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			{{Short description\|Series of feats carried out by Heracles}}
	'''The Twelve Labours''' of ] are a series of stories connected by a continuous narrative, concerning a ] carried out by Herakles.
			{{about\|the Greek myth\|the short story collection by Agatha Christie\|The Labours of Hercules}}
			] ] (3rd century AD) depicting a sequence of the Labours, representing from left to right the ], the ], the ], the ], the ], the ], the ], the ] and the ]]]
			]

			The '''Labours of Hercules''' or '''Labours of Heracles''' ({{langx\|grc\|]}}, {{lang\|grc-Latn\|âthloi}}<ref>], .</ref> {{langx\|la\|Labores}}) are a series of tasks carried out by ], the greatest of the Greek heroes, whose name was later ] as ]. They were accomplished in the service of King ]. The episodes were later connected by a continuous narrative.
	]

			The establishment of a fixed cycle of twelve labours was attributed by the Greeks to an ], now lost, written by ] (7th to 6th centuries BC).<ref>'']'', .</ref>
	== The narrative ==

			Having tried to kill Heracles ever since he was born, ] induced a madness in him that made him kill his wife and children. Afterwards, Heracles went to the ] to atone, where he prayed to the god Apollo for guidance. Heracles was told to serve Eurystheus, king of Mycenae, for ten years. During this time, he was sent to perform a series of difficult feats, called labours.<ref name="p. 253">Hard, .</ref>
	], having made ] pregnant with Herakles, proclaimed that the next son born of the house of ] would become king. ], Zeus' consort, hearing this, caused ] to be born two months early as he was of the house of Perseus, while Herakles, also of the house, was three months overdue. When he found out what had been done, Zeus was furious; however, his rash proclamation still stood.

			==Background==
	In a fit of madness, induced by ], Herakles slew his wife and children; the fit then passed. Realising what he had done, he isolated himself, going into the wilderness and living alone. He was found (by his brother ]) and convinced to visit the ] at ]. The Oracle told him that as a penance he would have to perform a series of ten tasks set by King ], the man who had taken Herakles' birthright and the man he hated the most.
			], a fragment of a 3rd-century Greek manuscript of a poem about the Labours of Heracles (] 2331)]]
			]'' by ], 1575]]

			] was the son born by the mortal woman ] after her affair with ], the king of the gods, who had disguised himself as her husband ].<ref>Hard, ; ], ; ], .</ref> Alcmene, fearing the jealousy of Zeus's wife ], ] her infant son, who was taken by either Zeus or his daughter ] (the protectress of heroes) to Hera, who did not recognize Heracles and nursed him out of pity. Heracles sucked so strongly that he caused Hera pain, and when she pushed him away, her milk sprayed across the heavens, forming the ]. But with divine milk, Heracles had acquired supernatural strength. Either Zeus or Athena brought the infant back to his mother, and he was subsequently raised by his parents. The child was originally given the name Alcides by his parents; it was only later that he became known as Heracles in an unsuccessful attempt to mollify Hera, with Heracles meaning Hera's "pride" or "glory". He and his mortal twin, ], were just eight months old when Hera sent two giant snakes into the children's chamber. Iphicles cried from fear, but his twin brother grabbed a snake in each hand and strangled them. He was found by his nurse playing with them on his cot as if they were toys. Astonished, Amphitryon sent for the seer ], who prophesied an unusual future for the boy, saying he would vanquish numerous monsters.
	In his labours, Herakles was often accompanied by his boyfriend (an ]), according to some, ], or by others ], his nephew. Although he was only supposed to perform ten labours, this assistance led to him suffering two more. ] didn't count the Hydra, because Iolaus helped him, or the Augean stables, as he received payment for his work (in other versions it is because the rivers did the work).

			Heracles married Megara, eldest daughter of King ]. However, in a fit of madness induced by Hera, Heracles killed Megara and their children.<ref>Kerényi, p. 186.</ref> According to ]'s play '']'', however, it was not until after Heracles had completed his labours and on his return from the Underworld that he murdered Megara and his children.<ref name="p. 253"/>
	The traditional order of the labours is:
	#].
	#].
	#].
	#].
	#].
	#].
	#].
	#].
	#].
	#].
	#].
	#].

			After recovering his sanity, Heracles deeply regretted his actions; he was purified by King ], then traveled to ] to inquire how he could atone for his actions. ], the Oracle of Delphi, advised him to go to ] and serve his cousin, King ] of Mycenae, for twelve years,<ref name="Hsu2021">{{cite book \|last1=Hsu \|first1=Katherine Lu \|editor1-last=Ogden \|editor1-first=Daniel \|title=The Oxford Handbook of Heracles \|year=2021 \|publisher=Oxford University Press \|isbn=978-0-19-065098-8 \|page=15 \|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zy0zEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA15 \|chapter=The Madness and the Labors}}</ref> performing whatever labours Eurystheus might set him; in return, he would be rewarded with immortality. Heracles despaired at this, loathing to serve a man whom he knew to be far inferior to himself, yet fearing to oppose his father, Zeus. Eventually, Heracles placed himself at Eurystheus's disposal.
	== Inner meaning ==

			==The twelve labours==
	Behind its outer meaning, Greek religion often hid an inner mystical tradition, and thus the labours could be interpreted as a symbolization of the spiritual path. This is particularly evident in an analysis of the eleventh, in which Hercules travels to a garden in which grows an apple tree with magical fruit, the tree of life, guarded by a dragon and some sisters—a parallel to the biblical legend of the garden of ] where a snake encourages the use of an (unnamed) fruit tree, granting the knowledge of good and evil<!-- leaving this in as someone saw to mention it, but I don't see the parallel myself at all, other than the fact that both stories have gardens with magic trees in, like many many other stories -->. The last three labours (10-12) of Herakles are generally considered metaphors about death.
			].]]

			Of the twelve labours performed by Heracles, six were located in the ], culminating with the rededication of ].<ref name="ruck">{{cite book \| last = Ruck \| first = Carl \| author2=Danny Staples \| year = 1994 \| pages = 169 \| title = The World of Classical Myth \| location = Durham, North Carolina\| publisher = Carolina Academic Press}}</ref> Six others took the hero farther afield, to places that were, according to Ruck and Staples, "all previously strongholds of Hera or the 'Goddess' and were entrances to the Netherworld".<ref name="ruck"/> In each case, the pattern was the same: Heracles was sent to kill or subdue, or to fetch back for Eurystheus (as Hera's representative) a magical animal or plant.
	== Origin of the stories ==
	=== Geographic locations ===
	Pointing to a possible location for their origin, or at least their formalisation, is the fact that most of the geographic locations, are all located in, or on the borders of ], or connected with it significantly.
	*the town of Nemia, close by, and west of, ] (the capital of Arcadia).
	*lake Lerna to the south (which is now dry).
	*the mountain Erymanthos, currently also called Olonos.
	*the town Ceryneia, in the far North West of the ], 55 from Argo
	*lake Stymphalia, close by, and west of, Nemia. In ancient times it was marshy.
	*the river Alphaeus feeds the bay at Argo, and drains the north western mountains.
	*the city of ] to the south west. It features as the entrance to the underworld, which may be a satirical comment on Spartan culture.
	*the island of ], a sea trading nation, is located in the same direction as the long thin bay that Argo sits at the head of.
	*the nation of ], is described as being the enemy of Argo during the ], and in that situation is associated with Diomedes.

			A famous depiction of the labours in Greek sculpture is found on the ] of the ], which date to the 460s BC.<ref>{{cite web \|title=Fourth metope from the west façade of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia \|url=https://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/fourth-metope-west-facade-temple-zeus-olympia \|website=Louvre Museum Official Website\|access-date=1 December 2020}}</ref>
	=== Connection to the Zodiac ===
			<!--
	The labours also have a strong connection to the constellations encountered by the transit of the sun through the year, many being connected to the zodiac. most of them having an association with one ], and as a whole, representing the passage of the sun (personified as ]) through the year and the ].
			there are no "fixed" number of metopes: in the Archaic period, it may actually have been the labours' display on the twelve available metopes on temples which led to their being counted as twelve in number.
	Starting at the zodiac contellation of ], in which the sun's solstice occurs, and passing through each zodiac sign in the order the sun passes through them,
			-->

			Eurystheus originally ordered Heracles to perform ten labours. Heracles accomplished these tasks, but Eurystheus refused to recognize two: the slaying of the ], as Heracles' nephew and charioteer ] had helped him; and the cleansing of the ], because Heracles accepted payment for the labour<ref>Hard, ; ], , .</ref> (in other versions it was the ] that were discounted instead of the Augean stables, for the help of Athena giving Heracles bronze rattles). Eurystheus thus set two more tasks (fetching the golden apples of the ] and capturing ]), which Heracles also performed, bringing the total number of tasks to twelve.
	When the sun is in the sign of ], a crab, the constellation ] has its head near it. The story of the ] states that these constellations are put into the sky to commemorate the event. The Hydra's indefatigability, and association with Lerna, may be connected to archetypal serpent-metaphors which represent battlelines of enemies (possibly recollecting a battle between invading ], Herakles' cultural group, and natives).

			In his labours, Heracles was sometimes accompanied by a male companion (an '']''), according to ]{{citation needed\|date=February 2013}} and others, such as ], his nephew. Several of the labours involved the offspring (by various accounts) of ] and his mate ], all overcome by Heracles.
	The great lion of the constellation ] was said by the Greeks to have been the ], placed in the sky after Herakles' slaying of it. The sun appears to pass through its mouth.

			The order of the labours given by the mythographer ] is:''<ref>Gantz, p. 383; ] .</ref>
	When the sun is in the sign of ], it sits directly above the constellation ], considered to be the ] ]. An ] (now a seperate constellation) of Centaurus was ], which was originally a generic animal rather than specifically a wolf, and easily could have been a boar, such as the Erymanthian Boar, an animal of the woodland hunts just like centaurs. Centaurus appears to have fired ] at ], ]' tormentor.
			# Slaying the ]
			# Slaying the nine-headed ]
			# Capturing the ]
			# Capturing the ]
			# Cleaning the ] stables in a single day
			# Slaying the ]
			# Capturing the ]
			# Stealing the ]
			# Obtaining the belt of ], queen of the ]
			# Obtaining the cattle of the three-bodied giant ]
			# Stealing three of the golden apples of the ]
			# Capturing and bringing back ]

			] gives a similar sequence of the labours, though the orders of the third and fourth, fifth and sixth, and eleventh and twelfth labours are swapped.<ref>Gantz, p. 383; ], .</ref>
	Directly above ] is the constellation ], which the Greeks considered to be seven sisters—the ] (it only became a bear in the 6th century BC). Also above Libra is ], which was thought by early Greeks to be an apple tree, its 3 bright stars (in what is now considered a tail) being the apples. ] lies between them, menacingly facing south. Above the ] is ], which was considered to be ] in early myth (due to its size and position—nearly holding up the pole star). Libra was considered part of Scorpio, and Boötes was the zodiac sign, its place on the ecliptic being vacant and taken by the sun as it passes. Thus the tale of the apples of the Hesperides.

			===First: Nemean lion===
	When the sun is in the sign of ], the constellation ], which was earlier considered to be a stag, ]. Next to the constellation is the arrow Sagitta (although it ends up facing away). The tale of the ] describes the situation where an arrow faces someone looking at a stag.
			].]]
			]. Detail of a Roman mosaic from ] (Spain).]]
			Heracles wandered in the area until he came to the town of ]. There he met a boy who said that if Heracles slew the ] and returned within 30 days, the town would sacrifice a lion to Zeus, but if he did not return within 30 days or if he died, the boy would sacrifice himself to Zeus. Another version claims that he met Molorchos, a shepherd who had lost his son to the lion, saying that if he came back within 30 days, a ram would be sacrificed to Zeus. If he did not return within 30 days, it would be sacrificed to the dead Heracles as a mourning offering.

			While searching for the lion, Heracles fletched some arrows to use against it, not knowing that its golden fur was impenetrable. When he found and shot the lion, firing at it with his bow, Heracles discovered the fur's protective property as the arrow bounced harmlessly off the creature's thigh. After some time, Heracles made the lion return to his cave. The cave had two entrances, one of which Heracles blocked; he then entered the other. In those dark and confined quarters, Heracles stunned the beast with his club and, using his immense strength, strangled it to death. During the fight the lion bit off one of his fingers. Others say that he shot arrows at it, eventually shooting it in the unarmored mouth. After slaying the lion, he tried to skin it with a knife from his belt, but failed. He then tried sharpening the knife with a stone and even tried using the stone itself. Finally, Athena, noticing the hero's plight, told Heracles to use one of the lion's own claws to skin the pelt. Others say that Heracles' armor was, in fact, the hide of the ].
	When the sun is in the sign of ], the constellations ], ], and ], rise. All of these are birds (Lyra was originally a vulture, although it gradually became a lyre, oddly including an intermediate vulture-lyre stage). At about this time of the year, the rain season in Greece starts, creating swampland from previously drier areas. An arrow (]) heads towards the birds, and Sagittarius (possibly earlier thought to resemble a rattle), Delphinus (the dolphin thought to have rescued a court musician), and Lyra itself (in the guise of the lyre), surround them. Suitably describing the story of the ]

			When he returned on the 30th day carrying the carcass of the lion on his shoulders, King Eurystheus was amazed and terrified. Eurystheus forbade him to ever again to enter the city; from then on he was to display the fruits of his labours outside the city gates. Eurystheus would then tell Heracles his tasks through a herald, not personally. Eurystheus even had a large bronze jar made for him in which to hide from Heracles if need be. Eurystheus then warned him that the tasks would become increasingly difficult.
	The constellation of ] was earlier known as the '']'', since the sun appears goes to rest (i.e. stable) there during winter. Such dark times lead to ideas about sin accumulating through the year (creating the darkness), and eventually being washed away by the new year. ] follows Capricorn, flooding the sky with its waters.

			===Second: Lernaean Hydra===
	When the sun is in the constellation of ], the 4 bright, fierce, stars of the Square of ] rise. Pegasus itself appears to be grazing, eating Aquarius, a man, below it. Aquarius is the water pourer, pouring out a river. The central location of Herakles' tales, Argo, has a legend from the ], where a man called Diomedes steals the horses from the enemy King, but Herakles is the hero of the labours, and Diomedes now had the horses, the ].
			]]]
			]
			Heracles' second labour was to slay the ], a many-headed snake which Hera had raised with the sole purpose of slaying Heracles. Upon reaching the swamp near ], where the hydra dwelt, Heracles attacked the hydra's several heads, but each time one of its heads was removed, a new head (or two) would grow back. Additionally, during the fight, a giant crab came to assist the Hydra by biting Heracles on the foot. Heracles was able to kill the crab, but realizing that he could not defeat the hydra alone, he called on his nephew Iolaus (who had come with Heracles) for help. Working in tandem, once Heracles had removed a head (with his sword or club), Iolaus burned the stumps with a firebrand, preventing them from growing back. In such a way Heracles was able to kill the hydra, after which he dipped his arrows in the Hydra's poisonous blood. According to Apollodorus, one of the Hydra's (here nine) heads—the middle one—was immortal, so when Heracles cut off this head, Heracles buried it and placed a great rock on top of it.<ref>Hard, ; ] .</ref>

			Later, Heracles used one of his poisonous arrows to kill the centaur ]; and Nessus's tainted blood was applied to the ], by which the centaur had his posthumous revenge. Both ] and ] report that the stench of the river ] in ], making all the fish of the river inedible, was reputed to be due to the Hydra's venom, washed from the arrows Heracles used on the centaur.<ref>Strabo, viii.3.19, ], v.5.9; Grimal 1987:219.</ref>
	The constellation of ] was not always associated with two fish, and resembles two people tied at a point in the underworld (i.e. under the ], one of whom escapes, one whom appears to be returning. The gates of the underworld itself may have been represented by an earlier understanding of ] as gates and gateposts rather than as a sea monster, behind which sits three stars, the gatekeeper, ]. Alternately, earlier versions may have featured the escaping branch of Pisces as Cerberus on a leash, the non escaping branch either as Cerberus itself, or as Herakles' descent.

			===Third: Ceryneian Hind===
	In the sign of ], the constellation ], a female with a pronounced three-stared belt (like ]), and holding something like a sword or a straight chain, sets. Subsequent to Andromeda, the sun meets the ], whom Greeks considered seven sisters, a band of women. The tale of a woman's belt connected to facing a band of women matches the tale of ]'s girdle.
			]
			]
			Angered by Heracles' success against the ] and the ], Eurystheus (advised by Hera) devised an altogether different task for the hero, commanding Heracles to capture the ], a beast so fast it could outpace an arrow.

			After a long search, Heracles awoke one night and laid eyes on the elusive hind, which was only visible due to the glint of moonlight on its antlers. He then chased the hind on foot for a full year through ], ], ], and the land of the ]. How Heracles caught the hind differs depending on the telling; in most versions, he captured the hind while it slept, rendering it lame with a trapping net.
	The constellation of ] was generally identified in Greek mythology as being the bull which captured ] and fathered the ]. The preceeding area of sky, which the sun has crossed, was known as '']'' due to the amount of sea-related constellations in it. The bull was on Minos (the early name for Crete), i.e. was a ].

			Eurystheus commanded Heracles to catch the hind in the hope that it would enrage ] and lead her to punish the hero for his desecration of the sacred animal. As he was returning with the hind to present it to Eurystheus, Heracles encountered Artemis and her brother ]. He begged the goddess for forgiveness, explaining that he had snared the hind as part of his penance, but promised to return it to the wild soon thereafter. Convinced by Heracles' earnestness, Artemis forgave him, foiling Eurystheus' plan.
	In ], is a large desert (now occupied by the constellation ]), on the edge of which lies the constellation of ] which means ''chariot''. The milky way (which some cultures once considered to be ] ]s, lies by Auriga, and is also bounded in this region of sky by ] (known as the ''Shepherd's star''), ] (a dog, which if considered to face south, also has the ] at its other end, i.e. two heads), and ] (which in some depictions appears to have three arms and legs bound tightly at the belt). Auriga lies in the milky way itself, appearing to partly contain its stellar ''cattle''. Gemini also lies in the milky way, and when leaning right, one of the twins lies within the stellar ''cattle'', and the other observes. The area of Gemini describes the tale of the cows of ] well.

			After bringing the hind to Eurystheus, Heracles was informed that it was to become part of the King's ]. Knowing that he must return the hind to the wild as he had promised Artemis, Heracles agreed to hand it over only on the condition that Eurystheus himself come out and take it from him. The King came forth, but the moment that Heracles let the hind go, it sprinted back to its mistress with unparalleled swiftness. Before taking his leave, Heracles commented that Eurystheus had not been quick enough, outraging the King.
	=== The order of the stories ===

			===Fourth: Erymanthian Boar===
	As a representation of the sun's transit along the zodiac, the best place to start the journey would be at the summer solstice, which falls in Cancer. The order of the stories implied by the zodiac, starting at Cancer, is:
			]
	#The Lernean Hydra
			]
	#The Nemean Lion
			Eurystheus was disappointed that Heracles had overcome yet another creature and was humiliated by the hind's escape, so he assigned Heracles another dangerous task. By some accounts, the fourth labour was to bring the fearsome ] back to Eurystheus alive (there is no single definitive telling of the labours). On the way to Mount Erymanthos where the boar lived, Heracles visited ] ("caveman"), a kind and hospitable ] and old friend. Heracles ate with Pholus in his cavern (though the centaur devoured his meat raw) and asked for wine. Pholus had only one jar of wine, a gift from ] to all the centaurs on Mount Erymanthos. Heracles convinced him to open it, and the smell attracted the other centaurs. They did not understand that wine needs to be tempered with water, became drunk, and attacked Heracles. Heracles shot at them with his poisonous arrows, killing many, and the centaurs retreated all the way to ]'s cave.
	#The Erymanthian Boar
	#The Apples of the Hesperides
	#The Cerynian Hind
	#The Stymphalian Birds
	#The Stable of Augeas
	#The Mares of Diomedes
	#Cerberus
	#The Girdle of Hippolyte
	#The Cretan Bull
	#The Cows of Geryon

			Pholus was curious why the arrows caused so much death. He picked one up but dropped it, and the arrow stabbed his hoof, poisoning him. One version states that a stray arrow hit Chiron as well. He was immortal, but he still felt the pain. Chiron's pain was so great that he volunteered to give up his immortality and take the place of ], who had been chained to the top of a mountain to have his liver eaten daily by an ]. Prometheus' torturer, the eagle, continued its torture on Chiron, so Heracles shot it dead with an arrow. It is generally accepted that the tale was meant to show Heracles as being the recipient of Chiron's surrendered immortality. However, this tale contradicts the tradition that Chiron later taught ]. The tale of the centaurs sometimes appears in other parts of the twelve labours, as does the freeing of Prometheus.
	There are some locations that are necessary for the story to be possible—the Atlas mountains for Atlas, Thrace for Diomedes, Crete for the Minotaur's father, Libya for a desert. The others fill the blanks to create a continuous journey from south Arcadia towards the north west, then off across the sea to north west africa and back, return to Argo via from the north west of Arcadia, off to Thrace, then Sparta, Athens, Crete, and finally Libya.

			Heracles had visited Chiron to gain advice on how to catch the boar, and Chiron had told him to drive it into thick snow, which sets this labour in mid-winter. Heracles caught the boar, bound it, and carried it back to Eurystheus, who was frightened of it and ducked down in his half-buried storage '']'', begging Heracles to get rid of the beast.
	Altering the story so that Herakles goes to Crete via the natural port of Argo, the town he centres on, the issue of there only being 10 tasks originally arises, due to his return to his home at this point. The arrangement of the story also means that, for most tasks, Herakles is obliged to carry the evidence of his prior ones with him. This burden implies that by the time he reaches home he is carrying an excessive amount of items, and thus Herakles was made to return after each task. By Herakles returning after each task, and implying that there were only meant to be 10, the connection to the Zodiac, and the continuity of the stories, is lost, and the stories are able to be moved around.

			{{clear}}
	Since Herakles is said to wear the Nemean Lion's skin after his defeat, thus in most of the labours, depictions of him carrying out the labours mostly featured him in the skin, leading to a common idea of this as the starting point. Since the Nemean Lion then starts the sequence, and clearly has a connection to Leo, the other stories also with strong connections to the Zodiac (the Cretan bull with Taurus, and the Stable of Augeas, which is the early Greek name for Capricorn) needed to be moved back into their appropriate position relative to Leo.

			===Fifth: Augean stables===
	As Greek religion became more esoteric towards the second centuries BC, emphasis on esoteric meaning in the stories became more important. Thus by moving the story concerning the Hesperides, taken to represent heaven, and Cerberus, to represent hell, to the end, produces the suggestion of teachings moving from the basic, to addressing more esoteric concerns, such as death, towards the end. In addition, the stories concerning war and treachery (the story of the Mares of Diomedes, and the nearby story of the Girdle of Hippolyte), made more sense together, and make more sense being placed next to the 3 stories concerning death, thus producing the traditional order.
			]
			]
			The fifth labour was to clean the stables of King ]. This assignment was intended to be both humiliating and impossible, since these divine livestock were immortal, and had produced an enormous quantity of dung. The Augean ({{IPAc-en\|ɔː\|ˈ\|dʒ\|iː\|ə\|n}}) stables had not been cleaned in over 30 years, and over 1,000 cattle lived there. However, Heracles succeeded by rerouting the rivers ] and ] to wash out the filth.

			Before starting on the task, Heracles had asked Augeas for one-tenth of the cattle if he finished the task in one day, and Augeas agreed, but afterwards Augeas refused to honour the agreement on the grounds that Heracles had been ordered to carry out the task by Eurystheus anyway. Heracles claimed his reward in court and was supported by Augeas' son ]. Augeas banished them both before the court had ruled. Heracles returned, slew Augeas, and gave his kingdom to Phyleus.
	== See also ==
	*]

			The success of this labour was ultimately discounted as the rushing waters had done the work of cleaning the stables, and because Heracles was paid for doing the labour; Eurystheus determined that Heracles still had seven labours to perform.<ref name="auto">{{cite web\|url=http://olympusfd.gr/images/Maps/map_us.pdf\|title=Maps of Mount Olympus\|access-date=2019-01-01\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921212448/http://www.olympusfd.gr/images/Maps/map_us.pdf\|archive-date=2018-09-21\|url-status=dead}}</ref>
	== External links ==

	* at
			===Sixth: Stymphalian birds===
			]
			]
			The sixth labour was to defeat the ], man-eating birds with beaks made of ] and sharp metallic feathers they could launch at their victims. They were sacred to ], the god of war. Furthermore, their dung was highly toxic. They had migrated to ] in ], where they bred quickly and took over the countryside, destroying local crops, fruit trees, and townspeople. Heracles could not go too far into the swamp, for it would not support his weight. Athena, noticing the hero's plight, gave Heracles a rattle which ] had made especially for the occasion. Heracles shook the rattle and frightened the birds into the air. Heracles then shot many of them with his arrows. The rest flew far away, never to return. In some versions of this story instead of the Augean stables being discounted it was the ] labour for getting the help of Athena. The ] would later encounter them.

			===Seventh: Cretan Bull===
			]
			The seventh labour, also categorised as the first of the non-] labours,<ref>{{Cite book \|last=Morford, Mark P. O., 1929- \|title=Classical mythology \|date=2003 \|publisher=Oxford University Press \|others=Lenardon, Robert J., 1928- \|isbn=0-19-515344-8 \|edition=7th \|location=New York \|oclc=49421755}}</ref> was to capture the ], father of the ]. According to Apollodorus, Heracles sailed to ], asked King ] for help, but Minos told Heracles to capture the bull himself, which he did. After showing the bull to Eurystheus, Heracles released the bull which ended up at ].<ref>Hard, ; ] .</ref>

			===Eighth: Mares of Diomedes===
			]
			]
			As the eighth of his labours Heracles was sent by ] to steal the ] from ]. The mares' madness was attributed to their unnatural diet which consisted of the flesh<ref>{{Cite journal\|last=Papakostas, Yiannis G. Daras, Michael D. Liappas, Ioannis A. Markianos, Manolis\|title=Horse madness (hippomania) and hippophobia\|journal=History of Psychiatry \|year=2005 \|volume=16 \|issue=Pt 4 (no 64) \|pages=467–471 \|doi=10.1177/0957154X05051459 \|pmid=16482685\|s2cid=2721386 \|oclc=882814212\|url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00570821/file/PEER_stage2_10.1177%252F0957154X05051459.pdf }}</ref> of unsuspecting guests or strangers to the island.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web\|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/22381/22381-h/22381-h.htm#page234\|title=Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome.\|website=www.gutenberg.org\|access-date=2020-03-24}}</ref> Some versions of the myth say that the mares also expelled fire when they breathed.<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Monsters/Mares_of_Diomedes/mares_of_diomedes.html\|title=Mares of Diomedes\|website=www.greekmythology.com\|language=en\|access-date=2020-03-24}}</ref> The Mares, which were the terror of Thrace, were kept tethered by iron chains to a bronze manger in the now vanished city of Tirida<ref name=":1">{{Cite book\|last=Graves, Robert, 1895-1985\|title=The Greek myths : the complete and definitive edition\|date=28 September 2017\|isbn=978-0-241-98235-8\|edition=Complete and definitive\|location=, UK\|oclc=1011647388}}</ref> and were named Podargos (the swift), Lampon (the shining), Xanthos (the yellow) and Deinos (or Deinus, the terrible).<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://www.theoi.com/Heros/DiomedesThrakios.html\|title=DIOMEDES - Thracian King of Greek Mythology\|website=www.theoi.com\|access-date=2020-03-24}}</ref> Although very similar, there are slight variances in the exact details regarding the mares' capture.

			In one version, Heracles brought a number of volunteers to help him capture the giant horses.<ref name=":1" /> After overpowering Diomedes' men, Heracles broke the chains that tethered the horses and drove the mares down to sea. Unaware that the mares were man-eating and uncontrollable, Heracles left them in the charge of his favored companion, ], while he left to fight Diomedes. Upon his return, Heracles found that the boy was eaten. As revenge, Heracles fed Diomedes to his own horses and then founded ] next to the boy's tomb.<ref name=":0" />

			In another version, Heracles, who was visiting the island, stayed awake so that he didn't have his throat cut by Diomedes in the night, and cut the chains binding the horses once everyone was asleep. Having scared the horses onto the high ground of a knoll, Heracles quickly dug a trench through the peninsula, filling it with water and thus flooding the low-lying plain. When Diomedes and his men turned to flee, Heracles killed them with an axe (or a club<ref name=":1" />), and fed Diomedes' body to the horses to calm them.

			In yet another version, Heracles first captured Diomedes and fed him to the mares ''before'' releasing them. Only after realizing that their King was dead did his men, the ],<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> attack Heracles. Upon seeing the mares charging at them, led in a chariot by Abderus, the Bistonians turned and fled.

			In all versions the horses are calmed by eating human flesh, giving Heracles the opportunity to bind their mouths shut and easily take them back to King Eurystheus, who dedicated the horses to ].<ref>{{Cite book\|last=Rose, H. J. (Herbert Jennings), 1883-1961.\|title=A handbook of Greek mythology : including its extension to Rome\|date=1958\|publisher=Kessinger Publishing\|isbn=1-4286-4307-9\|location=\|oclc=176053883}}</ref> In some versions, they were allowed to roam freely around ], having become permanently calm, but in others, Eurystheus ordered the horses taken to Olympus to be sacrificed to Zeus, but Zeus refused them, and sent wolves, lions, and bears to kill them.<ref>{{Cite book\|last=Leeming, David Adams, 1937-\|title=Mythology : the voyage of the hero\|date=1998\|publisher=Oxford University Press\|isbn=978-0-19-802810-9\|edition=3rd\|location=New York\|oclc=252599545}}</ref> ] states in his ''Tales of the Greek Heroes'' that the mares' descendants were used in the ], and survived even to the time of Alexander the Great.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book\|last=Godfrey, Linda S.\|title=Mythical creatures\|date=2009\|publisher=Chelsea House Publishers\|others=Guiley, Rosemary.\|isbn=978-0-7910-9394-8\|location=New York\|oclc=299280635}}</ref> After the incident, Eurystheus sent Heracles to bring back ].

			===Ninth: Belt of Hippolyta===
			]
			As his ninth labour, Heracles travelled to the land of the Amazons to bring back the Belt of ], the queen of the ]. According to Apollodorus, the belt was gifted to Hippolyta by her father ], as an emblem of her position as queen.<ref>Hard, ; ], .</ref> In his account, Eurystheus set Heracles the task because his daughter ] wanted to have the belt for herself.<ref>Gantz, p. 399; ], .</ref> In earlier sources, however, the purpose of the labour was seemingly for Heracles to overcome the Amazons, with Eurystheus requiring the belt as evidence of his success.<ref>Gantz, p. 398.</ref>

			Accompanied by a group of companions, Heracles set sail for the land of Amazons, which was generally believed to be along the shore at the southern end of the ].<ref>Hard, .</ref> Sources vary on who came with him: ] states that he was accompanied by all of the ],<ref>Mayor, ; ], ]'s ''Nemean'' 3.64b].</ref> while ] mentions that ] came on the voyage,<ref>Gantz, p. 398; ], ]' '']'', 796.</ref> ] considered ] to have been his companion,<ref>Hard, ; '']'' .</ref> and an early Corinthian vase shows ] and another figure named Pasimelon by his side.<ref>Amyx, p. 557; Gantz, p. 397.</ref> The number of ships they leave in also varies: Apollodorus says they went in a single ship,<ref name="2.5.9">], .</ref> while ] states that there were three, and in a late account there were nine.<ref>Mayor, .</ref> Apollodorus relates that on the way to ], where the Amazons lived, he and his crew stopped at the island of ], where several of the sons of ] lived; when these sons killed two of Heracles' companions, he retaliated by murdering them. When he began threatening others, he was offered two of Minos' grandchildren, ] and ], whom he took into his crew. Continuing on their voyage, they next arrived at the court of ] in ]; in a battle between Lycus and King ], Heracles killed the rival king and gained land from the ], and gifted it to Lycus, who named it Heraclea.<ref name="2.5.9"/>

			All would have gone well for Heracles had it not been for Hera. Hippolyta, impressed with Heracles and his exploits, agreed to give him the belt and would have done so had Hera not disguised herself and walked among the Amazons sowing seeds of distrust. She claimed the strangers were plotting to carry off the queen of the Amazons. Alarmed, the warrior women set off on horseback to confront Heracles. According to ], ] was the first Amazon to charge Heracles. Her name, meaning "stormswift," signified her remarkable speed and agility, but even she could not withstand Heracles and was ultimately defeated.<ref>Diodorus Siculus, ''Bibliotheca historica'', 4.16.3</ref> Believing that Hippolyta had betrayed him, Heracles, now convinced of treachery, killed her, took the belt, and returned to Eurystheus.<ref name="Mayor2021">Mayor, pp. , .</ref>

			===Tenth: Cattle of Geryon===
			]
			The tenth labour was to obtain the cattle of the three-bodied giant ]. In Apollodorus' account, Heracles had to go to the island of Erytheia in the far west. On the way he became so frustrated at the heat that he aimed an arrow at the ]. The sun-god ], impressed by his audacity, gave Heracles the golden cup that Helios used to sail across the sea from west to east each night. Heracles took the cup and rode it to Erytheia.<ref>Hard, ; ] .</ref>

			When Heracles landed at Erytheia, he was confronted by the two-headed dog ]. With one blow from his olive-wood club, Heracles killed Orthrus. ] the herdsman came to assist Orthrus, but Heracles dealt with him the same way.

			On hearing the commotion, Geryon sprang into action, carrying three shields and three spears, and wearing three helmets. He attacked Heracles at the River Anthemus, but was slain by one of Heracles' poisoned arrows. Heracles shot so forcefully that the arrow pierced Geryon's forehead, "and Geryon bent his neck over to one side, like a poppy that spoils its delicate shapes, shedding its petals all at once."<ref>], fragment, translated by Denys Page.</ref>

			Heracles then had to herd the cattle back to Eurystheus. In ] versions of the narrative, Heracles drove the cattle over the ] on the future site of ]. The giant ], who lived there, stole some of the cattle as Heracles slept, making the cattle walk backwards so that they left no trail, a repetition of the trick of the young ]. According to some versions, Heracles drove his remaining cattle past the cave, where Cacus had hidden the stolen animals, and they began calling out to each other. In other versions, Cacus' sister ] told Heracles where he was. Heracles then killed Cacus and set up an altar on the spot, later the site of Rome's ] (the cattle market).

			To annoy Heracles, Hera sent a ] to bite the cattle, irritate them, and scatter them. Within a year, Heracles retrieved them. Hera then sent a flood which raised the level of a river so much that Heracles could not cross with the cattle. He piled stones into the river to make the water shallower. When he finally reached the court of Eurystheus, the cattle were sacrificed to Hera.

			===Eleventh: Golden apples of the Hesperides===
			]
			]
			After Heracles completed the first ten labours, Eurystheus gave him two more, claiming that slaying the Hydra did not count (because Iolaus helped Heracles) and neither did cleaning the Augean Stables (either because he was paid for the job or because the rivers did the work).

			The first additional labour was to steal three of the golden apples from the garden of the ]. Heracles first caught the ], the shapeshifting sea god,<ref>Kerenyi, ''The Heroes of the Greeks'', 1959, p.172, identifies him in this context as ]; as a shapeshifter he is often identified as ].</ref> to learn where the Garden of the Hesperides was located.<ref>In some versions of the tale, Heracles was directed to ask ]. As payment, he freed Prometheus from his daily torture. This tale is more usually found as part of the story of the ], since it is associated with ] choosing to forgo immortality and taking Prometheus' place.</ref>

			In some variations, Heracles, either at the start or at the end of this task, meets ], who was invincible as long as he touched his mother, ], the Earth. Heracles killed Antaeus by holding him aloft and crushing him in a bear hug.<ref>] ; ], '']'' 31.</ref>

			] claims that Heracles stopped in ], where King ] decided to make him the yearly sacrifice, but Heracles burst out of his chains.

			Heracles finally made his way to the garden of the Hesperides, where he encountered ] holding up the heavens on his shoulders. Heracles persuaded Atlas to get the three golden apples for him by offering to hold up the heavens in his place for a little while. Atlas could get the apples because, in this version, he was the father or otherwise related to the Hesperides. When Atlas returned, he decided that he did not want to take the heavens back and instead offered to deliver the apples himself, but Heracles tricked him by agreeing to remain in place of Atlas on the condition that Atlas relieve him temporarily while Heracles adjusted his cloak. Atlas agreed, but Heracles reneged and walked away with the apples. According to an alternative version, Heracles slew ], the dragon who guarded the apples, instead. Eurystheus was furious that Heracles had accomplished something that Eurystheus thought could not possibly be done.

			===Twelfth: Cerberus===
			]
			]
			The twelfth and final labour was the capture of ], the multi-headed dog that was the guardian of the gates of the ]. To prepare for his descent into the Underworld, Heracles went to ] to be initiated in the ]. He entered the Underworld with Hermes and Athena as his guides.

			While in the Underworld, Heracles met ] and ]. The two companions had been imprisoned by ] for attempting to kidnap his wife, ]. One tradition tells of snakes coiling around their legs, then turning into stone. Another says that Hades feigned hospitality and prepared a feast, inviting them to sit; they unknowingly sat in chairs of forgetfulness and were permanently ensnared. When Heracles had pulled Theseus first from his chair, some of his thigh stuck to it (this explains the supposedly lean thighs of Athenians), but the Earth shook at his attempt to liberate Pirithous, whose desire to have the goddess for himself was so insulting he was doomed to stay behind.

			Heracles found Hades and asked permission to bring Cerberus to the surface, which Hades agreed to if Heracles could subdue the beast without using weapons. Heracles overpowered Cerberus with his bare hands and slung the beast over his back. He carried Cerberus out of the Underworld through a cavern entrance in the ] and brought it to Eurystheus, who again fled into his '']''. Eurystheus begged Heracles to return Cerberus to the Underworld, offering in return to release him from any further labours when Cerberus disappeared back to his master.

			==Aftermath==
			After completing the twelve labours, one tradition says that Heracles joined ] and the ] in their quest for the ]. However, ] (c. 400 BC) disputed this and denied that Heracles ever sailed with the Argonauts. According to a separate tradition (e.g., '']'') Heracles accompanied the Argonauts but did not travel with them as far as ].

			According to Euripides's play '']'', it is at this point after his labours are completed and he is returning home to meet his wife and family that Heracles is driven mad and kills them, after which he is exiled from Thebes and leaves for Athens.

			Other versions tell the epilogue of Hercules becoming the general of an army, and conquering and pillaging various cities, one of which he was able to obtain a princess (versions vary on her name). Hercules' wife, thinking he would have an affair with her, was so desperate as to believe that a centaur's blood was a love potion and dipped Hercules' clothes with it. As it was truly poison, Hercules screamed in agony and begged his cousin (the one who helped him in killing the Lernaean Hydra) to burn him on a funeral ].

			==Allegorical interpretation==
			Some ancient Greeks found allegorical meanings of a moral, psychological or philosophical nature in the Labours of Heracles. This trend became more prominent in the Renaissance.<ref>Brumble, H. David. ''Classical Myths and Legends in the Middle Ages and Renaissance: A Dictionary of Allegorical Meanings''. Routledge, 2013.</ref> For example, ] wrote in his ''Homeric Problems'':
			{{Blockquote
			\|text=
			I turn to Heracles. We must not suppose he attained such power in those days as a result of his physical strength. Rather, he was a man of intellect, an initiate in heavenly wisdom, who, as it were, shed light on philosophy, which had been hidden in deep darkness. The most authoritative of the Stoics agree with this account.... The (Erymanthian) boar which he overcame is the common incontinence of men; the (Nemean) lion is the indiscriminate rush towards improper goals; in the same way, by fettering irrational passions he gave rise to the belief that he had fettered the violent (Cretan) bull. He banished cowardice also from the world, in the shape of the hind of Ceryneia. There was another "labor" too, not properly so called, in which he cleared out the mass of dung (from the Augean stables) — in other words, the foulness that disfigures humanity. The (Stymphalian) birds he scattered are the windy hopes that feed our lives; the many-headed hydra that he burned, as it were, with the fires of exhortation, is pleasure, which begins to grow again as soon as it is cut out.
			\|author=Donald Andrew Russell, David Konstan
			\|source=''Heraclitus: Homeric Problems'' 33 (2005)<ref>Russell, Donald Andrew; Konstan, David (trs.). Heraclitus: Homeric Problems. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2005.</ref>
			}}

			==See also==
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]

			==Notes==
			{{Reflist}}

			==References==
			* Amyx, D. A., ''Corinthian Vase-Painting of the Archaic Period'', Berkeley, University of California Press, 1988. {{ISBN\|0-520-03166-0}}.
			* ], ''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes'', Cambridge, Massachusetts, ], London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. {{ISBN\|0-674-99135-4}}. .
			* ], ''], Volume II: Books 2.35-4.58'', translated by ], ] No. 303, Cambridge, Massachusetts, ], 1935. {{ISBN\|978-0-674-99334-1}}. .
			* ], ''Early Greek Mythography: Volume 1: Text and Introduction'', Oxford University Press, 2000. {{ISBN\|978-0198147404}}. .
			* ], ''Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: {{ISBN\|978-0-8018-5360-9}} (Vol. 1), {{ISBN\|978-0-8018-5362-3}} (Vol. 2).
			* Hard, Robin, ''The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology"'', Psychology Press, 2004, {{ISBN\|9780415186360}}. .
			* ], ''The Heroes of the Greeks'', Thames and Hudson, London, 1959.
			* Mayor, Adrienne, "The Girdle of the Amazon Hippolyte", in ''The Oxford Handbook of Heracles'', pp. 124–34, edited by Daniel Ogdon, Oxford University Press, 2021. {{ISBN\|978-0-190-65101-5}}. .
			* ], ''Nemean Odes. Isthmian Odes. Fragments'', edited and translated by William H. Race, ] No. 485, Cambridge, Massachusetts, ], 1997. {{ISBN\|978-0-674-99534-5}}. .

			==External links==
			{{Commons category\|Twelve Labours}}
			* at the ]
			* at the ]

			{{Labours of Heracles}}
			{{Hercules media}}
			{{Greek religion}}

			]
			]
			]
			]

Latest revision as of 23:55, 13 December 2024

Series of feats carried out by Heracles This article is about the Greek myth. For the short story collection by Agatha Christie, see The Labours of Hercules.

The Labours of Hercules or Labours of Heracles (Ancient Greek: ἆθλοι, âthloi Latin: Labores) are a series of tasks carried out by Heracles, the greatest of the Greek heroes, whose name was later romanised as Hercules. They were accomplished in the service of King Eurystheus. The episodes were later connected by a continuous narrative.

The establishment of a fixed cycle of twelve labours was attributed by the Greeks to an epic poem, now lost, written by Peisander (7th to 6th centuries BC).

Having tried to kill Heracles ever since he was born, Hera induced a madness in him that made him kill his wife and children. Afterwards, Heracles went to the Oracle of Delphi to atone, where he prayed to the god Apollo for guidance. Heracles was told to serve Eurystheus, king of Mycenae, for ten years. During this time, he was sent to perform a series of difficult feats, called labours.

Background

Heracles was the son born by the mortal woman Alcmene after her affair with Zeus, the king of the gods, who had disguised himself as her husband Amphitryon. Alcmene, fearing the jealousy of Zeus's wife Hera, exposed her infant son, who was taken by either Zeus or his daughter Athena (the protectress of heroes) to Hera, who did not recognize Heracles and nursed him out of pity. Heracles sucked so strongly that he caused Hera pain, and when she pushed him away, her milk sprayed across the heavens, forming the Milky Way. But with divine milk, Heracles had acquired supernatural strength. Either Zeus or Athena brought the infant back to his mother, and he was subsequently raised by his parents. The child was originally given the name Alcides by his parents; it was only later that he became known as Heracles in an unsuccessful attempt to mollify Hera, with Heracles meaning Hera's "pride" or "glory". He and his mortal twin, Iphicles, were just eight months old when Hera sent two giant snakes into the children's chamber. Iphicles cried from fear, but his twin brother grabbed a snake in each hand and strangled them. He was found by his nurse playing with them on his cot as if they were toys. Astonished, Amphitryon sent for the seer Tiresias, who prophesied an unusual future for the boy, saying he would vanquish numerous monsters.

Heracles married Megara, eldest daughter of King Creon of Thebes. However, in a fit of madness induced by Hera, Heracles killed Megara and their children. According to Euripides's play Herakles, however, it was not until after Heracles had completed his labours and on his return from the Underworld that he murdered Megara and his children.

After recovering his sanity, Heracles deeply regretted his actions; he was purified by King Thespius, then traveled to Delphi to inquire how he could atone for his actions. Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi, advised him to go to Tiryns and serve his cousin, King Eurystheus of Mycenae, for twelve years, performing whatever labours Eurystheus might set him; in return, he would be rewarded with immortality. Heracles despaired at this, loathing to serve a man whom he knew to be far inferior to himself, yet fearing to oppose his father, Zeus. Eventually, Heracles placed himself at Eurystheus's disposal.

The twelve labours

Of the twelve labours performed by Heracles, six were located in the Peloponnese, culminating with the rededication of Olympia. Six others took the hero farther afield, to places that were, according to Ruck and Staples, "all previously strongholds of Hera or the 'Goddess' and were entrances to the Netherworld". In each case, the pattern was the same: Heracles was sent to kill or subdue, or to fetch back for Eurystheus (as Hera's representative) a magical animal or plant.

A famous depiction of the labours in Greek sculpture is found on the metopes of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, which date to the 460s BC.

Eurystheus originally ordered Heracles to perform ten labours. Heracles accomplished these tasks, but Eurystheus refused to recognize two: the slaying of the Lernaean Hydra, as Heracles' nephew and charioteer Iolaus had helped him; and the cleansing of the Augean stables, because Heracles accepted payment for the labour (in other versions it was the Stymphalian Birds that were discounted instead of the Augean stables, for the help of Athena giving Heracles bronze rattles). Eurystheus thus set two more tasks (fetching the golden apples of the Hesperides and capturing Cerberus), which Heracles also performed, bringing the total number of tasks to twelve.

In his labours, Heracles was sometimes accompanied by a male companion (an eromenos), according to Licymnius and others, such as Iolaus, his nephew. Several of the labours involved the offspring (by various accounts) of Typhon and his mate Echidna, all overcome by Heracles.

The order of the labours given by the mythographer Apollodorus is:

Slaying the Nemean lion
Slaying the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra
Capturing the Ceryneian Hind
Capturing the Erymanthian Boar
Cleaning the Augean stables in a single day
Slaying the Stymphalian birds
Capturing the Cretan Bull
Stealing the Mares of Diomedes
Obtaining the belt of Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons
Obtaining the cattle of the three-bodied giant Geryon
Stealing three of the golden apples of the Hesperides
Capturing and bringing back Cerberus

Diodorus Siculus gives a similar sequence of the labours, though the orders of the third and fourth, fifth and sixth, and eleventh and twelfth labours are swapped.

First: Nemean lion

Heracles wandered in the area until he came to the town of Cleonae. There he met a boy who said that if Heracles slew the Nemean lion and returned within 30 days, the town would sacrifice a lion to Zeus, but if he did not return within 30 days or if he died, the boy would sacrifice himself to Zeus. Another version claims that he met Molorchos, a shepherd who had lost his son to the lion, saying that if he came back within 30 days, a ram would be sacrificed to Zeus. If he did not return within 30 days, it would be sacrificed to the dead Heracles as a mourning offering.

While searching for the lion, Heracles fletched some arrows to use against it, not knowing that its golden fur was impenetrable. When he found and shot the lion, firing at it with his bow, Heracles discovered the fur's protective property as the arrow bounced harmlessly off the creature's thigh. After some time, Heracles made the lion return to his cave. The cave had two entrances, one of which Heracles blocked; he then entered the other. In those dark and confined quarters, Heracles stunned the beast with his club and, using his immense strength, strangled it to death. During the fight the lion bit off one of his fingers. Others say that he shot arrows at it, eventually shooting it in the unarmored mouth. After slaying the lion, he tried to skin it with a knife from his belt, but failed. He then tried sharpening the knife with a stone and even tried using the stone itself. Finally, Athena, noticing the hero's plight, told Heracles to use one of the lion's own claws to skin the pelt. Others say that Heracles' armor was, in fact, the hide of the Lion of Cithaeron.

When he returned on the 30th day carrying the carcass of the lion on his shoulders, King Eurystheus was amazed and terrified. Eurystheus forbade him to ever again to enter the city; from then on he was to display the fruits of his labours outside the city gates. Eurystheus would then tell Heracles his tasks through a herald, not personally. Eurystheus even had a large bronze jar made for him in which to hide from Heracles if need be. Eurystheus then warned him that the tasks would become increasingly difficult.

Second: Lernaean Hydra

Heracles' second labour was to slay the Lernaean Hydra, a many-headed snake which Hera had raised with the sole purpose of slaying Heracles. Upon reaching the swamp near Lake Lerna, where the hydra dwelt, Heracles attacked the hydra's several heads, but each time one of its heads was removed, a new head (or two) would grow back. Additionally, during the fight, a giant crab came to assist the Hydra by biting Heracles on the foot. Heracles was able to kill the crab, but realizing that he could not defeat the hydra alone, he called on his nephew Iolaus (who had come with Heracles) for help. Working in tandem, once Heracles had removed a head (with his sword or club), Iolaus burned the stumps with a firebrand, preventing them from growing back. In such a way Heracles was able to kill the hydra, after which he dipped his arrows in the Hydra's poisonous blood. According to Apollodorus, one of the Hydra's (here nine) heads—the middle one—was immortal, so when Heracles cut off this head, Heracles buried it and placed a great rock on top of it.

Later, Heracles used one of his poisonous arrows to kill the centaur Nessus; and Nessus's tainted blood was applied to the Tunic of Nessus, by which the centaur had his posthumous revenge. Both Strabo and Pausanias report that the stench of the river Anigrus in Elis, making all the fish of the river inedible, was reputed to be due to the Hydra's venom, washed from the arrows Heracles used on the centaur.

Third: Ceryneian Hind

Angered by Heracles' success against the Nemean Lion and the Lernaean Hydra, Eurystheus (advised by Hera) devised an altogether different task for the hero, commanding Heracles to capture the Ceryneian Hind, a beast so fast it could outpace an arrow.

After a long search, Heracles awoke one night and laid eyes on the elusive hind, which was only visible due to the glint of moonlight on its antlers. He then chased the hind on foot for a full year through Greece, Thrace, Istria, and the land of the Hyperboreans. How Heracles caught the hind differs depending on the telling; in most versions, he captured the hind while it slept, rendering it lame with a trapping net.

Eurystheus commanded Heracles to catch the hind in the hope that it would enrage Artemis and lead her to punish the hero for his desecration of the sacred animal. As he was returning with the hind to present it to Eurystheus, Heracles encountered Artemis and her brother Apollo. He begged the goddess for forgiveness, explaining that he had snared the hind as part of his penance, but promised to return it to the wild soon thereafter. Convinced by Heracles' earnestness, Artemis forgave him, foiling Eurystheus' plan.

After bringing the hind to Eurystheus, Heracles was informed that it was to become part of the King's menagerie. Knowing that he must return the hind to the wild as he had promised Artemis, Heracles agreed to hand it over only on the condition that Eurystheus himself come out and take it from him. The King came forth, but the moment that Heracles let the hind go, it sprinted back to its mistress with unparalleled swiftness. Before taking his leave, Heracles commented that Eurystheus had not been quick enough, outraging the King.

Fourth: Erymanthian Boar

Eurystheus was disappointed that Heracles had overcome yet another creature and was humiliated by the hind's escape, so he assigned Heracles another dangerous task. By some accounts, the fourth labour was to bring the fearsome Erymanthian Boar back to Eurystheus alive (there is no single definitive telling of the labours). On the way to Mount Erymanthos where the boar lived, Heracles visited Pholus ("caveman"), a kind and hospitable centaur and old friend. Heracles ate with Pholus in his cavern (though the centaur devoured his meat raw) and asked for wine. Pholus had only one jar of wine, a gift from Dionysus to all the centaurs on Mount Erymanthos. Heracles convinced him to open it, and the smell attracted the other centaurs. They did not understand that wine needs to be tempered with water, became drunk, and attacked Heracles. Heracles shot at them with his poisonous arrows, killing many, and the centaurs retreated all the way to Chiron's cave.

Pholus was curious why the arrows caused so much death. He picked one up but dropped it, and the arrow stabbed his hoof, poisoning him. One version states that a stray arrow hit Chiron as well. He was immortal, but he still felt the pain. Chiron's pain was so great that he volunteered to give up his immortality and take the place of Prometheus, who had been chained to the top of a mountain to have his liver eaten daily by an eagle. Prometheus' torturer, the eagle, continued its torture on Chiron, so Heracles shot it dead with an arrow. It is generally accepted that the tale was meant to show Heracles as being the recipient of Chiron's surrendered immortality. However, this tale contradicts the tradition that Chiron later taught Achilles. The tale of the centaurs sometimes appears in other parts of the twelve labours, as does the freeing of Prometheus.

Heracles had visited Chiron to gain advice on how to catch the boar, and Chiron had told him to drive it into thick snow, which sets this labour in mid-winter. Heracles caught the boar, bound it, and carried it back to Eurystheus, who was frightened of it and ducked down in his half-buried storage pithos, begging Heracles to get rid of the beast.

Fifth: Augean stables

The fifth labour was to clean the stables of King Augeas. This assignment was intended to be both humiliating and impossible, since these divine livestock were immortal, and had produced an enormous quantity of dung. The Augean (/ɔːˈdʒiːən/) stables had not been cleaned in over 30 years, and over 1,000 cattle lived there. However, Heracles succeeded by rerouting the rivers Alpheus and Peneus to wash out the filth.

Before starting on the task, Heracles had asked Augeas for one-tenth of the cattle if he finished the task in one day, and Augeas agreed, but afterwards Augeas refused to honour the agreement on the grounds that Heracles had been ordered to carry out the task by Eurystheus anyway. Heracles claimed his reward in court and was supported by Augeas' son Phyleus. Augeas banished them both before the court had ruled. Heracles returned, slew Augeas, and gave his kingdom to Phyleus.

The success of this labour was ultimately discounted as the rushing waters had done the work of cleaning the stables, and because Heracles was paid for doing the labour; Eurystheus determined that Heracles still had seven labours to perform.

Sixth: Stymphalian birds

The sixth labour was to defeat the Stymphalian birds, man-eating birds with beaks made of bronze and sharp metallic feathers they could launch at their victims. They were sacred to Ares, the god of war. Furthermore, their dung was highly toxic. They had migrated to Lake Stymphalia in Arcadia, where they bred quickly and took over the countryside, destroying local crops, fruit trees, and townspeople. Heracles could not go too far into the swamp, for it would not support his weight. Athena, noticing the hero's plight, gave Heracles a rattle which Hephaestus had made especially for the occasion. Heracles shook the rattle and frightened the birds into the air. Heracles then shot many of them with his arrows. The rest flew far away, never to return. In some versions of this story instead of the Augean stables being discounted it was the Stymphalian Birds labour for getting the help of Athena. The Argonauts would later encounter them.

Seventh: Cretan Bull

The seventh labour, also categorised as the first of the non-Peloponneisan labours, was to capture the Cretan Bull, father of the Minotaur. According to Apollodorus, Heracles sailed to Crete, asked King Minos for help, but Minos told Heracles to capture the bull himself, which he did. After showing the bull to Eurystheus, Heracles released the bull which ended up at Marathon.

Eighth: Mares of Diomedes

As the eighth of his labours Heracles was sent by King Eurystheus to steal the Mares of Diomedes from their owner. The mares' madness was attributed to their unnatural diet which consisted of the flesh of unsuspecting guests or strangers to the island. Some versions of the myth say that the mares also expelled fire when they breathed. The Mares, which were the terror of Thrace, were kept tethered by iron chains to a bronze manger in the now vanished city of Tirida and were named Podargos (the swift), Lampon (the shining), Xanthos (the yellow) and Deinos (or Deinus, the terrible). Although very similar, there are slight variances in the exact details regarding the mares' capture.

In one version, Heracles brought a number of volunteers to help him capture the giant horses. After overpowering Diomedes' men, Heracles broke the chains that tethered the horses and drove the mares down to sea. Unaware that the mares were man-eating and uncontrollable, Heracles left them in the charge of his favored companion, Abderus, while he left to fight Diomedes. Upon his return, Heracles found that the boy was eaten. As revenge, Heracles fed Diomedes to his own horses and then founded Abdera next to the boy's tomb.

In another version, Heracles, who was visiting the island, stayed awake so that he didn't have his throat cut by Diomedes in the night, and cut the chains binding the horses once everyone was asleep. Having scared the horses onto the high ground of a knoll, Heracles quickly dug a trench through the peninsula, filling it with water and thus flooding the low-lying plain. When Diomedes and his men turned to flee, Heracles killed them with an axe (or a club), and fed Diomedes' body to the horses to calm them.

In yet another version, Heracles first captured Diomedes and fed him to the mares before releasing them. Only after realizing that their King was dead did his men, the Bistonians, attack Heracles. Upon seeing the mares charging at them, led in a chariot by Abderus, the Bistonians turned and fled.

In all versions the horses are calmed by eating human flesh, giving Heracles the opportunity to bind their mouths shut and easily take them back to King Eurystheus, who dedicated the horses to Hera. In some versions, they were allowed to roam freely around Argos, having become permanently calm, but in others, Eurystheus ordered the horses taken to Olympus to be sacrificed to Zeus, but Zeus refused them, and sent wolves, lions, and bears to kill them. Roger Lancelyn Green states in his Tales of the Greek Heroes that the mares' descendants were used in the Trojan War, and survived even to the time of Alexander the Great. After the incident, Eurystheus sent Heracles to bring back Hippolyta's Girdle.

Ninth: Belt of Hippolyta

As his ninth labour, Heracles travelled to the land of the Amazons to bring back the Belt of Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons. According to Apollodorus, the belt was gifted to Hippolyta by her father Ares, as an emblem of her position as queen. In his account, Eurystheus set Heracles the task because his daughter Admete wanted to have the belt for herself. In earlier sources, however, the purpose of the labour was seemingly for Heracles to overcome the Amazons, with Eurystheus requiring the belt as evidence of his success.

Accompanied by a group of companions, Heracles set sail for the land of Amazons, which was generally believed to be along the shore at the southern end of the Black Sea. Sources vary on who came with him: Hellanicus states that he was accompanied by all of the Argonauts, while Pindar mentions that Peleus came on the voyage, Philochorus considered Theseus to have been his companion, and an early Corinthian vase shows Iolaus and another figure named Pasimelon by his side. The number of ships they leave in also varies: Apollodorus says they went in a single ship, while Herodotus states that there were three, and in a late account there were nine. Apollodorus relates that on the way to Themiscyra, where the Amazons lived, he and his crew stopped at the island of Paros, where several of the sons of Minos lived; when these sons killed two of Heracles' companions, he retaliated by murdering them. When he began threatening others, he was offered two of Minos' grandchildren, Alcaeus and Sthenelus, whom he took into his crew. Continuing on their voyage, they next arrived at the court of Lycus in Mysia; in a battle between Lycus and King Mygdon of Bebryces, Heracles killed the rival king and gained land from the Bebryces, and gifted it to Lycus, who named it Heraclea.

All would have gone well for Heracles had it not been for Hera. Hippolyta, impressed with Heracles and his exploits, agreed to give him the belt and would have done so had Hera not disguised herself and walked among the Amazons sowing seeds of distrust. She claimed the strangers were plotting to carry off the queen of the Amazons. Alarmed, the warrior women set off on horseback to confront Heracles. According to Diodorus Siculus, Aella was the first Amazon to charge Heracles. Her name, meaning "stormswift," signified her remarkable speed and agility, but even she could not withstand Heracles and was ultimately defeated. Believing that Hippolyta had betrayed him, Heracles, now convinced of treachery, killed her, took the belt, and returned to Eurystheus.

Tenth: Cattle of Geryon

The tenth labour was to obtain the cattle of the three-bodied giant Geryon. In Apollodorus' account, Heracles had to go to the island of Erytheia in the far west. On the way he became so frustrated at the heat that he aimed an arrow at the Sun. The sun-god Helios, impressed by his audacity, gave Heracles the golden cup that Helios used to sail across the sea from west to east each night. Heracles took the cup and rode it to Erytheia.

When Heracles landed at Erytheia, he was confronted by the two-headed dog Orthrus. With one blow from his olive-wood club, Heracles killed Orthrus. Eurytion the herdsman came to assist Orthrus, but Heracles dealt with him the same way.

On hearing the commotion, Geryon sprang into action, carrying three shields and three spears, and wearing three helmets. He attacked Heracles at the River Anthemus, but was slain by one of Heracles' poisoned arrows. Heracles shot so forcefully that the arrow pierced Geryon's forehead, "and Geryon bent his neck over to one side, like a poppy that spoils its delicate shapes, shedding its petals all at once."

Heracles then had to herd the cattle back to Eurystheus. In Roman versions of the narrative, Heracles drove the cattle over the Aventine Hill on the future site of Rome. The giant Cacus, who lived there, stole some of the cattle as Heracles slept, making the cattle walk backwards so that they left no trail, a repetition of the trick of the young Hermes. According to some versions, Heracles drove his remaining cattle past the cave, where Cacus had hidden the stolen animals, and they began calling out to each other. In other versions, Cacus' sister Caca told Heracles where he was. Heracles then killed Cacus and set up an altar on the spot, later the site of Rome's Forum Boarium (the cattle market).

To annoy Heracles, Hera sent a gadfly to bite the cattle, irritate them, and scatter them. Within a year, Heracles retrieved them. Hera then sent a flood which raised the level of a river so much that Heracles could not cross with the cattle. He piled stones into the river to make the water shallower. When he finally reached the court of Eurystheus, the cattle were sacrificed to Hera.

Eleventh: Golden apples of the Hesperides

After Heracles completed the first ten labours, Eurystheus gave him two more, claiming that slaying the Hydra did not count (because Iolaus helped Heracles) and neither did cleaning the Augean Stables (either because he was paid for the job or because the rivers did the work).

The first additional labour was to steal three of the golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides. Heracles first caught the Old Man of the Sea, the shapeshifting sea god, to learn where the Garden of the Hesperides was located.

In some variations, Heracles, either at the start or at the end of this task, meets Antaeus, who was invincible as long as he touched his mother, Gaia, the Earth. Heracles killed Antaeus by holding him aloft and crushing him in a bear hug.

Herodotus claims that Heracles stopped in Egypt, where King Busiris decided to make him the yearly sacrifice, but Heracles burst out of his chains.

Heracles finally made his way to the garden of the Hesperides, where he encountered Atlas holding up the heavens on his shoulders. Heracles persuaded Atlas to get the three golden apples for him by offering to hold up the heavens in his place for a little while. Atlas could get the apples because, in this version, he was the father or otherwise related to the Hesperides. When Atlas returned, he decided that he did not want to take the heavens back and instead offered to deliver the apples himself, but Heracles tricked him by agreeing to remain in place of Atlas on the condition that Atlas relieve him temporarily while Heracles adjusted his cloak. Atlas agreed, but Heracles reneged and walked away with the apples. According to an alternative version, Heracles slew Ladon, the dragon who guarded the apples, instead. Eurystheus was furious that Heracles had accomplished something that Eurystheus thought could not possibly be done.

Twelfth: Cerberus

The twelfth and final labour was the capture of Cerberus, the multi-headed dog that was the guardian of the gates of the Underworld. To prepare for his descent into the Underworld, Heracles went to Eleusis to be initiated in the Eleusinian Mysteries. He entered the Underworld with Hermes and Athena as his guides.

While in the Underworld, Heracles met Theseus and Pirithous. The two companions had been imprisoned by Hades for attempting to kidnap his wife, Persephone. One tradition tells of snakes coiling around their legs, then turning into stone. Another says that Hades feigned hospitality and prepared a feast, inviting them to sit; they unknowingly sat in chairs of forgetfulness and were permanently ensnared. When Heracles had pulled Theseus first from his chair, some of his thigh stuck to it (this explains the supposedly lean thighs of Athenians), but the Earth shook at his attempt to liberate Pirithous, whose desire to have the goddess for himself was so insulting he was doomed to stay behind.

Heracles found Hades and asked permission to bring Cerberus to the surface, which Hades agreed to if Heracles could subdue the beast without using weapons. Heracles overpowered Cerberus with his bare hands and slung the beast over his back. He carried Cerberus out of the Underworld through a cavern entrance in the Peloponnese and brought it to Eurystheus, who again fled into his pithos. Eurystheus begged Heracles to return Cerberus to the Underworld, offering in return to release him from any further labours when Cerberus disappeared back to his master.

Aftermath

After completing the twelve labours, one tradition says that Heracles joined Jason and the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece. However, Herodorus (c. 400 BC) disputed this and denied that Heracles ever sailed with the Argonauts. According to a separate tradition (e.g., Argonautica) Heracles accompanied the Argonauts but did not travel with them as far as Colchis.

According to Euripides's play Herakles, it is at this point after his labours are completed and he is returning home to meet his wife and family that Heracles is driven mad and kills them, after which he is exiled from Thebes and leaves for Athens.

Other versions tell the epilogue of Hercules becoming the general of an army, and conquering and pillaging various cities, one of which he was able to obtain a princess (versions vary on her name). Hercules' wife, thinking he would have an affair with her, was so desperate as to believe that a centaur's blood was a love potion and dipped Hercules' clothes with it. As it was truly poison, Hercules screamed in agony and begged his cousin (the one who helped him in killing the Lernaean Hydra) to burn him on a funeral pyre.

Allegorical interpretation

Some ancient Greeks found allegorical meanings of a moral, psychological or philosophical nature in the Labours of Heracles. This trend became more prominent in the Renaissance. For example, Heraclitus the Grammarian wrote in his Homeric Problems:

I turn to Heracles. We must not suppose he attained such power in those days as a result of his physical strength. Rather, he was a man of intellect, an initiate in heavenly wisdom, who, as it were, shed light on philosophy, which had been hidden in deep darkness. The most authoritative of the Stoics agree with this account.... The (Erymanthian) boar which he overcame is the common incontinence of men; the (Nemean) lion is the indiscriminate rush towards improper goals; in the same way, by fettering irrational passions he gave rise to the belief that he had fettered the violent (Cretan) bull. He banished cowardice also from the world, in the shape of the hind of Ceryneia. There was another "labor" too, not properly so called, in which he cleared out the mass of dung (from the Augean stables) — in other words, the foulness that disfigures humanity. The (Stymphalian) birds he scattered are the windy hopes that feed our lives; the many-headed hydra that he burned, as it were, with the fires of exhortation, is pleasure, which begins to grow again as soon as it is cut out.
— Donald Andrew Russell, David Konstan, Heraclitus: Homeric Problems 33 (2005)

Notes

LSJ, ἆθλος.
Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Peisander (6).
^ Hard, p. 253.
Hard, p. 247; Diodorus Siculus, 4.9.1–3; Apollodorus, 2.4.8.
Kerényi, p. 186.
Hsu, Katherine Lu (2021). "The Madness and the Labors". In Ogden, Daniel (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Heracles. Oxford University Press. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-19-065098-8.
^ Ruck, Carl; Danny Staples (1994). The World of Classical Myth. Durham, North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press. p. 169.
"Fourth metope from the west façade of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia". Louvre Museum Official Website. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
Hard, p. 255; Apollodorus, 2.4.12, 2.5.11.
Gantz, p. 383; Apollodorus 2.5.1–2.5.12.
Gantz, p. 383; Diodorus Siculus, 4.11–26.
Hard, p. 258; Apollodorus 2.5.2.
Strabo, viii.3.19, Pausanias, v.5.9; Grimal 1987:219.
"Maps of Mount Olympus" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-09-21. Retrieved 2019-01-01.
Morford, Mark P. O., 1929- (2003). Classical mythology. Lenardon, Robert J., 1928- (7th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-515344-8. OCLC 49421755.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Hard, p. 261; Apollodorus 2.5.7.
Papakostas, Yiannis G. Daras, Michael D. Liappas, Ioannis A. Markianos, Manolis (2005). "Horse madness (hippomania) and hippophobia" (PDF). History of Psychiatry. 16 (Pt 4 (no 64)): 467–471. doi:10.1177/0957154X05051459. OCLC 882814212. PMID 16482685. S2CID 2721386.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ "Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome". www.gutenberg.org. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
"Mares of Diomedes". www.greekmythology.com. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
^ Graves, Robert, 1895-1985 (28 September 2017). The Greek myths : the complete and definitive edition (Complete and definitive ed.). , UK. ISBN 978-0-241-98235-8. OCLC 1011647388.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
"DIOMEDES - Thracian King of Greek Mythology". www.theoi.com. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
Rose, H. J. (Herbert Jennings), 1883-1961. (1958). A handbook of Greek mythology : including its extension to Rome. : Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 1-4286-4307-9. OCLC 176053883.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Leeming, David Adams, 1937- (1998). Mythology : the voyage of the hero (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-802810-9. OCLC 252599545.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Godfrey, Linda S. (2009). Mythical creatures. Guiley, Rosemary. New York: Chelsea House Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7910-9394-8. OCLC 299280635.
Hard, p. 263; Apollodorus, 2.5.9.
Gantz, p. 399; Apollodorus, 2.5.9.
Gantz, p. 398.
Hard, p. 263.
Mayor, p. 126; Hellanicus, fr. 106 Fowler, p. 193 .
Gantz, p. 398; Pindar, fr. 172 Race, pp. 406, 407 [= Scholia on Euripides' Andromache, 796.
Hard, p. 357; BNJ 328 F110.
Amyx, p. 557; Gantz, p. 397.
^ Apollodorus, 2.5.9.
Mayor, p. 126.
Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica, 4.16.3
Mayor, pp. 127, 132.
Hard, p. 264; Apollodorus 2.5.10.
Stesichorus, fragment, translated by Denys Page.
Kerenyi, The Heroes of the Greeks, 1959, p.172, identifies him in this context as Nereus; as a shapeshifter he is often identified as Proteus.
In some versions of the tale, Heracles was directed to ask Prometheus. As payment, he freed Prometheus from his daily torture. This tale is more usually found as part of the story of the Erymanthian Boar, since it is associated with Chiron choosing to forgo immortality and taking Prometheus' place.
Apollodorus 2.5.10; Hyginus, Fabulae 31.
Brumble, H. David. Classical Myths and Legends in the Middle Ages and Renaissance: A Dictionary of Allegorical Meanings. Routledge, 2013.
Russell, Donald Andrew; Konstan, David (trs.). Heraclitus: Homeric Problems. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2005.

References

Amyx, D. A., Corinthian Vase-Painting of the Archaic Period, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1988. ISBN 0-520-03166-0.
Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Volume II: Books 2.35-4.58, translated by C. H. Oldfather, Loeb Classical Library No. 303, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1935. ISBN 978-0-674-99334-1. Online version by Bill Thayer.
Fowler, R. L., Early Greek Mythography: Volume 1: Text and Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0198147404. Google Books.
Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: ISBN 978-0-8018-5360-9 (Vol. 1), ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3 (Vol. 2).
Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004, ISBN 9780415186360. Google Books.
Kerényi, Carl, The Heroes of the Greeks, Thames and Hudson, London, 1959.
Mayor, Adrienne, "The Girdle of the Amazon Hippolyte", in The Oxford Handbook of Heracles, pp. 124–34, edited by Daniel Ogdon, Oxford University Press, 2021. ISBN 978-0-190-65101-5. Google Books.
Pindar, Nemean Odes. Isthmian Odes. Fragments, edited and translated by William H. Race, Loeb Classical Library No. 485, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1997. ISBN 978-0-674-99534-5. Online version at Harvard University Press.

External links

Heracles at the Livius Picture Archive
The Labors of Hercules at the Perseus Digital Library

v t e The Twelve Labours of Heracles
Nemean lion Lernaean Hydra Ceryneian Hind Erymanthian boar Augean Stables Stymphalian birds Cretan Bull Mares of Diomedes Girdle of Hippolyte Far-away monsters Cattle of Geryon/Pillars of Hercules Apples of the Hesperides/Atlas Cerberus

Hercules (Heracles)

Hercle
Ercole
Hercule
Alcide

Family

Zeus (father)
Alcmene (mother)
Megara, Omphale, Deianira, and Hebe (wives)
Heracleidae (children)

Events

Literature

Poems	Heracles Papyrus Shield of Heracles Catalogue of Women L'Atlàntida
Plays	Herakles Women of Trachis Hercules Furens Hercules Oetaeus
Other	The Labours of Hercules Hercules and the Wagoner

Art

Hercules and the lion of Nemea (5th century BCE)
Hercules of the Forum Boarium (2nd century BCE)
Lansdowne Heracles (c. 125)
Statue of Hercules, Dura-Europos (c. 150–256)
Farnese Hercules (216)
Hercules slaying Antaeus (c. 1460)
Hercules and Deianira (c. 1470)
Hercules and the Hydra (c. 1475)
Hercules Killing the Stymphalian Birds (1500)
Hercules and Antaeus (c. 1500–1510)
The Choice of Hercules (c. 1520–1525)
Hercules and Antaeus (1531)
Hercules and Cacus (1534)
The Origin of the Milky Way (1575–1580)
The Choice of Hercules (1596)
Hercules and Omphale (1603)
Hercules Fighting the Nemean Lion (1634)
Hercules and the Hydra (1634)
Hercules Separates Mounts Calpe and Abylla (1634)
The Death of Hercules (1634)
Hercules's Dog Discovers Purple Dye (1636)
The Origin of the Milky Way (1637)
Hercules in the Garden of the Hesperides (1638)
Landscape with Hercules and Cacus (c. 1660)
Hercules and Omphale (1732–1734)
Libertas Americana (1783)
The Sanctuary of Hercules (1884)
Hercules the Archer (1909)
Achelous and Hercules (1947)
The Twelve Labors of Hercules (1981)
The Labors of Herakles (2006–2008)
Hercules and the Erymanthian Boar
Hercules and the Nemean Lion

Opera

Ercole amante (1662)
Alcide (1693)
Ercole su'l Termodonte (1723)
Admeto (1727)
Laßt uns sorgen, laßt uns wachen, BWV 213 (1733)
Hercules (1744)
Le nozze d'Ercole e d'Ebe (1747)
The Choice of Hercules (1750)
Hercule mourant (1761)
Le Rouet d'Omphale (1871)
Déjanire (1911)
Atlántida (1962)
Hercules vs. Vampires (2010)

Films

Italian series	Hercules (1957) Hercules Unchained (1959) Goliath and the Dragon (1960) The Loves of Hercules (1960) Hercules and the Conquest of Atlantis (1961) Hercules in the Haunted World (1961) Hercules in the Valley of Woe (1961) The Fury of Hercules (1962) Hercules, Samson and Ulysses (1963) Hercules vs. Moloch (1963) Hercules the Invincible (1964) Hercules Against Rome (1964) Hercules Against the Sons of the Sun (1964) The Triumph of Hercules (1964) Samson and His Mighty Challenge (1964) Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon (1964) Hercules and the Princess of Troy (1965) Hercules the Avenger (1965)
Other European live-action	Herakles (1962) Hercules Against the Moon Men (1964)
American films live-action	The Warrior's Husband (1933) The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962) Jason and the Argonauts (1963) Hercules in New York (1970) Hercules (1983) The Adventures of Hercules (1985) Jason and the Argonauts (2000) Immortals (2011) The Legend of Hercules (2014) Hercules (2014)
Animated films	Hercules (1995) Hercules (1997) Hercules: Zero to Hero (1998) Hercules and Xena – The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus (1998)

Television

The Mighty Hercules
The Sons of Hercules
- Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules (1961)
- Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules (1962)
- Ulysses Against the Son of Hercules (1962)
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995)
- Hercules and the Amazon Women (1994)
- Hercules and the Lost Kingdom (1994)
- Hercules and the Circle of Fire (1994)
- Hercules in the Underworld (1994)
- Hercules in the Maze of the Minotaur (1994)
Hercules: The Animated Series (1998)
- "Hercules and the Arabian Night" (1999)
Young Hercules (1998)
Hercules (2005 miniseries)
Atlantis (2013)

Comics

Games

The Return of Heracles (1983)
Hercules (1984)
Disney's Hercules (1997)
Herc's Adventures (1997)
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (2000)
Heracles Chariot Racing (2007)
Glory of Heracles (2008)

Other

Ancient Greek religion and mythology

Religion and religious practice

Main beliefs

Texts / odes /
epic poems

Epic Cycle	Aethiopis Cypria Iliad Iliupersis Little Iliad Nostoi Odyssey Telegony
Theban Cycle	Oedipodea Thebaid Epigoni Alcmeonis
Others	Aesop's Fables Aretalogy Argonautica Bibliotheca Catalogue of Women Cyranides Delphic maxims Derveni papyrus Dionysiaca Golden Verses of Pythagoras Greek Magical Papyri Homerica Homeric Hymns Interpretation of Dreams Myth of Er Oneirocritica Orphic Hymns Papyrus Graecus Holmiensis Sibylline Books Sortes Astrampsychi Theogony Works and Days

Religions

Antecedents	Minoan religion Mycenaean religion List of Mycenaean deities Paleo-Balkan mythology Proto-Indo-European mythology Religions of the ancient Near East
Expressions	Atheism Henotheism Monotheism Polytheism
Hellenistic religions	Early Christianity Christianization Relationship with Greek philosophy Esoteric systems Early alchemy Gnosticism Hermeticism Neoplatonism Hellenistic Judaism God-fearers Syncretic religions Alexander Ptolemaic cult Etruscan religion Greco-Buddhism Roman religion Imperial cult Religious views of emperor Julian
Mystery religions and sacred mysteries	Arcadian Mysteries Delos Mysteries Dionysian Mysteries Eleusinian Mysteries Imbrian Mysteries Mithraism Mysteries of Isis Orphism Samothracian Mysteries
New religious movements	Discordianism Feraferia Gaianism Hellenism

Religious practice

Worship
/ rituals

Religious
offices

Religious
objects

Magic

Events

Festivals
/ feasts

Games

Agon Panathenaic Games Rhieia
Panhellenic Games	Olympic Games Heraean Games Pythian Games Nemean Games Isthmian Games Actia

Sacred places

Temples / sanctuaries	Asclepieion Delphinion Mithraeum Necromanteion of Acheron Nymphaeum Panionium Parthenon Ploutonion Telesterion Temenos Temple of Artemis, Ephesus Temple of Zeus, Olympia
Oracles	Amphiareion of Oropos Aornum Claros Delphi Didyma Dodona Oracle of Apollo Thyrxeus at Cyaneae Oracle of Apollo at Ptoion Oracle of Artemis at Ikaros Oracle of Menestheus Sanctuary of the Great Gods Tegyra
Mountains	Cretea Mount Ida (Crete) Mount Ida (Turkey) Mount Lykaion Olympus
Caves	Cave of Zeus, Aydın Caves of Pan Psychro Cave Vari Cave
Islands	Island of Achilles Delos Islands of Diomedes
Springs	Castalian Spring Hippocrene Pierian Spring
Others	Athenian sacred ships Paralus Salaminia Eleusis Hiera Orgas Kanathos Olympia Sacred Way Theatre of Dionysus

Myths and mythology

Deities
(Family tree)

Primordial deities

Titans

First generation	Coeus Crius Cronus Hyperion Iapetus Mnemosyne Oceanus Phoebe Rhea Tethys Theia Themis
Second generation	Asteria Astraeus Atlas Eos Epimetheus Helios Leto Menoetius Metis Pallas Perses Prometheus Selene
Third generation	Hecate Hesperus Phosphorus

Twelve Olympians

Water deities

Love deities

Erotes	Anteros Eros Hedylogos Hermaphroditus Himeros Hymen/Hymenaeus Pothos
Aphrodite Aphroditus Philotes Peitho

War deities

Chthonic deities

Psychopomps	Charon Hermes Hermanubis Thanatos
Angelos Cabeiri Hades / Pluto Hecate Hypnos Keres Lampad Melinoë Persephone Zagreus

Health deities

Sleep deities

Messenger deities

Trickster deities

Magic deities

Other major deities

Anemoi
- Boreas
- Eurus
- Notus
- Zephyrus
Azone
Chrysaor
Cybele
Eileithyia
The Erinyes (Furies)
Harmonia
The Muses
Nemesis
Pan
Pegasus
Zelus

Heroes /
heroines

Individuals

Groups

Oracles
/ seers

Aesacus
Aleuas
Amphiaraus
Amphilochus
Ampyx
Anius
Asbolus
Bakis
Branchus
Calchas
Carnus
Carya
Cassandra
Elatus
Ennomus
Epimenides
Halitherses
Helenus
Iamus
Idmon
Manto
Melampus
Mopsus
Munichus
Phineus
Polyeidos
Polypheides
Pythia
Sibyls
- Cimmerian
- Cumaean
- Delphic
- Erythraean
- Hellespontine
- Libyan
- Persian
- Phrygian
- Samian
Telemus
Theiodamas
Theoclymenus
Tiresias

Other
mortals

Underworld

Entrances to
the underworld

Rivers

Lakes/swamps

Caves

Cave at Cape Matapan Cave at Lake Avernus Cave at Heraclea Pontica
Charoniums	Charonium at Aornum Charonium at Acharaca

Ploutonion

Ploutonion at Acharaca
Ploutonion at Eleusis
Ploutonion at Hierapolis

Necromanteion (necromancy temple)

Necromanteion of Acheron

Places

Judges

Guards

Residents

Visitors

Symbols/objects

Animals, daemons,
and spirits

Mythical

Beings

Lists

Minor spirits

Beasts /
creatures

Centaur Centaurides Ichthyocentaur Cyclops Dragon Drakaina Echidna Giant Gorgon Harpy Hecatonchires Hippocampus Horses of Helios Lamia Phoenix Python Siren Scylla and Charybdis Sphinx Typhon
Captured / slain by heroes	Calydonian boar Cerberus Cerynian Hind Chimera Cretan Bull Crommyonian Sow Erymanthian boar Khalkotauroi Lernaean Hydra Mares of Diomedes Medusa Minotaur Nemean lion Orthrus Polyphemus Stymphalian birds Talos Teumessian fox

Tribes

Places
/ Realms

Events

Apollo and Daphne Calydonian boar hunt Eros and Psyche Judgment of Paris Labours of Heracles Orpheus and Eurydice Returns from Troy
Wars	Amazonomachy Attic War Centauromachy Gigantomachy Indian War Theomachy Titanomachy Trojan War

Objects

Symbols

Modern
treatments

Categories:

Latest revision as of 23:55, 13 December 2024

Background

The twelve labours

First: Nemean lion

Second: Lernaean Hydra

Third: Ceryneian Hind

Fourth: Erymanthian Boar

Fifth: Augean stables

Sixth: Stymphalian birds

Seventh: Cretan Bull

Eighth: Mares of Diomedes

Ninth: Belt of Hippolyta

Tenth: Cattle of Geryon

Eleventh: Golden apples of the Hesperides

Twelfth: Cerberus

Aftermath

Allegorical interpretation

See also

Notes

References

External links