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EntityQ2738940· pop 11· linked from 156 articles

In Etruscan religion, Hercle (also Heracle or Hercl), the son of Tinia and Uni, was a version of the Greek Heracles, depicted as a muscular figure often carrying a club and wearing a lionskin. He is a popular subject in Etruscan art, particularly bronze mirrors, which show him engaged in adventures not known from the Greek myths of Heracles or the Roman and later classical myths of Hercules.

Key facts

Deity.type
Etruscan
Deity.name
Hercle
Deity.image
Uni et hercle.jpg
Deity.caption
Drawing of a scene on an Etruscan mirror in which Uni suckles the adult Hercle before he ascends to immortality
Deity.consort
Menrva
Deity.parents
Tinia and a mortal woman (raised and adopted by Uni)
Deity.siblings
Menrva (half-sister)
Deity.children
Epiur
Deity.Greek_equivalent
Heracles
Deity.Roman_equivalent
Hercules
Deity.equivalent1_type
Egyptian
Deity.equivalent1
Heryshaf
Deity.equivalent2_type
Germanic
Deity.equivalent2
Hercules Magusanus
Deity.Canaanite_equivalent
Melqart

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Image
Uni et hercle.jpg
Sources (2)

via Wikidata · CC0

~2 min read

Article

4 sections
Contents
  • Worship
  • Scenes from Etruscan art
  • See also
  • References

In Etruscan religion, Hercle (also Heracle or Hercl), the son of Tinia and Uni, was a version of the Greek Heracles, depicted as a muscular figure often carrying a club and wearing a lionskin. He is a popular subject in Etruscan art, particularly bronze mirrors, which show him engaged in adventures not known from the Greek myths of Heracles or the Roman and later classical myths of Hercules.

In the Etruscan tradition, Uni (Roman Juno) grants Hercle access to a life among the immortals by offering her breast milk to him. Hercle was the first man elevated to a godhood through his deeds and Etruscan aristocrats tried to identify with this ascension, as reflected in artwork and literature.

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