Editing Hercules (section)

==Medieval mythography==
[[File:Histoires de Troyes - Nemeian Lion.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Hercules and the [[Nemean lion]] in the 15th-century ''[[Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye|Histoires de Troyes]]'']]

After the Roman Empire became [[Constantine the Great and Christianity|Christianized]], mythological narratives were often reinterpreted as [[allegory]], influenced by the philosophy of [[late antiquity]]. In the 4th century, [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] had described Hercules' return from the underworld as representing his ability to overcome earthly desires and vices, or the earth itself as a consumer of bodies.<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], note to ''[[Aeneid]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Serv.+A.+6.395&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053 6.395] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801183425/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Serv.+A.+6.395&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053 |date=2020-08-01 }}; Jane Chance, ''Medieval Mythography: From Roman North Africa to the School of Chartres, A.D. 433–1177'' (University Press of Florida, 1994), p. 91.</ref> In medieval mythography, Hercules was one of the heroes seen as a strong role model who demonstrated both valor and wisdom, while the monsters he battles were regarded as moral obstacles.<ref>Chance, ''Medieval Mythography'', pp. 168, 218, 413.</ref> One [[glossator]] noted that when [[Hercules (constellation)|Hercules became a constellation]], he showed that strength was necessary to gain entrance to Heaven.<ref>Chance, ''Medieval Mythography'', p. 219.</ref>

Medieval mythography was written almost entirely in Latin, and original Greek texts were little used as sources for Hercules' myths.

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