Hieron was not a mythological character. He was the ruler of Syracuse in the early fifth century B.C.E., a celebrated patron of poets and intellectuals. The poet Pindar, who specialized in odes in honor of athletic victories, celebrated Hieron in several of his odes. In Pindar's "Pythian Three," as you may recall, we find out that Hieron is quite ill and could use a little help from Asclepius himself.