Hecules and his Labors

A detailed Summary of Hecules and his Labors

With Greek Mythology a common subject in today's modern classrooms, understanding the characters and ideas behind it is important. Mythology is made up of many different concepts, including powerful gods, weak humans, great heroes, horrific monsters, and even a little magic. Each story in Greek Mythology can be tied to another, each having some of the common stated characteristics. The stories interweave to give one massive collection of tales of powerful gods and brave mortals fighting great monsters... where sex, betrayal, and murder all come into play. Hercules is one such character that fits the description of a Greek Mythological hero. The half-man half-god sun of Zeus, Hercules is considered to be the greatest hero of all Greek Mythology. The story of Hercules and his twelve accomplished labors is greater than the story of any other hero of Greek Mythology. (Rouse 55)

Hercules was the child of Zeus and Alcmena, the princess of Thebes. Zeus' seventh wife, Hera, was extremely jealous of Zeus' new son. At the time of his birth, Zeus swore that the next child born would rule the great city of Mycenae. Hera plotted against Alcmena's soon to be born son by having Ilithyia, a childbirth coordinator halt th

The ninth Labor took Hercules to the land of the Amazons, to retrieve the belt of their queen for Eurystheus' daughter. The Amazons were a race of warrior women, great archers who had invented the art of fighting from horseback. Hercules recruited a number of heroes to accompany him on this expedition. The Amazon queen, Hippolyte, willingly gave Hercules her belt, but Hera was not about to let the hero get off so easily. The goddess stirred up the Amazons with a rumor that the Greeks had captured their queen, and a great battle ensued and Hercules made off with the belt. (Rose 210)

Rose, H.J. A Handbook of Greek Mythology. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc. 1959.

Next Hercules was instructed to bring Eurystheus the mares of Diomedes. These horses dined on the flesh of travelers who made the mistake of accepting Diomedes' hospitality. Hercules pacified the beasts by feeding them their own master. Hercules then rounded them up and herded them down to sea, where he embarked them for Tiryns. Once he had shown them to Eurystheus, he released them. Wild animals on Mount Olympus eventually ate them.

Pinsent, John. Greek Mythology. London: The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited, 1969.

For his second labor, Hercules was required to kill the Lernaean hydra, a multi-headed monster. The monster was hard to defeat because it was said that once one head was chopped off, two more would grow back in its place. He called upon the help of his nephew, Iolaus to help with this battle. Hercules would chop off the heads, while Iolaus would burn the open wounds shut so no heads would come through. Together, they easily defeated the monster. (Hamilton 164)

For his next labor, Eurystheus made Hercules clean out the stables of King Augeas in a single day. Augeas possessed vast herds of cattle, which had deposited their manure in such quantity over the years that a thick aroma hung over the entire Peloponnesus. Instead of employing a shovel and a basket as Eurystheus imagined, Hercules diverted two rivers through the stable yard and got the job done without a problem. But because he had demanded payment of Augeas, Eurystheus refused to count this as a Labor.

The task of driving away the Stymphalian birds was next. The people of Stymphalus did not like the birds due to the large number of them. Being the skilled archer he was, he quickly shot them down and the people were happy once again. (Hamilton 164)

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Approximate Word count = 1738
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English