Greek city of  Tyre in Phoenicia, Time of Roman Emperor Trajan
Bronze 23mm (12.14 grams) Struck year 238 of the City Era, = 112/113 A.D.
Reference: cf. Sear GIC 5211
Laureate head of Hercules (Melqart) with lion skin knotted about neck, right.
MH-TPΟ/ΠΟΛ-ΕW across  fields of club surmounted by monogram TYP; in  field, date ΗΛΣ and Phoenicial letters ltst ('of Tyre'); all in oak  wreath.

In the centuries following the  Macedonian conquest, Tyre was subject first to the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt,  then at the end of the 3rd century, to the Seleucids of Syria. In 126/5 the city  regained its autonomy and commenced a remarkable issue of silver and bronze  coins extending well into the Roman Imperial period.  The famous silver  tetradrachms ('shekels') of this series have achieved notoriety as the most  likely coinage with which Judas was paid his 'thirty pieces of silver' for the  betrayal of Christ.

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Hercules is the Roman name for the Greek divine hero Heracles , who was the son of Zeus (Roman equivalent Jupiter ) and the mortal Alcmene . In classical mythology , Hercules is famous for his  strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.

The  Romans adapted the Greek hero's iconography and myths for their literature and  art under the name Hercules. In later Western art and literature and in popular culture , Hercules is more  commonly used than Heracles as the name of the hero. Hercules was a  multifaceted figure with contradictory characteristics, which enabled later  artists and writers to pick and choose how to represent him. This article  provides an introduction to representations of Hercules in the later tradition .

Labors of Hercules

Hercules is known for his many adventures, which took him to the far reaches  of the Greco-Roman world . One cycle of these  adventures became canonical as the "Twelve Labours," but the list  has variations. One traditional order of the labours is found in the Bibliotheca as follows:

1. Slay the Nemean Lion .
2. Slay the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra .
3. Capture the Golden Hind of Artemis .
4. Capture the Erymanthian Boar .
5. Clean the Augean stables in a single day.
6. Slay the Stymphalian Birds .
7. Capture the Cretan Bull .
8. Steal the Mares of Diomedes .
9. Obtain the girdle of Hippolyta , Queen of the Amazons .
10. Obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon .
11. Steal the apples of the Hesperides .
12. Capture and bring back Cerberus .

The Latin name Hercules was borrowed through Etruscan , where it is represented variously as Heracle , Hercle, and other forms. Hercules was  a favorite subject for Etruscan art , and appears often on bronze mirrors . The Etruscan form Herceler  derives from the Greek Heracles via syncope . A mild oath invoking Hercules (Hercule!  or Mehercle!) was a common interjection in Classical Latin .

Hercules had a number of myths that were distinctly Roman. One of these  is Hercules' defeat of Cacus , who was terrorizing the countryside of  Rome. The hero was associated with the Aventine Hill through his son Aventinus . Mark Antony considered him a personal patron  god, as did the emperor Commodus . Hercules received various forms of religious veneration , including as a deity concerned with children and childbirth ,  in part because of myths about his precocious infancy, and in part because he  fathered countless children. Roman brides wore a special belt tied with the "knot  of Hercules", which was supposed to be hard to untie. The comic  playwright Plautus presents the myth of Hercules'  conception as a sex comedy in his play Amphitryon ; Seneca wrote the tragedy Hercules Furens  about his bout with madness. During the Roman Imperial era , Hercules was worshipped  locally from Hispania through Gaul.

Medieval mythography

After the Roman Empire became Christianized , mythological narratives were  often reinterpreted as allegory , influenced by the philosophy of late antiquity . In the 4th century, 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. In medieval mythography, Hercules was  one of the heroes seen as a strong role model who demonstrated both valor and  wisdom, with the monsters he battles as moral obstacles. One glossator noted that when Hercules became a constellation , he showed that  strength was necessary to gain entrance to Heaven.

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

Renaissance  mythography

The Renaissance and the invention of the printing press brought a renewed interest in  and publication of Greek literature. Renaissance mythography drew more  extensively on the Greek tradition of Heracles, typically under the Romanized  name Hercules, or the alternate name Alcides . In a chapter of his book Mythologiae (1567), the influential mythographer Natale Conti collected and summarized an  extensive range of myths concerning the birth, adventures, and death of the hero  under his Roman name Hercules. Conti begins his lengthy chapter on Hercules with  an overview description that continues the moralizing impulse of the Middle  Ages:

Hercules, who subdued and destroyed monsters, bandits, and criminals, was  justly famous and renowned for his great courage. His great and glorious  reputation was worldwide, and so firmly entrenched that he'll always be  remembered. In fact the ancients honored him with his own temples, altars,  ceremonies, and priests. But it was his wisdom and great soul that earned  those honors; noble blood, physical strength, and political power just  aren't good enough.

Tyre was founded around 2750 BC according to Herodotus and it appears on monuments as early  as 1300 BC . Philo of Byblos (in Eusebius ) quotes the antiquarian authority Sanchuniathon as stating that it was first  occupied by one Hypsuranius. Sanchuniathon's work is said to be dedicated to  "Abibalus king of Berytus" -- possibly the Abibaal who was king of Tyre.

There are ten Amarna letters dated 1350 BC from the mayor, Abi-Milku , written to Akenaten . The subject is often water, wood, and  the Habiru overtaking the countryside, of the  mainland, and how it affected the island-city.

Early history

The  commerce of the ancient world was gathered into the warehouses of Tyre. "Tyrian  merchants were the first who ventured to navigate the Mediterranean waters; and  they founded their colonies on the coasts and neighbouring islands  of the Aegean Sea , in Greece , on the northern coast of Africa , at Carthage and other places, in Sicily and Corsica , in Spain at Tartessus , and even beyond the pillars of Hercules at Gadeira (Cádiz)"  In the time of King David (c. 1000 BC), a friendly alliance  was entered into between the Kingdoms of Israel and Tyre, which was ruled by Hiram I . The city of Tyre was particularly  known for the production of a rare and extraordinarily expensive sort of purple dye,  produced from the murex shellfish, known as Tyrian purple . This color was, in many cultures  of ancient times, reserved for the use of royalty, or at least  nobility.

It was often attacked by Egypt, besieged by Shalmaneser V , who was assisted by the Phoenicians of the mainland, for five years,  and by Nebuchadnezzar (586–573  BC) for thirteen years, without success, although a compromise peace  was made in which Tyre paid tribute to the Babylonians . It later fell under the power of  the Persians .

In 332 BC , the city was conquered by Alexander the Great , after a siege of seven months in which he built the causeway from the mainland to the island,  but it continued to maintain much of its commercial importance until the  Christian era. The presence of the causeway affected water currents nearby,  causing sediment to build up, making the connection permanent.

In 315 BC , Alexander's former general Antigonus began his own siege of Tyre,  taking the city a year later.

In 126 BC , Tyre regained its independence (from  the Seleucids )  and was allowed to keep much of its independence when the area became a Roman  province in 64 BC.