In Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles ("glory of Hera", or Alcides, original name) " + , )" was a divine hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, stepson of AmphitryonBy his adoptive descent through Ampitryon, Heracles receives the epithet Alcides, as "of the line of Alcaeus", father of Amphitryon. and great-grandson of Perseus. He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, a paragon of masculinity, the ancestor of royal clans and a champion of the Olympian order against chthonic monsters. In Rome and the modern West, he is known as Hercules, with whom the later Roman Emperors, in particular Commodus and Maximinus, often identified themselves.