HERCULES' African ANCESTRY: The Story Hidden in Greek Mythology

What if one of the most famous heroes of Greek mythology had an African ancestor - and the evidence had been hiding in plain sight for centuries?Hercules is remembered for his extraordinary strength, his twelve labours and his adventures across the ancient world. But buried within his family tree is a remarkable connection rarely mentioned in modern retellings.His maternal great-grandmother was Andromeda - daughter of Cepheus, king of the Aithiopians.But where was Aithiopia? Who did the ancient Greeks mean when they spoke of Aithiopians? And what happens when we follow their own evidence rather than later assumptions?Drawing on Homer, Herodotus, Diodorus, Ovid and other ancient writers, Hercules' African Ancestry follows the evidence from the Aithiopians of early Greek mythology to Andromeda, Perseus and ultimately Hercules himself.Along the way, Julian Delacroix explores the ancient geography of Aithiopia, conflicting descriptions of Andromeda's appearance, Hercules' encounters in Africa, and the fascinating process by which Africa gradually became less visible in later versions of these familiar myths.This is not an attempt to impose modern racial categories upon the ancient world, nor to claim that "Hercules was black."It asks a simpler and more interesting question: What did the Greeks themselves say?