Later Adventures of Hercules

Cacus the Cattle Thief

Hercules was returning to Greece after completing his tenth labour, driving the cattle of Geryon across Italy. Near the site where Rome would later be founded, he stopped to rest his herd by the River Tiber. Whilst the hero slept, a monstrous local resident saw an opportunity for theft.

Cacus was a fire-breathing giant who lived in a cave on the Aventine Hill. The son of Vulcan (the Roman god of fire and metalworking), Cacus terrorised the local population and decorated his cave entrance with the skulls of his victims. Seeing Hercules' magnificent cattle, the monster could not resist stealing some of the finest animals.

When Hercules awoke and discovered eight of his cattle missing, he searched extensively but found no trace leading to Cacus' cave. As he prepared to depart with his remaining herd, one of the stolen cows lowed from inside the cave. The sound was answered by cows in Hercules' herd, revealing Cacus' deception.

Enraged, Hercules rushed to the cave, but Cacus had sealed the entrance with an enormous boulder that even the hero could not move. Hercules climbed the Aventine Hill and tore away the top of the mountain itself, exposing the cave to daylight. Cacus fought back with flames and smoke, but Hercules leapt into the inferno, seized the monster by the throat, and strangled him to death - his eyes bulging and his throat crushed.

The River God Achelous

During his travels, Hercules fell in love with Deianira, a princess of Calydon. However, he was not the only suitor for her hand. Achelous, the powerful river god of the largest river in Greece, also desired to marry her. Deianira's father, King Oeneus, announced that whoever could defeat the other in combat would win his daughter.

Achelous was an ancient and formidable deity, the eldest of the river gods and father to numerous nymphs. He possessed the power to change his form at will - a dangerous advantage in combat. The god was confident in his divine superiority over a mere mortal hero, even one as renowned as Hercules.

The wrestling match began with Achelous in his usual form - part man, part bull. The two opponents grappled fiercely, their bodies straining as each sought to throw the other down. When Hercules began to gain the upper hand, Achelous transformed into a serpent, thinking his new form would make him too slippery to hold.

Hercules merely laughed. "I strangled snakes in my cradle," he declared, grasping the serpent around the throat. "The Lernaean Hydra had far more heads than you, and I conquered it!" Achelous, choking in the hero's grip, transformed again - this time into a wild bull, believing his massive bulk and sharp horns would gore his opponent.

According to some versions, the river nymphs (who were Achelous' daughters) took the broken horn and filled it with fruits and flowers, transforming it into the Cornucopia - the Horn of Plenty that became a symbol of abundance. Achelous was allowed to reclaim his horn by trading it for the horn of Amalthea, the goat that had nursed the infant Zeus.

Hercules won Deianira's hand, though this victory would ultimately lead to his doom. In winning his bride, he had unknowingly set in motion the chain of events that would end his mortal life.

Nessus the Centaur

After marrying Deianira, Hercules travelled with his new bride towards his homeland. Their journey brought them to the River Evenus, which was swollen with floodwaters and too dangerous to cross safely. At the riverbank they encountered Nessus, a centaur who offered to ferry travellers across the river for a fee.

Nessus assured Hercules that his strength as a centaur made him an ideal carrier. Hercules, trusting the arrangement, paid the centaur to carry Deianira across whilst he himself would swim. The hero waded into the dangerous waters and began swimming across, keeping his weapons above the current.

Even from the middle of the raging river, Hercules drew his bow and fired one of his poison arrows - those he had dipped in the Lernaean Hydra's blood. The arrow flew true, striking Nessus through the back. The centaur stumbled and fell, mortally wounded by the incurable poison.

As he lay dying, Nessus enacted his revenge. He told Deianira that his blood, mixed with the Hydra's poison, was actually a powerful love charm. "Keep some of my blood," he whispered. "If you ever fear that Hercules loves another woman more than you, spread this on his clothing. It will ensure he loves only you forever."

Deianira, not understanding that this was a terrible trick, collected some of the centaur's blood and kept it hidden away. She believed she possessed a love charm, when in reality she held an instrument of agony - one that combined both the Hydra's venom and the dying malice of Nessus himself.

Hercules knew nothing of this deception. He continued onwards with his wife, unaware that the means of his own death now travelled with them, carefully preserved in a sealed vial.

The Death of Hercules

Years after the incident with Nessus, Hercules became infatuated with a young woman named Iole. Deianira, learning of her husband's interest in another woman, remembered the "love charm" that Nessus had given her. Believing it would restore her husband's affection, she decided to use it.

Deianira took one of Hercules' tunics and smeared it with the blood Nessus had given her, carefully working the substance into the fabric. She then gave this poisoned garment to a servant named Lichas, instructing him to deliver it to Hercules as a gift from his loving wife. The servant, knowing nothing of the poison, departed on his errand.

The pain was immediate and excruciating. The tunic began to burn into Hercules' flesh, the venom eating through skin and muscle. When he tried to tear the garment off, it clung to him, and strips of his own flesh came away with the fabric. The poison was burning him alive from the outside in.

In his agony and rage, Hercules seized the innocent messenger Lichas and hurled him into the sea with such force that the servant was transformed into a rock before he struck the water. The hero's roars of pain echoed across the mountains as he tried desperately to remove the tunic, succeeding only in spreading the poison further across his body.

When Deianira learned what her "love charm" had actually done, she was overcome with horror at what she had unwittingly inflicted upon her husband. Unable to bear the guilt, she took her own life. Meanwhile, Hercules, realising that the poison would never stop and that he faced an agonising, lingering death, made a fateful decision.

He commanded his followers to build him a funeral pyre on Mount Oeta. When they hesitated, he ordered his son Hyllus to marry Iole (ensuring she would be cared for) and asked his friend Philoctetes to light the pyre. In exchange for this service, Hercules gave Philoctetes his bow and poison arrows - weapons that would later prove crucial to the Greek victory at Troy.

As the flames consumed his mortal body, a miraculous transformation occurred. Zeus, looking down on his suffering son, finally intervened. He sent a thunderbolt to speed Hercules' passage and carried away his divine essence in a cloud. The mortal part of Hercules was burned away in the flames, but his immortal half - the divine spark inherited from Jupiter - ascended to Mount Olympus.

Key Comparisons

Extension Task

Written Response: In 200-300 words, answer the following question:

In your response, you should:

• Identify key similarities between the two versions
• Explain important differences, using specific examples from the stories
• Consider why Romans might have adapted the Greek stories
• Reach a balanced conclusion about the extent of the similarity