Heracles - AKA Hercules the Hero, Hercules the Great, Hercules the Magnificent, etc., ad infinitum, ad nauseam - Greek
Son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. As a youth, he went about the countryside killing giants and other innocent creatures and claiming that they were monsters. In his numerous press releases he stated that he was the perfect mortal and was merely righting wrongs. However, his deeds caused so much commotion and sorrow for all concerned that Hera, in desperation, drove Herakles mad to put a stop to it. However, mistaking his wife and children for Zeus knows what kind of creatures, he slew them too. When Herakles finally recovered his sanity, the Oracle at Delphi advised him to do something useful for a change. Instead, Herakles persuaded
the foolish King Eurystheus of Mycenae to assign him 12 labors. Thus it was that Herakles strangled a sick lion, beheaded a garden snake and severely polluted the Alpheus and Peneus rivers during a stable cleaning operation. He also murdered Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons in order to steal her belt. There were a host of other misdeeds.
Hera could take no more. She struck him mad again to put a stop to it. Herakles then murdered the brother of Iole, his intended bride. Hera realized that madness could not stop Herakles, so she restored his sanity. He immediately married some woman named Deianira and took poor Iole as a concubine. Nessus the centaur finally took matters into his own hands after being accused of the attempted rape of Herakles's wife and then being shot with a poisoned arrow by Herakles. Nessus persuaded Deianira to dip a tunic in his blood and give it to Herakles. It was done and the poison in Nessus's blood entered Herakles's body and caused him to suffer the agonies of Nessus. Herakles jumped into a fire and made an ash of himself. Zeus, who could be as foolish as most mortal fathers in matters concerning his children, brought Herakles to Olympus. Hera was dead set on throwing him out, but Herakles apologized profusely for all the trouble. Hera said he might as well stay where she could keep
an eye on him, so she married him off to Hebe. He has behaved ever since.
