The next task Eurystheus had for Heracles was to clean the Augeian stables in one day. Heracles came to Augeias and told him that he could clean out the stables in one day if he paid the right sum, one tenth of his cattle.
Augeias agreed and Heracles set to work. He diverted the courses of two rivers so they flowed right through the stables and washed away the years of filth. Augeias had not believed Heracles could perform the task, so he refused to pay the outrageous sum.
Heracles was livid, but at this point there was nothing he could do, so he went back to Tiryns. Next Heracles was sent to clear away the Stymphalian birds. Lake Stymphalus was overrun by a flock of man-eating birds. Heracles decided that a loud noise would be just the thing, so he crashed a few shields together to scare the birds into taking flight. As the birds few into the air, he picked them off one by one with his arrows. Now Heracles was sent to capture the Cretan bull.
This bull was the father of the Minotaur [see Minotaur ] and Heracles trapped it and brought it back to Tiryns alive. Eurystheus did not want it, so Heracles let the bull go.
The bull wandered up to the area around Athens [see Athenae on map ] and Theseus later killed him as one of his heroic feats [see Theseus ]. The eighth labor was to retrieve the mares of Diomedes.
Diomedes was a Thracian [ map ] king and he had man-eating mares. Heracles, with the help of his lover Abderus, stole the mares from their stable and herded them down to the sea-shore. When Heracles came back, however, he found that the mares had eaten most of Abderus. He then gathered the mares into his ship and took them back to Eurystheus.
Again, Eurystheus did not want the terrible creatures in his city, so Heracles let the mares loose. They were eventually eaten by wild animals as they wandered on Mount Olympus [see Olympus Mons on map ]. For his next labor, Heracles had to retrieve the belt of the Amazon queen, Hippolyte.
Hippolyte and the Amazons female warriors lived in Themiscyra, on the southern coast of the Black Sea. Heracles was joined on this expedition by his friend Theseus and they set off together. When they reached Themiscyra, Hippolyte came aboard their ship to meet with them.
He eventually killed the lion by strangling it with his bare hands. After slaying the lion, he tried to skin it with a knife from his belt, but failed.
Who helped Hercules kill the Hydra? Who is Hercules mother in Greek mythology? Alcmene, in Greek mythology, a mortal princess, the granddaughter of Perseus and Andromeda. She was the mother of Heracles by Zeus, who disguised himself as her husband Amphitryon and seduced her. Who was Hercules best friend? Where did Hercules do the 12 labors? After Heracles killed his wife and children, he went to the oracle at Delphi.
He prayed to the god Apollo for guidance. Heracles was told to serve the king of Mycenae, Eurystheus, for twelve years. During this time, he is sent to perform twelve difficult feats, called labours. How did Hercules obtain the cattle of the monster geryon? On the way there, he crossed the Libyan desert and became so frustrated at the heat that he shot an arrow at Helios, the Sun.
If completed, some of them would have served a useful purpose because they removed the world of dangerous, predatory monsters—or excrement, but others were capricious whims of a king with an inferiority complex: Comparing himself with the hero was bound to make Eurystheus feel inadequate.
Since Hercules was doing these tasks to atone for his crimes, Eurystheus insisted there be no ulterior motive. Because of this restriction, when King Augeas of Elis [ see Peloponnese map Bb ] promised Hercules a fee for cleaning his stables Labor 5 , Eurystheus denied the feat: Hercules had to do another to fill his quota.
That King Augeas reneged and did not pay Hercules made no difference to Eurystheus. Other tasks the king of Tiryns set his nephew were make-work. For instance, once Hercules retrieved the apples of the Hesperides Labor 11 , but Eurystheus had no use for the apples, so he had Hercules send them back again. One more important point needs to be made in connection with these tasks. Eurystheus did not just feel inferior to Hercules; he was also afraid. Anyone who could survive the suicide missions on which King Eurystheus had sent the hero must be very powerful indeed.
It is said Eurystheus hid in a jar and insisted—contrary to the instructions of the Pythian priestess—that Hercules stay outside the Tiryns city limits. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. For this task, Hercules had the help of his nephew Iolaus. This way, the pair kept the heads from growing back. The Golden HindNext, Hercules set off to capture the sacred pet of the goddess Diana: a red deer, or hind, with golden antlers and bronze hooves.
Eurystheus had chosen this task for his rival because he believed that Diana would kill anyone she caught trying to steal her pet; however, once Hercules explained his situation to the goddess, she allowed him to go on his way without punishment. The Erymanthean Boar Fourth, Hercules used a giant net to snare the terrifying, man-eating wild boar of Mount Erymanthus. However, Hercules completed the job easily, flooding the barn by diverting two nearby rivers. Hercules used these tools to frighten the birds away.
Hercules drove the bull back to Eurystheus, who released it into the streets of Marathon. He brought them to Eurystheus, who dedicated the horses to Hera and set them free. At first, the queen welcomed Hercules and agreed to give him the belt without a fight.
However, the troublemaking Hera disguised herself as an Amazon warrior and spread a rumor that Hercules intended to kidnap the queen. The Cattle of Geryon For his 10th labor, Hercules was dispatched nearly to Africa to steal the cattle of the three-headed, six-legged monster Geryon. Once again, Hera did all she could to prevent the hero from succeeding, but eventually he returned to Mycenae with the cows. This task was difficult—Hercules needed the help of the mortal Prometheus and the god Atlas to pull it off—but the hero eventually managed to run away with the apples.
Cerberus For his final challenge, Hercules traveled to Hades to kidnap Cerberus, the vicious three-headed dog that guarded its gates. Hercules managed to capture Cerberus by using his superhuman strength to wrestle the monster to the ground. Afterward, the dog returned unharmed to his post at the entrance to the Underworld.
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