Shield of Heracles

Shield of Heracles (Aspis Herakleous), Greek narrative poem in 480 hexameters attributed to Hesiod but written too late to be by him. The first 56 lines tell the story of Alcmena, mother of Heracles, and come from the Catalogue of Women or Eoeae, also erroneously attributed to Hesiod. The poem goes on to relate briefly the killing by Heracles of Cycnus, son of Arēs. For the encounter Heracles has put on armour given him by Hephaestus, including a shield, the disproportionately long description of which (in imitation of Homer's description of the shield of Achilles in the Iliad) gives the poem its title.