A Brief History
Whether you know this Greek Hero as Herakles, Heracles, or Hercules, and whether you picture him as played by Arnold Schwarzenneger or Kevin Sorbo, this man who has come to symbolize all that is strong and heroic did not always have it so good himself.
Digging Deeper
Born of the God Zeus and a mortal mother, this demi-god was hated by Hera, Queen of the Gods and wife of Zeus, although at first his true identity was hidden from Hera, who nursed him as a baby. Possessing incredible strength even then, the little Hercules sucked so hard that Hera’s milk spewed across the heavens to form the Milky Way.
Growing into a strong, witty, and attractive man, Hercules took a wife and had children, but in a fit of madness put upon him by the vengeful Hera murdered his entire family. When free of the madness, Hercules consulted the Oracle at Delphi to find out how he could atone for so grave a sin. Again, with Hera’s influence, Hercules was given to King Eurystheus to serve at the King’s pleasure. Hercules was to be given 10 tasks known as The Labours of Hercules. Each of these labours was either incredibly difficult, dangerous, or both, and would require all of Hercules intellect as well as strength. Hercules was cheated out of credit for 2 of the tasks and therefore had to complete a total of 12 Labours. These labours are:
1. Slay the Nemean Lion.
Unable to penetrate the lion’s magical hide with his arrows, Hercules clubbed it senseless and strangled it with his tremendous strength.
2. Slay the Lernaean Hydra.
Using a golden sword given to him by Athena, as Hercules cut off each head of the multi-headed monster 2 new ones would grow back. He then used a burning torch to burn each neck stump as he cut each head off to keep it from regrowing extra heads. Hercules finally cut off the last, immortal head. Just for good measure, Hercules dipped his supply of arrows in the poisonous blood of the Hydra to create poisoned arrows for use in later tasks.
3. Capture the Ceryneian Hind.
Faster than an arrow, this female deer owned by Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt. After chasing the Hind for over a year, Hercules captured it either while sleeping, or with a net, or with an arrow shot between both forelegs. An angry Artemis agreed to allow him to take the Hind back to Eurystheus as long as it would be released. Hercules brought the Hind back, but made sure it could escape when he handed it over to the King.
4. Capture the Erymanthian Boar.
This next monster to be conquered was kept by bloodthirsty Centaurs, who Hercules killed with his poisoned arrows. He then captured the boar by driving it into deep snow where it struggled helplessly.
5. Clean the Augean Stables.
Not exactly dangerous, but a daunting task nonetheless, these stables were home to over 1000 cattle (and perhaps other critters) and had not been cleaned for over 30 years. The accumulated filth would have taken years to clean by any normal methods. Hercules used his ingenuity to divert a river through the stables to wash away the filth and complete the task. Hercules has wisely bargained with Augeas for a tenth of the cattle if Hercules could complete the task.
6. Kill the Stymphalian Birds.
These man eating bird with metallic feathers that protected them and could be flung at people like arrows were sacred to Ares, God of War, and had highly toxic dung as well. Hercules tricked them into flight with a magic rattle and shot his arrows into their unprotected parts as they flew, killing many and driving the rest away. (These surviving birds would later battle Jason and the Argonauts.)
7. Capture the Cretan Bull.
This giant, rampaging creature was devastating the countryside of King Minos realm. Hercules captured it by sneaking up behind it and choking it just short of death. On return with his prize, Hercules gave it to a cowering King Eurystheus who let it loose where it became the Marathon Bull. (There is no record of Schlitz Brewing ever to have taken ownership.)
8. Bring Back the Mares of Diomedes.
Firebreathing, man-eating horses owned by the King of Thrace, Hercules isolated them by digging a ditch around them effectively putting them on an island. After killing Diomedes, Hercules bound the mouths of the mares and drove them back home where Eurystheus wanted to sacrifice them to Zeus, who refused the sacrifice and sent wolves, bears, and lions to kill them instead.
9. Retrieve the Belt of Hippolyta.
Sent on a perilous journey to bring back the belt of the Amazon Queen for the daughter of Eurystheus, Hercules established a cordial relationship with the warrior Queen who agreed to just give him the belt. Hera got up to her tricks, and sowed discontent among the Amazons who then confronted Hercules. Our hero then killed the Amazons, including Hippolyta who he wrongly thought had plotted against him and took her belt.
10. Bring Back the Cattle of Geryon.
On another epic journey far across the Libyan desert, Hercules traveled to steal the cattle of the monster Geryon. In a tremendous battle, Hercules prevailed by using his poisoned arrows to kill the giant. Just to make things harder for Hercules, Hera sent biting flies to torment the cattle as Hercules drove them back to Eurystheus causing him extra time and effort in this task.
11. Steal the Apples of the Hesperides.
Eurystheus declared the 10 labours incomplete, claiming that Hercules had profited by the cleaning of the Augean Stables (and the river did the work, anyway) and that killing the Hydra did not count because Hercules had the help of a boy to burn the neck stumps. Hercules convinced Atlas to retrieve the apples for him, by offering to hold up Atlas’s massive burden of the Heavens while Atlas got the apples. Of course, Atlas laughed at Hercules once the switch was made, and had no intention of resuming his eternal role of supporting the Heavens. Hercules tricked Atlas by agreeing to take over the task permanently, but could Atlas please take the load for a minute while Hercules adjusted his cloak to pad his shoulders? Atlas fell for the trick, and Hercules left with the apples.
12. Capture Cerberus.
The ferocious 3 headed monster dog that guarded the entrance to the Underworld, Cerberus was owned by Hades, God of the Underworld. Hades agreed to let Hercules take the Hell Hound only if Hercules could subdue the creature without using weapons. The might Hero managed to do just that, and returned triumphantly with his last prize. The coward Eurystheus was so afraid of Cerberus, that he begged Hercules to return the monster to the Underworld.
After fulfilling his obligation by successfully completing each task, Hercules was free to go about his heroic life, and he joined with Jason and the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece.
Today Hercules has become synonymous with “strong man” and has been the subject of numerous television and movie characters, even cartoons, as well as appearing in many written stories over the centuries. He even had a thirteenth and final labor in God of War III (2010). Watch the following video to see if he succeeded:
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Cerasini, Rc. Twelve Labors of Hercules (Step into Reading, Step 3, paper). Random House Books for Young Readers, 1997.
Haus, Estudio and Blake Hoena. The 12 Labors of Hercules: A Graphic Retelling (Ancient Myths). Capstone Press, 2015.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by Marie-Lan Nguyen of the front panel from a sarcophagus with the Labours of Heracles (from left to right, the Nemean Lion, the Lernaean Hydra, the Erymanthian Boar, the Ceryneian Hind, the Stymphalian birds, the Girdle of Hippolyta, the Augean stables, the Cretan Bull and the Mares of Diomedes), has been released by the copyright holder of this work into the public domain worldwide.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="12666 https://www.historyandheadlines.com/?p=12666">54 Comments
HS-196 Emily S.
I found this article to be very interesting because I had heard of the 10 labours of Hercules but never knew what they were specifically. The number of times that Hera interfered with Hercules task really showed how much she despised him. The question posed at the end of the article was who is your favorite hero, and although Hercules story is very entertaining my favorite hero is Achilles.
I find it interesting all the different events that Hercules had to encounter just to be recognized. I feel he deserves the title “strong man”.
Wow, what I thought I knew about Hercules is nothing compared to what this article shared. I had no idea that Hera killed his whole family. Nor did I know that his mother was mortal and Hera was tricked into raising him
I think this is a very cool story because I never knew what the specific tasks were that hercules had to perform. Also I never knew the influence that Hera had on his life
I learned a little bit about Hercules in some of my classes when I was in high school. But none of it compares to what I have read here.
It amazes me that Hera could go from nursing Hercules to hating him so much simply because she was not his biological mother.
Cool article. Hercules is definitely my favorite greek hero.
I grew up loving the tales of Hercules that I saw through animated productions, however I never truly knew of the 10 labours of Hercules. It’s so saddening that Hera had the potential to kill her whole family, and could turn on someone that she mothered so quickly just because she was not his biological mother.
I’m not sure that I have a favorite Greek hero, but Hercules seemed to be a pretty notable Greek hero. The tasks that he completed were no small feet, yet he somehow managed to complete them. I am confused by some of the comments on here though. I would not personally hate a step child, but I do understand how she could be mad that her husband was sleeping around.
The fact that Hercules had to perform all of these tasks is nuts. Thankfully he had superior strength since he was the son of Zeus. If he did not have this I do not know if he would have been able to complete these tasks.
Being such a popular Disney film, it’s always funny that a lot of people don’t know about how terrifying his life really was. I wouldn’t want to mess with Hera…
Learning about Hercules I was just a kid watching a Disney movie. Over the years I have learned more about the heroic figure. I think that it is very interesting with all of the steps he had to go through.
In being the son of Zeus, Hercules was born having the greatest strength because Zeus was the greatest of the gods. Hercules, however, grew up with the hatred of Hera always surrounding him which made him kill his family in a rage. It is interesting to see how the gods get involved in the affairs of humans and other gods (demi-gods). The hatred of Hera however makes the viewer want to see the success of Hercules in his great tasks. The story of Hercules was always one of my favorite in mythology. The different spellings of his name just goes to show how widespread this myth was in different cultures.
Hercules is only one of the children of Zeus that Hera plagued with monstrous struggles. His name was actually given to him in hopes of appeasing her and protecting him.
Hercules has to be one of the greatest characters in Greek mythology. He fought well and accomplished all that was asked of him but i have to agree that the Hydra was the toughest of them all.
It’s sad to see that Hera cared for much for Hercules and then completely turn on him when she found she was his actual mother.
I cannot believe the strength of Hercules and that he was able to club the lion senseless and strangled it with his tremendous strength. I think Hercules is probably the most notably written and well known characters in Greek Mythology.
Cerberus is my favorite part of Greek history because of its severe monstrosity depicted in so many different forms, my favorite being from Kingdom Hearts. It’s always really cool learning about Hercules’ struggles, especially against a beast as vicious as Cerberus.
Hercules is one of the best Greek legends, his story along with Achilles are extremely entertaining.
Crazy how different the actual story is then the one we all heard when we were children!
Hercules was one of those gods in Hellenic lore that many towns claimed to have been visited by. It is interesting to see the extent with which this sort of myth happens.
I used to watch Disney version of Hercules at least once a week as a kid so he is definitely my favorite Greek hero.
In some other realm or video game, who would win? David, the Goliath slayer, or Herakles? I would say that probably Herakles because he is demi-god, but David also has a striking reputation as a bloodthirsty killer.
This makes me want to watch the Disney movie version of the story of Hercules. I would have loved to see the look on Hades face after Hercules beat Cerberus without any weapons.
Using Hydra poison to kill people later on seems pretty bad ass and Hercules was a bad ass for sure
I just want to watch the Disney version of Hercules, its less bloody and has the cute love story of course!
I just want to watch the Disney version of Hercules, its less bloody and has the cute kind of love story of course!
Hercules was jacked and ripped so it doesn’t surprise me that he was able to perform all of these. Cleaning those stables by himself was most impressive due to how large the stable was.
Alright so as interesting as all of the labours of Hercules were… I think the most interesting part was at the very beginning where the author noted that Hercules sucked so hard as a baby at Hera’s breast that it shot milk out to form the milky way galaxy. Is this why we call it the milky way? Interesting…
Just looked it up… not at all why we call it the milky way galaxy.
I think we’re way overdue for a good Hercules game, the history basically writes itself. Pretty picky of Eurystheus to not give Hercules credit for killing the Hydra though.
Hercules was my favorite movie as a child. I, seeing myself as a skinny kid with little strength, always dreamed to just muster up unbelievable strength to complete tasks such as these. Naturally, the clip from the Disney movie is my favorite from this reading. I’d also like a crack at Meg…
Herakles is depicted not only as being powerful, but as wise and crafty as well. It interests me to think how the story of Herakles’ 12 labors has impacted literature moving from the ancient era into the modern one
This tale is obviously the inspiration and etymology for the term ‘herculean task’.
Also, I haven’t seen the Disney movie since it came out on VHS, so I definitely need to rewatch.
Hercules really had to go through a lot, but these tasks are the epitome of his might and strength.
The Labours of Hercules show just how strong he was. I could not imagine trying to capture a bull, but Hercules showed no fear and did these labors with ease.
The range of examples on this page alone of Herc in various types of media is great evidence for how prevalent the myth still is . Though I’ve always had a bit of a pet peeve with Disney’s Hercules for making Hades the bad guy.
I have never seen any of the Hercules movies prior to reading this but I have found these 12 tasks very interesting when we learned about them in class. This was a very entertaining read.
I enjoyed the different videos that accompanied these labors
I never really got into Disney movies so I never really knew too much about Hercules until I played God of War 3. Even then, since he was not the main character you did not learn too much about his labors. Hercules seems to be much better than Bellerophon and Perseus when completing tasks against Greek monsters.
You would think that Hercules, could have saved himself a lot of trouble, by just killing Eurystheus, as he doesn’t seem to be a great powerful,being, or a strong willed man at all. Compare to what Hercules did, I see no reason he couldn’t have saved himself a lot of trouble, but it wouldn’t be such a good story.
One of my favorite people in mythology. The Labours are a great sotry.
This guy deserved to be a god after all the things he had to do.
After working on a farm for a number of years I give him the uttermost respect for cleaning “the stables that were home to over 1000 cattle (and perhaps other critters) and had not been cleaned for over 30 years.”
I hate that now whenever I think of the beautiful galaxy we live in I have to imagine a baby taking a breastmilk spit-take across the cosmos. Goodness.
After proving himself, he deserved to be a god after what he had completed.
This was a really interesting read, but I also cannot stop thinking of a baby making the milky way out of breast milk.
hard work gets you god things and takes you far places. this perosn deserved to be a god afer all his work and dedication
It was interesting to see that he completed 12 tasks but they supposedly only gave him credit for 10.
It’s interesting to see that he only got credit for 10 tasks but he had to do 12, I’ve never heard that before.
I love the fact that there are all of these dangerous tasks that mostly involve killing some sort of monster, then out of nowhere there’s the “Hey, go clean these stalls that we’ve put off doing for 30 years.”
i was never a big fan of Hercules so i did not know much of his story til now. Interesting that he was not a god.
The disney hercules movies have some of these tasks but not all of them! The reasoning to why he did them too were different than the mythology. Very interesting though!
How do they give him such little credit for what he accomplished?? He should have gotten the title of a god for all he had to go through.