The banquet of Hercules in Sant' Omero

In February the "Sodalizio dei cultori di Ercole", an association formed around the most ancient church in Abruzzo, Santa Maria a Vico, Sant'Omero, holds the historical re-enactment of the pagan banquet of Hercules' followers, an event recorded in a Roman stone inside the church.
Sant'Omero is a town and comune in Teramo province in the Abruzzo region of eastern Italy.

Strength athletics

Strength athletics, more generally known as strongman competitions, is a sport which tests competitors' strength in a variety of different ways.

Normally, a strongman contest comprises six events, though at the top level of competition, seven or eight events may be held. Among the most common events are:

-Farmer's Walk - competitors race along a course while carrying a heavy weight in each hand. A variation is the Giant Farmer's Walk, with a much heavier weight carried over a shorter distance.

-Hercules Hold or Pillars of Hercules - contestants stand between two pillars, pivoted to fall outwards. The competitor must simply hold them up for as long as possible.

-Vehicle Pull - probably the most famous of all strongman events. The competitor pulls a vehicle from a stationary start, for a prescribed distance - fastest over the course wins. In smaller competitions the vehicle is usually a truck, however in major contests such as World's Strongest Man anything goes, including trains and aeroplanes.

-Atlas Stones - five stones of increasing weight are placed on top of podia at approximately head height. This used to form the climax of most strongman events but has been seen less in recent years.

-Refrigerator Carry - a staple of earlier WSM events that has made a comeback in recent years. The competitors carry two refrigerators, attached to an iron bar they hold on their shoulders, and walk it across the finish line as fast as they can.

-Carry and Drag - an object (usually a heavy anchor) is run across half of the course. The competitors then must attach it to a chain of almost equal weight and pull it across the rest of the course.

Hercules' Cave

Hercules' Cave is underground domed spaces of Roman times placed in the city of Toledo (Spain), and located at San Ginés's alley.
According to the legend, Hercules built a bewitched palace near Toledo, constructed with jade and marble, and concealed in his interior the misfortunes that were threatening Spain. He put a padlock in the door and ordered that every new king should add one, since the threats would be fulfilled the day in which one of them was curious and was entering. According to the legend, Don Rodrigo was this king, and of the palace only there stays the current cave that would conceal wonderful treasures, among them the famous Table of Solomon.

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is an television series, filmed in New Zealand and United States. It was produced from 1995 to 1999, and was very loosely based on the tales of the classical Greek culture hero Hercules. It ran for six seasons, producing action figures and other memorabilia as it became one of the highest rated syndicated shows in television history.

Hercules in a curious etymology of Badajoz

In 1344 Alfonso X the Wise wrote the "Crónica Geral de Espanha". In this story we were talking about the myth of Hercules and Gedeom to Crunha and Badalhouce.

Badalhouce was known as the former Portuguese-Galician to the city of Badajoz. This chapter of the Chronicle is based in Roman mythology of Hercules. On the tenth of the labour, Hercules should look to the giant Gerión, killing him and stealing his cattle.

The chronicle tells us that Hercules cut the head to Gerión and placed it on top of a tower.
Then he gave the orders to populate that zone, drawing many people. The first person to arrive was a woman named Crunha, why Hercules was ordered to that city called Crunha (La Coruña).
After that, Hercules was at a place that came to be called in order of Hercules, Bailhos Doces (Sweet Dance, and later became Badalhouce).

The story of Hercules and Gerión tries to explain that the name of Badajoz (Bailhos Doces - Badalhouce - Badajoz) could come from a place to perform ritual dances.

The Farnese Hercules

The Farnese Hercules is an ancient sculpture, probably an enlarged copy made in the early third century AD by Glykon of an original of Lysippos or one of his circle, of the fourth century BC., made for the Baths of Caracalla in Rome (dedicated in 216 AD), where it was recovered in 1546.

The heroically-scaled Hercules is one of the most famous sculptures of Antiquity, and has fixed the image of the mythic hero in the European imagination. It quickly made its way into the collection of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, grandson of Pope Paul III. Alessandro Farnese was well placed to form one of the greatest collections of classical sculpture that has been assembled since Antiquity.

Cancer, an interesting sign of Zodiac

Cancer is one of the twelve constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for crab and it is commonly represented as such. Its symbol is ♋. Cancer is small and its stars are faint. It lies between Gemini to the west and Leo to the east, Lynx to the north and Canis Minor and Hydra to the south.

Cancer the crab, plays a minor role in the Twelve Labors of Hercules. While Hercules was busy fighting the multi-headed monster, Hydra, the goddess Hera, who did not like Hercules, sent the Crab to distract him. Cancer grabbed onto the hero's toe with its claws, but barely breaking the rhythm of his great battle with Hydra, Hercules crushed the crab with his foot. Hera, grateful for the little crustacean's heroic but pitiful effort, gave it a place in the sky.