The Labors of Hercules

B92570045 B91630027

An Introdution

Hercules, the Latin equivalent of Heracles, was the son of Zeus and Alcmene. Hera tried to murder the infant Hercules by putting serpents in his cradle. Luckily for Hercules, he was born with great strength and killed the serpents.

An Introdution
The education of Heracles Heracles was taught to drive the chariot by Amphitryon to wrestle by Autolycus to the art of archery by Eurytus to fence by Castor to play the lyre by Linus

An Introdution

The goddess Hera, determined to make trouble for Hercules, made him lose his mind. In a confused and angry state, he killed his own wife and children. When he awakened from his "temporary insanity," Hercules was shocked and upset by what he'd done. He prayed to the god Apollo for guidance, and the god's oracle told him he would have to serve Eurystheus, the king of Tiryns and Mycenae, for twelve years, in punishment for the murders.

The Nemean Lion

Arrows are useless against the lion. Grasping the lion in his mighty arms, and ignoring its powerful claws, he held it tightly until he'd choked it to death.

The Lernean Hydra

A monstrous serpent with nine heads, the hydra attacked with poisonous venom. Each time Hercules bashed one of the hydra's heads, Iolaus held a torch to the headless tendons of the neck. The flames prevented the growth of replacement heads .

The Hind of Ceryneia Diana's Pet Deer

This was a special deer, because it had golden horns and hoofs of bronze. she was Diana's special pet. That meant that Hercules could neither kill the deer nor hurt her .

The Erymanthian Boar

Every day the boar would come crashing down from his lair on the mountain, attacking men and animals all over the countryside. On his way to hunt the boar, Hercules stopped to visit his friend Pholus, who was a centaur and lived in a cave near Mount Erymanthus.

The Augean Stables Hercules Cleans Up

Hercules went to King Augeas, and without telling anything about Eurystheus, said that he would clean out the stables in one day, if Augeas would give him a tenth of his fine cattle. When Augeas learned that Eurystheus was behind all this, he would not pay Hercules his reward. Not only that, he denied that he had even promised to pay a reward.

The Stymphalian Birds

The goddess Athena came to his aid, providing a big shield. Hercules clashed the shield loudly, scaring the birds out of the trees, then shot them with bow and arrow, as they took flight .

The Cretan Bull

Minos himself, in order to prove his claim to the throne, had promised the sea-god Poseidon that he would sacrifice whatever the god sent him from the sea. Poseidon sent a bull, but Minos thought it was too beautiful to kill, and so he sacrificed another bull. When Hercules got to Crete, he easily wrestled the bull to the ground and drove it back to King Eurystheus.

The Man-Eating Horses of Diomedes

Bistones sent a band of soldiers to Recapture the animals. To free himself to fight, Hercules entrusted the mares to a youth named Abderos. Unfortunately, the mares got the better of young Abderos and dragged him around until he was killed.

Hippolyte's Belt Hercules Fights the Amazons

Queen Hippolyte had a special piece of armor. It was a leather belt that had been given to her by Ares She asked Hercules why he had come, and when he told her, she promised to give him the belt. But the goddess Hera went up and down the army saying to each woman that the strangers who had arrived were going to carry off the queen.

The Cattle of Geryon

Geryon lived on an island called Erythia, which was near the boundary of Europe and Libya. On this island, Geryon kept a herd of red cattle guarded by Cerberus's brother, Orthus, a two-headed hound, and the herdsman Eurytion. Sailing in a goblet which the Sun gave him in admiration, Hercules reached the island of Erythia.

The Apples of the Hesperides I

These apples were kept in a garden at the northern edge of the world, and they were guarded not only by a hundred-headed dragon, named Ladon, but also by the Hesperides, nymphs who were daughters of Atlas, the titan who held the sky and the earth upon his shoulders.

The Apples of the Hesperides II

Hercules' first problem was that he didn't know where the garden was. Hercules came to the rock on Mount Caucasus where Prometheus was chained,and killed the eagle. Atlas hated holding up the sky and the earth so much that he would agree to the task of fetching the apples, in order to pass his burden over to Hercules.

Cerberus

Cerberus was a vicious beast that guarded the entrance to Hades and kept the living from entering the world of the dead. Hercules threw his strong arms around the beast, perhaps grasping all three heads at once, and wrestled Cerberus into submission. The dragon in the tail of the fierce flesh-eating guard dog bit Hercules, but that did not stop him. Cerberus had to submit to the force of the hero,

After the Labors

Further Adventures of Hercules

One was to rescue the princess of Troy from a hungry seamonster. Another was to help Zeus defeat the Giants in a great battle for the control of Olympus.

After the Labors

Hercules went to the town of Thebes and married Deianira. She bore him many children. Later on in their life, the male centaur, Nessus, abducted Deianira, but Hercules came to her rescue by shooting Nessus with a poison tipped arrow. The dying Nessus told Deianira to keep a portion of his blood to use as a love potion on Hercules if she felt that she was losing him to another woman.

Hercules End

A couple of a months later, Deianira thought that another woman was coming between her and her husband, so Deianira washed one of Hercules' shirts in Nessus' blood and gave it to him to wear. Nessus had lied to her, for the blood really acted as a poison and almost killed Hercules. On his funeral pyre, the dying Hercules ascended to Olympus, where he was granted immortality and lived among the gods.

1. 2. 3. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Herakles/labors.html http://hk.geocities.com/meltycupid/home.html http://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/hercules.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules/ http://www.mythweb.com/hercules/