Hercules There were many heroes who could claim Zeus, the king of the gods, as their father, but few were immortal. Hercules and his half-brother Dionysus (Bacchus) claimed immortality as an accident at birth. Dionysus was immortal because, although conceived by the mortal Semele, he was actually born from the thigh of Zeus. Dionysus is therefore referred to as twice-born. He..