Paragraphs on THe Nemean Lion, Hydra, Ceryneia and Erymanthean Boar

“…my other companions, who in their numbers went down before the glorious Hektor” (378, Iliad, 18.102).

He succeeded in capturing them, but Diomedes and his men pursued him. Hercules turned on his pursuers. They fought, and he was victorious. He threw the body of Diomedes to the horses. After they had eaten their master, they became tame, and Hercules had no trouble leading them back to Eurystheus. The Girdle of Hippolyta. Hippolyta was the queen of the Amazons, a band of warrior women whose reputation for courage was untarnished.

Especially after Io’s entrance and the recount of her story, Hera seems more like a jealous wife than the noble queen she is presented as in Hesiod’s work. Her attitude towards Io is blamed on Zeus, who has not only provoked Hera’s actions but is her husband and thus responsible for Hera, as it was customary in ancient Greece.

“Hercules demonstrated his strength right from birth. He choked the serpents that had been sent to him by the jealous Hera.” (classicsunveiled.com)

One day Hera, still wanting to wreak havoc upon Hercules’ life, influenced Hercules to kill his own wife and children. When Hercules came to his senses and realized what he had done, he was overcome with grief. He immediately went to the oracle at Delphi and asked how he could cleanse himself of his sins. The Oracle replied, “You must go to Mycenae and serve King Eurystheus for twelve years. Only by doing this will you ever be free of your pain and guilt” (Richardson and Baxter 10).

In spite of this traditional view, Heracles proves contradictory multiple times. Firstly, his image as protector of civilization; protector of Greece (Women of Trachis l.1012) is undermined by the destructive impulses that Heracles unleashes on the enemies of Greece, as well as upon the entire city of Oechalia. For example when he seeks vengeance against Eurytus, it results in the sacking of an entire city, and he responds to his wife’s love by bringing home with him the object of his lust, Iole. He even releases these destructive tendencies on his own family, on his wife Deianira and in particular his eldest son Hyllus. The establishment of a family as a social unit and may be seen as a combination of values which should be preserved, however Heracles destroys this in his desire for vengeance. This is because he has no care for the disastrous effects this will have on others, especially his family. Our attention is thus drawn to the animalistic tendencies of his nature, as we witness his decisions being dominated by vindictiveness, and revenge, rather than the due justice. Even towards the end of the Sophocles’ construction, Heracles has continued the failure to recognize that he it is his own destructive impulses that have eventually caused his ruin. He claims

soon Hercules came and destroyed the eagle and rescued him. this resource is very useful for the Greek mythology project

cattle and lost their lives. There were a lot of times where Odysseus did this and got his

Hercules ran into the kingdom and ran up the stairs to get to the secret room and grabbed the medicine he needed put in his bag and ran out of the room, ran back down the stairs and out of the kingdom to the

The third Labor was the capture the hind of the Cerynitian, a female deer with golden horns. It was very important to Artemis, so Hercules had to be very careful not to wound it. He hunted for a year when he found it on the banks of the River Ladon in Arcadia. With his bow and arrow, he shot an arrow between the tendons and bones of its forelegs, which pinned it down without drawing blood. Artemis was unhappy, but Hercules managed to place the blame on Eurystheus.

The story of Heracles that comes to people’s mind is not what Heracles had to do during his life. Throughout the life of Heracles, he has shown that he deserved to be remembered as a great hero, through the opposition that he faced from the

These labors were designated to him through King Eurystheus because of the unspeakable acts he committed. Hercules sought out many prophets, only in the end to return to King Eurystheus to complete his 12 suicidal labors. One of the last 6 labors completed was to capture the Cretan Bull. Minos promised Poseidon that he would sacrifice whatever the god sent to him. Poseidon sent a great bull, but Minos thought it was too beautiful to kill. So he killed another bull, and Poseidon grew angry so he made it rampage through the city of Crete. Hercules wrestled the bull to the ground. He carried the bull back to Eurystheus, but it could not be tamed so Eurystheus set it free. The 8th labor Hercules had to complete was stealing the Mares of Diomedes. Diomedes’ Mares are 4 men eating horses with terrible tempers. Diomedes kept the horses chained to a golden post to keep them from escaping. Hercules snuck behind the golden post taming the horses, and right before he could release them Diomedes soldiers began attacking Hercules. From hearing all the commotion Diomedes awakens. He is informed that Hercules is trying to steal the mares from a random foot soldier. Diomedes is irate and attacks Hercules.

     The inhabitants of different cities had their fears put to rest when Heracles came to town. Many of the twelve tasks that Heracles endured involved killing things that had the people living in fear. The people of the cities as well as continued generations following considered Heracles to the greatest of heroes. The Disney version, Hercules, the Latin name for Heracles, was a completely different version. Its portrayal of the story was inaccurate in a lot of ways. It painted the picture as Hercules’ enemy being Hades. It depicted Hercules through the eyes of what society considers a hero now.

fell victim to Hera's hatred towards him. What Hera did was send a fit of

King Eurypterus told Hercules that the only way to cleanse himself is to complete 12 heroic labors. He added that performing these labors would cause Hercules to become an immortal god with honor restored. Hercules first labor was to kill the Nemean lion. The second labor was to kill the multi-headed hydra. The third labor was to capture Cerynitian without wounding it. The fourth labor was to capture an enormous boar. The fifth labor was to clean the stables of King Augeas in a single day. The sixth labor was to kill the stymphalian birds without entering the swamp. The seventh labor tasked Hercules was disposal of the Minotaur. The eighth labor was to bring the mares of Diomedes to King Eurypterus. The ninth labor was to retrieve the belt of the queen Hippolyta. The tenth labor was to capture cattle that belonged to Geryon, a monster. The eleventh