Hercules
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(2 Macc. 4:19, 20) — the well-known mythological hero of Greece, son of Jupiter and Alcmene, especially venerated for his strength and many heroic exploits, not only in Greece and Rome, but also in Phoenicia, Carthage, Tyre, and elsewhere. In the last-named city a magnificent temple was erected to Hercules, and various festivals and games were established in his honor. And it was to these pagan festivals that the unworthy Jewish high priest Jason, brother of Onias, under the Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes, sent spectators and money, thus diverting the people from the service of the one true God.