Iolaus

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Iolaus

In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, Iolaus or Iolaos (Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
, ???a??) was a Theban

Thebes, Greece

Thebes is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, Greece, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain....
divine hero, son of Heracles

Heracles

In Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles meaning "glory of Hera", or "Glorious through Hera" Alcides or Alcaeus " was a hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus....
' brother Iphicles

Iphicles

In Greek mythology, Iphicles referred to three different people:#The half-brother of Heracles, being the son of Alcmene and her human husband Amphitryon whereas Heracles was her son by Zeus....
and Automedusa.

He was famed for being Heracles

Heracles

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Encyclopedia

Hercules and Iolaus Mosaic Anzio Nymphaeum

In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Ancient Greek

Thebes, Greece

Heracles

Iphicles

Heracles

Leipephilene

In Greek mythology, Leipephilene was the daughter of Iolaus and Megara . She was renowned for her beauty, which was compared to that of an Twelve Olympians....
he was considered to have fathered the mythic and historic line of the kings of Corinth

Corinth

Corinth, or Korinth Corinth is now the capital of the Prefectures of Greece of Corinthia. The city is surrounded by the coastal townlets of Lechaio, Isthmia, Kechries, and the inland townlets of Examilia and the archaeological site....
, ending with Telestes

Bacchiadae

The Bacchiadae , a tightly-knit Dorians, were the ruling family of Ancient Corinth in the eighth and seventh centuries BCE, a period of Corinthian cultural power....
.

The Theban gymnasium

Gymnasium (ancient Greece)

The gymnasium in ancient Greece functioned as a training facility for competitors in public games. It was also a place for socializing and engaging in intellectual pursuits....
was named after him, and the Iolaeia, an athletic festival consisting of gymnastic and equestrian events, was held yearly in Thebes in his honor. The victors at the Iolaea were crowned with garlands of myrtle

Myrtle

The Myrtle is a genus of one or two species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae, native to southern Europe and north Africa. They are evergreen shrubs or small trees, growing to 5 m tall....
.

Relationship with Heracles

As a son of Iphicles

Iphicles

Plutarch

Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. AD 46 ? 120 ? commonly known in English as Plutarch ? was a Ancient Rome historian , biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonism....
in his Life
Parallel Lives

File:Plutarchs LIVES.jpgPlutarch's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, commonly called Parallel Lives or Plutarch's Lives, is a series of biography of famous men, arranged in tandem to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings....
of Pelopidas
Pelopidas

Pelopidas was a Thebes, Greece statesman and general.He was a member of a distinguished family, and possessed great wealth which he expended on his friends, while content to lead the life of an athlete....
, Iolaus was also Heracles' beloved

Eromenos

In the Pederasty in ancient Greece of Athens, the eromenos was an adolescence boy who was in a love relationship with an adult man, known as the erastes ....
and in Aristotle's day, his tomb in Thebes was a place where lovers plighted mutual faith

On the fourth-century BCE "Ficoroni

Francesco Ficoroni

The abbate Francesco Ficoroni was an Italian connoisseur and antiquarian in Rome closely involved with the antiquities trade. He was the author of numerous publications on ancient Roman sculpture and antiquities, guides to the monuments of Rome and the city's ancient topography, and on Italian theatre and theatrical masks, among other s...
cista", found in an tomb near Praeneste, a character identified as Eros

EROS

EROS may refer to:* Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science, the Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science, the United States national archive of remotely sensed images of the Earth's land surface...
stands between Iolaos and Hercules.

Iolaus provided essential help to Heracles in his battle against the Hydra

Lernaean Hydra

In Greek mythology, the Lernaean Hydra The Hydra was the offspring of Typhon and Echidna , noisome offspring of the earth goddess, Gaia. It was said to be the sibling of the Nemean Lion, the Stymphalian birds, the Chimera ,and Cerberus....
, his second labor. Seeing that Heracles was being overwhelmed by the multi-headed monster, who grew two heads in place of each one cut off, Iolaus sprang to help, cauterizing

Cauterization

The medical practice or technique of Cauterization is a medical term describing the burn of the body to remove or close off a part of itin a process called Cautery which destroys some tissue each neck as Heracles beheaded it.

Heracles gave his wife, Megara

Megara (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Megara was the oldest daughter of Creon, king of Thebes, Greece. In reward for Heracles' defending Thebes from Orchomenus in single-handed battle, Creon offered his daughter Megara to Heracles and he brought her home to the house of Amphitryon....
, age thirty three, to Iolaus, then only sixteen years old – ostensibly because the sight of her reminded him of his murder of their three children. They had a daughter, Leipephilene

Leipephilene

In Greek mythology, Leipephilene was the daughter of Iolaus and Megara . She was renowned for her beauty, which was compared to that of an Twelve Olympians....
. He was one of the Heraclidae.

Upon Heracles' death, Iolaus lit the funeral pyre, though according to some mythographers, this was Philoctetes

Philoctetes

In Greek mythology, Philoctetes was the son of King Poeas of Meliboea in Thessaly. He was a Greek hero, famed as an archer, and was a participant in the Trojan War....
instead.

Television

Iolaus was a main character in the syndicated television series Hercules: the Legendary Journeys
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is an United States Television program, filmed in New Zealand. It was produced from 1995 to 1999, and was very loosely based on the tales of the classical Greek mythology culture hero Heracles....
, played by Michael Hurst

Michael Hurst

Michael Eric Hurst, is a New Zealand actor, director and writer, mostly on stage and television. He is probably best known internationally for playing Iolaus in the television programs Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and companion series Xena: Warrior Princess....
. In this series he was simply a traveling companion, almost a sidekick. The character as portrayed in the series occasionally eclipsed Hercules. In Young Hercules
Young Hercules

Young Hercules is a spin-off from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. It was aired on Fox Kids from September 12, 1998 to May 12, 1999. It lasted only one season with 50 episodes , and starred Ryan Gosling, replacing Ian Bohen from the Television pilot movie as the title character....
, Iolaus was played by Dean O'Gorman.