Heracles and the Twelve Labours

When we were studying Heracles in the first year, we were told that the new Disney movie Hercules was not a good film to watch for seminar preparation. I laughed along with the rest of my class but little did I know how true it was to become... I never saw the film myself but my family did. They came back and started telling me all about it and I was like, "That is nothing like the myth!!" Absolutely insulted that such a special mythological character should be shunned in, of all things, a Disney film, I started this compilation of Heracles. It is split up into three sections: Heracles in brief, The Twelve Labours, and his Death.

Heracles was, in Greek mythology, a demi-god and hero noted for his strength, courage and his many legendary exploits. Heracles is the Greek name for the Roman hero Hercules. He was the son of Zeus and Alcmene, wife of the Theban general Amphitryon. Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus, was determined to kill her unfaithful husband's offspring, and shortly after Heracles' birth she sent two great serpents to destroy him. Heracles, although still a baby, strangled the snakes.

As a young man Heracles killed a lion with his bare hands. As a trophy of his adventure, he wore the skin of the lion as a cloak and its head as a helmet. The hero next conquered a tribe that had been exacting tribute from Thebes. As a reward, he was given the hand of the Theban princess Megara, by whom he had three children. Hera, still relentless in her hatred of Heracles, sent a fit of madness upon him during which he killed his wife and children. In horror and remorse at his deed Heracles would have slain himself, but he was told by the oracle at Delphi that he should purge himself by becoming the servant of his cousin Eurystheus, king of Mycenae. Eurystheus, urged on by Hera, devised as a penance the twelve difficult tasks known as the "Labours of Heracles."

The first task was to kill the lion of Nemea, a beast that could not be wounded by any weapon. Heracles stunned the lion with his club first and then strangled it.

He then killed the Hydra that lived in a swamp in Lerna. This monster had nine heads: One head was immortal; when one of the others was chopped off, two grew back in its place. Heracles seared each mortal neck with a burning torch to prevent reproduction of two heads; he buried the immortal head under a rock. He then dipped his arrows into the Hydra's blood to make them poisonous.

Heracles' next labour was to capture alive a stag with golden horns and bronze hoofs that was sacred to Artemis, goddess of the hunt.

His fourth labour was to capture a great boar that had its lair on Mount Erymanthus.

Heracles then had to clean up in one day the 30 years of accumulated filth left by thousands of cattle in the Augean stables. He diverted the streams of two rivers, causing them to flow through the stables.

Heracles next drove off a huge flock of man-eating birds with bronze beaks, claws, and wings that lived near Lake Stymphalus.

To fulfil the seventh labour, Heracles brought to Eurystheus a mad bull that Poseidon had sent to terrorise Crete.

To bring back the man-eating mares of Diomedes, king of Thrace, Heracles killed Diomedes, then drove the mares to Mycenae.

Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, was willing to help Heracles with his ninth labour. As Hippolyta was about to give Heracles her girdle which Eurystheus wanted for his daughter, Hera made Hippolyta's forces believe Heracles was trying to abduct the queen. Heracles killed Hippolyta, thinking she was responsible for the ensuing attack, and escaped from the Amazons with the girdle.

On his way to the island of Erythia to capture the oxen of the three-headed monster Geryon, Heracles set up two great rocks (the mountains Gibraltar and Ceuta, which now flank the Strait of Gibraltar) as a memorial of his journey.

After Heracles had brought back the oxen, he was sent to fetch the golden apples of the Hesperides. Because Heracles did not know where these apples were, he sought help from Atlas, father of the Hesperides. Atlas agreed to help him if Heracles would support the world on his shoulders while Atlas got the apples. The old man did not wish to resume his burden, but Heracles tricked Atlas into taking the world back by pretending that he needed to adjust his shoulder pads. Atlas took back the world and Heracles escaped.

The twelfth and most difficult labour of Heracles was to bring back the three-headed dog Cerberus from the lower world. Hades gave Heracles permission to take the beast if he used no weapons. Heracles captured Cerberus, brought him to Mycenae, and then carried him back to Hades. Other myths say that he drugged Cerebus and as he took him away, Hades ran after him to rescue the dog. Heracles then shot Hades in the arm and escaped.

Heracles later married Deianira, whom he won from Antaeus, son of Poseidon. When the centaur Nessus attacked Deianira, Heracles wounded him with an arrow that he had poisoned in the blood of the Hydra. The dying centaur told Deianira to take some of his blood, which he said was a powerful love charm but was really a poison. Believing that Heracles had fallen in love with the princess Iole, Deianira later sent him a tunic dipped in the blood. When he put it on, the pain caused by the poison was so great that he killed himself on a funeral pyre. After death he was brought by the gods to Olympus and married to Hebe, goddess of youth. He was there finally reconciled with Hera.

Heracles was worshipped by the Greeks as both a god and as a mortal hero which makes him unique among other mortals and immmortals as he is worshipped for both lifetimes. He is usually represented as strong and muscular, clad in a lion skin and carrying a club. The most famous statue of the mythical hero is in the National Museum in Naples.