Baroque statue of Hercules and Calliope in the garden of Belvedere Palace. In Greek and Roman mythology, Hercules is a hero who received divine honors and was accepted into Olympus. His attributes are the fur of the Nemean lion and the club. He was the son of Zeus and the Alkmene. Calliope is one of the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. She is the muse of poetry, science and philosophy. She is the oldest and wisest of the nine classical muses and was therefore the judge in the dispute between Aphrodite and Persephone over Adonis.