Heracles (Roman: Hercules), the greatest of the Greek heroes, was the son of Zeus and the mortal woman Alcmene. Zeus boasted that his next-born descendant would be a king believing that it would be Heracles. Zeus’ wife Hera, who conspired against her husband’s mortal offspring as revenge for his infidelities, delayed the birth of Heracles and accelerated that of his cousin, Eurystheus, who thus became king of Tiryns.
Many years later Heracles killed his wife and children in a fit of Hera-induced madness. After recovering his sanity he travelled to Delphi to enquire as to how he could atone for his actions. The oracle advised him to go to Tiryns and complete ten (later increased to twelve) labours to be devised by Eurystheus. As a reward for finishing these tasks Heracles was given immortality by Zeus.
According to tradition the Dorians led by Aegimius conquered the region of Doris, expelling the Dryopes. Because Heracles helped to fight off invading Lapithes, Aegimius adopted Heracles’ son Hyllus, as his own.
The Dorians of the Peloponnese grouped themselves into three clans: Hylleis, Dymanes and Pamphyli, named after Hyllus and from Aegimius’ other two sons, Dymas and Pamphylus. The adoption of Hyllus was an attempt to present the Dorian invasion as ‘the return of the Heraclids’ to recover the Peloponnese from Eurystheus. This myth served to legitimise the Dorians (especially Sparta) as the rightful rulers of the Peloponnese; and also to offer an explanation of the existence of Doris in Central Greece, no longer inhabited by Dorians.
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