![Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553): Heracles at Omphale’s house, 1537 (detail).](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/herakles-cranach-titel-300x225.jpg)
Greetings from Heracles
The Greek myths are a treasure chamber of human possibilities and limits. A little foray into the life of Heracles, the greatest hero of them all, provides ample evidence of this. The setting is archaic and mythical; the knowledge gained is ageless.
The fight with the Nemean lion
![Heracles with the Nemean lion, ca. AD 200, excavated in 1937 in a Zeus temple at Dura-Europos on the Syria-Iraq border.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/02-herakles-mit-dem-nemeischen-lowen-yale-art-gallery-1938-241x300.jpg)
![Heracles and the Nemean lion. Roman mosaic from Llíria, first half of the 3rd century, province of Valencia, Spain.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/03-herakles-und-der-nemeische-lowe-madrid-300x239.jpg)
The battle with the Lernaean Hydra
![Heracles and the Lernaean Hydra, Attic vase, ca. 540 BC.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/04-lernaean-hydra-louvre-300x242.jpg)
![Hans Sebald Beham (1500-1550), Heracles Killing the Hydra, 1545.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/05-hercules-slaying-the-hydra-300x207.jpg)
The Augean stables
Vive la différence!
A lovelorn hero
![Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553): Heracles at Omphale’s house, 1537.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/08-lucas-cranach-da-300x205.jpg)
A business as good as the pictures
![Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1537.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/09-cranach-hercules-madrid-300x225.jpg)
![Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, after 1537.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/10-cranach-hercules-warschau-300x225.jpg)
![Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1537.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/12-cranach-hercules-bemberg-300x225.jpg)
![Lucas Cranach the Elder and workshop, ca. 1535-1538.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/11-cranach-hercules-wikimedia-300x225.jpg)
Have a good trip!
![Depiction from the Uranographia by Johannes Hevelius (1611-1687) with the constellation HERCULES (HERACLES), Danzig, 1687.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/13-johannes-hevelius-hercules-300x247.jpg)