried to remove it, the flesh ripped from his bones. Heracles chose a voluntary death, asking that a [[pyre]] be built for him to end his suffering. After death, the gods transformed him into an immortal, or alternatively, the fire burned away the mortal part of the demigod, so that only the god remained. After his mortal parts had been incinerated, he could become a full god and join his father and the other Olympians on [[Mount Olympus (Mountain)|Mount Olympus]].
* His fourth marriage was to [[Hebe (mythology)|Hebe]], his last wife.

====Affairs====

An episode of his female affairs that stands out was his stay at the palace of [[Thespius]], king of [[Thespiae]], who wished him to kill the [[Lion of Cithaeron]]. As a reward, the king offered him the chance to perform [[sexual intercourse]] with all fifty of his daughters in one night. Heracles complied and they all became pregnant and all bore sons. This is sometimes referred to as his Thirteenth Labour.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hercules |url=https://public.wsu.edu/~hughesc/Hercules_labours.html |access-date=27 April 2024 |website=public.wsu.edu}}</ref> Many of the kings of ancient Greece traced their lines to one or another of these, notably the kings of [[Sparta]] and [[Macedon]].

Yet another episode of his female affairs that stands out was when he carried away the oxen of [[Geryon]], he also visited the country of the [[Scythians]]. Once there, while asleep, his horses suddenly disappeared. When he woke and wandered about in search of them, he came into the country of [[Hylaea (geography)|Hylaea]]. He then found the [[Drakaina (mythology)|dracaena]] of [[Scythia]] (sometimes identified as [[Echidna (mythology)|Echidna]]) in a cave. When he asked whether she knew anything about his horses, she answered, that they were in her own possession, but that she would not give them up, unless he would consent to stay with her for a time. Heracles accepted the request, and became by her the father of [[Agathyrsus]], [[Gelonus]], and [[Scythes (mythology)|Scythes]]. The last of them became king of the Scythians, according to his father's arrangement, because he was the only one among the three brothers that was able to manage the bow which Heracles had left behind and to use his father's girdle.<ref>[[Herodotus]], [[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]] IV. 8–10.</ref>

[[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] writes that Heracles and Lavinia, daughter of [[Evander of Pallene|Evander]], had a son named Pallas.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.perseus-grc1:1.32.1|title=Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae, Books I–XX, book 1, chapter 32, section 1|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

===Men===
{{Primary sources section|find=Heracles|find2=male lovers|date=December 2019}}
[[File:Hercules and Iolaus mosaic - Anzio Nymphaeum.jpg|thumb|Heracles and [[Iolaus]] (Fountain mosaic from the [[Anzio]] Nymphaeum)]]

Many myths were later 'homosexualized' after the development of the ancient Greek practice of [[pederasty]] and athletic nudity c. 630 BC.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Verstraete |first=Beert C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ejPZu3Ktu5cC&pg=PA17 |title=Same-sex Desire and Love in Greco-Roman Antiquity and in the Classical Tradition of the West |date=2005 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-1-56023-604-7 |language=en}}</ref> [[Plutarch]], in his ''Eroticos,'' maintains that Heracles's male lovers were beyond counting. Of these, the one most closely linked to Heracles is the [[Thebes, Greece|Theban]] [[Iolaus]]. According to a myth thought to be of ancient origins, Iolaus was Heracles's charioteer and squire. Heracles in the end helped Iolaus find a wife. Plutarch reports that down to his own time, male couples would go to Iolaus's tomb in Thebes to swear an oath of loyalty to the hero and to each other.<ref>Plutarch, ''Erotikos,'' 761d.The tomb of Iolaus is also mentioned by Pindar.</ref><ref>Pindar, ''Olympian Odes,'' 9.98–99.</ref> He also mentions [[Admetus]], known in myth for assisting the [[Calydonian boar hunt]], as one of Heracles's male lovers.<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''Erotikos,'' 761e.</ref><ref name=advo>{{cite news |url= https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/art/2013/08/14/golden-age-denial-hercules-bisexual-demigod?pg=8  |title= The Golden Age of Denial: Hercules, the Bisexual Demigod |date=14 August 2013 | publisher= Advocate | author= Christopher Harrity  | access-date= 6 February 2021}}</ref>

One of Heracles's male lovers, and one represented in ancient as well as modern art, is [[Hylas]], who sailed with Heracles on the [[Argo]].<ref>[[Theocritus]], ''Idyll'' 13; [[Apollonius of Rhodes]], ''Argonautica,'' 1.1177–1357.</ref><ref name=advo/>

Another reputed male lover of Heracles is Elacatas, who was honored in [[Sparta]] with a sanctuary and yearly games, Elacatea. The myth of their love is an ancient one.<ref>Sosibius, in [[Hesychius of Alexandria]]'s ''Lexicon''</ref>

[[Abdera, Thrace|Abdera]]'s eponymous hero, [[Abderus]], was another of Heracles's lovers. He was said to have been entrusted with—and slain by—the carnivorous mares of Thracian [[Mares of Diomedes|Diomedes]]. Heracles founded the city of Abdera in [[Thrace]] in his memory, where he was honored with athletic games.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] 2.5.8; [[Ptolemaeus Chennus]], 147b, in [[Photios I of Constantinople|Photius]]'s ''Bibliotheca''</ref>

Another myth is that of [[Iphitus]].<ref>Ptolemaeus Chennus, in Photius's ''Bibliotheca''</ref>

Another story is the one of his love for [[Nireus]], who was "the most beautiful man who came beneath Ilion" (''[[Iliad]]'', 673). But Ptolemy adds that certain authors made Nireus out to be a son of Heracles.<ref>Ptolemaeus Chennus, 147b.</ref>

[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] makes mention of [[Sostratus of Dyme|Sostratus]], a youth of Dyme, [[Achaea]], as a lover of Heracles. Sostratus was said to have died young and to have been buried by Heracles outside the city. The tomb was still there in historical times, and the inhabitants of Dyme honored Sostratus as a [[hero]].<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'', 7. 17. 8</ref> The youth seems to have also been referred to as [[Polystratus]].

A series of lovers are only known in later literature. Among these are [[Eurystheus]], [[Adonis]],<ref name="PC">[http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/photius_copyright/photius_05bibliotheca.htm#190 Ptolemaeus Chennus, ''New History''], as summarized in [[Bibliotheca (Photius)]]</ref> [[Corythus]],<ref name="PC" /> [[Argus (Greek myth)|Argus]],<ref>[[Photius]], ''Bibliotheca'' excerpts, [https://topostext.org/work/237#190.14 190.14]</ref> and [[Nestor (mythology)|Nestor]] who was said to have been loved for his wisdom. In the account of [[Ptolemaeus Chennus]], Nestor's role as lover explains why he was the only son of [[Neleus]] to be spared by the hero.<ref>Ptolemaeus Chennus, 147e; [[Philostratus III|Philostratus]], ''Heroicus'' 696, per Sergent, 1986, p. 163.</ref><ref name=hapo>{{cite web |url= https://gh.ciwanekurd.net/4177-who-were-hercules-male-lovers.html  |title= Who were Hercules' male lovers? |date=  | publisher= History and archeology news portal  | author=   | access-date= 6 February 2021}}</ref>

A [[scholia]]st commenting on [[Apollonius of Rhodes|Apollonius]]'s ''[[Argonautica]]'' lists the following male lovers of Heracles: "Hylas, [[Philoctetes]], [[Diomus (mythology)|Diomus]], [[Perithoas]], and [[Phrix]], after whom a city in [[Libya]] was named".<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''Argonautica'', 1. 1207</ref> Diomus is also mentioned by Stephanus of Byzantium as the eponym of the [[deme]] [[Diomeia]] of the Attic [[phyle]] Aegeis: Heracles is said to have fallen in love with Diomus when he was received as guest by Diomus's father Collytus.<ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]] s. v. ''Diomeia''</ref> Perithoas and Phrix are otherwise unknown, and so is the version that suggests a sexual relationship between Heracles and Philoctetes.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}