03-03-2013 17:22

The term The Labours of Herakles (Hercules) is used to describe the arduous tasks that were performed by Heracles for Eurystheus, king of Mycenae. It is also thought that Hercules has won his immortality as the ultimate reward for his labours. While performing his labours, Herakles was accompanied by his nephew Iolaos, who assisted him as his charioteer, and also his half-brother Iphikles.

1. Kill the Nemean Lion
As his first labour, Herakles was ordered to kill the monstrous Nemean lion that lived in the mountains near Nemea in Argolid. The lion was invulnerable and Hercules killed bare handed by strangling it. The impenetrable lion skin was thereafter used as Heracles’ familiar armor.

2. Kill the Lernaean Hydra
Hydra was a huge many-headed snake that lived in the swamps of Lerna, close to Argos. It was exceptionally difficult to kill is because as soon as one head was cut off, two heads would grow up in its place and to make it worse, Hera sent also a huge crab that bite Herakles. With Iolaos’ assistance, Herakles eventually killed as Iolaos would cauterize every cut head to prevent a new one from growing. After killing the Lernaian Hydra, Hercules dipped his arrows into its blood making them so poisonous that even a scratch from them would prove fatal.

3. Capture the Golden Hind of Artemis
The golden-horned Cerynitian (or Ceryneian) hind (deer) lived on Mount Keryneia) in Arcadia and was sacred to Artemis, goddess of hunting. Herakles managed to trap it and begged the goddess for forgiveness, promising that he would return it. Artemis forgave him and Hercules succeeding in his labour by showing it to Eurystheus.

4. Capture the Erymanthian Boar
This boar lived on Mount Erymanthos in Arcadia and used to venture down to ravage the lands beneath. Herakles, in order to capture it alive, frightened it out of its lair with loud shouts and chased it into deep snow, where he was able to net it. He then carried it back to Mycenae on his shoulders.

5. Clean the Augean stables in a single day
Augeias was son of Helios and was proud for owning a vast herd of cattle which was kept in the Augeian stables that had been left uncleared over 30 years! Herakles managed to wash the dung away by diverting the rivers Peneios and Alpheios.

6. Slay the Stymphalian Birds
The Stymphalian Birds were man-eating birds with metallic feathers that lived around Lake Stymphalia in Corinth. Heracles frightened the birds out of their coverts by the sound of a rattle made by Hephaestus and given to him by goddess Athena. He then shot many of them with his poisoned arrows.

7. Capture the Cretan Bull
According to the tradition, this was the bull that had been sent up by Poseidon, god of sea, in response to the prayers of king Minos, but had later been turned wild by the god as Minos had failed to sacrifice it to him. Hercules wrestled the bull and carried it to Eurystheus and then let it go. The bull wandered about in Attica and settled in Marathon till Theseus sacrificed it to Athena.

8. Steal the Mares of Diomedes
The Mares were four horses which would have formed Diomedes’ chariot-team and were fed on human flesh. Their names were Podargos, Lampon, Xanthos and Dinos. Herakles, in order to calm the wild horses down, fed them with their own master and then drove them back to Mycenae in a four-horse chariot.

9. Obtain the girdle of Hippolyte, Queen of the Amazons
This girdle was a heavy warrior’s belt, given to Hippolyta by her father Ares and indicates that it was a symbol of the sovereignty of the Queen of Amazons. Herakles gained the girdle by capturing the queen’s sister Melanippe in an ambush and then ransoming her in exchange for the girdle. In another version of the myth, Hercules slew Hippolyte and seized her belt.

10. Obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon
The monstrous Geryon (or Geryones), was three men joined into one living on Erytheia Island (Red Island), in the outer Ocean in the far west. Hercules has been given Helios’ golden cup to take him across the Ocean to Erytheia. Herakles stole the cattle by killing Eurytion, the shepherd, the monstrous dog Orthos and pierced Geryones with a poisonous arrow. He then ferried the cattle with Helios’ cup back to Eurystheus, who sacrificed it to Hera.

11. Steal the apples of the Hesperides
The Hesperides were the nymphs who guarded the gardens of the gods in the far west. There grew a wondrous tree with golden apples. Herakles asked help from the giant Atlas, father of the Hesperides, who was obliged to hold the huge globe of the sky. Atlas, relieved even for a while from his eternal burden, took the golden apples (or oranges) for Heracles.

12. Capture and bring back Cerberus
The last of Hercules’ labours is also the most daunting one, as the hero would have to go to Hades, the underworld land of the dead to capture the beast without using any kind of weapons. Kerberos was a huge and powerful dog that had three heads and a snake in his tail and was also the guard of the gate of the underworld. Heracles was initiated in the Eleusinian Mysteries so he could learn how to enter and exit the underworld alive and finally succeeded in his task by bringing the beast to Eurystheus. He was so frightened of the sight of Kerberos that he asked Heracles to return it to the underworld in return for releasing him from his labours.

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