Forget Disney - the truth about 'Herc' Quiz

Answer: he later kills her and their children

Hercules was famously unlucky in love, according to myth. He loved and lost several times and was ultimately killed by his second wife, Deineira, who mistakenly believed Nessus's dying claims that his blood on a 'love-shirt' would make Hercules love her forever. Achilles got the arrow in his heel.

Answer: False

Actually, Zeus is a notorious philanderer. Hercules is mortal during his earthly life because he is only a demigod, a hero. His mortal mother was Alkmene, whom Hesiod describes as 'she of the lovely white ankles' (and also, coincidentally, the origin of this author's ID).

Answer: Herakles

If the title character is the son of Zeus (which he is in the cartoon), then he is the Greek hero Herakles, and not the Roman hero Hercules.

Answer: Yes

This was one of the narrative elements Disney retained. Hades shares a father, Kronos, with Zeus, but he is not the villain of the legend by any means. It is a common misconception that Hades' Underworld is hell, but while it was indeed the torturous destination of the damned, it also contained such heavenly places as the Elysian Fields, where heroes spent eternity. Hades is thus not the devil, but merely the curator of the place of the dead.

He plays no large part in thwarting Hercules - it is jealous Hera who sticks spokes in the hero's wheels at every turn.

Answer: joins the gods on Mount Olympus

Unlike fellow-heroes Theseus, Perseus, Achilles and many others, Hercules shuffles off the mortal coil not to romp in the Elysian Fields for all time, but to become immortal. This was his reward for completing the Twelve Labours.

Answer: True

When in full manic mode, Hercules could behave like Superman on a bender. Thanks to Hera, he was given to bouts of lunacy and was often punished by the jealous goddess for his hubris. On one mad occasion he killed his wife, Megara, and their sons. He was half-human, after all, and Greek gods are cruel, unpredictable creatures at the best of times.

Answer: False

Hercules was raised by his mortal mother, Alkmene, and her husband, Amphitryon.

Answer: A club

In Classical representations, Hercules wears a lion skin (a trophy from his victory over the Nemean Lion) and bears a club. He did capture Hippolyta's girdle, but this was retained by Erystheus as a present for his daughter.

Answer: Descending to Hades to rescue Megara

Hercules travelled to the ends of the earth to bring back the golden apples of the Hesperides as a test of his arete, the quality which proves a hero. He killed the Hydra, just as Disney says he did, and diverted two rivers to deal with the unbelievable filth in the Augean Stables. He did descend to Hades, but not to rescue his true love. That was Orpheus.

Answer: False

It was in fact Theseus who tamed Hippolyta and returned with her to Thebes. Hercules was supposed to steal her girdle, but Hera disguised herself as an Amazon and warned them that he was coming to kill their leader. When Hercules arrived to find a band of angry women soldiers, he proved Hera right, slaying Hippolyta and making his way back with her sacred belt.