# Hercules — The City of God character guide

> Hercules in The City of God by Augustine of Hippo.

**Role:** minor

**Also known as:** This Hercules, whose great deeds are reckoned as twelve (not including the slaughter of Antaeus the African, because that affair pertains to another Hercules), Antaeus the African, Antaeus

**First appearance:** 0002-part-i-book-i

## Who they are

Legendary hero known for his twelve labors, often cited in pagan mythology.

## Relationships

### [Jesus Christ](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/characters/jesus_christ)

_rivalry_

Hercules is contrasted with Jesus Christ as a pagan hero of myth, whose flawed exploits are set against Christ's perfect sacrifice.

### [Jupiter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/characters/jupiter)

_family_

Hercules is the son of Jupiter in Roman mythology, though this relationship is critiqued as immoral and false in the text.

### [Jesus Christ](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/characters/jesus_christ)

_rivalry_

Hercules is contrasted with Jesus Christ as a pagan hero of myth, whose flawed exploits are set against Christ's perfect sacrifice.

### [Jupiter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/characters/jupiter)

_family_

Hercules is the son of Jupiter in Roman mythology, though this relationship is critiqued as immoral and false in the text.

### [Jupiter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/characters/jupiter)

_family_

Hercules is the son of Jupiter in Roman mythology, though this relationship is critiqued as immoral and false in the text.

### [Jesus Christ](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/characters/jesus_christ)

_rivalry_

Hercules is contrasted with Jesus Christ as a pagan hero of myth, whose flawed exploits are set against Christ's perfect sacrifice.

## In the story

### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xiv)

Mentioned as a demigod alongside Romulus, with whom Plato is compared by Labeo.

### [Concerning the three kinds of gods about which the pontiff Scaevola has discoursed](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xxvii)

Cited as one of the beings that learned men declare were merely men, not gods.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-v)

Referenced as an example of a god with fables contrary to divine dignity.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-vii)

Subject of the story about the sacristan's dice game and the harlot Larentina, used to show the baseness of civil theology.

### [Chapter VIII: Who Were Kings When Moses Was Born, and What Gods Began to Be Worshipped Then](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-viii)

Believed to have lived around the same time as Mercury; later deified for benefits to mortals.

### [Of the rituals of false gods instituted by the kings of Greece in the period from Israel’s exodus from Egypt down to the death of Joshua the son of Nun](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xii)

One of several figures called Hercules; this one burned himself on Mount Oeta and is known for his twelve labors.

### [XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xiii)

Hercules is noted as slaying Antaeus and feeding the flocks of king Admetus alongside Apollo.

### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xii)

Mentioned as the hero exalted by poets at the expense of Cacus.

### [Book XXII: The Eternal Blessedness of the City of God and the Resurrection of the Body](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-book-xxii)

Cited by Cicero as an example of apotheosis, whose body was not taken into heaven according to pagan belief.

### [Against the Wise Men Who Deny the Resurrection of the Body](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-iv)

Mentioned as an example of apotheosis whose body was not taken up into heaven according to Cicero.

### [Chapter X: The Greater Honor of Martyrs Compared to Demons](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-x)

Mentioned as an example of a pagan figure considered a god from among dead men.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/characters/hercules
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/characters