Helped by Athena, he diverted the rivers Alpheus and Peneus so that they flowed through the stables.Ħ. Heracles cleaned the stables of AUGEAS, son of Helius and king of Elis, who kept vast herds of cattle. Heracles brought back to Eurystheus the monstrous boar that lived on Mt. Pindar says that Heracles went to the land of the Hyperboreans to find the animal.Ĥ. After pursuing the beast for a year, Heracles caught it, carried it back alive to Eurystheus, and then released it. A hind with golden horns, sacred to Artemis, lived on Mt. The crab became the constellation Cancer.ģ. Helped by his nephew, IOLAÜS or IOLAOS, Heracles killed both monsters and dipped his arrows in the Hydra’s poison. Each time Heracles clubbed a head, two more grew in its place, while Hera sent a crab to make things even more difficult. A nine-headed serpent or HYDRA lived in the marshes of LERNA. Henceforth he carried the club and wore the lionskin, his two most prominent attributes in art.Ģ. Heracles killed a lion at NEMEA by means of a club, skinning it by using the animal’s own claws. Associated with them are incidental or subsequent exploits, known as parerga, “incidental deeds” ( parergon in the singular).ġ. The first six of the labors were undertaken in the Peloponnese, and the other six elsewhere. The Greek word for the “labors” is athloi, i.e., contests for a prize, which for Heracles was immortality. He inquired at Delphi how he might expiate his crime the Pythia first called him Heracles (“Glory of Hera”) rather than by his usual name, ALCIDES, or ALKIDES, “Grandson of Alcaeus,” and told him to serve Eurystheus, king of Tiryns, for twelve years, performing the labors that he would impose. Creon, king of Thebes, gave him his daughter, MEGARA, as wife.Īfter Megara had borne several children to Heracles, he killed her and the children in a fit of madness caused by Hera. Cithaeron on the borders of Boeotia, where he saved the town of Thespiae from the ravages of a lion and freed the Thebans from paying tribute to the people of Orchomenus. He killed LINUS, or LINOS, his music teacher, by striking him with his lyre.įor this murder he was exiled to Mt.
Heracles was taught chariot driving, wrestling, archery, and music by various heroes. Heracles strangled them, and Tiresias, summoned by Amphitryon, foretold how Heracles would go on to perform great labors for humankind and finally join the gods on Olympus. The prophecy of Zeus, that the child of his blood to be born that day would rule over those that lived around him, was fulfilled by Eurystheus, for whom Heracles performed his labors.Īfter the birth of Heracles, which took place when a servant of Alcmena tricked Eileithyia into relaxing her guard, Hera sent a pair of snakes to kill the twins. Hera, angry with Zeus, sent Eileithyia to delay the birth of Alcmena’s twins and hasten the birth of EURYSTHEUS, child of Sthenelus, grandson of Zeus and king of Mycenae. She bore twins, Heracles, son of Zeus, and IPHICLES, or IPHIKLES, son of Amphitryon. She would not lie with him until he had attacked the Teleboans and avenged her brothers, whom they had killed in the earlier war.Īmphitryon returned victorious to find that Alcmena had already lain with Zeus in the same night. Electryon also planned to leave his nephew, AMPHITRYON, as king in his place, and he betrothed his daughter, ALCMENA, or ALKMENE, to him.Īmphitryon accidentally killed Electryon and left Mycenae to go into exile at Thebes, taking Alcmena with him.
Electryon planned to attack the Teleboans, who had retreated to their land in western Greece, taking the cattle of Pterelaüs. HERACLES, or HERAKLES (HERCULES), the most popular of Greek heroes, is associated especially with the area around Argos and with Thebes, where he was born.ĮLECTRYON ELEKTRYON, son of Perseus and king of Mycenae, fought with Pterelaüs, king of the Teleboans.
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