Editing Heracles (section)

===Other cultures===
{{See also|Heracles in popular culture}}
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Bistoon Kermanshah.jpg|Hellenistic-era depiction of the [[Zoroastrian]] divinity [[Verethragna|Bahram]] as Hercules carved in 153 BCE at [[Kermanshah]], [[Iran]].
Museum für Indische Kunst Dahlem Berlin Mai 2006 015.jpg|The protector [[Vajrapani]] of the [[Buddha]] is another incarnation of Heracles ([[Gandhara]], 1st century CE).
Buddha-Vajrapani-Herakles.JPG|Heracles as protector of Buddha, [[Vajrapani]], 2nd-century [[Gandhara]].
Mathura Herakles.jpg|The [[Mathura Herakles]], strangling the [[Nemean lion]] ([[Kolkata]] [[Indian Museum]]).<ref>The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent, James C. Harle, Yale University Press, 1994 [https://books.google.com/books?id=LwcBVvdqyBkC&pg=PA67 p. 67]</ref>
File:Gandhara Herakles, Asia, G33 South Asia.jpg|Herakles under his lion skin and holding thunder ([[vajra]]), with Buddhist monks, [[art of Gandhara]], [[British Museum]]
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Via the [[Greco-Buddhist]] culture, Heraclean symbolism was transmitted to the Far East. An example remains to this day in the [[Nio (Buddhism)|Nio]] guardian deities in front of Japanese Buddhist temples.

[[Herodotus]] also connected Heracles to [[Phoenicia]]n god [[Melqart]].

[[Sallust]] mentions in his work on the [[Jugurthine War]] that the Africans believe Heracles to have died in [[Spain]] where, his multicultural army being left without a leader, the [[Medes]], [[Persian people|Persians]], and [[Armenians]] who were once under his command split off and populated the Mediterranean coast of Africa.<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Jugurthine War/The Conspiracy of Catiline|last = Sallust|publisher = Penguin Books|year = 1963|page = 54|others = Translated by S.A. Handford}}</ref>

Temples dedicated to Heracles abounded all along the Mediterranean coastal countries. For example, the temple of ''Heracles Monoikos'' (i.e. the lone dweller), built far from any nearby town upon a promontory in what is now the [[Côte d'Azur]], gave its name to the area's more recent name, [[Monaco]].

The gateway to the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean, where the southernmost tip of Spain and the northernmost of Morocco face each other is, classically speaking, referred to as the [[Pillars of Hercules|Pillars of Hercules/Heracles]], owing to the story that he set up two massive spires of stone to stabilise the area and ensure the safety of ships sailing between the two landmasses.