hercules

name

1. (Roman)The Roman name for the Greek divine hero Heracles, who was the son of Jupiter and Alcmene, a celebrated hero who possessed exceptional strength. Most famous for his twelve labours performed to redeem himself after killing his family.

   “THere were many Hercules'''’s, but (as Tully ſays, de Nat. Deor. lib. 3.) the famous Actions of them all are aſcrib’d to him who was the Son of Jupiter, by Alcmena, the Wife of Amphitryo King of Thebes.”

   “THere were many Hercules'''’s amongſt the Antients; Varro enumerates Forty four. The moſt famous were, Hercules Marguſanus, Hercules Ogmius, who was the Symbol of Eloquence amongſt the Gauls; Hercules Pollens, Hercules Thebanus, firſt called Alcides, Hercules' Tyrius, or Egyptian; and there were two of them; the Elder called Melicarthus, or Eſau, the Founder of the City of Tyre; and the Younger, who Subdu’d Geryon, and was Worſhipped in Sidon in Spain.”

   “Mr. Sympſon would read Theban, the Story of Omphale being, as he thinks, only applicable to him: But as there were many Hercules'''’s, and among the reſt a Libyan, the Son of Jupiter Ammon; if it is inaccurate, it ſeems the Inaccuracy of a Scholar, and not an Error of the Preſs.”

   “Supporters.] Two Herculeſſes, with clubs over their ſhoulders, proper, crined and habited about the middle, or.”

   “There were so many Hercules in the Grecian mythology and history, that it was necessary to specify when the principal Hercules, the son of Jupiter and Alcmena, was meant.”

2. A summer constellation of the northern sky, said to resemble the mythical hero, lying between the constellations Lyra and Corona Borealis.
3. A crater in the first quadrant on the moon.
4. (countable, rare)A male given name from Ancient Greek.
5. A city in Contra Costa County, California, United States.

noun

1. A Hercules beetle.
2. A man with Herculean attributes.

   “For the immaculate gentleman her cries had lured to what was to have been his death had been suddenly metamorphosed into a demon of revenge. Instead of soft muscles and a weak resistance, she was looking upon a veritable Hercules gone mad.”