You may have heard of a Greek mythological hero name Heracles. And he was a character, but in Roman mythology. The Greek hero is named Heracles. Now, the name Hera might sound familiar. And that was because she was the queen of the gods, daughter of Kronus, and wife of Zeus. You might also know her sons Ares and Hephestas. But, she only had one other kid, Hebe. Heracles wasn’t her kid. It was Alcamede’s. You see, Heracles was the son of Zeus and Alcamede. And on the day Heracles was to be born, Zeus was talking about how Heracles would be the great-grandson of Perseus. Zeus was also the father of Perseus. But Hera really didn’t like Zeus having babies with other women he wasn’t married to. This didn’t stop him before as he had an estimated 100 children. Athena, Dionysus, Artemis, Apollo, and Hermes were all his kids and gods. Zeus then proclaimed that the next child of the Perseus line would be a king of the mortals, and then the one after him would be the king’s servant. His expectation was Heracles would be king. But, that didn’t happen. Hera traveled to Tiryns, and caused the queen to give birth early. And this child was Heracles's cousin. This made her son Eurystheus the king, and Heracles the servant. Zeus, not wanting to look like a fool, made a deal with Hera, saying that if Heracles could do enough tasks he could be a God. Hera agreed and that was that.
When Heracles was born, he also had a half brother Iphacles who was the son of Amphitryon. At one point, Heracles had to take his dad’s cattle out to graze. One day, he found some of the cows missing and learned that it was a lion that killed them. In an act of revenge, Heracles tracked and killed the lion. He turned the hide into a cloak and wore it throughout the rest of his days. When he returned, men from _ told him they needed cattle as a tribute. Heracles didn’t want to do that, and so he sliced off their ears and noses and sent them home. The king of _ was so mad, he went to war with Thebes. Thebes won with the help of Heracles, but they also lost Amphitryon. But the town considered Heracles a hero. Heracles soon got married to the princess of Thebes, Megara. They had 3 sons together and Heracles became famous. Everyone loved him except for 1. Hera. Hera thought he shouldn’t exist, but instead of bringing this to his dad, the king of the gods, she instead took out her anger on him. That night, she whispered a spell into Heracles’s ear. This spell drove him insane. He killed everyone around him. His wife, his kids, he destroyed his town. And when he woke up, everything was destroyed. He grieved his children, town, and wife, and eventually went to the Oracle of Delphi. Delphi was a magical land where the god Apollo used the Oracle of Delphi to deliver prophecies. The Oracle told Heracles that he was to go to Tiryns to work for his cousin Eurystheus who lived in Mycenae (My-see-knee). When he got to Tiryns, he was assigned to do 10 labors. The first one was to skin the Nemean Lion.
This might not sound hard. Heracles skinned a lion before and he could do it again. But, the Nemean Lion was famous because its skin was allegedly impenetrable. On his way, Heracles met a man who lived near the lion. The man suggested that they ask for assistance from the gods, but he refused. Instead, saying they would give the lion or his dead body to gods after 30 days. So, he started tracking. He soon found the beast, and attempted to shoot it with an arrow. The arrow hit, but didn’t break the skin. The lion chased him, before ducking into a cave. Heracles was smart, and realized there was a second entrance. So after trapping the lion for the most part, he entered the cave without his weapons. He choked the lion to death. He brought the lion back to the man, and they dedicated it to Zeus. The next day, as if by magic, Heracles could skin the lion. He replaced his old lion skin cloak with this new one and brought it to Eurystheus. But Eurystheus was scared of this insane act. How scared? Scared enough that he never spoke directly to the hero again. Instead, through a messenger or servant. But it didn’t matter, Heracles had passed his seemingly impossible 1st labor.
Heracles’s 2nd labor was to slay Hydra living in the Lernæan swamps. You may have heard of the Hydra. It was a mythical beast with 9 heads, and when one was sliced off two more grew in its place. But what you may not know is that 8 heads were mortal, but the center one was immortal. Which made this supposedly impossible. But then again, so was skinning the Nemean Lion. It was also created, designed, and deployed by Hera. Its breath could kill a man in a few seconds, and its blood was poisonous. So it was basically a death trap. Heracles knew he needed help. And so he recruited his nephew Iolaus to help him slay the beast. So he traveled to the swamps of Lernæan to kill the snake monster. But Heracles didn’t know that cutting off one head would bring two new ones into the world. So he grabbed his mighty sword and sliced off a head of the being. But soon, two heads sprouted. That is when Iolaus got an idea. With every head his uncle cut, Iosaus burned the mark, keeping the other heads from growing. When it came to the immortal head, Heracles lopped it off and buried it under a rock. He also dipped his arrows in the poisonous blood. He returned to Mycenae successfully, and a second labor down.
Next he was to capture the Ceryneian Hind. A hind is a female deer without offspring. This hind was a favorite of the goddess Artemis. Artemis was the brother of Apollo and a daughter of Zeus because who isn’t. She was the goddess of wild animals, the hunt, and shockingly, childbirth despite having no children unlike her brother. Heracles was to bring the sacred dear to King Eurystheus. But, this dear supposedly could never be caught. Another impossible task you might say. But Heracles had a plan. For one whole year he tracked the beast, eventually wearing it out. It was so tired it had no choice but to be caught. He spoke to Artemis that night, and she gave him permission to bring it to his cousin. He took it to Eurystheus, and it ran away with Heracles’s 3rd labor completed.
Up next was to capture the Erymanthian Boar. If you hadn’t caught on, he had to kill and capture a lot of stuff. It had been wreaking havoc on towns and farms, destroying everything in sight. So, he got an idea. Similarly to the hind, he chased the boar around, and drove it right into a snowbank. He captured it and brought it back to Eurystheus.
Next, Heracles was tasked with cleaning the stables of King Augeus. Now, he kind of gets side tracked, so we’re going to do that first. You see, Apollo had this mortal son, who had brought 3 people back from the dead, and so he was killed by the gods. And as a punishment, Zues temporarily turned Apollo mortal and to serve a king. And Apollo chose Augeus as a stable boy. Augeus soon got married to Medea. But, Apollo learned that king Augeus would soon die. And so he pleaded with the Fates to keep him alive. But Hades needed a soul. So if Augeus could find a replacement by sunrise, he would live. Augeus hated this deal, he argued with Apollo all night, before Medea took his place. He grieved for a long time. Well, until Heracles showed up. Heracles said he would retrieve Medea’s soul from the underworld. He went to the underworld, and pleaded kindly with Hades and Persephonie to bring her back, and Hades, being moved by the story, allowed it. And now it was time to clean those stables. But there was a catch. This was Eurystheus we’re talking about. He made sure this was yet another “impossible” task. Because these stables would have to be clean in 1 day. Exactly 1 day. Heracles once again recruited help. Iolaus agreed to help once more. They decided to strategize by the river. That is when Iolaus got another idea. He instructed his uncle to punch 2 giant holes on each end of the stable. Then, Heracles removed a rock that blocked the river from flooding the stable. The water rushed into the barn and it was as it could be. Eurystheus was furious that Heracles was through half his labors. In an outrage he insisted that Heracles had cheated on 2 because Iolaus helped, making them not count. He had to redo those and made it 12 labors. This also meant Iolaus could no longer help.
The next labor was to kill the Stymphalian Birds. These were huge birds created by the god Ares. Similarly to the Hydra, they had poisonous poop. Usually, Iolaus would have helped, but he wasn’t allowed to. So, he prayed to Athena, god of battle strategy, for answers. Athena after hearing Heracles’s request, went to her half brother Hephestas for help. Hephastes was the god’s blacksmith, and the god of fire. She instructed him to make a large rattle for Heracles. Hephestas agreed and Athena gave it to Heracles, instructing him to shake it as loud as he could to distract the birds. Her plan worked and he shot down the birds with his bow. He returned to Mycenae successfully.
His next task was to capture the Cretan Bull. The Cretan Bull has a bit of a backstory. On the island of Crete, there were 3 brothers. One was named Minos, and he insisted he should be king because he had connection to the gods. To prove this, he prayed to the god Poseidon for a white bull. This is the Cretan Bull, except it isn’t yet. Minos promised to sacrifice the bull back, but it was so beautiful. So he didn’t. In an outrage, Poseidon made Minos’s wife Pasiphaë fall in love with the bull. And then she got pregnant with the bull. Don’t ask questions. But the baby was born and is known nowadays as the Minotaur. But that bull was still on the loose, causing chaos in Crete. That was Heracles’s task, capture that bull and bring it to Eurystheus. After traveling to Crete, he found the bull. He wrestled and finally was able to bring it to Mycenae. But, there was a problem. Eurystheus was scared of the thing so he tried to sacrifice it to his favorite god, Hera. But Hera didn’t want it. Instead, they let it go just to wreck more havoc on the world!
Number 8 is to bring back the mares of Diomedes. Diomedes was a king and owned beautiful horses. Except, he treated them badly which turned them into man-eating horses. So, he stole them in the middle of the night and took them to an island. And on the island he dug a massive hole which he put the horses in. The next morning, Diomedes found his stable empty, and found Heracles on the island. Heracles overpowered him though and tossed him into the hole. With the man-eating horses. You can probably guess what happened next. When Heracles returned them to Eurystheus, the horses were much better behaved. But Eurystheus as you know is a scaredy cat, so he released the horses onto a mountain where they were eaten.
Next he was to steal a girdle. A girdle is basically a belt. But this girdle belonged to Hippolyta. She was the queen of the Amazons. The Amazons were a group of powerful warrior women and were the daughters of Ares. Eurystheus planned for Hippolyta to fight Heracles and kill him. But when he got to the island of the Amazons, he and Hippolyta became friends. She was even willing to give him the girdle, but Hera would make sure that would not happen. You see, Hippolyta started falling for Heracles, and so Hera disguised herself as a warrior she spread a rumor that Heracles was there to kidnap their queen, and so the women attacked Heracles. In the end, Heracles killed Hippolyta. He got the girdle, but he loved Hippolyta and felt bad. At least he had 3 more labors to go.
Number 10 was to steal the Cattle of Geryon. Geryon was a monster who had a group of red cattle. He was far away, and so it took Heracles a long time to get there. On his way, he was so tired that he shot an arrow at Helios (the god of the sun) while he was riding his chariot. People in ancient Greece didn’t have time zones. But, he was close. Helios wanted to reward the traveler for his accuracy and gave him a canteen that could turn into a boat. He rode to Geryon for the rest of the journey. When he got there, he faced Cerberus’s brother Orthurs. Orthurs was the guardian of the cattle and had 2 heads. Heracles took down the mighty beast and brought the cattle home through a bunch of shenanigans. But he got them to Mycenae, and that’s what counts.
This should have been where his labors ended, but he had to “redo” 2 because of Iolaus. This one was to bring back the golden apples of the Hesperides. Here, Heracles was between a rock and a hard place. He needed to get the labor done, but they were important to Hera. The A. Person who hated him, and B. She was technically his step mom. There was another problem. He didn’t know where they were. So he started searching. And there he found, chained to a rock with a humongous eagle eating his freaking liver, Prometheus. This was Prometheus’s eternal fate because he gave humans fire and disobeyed Zeus. He was also a titan, which meant he was immortal and totally okay with an eagle eating his liver. And again. And again. And on and on for eternity because everyday the eagle would eat his liver. But Heracles took down the bird, but didn’t release Prometheus. Probably because it would upset his father. But after killing the bird, Prometheus told Heracles that he should talk to Atlas about the garden’s location because he was the father of the Hesperides. So Heracles went and found the 4 armed titan holding up the sky, aka Uranus forever. This was Atlas’s punishment for assisting the titans in the Titanomachy. That is the real name of it. It is more commonly known as the War of the Titans. But the Titanomachy sounds cooler. Heracles knew the titan would be hard to sway but he had a plan. He suggested to the 4 armed being that he would hold up the sky while Atlas got the apples. They agreed and so Heracles held up the sky. When Atlas got back, he suggested that he would bring the apples to Eurystheus while Heracles kept holding up Uranus. Thinking quickly, Heracles asked for his Nemean Lion skin cloak to use as shoulder padding. Atlas agreed and when he was continuing to hold up the sky for what he thought would be a quick minute, Heracles dashed off with the apples.
Number 12, and maybe one of the most famous. Bring back Cerberus. The 3 headed dog of the Underworld. There is something important you must know here. When Eurytheus had this decree, he ment dead. But Heracles didn’t do that. He prayed to the god Hermes that night, asking if there was a way into the Underworld without dying. This had been done before. Psyche, Orpheus, and maybe a few others had done it before, why not Heracles. The reason he asked Hermes is because Hermes was one of the people who sailed the dead across the river Styx. Hermes showed Heracles the hidden passage into the Underworld. When he got to the palace where Hades and his wife/necie lived, Heracles told them about his labors. Persephone and Hades agreed that Heracles could borrow Cerberus as long as he brought the puppy back. He obliged. When he got to Mycenae, he insisted on meeting Eurytheus himself. When he got to the throne room, Eurytheus was as scared as ever. He admitted to letting Heracles be free from his debt.
Free, Heracles traveled around the world on many adventures. He joined Jason and the Argonauts on the quest for the Golden Fleece. He had a new wife, but on the way he found a new one when traveling with the Argonauts. His original wife was mad, and so when the legendary centaur Nessus lied to her that his blood was love potion, she sprayed it on his cloak to love her. But in reality Nessus’s blood was poison. And so Heracles died. But then the goddess Athena persuaded her father Zeus into making him a god. Heracles then lived life as a god long after.
Sources: “Greeking Out” by Nat Geo Kids and hosted by Kenny Curtis,
