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.
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 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
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 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.

(wpm)

To read more about these topics, see Further Resources.

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 Labor 1: The Nemean Lion
Labor 2: The Lernean Hydra
Labor 3: The Hind of Ceryneia
Labor 4: The Erymanthean Boar
Labor 5: The Augean Stables
Labor 6: The Stymphalian Birds
Labor 7: The Cretan Bull
Labor 8: The Horses of Diomedes
Labor 9: The Belt of Hippolyte
Labor 10: Geryon's Cattle
Labor 11: The Apples of the Hesperides
Labor 12: Cerberus

This exhibit is a subset of materials from the Perseus Project

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