Hercules was son of Jupiter (father of the gods and the mortals) and a mortal. That is why Juno, Jupiter's wife, did not accept him. To make his son inmortal by making him drink her milk, Jupiter placed him with Juno while the goddess was asleep next to her charriot, which was carried by peacocks. Hercules bit her and Juno awakened and took him away, milk spilled from her breast and the Milky way was formed.
Source: El Museo del Prado
Image: "The birth of the Milky Way" (1936-1938), by Rubens. From Wikimedia Commons.
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