HERACLES
MYTHOLOGY
MYTHOLOGY
 Hercules Labors Mosaic Date: First third of 3th century Location: Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid |
Heracles was a hero of Greek mythology. He was considered the son of Zeus and Alcmene, a mortal queen, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus on his mother´s side.
This is the most famous of the Greek heroes, the paradigm of manhood and Olympic order against chthonic monsters. His extraordinary strength is his main attributes, but so are courage, pride, some sexual candor and a formidable force. He is considered the ancestor of the Kings of Sparta (so these Dorians leaders were legitimized as Achaeans) and the influence of the polis in Archaic and Classical Greece was one of the reasons for the spread of his legend and his cult, making Heracles the Dorian hero per se. Mythological tales abound about him, and the most famous are the twelve labors. The stories in which the protagonist forms a cycle is constantly developed during old age, it explains how difficult it is to make a chronological or even coherent exposition of them.
 Hercules and the Hydra Statue (detail) Location: Jardín de la Isla, Real Sitio de Aranjuez, España |
 Hercules and the Nemean Lion Statue Location: Jardín de la Isla, Real Sitio de Aranjuez, España |
On the scheduled evening the twins were born, Zeus swore that the member of the house of Perseus to be born that night would become a great king. When Hera knew of the oath and Zeus adultery, she hated the fruit of his infidelity and wanted to harm him. He ran to the house of Alcmene and delivery slowed down the birth by cross-legged sitting and knotting her clothes. At the same time, still crowned, he caused the birth of Euristeo to happen, cousin of the twins, two months in advanced. Later Hera untied the knots and allowed Alcmene gave birth to two children.
 The Ceryneian Hind Statue Location: Jardín de la Isla, Real Sitio de Aranjuez, España |
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The Nemean Lion
This mythological being was bred by Hera that placed it in the town of Nemea to kill the population of the region, that is to say, everyone who dared to trespass the city wall or come across it would be killed. The labor for Heracles to carry out was the death of the lion. He tried to kill the lion with arrows but its skin was so hard that the arrows were not effective, so Heracles blocked the cave entrance where the lion was and fought with him, he managed to kill him by choking to death, gasping the lion´s legs tightly. The lion was sacrificed and he used its skin to cover himself to meet Eurystheus.
 Hercules and the Stymphalian birds Mosaic (detail) Location: Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid, España |
The Lernean Hydra.
Like Nemean Lion, Hera bred Hidra, a mythological snake of nine heads its scales were so hard as the steel. This snake was more dangerous than the lion. When Heracles cut one of its nine heads, a double head appeared. Hercules asked Iolaus, his nephew, for help. During the battle between Heracles and the Hydra, Iolaus was in charge of holding a torch which was pressed on the tendons of the cut head to prevent the growth of the double head. The only head that could not be cut was the one in the middle since it was immortal, but Heracles chopped it off and buried it covered with a heavy stone.
The Erymanthian boar
In this labour Heracles had to capture a huge and very fierce boar which lived on Mount Erymanthos. Heracles wanted to release the farmers of the area, he tried to fight the boar in the heavy snow, so he screamed to catch its attention. In the snow Heracles was sure the animal would not be able to escape due to the thickness of the snow. Thus, he used a net to catch the boar and he was able to walk down the mountain with it. When the king saw the boar he ordered Hercules to take him back to the hills.
 Hercules and the Augean stables Mosaic (detail)Location: Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid, España |
 Hercules fighting with the Cretan BullMarble statuette Author: J.M. Félix Magdalena Date: 2009 |
The Cerynitian Hind
This animal was a golden-horned deer that belonged to the goddess Artemis, their horns were gold and its hooves were made of bronze. It was was so fast that it took Hercules a whole year to catch it. The animal toured worldwide until he reached the Hyperboreans,and hid in Artemisium. Hercules wounded it with an arrow making it easy to be caught and took it back to Mycenae. Later, the hero met Artemis and Apollo, when they saw that he had caught a sacred beast they wanted to kill him, however Eurystheus defended him and the gods let him go.
 Hercules and the mares of Diomedes Marble statuette Author: J.M. Félix Magdalena Date: 2010 |
In the fifth labour, Heracles must end with the birds that haunted lake Stymphalis in Arcadia. They used to attack human beings.
To make them leave Hercules used a rattle that Athena had given him and had been manufactured by the blacksmith Hephaestus; the noise they produced scared them so much that they took flight away from there. Hercules shot them down with poisoned arrows one by one.
The stables of King Augeas
The protagonist of this episode is the king of Elis in the Peloponnese, called Augeas. He had several stables with lots of sheep and goats, he was very greedy and did not want to spend money on cleaning the stables, for this reason the excrement of animals had piled for years. Eurystheus wanted to ridicule Hercules and forced him to clean them. The king promised a third of the livestock if he was able to clean it up, Hercules diverted the course of the rivers Alpheus and Peneus, and it flew into the stables cleaning it all. The king did not want to do the deal he had made with Hercules so a war started to kill him for his offense.
 Hercules with the golden apples of the Hesperides statue Location: Palazzo del Melograno, Genua |
 Hercules gets the belt of Hyppolyta Marble statuett eAuthor: J.M. Félix Magdalena Date: 2010 |
The Cretan bull
The bull was a gift by Poseidon. King Minos should sacrifice the bull to the god of the sea, but the king did not obey orders so that the god made the bull mad and the beast destroyed everything and everyone who were in its path. Eurystheus challenged Hercules to bring him bull, after he travelled to Crete, he sought help from the king, who willingly accepted. Heracles managed to capture him and took him to Greece across the sea carrying the animal on his shoulders.
Mares of Diomedes
This time Eurystheus challenged Heracles to bring the mares of King Diomedes of Thrake, son of Ares and famous for his cruelty, since he fed his horses on human flesh. With the help of his friend Abderus, who took care of the horses in Heracles’ absence and was killed by them, he captured the horses. To end all this cruelty and to avenge his friend’s death, Heracles killed Diomedes and fed the horses with their master´s body. He tamed them and came back to Greece.
The belt of Hippolyte
The daughter of Eurystheus asked his father for the belt of the queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta. Heracles went to the queen and she gladly accepted to give it in. Hera got angry for the easiness of this labour, so she disguised as the queen and began to spread some rumours on Hercules, that caused a war in which the queen of the Amazons died in arms of Heracles..
Cattle of Geryon
In this labour Eurystheus sent Hercules to bring the herd of oxen Geryon. For this he had to kill the shepherd guarding them, Eurityon, their guard god, Orthros, and Geryon himself. .
The Cerberus can
This mythological creature was responsible for guarding the gates of the underworld; it was a three-headed dog. Eurystheus ordered Heracles to bring him the dog. For this labour, he was accompanied by Hermes. They went to Tenaro where they believed the door was located. When he stood before Hades he asked Hades to give him Cerberus. When he brought it to Eurystheus he was asked to return it to the underworld.
The apples of the Hesperides
When the goddess Hera married Zeus, Ge gave them the golden apples that Hera planted in their garden and were guarded by the Hesperides with the help of a dragon.
Eurystheus ordered Heracles to pick the fruit. To search the garden of Hera, Heracles used the glass of Helio. Prometheus told Heracles to seek for Atlas, the Titan which was responsible for holding the Earth. Hercules asked him the whereabouts of the garden but he refused to tell and he had to look for the apples on his own. Heracles managed to kill the dragon and got the apples. When the fruits were given to Eurystheus, he again gave them to Athena and were planted back in their garden.
In Spain I have not found any sentence that uses the expression, "The Twelve Labors of Hercules".
 Hercules and Cerberus Mosaic Location: Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid, España |
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