Heracles

In Greek mythology, Heracles ("glory of Hera") was the son of Zeus and Alcmene, the grand-daughter of Perseus and the wife of Amphitryon. In Roman mythology he is called Hercules. He was, arguably, the greatest of the mythical Greek heroes and many stories are told of his life. The most famous group of stories tell of The Twelve Labors of Hercules.

Birth and Childhood

Heracles was a son of Zeus and Alcmene. A major factor in the tragedies surrounding Heracles stem from Hera's hatred of him; as the wife of Zeus she often hated his mortal offspring, especially so in Heracles' case. While pregnant with Heracles, Hera tried to prevent Alcmene from giving birth. She was foiled by Galanthis, her servant, who told Hera that she had already delivered the baby. Hera turned her into a weasel. A few months after he was born, Hera sent two serpents to kill him as a he lay in his cot. Heracles throttled a single snake in each hand and was found by his nurse playing with their limp bodies as if they were child's toys. One account of the origin of the Milky Way is that Zeus had tricked Hera into nursing the infant Heracles: discovering who he was, she had pulled him from her breast, and a spurt of her milk formed the smear across the sky that can be seen to this day.

Adulthood

He continued to perform such feats, such as slaying a lion that was preying on the local flocks and defending Thebes against a neighbouring army. For the latter he was awarded the King of Thebes' (Creon) daughter, Megara. However, in a fit of madness, induced by Hera, Heracles slew his wife and children; the fit then passed. Realising what he had done, he isolated himself, going into the wilderness and living alone. He was found (by his brother Iphicles) and convinced to visit the Oracle at Delphi.

The Oracle told him that as a penance he would have to perform a series of ten tasks set by the man he hated the most, King Eurystheus. There was an enmity between Eurystheus and Heracles as by right Heracles should've been king but Eurystheus's birth was induced early by Hera and Heracles' delayed so that Heracles would not be king. This came to be when Zeus, having impregnated Alcmene proclaimed that the next son born of the house of Perseus would become king; Hera, hearing this caused Eurystheus to be born two months early as he was of the house of Perseus, while Heracles was three months overdue. When he found out what had been done Zeus was furious, however, his rash proclamation still stood.

The Twelve Labors

Note: Heracles was accompanied by his friend, Licymnius, on many of these labors.

First Labor: the Nemean Lion

The first task was to slay the Nemean Lion and bring back its skin, this lion was far more fearsome than the one slain by Heracles in his youth. Its hide was impervious to any blade and his club splintered upon the first strike.

Heracles defeated the beast by throttling it with his bare hands because its skin was so thick that using his bow-and-arrow, a club made from an olive tree he pulled out of the ground himself and a bronze sword were all ineffective. Heracles spent hours trying to skin the lion unsuccessfully, and gradually growing angrier as it appeared he would be unable to complete his first task. Eventually Athene, in the guise of an old crone, helped Heracles to realise that the best tool to cut the hide were the creature's own claws and so with a little divine intervention he completed his first task.

From that moment forth he wore the impenetrable hide as armour, and Eurystheus was so scared by Heracle's fearsome guise that he hid in a bronze jar and from that moment forth all labours were communicated to Heracles through a herald.

Second Labor: the Lernean Hydra

His second labour was to slay the Lernean Hydra, a formidable snake-like beast that possessed nine (usually nine, it ranged from five to one hundred) heads and poisonous breath. For this task Heracles took his nephew, Iolaus, with him as a charioteer.

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 and fired flaming arrows into its lair to draw it out. He then confronted it, but upon cutting off one of its heads he found that it (or two) grew back, the same happened again upon cutting off a second head; realising that he could not defeat the hydra in this way Heracles called on Iolaus for help. His nephew then came upon the idea (possibly inspired by Athene) of using a burning firebrand to scorch the neck stumps after decapitation and handed him the blazing brand. Heracles cut off each head and Iolaus burned the open stump leaving the hydra dead and taking its one immortal head he placed it under a great rock, and dipped his arrows in the hydra's poisonous blood, and so his second task was complete. In an alternate version, Hera sent a crab to bite his feet and bother him, hoping to cause his death. When Eurystheus found out that it was Heracles' nephew who had handed him the firebrand he declared that the labour had not been completed alone and as a result did not count towards the ten labours set for him.

Third Labor: the Cerynian Hind

Eurystheus was greatly angered to find that Heracles had managed to escape death for a second time and so decided to spend more time upon 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 survive even the most fearsome opponents, so Eurystheus decided to make him capture the Cerynian Hind, a beautiful creature sacred to Artemis, the chaste goddess of the hunt and moon. The hind possessed hooves of bronze and antlers of gold and it was said that it could outrun an arrow in flight. Heracles pursued the hind for a year, when he awoke from sleep he could see it from the glint on its antlers; upon finally catching the animal (sometimes by shooting it with an arrow) he was confronted by Artemis who wanted to know what he was doing with it. Heracles explained that he had to catch it as part of his penance, but he promised to return it. Upon bringing the hind to Eurystheus, he was told that it was to become part of the King's menagerie. Heracles knew that he had to return the hind as he had promised to Artemis, so he agreed to hand it over on the condition that Eurystheus himself came out and took it from him. The King came out but the moment Heracles let the hind go, it sprinted back to her mistress, and Heracles left saying that Eurystheus had not been quick enough.

Fourth Labor: the Erymanthian Boar

His fourth Labour was to capture the Erymanthian Boar.

On the way there, Heracles visited Pholus, a kind centaur and old friend. Heracles ate with him and asked for wine; Pholus had only one jar of wine, a gift from Dionysus to all the centaurs