HERACLES
 Hercules Labors MosaicDate: First third of 3th centuryLocation: Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid |
Heracles was a hero of Greek mythology. He was
considered the son of Zeus and Alcmene, a mortal queen, foster son of
Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus on his mother´s side.
 Hercules and the Nemean Lion StatueLocation: Jardín de la Isla, Real Sitio de Aranjuez, España |
This is the most famous of the Greek heroes, the
paradigm of manhood and Olympic order against chthonic monsters. His
extraordinary strength is his main attributes, but so are courage, pride, some
sexual candor and a formidable force. He is considered the ancestor of the
Kings of Sparta (so these Dorians leaders were legitimized as Achaeans) and the
influence of the polis in Archaic and Classical Greece was one of the reasons
for the spread of his legend and his cult, making Heracles the Dorian hero per
se. Mythological tales abound about him, and the most famous are the twelve
labors. The stories in which the protagonist forms a cycle is constantly
developed during old age, it explains how difficult it is to make a
chronological or even coherent exposition of them.
 Hercules and the Hydra Statue (detail)Location: Jardín de la Isla, Real Sitio de Aranjuez, España |
Zeus lay with Alcmene after adopting the appearance of
her husband, Host of Thebes, who had left home to go to war against Athens, who
returned victorious that night, later, when Alcmene was already pregnant with
twins.
On the scheduled evening the twins were born, Zeus
swore that the member of the house of Perseus to be born that night would
become a great king. When Hera knew of the oath and Zeus adultery, she hated
the fruit of his infidelity and wanted to harm him. He ran to the house of
Alcmene and delivery slowed down the birth by cross-legged sitting and knotting
her clothes. At the same time, still crowned, he caused the birth of Euristeo
to happen, cousin of the twins, two months in advanced. Later Hera untied the
knots and allowed Alcmene gave birth to two children.
 The Ceryneian Hind StatueLocation: Jardín de la Isla, Real Sitio de Aranjuez, España |
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The
Nemean Lion
This mythological being was bred by Hera that placed
it in the town of Nemea to kill the population of the region, that is to say, everyone
who dared to trespass the city wall or come across it would be killed. The
labor for Heracles to carry out was the death of the lion. He tried to kill the
lion with arrows but its skin was so hard that the arrows were not effective,
so Heracles blocked the cave entrance where the lion was and fought with him,
he managed to kill him by choking to death, gasping the lion´s legs tightly. The
lion was sacrificed and he used its skin to cover himself to meet Eurystheus.
 Hercules and the Stymphalian birds Mosaic (detail)Location: Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid, España |
The
Lernean Hydra.
Like Nemean Lion, Hera bred Hidra, a mythological
snake of nine heads its scales were so hard as the steel. This snake was more
dangerous than the lion. When Heracles cut one of its nine heads, a double head
appeared. Hercules asked Iolaus, his nephew, for help. During the battle
between Heracles and the Hydra, Iolaus was in charge of holding a torch which
was pressed on the tendons of the cut head to prevent the growth of the double
head. The only head that could not be cut was the one in the middle since it
was immortal, but Heracles chopped it off and buried it covered with a heavy
stone.
The
Erymanthian boar
In this labour Heracles had to capture a huge and very
fierce boar which lived on Mount Erymanthos. Heracles wanted to release the
farmers of the area, he tried to fight the boar in the heavy snow, so he
screamed to catch its attention. In the snow Heracles was sure the animal would
not be able to escape due to the thickness of the snow. Thus, he used a net to
catch the boar and he was able to walk down the mountain with it. When the king
saw the boar he ordered Hercules to take him back to the hills.
 Hercules and the Augean stables Mosaic (detail )Location: Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid, España |
The
Cerynitian Hind
 Hercules fighting with the Cretan BullMarble statuetteAuthor: J.M. Félix Magdalena Date: 2009 |
This animal was a golden-horned deer that belonged to
the goddess Artemis, their horns were gold and its hooves were made of bronze. It was was so fast
that it took Hercules a whole
year to catch it. The animal toured worldwide until he reached the
Hyperboreans,and hid in Artemisium.
Hercules wounded it with an arrow
making it easy to be caught and took it back to Mycenae. Later, the hero
met Artemis and Apollo, when they saw that he had caught a sacred beast they
wanted to kill him, however Eurystheus defended him and the gods let him go.
Stymphalian
birds
 Hercules and the mares of DiomedesMarble statuetteAuthor: J.M. Félix MagdalenaDate: 2010 |
In the fifth labour, Heracles must end with the birds
that haunted lake Stymphalis in Arcadia.
They used to attack human beings.
To make them leave Hercules used a rattle that Athena
had given him and had been manufactured by the blacksmith Hephaestus; the noise
they produced scared them so much that they took flight away from there.
Hercules shot them down with poisoned arrows one by one.
The
stables of King Augeas
The protagonist of this episode is the king of Elis in
the Peloponnese, called Augeas. He had several stables with lots of sheep and
goats, he was very greedy and did not want to spend money on cleaning the
stables, for this reason the excrement of animals had piled for years.
Eurystheus wanted to ridicule Hercules and forced him to clean them. The king
promised a third of the livestock if he was able to clean it up, Hercules
diverted the course of the rivers Alpheus and Peneus, and it flew into the stables
cleaning it all. The king did not want to do the deal he had made with Hercules
so a war started to kill him for his offense.
The
Cretan bull
 Hercules gets the belt of HyppolytaMarble statuetteAuthor: J.M. Félix MagdalenaDate: 2010 |
The bull was a gift by Poseidon. King Minos should
sacrifice the bull to the god of the sea, but the king did not obey orders so
that the god made the bull mad and the beast destroyed everything and everyone
who were in its path. Eurystheus challenged Hercules to bring him bull, after
he travelled to Crete, he sought help from the king, who willingly accepted.
Heracles managed to capture him and took him to Greece across the sea carrying
the animal on his shoulders.
Mares of Diomedes
This time Eurystheus challenged Heracles to bring the
mares of King Diomedes of Thrake, son of Ares and famous for his cruelty, since
he fed his horses on human flesh. With the help of his friend Abderus, who took
care of the horses in Heracles’ absence and was killed by them, he captured the
horses. To end all this cruelty and to avenge his friend’s death, Heracles
killed Diomedes and fed the horses with their master´s body. He tamed them and
came back to Greece.
The belt of Hippolyte
The daughter of Eurystheus asked his father for the
belt of the queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta. Heracles went to the queen and she
gladly accepted to give it in. Hera got angry for the easiness of this labour,
so she disguised as the queen and began to spread some rumours on Hercules,
that caused a war in which the queen of the Amazons died in arms of Heracles..
 Hercules with the golden apples of the Hesperides statueLocation: Palazzo del Melograno, Genua |
Cattle of Geryon
In this labour Eurystheus sent Hercules to bring the
herd of oxen Geryon. For this he had to kill the shepherd guarding them,
Eurityon, their guard god, Orthros, and Geryon himself. .
The Cerberus can
This mythological creature was responsible for
guarding the gates of the underworld; it was a three-headed dog. Eurystheus
ordered Heracles to bring him the dog. For this labour, he was accompanied by
Hermes. They went to Tenaro where they believed the door was located. When he
stood before Hades he asked Hades to give him Cerberus. When he brought it to
Eurystheus he was asked to return it to the underworld.
The apples of the Hesperides
When the goddess Hera married Zeus, Ge gave them the
golden apples that Hera planted in their garden and were guarded by the Hesperides
with the help of a dragon.
Eurystheus ordered Heracles to pick the fruit. To
search the garden of Hera, Heracles used the glass of Helio. Prometheus told
Heracles to seek for Atlas, the Titan which was responsible for holding the
Earth. Hercules asked him the whereabouts of the garden but he refused to tell
and he had to look for the apples on his own. Heracles managed to kill the
dragon and got the apples. When the fruits were given to Eurystheus, he again
gave them to Athena and were planted back in their garden.
In Spain I have not found any sentence that uses the
expression, "The Twelve Labors of Hercules".
 Hercules and Cerberus MosaicLocation: Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid, España |
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