There he met a boy who said that if Hercules slew the Nemean lion and returned alive within thirty days, the town would sacrifice a lion to Zeus, but if he did not return within thirty days or he died, the boy would sacrifice himself to Zeus. Hercules wandered the area until he came to the town of Cleonae. Once he was close, the woman would turn into a lion and kill the warrior, devouring his remains and giving the bones to Hades. After entering the cave, the warrior would see the woman (usually feigning injury) and rush to her side. The first labour was to slay the Nemean lion.Īccording to one version of the myth, the Nemean lion took women as hostages to its lair in a cave near Nemea, luring warriors from nearby towns to save the damsel in distress. Hercules and the Nemean lion ( oinochoe, 520–500 BC, from Vulci, Etruria, Italy) Obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon.Clean the Augean stables in a single day.Several of the labours involved the offspring (by various accounts) of Typhon and his mate Echidna, all overcome by Hercules.Ī traditional order of the labours found in the Bibliotheca is: Although he was supposed to perform only ten labours, this assistance led to two labours being disqualified: Eurystheus refused to recognize slaying the Hydra, because Iolaus helped him, and the cleansing of the Augean stables, because Hercules was paid for his services and because the rivers did the work. In his labours, Hercules was sometimes accompanied by a male companion (an eromenos), according to Licymnius and others, such as Iolaus, his nephew. In each case, the pattern was the same: Hercules was sent to kill or subdue, or to fetch back for Eurystheus (as Hera's representative) a magical animal or plant.Ī famous depiction of the labours in Greek sculpture is found on the metopes of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, which date to the 450s BC. Six others took the hero farther afield, to places that were, per Ruck, "all previously strongholds of Hera or the 'Goddess' and were Entrances to the Netherworld". Ruck and Staples assert that there is no one way to interpret the labours, but that six were located in the Peloponnese, culminating with the rededication of Olympia. Heracles's first six labours were located in the Peloponnese.Īs they survive, the labours of Hercules are not recounted in any single place, but must be reassembled from many sources. Eurystheus set two more tasks (fetching the Golden Apples of Hesperides and capturing Cerberus), which Hercules also performed, bringing the total number of tasks to twelve. Hercules accomplished these tasks, but Eurystheus refused to recognize two: the slaying of the Lernaean Hydra, as Hercules' nephew and charioteer Iolaus had helped him and the cleansing of the Augeas, because Hercules accepted payment for the labour. Eventually, he placed himself at Eurystheus's disposal.Įurystheus originally ordered Hercules to perform ten labours. Hercules despaired at this, loathing to serve a man whom he knew to be far inferior to himself, yet fearing to oppose his father Zeus. Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi, advised him to go to Tiryns and serve his cousin King Eurystheus for twelve years, performing whatever labors Eurystheus might set him in return, he would be rewarded with immortality. After recovering his sanity, Hercules deeply regretted his actions he was purified by King Thespius, then traveled to Delphi to inquire how he could atone for his actions. The Heracles Papyrus, a fragment of a 3rd-century Greek manuscript of a poem about the Labours of Hercules ( Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 2331)ĭriven mad by Hera (queen of the gods), Hercules slew his son, daughter, and wife Megara. During these 12 years, Hercules is sent to perform twelve difficult feats, called labours. Hercules was told to serve the king of Mycenae, Eurystheus, for 12 years. He prayed to the god Apollo for guidance. After Hercules killed his wife and children, he went to the oracle at Delphi. The establishment of a fixed cycle of twelve labours was attributed by the Greeks to an epic poem, now lost, written by Peisander, dated about 600 BC. The episodes were later connected by a continuous narrative. They were accomplished over 12 years at the service of King Eurystheus. The Twelve Labours of Heracles or Hercules ( Greek: οἱ Ἡρακλέους ἆθλοι, hoi Hērakleous athloi) are a series of episodes concerning a penance carried out by Heracles, the greatest of the Greek heroes, whose name was later romanised as Hercules. Roman relief (3rd century AD) depicting a sequence of the Labours of Hercules, representing from left to right the Nemean lion, the Lernaean Hydra, the Erymanthian Boar, the Ceryneian Hind, the Stymphalian birds, the Girdle of Hippolyta, the Augean stables, the Cretan Bull and the Mares of Diomedes
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