Hercules 1 - Birth, Childhood and Tragic Beginnings

Myth Madness

Amphitryon, Alkmene, Alcaeus & Iphikles
This episode (41) begins a multi-parter on the Greek hero Herakles, and this first part deals with the hero's legendary origins. First, I cover the adventures of the less well-known hero Amphitryon, his exile from his homeland, and the series of quests he goes on to marry his love. That ends with Zeus’s seduction of the beautiful Alkmene and the birth of two hero twins. In Herakles’ early years, his exploits hint at a dangerous rage hiding below the surface, and a divine enemy in the form of Hera. Both of those came together when Heracles’s tragically murdered of his own family.