Some of the most timeless stories in
western literature are about the heroes of ancient Greece.
For millennia people have been inspired by
Perseus, Jason and the Argonauts, Theseus, Achilles and Odysseus. Many an
ancient king and warrior has tried to emulate the actions and personae of these
heroes, and even claimed descent from them.
Far and away, the greatest hero of all was
Herakles.
There are so many stories related to
Herakles (‘Hercules’ of you were Roman) in mythology that it’s impossible to
cover all of them in a simple blog post. A book would be required for that.
So, this post is going to be the first in a
two-part series on the hero. There are countless triumphant deeds associated
with Herakles, but for our purposes here I’m going to cover the most famous of
all – The Twelve Labours.
The Twelve Labours of Herakles have been
the subject of art, sculpture and song for ages. Their portrayal decorated the
ancient world from the images on vases to the metopes on the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. In our modern age, we’ve
seen him in comics, television shows, and movies, two of which are coming out
this year!
 |
| Tyrins |
But who was Herakles? Where did he come
from?
Herakles was born in the city of Thebes. He
was the son of Zeus who begat him on Alcmene, a granddaughter of Perseus and
Andromeda. Zeus came to her in the guise of her mortal husband, Amphitryon, and
so Herakles was born.
From the beginning, Herakles showed that he
was not a ‘normal’ person. Out of jealousy, Hera, Queen of the Gods and wife of
Zeus, sent two snakes to kill the baby Herakles in his cot. Herakles strangled
the snakes with his bare baby hands.
When he was 18 years of age, Herakles began
to really make a name for himself by slaying a lion on the slopes of Mount
Cithaeron after hunting it for fifty days. During that time, he stayed with the
king of Thespiae who was so impressed with the youth that he had him beget
children on all fifty of his daughters.
Herakles was a man of extreme prowess,
deeds, emotion and appetites.
King Creon of Thebes rewarded Herakles for
helping him against his enemy, Erginus, king of the Minyans by giving him the
hand of his daughter Megara with whom the hero had several children.
This is where things sour for the young hero.
After all, this is a Greek story, and tragedy is never far behind to bring even
the mightiest of heroes back to Earth.
 |
| Temple of Apollo - Delphi |
Hera stepped in to afflict Herakles with
madness, causing him to kill his wife and children. When his sanity returned,
he was overcome with grief and went to the Oracle at Delphi for advice.
The Oracle told him to go to Tyrins and
serve its king, Eurystheus, for twelve years as punishment for his brutal
crime. He had to complete all tasks set for him by the king, and this is the
origin of The Twelve Labours.
It’s curious that the name ‘Herakles’ means
‘Glory of Hera’, since she persecuted him so much throughout his life. Then
again, perhaps as Hera is the root cause of his Labours, his triumphs reflect
on her?
I – The Nemean Lion
This first labour is probably his most
famous, and takes us to the ancient land of the Argolid peninsula. The lion
that was terrorizing the hills about Nemea had skin that was impenetrable to
weapons and so Herakles, when he faced it, choked it to death with his brute strength
and then used the claws to skin it. It’s this skin, which he used as a hooded
pelt, that the hero became known for in art. If you see someone with a lion’s
head on their own, it’s likely Herakles, or someone trying to emulate him.
 |
| Valley of Nemea |
As a side note, Nemea was thereafter the
site of the Nemean Games, one of the four sacred games of the ancient world,
which also included the Isthmian Games, the Pythian Games, and the Olympic
Games.
II – The Lernean Hydra
When he faced the Hydra in the
Peloponnesian swamps of Lerna, it’s a good thing that Herakles brought along
his nephew and companion, Iolaus. Facing the monster, he discovered that when
he cut one head off, two more grew back in its place. And so, after each head
was cut, Iolaus would cauterize the stump before it could grow again. When the
Hydra was dead, Herakles dipped his arrows in the blood which was poison, even
to Immortals. These arrows would come in useful in later episodes of the hero’s
life.
 |
| Lerna, Greece |
III – The Ceryneian Hind
Eurystheus, this time, thought he would set
Herakles against Artemis with this third labour by telling him to capture a
deer with golden horns that was sacred to the goddess. But Herakles pursued the
hind for a whole year until he finally captured it and brought it before
Eurystheus who, by this time, was always hiding in a jar whenever his cousin
would return. The hind was allowed to go once it was brought before the king
and so Herakles was able to avoid Artemis’ wrath.
 |
| Giving the Boar to Eurystheus |
IV – The Erymanthian Boar
Around Psophis, in the Arcadian region of
the Peloponnese, a massive boar had been giving the locals trouble and so
Herakles was sent to capture it. He did so by pursuing it through deep snow in
the mountains until it was so exhausted that he was able to capture it. Such a
massive specimen would have made quite a sacrificial feast!
V – The Stables of Augeas
 |
| Athena helping Herakles to clean the stables |
Augeas was the King of Elis, and he had a
cattle stable that had never been mucked out, EVER! In this case, it was not a
monster that terrorized the locals, but rather the monumental stench. In this
very different labour, Herakles was told
he had to clean out the stables. So, what did he do? What all heroes would do,
he diverted the rivers Alpheius and Peneius so that they flowed through the
stables and washed the titanic stink away. It’s no wonder the land thereabouts
is so fertile.
VI – The Stymphalian Birds
In Stymphalia, there were flocks of
man-eating birds with bronze beaks that infested the woods around the Lake of
Stymphalus, again in Arcadia. Herakles was told he had to get them out. So, he
scared them all from their hiding places and then shot them down with his great
bow. No more birds.
 |
| Lake Stymphalos, Greece |
VII – The Cretan Bull
For his seventh labour, Herakles had to
leave the Peloponnese for the Island of Crete to capture and bring back the
Cretan Bull. This was no ordinary bull. This was the bull that Poseidon sent to
Crete for King Minos to sacrifice. When Minos refused, Poseidon made his wife,
Pasiphae fall in love with it and from that union was born the terror that was
to become the Minotaur. The Cretan Bull rampaged all over Crete until Herakles
arrived, wrestled it to the ground, and brought it back to Greece. The hero’s
friend, Theseus, would come back to Crete years later to take care of the
Minotaur.
VIII – The Mares of Diomedes
Once more, Herakles was forced to deal with
another group of man-eating animals. But this time they were not birds, but
rather horses! The mares of Diomedes were in Thrace and so Herakles travelled
there. He had a run-in with Diomedes himself and so, to tame the horses,
Herakles fed them their own master. After that, the mares followed him back to
Eurystheus.
IX – The Girdle of Hippolyte
Near the River Thermodon, just off the
Black Sea, Herakles and his followers, including Theseus, went to the Amazons
and their Queen, Hippolyte. The story goes that Herakles just asked this lovely
daughter of Ares for her girdle, or belt, and she said ‘Yes’. Hera decided to
step in and whispered to the rest of the Amazons that their queen was being
abducted.
The Amazons attacked Herakles and his men
who fought back, and in the bloody engagement, Hippolyte herself was killed.
Herakles managed to get the girdle, but the cost of this labour was indeed
heavy.
 |
| The River Thermodon |
X – The Cattle of Geryon
The tenth labour is a sort of epic cattle
raid. Herakles was told he had to bring back the red cattle of the three-bodied
giant, Geryon, from the Island of Erytheia which was far, far to the west. This
took the hero on a long journey into the Atlantic. On his way, he set up the
Pillars of Hercules to mark his way.
But Herakles began to grow weary with the
heat, and so Helios, God of the Sun, lent Herakles his great golden bowl or
boat so that he could sail the rest of the way to Erytheia. Herakles succeeded
in raiding the cattle and sailed in Helios’ boat back to Spain. From Spain he
travelled to Greece and had many adventures on this mythic cattle drive.
There is a whole list of adventures he had
on his way home, but the one I would like to highlight brings him in touch with
the Romans. When Herakles arrived in Rome he came into conflict with a monster
named Cacus after the beast killed some of the cattle. Herakles killed Cacus in
what must have been a great battle of strength.
 |
| The Temple of Hercules in the Forum Boarium in Rome |
It’s interesting that in Rome, there are
some steps leading off of the Palatine Hill called the Steps of Cacus which is
where the monster is said to have lain in wait for passers-by. In the Forum
Boarium, or cattle market, near the banks of the Tiber, there is a round Tholos
temple dedicated to Hercules, commemorating the hero’s time in Rome.
XI – The Golden Apples of Hesperides
Hesperia was the garden of the gods and
Herakles must have been exhausted when he discovered that he had to go back to
the Atlantic. Some believe Hesperia was located on the Atlantic side of the
North African coast. The garden was said to be beyond the sunset, where Atlas,
the Titan, was holding up the sky.
 |
| Holding the Heavens for Atlas |
The labour was to pick the golden apples
that were guarded by a giant snake. In some stories, Herakles asks Atlas to
pick the apples for him while he holds the heavens in his stead. In others,
Herakles picks the apples himself and kills the serpent.
XII – Cerberus
There is one archetype that is common to
most hero stories, and that is the journey to the Underworld. And this is where Herakles must go in his
final labour to bring the three-headed hound of Hades back to Eurystheus.
To get to the Underworld, Herakles gets
help from the god Hermes, who travelled there regularly. Supposedly, they
entered through the gate at Taenarum, in the southern Peloponnese.
There is a fascinating episode when they
arrive in Hades’ realm. The shades of the dead flee from Herakles who wounds
Hades himself with one of his poison arrows. The only shades who do not flee
are Meleager, famed for bringing down the great Calydonian Boar, and Medusa,
the Gorgon slain by Perseus.
 |
| The Gate to Hades at Taenarum |
Herakles drew his sword against Medusa but
Hermes told him to leave her be. But Meleager told the hero his sad tale. Herakles,
inspired by Meleager, said that he would marry the sister of such a noble man.
And so, the shade of Meleager named his sister, Deianaira, to be Herakles’
wife. This at the end of his long penance for killing his family. Was it a new
beginning?
Hades told Herakles that he could take
Cerberus if he could bring him to heel without using his weapons. In true
Heraclean fashion, he wrestled the hell hound and then brought it to
Eurystheus. Afterward, Hades got his dog back.
The Labours of Herakles are not just
adventure stories. They are stories of atonement, of courage, of strength of
mind and body. Over and over, the hero is taken to extremes until he attains
his final triumph, and his debt is paid.
But this is a Greek story. There is no celebration. For laurels dry out on the brow of even the greatest of
heroes.
 |
| Herakles - older and tired after his Labours |
There is much more to Herakles’ story, and
I for one have a lot more reading to do. In fact, I don’t think I’ll ever tire
of these tales.
In the coming months, I’ll post the second
part of this series – The Tragedy of Herakles.
Until then, I’m looking forward to the two
movies that are coming out this year.
Sure, they’ll be the usual Hollywood
interpretations of the legends. And that’s ok!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you are interested in the upcoming movies, here are the trailers for both. I especially like the first one which seems to focus on the actual Labours. Looking forward to these!
Hercules (with Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson looking the part!)
Hercules: The Legend Begins (with Kellan Lutz)
No comments:
Post a Comment