Hercules and his adolescence

Hercules came from the union of Zeus and Alcmene, whom Zeus deceived by taking the form of her husband, the Tyrrhenian king Amphitryon. When the child was about to be born, Zeus declared, "Today the greatest hero will see the light of day." But this did not escape Hera, who tricked Zeus into swearing that whoever was born that day would rule over all the men of Zeus' family. She subsequently arranged for Alcmena's birth to be delayed and in turn for Sthenelus' wife Nikippa to give birth to a son, Eurystheus, prematurely. Thus, Heracles became a servant of Eurystheus.

Heracles gained immortality by being tricked into the arms of Hera and drinking from her breast. The fact that he had gained immortality infuriated Hera and she sent two serpents after him. But Heracles strangled them both.

In his youth, he surpassed all his peers in stature, strength and courage. In the countryside, for example, he killed a Kithairon lion that was ravaging the local herds. Then he dressed himself in its skin and wore its gaping jaws for a helmet. When King Thespios learned of this deed, he decided to send one of his 50 daughters to the hero every night. He wanted to gain powerful offspring. And he succeeded, for his daughters bore 52 offspring.

Returning to his native Thebes, Hercules helped repel King Erginos' army, saving the entire city. For this deed, he was given the daughter of King Creon of Thebes, named Megara, as his wife. By her, Hercules had three sons.

Heracles' quests

Hera, the wife of Zeus, was known for her constant harassment of Zeus' mistresses and his illegitimate offspring, which was also true of Hercules. So she couldn't watch his peaceful life and sent him into a frenzy. In it, Heracles killed his three sons and also two of Iphicles' children. Afterwards, when the madness was taken off him, the hero set out for Delphi to find out how he should purge himself of this horrible deed.

Here he was told that he was to go to King Eurystheus and perform the ten imposed works. Hercules set out for Argos and took up his residence in the castle of Tirynthus, whence he set out to perform the tasks assigned.

He was also given precious gifts to complete his tasks - Hermes gave him a sword, Apollo a bow and arrows, Hephaestus a golden breastplate, Athena a robe, Poseidon gave him a horse-drawn chariot and Zeus an impenetrable shield.

The tasks that Hercules had to accomplish:

1. Kill the Nemean Lion

This huge beast had impenetrable skin, from which both arrows and sword were reflected. The lion was finally strangled by Hercules.

2. Kill Hydra

This monster lived in a deep swamp and had a snake body and nine snake heads, one of which was immortal. In addition, it had a poison that could kill almost anything and anyone. The hero was helped in this task by his friend Iolaus' son. He used fire arrows to get Hydra out of the lair. But when he destroyed one head, it grew two new ones. And so he began to burn her heads, because after that, no more heads grew. Finally, he cut off the immortal head and Hydra died. He dipped arrowheads in her blood, which he then used as a powerful weapon.

3. Catch a Kerney doe with golden antlers

Hercules caught the doe by shooting an arrow through both her legs. He then apologized to the goddess Artemis and blamed the rope hunt on Eurystheus, whose intention was to turn the goddess against Heracles.

4. Catching the Erymanthian boar

He drove him out of the thicket with a loud cry, drove him into a deep snowdrift and then tied him with chains. He then carried him alive to Mycenae. Here he joined the Argonauts on their journey to Colchis.

5. To clean out the Augean stables

To do this, Heracles used the trick of driving the herds out of the enclosure and then changing the course of the two nearby rivers Alfeios and Peneios. Their flow swept through corrals, stables and surrounding fields, washing away all the manure accumulated over the years.

6. Banish the Stymphalian birds

These large birds killed people (brass feathers fell from them) and destroyed vegetation with their poisonous droppings. Hercules was helped by the goddess Athena, who gave him metal rattles. The hero made such a huge noise with them that the birds flew away in terror to the Black Sea.

7. Bring in the Cretan wild bull

This bull was destroying everything on the island. Hēraklēs caught him with his bare hands and tamed him in a long struggle so that he could bring him to Mycenae. Eurystheus then gave him to Hera and subsequently set him free. The bull subsequently raided the vicinity of Athens, where it was killed by the hero Theseus.

8. bid Diomedes' man-eating horses

The Thracian king Diomedes fed his horses with the meat of his guests. Heracles overpowered the cheldeins, drove the horses to the sea and left them to be guarded by his friend Abdera. He then had to fight back King Diomedes' attack. He succeeded, but by then his friend Abdera had already been torn apart by the horses. So Heracles drove the horses into Mycenae and Eurystheus set them free. The horses were then torn apart by wild animals.

9. Bring the Queen of the Amazons belt

He took a band of loyal friends with him on his journey, and thanks to them he fought off an attack on King Lyke's land by the wild Beavers. For this he won so much glory that even Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons came out to meet him and volunteered to give him her belt. At that moment, Hera interposed and raised the rumor that Heracles wanted to kill the queen. A fight ensued with many dead. Several Amazons were also captured, and among them was Antiope, who was later married to Theseus.

10. Bid the cattle of the giant Geryon

Geryones was a giant with three bodies. The first obstacle in the task was the dog Orthos and the guardian giant Eurythion. Hercules managed to kill them as well as their master, Geryon. On the way back, the hero had to overcome the strong man Erik (who stole his cow) and the giant Cacus (another thief). Before their destination, Hera sent a fury on the cattle and the hero had his hands full watching over the entire herd.

11. Bring three golden apples from the gardens of the Hesperides

This garden was tended by the Hesperides (daughters of the Titan Atlante) to the goddess Hera. The apple tree itself was guarded by the tirelessly vigilant dragon, Ladon, wrapped around the tree. The location of the garden was revealed to him by the sea god Nereus. In front of the garden he found Atlanteus holding the vault of heaven and asked him to bring him apples, saying that he would hold the vault for him. After a while, Atlas brought the apples and offered to bring them to Eurystheus himself. Herclus agreed on the face of it, but tricked Atlas into handing the vault back to him, saying that he wanted to support his shoulder better, at which point he handed the vault back to him. Eurystheus eventually gave the apples back to Hercules, who then gave them to Athena, who passed them on to the nymphs, effectively giving them back to Hera.

12. Bring in Kerber the dog, guardian of the underworld

But before that, no one came back alive from the underworld. Hermes led the hero to a secret entrance near the abyss of Tainaru. Here he was taken in by Athena, who led him through the shadowlands. The ferryman Charon was so terrified of the giant visitor that he took him across the River Styx. At the gates of Tartarus, Heracles found his friends Theseus and Peirithous stuck to cruel chairs. He rescued Thésus, but the other had to stay forever. He was subsequently taken in by Hades himself. After asking for Kerber's extradition, Hades made up his mind that the hero must make it without clubs and arrows. He finally choked this huge dog with a snake's tail, spikes and a dragon's head so that the creature began to beg for its life. Then they set out together for Mycenae. Here King Eurystheus was terrified by the sight of Cerberus and begged Heracles to take him back quickly.

So the tasks were not ten, but twelve, because the king did not recognize two of them - the stable of Augias and the killing of Hydra. Hercules later took revenge for this by conquering his land and eventually killing him.

When Hercules' service to Eurystheus ended with the completion of the twelfth task, he was free. He subsequently left his first wife Megara to his nephew and friend Iolaus. He himself then left Thebes and returned to Tirynthos.

Later, in a rage, he killed Eurytus' son Ífit, who accused him of stealing horses. Later, when he sought an answer in the oracle as to how to purify himself, he found that he must become the slave of the Lydian queen Omphale.

He then took revenge on all his enemies. When he took revenge on King Eurytus, the blood of the centaur Nessus entered Heracles' body. The slowly dying hero went to Mount Oeta, where he had a funeral pyre erected, on which he lay down. But no one wanted to set fire to this pyre. Only his friend Poeas, the Argonaut, dared to do so, and in return he received Heracles' bow and poisoned arrows that never missed their mark.

After the pyre was set ablaze, Hercules was transported to heaven in a golden chariot. There he was welcomed by all, offered nectar and amrosia, and declared immortal. Even Hera overcame her resentment towards him and gave him her daughter, Hebe, as his wife. Hercules still resides in the sky, next to the constellation Hydra.

Other heroic deeds of Heracles

On his way through Egypt, Heracles founded the "city of a hundred gates", which he called Thebes in honour of his native city.

He freed Prometheus, whose liver was being torn out every day by a giant eagle. Heraklês shot down the eagle. Zeus was outraged and demanded that Prometheus volunteer to go to Tartarus or be replaced by someone else. Heracles suggested that his immortality be given to Prometheus by the centaur Cheirón, who was unluckily struck by Heracles' arrow while hunting an Erymanthian boar. Thanks to his immortality, Cheirón was incurably wounded but could not die.

On Olympus, he helped Zeus fight the Giants. They rebelled and the gods could not kill them because of their herb, which made them immune to the gods' weapons. But not against human weapons. Hercules slaughtered them all and received great praise.