Editing Heracles (section)

====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>