Hercules, the superman, the killing machine, the myth – who was the man beneath the lion skin? This biography tells the story of the first superhero, from his traumatic birth to his dramatic death.

Hercules was more than just his twelve famous Labours. He was a father, a lover, and a general. And he was also a cattle-thief, a murderer, and a rapist. Using literary and visual sources from early Greece to the late Roman Empire, this detailed and highly accessible biography fleshes out the cha...