Celtine

In a similar account, sourced to author Timagenes, Hercules fights against "tyrants" Geryon and Tauriscus and releases Gaul. In return, he mates with a local high-born woman and begets numerous children.[5][6] Also, it is during his Tenth Labor that Hercules journeys through the Gallic coast.[7]

Another narrative, by poet Silius Italicus (this time inserted into his epic poem), tells of Hercules guiding the cattle of Geryon and meeting king Bebruces. The Greek hero also lies with his daughter Pyrenee and she gives birth to a snake. Ashamed, she takes refuge in the caves, and is eventually killed by wild animals. Hercules finds her mutilated body and cries over his lost love.[8][9][10]

This legend was very similar to the Scythians genealogical myth, with common elements including "Hēraklēs" driving the cattle of Gēryōn from Iberia to Greece, and then meeting with a local woman who abducted his horses, having sexual intercourse with the woman, and the birth from this union of a son who founded a nation and became king by pulling his father's bow.[11]

The acquisition of the golden objects by the youngest son of "Hēraklēs" in the first version of the Scythian genealogical myth, especially, has an exact parallel in the inheritance of the bow of "Hēraklēs" by Galatēs/Keltos in the Celtic genealogical myth, with the latter corresponding to the Celtic inheritance law whereby, when heritage was partitioned between brothers, the youngest would receive the estate, all buildings, 8 acres of land, an axe, a cauldron, and a coulter.[12]

There were nevertheless also some differences between the Scythian and Celtic genealogical myths:[13]

• the consort of "Hēraklēs" was the Snake-Legged Goddess in the Scythian myth, while she was a beautiful princess in the Celtic myth;
• the horses of the chariot of "Hēraklēs" were stolen in the Scythian myth, while the cattle of Gēryōn that "Hēraklēs" was driving were stolen in the Celtic myth;
• three sons were born from the union of "Hēraklēs" and the local woman in the Scythian myth, while only one son was born in the Celtic myth.

Despite their similarities, the exact relationship between the Scythian and Celtic genealogical myths is still unclear.[14]

The serpentine offspring from Hercules and princess Pyrene seems strange at first, but it is possible to be a reminiscence of a narrative cycle involving a founding, Hercules and a serpent (usually Echidna). The possible first version of the story involves Heracles, the civilizing hero, defeating the wild snake creature born of a local woman (who could also have been snake-like). The later second version would do away with the snake beings, and set Heracles as the mate of a local princess.[15] The same cycle is comparable to the stories of Celtine/Kelto and the unnamed princess being ancestresses of heroes Celtus and Galates.[16][17]