"should get the kingdom, Hera thwarted his ambitions by delaying Alcmene's labour and having her candidate Eurystheus born prematurely.Heracles' first task was to slay the Nemean Lion and bring back its skin, which Heracles decided to wear. Eurystheus was so scared by Heracles' fearsome guise that he hid in a subterranean bronze winejar, and from that moment forth all labors were communicated to Heracles through a herald, Copreus. For his second labour, to slay the Lernaean Hydra, Heracles took with him his nephew, Iolaus, as a charioteer. When Eurystheus found out that Heracles' nephew had helped him he declared that"
"later led to him undertaking his famous labours. Hera assigned Heracles to labour for King Eurystheus at Mycenae. She attempted to make almost each of Heracles' twelve labours more difficult. When he fought the Lernaean Hydra, she sent a crab to bite at his feet in the hopes of distracting him. Later Hera stirred up the Amazons against him when he was on one of his quests. When Heracles took the cattle of Geryon, he shot Hera in the right breast with a triple-barbed arrow: the wound was incurable and left her in constant pain, as Dione tells Aphrodite in"
"mate Echidna, all overcome by Hercules. A traditional order of the labours found in the ""Bibliotheca"" is: The first labour was to slay the Nemean lion. According to one version of the myth, the Nemean lion took women as hostages to its lair in a cave near Nemea, luring warriors from nearby towns to save the damsel in distress. After entering the cave, the warrior would see the woman (usually feigning injury) and rush to her side. Once he was close, the woman would turn into a lion and kill the warrior, devouring his remains and giving the bones to"
"in its place. It had an immortal head which would remain alive after it was cut off. Some accounts claim that the immortal head was made of gold. It lived in a swamp near Lerna and frequently terrorized the townsfolk until it was slain by Heracles, who cut the heads off, with the help of his nephew Iolaus, who then singed the oozing stump with a blazing firebrand to prevent any new heads from growing, as the second of his Twelve Labors. Hera sent a giant crab to distract Heracles, but he simply crushed it under his foot. Hera then"
"from growing back. Heracles was aided in this task by his nephew Iolaus. During the battle, a giant crab crawled out of the marsh and pinched Heracles's foot, but he crushed it under his heel. Hera placed the crab in the sky as the constellation Cancer. One of the Hydra's heads was immortal, so Heracles buried it under a heavy rock after cutting it off. For his Eleventh Labor, Heracles must procure a golden apples from the tree in the Garden of the Hesperides, which is guarded by an enormous serpent that never sleeps, which Pseudo-Apollodorus calls ""Ladon"". In earlier"
"stones into the river to make the water shallower. When he finally reached the court of Eurystheus, the cattle were sacrificed to Hera. After Hercules completed the first ten labours, Eurystheus gave him two more, claiming that slaying the Hydra didn't count (because Iolaus helped Hercules), 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 the apples from the garden of the Hesperides. Hercules first caught the Old Man of the Sea, the shape-shifting sea god, to learn where the Garden"
"death and pestilence in the area around Delphi. Apollo then sets up his shrine there. Hesiod also mentions that the hero Heracles slew the Lernaean Hydra, a multiple-headed serpent which dwelt in the swamps of Lerna. The name ""Hydra"" means ""water snake"" in Greek. According to the ""Bibliotheka"" of Pseudo-Apollodorus, the slaying of the Hydra was the second of the Twelve Labors of Heracles. Accounts disagree on which weapon Heracles used to slay the Hydra, but, by the end of the sixth century BC, it was agreed that the clubbed or severed heads needed to be cauterized to prevent them"
"to the Hydra's poison, washed from the arrows Hercules used on the centaur. Eurystheus and Hera were greatly angered that Hercules had survived the Nemean Lion and the Lernaean Hydra. For the third labour, they found a task which they thought would spell doom for the hero. It was not slaying a beast or monster, as it had already been established that Hercules could overcome even the most fearsome opponents. Instead, Eurystheus ordered him to capture the Ceryneian Hind, which was so fast that it could outrun an arrow. After beginning the search, Hercules awoke from sleeping and saw the"
"it under his mighty foot. The Hydra's one immortal head was cut off with a golden sword given to Heracles by Athena. Heracles placed the head—still alive and writhing—under a great rock on the sacred way between Lerna and Elaius, and dipped his arrows in the Hydra's poisonous blood. Thus his second task was complete. The alternate version of this myth is that after cutting off one head he then dipped his sword in its neck and used its venom to burn each head so it could not grow back. Hera, upset that Heracles had slain the beast she raised"
"these creatures and held them sacred. Deer were also the first animals she captured. She caught five golden horned deer called Elaphoi Khrysokeroi and harnessed them to her chariot. The third labour of Heracles, commanded by Eurystheus, consisted of catching the Cerynitian Hind alive. Heracles begged Artemis for forgiveness and promised to return it alive. Artemis forgave him but targeted Eurystheus for her wrath. Artemis got her hunting dogs from Pan in the forest of Arcadia. Pan gave Artemis two black-and-white dogs, three reddish ones, and one spotted one – these dogs were able to hunt even lions. Pan also"
"The Stymphalian birds were defeated by the hero Heracles (Hercules) in his sixth labour for Eurystheus. Heracles could not go into the marsh to reach the nests of the birds, as the ground would not support his weight. Athena, noticing the hero's plight, gave Heracles a rattle called a ""krotala"", which Hephaestus had made especially for the occasion. Heracles shook the krotala (similar to castanets) on a certain mountain that overhung the lake and thus frightening the birds into the air. Heracles then shot many of them with feathered arrows tipped with poisonous blood from the slain Hydra. The rest"
"was ultimately discounted as the rushing waters had done the work of cleaning the stables and because Hercules was paid for it. Eurystheus said that Hercules still had seven labours to perform. The sixth labour was to defeat the Stymphalian birds, man-eating birds with beaks of bronze and sharp metallic feathers they could launch at their victim. 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. Hercules could not go"
"their inspiration, but used the influences oddly. Daedalus is the evil wizard who is Hercules's most frequent foe, but Daedalus was a mythological artificer who wasn't a villain at all. Cacus is the giant in the first episode, based on the mythological monster Cacus. Other recurring creatures were taken directly from Hercules's Twelve Labors, such as the Nemean Lion, the Lernaean Hydra, the Erymanthian Boar, and the Stymphalian Birds; but most weren't presented as trials for him to overcome. In addition to the ring, later episodes added new equipment for Hercules and his friends to use, such as a ""moon"
"through Greece, Thrace, Istria, and the land of the Hyperboreans. In some versions, he captured the hind while it slept, rendering it lame with a trap net. In other versions, he encountered Artemis in her temple and she told him to leave the hind and tell Eurystheus all that had happened and his third labour would be considered to be completed. Yet another version claims that Heracles trapped the hind with an arrow between the fore legs of the creature. Eurystheus had given Heracles this task hoping to incite Artemis' anger at Heracles for his desecration of her sacred animal."
"Asia Minor saw the killing of a boar as proof of one's valor and strength. Neolithic hunter gatherers depicted reliefs of ferocious wild boars on their temple pillars at Göbekli Tepe some 11,600 years ago. Virtually all heroes in Greek mythology fight or kill a boar at one point. The demigod Herakles' third labour involves the capture of the Erymanthian Boar, Theseus slays the wild sow Phaea, and a disguised Odysseus is recognised by his handmaiden Eurycleia by the scars inflicted on him by a boar during a hunt in his youth. To the mythical Hyperboreans, the boar represented spiritual"
"was winning the struggle, Hera sent a giant crab to distract him. He crushed it under his mighty foot. He cut off the Hydra's one immortal head with a golden sword given to him by Athena. Hercules placed it under a great rock on the sacred way between Lerna and Elaius (Kerenyi 1959:144), and dipped his arrows in the Hydra's poisonous blood, and so his second task was complete. The alternative version of this myth is that after cutting off one head he then dipped his sword in it and used its venom to burn each head so it couldn't"
"Erymanthian Boar In Greek mythology, the Erymanthian boar (Greek: ὁ Ἐρυμάνθιος κάπρος; Latin: ""aper Erymanthius"") is a monstrous wild boar remembered in connection with The Twelve Labours, in which Heracles, the (reconciled) enemy of Hera, visited in turn ""all the other sites of the Goddess throughout the world, to conquer every conceivable 'monster' of nature and rededicate the primordial world to its new master, his Olympian father,"" Zeus. In the primitive highlands of Arcadia, where old practices lingered, the Erymanthian boar was a giant fear-inspiring creature of the wilds that lived on Mount Erymanthos, a mountain that was apparently once"
"its tusks were preserved in the Temple of Apollo at Cumae. Three days later, Eurystheus, still trembling with fear, sent Heracles to clean the Augean stables. Aside from the boar that killed Adonis, the other most celebrated boar in Greek myth was the Calydonian boar, who was killed by Meleager. Erymanthian Boar In Greek mythology, the Erymanthian boar (Greek: ὁ Ἐρυμάνθιος κάπρος; Latin: ""aper Erymanthius"") is a monstrous wild boar remembered in connection with The Twelve Labours, in which Heracles, the (reconciled) enemy of Hera, visited in turn ""all the other sites of the Goddess throughout the world, to conquer"
"up his immortality, and take the place of Prometheus, who had been chained in to the top of a mountain to have his liver eaten daily by an eagle, although he was an immortal Titan. 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 fact that Chiron later taught Achilles. The tale of the Centaurs sometimes appears in other parts of the twelve labours, as does the"
"weapon that Hercules used to kill the eagle (Aquila) of Jove that perpetually gnawed Prometheus' liver. The Arrow is located beyond the north border of Aquila, the Eagle. According to R.H. Allen, the Arrow could be the one shot by Hercules towards the adjacent Stymphalian birds (6th labor) who had claws, beaks and wings of iron, and who lived on human flesh in the marshes of Arcadia - Aquila the Eagle, Cygnus the Swan, and Lyra (the Vulture) - and still lying between them, whence the title Herculea (although Allen cites no reference to support this assertion). Eratosthenes claimed it"
"eponymous Erymanthus. The most commonly accepted version, however, states that Ares turned himself into a boar and killed Adonis out of jealousy, though it is against the theme of Arachne and Athena. Heracles' fourth labour—by some counts, for there is no single definitive telling—was to capture the Boar. On the way there, Heracles visited Pholus (""caveman""), a kind and hospitable centaur and old friend. Hercules ate with him 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 Mt. Erymanthos. Heracles convinced"
"at Delphi. He prayed to the god Apollo for guidance. Hercules was told to serve the king of Mycenae, Eurystheus, for 12 years. During these 12 years, Hercules is sent to perform twelve difficult feats, called labours. Driven mad by Hera (queen of the gods), Hercules slew his son, daughter, and wife Megara. After recovering his sanity, Hercules deeply regretted his actions; he was purified by King Thespius, then traveled to Delphi to inquire how he could atone for his actions. Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi, advised him to go to Tiryns and serve his cousin King Eurystheus for twelve"
"sent to kill the Nemean lion, which he does successfully, and turns the fleece into a coat. He also drives away the Stymphalian birds with the help of Athena's cymbals. Some of the labors are; the slaying of the Lernaean Hydra, catching the stag of Artemis, the Cathmanian boar, the Cretan bull, cleaning the Augeean stables, getting the girdle of Hippolyte, the man-eating mares of Diomedes and the Cattle of Geryon (but the monster is not shown). The last challenge is the most dreadful, Hercules is forced down to the Underworld to take Cerberus. He retrieves Cerberus and takes him"
"Labours of Hercules The Twelve Labours of Heracles or Hercules (, "" hoi Hērakleous athloi"") are a series of episodes concerning a penance carried out by Heracles, the greatest of the Greek heroes, whose name was later Romanised as Hercules. They were accomplished over 12 years at 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, dated about 600 BC. After Hercules killed his wife and children, he went to the oracle"
"too far into the swamp, for it would not support his weight. Athena, noticing the hero's plight, gave Hercules a rattle which Hephaestus had made especially for the occasion. Hercules shook the rattle and frightened the birds into the air. Hercules then shot many of them with his arrows. The rest flew far away, never to return. The Argonauts would later encounter them. The seventh labour was to capture the Cretan Bull. Hercules sailed to Crete, where King Minos gave Hercules permission to take the Bull away and even offered him assistance (which Hercules declined plausibly because he did not"
"years, performing whatever labors Eurystheus might set him; in return, he would be rewarded with immortality. Hercules despaired at this, loathing to serve a man whom he knew to be far inferior to himself, yet fearing to oppose his father Zeus. Eventually, he placed himself at Eurystheus's disposal. Eurystheus originally ordered Hercules to perform ten labours. Hercules accomplished these tasks, but Eurystheus refused to recognize two: the slaying of the Lernaean Hydra, as Hercules' nephew and charioteer Iolaus had helped him; and the cleansing of the Augeas, because Hercules accepted payment for the labour. Eurystheus set two more tasks (fetching"
"the labours. The cleansing of the Augean stables, because Heracles was going to accept pay for the labour. Neither did he accept the killing of the Lernaean Hydra as Heracles' brother, Iolaus, had helped him burn the stumps of the multiplying heads. Eurystheus set two more tasks, fetching the Golden Apples of Hesperides and capturing Cerberus). In the end, with ease, the hero successfully performed each added task, bringing the total number of labours up to the magic number twelve. Not all versions and writers give the labours in the same order. The ""Bibliotheca"" (2.5.1–2.5.12) gives the following order: 1."
"just to slay Heracles. Upon reaching the swamp near Lake Lerna, where the Hydra dwelt, Heracles covered his mouth and nose with a cloth to protect himself from the poisonous fumes. He shot flaming arrows into the Hydra's lair, the spring of Amymone, a deep cave from which it emerged only to terrorize neighboring villages. He then confronted the Hydra, wielding either a harvesting sickle (according to some early vase-paintings), a sword, or his famed club. The chthonic creature's reaction to this decapitation was botanical: two grew back, an expression of the hopelessness of such a struggle for any but"
"the fangs of the Lernaean Hydra, so decided to spend more time thinking up a third task that would spell doom for the hero. The third task did not involve killing a beast, as it had already been established that Heracles could overcome even the most fearsome opponents, so Eurystheus decided to make him capture the female Ceryneian Hind, as it was so fast it could outrun an arrow. After beginning the search, Heracles awoke from sleeping and he could see the hind from the glint on its antlers. Heracles then chased the hind on foot for a full year"
"the lion of Cithaeron. When he returned on the thirtieth day carrying the carcass of the lion on his shoulders, King Eurystheus was amazed and terrified. Eurystheus forbade him 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 Hercules his tasks through a herald, not personally. Eurystheus even had a large bronze jar made for him in which to hide from Hercules if need be. Eurystheus then warned him that the tasks would become increasingly difficult. Hercules' second labour was to slay the"
"For the eleventh labour Heracles had to obtain the Apples of the Hesperides; he convinced their father, the Titan Atlas, to help him, but did his share of work by temporarily holding up the sky in the Titan's stead. For his final labour, he was to capture Cerberus, the three-headed hound that guarded the entrance to Hades. When he managed to bring the struggling animal back, the terrified Eurystheus hid in his jar one more time, begging Heracles to leave for good and take the dog with him. After Heracles died, Eurystheus remained bitter over the indignity the hero had"
"Lernaean Hydra The Lernaean Hydra or Hydra of Lerna (, ""Lernaîa Hýdra""), more often known simply as the Hydra, is a serpentine water monster in Greek and Roman mythology. Its lair was the lake of Lerna in the Argolid, which was also the site of the myth of the Danaïdes. Lerna was reputed to be an entrance to the Underworld, and archaeology has established it as a sacred site older than Mycenaean Argos. In the canonical Hydra myth, the monster is killed by Heracles (Hercules) as the second of his Twelve Labors. According to Hesiod, the Hydra was the offspring"
"offspring of Typhon (or Orthrus) and Echidna; it is also said to have fallen from the moon as the offspring of Zeus and Selene, or alternatively born of the Chimera. The Nemean lion was sent to Nemea in the Peloponnesus to terrorize the city. The first of Heracles' twelve labours, set by King Eurystheus (his cousin), was to slay the Nemean lion. Heracles wandered 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 alive within 30 days, the town would sacrifice a lion"