Labours of Hercules: Difference between revisions
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==Context== |
==Context== |
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Driven mad |
Driven mad by hera Hercules slew his own children. To expiate the crime, Hercules was required to carry out ten labours set by his archenemy, [[Eurystheus]], who had become king in Hercules' place. If he succeeded, he would be purified of his sin and, as myth says, he would be granted immortality. Hercules accomplished these tasks, but Eurystheus did not accept the cleansing of the Augean stables because Hercules was going to accept pay for the labour. Neither did he accept the killing of the Lernaean Hydra as Hercules' nephew and charioteer, [[Iolaus]], had helped him burn the stumps of the heads. Eurystheus set two more tasks (fetching the Golden Apples of Hesperides and capturing [[Cerberus]]), which Hercules performed successfully, bringing the total number of tasks up to twelve. |
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==The labours== |
==The labours== |
Revision as of 12:55, 21 March 2011
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The Twelve Labours of Hercules or Dodekathlos (Greek: δωδέκαθλον, dodekathlon) are a series of archaic episodes connected by a later continuous narrative, concerning a penance carried out by Heracles, the greatest of the Greek heroes, whose name was later romanised as Hercules. The establishment of a fixed cycle of twelve labours was attributed by the Greeks to an epic poem, now lost, written by Peisander, dated about 600 BC (Burkert).
Context
Driven mad by hera Hercules slew his own children. To expiate the crime, Hercules was required to carry out ten labours set by his archenemy, Eurystheus, who had become king in Hercules' place. If he succeeded, he would be purified of his sin and, as myth says, he would be granted immortality. Hercules accomplished these tasks, but Eurystheus did not accept the cleansing of the Augean stables because Hercules was going to accept pay for the labour. Neither did he accept the killing of the Lernaean Hydra as Hercules' nephew and charioteer, Iolaus, had helped him burn the stumps of the heads. Eurystheus set two more tasks (fetching the Golden Apples of Hesperides and capturing Cerberus), which Hercules performed successfully, bringing the total number of tasks up to twelve.
The labours
As they survive, the Labours of Hercules are not told in any single place, but must be reassembled from many sources. Ruck and Staples[1] assert that there is no one way to interpret the labours, but that six were located in the Peloponnese, culminating with the rededication of Olympia. Six others took the hero farther afield. In each case, the pattern was the same: Hercules was sent to kill or subdue, or to fetch back for Hera's representative Eurystheus a magical animal or plant. "The sites selected were all previously strongholds of Hera or the 'Goddess' and were Entrances to the Netherworld".[1]
A famous depiction of the labours in Greek sculpture is found on the metopes of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, which date to the 450s BC.
In his labours, Hercules was sometimes accompanied by a male companion (an eromenos), according to Licymnius and others, such as Iolaus, his nephew. Although he was only supposed to perform ten labours, this assistance led to him suffering two more. Eurystheus didn't count the Hydra, because Iolaus helped him, or the Augean stables, as he received payment for his work, or because the rivers did the work.
A traditional order of the labours found in Apollodorus[2] is:
- Slay the Nemean Lion.
- Slay the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra.
- Capture the Golden Hind of Artemis.
- Capture the Erymanthian Boar.
- Clean the Augean stables in a single day.
- Slay the Stymphalian Birds.
- Capture the Cretan Bull.
- Steal the Mares of Diomedes.
- Obtain the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons.
- Obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon.
- Steal the apples of the Hesperides.
- Capture and bring back Cerberus.
As a reward for finishing these twelve treacherous tasks, he was given the gift of immortality after his death by Zeus, his father. Hera forgave him and gave him her daughter Hebe for his bride.
Notes
References
- Burkert, Walter (1985). Greek Religion. Cambridge, MA, USA: Harvard University Press.
External links
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