Iolaus

Iolaus (Ancient Greek Ἰόλαος) appears in Greek myth as a Theban-born hero and the nephew/companion of Heracles. In narrative tradition he serves as Heracles' charioteer and squire and accompanies him on labors and ventures; some later authorities relate that Heracles sent Iolaus with companions to Sardinia where he was associated with founding settlements (the Iolians) and with tombs that gained cultic significance.

Surviving texts provide only sparse physical cues: Iolaus is attested in roles that imply the garb and accoutrements of a warrior and charioteer (requests for harness, spear, and support in a dramatic fragment), but no sustained iconographic or bodily description is preserved in the provided sources. He is presented in narratives as an armed companion and charioteer.

Iolaus functions as a skilled and practical assistant to heroes: he acts as Heracles' charioteer and squire, fights alongside him, and performs technically decisive actions such as cauterizing the severed necks of the Lernaean Hydra with firebrands to prevent regeneration. He is also recorded as a participant in colonizing ventures (traditions of Sardinian settlement) and as a named figure around whose tombs athletic festivals (Iolaea/Iolaia) and incubation/oracular practices were conducted.