The Story of Heracles The story of Heracles Heracles, whom the Romans call Hercules, usually carries a club and wears a lionskin. From the moment he was born he was hated by Hera, the queen of the gods, because he was the son of her husband Zeus. When he was a baby she sent two snakes to kill him in his cot, but he strangled them with his bare hands and played with them like toys. As he grew up he became stronger, and killed his teacher in a fit of rage. He was sent to herd cows on a mountain. One day he was sitting at a crossroads when he saw two beautiful girls, Pleasure and Virtue. They gave him a choice: he could follow Pleasure and have an easy life of power and wealth, but he would not be respected; or he could follow Virtue and have a difficult life but win glory and respect. He chose to follow Virtue. Heracles killed his wife Megara and their children in a fit of madness sent by Hera. As punishment for the murders he was sent to work for his cousin King Eurystheus, who set him twelve difficult tasks, or labours. 2 These were: 1 To kill the Nemean Lion. This lion had a very tough skin which couldn’t be cut. Heracles used his great strength to strangle it, and wore its skin as armour afterwards. 2 To kill the Hydra. This was a monster with nine snakelike heads which grew back again if they were cut off. Hercules, helped by his nephew Iolaus, burned the stumps of the heads so they couldn’t grow back. Then he dipped the tips of his arrows in the Hydra’s blood, which made them poisonous. 3 To catch the Golden Hind of Artemis alive. It had golden antlers and brass hooves and could run faster than an arrow. 4 To catch the Erymanthean Boar. Heracles captured this very fierce boar by chasing it into deep snow. When he took it back to Eurystheus the king was so frightened of it he hid in a giant jar. 3 5 To clean the Augean Stables in a single day. King Augeus had 1,000 cows whose stable hadn’t been cleaned for 30 years. Heracles re-routed two rivers to flow through the stables and wash away all the dung. 6 To kill the Stymphalian birds, which had metal beaks and feathers and poisonous poo. Athena gave Heracles a rattle which frightened the birds into the air so Heracles could shoot them. 7 To capture the Cretan Bull, a fierce wild bull which was rampaging through the island of Crete destroying crops. 8 To steal the Mares of Diomedes. Diomedes was a giant whose fed his horses on human flesh. Heracles killed Diomedes and fed him to his horses. While they were eating he tied their mouths shut. 9 To fetch the girdle of Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons. The Amazons were a race of female warriors, Hippolyta was impressed with Heracles and gave him her 4 girdle (a sort of belt) quite willingly. 10 To steal the cattle of Geryon, a three-headed giant. As Heracles was driving the cows back to Eurystheus they were stolen by another giant, Cacus. Heracles had to kill him too. 11 To steal the Golden Apples of the Hesperides, who were three nymphs who guarded the tree which bore the golden apples of immortality. Their father Atlas was a giant who held up the sky. Heracles offered to hold the sky up for him while he fetched the golden apples. 12 To capture Cerberus, the three-headed dog who guarded the entrance to the underworld. Hades, the god who ruled the underworld, let him take Cerberus as long as he used no weapons. Heracles had many other adventures. He was one of the Argonauts, who went with Jason on the ship Argo to find the Golden Fleece. But he did not complete that quest. The ship 5 landed and Heracles’s best friend, Hylas, was sent to fetch water from a pool. Hylas was so handsome that the nymphs who lived in the pool fell in love with him and dragged him down into the water so that he would stay with them for ever. Heracles refused to leave the island without Hylas and the Argo had to set off without him. After he died Heracles became a god. 6.