The Labors of Hercules

The goddess Hera, determined to make trouble for Hercules, made him
lose his mind. In a confused and angry state, he killed his own wife and
children.

When he awakened from his "temporary insanity," Hercules was

shocked and upset by what he'd done. He prayed to the god Apollo for
guidance, and the god's oracle told him he would have to serve
Eurystheus, the king of Tiryns and Mycenae, for twelve years, in
punishment for the murders.

As part of his sentence, Hercules had to perform twelve Labors, feats so

difficult that they seemed impossible. Fortunately, Hercules had the help
of Hermes and Athena, sympathetic deities who showed up when he
really needed help. By the end of these Labors, Hercules was, without a
doubt, Greece's greatest hero.

His struggles made Hercules the perfect embodiment of an idea the

Greeks called pathos, the experience of virtuous struggle and suffering
which would lead to fame and, in Hercules' case, immortality.
 The Nemean Lion
Initially, Hercules was required to complete ten labors, not twelve. King
Eurystheus decided Hercules' first task would be to bring him the skin of
an invulnerable lion which terrorized the hills around Nemea.

Nemea, Temple of Zeus and landscape

Overall view from SW
Photograph courtesy of the Department of Archaeology, Boston University, Saul S. Weinberg Collection

Setting out on such a seemingly impossible labor, Hercules came to a

town called Cleonae, where he stayed at the house of a poor workman-
for-hire, Molorchus. When his host offered to sacrifice an animal to pray
for a safe lion hunt, Hercules asked him to wait 30 days. If the hero
returned with the lion's skin, they would sacrifice to Zeus, king of the
gods. If Hercules died trying to kill the lion, Molorchus agreed to
sacrifice instead to Hercules, as a hero.
 Hercules wrestling the Nemean Lion
Philadelphia L-64-185, Attic red figure stamnos, ca. 490 B.C.
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Museum

When Hercules got to Nemea and began tracking the terrible lion, he
soon discovered his arrows were useless against the beast. Hercules
picked up his club and went after the lion. Following it to a cave which
had two entrances, Hercules blocked one of the doorways, then
approached the fierce lion through the other. Grasping the lion in his
mighty arms, and ignoring its powerful claws, he held it tightly until he'd
choked it to death.

Hercules wrestling the Nemean lion

Mississippi 1977.3.62, Attic black figure neck amphora, ca. 510-500 B.C.
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the University Museums, University of Mississippi
Hercules returned to Cleonae, carrying the dead lion, and found
Molorchus on the 30th day after he'd left for the hunt. Instead of
sacrificing to Hercules as a dead man, Molorchus and Hercules were
able to sacrifice together, to Zeus.

When Hercules made it back to Mycenae, Eurystheus was amazed that

the hero had managed such an impossible task. The king became afraid
of Hercules, and forbade him from entering through the gates of the city.
Furthermore, Eurystheus had a large bronze jar made and buried partway
in the earth, where he could hide from Hercules if need be. After that,
Eurystheus sent his commands to Hercules through a herald, refusing to
see the powerful hero face to face.

Hercules wearing the lion skin

Boston 99.538, Attic bilingual amphora, ca. 525-500 B.C.
Photograph courtesy,Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. H. L. Pierce Fund
Many times we can identify Hercules in ancient Greek vase paintings or
sculptures simply because he is depicted wearing a lion skin. Ancient
writers disagreed as to whether the skin Hercules wore was that of the
Nemean lion, or one from a different lion, which Hercules was said to
have killed when he was 18 years old. The playwright Euripides wrote
that Hercules' lion skin came from the grove of Zeus, the sanctuary at
Nemea: First he cleared the grove of Zeus of a lion, and put its skin upon
his back, hiding his yellow hair in its fearful tawny gaping jaws.

The Lernean Hydra

The second labor of Hercules was to kill the Lernean Hydra. From the
murky waters of the swamps near a place called Lerna, the hydra would
rise up and terrorize the countryside. A monstrous serpent with nine
heads, the hydra attacked with poisonous venom. Nor was this beast
easy prey, for one of the nine heads was immortal and therefore
indestructible.

Lerna
Aerial view of site and bay, from E
Photograph by Raymond V. Schoder, S.J., courtesy of Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers

Hercules set off to hunt the nine-headed menace, but he did not go alone.
His trusty nephew, Iolaus, was by his side. Iolaus, who shared many
adventures with Hercules, accompanied him on many of the twelve
labors. Legend has it that Iolaus won a victory in chariot racing at the
Olympics and he is often depicted as Hercules' charioteer. So, the pair
drove to Lerna and by the springs of Amymone, they discovered the lair
of the loathsome hydra.
 Munich 1416, Attic black figure amphora, ca. 510-500 B.C.
Side A: scene at left, Hercules and Iolaos in chariot
Photograph copyright Staatl. Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek, München

First, Hercules lured the coily creature from the safety of its den by
shooting flaming arrows at it. Once the hydra emerged, Hercules seized
it. The monster was not so easily overcome, though, for it wound one of
its coils around Hercules' foot and made it impossible for the hero to
escape. With his club, Hercules attacked the many heads of the hydra,
but as soon as he smashed one head, two more would burst forth in its
place! To make matters worse, the hydra had a friend of its own: a huge
crab began biting the trapped foot of Hercules. Quickly disposing of this
nuisance, most likely with a swift bash of his club, Hercules called on
Iolaus to help him out of this tricky situation.

Each time Hercules bashed one of the hydra's heads, Iolaus held a torch
to the headless tendons of the neck. The flames prevented the growth of
replacement heads, and finally, Hercules had the better of the beast.
Once he had removed and destroyed the eight mortal heads, Hercules
chopped off the ninth, immortal head. This he buried at the side of the
road leading from Lerna to Elaeus, and for good measure, he covered it
with a heavy rock. As for the rest of the hapless hydra, Hercules slit
open the corpse and dipped his arrows in the venomous blood.

Malibu 83.AE.346, Caeretan hydria, c. 525 B.C.

Main panel: Hercules slaying the Lernean hydra
Collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, California

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. This technicality didn't seem to matter much to anyone else: the
ancient authors still give Hercules all of the credit. Even so, Pausanias
did not think that this labor was as fantastic as the myths made it out to
be: to him, the fearsome hydra was just, well, a big water snake.

At the source of the Amymone grows a plane tree, beneath which, they
say, the hydra (water-snake) grew. I am ready to believe that this beast
was superior in size to other water-snakes, and that its poison had
something in it so deadly that Heracles treated the points of his arrows
with its gall. It had, however, in my opinion, one head, and not several. It
was Peisander of Camirus who, in order that the beast might appear more
frightful and his poetry might be more remarkable, represented the hydra
with its many heads. ---Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2.37.4
 The Hind of Ceryneia
Diana's Pet Deer
For the third labor, Eurystheus ordered Hercules to bring him the Hind
of Ceryneia. Now, before we go any further, we'll have to answer two
questions: What is a hind? and, Where is Ceryneia?

Ceryneia is a town in Greece, about fifty miles from Eurystheus' palace

in Mycenae.

Map of Southern Greece showing Ceryneia and Mycenae

A hind is simply a female red deer.

 Deer pursued by hunters
Harvard 1960.390, Boeotian black figure kantharos, ca. 560-550 B.C.
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of Harvard University Art Museums

You'd think it would have been easy for a hero like Hercules to go shoot
a deer and bring it back to Eurystheus, but a few problems made things
complicated. This was a special deer, because it had golden horns and
hoofs of bronze. Not only that, the deer was sacred to the goddess of
hunting and the moon, Diana; she was Diana's special pet. That meant
that Hercules could neither kill the deer nor hurt her. He couldn't risk
getting Diana angry at him; he was already in enough trouble with Hera.

Hercules with the hind of Ceryneia and the goddess Athena

Toledo 1958.69a+b, Attic black figure pointed amphora, ca. 510 B.C.
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Toledo Museum of Art
Hercules set out on this adventure, and he hunted the deer for a whole
year. At last, when the deer had become weary with the chase, she
looked for a place to rest on a mountain called Artemisius, and then
made her way to the river Ladon. Realizing that the deer was about to
get away, Hercules shot her just as she was about to cross the stream. He
caught the deer, put her on his shoulders and turned back to Mycenae.
As Hercules hurried on his way, he was met by Diana and Apollo.

Diana was very angry because Hercules tried to kill her sacred animal.
She was about to take the deer away from Hercules, and surely she
would have punished him, but Hercules told her the truth. He said that
he had to obey the oracle and do the labors Eurystheus had given him.
Diana let go of her anger and healed the deer's wound. Hercules carried
it alive to Mycenae.

Diana with a deer

Mississippi 1977.3.117, Attic red figure, white ground lekythos, ca. 480-470 B.C.
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the University Museums, University of Mississippi
 The Erymanthian Boar
For the fourth labor, Eurystheus ordered Hercules to bring him the
Erymanthian boar alive. Now, a boar is a huge, wild pig with a bad
temper, and tusks growing out of its mouth.

Dewing 2440, silver stater from Lycia in Asia Minor, c. 520-500 B.C.
Obverse: the forepart of a boar.
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Dewing Numismatic Foundation

This one was called the Erymanthian boar, because it lived on a

mountain called Erymanthus. Every day the boar would come crashing
down from his lair on the mountain, attacking men and animals all over
the countryside, gouging them with its tusks, and destroying everything
in its path.

Malibu 86.AE.154, Attic black figure Siana cup, c. 580-570 B.C.

A boar hunt.
Collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, California
On his way to hunt the boar, Hercules stopped to visit his friend Pholus,
who was a centaur and lived in a cave near Mount Erymanthus.
Everyone knows that centaur is a human from his head to his waist, and
a horse for the rest of his body and his legs. Hercules was hungry and
thirsty, so the kindly centaur cooked Hercules some meat in the
fireplace, while he himself ate his meat raw.

London B 226, Attic black figure neck amphora, c. 530-510 B.C.

Hercules and the centaur Pholos shaking hands.
Photograph courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum, London

When Hercules asked for wine, Pholus said that he was afraid to open
the wine jar, because it belonged to all the centaurs in common. But
Hercules said not to worry, and opened it himself.

Soon afterwards, the rest of the centaurs smelled the wine and came to
Pholus's cave. They were angry that someone was drinking all of their
wine. The first two who dared to enter were armed with rocks and fir
trees.
 RISD 22.215, Apulian red figure calyx krater, c. 430-420 B.C.
A centaur holds a rock, poised to attack Hercules.
Photograph by Brooke Hammerle, courtesy of the Museum of Art, RISD, Providence, RI

Hercules grabbed burning sticks from the fireplace and threw them at the
centaurs, then went after them with his club.

Malibu 88.AE.24, Attic black figure amphora, c. 530-520 B.C.

Hercules rauses his club, about to hit a centaur.
Collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, California
He shot arrows at the rest of them and chased after them for about
twenty miles. The rest of the centaurs fled in different directions. One of
the centaurs, Chiron, received a wound that no amount of medicine
would heal...but what happened to Chiron is another story.

While Hercules was gone, Pholus pulled an arrow from the body of one
of the dead centaurs. He wondered that so little a thing could kill such a
big creature. Suddenly, the arrow slipped from his hand. It fell onto his
foot and killed him on the spot. So when Hercules returned, he found
Pholus dead. He buried his centaur friend, and proceeded to hunt the
boar.

It wasn't too hard for Hercules to find the boar. He could hear the beast
snorting and stomping as it rooted around for something to eat. Hercules
chased the boar round and round the mountain, shouting as loud as he
could. 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.

Harvard 1960.314, Attic black figure neck amphora, c. 510-500 B.C.

Hercules grabs the boar's head and raises his club to strike it. On the right, the god Hermes offers assistance.
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of Harvard University Art Museums

Then he trapped the boar in a net, and carried it all the way to Mycenae.
Eurystheus, again amazed and frightened by the hero's powers, hid in his
partly buried bronze jar.
 Mississippi 1977.3.63, Attic black figure neck amphora, c. 540-520 B.C.
Hercules brings the boar to Eurstheus, carrying it on his shoulder. He rests his foot on the rim of the pithos, where
Eurystheus cowers.
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the University Museums, University of Mississippi

The Augean Stables

Hercules Cleans Up
For the fifth labor, Eurystheus ordered Hercules to clean up King
Augeas' stables. Hercules knew this job would mean getting dirty and
smelly, but sometimes even a hero has to do these things. Then
Eurystheus made Hercules' task even harder: he had to clean up after the
cattle of Augeas in a single day.

Now King Augeas owned more cattle than anyone in Greece. Some say
that he was a son of one of the great gods, and others that he was a son
of a mortal; whosever son he was, Augeas was very rich, and he had
many herds of cows, bulls, goats, sheep and horses.
 An aerial view of Olympia in Elis, where Augeas ruled his kingdom.
Photograph by Raymond V. Schoder, S.J., courtesy of Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers

Every night the cowherds, goatherds and shepherds drove the thousands
of animals to the stables.

Boston 13.195, Attic red figure lekythos, c. 530-500 B.C.

People leading cows.
From Caskey & Beazley, plate IV. With permission of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Hercules went to King Augeas, and without telling anything about

Eurystheus, said that he would clean out the stables in one day, if
Augeas would give him a tenth of his fine cattle.
 Munich 2412, Attic red figure stamnos, c. 440-430 B.C.
A bull drinking water from a basin.
From Furtwängler & Reichhold, pl. 19

Augeas couldn't believe his ears, but promised. Hercules brought

Augeas's son along to watch. First the hero tore a big opening in the wall
of the cattle-yard where the stables were. Then he made another opening
in the wall on the opposite side of the yard.

Next, he 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.
 Mount Holyoke 1925.BS.II.3, Attic black figure skyphos, c. 500 B.C.
Hercules takes a break. The goddess Athena pours him a cup of wine.
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum

When Augeas learned that Eurystheus was behind all this, he would not
pay Hercules his reward. Not only that, he denied that he had even
promised to pay a reward. Augeas said that if Hercules didn't like it, he
could take the matter to a judge to decide.

The judge took his seat. Hercules called the son of Augeas to testify. The
boy swore that his father had agreed to give Hercules a reward. The
judge ruled that Hercules would have to be paid. In a rage, Augeas
ordered both his own son and Hercules to leave his kingdom at once. So
the boy went to the north country to live with his aunts, and Hercules
headed back to Mycenae. But Eurystheus said that this labour didn't
count, because Hercules was paid for having done the work.
 The Stymphalian Birds
After Hercules returned from his success in the Augean stables,
Eurystheus came up with an even more difficult task. For the sixth
Labor, Hercules was to drive away an enormous flock of birds which
gathered at a lake near the town of Stymphalos.

Arriving at the lake, which was deep in the woods, Hercules had no idea
how to drive the huge gathering of birds away. The goddess Athena
came to his aid, providing a pair of bronze krotala, noisemaking clappers
similar to castanets. These were no ordinary noisemakers. They had
been made by an immortal craftsman, Hephaistos, the god of the forge.

Dancer with krotala, flute case, and walking stick

Philadelphia MS2445, Attic red figure kylix, ca. 480 B.C.
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Museum

Climbing a nearby mountain, Hercules clashed the krotala loudly,

scaring the birds out of the trees, then shot them with bow and arrow, or
possibly with a slingshot, as they took flight.
 Hercules and the Stymphalian birds
London B 163, Attic black figure amphora, ca. 560-530 B.C.
Photograph courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum, London

Some versions of the legend say that these Stymphalian birds were
vicious man-eaters. The 2nd century A.D. travel writer, Pausanias,
trying to discover what kind of birds they might have been, wrote that
during his time a type of bird from the Arabian desert was called
"Stymphalian," describing them as equal to lions or leopards in their
fierceness. He speculated that the birds Hercules encountered in the
legend were similar to these Arabian birds.

These fly against those who come to hunt them, wounding and killing
them with their beaks. All armor of bronze or iron that men wear is
pierced by the birds; but if they weave a garment of thick cork, the beaks
of the Stymphalian birds are caught in the cork garment... These birds are
of the size of a crane, and are like the ibis, but their beaks are more
powerful, and not crooked like that of the ibis.

Pausanias, Description of Greece, 8.22.5

Pausanias also saw and described the religious sanctuary built by the
Greeks of Stymphalos and dedicated to the goddess Artemis. He
reported that the temple had carvings of the Stymphalian birds up near
its roof. Standing behind the temple, he saw marble statues of maidens
with the legs of birds.

The Cretan Bull

After the complicated business with the Stymphalian Birds, Hercules
easily disposed of the Cretan Bull.

At that time, Minos, King of Crete, controlled many of the islands in the
seas around Greece, and was such a powerful ruler that the Athenians
sent him tribute every year. There are many bull stories about Crete.
Zeus, in the shape of a bull, had carried Minos' mother Europa to Crete,
and the Cretans were fond of the sport of bull-leaping, in which
contestants grabbed the horns of a bull and were thrown over its back.

Bull fresco from the Palace of Minos in Knossos

Photograph courtesy of the Department of Archaeology, Boston University, Saul S. Weinberg Collection
Minos himself, in order to prove his claim to the throne, had promised
the sea-god Poseidon 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, and caused Minos' wife Pasiphae to fall in love
with the animal. As a result, Pasiphae gave birth to the Minotaur, a
monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man. Minos had to
shut up this beast in the Labyrinth, a huge maze underneath the palace,
and every year he fed it prisoners from Athens.

When Hercules got to Crete, he easily wrestled the bull to the ground
and drove it back to King Eurystheus. Eurystheus let the bull go free. It
wandered around Greece, terrorizing the people, and ended up in
Marathon, a city near Athens.

Hercules ropes the Cretan Bull

Mississippi 1977.3.61a and b, Attic black figure neck amphora, ca. 530-520
B.C.
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the University Museums,
University of Mississippi
The Athenian hero Theseus tied up some loose ends of this story. He
killed the Cretan Bull at Marathon. Later, he sailed to Crete, found his
way to the center of the Labyrinth, and killed the Minotaur.

Theseus fighting the Minotaur

RISD 25.083, Attic black figure amphora, ca. 550-530 B.C.
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Museum of Art, RISD, Providence, RI
 The Man-Eating Horses of Diomedes
After Hercules had captured the Cretan Bull, Eurystheus sent him to get
the man-eating mares of Diomedes, the king of a Thracian tribe called
the Bistones, and bring them back to him in Mycenae.

Warrior approaching grazing horse

Philadelphia MS4873, fragment of an Attic black figure amphora, ca. 540 B.C.
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Museum

According to Apollodorus, Hercules sailed with a band of volunteers

across the Aegean to Bistonia. There he and his companions
overpowered the grooms who were tending the horses, and drove them
to the sea. But by the time he got there, the Bistones had realized what
had happened, and they sent a band of soldiers to recapture the animals.
To free himself to fight, Hercules entrusted the mares to a youth named
Abderos.
 Horse and groom
Tampa 86.29, Attic black figure neck amphora, ca. 490-480 B.C.
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Tampa Museum of Art

Unfortunately, the mares got the better of young Abderos and dragged
him around until he was killed.

Fallen archer trampled by horses

Tampa 86.41, Attic black figure oinochoe, ca. 510 B.C.
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Tampa Museum of Art

Meanwhile Hercules fought the Bistones, killed Diomedes, and made the
rest flee. In honor of the slain Abderos, Hercules founded the city of
Abdera.
 Abdera
Overall view of city gate from outside, from NW
Photograph by Beth McIntosh and Sebastian Heath

The hero took the mares back to Eurystheus, but Eurystheus set them
free. The mares wandered around until eventually they came to Mount
Olympos, the home of the gods, where they were eaten by wild beasts.

Euripides gives two different versions of the story, but both of them
differ from Apollodorus's in that Hercules seems to be performing the
labor alone, rather than with a band of followers. In one, Diomedes has
the four horses harnessed to a chariot, and Hercules has to bring back the
chariot as well as the horses. In the other, Hercules tames the horses
from his own chariot:

He mounted on a chariot and tamed with the bit the horses of Diomedes,
that greedily champed their bloody food at gory mangers with unbridled
jaws, devouring with hideous joy the flesh of men.

Euripides, Hercules, 380

 Hippolyte's Belt
Hercules Fights the Amazons
For the ninth labor, Eurystheus ordered Hercules to bring him the belt of
Hippolyte [Hip-POLLY-tee]. This was no ordinary belt and no ordinary
warrior. Hippolyte was queen of the Amazons, a tribe of women
warriors.

Mississippi 1977.3.57, Attic black figure neck amphora, c. 530-520 B.C.

Side A: Amazon on left, detail
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the University Museums, University of Mississippi

These Amazons had nothing to do with the Amazon river in South

America. Their name comes from a Greek word meaning "missing one
breast." This is because an Amazon's right breast got in the way when
she threw a spear.

The Amazons lived apart from men, and if they ever gave birth to
children, they kept only the females and reared them to be warriors like
themselves.

Queen Hippolyte had a special piece of armor. It was a leather belt that
had been given to her by Ares, the war god, because she was the best
warrior of all the Amazons. She wore this belt across her chest and used
it to carry her sword and spear. Eurystheus wanted Hippolyte's belt as a
present to give to his daughter, and he sent Hercules to bring it back.

Hercules' friends realized that the hero could not fight against the whole
Amazon army by himself, so they joined with him and set sail in a single
ship.

London B 436, Attic black figure kylix, c. 540-500 B.C.

A warship with mast and sail. Its prow is in the form of a boar's head, and it has a high fore-deck, steering oars and a
landing ladder at the stern. Eight figures can be seen rowing the upper set of oars (there are at least as many people
on the lower deck) and the sail is fully extended, giving the impression that the boat is moving "full speed ahead."
Photograph courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum, London

After a long journey, they reached the land of the Amazons and put in at
the harbor. When Hercules and the Greeks got off the boat, Hippolyte
came down to visit them.
 Philadelphia MS4832, Attic black figure amphora, c. 525-500 B.C.
Amazon running, with her dog along side.
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of The University of Pennsylvania Museum

She asked Hercules why he had come, and when he told her, she
promised to give him the belt. But the goddess Hera knew that the
arrival of Hercules meant nothing but trouble for the Amazons.
Disguised as an Amazon warrior, Hera went up and down the army
saying to each woman that the strangers who had arrived were going to
carry off the queen. So the Amazons put on their armor.
 Malibu 77.AE.11, Attic red figure volute krater, c. 490 B.C.
Amazons arming.
Collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, California

The women warriors charged on horseback down to the ship.

Mississippi 1977.3.243, Attic red figure white ground pyxis, c. 460-450 B.C.
Amazon on horseback.
Collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, California

But when Hercules saw that they were wearing their armor and were
carrying their weapons, he knew that he was under attack. Thinking fast,
he drew his sword and killed Hippolyte.
 Tampa 82.11.1, Attic black figure neck amphora, c. 510-500 B.C.
Hercules battles the Amazons. The Amazon has fallen to one knee, supported by the shield on her left arm. A
wrapped object at her waist may represent the prized belt.
Collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, California

Then he undid her belt and took it away from her.

Hercules and the Greeks fought the rest of the Amazons in a great battle.

Malibu 77.AE.11, Attic red figure volute krater, c. 490 B.C.

Hercules fighting the Amazons.
Collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, California
When the enemy had been driven off, Hercules sailed away. After a
stopover at the city of Troy, Hercules returned to Mycenae, and he gave
the belt to Eurystheus.

The Cattle of Geryon

To accomplish his tenth labor, Hercules had to journey to the end of the
world. Eurystheus ordered the hero to bring him the cattle of the monster
Geryon. Geryon was the son of Chrysaor and Callirrhoe. Chrysaor had
sprung from the body of the Gorgon Medusa after Perseus beheaded her,
and Callirrhoe was the daughter of two Titans, Oceanus and Tethys.
With such distinguished lineage, it is no surprise that Geryon himself
was quite unique. It seems that Geryon had three heads and three sets of
legs all joined at the waist.

And the daughter of Ocean, Callirrhoe... bore a son who was the strongest
of all men, Geryones, whom mighty Heracles killed in sea-girt Erythea
for the sake of his shambling oxen.

Hesiod, Theogony, 980

Harvard 1972.42, Attic black figure amphora, c. 550-530 B.C.

 Side A: Geryon
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of Harvard University Art Museums

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, and he came to the
place where Libya met Europe. Here, Apollodorus tells us, Hercules
built two massive mountains, one in Europe and one in Libya, to
commemorate his extensive journey. Other accounts say that Hercules
split one mountain into two. Either way, these mountains became known
as the Gates or Pillars of Hercules. The strait Hercules made when he
broke the mountain apart is now called the Strait of Gibraltar, between
Spain and Morocco, the gateway from the Mediterranean Sea to the
Atlantic Ocean.

Sailing in a goblet which the Sun gave him in admiration, Hercules

reached the island of Erythia. Not long after he arrived, Orthus, the two-
headed dog, attacked Hercules, 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.
 Munich 2620, Attic red figure kylix, c. 510-500 B.C.
Side A: Hercules, Geryon, the dog Orthros
Photograph copyright Staatl. Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek, München

The stealing of the cattle was not such a difficult task, compared to the
trouble Hercules had bringing the herd back to Greece. In Liguria, two
sons of Poseidon, the god of the sea, tried to steal the cattle, so he killed
them. At Rhegium, a bull got loose and jumped into the sea. The bull
swam to Sicily and then made its way to the neighboring country. The
native word for bull was "italus," and so the country came to be named
after the bull, and was called Italy.

The escaped bull was found by a ruler named Eryx, another of

Poseidon's sons, and Eryx put this bull into his own herd. Meanwhile,
Hercules was searching for the runaway animal. He temporarily
entrusted the rest of the herd to the god Hephaestus, and went after the
bull. He found it in Eryx's herd, but the king would return it only if the
hero could beat him in a wrestling contest. Never one to shy away from
competition, Hercules beat Eryx three times in wrestling, killed the king,
took back the bull, and returned it to the herd.
 RISD 26.166, Apulian red figure rhyton (drinking cup), c. 400-300 B.C.
Drinking cup in the shape of a bull's head.
Photograph by Brooke Hammerle, courtesy of the Museum of Art, RISD, Providence, RI

Hercules made it to the edge of the Ionian Sea, with the end of his
journey finally in sight. Hera, however, was not about to let the hero
accomplish this labor. She sent a gadfly to attack the cattle, and the herd
scattered far and wide. Now, Hercules had to run around Thrace
gathering the escaped cows. Finally, he regrouped the herd and, blaming
his troubles on the river Strymon in Thrace, he filled the river with
rocks, making it unnavigable. Then, he brought the cattle of Geryon to
Eurystheus, who sacrificed the herd to Hera. The ancients don't tell us
how long either Hercules or Europe took to recover from this eventful
jaunt.

Possible return route of Hercules with the cattle of Geryon.

 The Apples of the Hesperides
Poor Hercules! After eight years and one month, after performing ten
superhuman labors, he was still not off the hook. Eurystheus demanded
two more labors from the hero, since he did not count the hydra or the
Augean stables as properly done.

Eurystheus commanded Hercules to bring him golden apples which

belonged to Zeus, king of the gods. Hera had given these apples to Zeus
as a wedding gift, so surely this task was impossible. Hera, who didn't
want to see Hercules succeed, would never permit him to steal one of
her prize possessions, would she?

These apples 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 sky and the earth upon his shoulders.

The Hesperides in the garden. Here the apples are on a tree, and the dragon Ladon looks more like a single-headed
serpent.
London E 224, Attic red figure hydria, ca. 410-400 B.C.
Photograph courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum, London

Hercules' first problem was that he didn't know where the garden was.
He journeyed through Libya, Egypt, Arabia, and Asia, having
adventures along the way. He was stopped by Kyknos, the son of the
war god, Ares, who demanded that Hercules fight him. After the fight
was broken up by a thunderbolt, Hercules continued on to Illyria, where
he seized the sea-god Nereus, who knew the garden's secret location.
Nereus transformed himself into all kinds of shapes,trying to escape, but
Hercules held tight and didn't release Nereus until he got the information
he needed.

Hercules fighting Kyknos

Toledo 1961.25, Attic red figure kylix, ca. 520-510 B.C.
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Toledo Museum of Art

Continuing on his quest, Hercules was stopped by Antaeus, the son of

the sea god, Poseidon, who also challenged Hercules to fight. Hercules
defeated him in a wrestling match, lifting him off the ground and
crushing him, because when Antaeus touched the earth he became
stronger. After that, Hercules met up with Busiris, another of Poseidon's
sons, was captured, and was led to an altar to be a human sacrifice. But
Hercules escaped, killing Busiris, and journeyed on.
 Hercules wrestling Antaeus
Tampa 86.29, Attic black figure neck amphora, ca. 490-480 B.C.
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Tampa Museum of Art

Hercules came to the rock on Mount Caucasus where Prometheus was

chained. Prometheus, a trickster 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.
 Eagle with wings outstretched.
Philadelphia MS553, Corinthian alabastron, ca. 620-590 B.C.
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the University of Pennyslvania Museum

In gratitude, Prometheus told Hercules the secret to getting the apples.

He would have to send Atlas after them, instead of going himself. 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 literally on his shoulders.
 Cerberus
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 (or Kerberos). Eurystheus must have been sure
Hercules would never succeed at this impossible task!

The ancient Greeks believed that after a person died, his or her spirit
went to the world below and dwelled for eternity in the depths of the
earth. The Underworld was the kingdom of Hades, also called Pluto, and
his wife, Persephone. Depending on how a person lived his or her life,
they might or might not experience never-ending punishment in Hades.
All souls, whether good or bad, were destined for the kingdom of Hades.

Cerberus was a vicious beast that guarded the entrance to Hades and
kept the living from entering the world of the dead. According to
Apollodorus, Cerberus was a strange mixture of creatures: he had three
heads of wild dogs, a dragon or serpent for a tail, and heads of snakes all
over his back. Hesiod, though, says that Cerberus had fifty heads and
devoured raw flesh.

. . . A monster not to be overcome and that may not be described,

Cerberus who eats raw flesh, the brazen-voiced hound of Hades, fifty-
headed, relentless and strong.
Hesiod, Theogony 310

Cerberus' parents were the monster Echinda (half-woman, half-serpent)

and Typhon (a fire-breathing giant covered with dragons and serpents).
Even the gods of Olympus were afraid of Typhon.

Among the children attributed to this awful couple were Orthus (or
Othros), the Hydra of Lerna, and the Chimaera. Orthus was a two-
headed hound which guarded the cattle of Geryon. With the Chimaera,
Orthus fathered the Nemean Lion and the Sphinx. The Chimaera was a
three-headed fire-breathing monster, part lion, part snake, and part goat.
Hercules seemed to have a lot of experience dealing with this family: he
killed Orthus, when he stole the cattle of Geryon, and strangled the
Nemean Lion. Compared to these unfortunate family members, Cerberus
was actually rather lucky.

Louvre F 204
Side A: Kerberos
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Musée du Louvre

Before making the trip to the Underworld, Hercules decided that he

should take some extra precautions. This was, after all, a journey from
which no mortal had ever returned. Hercules knew that once in the
kingdom of Hades, he might not be allowed to leave and rejoin the
living. The hero went to Eleusis and saw Eumolpus, a priest who began
what were known as the Eleusinian Mysteries. The mysteries were
sacred religious rites which celebrated the myth of Demeter and her
daughter Persephone. The ancients believed that those who learned the
secrets of the mysteries would have happiness in the Underworld. After
the hero met a few conditions of membership, Eumolpus initiated
Hercules into the mysteries.

Hercules went to a place called Taenarum in Laconia. Through a deep,

rocky cave, Hercules made his way down to the Underworld. He
encountered monsters, heroes, and ghosts as he made his way through
Hades. He even engaged in a wrestling contest! Then, finally, he found
Pluto and asked the god for Cerberus. The lord of the Underworld
replied that Hercules could indeed take Cerberus with him, but only if he
overpowered the beast with nothing more than his own brute strength.

A weaponless Hercules set off to find Cerberus. Near the gates of

Acheron, one of the five rivers of the Underworld, Hercules encountered
Cerberus. Undaunted, the hero threw his strong 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, where he resumed guarding the gateway to the
Underworld. Presumably, Hercules inflicted no lasting damage on
Cerberus, except, of course, the wound to his pride!

Louvre E 701
Main panel: Hercules and Kerberos
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Musée du Louvre
 Woman juggling apples.
Toledo 1963.29, Attic red figure, white ground pyxis, ca. 470-460 B.C.
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Toledo Museum of Art

When Atlas returned with the golden apples, he told Hercules he would
take them to Eurystheus himself, and asked Hercules to stay there and
hold the heavy load for the rest of time. Hercules slyly agreed, but asked
Atlas whether he could take it back again, just for a moment, while the
hero put some soft padding on his shoulders to help him bear the weight
of the sky and the earth. Atlas put the apples on the ground, and lifted
the burden onto his own shoulders. And so Hercules picked up the
apples and quickly ran off, carrying them back, uneventfully, to
Eurystheus.

There was one final problem: because they belonged to the gods, the
apples could not remain with Eurystheus. After all the trouble Hercules
went through to get them, he had to return them to Athena, who took
them back to the garden at the northern edge of the world.
 Hercules in the garden of the Hesperides.
Sometimes the hero is portrayed in the garden, even though the story we have from Apollodorus is that he sent Atlas
there instead of going himself.
London E 224, Attic red figure hydria, ca. 410-400 B.C.
Photograph courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum, London