This article provides an introduction to representations of Hercules in the later tradition. Hercules is a multifaceted figure with contradictory characteristics, which enabled later artists and writers to pick and choose how to represent him. In later Western art and literature and in popular culture, Hercules is more commonly used than Heracles as the name of the hero. The Romans adapted the Greek hero's iconography and myths for their literature and art under the name Hercules. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.
Hercules ( / ˈ h ɜːr k j ʊ ˌ l iː z/, US: /- k j ə-/) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. Hercules battles Achelous, metamorphed into a serpent, 1824, by François Joseph Bosio.
