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"... it appears that Heracles, backed up by Athena all the way, personally murders at least half of Hannibal Lecterish offspring of Ares." (“Cryptonomicon” By Neal Stephenson, Page 806, Enoch Root's explanation on why he wears Athena's image)

Was that really the case if one judges by Greek Mythology (I'm referring to classical sources, NOT Disney or Sorbo versions)?

Did Heracles kill a large chunk of the offspring of Ares in original myths?

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I think it's an exaggeration. Heracles killed Cycnus and Diomedes, and maybe Hippolyta, depending on your sources. And Ares fathered something like 50 children, so that's not even very many of them.

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  • Are there references to all these 3 facts? (especially total # of kids)? Thx
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Dec 30, 2013 at 12:02
  • The Wikipedia article has citations (or links to articles with citations) for most of them: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
    – Mark Bessey
    Dec 31, 2013 at 1:02
  • And the list of Heracles's kills?
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Dec 31, 2013 at 1:35
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    I couldn't find a list anywhere of all the people killed by Heracles (it'd be a very long list), but as far as the children of Ares are concerned, Diomedes and Hippolyta were killed as part of the "Twelve Labors of Heracles", Diomedes while Heracles was stealing his mares, and Hippolyta over a misunderstanding. Cycnus was a bandit-prince who was making a temple to his father Ares from the bones of travelers. Heracles killed him while passing through the area.
    – Mark Bessey
    Jan 1, 2014 at 22:36

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