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    Heracles is the most famous of all of the Greek heroes, so I figured it was only fitting that he would be the center of my first story. Heracles has been the star of a long running T.V series (starring Kevin Sorbo), numerous movies (starring such actors as: Steve Reeves, Richard Harrison) and even a Disney movie. The tales of his strength and courage span generations and still continue to captivate and fascinate audiences. Heracles was actually worshipped in many temples around Greece and Rome. He was a half mortal and half divine being because his father was almighty Zeus and his mother was mortal.  His famous 'Twelve Labors' have been some of the most popular stories in all of Greek mythology. The 'Twelve Labors' are going to be the centerpiece of this story for several reasons. First I believe they are just so interesting to read. Secondly like I said they are probably the most popular stories for the most popular Greek Hero of them all and it would be a simple injustice to my Storybook Project if I didn't include this captivating story. For my first story I am going to do the first Six Labors and save the last Six Labors for next week.
 
 

    Heracles was the result of a torrid love affair between a beautiful Greek woman named Alcmene and the King and Ruler of all the gods, the almighty Zeus. This made his wife, Hera, very upset (don't worry this is one of tons of Zeus' affairs so she was probably getting used to it). She hated Alcmene and hated their offspring 'Heracles' even more. Actually the name 'Heracles' means "glorious gift of Hera" so that probably didn't help either. Hera actually attempted to kill Heracles in his crib with two serpents, which he grabbed and strangled to death (keep in mind he was still a baby; 8 months to be exact). Heracles was gifted with unparalleled strength and since he was Zeus' last mortal son he was also looked after quite favorably by his almighty father. On the other hand, Hera made it her mission to do everything in her power to try and ruin Heracles' life and trust me she had plenty of power. Skip ahead about 20 years and Heracles is now a very powerful young man and a gifted warrior. He had grown so powerful in fact that he was more powerful than many gods and he possessed fear of nothing because he knew that in all of the earth his strength could not be matched by anyone or anything. By this age Heracles is known throughout Greece as the most powerful man on earth and he is called upon to do various feats of strength to help out his fellow man. Around this time Heracles, marries a young woman named Megara, daughter of the king of Thebes, Creon. Creon sets up Heracles with Megara because of his bravery. Megara births two children to Heracles. All is good for Heracles, right? Wrong. Remember Hera? Well around this time Hera decides to intervene in Heracles' happiness and send a mad rage over him. In this blind rage, Heracles snaps and kills Megara and their two children. Once Heracles snaps out of it and comes to his senses he realizes what he has done he nearly commits suicide. He decides that is not the way to go, and decides to visit the all-knowing Oracle at Delphi for guidance. Heracles arrives in Delphi and speaks to the oracle (a.k.a. the God of Prophecy Apollo). Apollo first has some bad news for Heracles: to cleanse his spirit he must perform 12 nearly impossible labors in 12 years. Also he must go to the king of the Tiryns, Eurytheus, who was notorious for being mean and nasty and be his servant for 12 years. But there was some light at the end of the tunnel, if Heracles successfully completed all of these tasks he would not only be cleansed but he would be immortal and become a god.

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Image of First of Heracles' 12 Labors
http://www.pantheon.org/areas/gallery/folklore/greek_heroic/
 

-The Twelve Labors Of Heracles-

I.) The First Labor: The Nemean Lion
    For Heracles' first labor, he was commanded by Eurytheus to bring him the skin of the Nemean lion. This lion was no normal lion however, it had been terrorizing the town of Nemea for years and no man was brave enough to face it. Also the lion's fur was said to be impenetrable by any arrow, spear or sword. Heracles tracked the lion for several days and finally trapping it in a cave. Since Heracles knew that his arrows would be useless against the lion, he brought his trusty club with him. Heracles blocked the doorway towards one of the exits and went down the other corridor to face the dreaded lion. As he approached the lion, he dropped his club and clasped the lion under his giant arms and began to squeeze. As the lion clawed and bit, Heracles' grip held fast and eventually squeezed the life out of the giant beast. Victorious in his first endeavor, Heracles proudly skinned the lion and left Nemea to return to Eurytheus to prove that the labor had been completed. As he entered the kingdom of the Tiryns, he donned the skin of the lion, with his head protruding from the deceased lion's jaws. This was a fearful sight because king Eurytheus refused to see Heracles in his cowardice. From this moment on Heracles would now be shown wearing this lion's skin, which, is evident in Greek artwork; all of which show him wearing the skin of the Nemean Lion.

II.) The Second Labor: The Lernean Hydra

          Image of Lernean Hydra
http://library.thinkquest.org/26264/myths/
    The second labor or Heracles was to kill the nine headed monster the dreaded 'Hydra'. The Hydra resided in the murky swamps of a town called Lernea. It had been terrorizing the people of this town, killing innocent people indiscriminately. The Hydra's heads all had poisonous venom dripping from their long jaws, and one of the heads was immortal and could not be destroyed. Heracles was accompanied by his nephew Iolaus (who accompanied him on many journeys). Heracles arrived at the swamp and lured the giant beast out of the water by shooting flaming arrows into the water. The beast then emerged and instantly seized one of Heracles' legs, at this same time he seized one of the heads and chopped it off with his sword. However, instantly out of the place of the lost head, two new ones would grow. And to make matters worse Hera sent a giant crab to further complicate matters for Heracles. Heracles immediately smashes the crab beneath his club and calls forth his nephew Iolaus to help him. Heracles ordered Iolaus to put a torch to the head after he severed it to prevent the Hydra from regrowing another head. After Heracles severed the eight normal heads, he severed the ninth head (the immortal one) and quickly buries it and places a huge boulder over it. As for the rest of the remaining corpse of the Hydra, Heracles split it open and dipped his arrows into the venom (which caused them to give whomever hit with his arrow to have an irreparable wound). After completing this task, Heracles returned to king Eurytheus. Eurytheus refused to give Heracles credit for this labor since he was assisted by his nephew, but was eventually beaten out as the majority thought that however the Hydra was beaten, that person deserved due credit.
 

III.) The Third Labor:  The Hind of Ceryneia
    Okay, let me get this straight, Heracles has now killed a lion and then a nine headed water monster and now he's sent to retrieve a hind of a deer?! Well that's what his third labor was but it is a little more tricky than you might think (as usual). This was no ordinary deer, it had golden horns and bronze hoofs and could run like the wind, oh, and not to mention it was the personal pet of the moon goddess Diana. Heracles has already ticked off one goddess and couldn't afford to have a second on his bad side so he would have to be very wise in how he carried this out.
    Heracles tracked the deer for an entire year. After this year the deer became very weary, and stopped to cross a stream and take a drink, as the deer stooped its head into the water, Heracles shot it in its hindquarters. He walked over to the deer and picked it up and on the way back was met by Diana and Apollo. Diana questioned what Heracles was doing and he immediately told her the truth: he was merely following the Oracle's instructions and was ordered by Eurytheus to carry out this task. Diana let go of her anger and healed the deer's wound and permitted Heracles to return the deer alive to Mycanae.

IV.) The Fourth Labor: The Erymanthian Boar
    For the fourth labor, Eurytheus ordered Heracles to track down the savage boar of the Erymanthian Mountains and bring it back to him alive. This beast had been terrorizing the people around the mountain, bounding down from the mountain every day and attacking people and animals and virtually anything and everything that would get into its path. Heracles had no trouble finding the boar because of its loud snorting and grunting. Heracles immediately started screaming at the top of his lungs and running after the boar as fast as he could. The boar was scared and ran from him around the mountain time and time again. The boar eventually was exhausted enough to stop running from Heracles and tried to hide in a thicket. Heracles netted the monster and carried it all the way back to Mycanae. Upon his return, the cowardly king once again hid from Heracles in a large pot and there is a famous image of Heracles standing over the pot as the cowardly king's hands stick out.

V.) The Fifth Labor: The Augean Stables
    This labor is somewhat humorous to me. It almost seems that Eurytheus was starting to figure out that Heracles wouldn't be stopped so he would just give him some meaningless, simple, yet degrading task. Eurytheus ordered Heracles to go to the land of King Augeas and clean up his stables. King Augeus was a very wealthy man who owned more cattle and livestock than anyone else in Greece; consisting of 1,000's of animals: goats, sheep, and cattle. Heracles would be forced to clean up all of his stables and was only given one day to complete this task. Heracles met with King Augeas and without telling him why he was doing it, told him he would clean out his stables, if he would give 1/10 of his fine cattle. Astonished at the stranger's remark, the king agreed thinking that there would be no way it was possible. This agreement was made in front of the king's young son (which will come into play in a second). Heracles uses his intelligence again and tears two holes into the stables with one on each side. He then dug a huge ditch from a nearby river and guided it towards the stables, washing it out completely. After completing his task, Heracles went to collect his reward and was denied because the king never intended on him to complete it. His young son however said that he had indeed agreed to the deal and begrudgingly agreed kicking out Heracles and his son. Eurytheus, however, refused to grant Heracles credit for his deed because he was paid.

VI.) The Sixth Labor: The Stymphalian Birds
    For this labor, Eurytheus devised a much tougher one for Heracles. This labor would force Heracles to drive out a flock of deadly birds from the lake called Stymphalos. These birds were characterized as: having claws and beaks of iron, feathers like deadly arrows filled with poison, paralyzing their prey and then swallowing it whole. Heracles was to kill all of these accursed birds. Heracles arrived in Stymphalos and hid out in a tree eyeing the birds and trying to figure out a way to kill them. Lucky for him he was in favor with the goddess Athena, who gave him a gift called krotala which were copper symbols which, could be used to distract the birds. Crashing the krotala's together, he caused the birds to leave the trees and fly about. This gave Heracles a perfect opportunity to simply pluck them out of the sky one by one with his bow and arrow. He was successful in this way and was able to kill all of the remaining birds.