Herakles, the greatest and most popular of the Greek heroes, was the son of Zeus and Alcmena, a mortal with whom Zeus had a liaison. But to make him immortal, Zeus asked Hermes to carry him to Hera’s side while she slept and to let him suckle. The child did so with such force that, even after he had finished, the goddess’s milk continued to flow, forming the Milky Way. The symbol of man’s struggle against the forces of nature, Herakles performed his famous twelve labours on the orders of Eurystheus, king of Argos (Mycenae), a penance imposed on the hero by the Oracle of Delphi. The first six were in the Peloponnese, while the others took him further afield, to the edges of the Greek world and beyond. During these labours, Herakles was persecuted by the hatred of Hera, but was always enthusiastically supported by Athena. Other adventures followed, and he became the Greek superman, destroyer of evil and protector of good. Throughout his life, he never concealed his human characteristics: he was easily irritated and appreciated wine and women, a fact that led to his death. After betraying Deianeira, his bride to be, she placed Nessus’s poisoned tunic on him without his knowledge in order to win him back. However, with the aid of the funeral ceremonies, and by virtue of his labours while alive, the demigod rose up to Olympus to share eternity with the other gods.

Herakles is represented on various coins in the Gulbenkian Collection fulfilling his labours. In another coin minted in Thrace, he displays the skin of the Nemean lion, which he acquired after his first labour, while using his bow almost certainly in pursuit of another target imposed by Eurystheus. He also displays the lion’s skin covering his head, in a pose which is evocative of Alexander, in the coins minted in Macedonia at the time of Alexander the Great. Finally, a representation of the young Herakles, on the obverse of a coin minted in Mysia.