Hercules (Greek Heracles, Herakles) The greatest of the
heroes of ancient mythology, who played a leading role in
a number of myths. He was the son of Zeus (Jupiter) by
the mortal Alcmene and gave early promise of his great
strength when he strangled two deadly serpents sent to
kill him in his cradle by Zeus’s jealous wife Hera (Juno).
An episode from his youth became a moral fable generally
referred to as the Choice of Hercules: Virtue and Pleasure
appear to the hero in a dream, acquaint him with what
each has to offer, and ask him to choose between them,
which he does in favor of the former. This choice under-
lies the action of Ben JONSON’s masque Pleasure Reconciled
to Virtue. A similar decision confronts the young Scipio in
the painting by RAPHAELentitled The Dream of Scipio (Na-
tional Gallery, London). The Florentine humanist Cristo-
foro LANDINOexamined the moral interpretation of the
Hercules myths in his De vera nobilitate (On true nobility),
and SALUTATItoo subjected them to extended allegorical
scrutiny.
The most famous of Hercules’ exploits are those
grouped under the title of the Twelve Labors of Hercules.
The first of these was the slaying of the Nemean lion; thus
he is often depicted as wearing a lionskin. Another of his
labors was to fetch the apples of the Hesperides, and he is
also sometimes shown holding these fruits, as in the
colossal Farnese Hercules, a Roman copy of a Greek orig-
inal, excavated from the baths of Caracalla in Rome and
known and admired in the Renaissance. The Twelve
Labors and Hercules’ other adventures afforded material
for studies of the mature male nude in vigorous action;
POLLAIUOLO, for instance, treated the subject of Hercules’
wrestling with Antaeus both in a bronze statuette
(Bargello, Florence) and in a painting (Uffizi, Florence),
and the contest is also the subject of a painting by BAL-
DUNG(1530; Breslau).
hermandad (Spanish, “brotherhood”) A form of organi-
zation originally established by medieval Castilian towns
to protect their interests and maintain law and order. FER-
DINAND II AND ISABELLA Ireorganized the hermandades and
combined them with a central council (1476). Hermandad
tribunals of unpaid local officials (alcaldes) reduced crime
by their savage punishment of criminals. Their police,
who could call on the central council’s soldiers for help,
had many successes in suppressing brigandage and main-
taining law and order. Partly because the system was ex-
pensive and partly because its success made it seem less
necessary, Ferdinand and Isabella agreed to the abolition
of the central council in 1498. After this, local herman-
dades tended to deteriorate into inefficient rural police
forces.
Hermes In classical Greek mythology, the messenger of
the gods. The Romans identified him with their indige-
nous god Mercurius (Mercury), patron of trade and
traders, and, by a logical extension, of travelers. One of
Hermes’ roles was to lead the souls of the dead to Hades;
ancient Greek funerary vases often depict him in this ca-
pacity of conductor of souls (Psychopompos). In art he is
generally shown as a youth wearing a broad-brimmed,
often winged hat (petasos) and winged sandals and carry-
ing a serpent-entwined staff (caduceus). One myth tells
how he invented the lyre and gave it to APOLLOto appease
the senior god for the theft of some cattle; he is therefore
sometimes associated in art and literature with Apollo and
the MUSESand GRACES. He was also the god of eloquence
and a bringer of dreams.
In the esoteric philosophy of the late antique world,
Hermes was conflated with the Egyptian god Thoth, and a
whole body of mystical writings was attached to his name
(see HERMETICISM). This made him an object of special in-
terest to the esoteric philosophers of the Renaissance, the
Florentine Neoplatonists who rediscovered the ancient
texts and believed that they contained profound truths
that would only be revealed to the initiated. As the go-
between between natural and supernatural worlds, Her-
mes was invested with the symbolic role of mystagogue,
instructing the candidates for initiation in the divine wis-
dom. BOCCACCIOcalls him an “interpres secretorum” (in-
terpreter of secrets) in De genealogiis deorum.hermeticism A body of esoteric doctrine deriving its
name from its supposed author, Hermes Trismegistus
(Hermes Thrice Greatest), the Greek equivalent of Thoth,
Egyptian god of wisdom. From the second century CEon-
ward a collection of treatises was formed which became
known as the Corpus Hermeticum and came to include
Gnostic and cabbalistic material as well as more conven-
tionally Neoplatonic works. Some of this was known to
medieval thinkers, but the main body of hermetic writings
was not available until 1460 when a Greek manuscript of
the Corpus Hermeticum was brought to Florence.
Lorenzo de’ Medici commissioned a Latin translation of it
from FICINOas a preliminary to his translation of PLATO.
This was published in 1471 and made available to schol-
ars such mystical texts as the Poimandres, Asclepios, and
the Emerald Table, which the Renaissance saw as the
source of Plato’s doctrines, believing that the Corpus was
an authentic record of Egyptian wisdom. Hermetic doc-
trines formed part of the philosophical basis of PICO DELLA
MIRANDOLA’s 900 theses and he began his Oratio de digni-
tate hominis (1486) with a quotation from the Asclepios.
The association of Platonism with hermetic ideas fun-
damentally colored Renaissance concepts of Plato. Christ-
ian theologians selected the less magical passages of the
Corpus to provide support for Christian philosophy, some
enthusiasts claiming that this was the fount of the wisdom
of Moses who, the Bible says, was “learned in all the wis-
dom of the Egyptians” (Acts 7:22). Magicians and as-
trologers, such as John DEE, saw in the Corpus ahheerrmmeettiicciissmm 223377