Eurystheus would then tell Heracles his tasks through a herald, not personally. Eurystheus forbade him ever again to enter the city from then on he was to display the fruits of his labors outside the city gates. When he returned on the thirtieth day carrying the carcass of the lion on his shoulders, King Eurystheus was amazed and terrified. Others say that Heracles' armor was, in fact, the hide of the lion of Cithaeron. Finally, Athena, noticing the hero's plight, told Heracles to use one of the lion's own claws to skin the pelt. He then tried sharpening the knife with a stone and even tried with the stone itself. After slaying the lion, he tried to skin it with a knife from his belt, but failed. Others say that he shot arrows at it, eventually shooting it in the unarmored mouth. During the fight the lion bit off one of his fingers. In those dark and close quarters, Heracles stunned the beast with his club and, using his immense strength, strangled it to death. The cave had two entrances, one of which Heracles blocked he then entered the other. After some time, Heracles made the lion return to his cave. When he found and shot the lion, firing at it with his bow, he discovered the fur's protective property as the arrow bounced harmlessly off the creature's thigh. While searching for the lion, Heracles fletched some arrows to use against it, not knowing that its golden fur was impenetrable. If he did not return within thirty days, it would be sacrificed to the dead Heracles as a mourning offering. Another version claims that he met Molorchos, a shepherd who had lost his son to the lion, saying that if he came back within thirty days, a ram would be sacrificed to Zeus. There he met a boy who said that if Heracles slew the Nemean lion and returned alive within thirty days, the town would sacrifice a lion to Zeus, but if he did not return within thirty days or he died, the boy would sacrifice himself to Zeus. Heracles wandered the area until he came to the town of Cleonae. Steal the apples of the Tree of the Hesperides.įirst: Nemean lion Main article: Nemean Lion.Obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon.Clean the Augean stables in a single day.Several of the labors involved the offspring (by various accounts) of Typhon and his mate Echidna, all overcome by Heracles.Ī traditional order of the labors found in the Bibliotheca by Pseudo-Apollodorus is: Although he was supposed to perform only ten labors, this assistance led to two labors being disqualified: Eurystheus refused to recognize slaying the Hydra, because Iolaus helped him, and the cleansing of the Augean stables, because Heracles was paid for his services and/or because the rivers did the work. In his labors, Heracles was sometimes accompanied by a male companion (an eromenos), according to Licymnius and others, such as Iolaus, his nephew. In each case, the pattern was the same: Heracles was sent to kill or subdue, or to fetch back for Eurystheus (as Hera's representative) a magical animal or plant. Six others took the hero farther afield, to places that were, per Ruck, "all previously strongholds of Hera or the 'Goddess' and were Entrances to the Netherworld". Ruck and Staples assert that there is no one way to interpret the labors, but that six were located in the Peloponnese, culminating with the rededication of Olympia. Eurystheus set two more tasks (fetching the Golden Apples of Hesperides and capturing Cerberus), which Heracles also performed, bringing the total number of tasks to twelve.Īs they survive, the labors of Heracles are not recounted in any single place, but must be reassembled from many sources. 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 Augeas, because Heracles accepted payment for the labour. Eventually, he placed himself at Eurystheus's disposal.Įurystheus originally ordered Heracles to perform ten labors. 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. Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi, advised him to go to Tiryns and serve his cousin, King Eurystheus, for twelve years, performing whatever labors Eurystheus might set him in return, he would be rewarded with immortality. After recovering his sanity, Heracles deeply regretted his actions he was purified by King Thespius, then traveled to Delphi to inquire how he could atone for his actions.
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