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VII.) The Seventh Labor: The Cretan Bull
The information regarding this labor is rather fuzzy as well as very concise. After looking at various sites this is the best I could do. King Minos of Crete possessed a very beautiful bull. The God of the Sea, Poseidon, demanded that he sacrifice his beloved bull to him, and after refusing to follow the Sea God's wishes, Poseidon decided that Minos would have to pay for his disobedience. He made Minos' wife Queen Pasiphae fall in love with the bull, and the result of this infatuation with the bull came the Minotaur, half-man, and half-bull. This was an especially ill-tempered beast (surprise, surprise!!) who wandered the lands of Crete killing unmercifully. Heracles was then contacted to deal with the Minotaur, and for his seventh labor he agreed and traveled to Crete. After a struggle which pretty much left Heracles without even breaking a sweat, he lead the bull out of Crete and back to the mainland near Athens. (This isn't the last you will hear of the Minotaur, because another hero, Theseus, must face it again and that will be the subject of a future story).

VIII.) The Eighth Labor: The Horse of Diomedes
After Heracles had disposed of the great bull, he was sent by King Eurystheus to bring back the horses of Diomedes. These horses weren't just any horses, however, they were man-eaters; savagely devouring the flesh of men who got in their way. (They got most of their meals from Diomedes' poor unfortunate house guests). There are several versions of this story so here they are: one version has Heracles feeding Diomedes to his prized mares, and another has Heracles' young squire Abderus being gobbled up by the horses. Basically however it goes, Heracles is able to pacify the horses and bring them back to Tiryn and showing them to King Eurystheus, who later let the horses loose again. The horses finally meet their end when they make it to Mount Olympos and are eaten by some wild beasts.

IX.) The Ninth Labor: The Belt of Hippolyte
For this labor, King Eurystheus asked Heracles to bring him the belt of the ultimate warrior-woman tribe 'The Amazons.' Hippolyte was the their leader and queen, so obtaining her belt would be no easy task. These women lived completely independent of men, and if they did become pregnant (how this happened I can't be sure b/c there were no men in their society) they would keep only the girls and no boys and would raise the girls to be great warriors. Hippolyte's belt had been a gift from the War God, Ares so it was quite special; she wore it across her chest and it was used to hold her sword. Eurystheus wanted the belt as a gift for his daughter, so he wanted Heracles to go do the shopping for him. Heracles was joined by a small group of men since he couldn't face the entire Amazon army himself. They arrived on their island, and immediately were greeted by the queen herself, Heracles informed her of his mission and she gladly gave him the belt, simple right? Nope. Well Hera, who's given Heracles trouble on countless occasions, gets the Amazon warriors all riled up and tells them that Heracles is going to take away their queen. After hearing this, the Amazons charge in after Heracles and his men in full armor, Heracles quickly dispatches of the queen with his sword and takes the belt. After a glorious battle, the Amazons are defeated and Heracles and his men sail back and give King Eurystheus the belt.

X.) The Tenth Labor: The Cattle of Geryon
The tenth labor called for Heracles to travel to the end of the earth to find the monster Geryon and take his cattle back to Eurystheus. Geryon wasn't a pretty site, he had three heads and three sets of legs all joined by a single waist. Geryon resided on an island called Erythia, and on this island he kept a herd of red cattle which were guarded by the brother of Cerburus, (you'll find out about him in the 12th Labor) Orthos. Heracles reached the island and as he reached Geryon's humble abode, he was attacked by Orthos who he promptly bashed with his club. As Heracles was making off with the cattle, Geryon was informed that his cattle had been taken and went off after him. Heracles shot him to death with his handy bow and then set sail. Heracles reached home, and returned the cattle to Eurystheus, who sacrificed them to Hera.

XI.) The Eleventh Labor: The Apples of Hesperides
Okay so if you remember correctly, Heracles was supposed to do only ten labors, but since Eursytheus didn't count the Hydra or the Augien Stables as being done properly, he ordered Heracles to do two more. He told Heracles to retrieve the Golden Apples of Zeus. These apples had been given to him as a gift from his wife Hera as a wedding gift. They were housed in a garden and were guarded by a hundred headed dragon and by the Hesperides, who were nymphs and the daughters of Atlas, who held up the sky. Heracles traveled far and wide searching for the garden with no luck, after many small adventures he met Prometheus. Prometheus was a god himself but was punished for giving man fire and was forced to stay chained to a rock for all of eternity. Each day a giant eagle would come and eat his liver, and since Prometheus was a god it would regenerate each day as well. He hated the Olympian gods so anything he could do to tick them off he would jump at. Heracles made him promise to reveal the location of the garden if he were to dispatch of the eagle, Prometheus promised and Heracles killed the eagle. Prometheus suggested to Heracles that Atlas, father of the Hesperides, go and retrieve the apples. So Heracles bargained with Atlas and was forced to hold the sky and the earth while Atlas retrieved the apples. Atlas was successful and returned to Heracles and told him he would take the apples to Eursytheus himself if Heracles continued to hold up the earth and sky. Heracles slyly agreed but said that first he should put down the apples and let him put some soft padding on first, Atlas agreed and gave him back the earth and sky, Heracles grabbed the apples and ran off, taking them back to the king.

XII.) The Twelfth and Final Labor: Cerberus

Image of Heracles Battling Cerberus
http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/hercules.html

For his final labor, Eursytheus saved the best and most difficult task for Heracles. Heracles was asked to go to the Underworld and retrieve its guardian the dreaded, Cerberus. Cerburus was decried as a beast with three heads of wild dogs, a serpent's tale and heads of snakes all across its back. Its sole purpose was to keep the living out of the Underworld, a job that it was pretty good at considering a living being had never entered the Underworld and escaped that same way. Heracles made it to the Underworld and after a brief altercation with the Underworld's boatman, Charon was granted entry. He met many ghosts and monsters along the way but finally made it to Hades himself, God and Ruler of the Underworld. He asked if he could take Cerberus and Hades agreed, but only if Heracles could defeat him by his own brute strength and with no weapon of any sort. So the weapon less Heracles ran at the beast and wrapped his enormous arms around the beast's three heads. After wrestling and rolling around some, the beast's snakes bit Heracles repeatedly but Heracles still held on, dragging the hell hound out of Hades and into the court of Eurystheus. The king was absolutely terrified beyond thought at the site of this beast and ordered Heracles to return the beast to the Underworld immediately.
 
 

Don't fret, the Adventures of Heracles don't end here! If you are still interested in his further journeys check out:
1.) http://www.mythweb.com/hercules/
2.) http://www.timelessmyths.com/classical/heracles.html

I hope you enjoyed Heracles, stay tuned to this same site for more Greek heroes. Next Week: Jason!!!