Alcmene, wife of Amphitryon, gave birth to twin sons, Alcaeus and Iphicles.

Some say that Alcaeus was the older twin, some say he was the younger, but all agree that he was the brighter, livelier, stronger child. This was so because Alcaeus was really the son of Zeus, king of the gods, who had tricked Alcmene into loving him by pretending to be her husband Amphitryon.

Iphicles, however, was the son of Amphitryon, Alcmene’s husband.

Now Hera, queen of the gods, and wife of Zeus, was insanely jealous of any other woman her husband might have loved. Alcmene was terrified that Hera, hearing that she had given birth to Zeus’s son, would harm her in some way. So one night, as the world lay asleep, Alcmene took her newborn son Alcaeus, and crept out of the palace. She crept out of the city, and there, in the empty fields beyond the city wall, she left her infant son to die.

Zeus, king of the gods, was watching. He had no intention that his son should die. In fact, he had foretold that this child of his would be the greatest hero ever born. So Zeus asked Athena, his favourite daughter, to help him. Athena, who adored her father, agreed to do as he said.

The very next morning, Athena took Hera for a walk, to the very fields where Alcmene had left baby Alcaeus to die. ‘Oh, look!’ suddenly cried Athena, pretending to be surprised and running towards the baby lying on the ground. ‘What a beautiful, healthy baby! Who would have left him to die, I wonder?’ She picked the baby up, and gently cradled him in her arms. ‘His mother must have been mad, to leave such a lovely child to die!’ cried Athena.

Hera came running up, to take a look. ‘What a lovely baby,’ she exclaimed.

‘He must be hungry,’ said Athena. ‘You have milk. Give the poor baby a feed!’

Hera held out her arms and suckled the hungry child. But Alcaeus sucked at her breast with such force, that Hera cried out in pain. She pulled the child from her, and a spurt of milk flew across the sky becoming the Milky Way. Hera realised, too late, that she had been tricked. This was no ordinary baby, but Zeus’s son.

 But the child, having drunk the milk of the goddess, had now become immortal, which meant that he would never die.

Athena took the child from Hera with a smile, and returned him to Alcmene. ‘Look after your son well,’ she said to Alcmene. ‘He will be great one day.’

 Since the baby Alcaeus had been suckled by the goddess Hera, he was renamed ‘Heracles’, which means the ‘Glory of Hera’, in her honour. Therefore he is also sometimes regarded as her son. 

One evening, when the twins Heracles and Iphicles were about eight months old, their mother Alcmene fed them and washed them and sang them to sleep in their father Amphitryon’s big bronze shield.

Now Hera, queen of the gods, still hated Alcmene and the baby Heracles.  So that night, as the babies slept peacefully in Amphitryon’s bronze shield, Hera sent two blue-scaled serpents to kill Heracles.

The serpents slithered to Amphitryon’s house. The gates opened as they approached, and the serpents slithered through, into the house and through the rooms, till they found the twins asleep all by themselves in their father’s shield. The snakes arched themselves over the babies, their eyes shooting flames, their forked tongues darting in and out, their fangs dripping poison.

Zeus was as always watching over his son Heracles. He flooded the room with light, and the twins awoke. Iphicles, Amphitryon’s son, screamed in fright when he saw the monster serpents. But Heracles, Zeus’s son, gurgled with delight. He reached out and grabbed the serpents by their necks, and squeezed them and played with them as with a toy, laughing happily.

Meanwhile Alcmene, hearing Iphicles’s cries, ran in – to find Heracles lying in his crib with the serpents clutched in his baby hands. Heracles was gurgling happily, but the monster snakes were dead.

Next morning, Alcmene called Teiresias, a wise old man who could see the future, and told him what had happened. Teiresias then foretold the future greatness of Heracles. As we know, Heracles went on to become one of the greatest heroes ever, ridding the world of evil monsters that had terrified men and gods alike for ages. When he had fulfilled his destiny, his father Zeus took him up on Mt. Olympus, where live the gods of ancient Greece. There Heracles lives even now.