<DIV><DIV>From Ovid and Virgil to the muscle beaches of Malibu, Hercules has made an indelible impression on Western culture. He is the original hero: half god, half man, handsome and virile, triumphant in his labors yet ultimately a victim of his tragic destiny. He was also a rapist, drunkard, and transvestite, whose excesses reveal some of the darkest recesses of human nature. He has been variously portrayed in sculpture, painting, and verse, and later on stage and screen. This unconventional biography of Hercules charts his life from his dramatic birth in Thebes to his agonizing death on a flaming pyre.</DIV></DIV>