Hercules

Hercules Known as the greatest hero in Greece. Most admired by all of the Greeks except Athens Strongest man on Earth and has a supreme self-confidence due to his strength

The greatest hero in Athens… …is Theseus due to his intellect, cunning, and ability. He displayed all the qualities the Athenians valued in a hero. The rest of Greece valued strength and getting the job done!

Hercules Considered himself to be equal to the gods (being able to help them against the Giants) Hubris??? Strong up to the point that know one could beat him unless a supernatural force is applied His intellect is not strong though his feelings/emotions are.

Hercules Born in Thebes and was held to be the son of Amphitryon, a distinguished general Son of Zeus who had visited Amphitryon’s wife, Alcmena in the shape of her husband Alcmena bore two children, one of Zeus’ (Hercules) and the other of Amphitryon (Iphicles)

He shows his strength As a baby, as he and his brother were sleeping, two huge snakes came into their room. His brother cried, but Hercules grabbed the snakes and strangled them. When his parents came in, they saw Hercules laughing and swinging them around!

Hercules Hera, Zeus’s wife, as always was so furious about Zeus having a child with another woman so she was determined to kill Hercules. Teiresias, the blind prophet, told Alcmena that Hercules would be famous and“shall be the hero of mankind”.

Hercules Great care was taken with his education as he grew up He was taught music (which he personally didn’t like- he accidentally killed his music teacher) ,and fencing, wrestling and driving.

Hercules By the time he was eighteen, he was able to kill a full grown Thespian lion, Cithaereon, all by himself. He constantly wears the pelt of the lion- thus how to recognize him in art!

Adventures of Hercules

Adventures of Hercules Conquering of Minyans Reward when accomplished: Princess Megara Hercules was very much devoted to her but their marriage brought sorrow to their family.

Adventures of Hercules Conquering of Minyans When Megara bore three sons, Hercules went mad due to Hera’s wrath. Hercules killed his children and wife as she tried to protect the youngest. After this incident, he regained his sanity and found himself covered with the blood of his beloved family.

Adventures of Hercules Conquering of Minyans After having regained his consciousness, the terrified people saw that his madness was over and Amphitryon dared to approach him. Amphitryon told Hercules what happened and made Hercules want to kill himself to avenge his family members’ death

Adventures of Hercules Conquering of Minyans Hercules was stopped by Theseus from killing himself through his words of wisdom. Theseus, therefore, saved him. His guilt kept on attacking him until he reached Athens with Theseus. He went to a priestess and told her that he needs to be purified. The priestess told him to go to her cousin, Eurystheus.

Adventures of Hercules Conquering of Minyans Eurystheus was intelligent indeed. He made Hercules his slave the moment the hero arrived at his place. He devised a series of penances of unimaginable difficultly. Eurystheus was being helped and urged by Hera.

Adventures of Hercules Conquering of Minyans Eurystheus gave him tasks known as the Labors of Hercules

Labors of Hercules

Labor of Hercules Labors of Hercules Given by Eurystheus Twelve different labors Each one was all but impossible

Labor of Hercules 1st Labor Kill the lion of Nemea, a beast no weapons could wound Hercules killed it by strangling it to death Eurystheus, being cautious, didn’t allow him to get in the city. He gave Hercules his orders from afar.

Labor of Hercules 2nd Labor To go to Lerna and to kill a creature with nine heads called the Hydra Hydra: a beast with nine heads; one of these heads is immortal and when you cut one head, two heads grow in its place

2nd Labor Accomplished the labor with the help of his nephew who gave him a burning brand with which he seared the neck as he cut each head off so that it could not sprout again. He cut all the heads leaving the immortal one buried securely under a huge rock.

Labors of Hercules 3rd Labor To bring back alive a stag with horns of gold which lives in the forests of Cerynitia He succeeded after one year of hunting it

Labors of Hercules 4th Labor Capture a great boar which had its lair on Mount Erymanthus Hercules chased the beast until it was exhausted then cornered it into the deep snow.

Labors of Hercules 5th Labor Clean the Augean stables in a single day. Augean Stables: owned by Augeas. Augeas has thousands of cattles and the stables weren’t cleaned for years.

5th Labor Hercules diverted the courses of two rivers and made them flow through the stables. This washed away all the dirt in just a short span of time.

Labors of Hercules 6th Labor To drive away the Stymphalian birds, which were a plague to the people of Stymphalus because of their enormous numbers He was helped by Athena to drive these birds out of their places and as they flew up, he shot them one by one.

Labors of Hercules 7th Labor To go to Crete and fetch from there a beautiful savage bull given by Poseidon to Minos. Hercules mastered the bull, transported it through a boat and brought it to Eurystheus

Labors of Hercules 8th Labor To get the man-eating mares of King Diomedes of Thrace. Hercules slew Diomedes first and then drove off the mares unopposed

Labors of Hercules 9th Labor To bring back the girdle of Hippolyta, the Queen of the Amazon When Hercules arrived she met him kindly and Hippolyta told Hercules that she would give him the girdle. Hera started a new trouble. omg

9th Labor Hera made the Amazons think that Hercules will carry Hippolyta off and they attacked him down on his ship. Hercules, without a single thought on how kind Hippolyta is, killed her in an instant and then held back the other, allowing him to escape with the girdle.

Labors of Hercules 10th Labor To bring back the cattle of Geryon, who was a monster with three bodies living on Ertyhia, a island located in the west On his way, he arrived at an island at the end of Mediterranean and he set up pillars as a memorial of his journey. He then got the oxen and brought it to Mycenae

Labors of Hercules 11th Labor Most difficult labor so far To bring back the Golden Apples of the Hesperides, without Hercules knowing where to find these apples He asked Atlas, who bore the vault of heaven upon his shoulders and the father of Hesperides to get the apples for him.

11th Labor Hercules offered Atlas to take upon himself the burden of carrying the heavy load while Atlas was away. Atlas, seeing the chance of being relieved forever, went to gather the apples but he didn’t give them to Hercules when he came back. He told Hercules to keep holding up the sky for Atlas himself would bring the apples to Eurystseus. Hercules used his strength to support the sky.

11th Labor Now Hercules only has his wits to depend on. Because of his cleverness when he asked Atlas to carry the sky for a moment because he needed to put a pad on his shoulders, he was able to get away with the apples at hand.

Labors of Hercules 12th Labor Worst Labor of all Took him down to the Underworld Task: to bring Cerberus, the three headed-dog, up from Hades Hades gave him the permission provided that Hercules shan’t use any weapons

12th Labor He used his hands and he lifted the dog all the way up to Mycenae. Eurystheus obviously didn’t want to keep it so he told Hercules to bring it back to the Underworld. This is Hercules’ last labor

Labors of Hercules When all the labors were completed and had fully repented for his “sins”, he would seem to have earned ease But it was not so He lived a life full of endeavors and obstacles

Bibliography Hamilton, Edith; The Classic Best Seller Mythology Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes; Grand Central Publishing 1942,1969; Date Accessed: November 7, 2012