Hercle

Hercle (also known as Heracle, Hercl, Hercele, Herecele, Herkle, and Hrcle) is the son of Tinia the king of the gods and a mortal woman named Alchumena. He is also the half-brother of Menrva the Etruscan goddess of wisdom and war.

Hercle was generally depicted as either a masculine and a nude youth often carrying a club and wearing a lionskin. He is a popular subject in Etruscan art, particularly bronze mirrors, which show him engaged in adventures not known from the Greek myths of Heracles or the Roman and later classical myths of Hercules.

Worship
Hercle was more of an oracular god in Etruria than in Greece. Several inscriptions have come to light from 1970 that show evidence of cult worship. Particularly, a sanctuary at Caere preserved many inscriptions of dedications to the god. In Toledo, a bronze weight and an attic red-figured cup created by Euphronios testify an important cult to Hercle.