Achelous and Hercules is a 1947 mural painting by Thomas Hart Benton. It depicts a bluejeans-wearing Hercules wrestling with the horns of a bull, a shape the protean river god Achelous was able to assume.

In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Achelous (also Acheloos or Acheloios) (/ ˌækɪˈloʊ.əs /; Ancient Greek: Ἀχελώϊος, and later Ἀχελῷος, Akhelôios) was the god associated with the Achelous River, the largest river in Greece. According to Hesiod, he was the son of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys.

The renowned mural titled “Achelous and Hercules,” painted by Thomas Hart Benton in 1947, vividly captures the epic battle between the two mythological figures. This masterpiece portrays Hercules engaged in a fierce struggle with the bull-like form of Achelous, the river god.

Feb 17, 2025 · The duel between Hercules and Achelous symbolizes the eternal struggle between brute strength and cleverness. Hercules, embodying human ambition, represents the pursuit of glory, while Achelous, as the river god, symbolizes the …

Intense colors and writhing forms evoke the contest of muscle and will between Hercules and Achelous, the Greek god who ruled the rivers. In flood season, Achelous took on the form of an angry bull, tearing new channels through the earth with his horns.

mythological tales. They explain this fight of Achelous with Hercules by saying Achelous was a river that in seasons of rain overflowed its banks. When the fable says that Achelous loved Dejanira, and sought a union with her, the meaning is, that the river in its windings flowed through part of Dejanira's kingdom.

Hercules battles Achelous, metamorphed into a serpent, 1824, by François Joseph Bosio. Louvre LL 325. [1] Hercules (/ ˈhɜːrkjʊˌliːz /, US: /- kjə -/) [2] is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena.

What might have seemed a wild boast was entirely true, and Achelous knew it. Hercules’s famous first feat in life was strangling two snakes that had crawled into his crib. Achelous the snake decided to become Achelous the furious bull. He lowered his broad head to point his sharp horns at Hercules. He scratched at the dirt and then he charged.

HERCULES AND ACHELOUS [1] To him the hero, who proclaimed himself a favored son of Neptune, answered now; “Declare the reason of your heavy sighs, and how your horn was broken?”

In Greek mythology Achelous was a River-God of Aetolia in central Greece. As the god of the largest river in the region, he was often described as the god of fresh-water in general. Achelous once contested with Heracles for the hand of the Aetolian princess Deianeira.