Legend of Hercules 12 labors

Hercules’ Birth (Aka: Zeus is a horn dog) Zeus looked down on the earth and fell in love with the lovely Alcemene. Unfortunately, she was a faithful wife and he knew he would not be able to woo her. So Zeus took the form of her husband and seduced her. She became pregnant with his son, Hercules.

Baby Daddy Drama Cont. HeraHera, Zeus' wife, is none too pleased that her cheating husband is up to his old tricks again. Just before it is time for Heracles and Iphicles to be born, Hera makes Zeus swear that the next descendant of Perseus to be born will be high king. Zeus thinks this baby is going to be Heracles and agrees without any argument. Hera, of course, has some tricks up her sleeve. Determined to rob Heracles of his birthright, she enlists the help of Ilithyia, goddess of childbirth. Ilithyia simultaneously speeds up the birth of another descendant of Perseus named Eurystheus and slows down the birth of Heracles and Iphicles by sitting cross-legged and tying her clothes into knots.

Little orphan Hercules Alcmene is so afraid of Hera's wrath that she abandons baby Heracles. Fortunately for our little hero, however, Athena, comes along and saves him. Athena decides to play a little trick on Hera and takes baby Heracles to the queen of the gods to be breastfed. Hera, not knowing who the baby is, agrees, but Heracles either sucks too hard or bites her nipple (depending on who you talk to). As Hera yanks her breast away, her milk sprays into the sky and creates the Milky Way. Ironically, little Heracles, whom Hera hates, is made extra strong by her breast milk.

There’s a snake in my…cradle? After this, Athena takes Heracles back to Alcmene and tells her to take better care of the little tike. Hera is now raging mad and decides to send two big snakes to eat Heracles in his cradle. To Heracles, however, the snakes are just fun toys, and he squeezes and squeezes them until they're dead. Everybody around is amazed at how strong a baby he is. It's at this point, that Heracles actually earns the name we know him by. (Alcmene and Amphytrion first named him Alcaeus.) Since part of the reason he's so super strong is because of Hera's steroid filled breast milk, everybody around starts calling him Heracles, which basically means glory by the aid of Hera.

12 Labors of Hercules

Hera knows how to hold a grudge The goddess Hera/Juno was determined to trouble Hercules/ Heracles. She made him lose his mind and he killed his own wife, Megera, and his children. When he came back to his normal state, Hercules was shocked and upset by what he'd done. He prayed to the god of the sun, Apollo, for guidance. The god's oracle told him he would have to serve Eurystheus, the king of Tiryns and Mycenae, for twelve years, as a punishment. Hercules had to perform twelve Labors (there were originally ten labors but Eurystheus changed it to twelve), feats so difficult that they seemed impossible. Fortunately, Hercules had the help of Hermes/Mercury and Athena/Minerva, sympathetic deities.

Nemean Lion

1 st Trial Eurystheus ordered him to bring the skin of the Nemean lion, as his first labor. The beast was thought to be the offspring of the monsters Typhon and Echidna. Hera, Zeus’ wife, had the lion sent to the valley of Nemea. This monster terrorized the local population and made their lives miserable. This lion was very unique for spears and arrows could not hurt him. So, when Hercules shot his arrows, nothing had happened. Instead, he decided to strangle him with his two bare hands. In the end, he killed the lion. When he tried to cut the skin of the lion, it would not come off. So he brought the lion back to Eurystheus. Eurystheus became very afraid of Hercules and told him the rest of his labors from afar.

The Hydra

2 nd Trial Hercules next labor was to kill the Lernaenan Hydra. It inhabited the murky waters of the swamps near a Lerna. The hydra was a monstrous serpent with nine heads and it attacked with poisonous venom. Of the nine heads, one of them was immortal. Hercules knocked of the head with the clubs but for every head knocked off, two new heads grew. Since hitting the heads with his clubs did nothing, he burned the heads and buried the immortal head under a boulder. This was with help from his trusty nephew, Iolaus. Iolaus, who shared many adventures with Hercules, accompanied him on many of the twelve labors. Eurystheus was not impressed with Hercules' feat, however. He said that since Iolaus had helped his uncle, this labor should not count as one of the ten.

Ceryneian Hind

3 rd Trial For the third labor, Heracles was to bring the Ceryneian hind. A hind is a red female deer. This was unique because it had gold horns and bronze hoofs. Not only that but this deer was sacred to Diana/Artemis, goddess of hunting and the moon. This means that Heracles cannot kill nor hurt Diana's special pet. Hercules found and shot the deer as it was about to cross a stream. He was about to go back to Mycenae with the hind but he met Diana and Apollo on the way.Diana was very angry because Hercules tried to kill her animal. She was about to take the deer away from Hercules but Hercules told why he did what he did. Diana let go of her anger and healed the deer's wound. Hercules carried it alive back to Mycenae.

Erymanthian Boar

4 th Trial This boar lived on Mount Erymanthus. It wasn't too hard for Hercules to find the boar. He could hear the beast snorting and stomping as it looked for food. Hercules chased the boar around the mountain,. The boar, frightened and out of breath, hid in a thicket. Hercules poked his spear into the thicket and drove the exhausted animal into a deep patch of snow and yet, again Hercules is able to able to finish these nearly impossible tasks.

Augean Stables

5 th Trial This task was not particularly life threatening but it was very difficult. Augeus had thousands of cattle and the stables had not been cleared for thirty years. Hercules first tore an opening in the wall where the sables were and made another opening in the opposite wall. He, then, dug wide trenches to two rivers which flowed nearby. He turned the course of the rivers into the yard. The rivers rushed through the stables, flushing them out, and all the mess flowed out the hole in the wall on other side of the yard. Augeus paid Hercules with one-tenth of his finest cattle. Eurystheus did not count this either because Hercules was paid.

Stymphalian Birds

6 th Trial For the sixth Labor, Hercules was to drive away an enormous flock of birds which terrorized the town of Stymphalos. With the aid from Athena, he was able to do so. She provided a pair of bronze krotala, noise-making clappers, that had been made by Hephaestus, the god of the forge. Hercules clashed the krotala loudly, scaring the birds out of the trees, and then shot them with bow and arrow.

The Cretan Bull

7 th Trial In the next task, Hercules had to fetch the Cretan bull. Minos himself, in order to prove his claim to the throne, had promised the sea-god Poseidon/Neptune that he would sacrifice whatever the god sent him from the sea. Poseidon sent a bull, but Minos thought it was too beautiful to kill, and so he sacrificed another bull. Poseidon was furious with Minos for breaking his promise. In his anger, he made the bull rampage all over Crete. Hercules wrestled the bull and brought him back to Eurystheus. Eurystheus let the bull go free and it was later killed by Theseus, when he found it at Marathon.

The Mares of Diomedes

8 th Trial The next labor required him to get the man-eating mares of King Diomedes of Thrace. Hercules sailed with some volunteers across the Aegean to Bistonia. There they overpowered the grooms who were tending the horses, and drove them to the sea. By the time he got there, the Bistones had realized what had happened, and they sent soldiers to capture the animals. Hercules entrusted the task of getting the mares to Abderos. Unfortunately, the mares dragged him around until he was dead. Hercules first slew Diomedes and then he brought the mares back to Eurystheus. Eurystheus again let the animals roam until they reached Mt. Olympus and were eaten by wild beasts.

Belt of Hypoleta

9th Hippolyta is the queen of the Amazons. The belt was given to her by Ares, the god of war, because she was the best warrior of the Amazons. Eurystheus wanted it so he could present it to his daughter. When Hercules arrived, she said that he could have it. The only problem was Hera/Juno. She caused trouble. She made the Amazons think that Hercules was going to take their queen and they attacked. Hercules thought that Hippolyta ordered the attack and he killed her. He was able to safely retrieve the girdle/belt.

Cattle of Geryon

10 th Eurystheus ordered the hero to bring him the cattle of the monster Geryon. Geryon was the son of Chrysaor and Callirrhoe. Chrysaor came from the body of the Gorgon Medusa, after Perseus beheaded her, and Callirrhoe was the daughter of the two Titans Oceanus and Tethys. Geryon had three heads and three sets of legs all joined at the waist. Geryon lived on an island called Erythia, which was near the boundary of Europe and Libya. On this island, Geryon kept a herd of red cattle guarded by Cerberus's brother, Orthus, a two- headed hound, and the herdsman Eurytion. Hercules set off on for Erythia, encountering and promptly killing many wild beasts along the way. Hercules reached the island of Erythia and was soon attacked by Orthus, so Hercules bashed him with his club. Eurytion followed, with the same result. Another herdsman in the area reported these events to Geryon. Just as Hercules was escaping with the cattle, Geryon attacked him. Hercules fought with him and shot him dead with his arrows. His return to Eurystheus was long and full of attacks from creatures like Eryx.

Apple of Hesperides

11th These apples were given to Zeus/Jupiter by Hera/Juno, so it will be hard. They were kept in a garden at the northern edge of the world, and they were guarded not only by a hundred-headed dragon, named Ladon, but also by the Hesperides, nymphs who were daughters of Atlas, the titan who held the world on his shoulers. Hercules' first problem was that he didn't know where the garden was. He traveled to many place. Hercules came to the rock on Mount Caucasus where Prometheus was chained. Prometheus, a sly man who made fun of the gods and stole the secret of fire from them, was sentenced by Zeus to a horrible fate. He was bound to the mountain, and every day a monstrous eagle came and ate his liver, pecking away at Prometheus' tortured body. After the eagle flew off, Prometheus' liver grew back, and the next day he had to endure the eagle's painful visit all over again. This went on for 30 years, until Hercules showed up and killed the eagle.In gratitude, Prometheus told Hercules the secret to getting the apples. He would have to send Atlas after them. Atlas hated holding up the sky and the earth so much that he would agree to the task of fetching the apples, in order to pass his burden over to Hercules. Everything happened as Prometheus had predicted, and Atlas went to get the apples while Hercules was stuck in Atlas's place, with the weight of the world on his shoulders. When Atlas returned with the golden apples, he told Hercules he would take them to Eurystheus himself, and asked Hercules to hold the heavy load for the rest of time. Hercules slyly agreed, but asked Atlas whether he could take it back again, for a moment, while he put some soft padding on his shoulders. Atlas put the apples on the ground, and lifted the burden onto his own shoulders. He tricked Atlas. Hercules picked up the apples and quickly ran off, carrying them back to Eurystheus. After he showed them to Eurystheus, he returned them back to Athena because he was not allowed to keep them.

Cerberus

12th The most dangerous labor of all was the twelfth and final one. Eurystheus ordered Hercules to go to the Underworld and kidnap the beast called Cerberus. Cerberus was a vicious beast that guarded the entrance to Hades/Pluto and kept the living from entering the world of the dead. Cerberus was believed to have had three heads of wild dogs, a dragon or serpent for a tail, and heads of snakes all over his back. Hercules went to a place called Taenarum. Through a deep, rocky cave, Hercules made his way down to the Underworld and he encountered monsters, heroes, and ghosts as he made his way through Hades. Finally, he found Pluto/Hades and asked the god for Cerberus. The lord of the Underworld replied that Hercules could indeed take Cerberus with him, but only if he could overpower the beast with his strength. Hercules encountered Cerberus. He threw his arms around the beast, perhaps grasping all three heads at once, and wrestled Cerberus into submission. The dragon in the tail of the fierce flesh-eating guard dog bit Hercules, but that did not stop him. Cerberus had to submit to the force of the hero, and Hercules brought Cerberus to Eurystheus. Unlike other monsters that crossed the path of the legendary hero, Cerberus was returned safely to Hades. And with that, Hercules had completed all of the 12 labors successfully.