In Etruscan religion, Hercle (also Heracle or Hercl), the son of Tinia and Uni, was a version of the Greek Heracles, depicted as a muscular figure often carrying a club and wearing a lionskin. He is a popular subject in Etruscan art, particularly bronze mirrors, which show him engaged in adventures not known from the Greek myths of Heracles or the Roman and later classical myths of Hercules.
In the Etruscan tradition, Uni (Roman Juno) grants Hercle access to a life among the immortals by offering her breast milk to him. Hercle was the first man elevated to a godhood through his deeds and Etruscan aristocrats tried to identify with this ascension, as reflected in artwork and literature.
Hercle differed in many aspects from the Greek Heracles. Hercle and Menrva are depicted at the center of the scene in an intimate manner, with Hercle in the nude leaning on his club closer to Menrva. While the story is unknown, this mirror, in addition to others, may suggest a union between the two gods, a divergence from the virgin nature of Athena who was seen as the Greek equivalent of Menrva.