Heracles is probably the most famous hero of Greek mythology. He is so prominent in the myths that previous chapters have already mentioned him several times; it's impossible to talk about some of the gods or monsters without mentioning Heracles. He was a hero who gained immortality by shedding blood, sweat, and tears.

Going Home

On his way back to Thebes, his native city, Heracles ran into a group of men sent from the ruling Minyans to collect the annual tribute of one hundred cattle from the defeated Thebans. He cut off their ears, noses, and hands and tied the severed parts around their necks. He sent them back to their king with the message that Thebes was no longer under his control.

Of course, the Minyans retaliated, but due to Heracles' skill in warfare, Thebes was ready. Heracles gathered an army of Thebans and attacked the Minyan city. The Thebans won the war, and in gratitude, the king of Thebes gave Heracles his daughter Megara in marriage.

Megara and Heracles had three sons and lived happily together — until Hera found them. Hera hadn't given up her quest to destroy Zeus's illegitimate son and struck Heracles with a fit of madness. Heracles murdered his three sons and Megara, who had tried to shield one of her sons with her body. Next, Heracles tried to kill his foster father Amphitryon, but Athena hit Heracles with a rock and knocked him unconscious. When the young man came to, he was horrified to realize what he had done.

To purify himself and purge his guilt for murdering his family, Heracles consulted the Delphic Oracle, which ordered him to go to King Eurystheus of Tiryns and there accomplish ten tasks given to him by the king. Successfully completing these tasks would purify Heracles and give him immortality so that he could take his place among the gods. More anxious to atone for his sins than for immortality, Heracles complied.

The Twelve Labors

Although the oracle specified that Heracles must complete ten tasks, Eurystheus judged that he had not successfully completed two of them. Heracles had twice received aid, so he did not complete those two labors on his own. So Eurystheus created two more labors, bringing the total to twelve:

• Kill the Nemean Lion. This lion had a hide so thick that arrows and spears could not pierce it. Heracles had to fight the lion with his bare hands. Thanks to his incredible strength, he was able to wrestle the lion to the ground and strangle it.

• Kill the Hydra of Lerna. As you know from Chapter 18, the Hydra was a great serpent with many heads. Heracles attacked the monster, but each time he cut off one head, two more grew in its place. He had to call on his nephew Iolaus for help. When Heracles chopped off a head, Iolaus cauterized the stump, preventing new heads from growing. The Hydra had one immortal head, which Heracles buried under a rock. Although Heracles defeated the Hydra, Eurystheus deemed that he hadn't completed this task successfully because he'd had assistance.

• Capture the Cerynitian Hind. This deer with golden antlers was sacred to Artemis. To avoid offending that goddess, Heracles had to capture it unharmed. He hunted the hind for a full year and finally caught it in a net as it slept.

• Capture the Erymanthian Boar. For years, a vicious boar had plagued the countryside of Psophis. Heracles stood outside the boar's lair and shouted loudly. The boar ran out of the lair, straight into a snowdrift. Heracles caught the boar in chains and took it back to Eurystheus.

• Clean the Augean Stables. Heracles' first four tasks had brought him glory; the fifth was intended to be both humiliating and impossible. These stables, which belonged to King Augeas, were home to thousands of cattle and hadn't been cleaned in thirty years. Heracles was charged with cleaning the stables in a single day. To accomplish this task, Heracles diverted the courses of two rivers to make them run through the stables. The rivers washed away all the dung and thus completed the task in a day.

  Augeas had promised Heracles a tenth of his herd if Heracles could clean the stable in one day. After Heracles had succeeded, Augeas refused to honor the agreement. When Heracles completed his labors, he killed Augeas and gave the kingdom to Augeas's son.

• Drive out the Stymphalian Birds. These man-eating birds had taken over a forest in Arcadia. Heracles got rid of them by using a giant bronze rattle made by Hephaestus. The rattle's noise scared the birds and drove them from the forest. Because Hephaestus had helped him, though, Heracles didn't get credit for this feat.

• Capture the Cretan Bull. The Cretan Bull was the beautiful bull given to Minos by Poseidon. After a long struggle, Heracles subdued the beast. Then he took it back to Tiryns and released it there.

• Capture the Mares of Diomedes. Diomedes' mares were dangerous man-eating horses. Heracles succeeded in rounding up the mares. As he was driving them back to Tiryns, however, he was attacked by Diomedes. Heracles defeated Diomedes and fed him to his own horses. After they'd eaten their former owner, the horses became tame.

• Fetch Hippolyte's Girdle. This girdle was a belt or sash owned by the queen of the Amazons, a fierce, warlike race of women. Heracles simply asked for the girdle, and Hippolyte gave it to him — an easy victory.

• Steal the Cattle of Geryon. To complete this task, Heracles had to kill a two-headed watchdog and Eurytion the herdsman, a son of Ares who guarded the cattle. Then he had to engage in battle with Geryon, a monster with multiple heads and bodies; Heracles killed him with an arrow that had been dipped in the Lernaean Hydra's poisonous blood. Heracles encountered further obstacles as he drove the cattle back to Tiryns: The monster Cacus stole eight of the herd, and Hera sent a gadfly to scatter the cattle and a flood to swell a river they had to cross.

  Hera was furious that Heracles had obtained Hippolyte's girdle so easily. So she tricked the Amazons into thinking Heracles was stealing their queen. The Amazons rushed to attack him; Heracles, thinking the queen had betrayed him, killed her.

• Retrieve the Golden Apples of the Hesperides. These apples belonged to Atlas's daughters, so Heracles convinced Atlas to get the apples for him. While Atlas retrieved the apples, Heracles would hold the world on his own shoulders. Glad to be relieved of his heavy burden, Atlas agreed. When he returned with the apples, however, Atlas wasn't willing to take the world back upon his own shoulders. Heracles said he'd continue to bear the burden, but asked Atlas to take it back for just a moment so he could make himself more comfortable. Atlas did — and Heracles ran away with the apples.

• Fetch Cerberus from the Underworld. Eurystheus charged Heracles with bringing the Underworld's three-headed guard dog back alive. With guidance from Athena, Hermes, and Hestia, Heracles entered the Underworld and crossed the river Styx. He asked Hades for permission to take Cerberus back to the world of the living. Hades agreed, but only if Heracles could overpower the monstrous dog without the use of weapons. (In some myths, Heracles must fight Hades before he can try to catch Cerberus.) Heracles wrestled Cerberus barehanded, subdued the creature, and carried it out of the Underworld. Eurystheus was terrified of the monster, however, and Heracles returned Cerberus to the Underworld.

After many years of laboring at near-impossible tasks, Heracles was finally purified of his family's murder. As the oracle had foretold, he'd also gained immortality. First, however, he had to live out the span of his mortal life. Before he became fully immortal, Heracles had several more adventures. He joined the Argonauts, killed several Giants, challenged Dionysus to a drinking contest (and lost), founded a city, and more.

Death and Immortality

Heracles' mortal life ended tragically. He married a woman named Deianeira, and while the couple was traveling, a Centaur named Nessus tried to abduct her. Heracles shot Nessus with poisoned arrows. The dying Centaur gave Deianeira his blood-soaked shirt and told her that, if her husband wore it, he would become passionate for her. Later, Deianeira came to believe that Heracles was having an affair, and she gave him the shirt, hoping to rekindle his interest in her. As soon as the poison touched his skin, Heracles began writhing in pain as the flesh was ripped off his bones. He tore up trees to build his own funeral pyre and asked to be burned alive there. Heracles' mortal body burned, but his immortal body ascended to Mount Olympus.