Let us briefly recall the biography of Hercules, the illegitimate son of Zeus - the main god of Greece, the leader of the Olympians. The goddess Hera, a very spiteful, wayward and jealous wife of the Thunderer, disliked the stepson. Jera's jealousy manifested itself in the behavior of her husband, who had dozens of illegitimate children. They also suffered from the willfulness of their "stepmothers" for their origins. Since Hercules was his father's favorite, he got more than others. And then read the 12 labors of Hercules in full in order.
In this regard, the hero went to Delphi to the soothsayer of the god Apollo, to ask him: what to do next? Apollo recommended leaving Thebes and going to his brother Eurystheus for twelve years of hard work. The 12 labors of Hercules are read online in full below.
Victory one: death of the Nemean lion
Nemean lion
The current location of the Greek Nemea is the northwest of the Peloponnese. There, in ancient times, this huge mythical monster destroyed everything around it. When Hercules went in search of him to destroy, there were no animals or people, even the birds were silent. Shepherds and farmers were afraid to leave their homes.
The lion was enormous in size and descended from a dragon with a hundred heads of Typhon and an anthropomorphic (half beautiful woman and half snake) Echidna. Day after day, the son of Zeus was looking for a lion's den and one evening he discovered a cave with two exits in the rock. The hero quickly filled one exit with stones.
And then, against the background of the darkening sky, a huge shadow of a shaggy beast appeared, which then approached the cave.
Hercules shot several arrows at him. But the lion's skin was so strong that the arrowheads bounced off the beast like a stone.
Finally, Hercules came into the field of lion's sight. The jump, which followed with lightning speed, almost knocked him down. With his club, Hercules knocked the monster on its back, then strangled him with his hands and brought the carcass to Erisfei, frightening him even more.
Second victory: the Lernaean hydra has lost its heads
Lernean Hydra
This mythical hydra also lived in the Peloponnese. Near one lake there were karst sinkholes in the ground, in which there was an entrance to the underground kingdom. It was guarded by the Lernaean monster, which had to be exterminated.
The hydra crawled out of the den, destroyed herds of animals and ravaged the fields of farmers. Our hero found her and immediately attacked with fiery arrows. She knocked Hercules down, grabbing his legs in her rings. But the brave hero stubbornly held on, knocking down all the snake's heads with a huge club. Finally he got to a very dangerous head and blew it off. The monster slumped and collapsed at his feet.
The last head was deeply buried and covered with rock. Then Hercules dipped his arrows in the bile of the hydra, which inflicted mortal wounds on further campaigns.
Victory three: birds with steel feathers
Each bird is a real bow! They threw down their arrow-feathers of durable metal and killed anyone who attacked on the move.
Hercules felt that this task would be difficult to complete. He called for help the deity of war and at the same time wisdom Pallas Athena. She suggested that these birds are scary, but fearful, afraid of even the slightest noise. Hercules Pallas Athena presented two metal plates - tympanes. If you bang them against each other, you can make an incredible noise. Near the nesting place of birds, he struck his timpani. Stymphalian birds in fear flew into the sky in a huge flock and sent their weapon - feather-arrows to the rock. But they did not get Hercules. In response, he began to kill the bloodthirsty birds with his arrows. Many birds died, and the living flew away from this land in an instant, and even from Greece. They did not appear here again.
Victory four: the Kerinean doe wounded
Kerinean fallow deer
Eurystheus sent Hercules to Arcadia, where the swift deer lived. The illegitimate daughter of Zeus and sister of Apollo sent her cult animal here. She took revenge on both people and her brother.
For twelve months, Hercules ran after a beautiful and fast animal. It never got tired. The fallow deer turned fertile fields into deserts, people were starving. But Hercules did not lose sight of her and constantly pursued her. The fallow deer was close to capture in the far north, in the country of the Hyperboreans. As soon as the young man tried to capture the doe, she turned sharply south. Hercules almost caught up with the nimble animal in the same Arcadia, from where the chase began.
And here he nevertheless decided to take up arms and wounded the doe in the leg.
Victory five: the battle with the Erymanth boar
Erymanthian Boar
The new mission was difficult and dangerous. On the lands of Arcadia, no one was given rest by the malignant Erythman wild boar. He destroyed everything in his path. Whoever was caught was torn to shreds with fangs.
The son of the Thunderer Olympus came to the indicated mountain. There he drove the boar out of the rookery and chased him for a long time until he was exhausted at the top of the mountain. Hercules tied him alive and took him to the city to Eurystheus. Seeing a terrible boar, albeit tightly bound, the king, out of fear, managed to climb into the neck of a metal barrel.
Victory six: cleaning the Augean stables
Augean stables
On this campaign, Hercules for the first time did not take his traditional weapon with him. Because he received a purely economic task: to clear the premises for the bulls of King Augeus, who is also the son of one of the main mythical gods of Greece, from the accumulated manure. Therefore, Hercules could not refuse the dirty work.
Hercules promised Augustus to make the courtyard clean in just a day. But for this he asked for payment - tithes from the flock. The king agreed, because the work here, he thought, would be enough for months. Hercules did not need a shovel, otherwise he would really have to work for many months. Therefore, he turned the waters of the nearby rivers into the courtyard. They washed all the manure in the evening.
But the cunning tsar did not pay for the work, as agreed. So the son of Zeus avenged Augustus for breaking the agreement when he left Eurystheus. He went with an army to Aegis, and the battle came to an end to Augia.
Seventh victory: taming the Cretan bull
Cretan bull
It was an overseas mission. It took Hercules a long time to get to the island of Crete, where he had to tame a rabid animal. There was such a clever and wise interweaving here: according to the myth, one owner sends this bull to another. Next, the animal must be sacrificed back to the owner. But the first one felt sorry to part with a bull of an amazing constitution, so he replaced the Cretan bull with his usual bull, which he sacrificed. The one to whom the sacrifice was intended took offense and sent a mad bull to Crete.
The bull ran across the island, sweeping away everything in the way with its hooves. Hercules tamed a rabid animal. Together they crossed the sea from the island to the Peloponnese. The bull was released into the field here. He ran free until he was killed by someone else.
Victory Eight: Diomedes' Man-Eating Horses
Horses of diomedes
The son of the Thunderer was supposed to complete the next task in the region in the east of the Balkans. King Diomedes had beautiful and hardy horses there. But they constantly stood in fetters in the stable, since no fetters were holding them. These were man-eating horses, which were fed with the corpses of foreigners approaching the capital.
Hercules was able to successfully lead the horses out of the stable and drove them to the ship, but they were overtaken by the pursuit. Leaving the horses under the guard of an assistant, Hercules began the battle. He won the battle. But, returning to the ship, he learned that the man-eating horses had torn apart Abder's assistant. He was buried with honors.
Further, the horses were no longer needed by anyone and scattered around the neighborhood.
Victory nine: Amazon's belt obtained
Hippolyta's Belt
One domineering woman wished to get Hippolyta's belt - a symbol of dominion. According to mythology, this was the queen of the Amazons, who lived somewhere on the far coast of the Black Sea. After a long sea voyage, Hercules' detachment reached this land.
Once the evil Hera sent a terrible illness to Hercules. The great hero lost his mind, madness took possession of him. In a fit of rage, Hercules killed all his children and the children of his brother Iphicles. When the seizure was over, deep sorrow overtook Hercules. Having cleansed himself of the filth of his involuntary murder, Hercules left Thebes and went to the sacred Delphi to ask the god Apollo what to do. Apollo ordered Hercules to go to the homeland of his ancestors in Tiryns and serve Eurystheus for twelve years. Through the lips of the Pythia, the son of Latona predicted to Hercules that he would receive immortality if he performed twelve great feats at the behest of Eurystheus. Hercules settled in Tiryns and became a servant of the weak, cowardly Eurystheus ...
Books about the exploits of Hercules
There are a variety of books on sale about the exploits of Hercules - both for children and adults. The most interesting:
Feats of Hercules retelling by Grigory Petnikov... For the younger school age... A very good publication for children, and for high school too, and even for senior.
Ancient Greek Myths: The Exploits of Hercules... Fabulous illustrated beautiful book tells about the adventures of the brave Herkal. A very colorful, well-illustrated book, the exploits are outlined in an abbreviated form. It will be interesting for children to read.
The exploits of Hercules as retold by L. Yakhnin- a good start to acquaintance with the myths of Ancient Greece. Excellent hardcover edition, there are two introductory chapters "The Birth of a Hero" and "Erisfeo and Hercules", 12 exploits are described.
Feats of Hercules
The first feat. Nemean lion.
Hercules did not have to wait long for the first order of King Eurystheus. He instructed the hero to kill the Nemean lion. This lion, a terrible offspring of Typhon and Echidna, was monstrous in size and was much stronger and larger than the predators of this breed that were found at that distant time in the south of Europe. He lived near the city of Nemea, where the goddess of the rainbow Iris brought him, and devastated all the surroundings; from one of his roars, which sounded like thunder in the gorges, all living things fled. But the fearless Hercules boldly set out on a dangerous feat.
On the way to the lion's den on Mount Tret, Hercules wandered into the light in the wretched hut of the landowner Molorch. Rejoicing that a daredevil was found, ready to rid the area of the fierce beast, Molorch grabbed a knife to slaughter the only ram for the guest. But Hercules stopped him.
Kind person! Hold your four-legged for a while. If I return within thirty days, you will sacrifice the ram to Zeus the Savior, and if I stay there, you will slay it to the underground gods.
Arriving in Nemea, the hero immediately went to the mountains to find the lion's den. It was already noon when he reached the slopes of the mountains. Not a single living soul was seen anywhere: neither shepherds nor farmers. For a long time Hercules wandered along the wooded slopes of the mountains and gorges. Finally, when the chariot of Helios began to lean towards the west, he found the lion's lair in a gloomy gorge by the disgusting smell of rotting meat. The ferocious predator killed more than he could eat, and no one dared to pick up leftovers. Where the carrion was rotting was the entrance to a huge cave. Having carefully examined the area, the hero found a way out of the same cave and carefully filled it with huge blocks. After that, he returned to the entrance, hid behind stones and, plugging his nose so as not to suffocate, began to wait.
Toward evening, when dusk was already approaching, a monstrous lion with a long shaggy mane appeared. Smelling the scent of a man, he roared furiously and began hitting the ground with his tail, raising a column of dust above the trees. Hercules pulled the string of his bow and shot three arrows one after another at the lion. All the arrows hit the beast's side, but bounced off its skin - it was as hard as steel. The lion roared menacingly, its roar rolled like thunder over the mountains. Looking around in all directions, the beast stood in the gorge and looked with burning fury eyes for the one who dared to shoot arrows at him. But then he saw Hercules and threw himself with a huge jump on the hero.
Like lightning, the club of Hercules flashed and fell with a thunderous blow on the lion's head. He fell to the ground, stunned by a terrible blow, after which Hercules rushed at him, grabbed the throat of the wriggling lion with his mighty hands and pressed until he strangled him.
Meanwhile, Molorch was patiently waiting for Hercules, making notches on the staff. After the thirtieth notch, he untied the ram from the tree and dragged it to the cliff to sacrifice to Hades and Persephone. But, before reaching the cliff, the farmer saw Hercules walking cheerfully, waving a lion's skin from a distance!
Give the ram to Zeus! - said the hero, embracing Molorch. - And glorify the day of our meeting with the Nemean Games.
When Hercules brought the lion he had killed to Mycenae, Eurystheus turned pale with fear, looking at the monstrous lion. The king of Mycenae realized what superhuman strength Hercules possesses. He forbade him even to approach the gate of Mycenae; when Hercules brought evidence of his exploits, Eurystheus looked at them with horror from the high Mycenaean walls. He even built a bronze pithos for himself in the ground, where he hid when Hercules returned, having completed another feat, and communicated with him only through the herald Koprey.
Zeus marked the first of his son's great deeds by creating the constellation Leo, included in the twelve signs of the Zodiac, just as the victory over the Nemean lion was included in the twelve labors of Hercules ...
The second feat. Lernean hydra.
After the first feat, Eurystheus sent Hercules to kill the Lernean hydra.
It was a monster with the body of a snake and nine dragon heads. Like the Nemean lion, this multi-headed water serpent was the offspring of Typhon and Echidna; Hera raised her to destroy Hercules. The hydra lived in a swamp near the city of Lerna, where there was an entrance to the underworld, and, crawling out of its lair, destroyed whole herds and devastated all the surroundings. The fight against the nine-headed hydra was dangerous because one of its heads was immortal.
Taking the son of Iphicles, his nephew, Iolaus, as his assistants, and seizing, on the advice of Athena, a copper weapon, Hercules procured a wagon and set off on the road to Lerna. As soon as the fetid swamp appeared, Hercules left Iolaus with a chariot in a nearby grove, and he went to look for the hydra.
He noticed a hill in the middle of the swamp and, jumping over the bumps, went towards it. There was a hole - a cave entrance, half hidden by bushes, from which came a menacing hiss. Soon, several heads on long necks protruded outward, and then a body covered with scales and a long wriggling tail appeared.
Not allowing the monster to attack first, Hercules red-hot his arrows and began to shoot them one after another at the hydra, which led her into indescribable rage. She crawled out, writhing a body covered with shiny scales, from the darkness of the cave, rose menacingly on her huge tail and was about to rush at the hero, but the son of Zeus stepped on her body and pressed her to the ground. With its tail, the hydra wrapped around the legs of Hercules and tried to knock him down. Like an unshakable rock, the hero stood and, with the waves of a heavy club, one after another knocked down the heads of the hydra. A club whistled in the air like a whirlwind; the heads of the hydra flew off, but the hydra was still alive. Then Hercules noticed that the monstrous snake in the place of each knocked off head grows two new ones.
Help came to the hydra. Hera sent a giant cancer against the hero, who crawled out of the swamp and dug his claws into Hercules' leg, restraining his movements. Then the hero had to call on his friend for help and fight with two opponents at once, until Iolaus, who arrived in time, with great difficulty unhooked the cancer and threw it aside so hard that he thereby killed the monster. Then he lit a part of the nearby grove and with burning tree trunks burned the hydra's necks from which Hercules knocked heads with his club, from this new heads stopped growing.
Weaker and weaker resisted the decapitated hydra to the son of Zeus. Finally, the immortal head flew off and, hitting the last time with its tail, the snake quieted down and collapsed dead to the ground. The victorious Hercules buried her immortal head deeply and piled a huge rock on her so that she could not come out into the light again. Then the great hero cut the body of the hydra and plunged his arrows into her poisonous bile. Since then, the wounds from the arrows of Hercules have become incurable.
When Hercules and Iolaus left, Hera picked up her cancer and lifted it to heaven. There appeared a constellation that looks like a cancer with crooked claws. It rises in the sky during the hottest time of the year, reminding of Hera's gratitude to everyone who helped to destroy the hero she hated.
Hercules returned to Tiryns with great triumph. But there a new order from Eurystheus awaited him ...
The third feat. Birds of the Stymphalian lake.
What misfortunes do not fall on the human race! Somehow, a couple of monstrous birds, feathered with bronze feathers, with copper claws and beaks, descended into the forest on the shore of Lake Stymphalian in Arcadia. Having multiplied with extraordinary rapidity, they turned into a huge flock and in a short time turned all the outskirts of the city almost into a desert: they destroyed the entire crop of the fields, exterminated the animals grazing on the rich shores of the lake, killed many shepherds and farmers. Taking off, the birds dropped their feathers like arrows, and hit everyone who was in the open with them, or tore them apart with their copper claws and beaks. Learning about this misfortune of the Arcadians, Eurystheus sent Hercules to them, as if to help, but in fact - to destroy the hero.
It was difficult for Hercules to fulfill this order of Eurystheus. Hiding under a spreading oak tree, Hercules studied the habits of monstrous birds for a long time. He realized that not a single arrow would pierce their bronze plumage and birds are vulnerable only at the moment when they throw out their feathers, and new ones have not yet grown.
The warrior Pallas Athena came to his aid. She gave Hercules two copper tympans, forged by the blacksmith god Hephaestus, and ordered Hercules to stand on a high hill near the forest where the Stymphalian birds nested, and hit the tympanes; when the birds take off, shoot them with a bow.
Encouraged by the help, the hero ran out into the open and, striking the tympans, raised a terrifying roar. Hearing such a deafening ringing, the birds flew out of their nests, flew up in a huge flock over the forest and began to swirl madly in the air in terror. Hercules raised a shield over his head, and the bronze feathers falling from above did not harm him.
As soon as the whistle of falling feathers subsided, Hercules threw back his shield and began to strike the birds with deadly arrows that did not miss. Some of the predators fell to the ground. Others, in fear soared to the clouds, hid from the eyes of the son of Zeus. They flew out of Greece, to the distant shores of Pontus Euxine and never returned to Arcadia.
After completing the order of Eurystheus, Hercules returned to Mycenae. There a new, even more difficult feat awaited him ...
The fourth feat. Kerinean fallow deer.
The shepherds were the first to see the extraordinary doe. She stood on the cliff of the Kerinean Mountains with her head thrown high. She was very beautiful: her skin under the rays of Helios flamed like copper, and her horns sparkled as if they were pure gold.
Soon the whole Arcadia learned about the amazing doe. Unaware of tiredness, she ran like the wind through meadows and fields, devastating them, trampling grass and crops. It became clear that this was not an ordinary fallow deer, which are hunted in the mountains, but an animal created by the mistress of beasts Artemis as punishment for people. Not otherwise, some hunter was guilty before her, who did not share his prey with the goddess!
Eurystheus visited the Kerinean fallow deer. Knowing that Hercules, by his physique, is more of a fighter than a runner, he commanded to catch the animal and bring it alive under the walls of Mycenae. Hearing this order, Hercules shuddered. The hero did not give in to the difficulties of an extraordinary hunt. But he knew that the doe was given by Artemis to the daughter of Atlanta Taygeta, and, knowing how jealous the goddess was to her gifts, the hero feared to provoke her anger.
And yet I had to start fishing.
As soon as the doe met Hercules, he chased her. She, like a whirlwind, rushed through the mountains, across the plains, jumped over precipices, swam across rivers. The hero did not lag behind her, pursued her, not losing sight of her. Sensing that the Peloponnese might become a trap, the animal rushed through the Isthm to the north. Following the deer, Hercules ran through Attica, Boeotia and Thesprotia, which later became known as Thessaly; circled Olympus three times, jumping over gorges, overcoming foamy rivers. The doe fled further and further to the north, and after a while they ended up in Thrace, and then reached the far north - the country of the Hyperboreans and the sources of Istria.
Here she stopped, counting on the help of her mistress Artemis and her brother Apollo. But the divine brother and sister, without interfering, watched the chase.
The hero was about to grab the doe, but the beautiful animal escaped and, realizing that there would be no help, he rushed back with an arrow to the south, to the garden of the Hesperides, hoping to rest there. When Hercules overtook the doe there, she decided to return to Arcadia - a new pursuit began. The journey from west to east took several months, and during this time neither the doe nor its pursuer rested. In Arcadia, the great son of Zeus again overtook the beautiful golden-horned fugitive
The chase had been going on for a whole year. Desperate to catch the doe, Hercules drew his bow and directed his unmistakable arrow at the animal's leg. The doe limped, and only then did the hero manage to grab her. Hercules put the wonderful doe on his shoulders and was about to carry it to Mycenae, when at the same moment an angry Artemis appeared before him and said:
Didn't you know, Hercules, that this doe is mine? Why did you insult me by wounding my beloved doe? Do you not know that I do not forgive insults? Or do you think that you are more powerful than the Olympian gods?
With reverence, Hercules bowed before the beautiful goddess and replied:
Oh, great daughter of Latona, do not blame me! I have never insulted the immortal gods living on the bright Olympus; I have always honored the celestials with rich victims and never considered myself equal to them, although I myself am the son of the thunderer Zeus. Not of my own free will I pursued your doe, but at the behest of Eurystheus. The gods themselves commanded me to serve him, and I dare not disobey his evil will!
As the hero made excuses, the stone face of Artemis softened, she forgave Hercules his guilt, allowed the doe to be shouldered and delivered to Eurystheus.
The great hero brought the Kerinean fallow deer alive to Mycenae and gave it to the evil king ...
Fifth feat. The Erymanthian Boar and the Battle with the Centaurs.
After the hunt for the copper-footed doe, which lasted a whole year, Hercules did not rest for long. Having recovered from the rage caused by the fulfillment of the impossible, Eurystheus ordered Hercules to bring alive the monstrous boar that lived on Mount Erimanth in the same Arcadia.
This boar, possessing monstrous strength, devastated the surroundings of the city of Psophis. He did not give people mercy and killed them with his huge fangs. Hercules went to the boar's lair.
On the way, he visited the wise centaur Fall. Foul accepted the great son of Zeus with honor and arranged a feast for him. During the feast, the centaur opened a large vessel of wine to treat the hero better. The fragrance of the wondrous wine spread far away. Other centaurs also heard this fragrance. They were terribly angry with Fool for opening the vessel. Wine belonged not only to Fall, but was the property of all centaurs. The centaurs rushed to Fall's dwelling and attacked him and Hercules by surprise as the two feasted merrily with ivy wreaths on their heads.
Hercules was not afraid of the centaurs. He quickly jumped up from his bed and began to throw huge smoking brands at the attackers. The centaurs fled, and Hercules wounded them with his poisonous arrows, and then pursued them all the way to Maleia. There the centaurs took refuge with a friend of Hercules, Chiron, the wisest of the centaurs. Hercules followed them into the cave. In anger he drew his bow, an arrow flashed in the air and plunged into the knee of one of the centaurs.
Hercules did not hit the enemy, but his friend Chiron. Great sorrow gripped the hero when he saw who he had wounded. Hercules is in a hurry to wash and bandage his friend's wound, but nothing could help. Hercules knew that a wound from an arrow poisoned by the bile of the Lernaean hydra was incurable. Chiron also knew that he was facing a painful death. In order not to suffer from a wound, he subsequently voluntarily descended into the dark kingdom of Hades.
In deep sadness, Hercules left Chiron and soon reached Mount Erimanth. There, following the tracks left in the trees by fangs, the hero found a boar's lair in a dense forest and drove him out of the thicket with a loud cry. The sight of Hercules, armed with a cudgel, terrified the boar, and he rushed wherever his eyes would look. The hero chased the monster for a long time, until he drove him into deep snow on the top of one of the high mountains. The boar got stuck in the snow, and Hercules, throwing the boar on his back with one jump, tied him up, put the boar on his shoulder and began to descend into the lowland to carry it alive to Mycenae. Everyone who met Hercules on the way joyfully greeted the hero who liberated the Peloponnese from terrible danger.
Eurystheus, seeing his subordinate returning with a boar, in horror climbed into the bronze pithos, deeply dug into the ground ...
The sixth feat. Animal farm of King Avgius.
In all Elis, and in Elis - in the entire Peloponnese, there was no richer king Avgius, the son of Helios. In his barnyard, there were more than five hundred bulls alone. There were a dozen cows for every bull, and every cow brought a calf every year. Another would, in the place of Avgius, share his riches with neighboring kings or give calves to shepherds. But it's not for nothing that they say - the richer, the more stingy! Augeus surrounded the barnyard with a strong fence and spent all his days counting animals, fearing that they might be stolen. Bulls and cows moved from place to place, Augeus lost count and started all over again. He didn’t have time to remove the huge heaps of manure. The calves began to drown in the slurry, but Augeus did not notice this. He counted and counted everything.
Soon the stench spread all over Elis, and what about Elis - throughout the Peloponnese, and King Eurystheus, having climbed the walls of Mycenae, caught an unpleasant smell.
What does it carry? he asked, wrinkling his nose.
Augean riches, one courtier responded.
So Eurystheus found out the reason for the stench and, since he was used to entrusting Hercules with the most difficult work, he decided to entrust him with the dirtiest. Waiting for the return of the hero, he imagined how he would be smeared when he would rake out the sewage. The thought made him unusually happy, and he rubbed his palms, grinning.
Finally Eurystheus waited for his hour. Explaining the order to Hercules who was standing under the wall, he choked with laughter.
Ha! Ha! Clean out the barnyard of King Augean! Ha! Ha!
Hercules shrugged his shoulders and set off in silence. Appearing to Augius, he examined the surroundings of the stockyard and the courtyard itself, and only after that did he come to the royal palace.
I am ready to clear your yard of manure, he explained to the king, if you give me a tenth of the herd.
How long will it take for you? - asked Augeas.
One day, Hercules answered.
Then I agree! - answered the king. For such work you will get everything you want.
The king agreed because he was convinced that it was impossible to remove mountains of dung in one day.
Meanwhile, Hercules broke the hedge that surrounded the stockyard on both sides and, with the help of a ditch, introduced the water of the mountain river Menea there. A stream of water in the middle of the day toppled the piles of manure and carried them outside. Having made abundant sacrifices to Meneas, so that the river god forgave the dirty work imposed on his waters, and having restored the fence, Hercules went to the palace.
Well, what else do you want? ”The king said displeasedly, but I promised to give a tenth of the cattle when you did the work.
I did it, said Hercules.
Having appeared at the place, Augeas was convinced that Hercules had not deceived. The barnyard was clean, and the ditch that remained showed how Hercules had succeeded.
The river has done your work! Said Augeas, and I am ready to pay her, but not you.
Hercules did not object, but silently vowed to take revenge on the deceiver. Several years later, having already freed himself from service with Eurystheus, Hercules invaded Elis with an army of Argos, Thebans and Arcadians. The king of Pylos, Neleus, came to the aid of Augeas. Hercules defeated the enemy army and struck Avgius with an arrow. Then he took Pylos, where Neleus fled, mortally wounded the king and killed his eleven sons. Only one son of Neleus survived - Nestor, the same one who later took part in the Trojan War and became famous for his longevity and extraordinary wisdom ...
The seventh feat. Cretan bull.
There were no more wild beasts and fierce monsters left on the Greek mainland. All were destroyed by Hercules. And Eurystheus ordered him to go to the island of Crete lying in the middle of the sea and bring the bull of Poseidon from there to Mycenae. The god of the seas gave this bull to Minos so that he would sacrifice it. But the bull was so good that Minos, the most cunning of mortals, killed his bull and left the one destined for sacrifice in the herd. After learning about the deception, Poseidon sent rabies to the animal. Rushing around the island, the bull trampled fields, dispersed herds, killed people. Not doubting that Hercules would defeat the bull, Eurystheus could not imagine how he would be able to deliver it alive, and not by land, but by water. "What sailor would agree to let a passenger with a mad bull on board ?!" - he thought and giggled maliciously.
Hercules listened to the new order calmly, for he knew that if the bull went mad, Poseidon took off his concern for him.
No one dared to approach the animal even on the flight of an arrow, and Hercules boldly went out to meet him, grabbed the horns and bent his mighty head to the ground. Feeling incredible strength, the bull resigned and became meek like a lamb. But the Cretans were so afraid of the bull that they asked Hercules to leave the island as soon as possible. Hercules sat down on the bull's back and drove it into the sea. Obeying the hero, the bull never tried to throw the rider into the depths of the sea. And on land he remained the same obedient and let himself be brought into the stall.
Hercules, who had not slept for several nights, went to rest. When I woke up, the bull was not there. Eurystheus ordered him to be released, as one kind of animal terrified him.
Eighth feat. Diomedes horses.
The gates of Mycenae in those days were open to all unarmed. The guards let through both rich merchants with goods and beggars who went for alms. So a stranger found himself in the city in rags, barely covering his skinny body, with a fragment of an oar on his shoulder, indicating the misfortune befell him. The unfortunate man shocked the imagination of those who listened to him with the story of his disasters. Soon the beggar was invited to the palace.
I heard, said Eurystheus, that you alone managed to escape Poseidon's rage. How did it happen?
Our ship was smashed against the rocks, the beggar began, but we all swam ashore. Armed warriors were already waiting there, judging by the forelocks and images impaled on their chests - the Thracians. They led us into the interior of the country, pushing us with their spears. Finally we approached a log building surrounded by a high fence. From the loud neighing and clatter of hooves, we realized that this was a stable, and decided that they wanted to make us grooms. But when the gate opened, we saw that the courtyard was strewn with human bones. We were pushed behind the fence, and one of the Thracians shouted: "Let go!" The horses burst out of the stall. You should have seen these monsters! They pounced on us and began to gnaw. I was saved alone ...
And who owns the horses? Eurystheus interrupted impatiently.
Diomedes, the beggar replied, this is the king ...
Enough! - threw Eurystheus. The servants will feed you and give him a himation from my shoulder.
With surprise, the beggar noticed how a satisfied grin slid across the king's face. The poor man did not know that he had rendered Eurystheus a favor, for which he could receive something more than a worn tunic and a bowl of stew. For a month now, Eurystheus did not know rest, thinking what else to entrust Hercules. And now he made a decision: let him bring the horses of Diomedes.
The harsh Boreas blew into the bow of the ship, as if wishing to avert the inevitable death of the hero. So the companions of Hercules thought. Among them was Abder, the son of Hermes. The hero himself was cheerful and told amazing stories from his life. There were enough of them just until the time when the helmsman pointed to the rock and the formidable fortress towered over it: - The Palace of Diomedes!
Having gone ashore, Hercules and his companions moved into the depths of the country by the trodden path and soon heard a loud neigh. Opening the gate, Hercules burst into the stall and saw horses of unprecedented power and beauty. They twisted their heads and dug the ground with their hooves. Bloody foam flew out of the open mouths. A greedy rage shone in their eyes, for each person was a delicacy for them.
Raising his fist, Hercules lowered it on the head of the first animal and, when the horse began to swing, threw the bridle extended by Abder around his neck. So all the horses were bridled, and Hercules drove them to the sea.
And then Diomedes attacked the hero with his Thracians. Having handed over the horses to Abder, Hercules entered the battle. At the sight of a man feeding people to horses, the hero's strength increased tenfold, and he easily coped with a dozen enemies. Walking over the mountains of corpses, Hercules reached Diomedes and struck him with a club.
Proud of his victory, the hero went down to the sea and saw the horses scattering across the meadow. From the bloody stain, he realized that Abder had failed to cope with the rabid animals and they had torn him to pieces.
Hercules' heart was furious, and he almost killed the man-eating horses. But, remembering the mission of Eurystheus, he caught them and took them to the ship in a fenced off place. After that, the hero poured a high hill at the place of Abder's death, and next to it he founded a city named Abdera.
The horses of Diomedes were taken to Mycenae, where Eurystheus ordered them to be released. With a loud neigh, the animals rushed into the forest and were torn to pieces by wild animals ...
The ninth feat. Hippolyta's Belt.
It took Eurystheus a long time to decide what else to give to Hercules. And what could be thought of after the son of Alcmene brought the mad horses of Diomedes? Going over all the countries in his mind, Eurystheus remembered that Hercules had not yet encountered a warlike tribe, consisting of only women, with the Amazons. No one could defeat these brave maidens, but they themselves raided other peoples and won victories over them. What to instruct Hercules to bring from the country of the Amazons?
Eurystheus probably would not have guessed himself if his daughter Admeta had not appeared.
Father! - She said tearfully, What should I do? The gold buckle of my belt broke. This is such a delicate work that no one in Mycenae is willing to fix it.
Eurystheus slapped his forehead with his palm.
Belt! As I did not immediately guess! Hippolyta's Belt!
Why do I need this savage's belt! - the girl was indignant.
And I don't need it! - confessed the king, but it will be very difficult to get it. The belt was presented to the queen of the Amazons by Ares himself. And if Hercules wants to take him away, he will have to deal not only with the Amazons, but also with the god of war.
Joyfully rubbing his hands, Eurystheus sent for Hercules.
Bring me the belt of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons! - ordered the king. - And don't come back without him!
On the same day, Hercules, along with several friends, boarded a ship sailing against Boreas. Coming out to Pontus Euxinsky, the helmsman turned right, and the ship sailed along the coast unknown to Hercules. Everyone on the ship knew where the Amazon-occupied coastline was. After finding out that Hercules intended to land there, they began to dissuade him from this thought in one voice, assuring him that it was safer to enter a cage with hungry tigers than to meet the Amazons. But the stories of experienced people never frightened Hercules. He knew that people tend to exaggerate dangers in order to justify their own cowardice or impotence. Moreover, knowing that he would deal with women, he did not believe that they could be as ferocious as the Nemean lion or the Lernaean hydra.
The sailors and satellites who remained on the ship watched with amazement that the Amazons, instead of attacking Hercules, surrounded him with a peaceful crowd. Some felt the muscles of his arms and legs with savage spontaneity. If at such a distance it was possible to catch the words, on the ship they would have heard the exclamation of one of the virgins:
Look! Look! He has copper under his skin!
Surrounded by the Amazons, Hercules retired into the interior of the country, and people learned about everything that happened later from the words of the hero himself, who did not have the habit of turning a fly into an elephant, typical of travelers and hunters.
And what happened, according to Hercules, is the following. When he and the Amazons went around the bend of the cape, a horse stomp was heard, and a half-naked rider appeared with a golden tiara on her head and a belt snaking around her waist. Realizing that this is Hippolyta, Hercules glared at the belt buckle.
Stopping at a gallop, the Queen of the Amazons was the first to greet the guest.
The rumor about your deeds, Hercules, she said, filled the oecumene. Where are you going now? Who have you not conquered yet?
I am ashamed to look you in the eyes, Hercules replied, lowering his gaze, it would be easier to engage in a fight with anyone than to tell what made me visit your country.
I guess! interrupted Hippolyta.
How! - Hercules exclaimed. Besides beauty, you also have a prophetic gift!
Not! But from your look, I realized that you liked my belt. And since we, the Amazons, live next to the Kolkhs and other peoples of the Caucasus, we adopted their custom of giving the guest everything that he liked! You can consider this belt as yours.
Hercules had already reached out to take the gift of the queen of the Amazons, when suddenly one of them, of course, it was Hera, who took the form of an Amazon, shouted:
Don't trust him, Hippolyta! He wants to capture you along with the belt, take you to a foreign land and make you a slave. Look! The ship that brought him is still standing.
And immediately the Amazons, having gone into a rage, pulled out their bows and arrows. Reluctantly, Hercules took hold of his club and began to strike the warlike maidens. Hippolyta was one of the first to fall.
Bending down, Hercules removed the belt from the maiden's bloody body. His lips whispered: "Damn you, Eurystheus! You made me fight women."
Sailing on the way back near the shores of the Troas, Hercules saw a girl intended to be eaten by a sea monster. This was the daughter of the king of Troy Laomedont. Hercules promised to save her, demanding for this divine horses, presented to Laomedont by the gods themselves. The hero and the king shook hands. With great difficulty, Hercules defeated the monster, jumping into its throat and ripping open the liver. But when he got out into the light, burned, with scorched hair, and freed the girl from the chains, Laomedont flatly reneged on his promise. Threatening retaliation, the hero hurried to the shores of Argolis to present Eurystheus with the belt of Hippolyta ...
Tenth feat. Geryon's cows.
And the kingdom of Diomedes, and the land of the Amazons, Eurystheus reflected meanwhile, are too close to Argos. Therefore, the horses were able to withstand the way by sea, and the delivery of the belt did not cause any difficulties at all. But what if you send Hercules farther - so that you need to sail by sea for a month, or even more? And Eurystheus remembered that somewhere near the shores of the Ocean there is the island of Erythia, on the green meadows of which, according to the songs of the Aeds, the herds of the great Geryon are grazing, blown by the soft westerly wind. "Let, Eurystheus thought gloatingly, Hercules will find this island, let him take his flock from the giant, let him bring him to Argolis."
When Hercules appeared, for whom the servants were sent, Eurystheus squeezed out only three words:
Bring Geryon's cows!
Far was the way to the Ocean along the coast of Libya, where Hercules reached by ship. But at least there was no need to ask for directions. She was shown every day by the solar chariot of Helios. And it was enough not to lose sight of the place where it descends into the Ocean. No one tried to block Hercules from reaching his goal, except for the son of the Earth, the giant Antaeus. He was invincible as long as he touched his mother's fertile body with his feet. Hercules lifted Antaeus into the air and strangled him.
Leaving the giant to rot on his land, Hercules wandered along the coast, teeming with wild animals and snakes. Having exterminated many of them, he made it possible to engage in agriculture in these places, cultivate grapes, olives, fruit trees.
Having reached the place where Libya, converging with Europe, formed a narrow strait, Hercules hoisted on both its banks on a giant pillar, either in order to please Helios, completing his day's work, or to leave a memory of himself for centuries. And indeed, even after the pillars collapsed at the mouth of the Ocean, whether under their own weight or from the deceit of Hera, the place where they stood continued to be called the Pillars of Hercules.
Helios, grateful to Hercules for the honor rendered, helped him to cross to the island of Erythia, which had not yet been touched by the foot of a mortal. In a wide meadow, Hercules saw fat cows guarded by a huge two-headed dog.
At the approach of Hercules, the dog barked angrily and rushed at the hero. I had to lay the beast down with my club. Bark awakened the giant shepherd who was dozing on the shore. The fight was short-lived, and Hercules overtook the cows to the place where the golden boat of Helios was waiting for him. When landing, the cows moaned, so loudly that Geryon woke up and appeared before the hero in all his frightening appearance. He was enormous in stature, with three torsos, three heads and six legs. He threw three spears at Hercules at once, but missed. The hero threw an arrow that did not miss and pierced the eye of one of Geryon's heads with it. The giant howled in pain and rushed at Hercules, waving his arms.
Hercules would not have been able to cope with Geryon if it had not been for the help of Pallas Athena. The goddess strengthened his strength, and he laid the giant on the spot with several blows of his club.
Transporting Geryon's cows across the stormy waters of the Ocean, Hercules ended up in Iberia, at the southern tip of Europe. Having released the cows to graze, for the first time in a long time, he lay down on the ground, resting his head on the club - his permanent friend.
Awakening from the first rays of Helios, Hercules drove the flock without hesitation. Eurystheus, blinded by anger, did not think that in addition to the sea there was a long, but quite suitable way to Argolis by land - along the coast of Iberia, Gaul, Italy. Then there were no Greek colonies on the shores of these lands. In their places lived peoples unfamiliar to the Achaeans and other ancient inhabitants of the Balkan Peninsula with alien-sounding names - Iberians, Ligurs, Celts, Latins. Only Oinotras and Siculs were familiar to the Achaeans, since they traded with these barbarians, and often in Argos and Mycenae one could meet a slave girl who called herself a sicule.
At the place where the city of Rome would arise in five hundred years, Hercules had to fight the robber Kak, who stole one of Geryon's cows. An altar was later erected on this site: sacrifices were made to the god Hercules.
In the south of the peninsula, one cow escaped from the herd and, having crossed a narrow strait, ended up on the island of Sicily. I had to follow the fugitive. The cow was taken away by the local king Eriks, who challenged the hero to battle. Heracles squeezed Eriks in his arms, and he gave up his ghost. In Sicily, Hercules fought with other local strongmen and defeated them all. Returning to Italy with the four-legged runaway, Hercules led her into the herd and continued on his way, skirting the Ionian Sea. When it was not far to Thrace, Hera finally sent madness to the cows, and they scattered in all directions. If earlier the hero was looking for one cow, now he had to catch up with each one. Most of the animals ended up in Thrace, not far from the places where Hercules dealt with man-eating horses.
Having caught and pacified the fugitives, Hercules led them across the entire peninsula to Argolis.
Eurystheus, accepting the cows, pretended to be glad of them. Soon he sacrificed animals to the hair of Hera, hoping with her help to finish off this extremely tenacious person ...
Eleventh feat. The abduction of Cerberus.
There were no more monsters left in the land. All were destroyed by Hercules. But underground, guarding the domain of Hades, lived a monstrous three-headed dog Cerberus. It was him who ordered Eurystheus to deliver to the walls of Mycenae.
Hercules had to descend into a kingdom from which there is no return. Everything about him was terrifying. Cerberus himself was so powerful and terrible that the mere sight of it chilled the blood in his veins. In addition to three disgusting heads, the dog had a tail in the form of a huge snake with an open mouth. Snakes wriggled around his neck as well. And such a dog had to be not only defeated, but also taken alive from the underworld. Only the rulers of the kingdom of the dead Hades and Persephone could give consent to this.
Hercules had to appear before their eyes. For Hades, they were as black as coal, formed at the site of the burning of the remains of the dead, for Persephone, they were light blue, like cornflowers on arable land. But in both of them one could read genuine surprise: what does this impudent man want, who violated the laws of nature and descended alive into their gloomy world?
Bowing down respectfully, Hercules said:
Do not be angry, powerful rulers, if my request seems impudent to you! The will of Eurystheus, hostile to my desire, dominates me. It was he who commissioned me to deliver to him your loyal and valiant guard, Cerberus.
Hades's face stretched out in displeasure.
Not only did you come here alive yourself, you set out to show to the living one whom only the dead can see.
Forgive my curiosity, Persephone cut in. But I would like to know how you think about your feat. After all, Cerberus has not yet been given to anyone.
I don't know, Hercules admitted honestly, but let me fight him.
Ha! Ha! - Hades laughed so loudly that the vaults of the underworld shook. Try! But only fight on equal terms, not using weapons.
On the way to the gate of Hades, one of the shadows approached Hercules and made a request.
Great hero, said the shadow, you are destined to see the sun. Will you agree to do my duty? I have a sister, Deianira, whom I did not have time to marry.
State your name and where are you from, Hercules responded.
I am from Calydon, replied the shadow, where they called me Meleager. Hercules, bowing low to the shadow, said:
I heard about you as a boy and always regretted not being able to meet with you. Stay calm. I myself will take your sister as my wife.
Cerberus, as befits a dog, was in its place at the gate of Hades, barking at souls that tried to approach Styx to get out into the white light. If earlier, when Hercules entered the gate, the dog did not pay attention to the hero, now he pounced on him with an angry growl, trying to gnaw the hero's throat. Hercules grabbed two of Cerberus's necks with both hands, and struck a powerful blow on the third head with his forehead. Cerberus wrapped his tail around the hero's legs and torso, tearing the body with his teeth. But Hercules' fingers continued to clench, and soon the half-strangled dog went limp and wheezed.
Not allowing Cerberus to recover, Hercules dragged him to the exit. When it began to dawn, the dog revived and, throwing up its head, howled terribly at the unfamiliar sun. Never before has the earth heard such heartbreaking sounds. Poisonous foam was falling from its open mouths. Wherever even one drop of it fell, poisonous plants grew.
Here are the walls of Mycenae. The city seemed deserted, dead, since from afar everyone heard that Hercules was returning victorious. Eurystheus, looking at Cerberus through the crack of the gate, yelled:
Let him go! Let go!
Hercules did not hesitate. He released the chain on which he was leading Cerberus, and the faithful dog of Aida rushed with huge leaps to his master ...
Feat twelfth. Golden apples of the Hesperides.
At the western end of the earth, near the Ocean, where day converged with night, the beautiful-voiced nymphs of the Hesperides lived. Their divine singing was heard only by Atlas, who held on his shoulders the firmament and the souls of the dead, who sadly descended into the underworld. The nymphs walked in a wonderful garden, where a tree grew, bending heavy branches to the ground. Golden fruits glittered and hid in their greenery. They gave everyone who touches them immortality and eternal youth.
These are the fruits that Eurystheus ordered to bring, and not in order to equalize with the gods. He hoped that this order would not be fulfilled by Hercules.
Throwing a lion's skin on his back, throwing a bow over his shoulder, taking a club, the hero walked briskly to the garden of the Hesperides. He is already accustomed to the fact that the impossible is achieved from him.
Hercules walked for a long time until he reached the place where heaven and earth converged on Atlanta, as on a giant support. He looked with horror at the titan, who was holding an incredible weight.
I am Hercules, said the hero, I am commanded to bring three golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides. I heard that you alone can pick these apples.
Joy flickered in Atlant's eyes. He's up to something unkind.
I can’t reach the tree, said Atlas. Yes, and my hands, as you can see, are busy. Now, if you hold my burden, I will gladly fulfill your request.
I agree, Hercules answered and stood next to the titan, who was many heads taller than him.
Atlas sank, and a monstrous weight fell on the shoulders of Hercules. Sweat covered my forehead and whole body. Feet went ankle-deep into the ground trampled by Atlant. The time it took the giant to get the apples seemed like an eternity to the hero. But Atlas was in no hurry to take back his burden.
Do you want me to take the precious apples to Mycenae myself, he suggested to Hercules.
The simple-minded hero almost agreed, fearing of offending the titan who had rendered him a favor, but Athena intervened in time - she taught him to respond with cunning to cunning. Pretending to be overjoyed at Atlant's proposal, Hercules immediately agreed, but asked the titan to hold the vault while he made a lining under his shoulders.
As soon as Atlas, deceived by the feigned joy of Hercules, shouldered his habitual burden, the hero immediately raised his club and bow and, not paying attention to the outraged cries of Atlant, set off on his way back.
Eurystheus did not take the apples of the Hesperides, obtained by Hercules with such labor. After all, he did not need apples, but the death of a hero. Hercules gave the apples to Athena, and she returned them to the Hesperides.
This ended the service of Hercules to Eurystheus, and he was able to return to Thebes, where new exploits and new troubles awaited him.
Hercules. The myth about Hercules, 12 labors of Hercules. N.A.Kun. Legends and myths of Ancient Greece
Hercules (among the Romans Hercules) is the greatest hero of Greece. Initially, he was considered a solar god, striking everything dark and evil with his miss-missable arrows, a god who heals and sends diseases. He had a lot in common with the god Apollo. But Hercules is a god and a hero, found not only among the Greeks; We know a lot of similar hero-gods. Of these, the Babylonian Gilgamesh and the Phoenician Melqart are especially interesting, the myths about which influenced the myths about Hercules; and these heroes went to the ends of the earth, performed great feats and suffered, like Hercules. Poets of all times have consistently used the myths of Hercules; their attention was attracted by the exploits and suffering that befell Hercules. On a starry night, we can see Hercules (under his Roman name Hercules) in the sky, since one of the constellations is named after him, and next to the constellation Hercules we see the constellation Hydra, that monstrous, many-headed hydra that Hercules killed.
The myths about Hercules are set forth according to the tragedies of Sophocles ("The Trachines") and Euripides ("Hercules"), as well as according to the legends mentioned in the "Description of Hellas" by Pausanias
Birth and education of Hercules
In Mycenae (One of the oldest cities in Greece, located in Argolis in the Peloponnese), King Electrion ruled. He was stolen by the teleboys (a tribe that lived in the west of central Greece, in Acarnania), under the leadership of the sons of king Pterelaus, a herd. The TV fighters killed the sons of Electrion when they wanted to recapture the stolen goods. Tsar Electrion then announced that he would give the hand of his beautiful daughter Alcmene to the one who would return his flocks and avenge the death of his sons. The hero Amphitrion managed to return the herds to Electrion without a fight, since the king of the TV-fighters Pterelai instructed the king of Elis (Region in the north-west of the Peloponnese) Polyxenus to guard the stolen herds, and he gave them to Amphitrion. Amphitryon returned to Electrion his herd and received the hand of Alcmene. Amphitryon did not stay long in Mycenae. During a wedding feast, in a dispute over the flocks, Amphitryon killed Electrion, and he and his wife Alcmene had to flee from Mycenae. Alcmene followed her young husband to a foreign land only under the condition that he would take revenge on the sons of Pterelai for the murder of her brothers. Therefore, arriving in Thebes, to the king Creon, with whom Amphitryon found a refuge for himself, he set out with an army against the TV battle. In his absence, Zeus, captivated by the beauty of Alcmene, came to her, taking the form of Amphitryon. Soon Amphitryon returned. And from Zeus and Amphitryon, two twin sons were to be born to Alcmene. (Hercules Hercules)
On the day when the great son of Zeus and Alcmene was supposed to be born, the gods gathered on high Olympus. Rejoicing that a son would soon be born to him, the aegis Zeus said to the gods:
- Hear, gods and goddesses, what I tell you: my heart commands me to say! A great hero will be born today; he will rule over all his relatives, who descend from my son, the great Perseus.
But the wife of Zeus, the royal Hera, angry that Zeus took the mortal Alcmene as his wife, decided to cunningly deprive the son of Alcmene of power over all the Perseids - she already hated the son of Zeus before birth. Therefore, hiding her cunning in the depths of her heart, Hera said to Zeus:
- You are not telling the truth, great thunderer! You will never fulfill your word! Give me the great unbreakable oath of the gods that the one who is born today, the first of the Perseid line, will command his relatives. (Hercules Hercules)
The goddess of deception Ata took possession of the mind of Zeus, and, not suspecting the cunning of Hera, the thunderer took an unbreakable oath. Hera immediately left Olympus of light and rushed to Argos in her golden chariot. There she hastened the birth of a son to the godlike wife of the Perseid Sfenela, and on this day a weak, sick child, the son of Sfenela, Eurystheus, was born in the family of Perseus. Hera quickly returned to light Olympus and said to the great cloud-exterminator Zeus:
- Oh, Zeus-father throwing lightning, listen to me! Now the son of Eurystheus was born in glorious Argos to the Perseid Sfenelus. He was the first to be born today and must command all the descendants of Perseus.
The great Zeus was saddened, now he only understood all the insidiousness of Hera. He was angry at the goddess of deception Atu, who possessed his mind; in anger, Zeus grabbed her by the hair and threw her from the bright Olympus. The lord of gods and people forbade her to appear on Olympus. Since then, the goddess of deception Ata has lived among people.
Zeus eased the fate of his son. He concluded an indestructible agreement with the Hero that his son would not be under the rule of Eurystheus all his life. He will perform only twelve great deeds on behalf of Eurystheus, and after that he will not only free himself from his power, but even receive immortality. The Thunderer knew that his son would have to overcome many great dangers, so he ordered his beloved daughter Pallas Athena to help Alcmene's son. Then Zeus often had to grieve when he saw how his son was carrying out great labors in the service of the weak, cowardly Eurystheus, but he could not break the oath he had given to Hera.
On the same day with the birth of the son of Sfenel, twins were born to Alcmene: the eldest is the son of Zeus, named Alcides at birth, and the youngest is the son of Amphitryon, named Iphicles. Alcides was the greatest son of Greece. He was later named the soothsayer Pythia Hercules. Under this name he became famous, received immortality and was accepted into the host of the light gods of Olympus. (the exploits of Hercules read)
Hera began to persecute Hercules from the very first day of his life. Upon learning that Hercules was born and lies wrapped in swaddling clothes with her brother Iphicles, she sent two snakes to destroy the newborn hero. It was already night when the snakes crept in, with sparkling eyes, into the rest of Alcmene. They quietly crawled to the cradle where the twins lay, and already wanted, wrapped around the body of little Hercules, to strangle him, when the son of Zeus woke up. He stretched out his little hands to the snakes, grabbed them by the necks and squeezed them with such force that he immediately strangled them. In horror, Alcmene jumped up from her bed; Seeing the snakes in the cradle, the women who were alone cried out loudly. All rushed to the cradle of Alcides. At the cry of the women, Amphitryon came running with a drawn sword. They surrounded the cradle and saw an extraordinary miracle: the little newborn Hercules was holding two huge strangled snakes, which were still weakly writhing in his tiny hands. Struck by the strength of his adopted son, Amphitryon summoned the soothsayer Tiresias and asked him about the fate of the newborn. Then the prophetic elder told how many great deeds Hercules would accomplish, and predicted that he would achieve immortality at the end of his life.
Having learned what great glory awaits the eldest son of Alcmene, Amphitryon gave him an upbringing worthy of a hero. Amphitryon not only cared about the development of the strength of Hercules, he also cared about his education. He was taught to read, write, sing and play the cithara. But Hercules did not show such successes in the sciences and music as he showed in wrestling, archery and the ability to wield weapons. Often the music teacher, brother of Orpheus Lin, had to be angry with his student and even punish him. Once during a lesson, Lin hit Hercules, annoyed by his unwillingness to learn. Angry Hercules grabbed the cithara and hit Lin on the head with it. Young Hercules did not calculate the forces of the blow. The hit of the cithara was so strong that Lin fell dead on the spot. Hercules was called to court for this murder. Justifying himself, the son of Alcmene said:
Indeed, Radamanth, the fairest of the judges, says that anyone who is hit can return blow for blow.
The judges of Hercules were acquitted, but his stepfather Amphitryon, fearing that something like this would not happen yet, sent Hercules into the wooded Kyferon to graze the flocks.
Hercules in Thebes
Heracles grew up in the forests of Kiferon and became a mighty youth. In height, he was a whole head taller than everyone, and his strength far exceeded that of a man. At first glance, one could recognize him as the son of Zeus, especially by his eyes, which shone with some extraordinary, divine light. No one was equal to Hercules in dexterity in military exercises, and he mastered the bow and spear so skillfully that he never missed. While still a young man, Hercules killed the formidable Kiferon lion who lived on the tops of the mountains. Young Hercules attacked him, killed and skinned him. He put this skin on himself, threw it like a cloak on his mighty shoulders, with his paws he tied it on his chest, and the skin from the lion's head served as his helmet. Hercules made himself a huge club from an ash tree, hard as iron, which he had torn out from the roots in the Nemean grove. Hermes gave a sword to Hercules, a bow and arrows - Apollo, Hephaestus made him a golden shell, and Athena herself weaved clothes for him.
Having matured, Hercules defeated the king of Orchomenus Ergin, to whom Thebes paid a large tribute every year. He killed Ergin during the battle, and imposed a tribute on the Minyan Orchomenes, which was twice as much as that paid by Thebes. For this feat, the king of Thebes, Creon, gave Hercules his daughter Megara to wife, and the gods sent him three beautiful sons. (Hercules Hercules)
Hercules lived happily in the seven-fold Thebes. But the great goddess Hera still burned with hatred for the son of Zeus. She sent a terrible illness to Hercules. The great hero lost his mind, madness took possession of him. In a fit of rage, Hercules killed all his children and the children of his brother Iphicles. When the seizure passed, deep sorrow seized Hercules. Having cleansed himself of the filth of his involuntary murder, Hercules left Thebes and went to the sacred Delphi to ask the god Apollo what to do. Apollo ordered Hercules to go to the homeland of his ancestors in Tiryns and serve Eurystheus for twelve years. Through the lips of the Pythia, the son of Latona predicted to Hercules that he would receive immortality if he performed twelve great feats at the behest of Eurystheus.
Hercules in the service of Eurystheus
Hercules settled in Tiryns and became the servant of the weak, cowardly Eurystheus. Eurystheus was afraid of a mighty hero and did not let him into Mycenae. He transmitted all his orders to the son of Zeus in Tiryns through his messenger Koprey.
1 feat of Hercules (Nemean lion)
Hercules did not have to wait long for the first order of King Eurystheus. He instructed Hercules to kill the Nemean lion. This lion, begotten by Typhon and the Echidna, was monstrous in size. He lived near the city of Nemea (City in Argolis, in the north-east of the Peloponnese) and devastated all the surroundings. Hercules boldly set out on a dangerous feat. Arriving at Nemea, he immediately went to the mountains to find the lion's den. It was already noon when the hero reached the slopes of the mountains. Not a single living soul was seen anywhere: neither shepherds nor farmers. All living things fled from these places in fear of the terrible lion. For a long time Hercules searched for on the wooded slopes of the mountains and in the gorges of the lion's den, finally, when the sun began to lean to the west, Hercules found a lair in a gloomy gorge; it was in a huge cave that had two exits. Hercules filled one of the willows with huge stones and waited for the lion, hiding behind the stones. (1 feat of Hercules) Just in the evening, when dusk was already approaching, a monstrous lion with a long shaggy mane appeared. Hercules pulled the string of his bow and fired three arrows one after the other at the lion, but the arrows bounced off his skin - it was as hard as steel. The lion roared menacingly, its roar rolled like thunder over the mountains. Looking around in all directions, the lion stood in the gorge and looked with burning fury eyes for the one who dared to shoot arrows at him. But then he saw Hercules and threw himself with a huge jump on the hero. Like lightning, the club of Hercules flashed and fell with a thunderous blow on the lion's head. The lion fell to the ground, stunned by a terrible blow; Hercules threw himself on the lion, grabbed him with his mighty arms and strangled him. Shrugging the slain lion on his mighty shoulders, Hercules returned to Nemea, sacrificed to Zeus and instituted the Nemean Games in memory of his first feat (The Nemean Games are a common Greek festival that took place every two years in the Nemean Valley in Argolis; they celebrated in honor of Zeus in the middle of summer During the games, which lasted several days, they competed in running, wrestling, fist fighting, throwing a disc and a spear, as well as in chariot racing. During the games, universal peace was declared throughout Greece). When Hercules brought the lion he had killed to Mycenae, Eurystheus turned pale with fear, looking at the monstrous lion. The king of Mycenae realized what superhuman strength Hercules possesses. He forbade him even to approach the gate of Mycenae; when Hercules brought evidence of his exploits, Eurystheus looked at them with horror from the high Mycenaean walls. (1 feat of Hercules)
2 feat of Hercules (Lernean hydra)
After the first feat, Eurystheus sent Hercules to kill the Lernean hydra. It was a monster with the body of a snake and nine dragon heads. Like the Nemean lion, the hydra was born of Typhon and the Echidna. The hydra lived in a swamp near the city of Lerna (a city on the shores of the Argolic Gulf in Argolis) and, crawling out from its lair, destroyed whole herds and devastated all the surroundings. The fight against the nine-headed hydra was dangerous because one of its heads was immortal. Hercules set off to Lerna with Iphicles' son Iolaus. Arriving at the swamp near the city of Lerna, Hercules left Iolaus with a chariot in a nearby grove, and he went to look for the hydra. He found her in a cave surrounded by a swamp. Having red-hot his arrows, Hercules began to shoot them one after another into the hydra. The hydra was enraged by the arrows of Hercules. (2 feat of Hercules) She crawled out, writhing a body covered with shiny scales, from the darkness of the cave, menacingly rose on her huge tail and wanted to rush to the hero, but the son of Zeus stepped on her body and pressed her to the ground. With its tail, the hydra wrapped around the legs of Hercules and tried to knock him down. Like an unshakable rock, the hero stood and, with the waves of a heavy club, one after another knocked down the heads of the hydra. A club whistled in the air like a whirlwind; the heads of the hydra flew off, but the hydra was still alive. Then Hercules noticed that at the hydra, in place of each knocked off head, two new ones grow. Help came to the hydra. A monstrous cancer crawled out of the swamp and dug its ticks into the leg of Hercules. Then the hero called his friend Iolaus for help. Iolaus killed a monstrous crayfish, lit part of a nearby grove and burned the hydra's necks with burning tree trunks, from which Hercules knocked their heads off with his club. New heads have ceased to grow at the hydra. Weaker and weaker she resisted the son of Zeus. Finally, the immortal head flew off the hydra. The monstrous hydra was defeated and fell dead to the ground. The victor Hercules buried her immortal head deeply and piled a huge rock on her so that she could not come out into the light again. Then the great hero cut the body of the hydra and plunged his arrows into her poisonous bile. Since then, the wounds from the arrows of Hercules have become incurable. With great triumph, Hercules returned to Tiryns. But there a new commission from Eurystheus awaited him. (2 feat of Hercules)
3 feat of Hercules (Stymphalian birds)
Eurystheus instructed Hercules to kill the Stymphalian birds. All the surroundings of the Arcadian city of Stymphala almost turned into the desert. They attacked both animals and people and tore them apart with their copper claws and beaks. But the most terrible thing was that the feathers of these birds were of solid bronze, and the birds, taking off, could drop them, like arrows, at anyone who would try to attack them. It was difficult for Hercules to fulfill this order of Eurystheus. The warrior Pallas Athena came to his aid. She gave Hercules two copper tympans, they were forged by the god Hephaestus, and ordered Hercules to stand on a high hill near the forest where the Stymphalian birds nested, and hit the tympans; when the birds take off, shoot them with a bow. And so Hercules did. (3 feat of Hercules) Ascending the hill, he struck the tympans, and such a deafening ringing rose that the birds flew in a huge flock over the forest and began circling in terror over it. They rained down their feathers, sharp as arrows, on the ground, but the feathers did not fall into Hercules, who stood on the hill. The hero grabbed his bow and began to shoot the birds with deadly arrows. In fear, the Stymphalian birds soared up behind the clouds and disappeared from the eyes of Hercules. The birds flew far beyond the borders of Greece, to the shores of the Euxine Pontus (as the Greeks called the Black Sea), and never returned to the vicinity of Stymphalus. So Hercules fulfilled this order of Eurystheus and returned to Tiryns, but immediately he had to go on an even more difficult feat. (Hercules Hercules) (3 feat of Hercules)
4 feat of Hercules (Kerineys doe)
Eurystheus knew that a wonderful Kerinean doe lived in Arcadia, sent by the goddess Artemis to punish people. This fallow deer devastated the fields. Eurystheus sent Hercules to catch her and ordered him to deliver the deer alive to Mycenae. This doe was extraordinarily beautiful, its horns were golden and its legs were copper. Like the wind, she rushed through the mountains and valleys of Arcadia, never knowing fatigue. For a whole year, Hercules pursued the Kerinean doe. She rushed through the mountains, across the plains, jumped over precipices, swam across rivers. Farther and farther north the deer was running. The hero did not lag behind her, he pursued her, not losing sight of her. Finally, Hercules reached, in pursuit of the paddy, the extreme north - the country of the Hyperboreans and the sources of Istra (the Modern Danube; the Greeks, poorly knowing geography, thought that the Danube originates in the extreme north of the earth). Here the doe stopped. The hero wanted to grab her, but she escaped and, like an arrow, rushed back to the south. The pursuit began again. Hercules managed to overtake the doe only in Arcadia. Even after such a long chase, she did not lose her strength. Desperate to catch the doe, Hercules resorted to his arrows that did not miss. He wounded the golden-horned doe with an arrow in the leg, and only then did he manage to catch her. Hercules put a wonderful doe on his shoulders and was about to carry it to Mycenae, when an angry Artemis appeared before him and said: (4 feat of Hercules)
- Didn't you know, Hercules, that this doe is mine? Why did you insult me by wounding my beloved doe? Do you not know that I do not forgive insults? Or do you think that you are more powerful than the Olympian gods?
With reverence, Hercules bowed before the beautiful goddess and replied:
- Oh, great daughter of Latona, do not blame me! I have never insulted the immortal gods living on the bright Olympus; I have always honored the celestials with rich victims and never considered myself equal to them, although I myself am the son of the thunderer Zeus. Not of my own free will I pursued your doe, but at the behest of Eurystheus. The gods themselves commanded me to serve him, and I dare not disobey Eurystheus! (4 feat of Hercules)
Artemis forgave Hercules for his guilt. The great son of the thunderer Zeus brought the Kerinean doe alive to Mycenae and gave it to Eurystheus.
5 feat of Hercules
(Erymanthian boar and the battle with the centaurs)
After the hunt for the copper-footed doe, which lasted a whole year, Hercules did not rest for long. Eurystheus again gave him an order: Hercules was to kill the Erymanthian boar. This boar, possessing monstrous strength, lived on Mount Erimanth (the Mountain and the city of the same name in Arcadia in the Peloponnese, in the same place the city of Psophis) and devastated the surroundings of the city of Psophis. He did not give people mercy and killed them with his huge fangs. Hercules went to Mount Erimanth. On the way, he visited the wise centaur Fall. Foul accepted the great son of Zeus with honor and arranged a feast for him. During the feast, the centaur opened a large vessel of wine to treat the hero better. The fragrance of the wondrous wine spread far away. Other centaurs also heard this fragrance. They were terribly angry with Fool for opening the vessel. Wine belonged not only to Fall, but was the property of all centaurs. (5 feat of Hercules) The centaurs rushed to the dwelling of Fola and attacked him and Hercules by surprise, when the two of them feasted merrily, adorned their heads with ivy wreaths. Hercules was not afraid of the centaurs. He quickly jumped up from his bed and began to throw huge smoking brands at the attackers. The centaurs fled, and Hercules wounded them with his poisonous arrows. The hero chased them all the way to Maleya. There the centaurs took refuge with a friend of Hercules, Chiron, the wisest of the centaurs. Hercules followed them into the cave. In anger he drew his bow, an arrow flashed in the air and plunged into the knee of one of the centaurs. Hercules did not hit the enemy, but his friend Chiron. Great sorrow gripped the hero when he saw who he had wounded. Hercules is in a hurry to wash and bandage his friend's wound, but nothing can help. Hercules knew that a wound from an arrow poisoned by the bile of a hydra was incurable. Chiron also knew that he was facing a painful death. In order not to suffer from a wound, he subsequently voluntarily descended into the dark kingdom of Hades.
In deep sadness, Hercules left Chiron and soon reached Mount Erimanth. There, in a dense forest, he found a formidable boar and drove him out of the thicket with a cry. Hercules chased the boar for a long time, and finally drove him into deep snow at the top of the mountain. The boar got stuck in the snow, and Hercules, rushing at him, tied him up and took him alive to Mycenae. When Eurystheus saw the monstrous boar, he hid in a large bronze vessel out of fear. (5 feat of Hercules)
6 feat of Hercules (Animal Farm of Avgia)
Soon Eurystheus gave a new assignment to Hercules. He had to cleanse the entire stockyard of Avgius, king of Elis (Region in the north-west of the Peloponnese), son of the radiant Helios, from the manure. The sun god gave his son incalculable riches. The herds of Avgius were especially numerous. Among his herds were three hundred bulls with legs as white as snow, two hundred bulls were red like Sidonian purple, twelve bulls dedicated to the god Helios were white like swans, and one bull, distinguished by extraordinary beauty, shone like a star. Hercules proposed to Augius to cleanse his entire huge cattle yard in one day, if he agreed to give him a tenth of his flocks. Augeas agreed. It seemed to him impossible to do such a job in one day. Hercules, on the other hand, broke the wall that surrounded the stockyard on two opposite sides, and took the water of two rivers, Alpheus and Peneus, into it. The water of these rivers in one day carried away all the manure from the barnyard, and Hercules again folded the walls. When the hero came to Augius to demand a reward, the proud king did not give him the promised tenth of the flocks, and Heracles had to return to Tiryns with nothing. (6 feat of Hercules)
The great hero took revenge on the king of Elis. A few years later, having already freed himself from service with Eurystheus, Hercules invaded Elis with a large army, defeated Avgius in a bloody battle and killed him with his deadly arrow. After the victory, Hercules gathered an army and all the rich booty near the city of Pisa, made sacrifices to the Olympic gods and established the Olympic Games (the Olympic Games are the most important of the common Greek festivals, during which universal peace was declared throughout Greece. A few months before the games throughout Greece and the Greek Ambassadors were sent to the colonies to invite them to the Olympia Games, which were held every four years, and included competitions in running, wrestling, fistfighting, discus and spear throwing, and chariot racing. The Greeks kept the chronology of the Olympic Games, considering the first ones to take place in 776 BC There were Olympic Games until 393 AD, when they were banned by Emperor Theodosius as incompatible with Christianity.After 30 years, Emperor Theodosius II burned down the temple of Zeus at Olympia and all the luxurious buildings that adorned the place where the Olympic Games took place. They turned into ruins and gradually became and are covered by the sand of the Alfea River. Only excavations carried out at the site of Olympia in the 19th century. n. e., mainly from 1875 to 1881, gave us the opportunity to get an accurate idea of the past Olympia and the Olympic Games.), which have been held since then by all Greeks every four years on the sacred plain, planted by Hercules himself dedicated to the goddess Athena -Pallada olives.
Hercules took revenge on all the allies of Avgius. The king of Pylos, Neleus, paid in particular. Hercules, having come with an army to Pylos, took the city and killed Neleus and his eleven sons. Neleus' son Periklimenes, who was given the gift of the ruler of the sea, Poseidon, to turn into a lion, a snake and a bee, was not saved either. Hercules killed him when, turning into a bee, Periklimenes mounted one of the horses harnessed to Hercules' chariot. Only Neleus' son Nestor survived. Subsequently, Nestor became famous among the Greeks for his exploits and great wisdom. (6 feat of Hercules)
7 feat of Hercules (Cretan bull)
To fulfill the seventh order of Eurystheus, Hercules had to leave Greece and go to the island of Crete. Eurystheus instructed him to bring the Cretan bull to Mycenae. This bull was sent by the earth-shaker Poseidon to the king of Crete Minos, the son of Europe; Minos had to sacrifice the bull to Poseidon. But Minos is sorry to sacrifice such a beautiful bull - he left him in his flock, and sacrificed one of his bulls to Poseidon. (7 feat of Hercules) Poseidon was angry with Minos and sent rabies to the bull that came out of the sea. A bull ran all over the island and destroyed everything in its path. The great hero Hercules caught the bull and tamed it. He sat on the broad back of a bull and swam on it across the sea from Crete to the Peloponnese. Hercules brought the bull to Mycenae, but Eurystheus was afraid to leave Poseidon's bull in his herd and set him free. Sensing freedom again, the mad bull rushed through the entire Peloponnese to the north and finally came running to Attica on the Marathon field. There he was killed by the great Athenian hero Theseus. (7 feat of Hercules)
8 feat of Hercules (Horses of Diomedes)
After taming the Cretan bull, Hercules, on behalf of Eurystheus, had to go to Thrace to the king of the Bistones (Bistones are a mythical people who, according to the Greeks, lived in Thrace), Diomedes. This king had horses of wondrous beauty and strength. They were chained in stalls with iron chains, as no bonds could hold them. King Diomedes fed these horses with human meat. (8 feat of Hercules) He threw them to devour all the strangers who, driven by the storm, pestered his city. It was to this Thracian king that Hercules came with his companions. He took possession of the horses of Diomedes and took them to his ship. On the shore, Diomedes himself overtook Hercules with his warlike beastones. Having entrusted the protection of the horses to his beloved Abder, the son of Hermes, Hercules fought with Diomedes. Hercules had few companions, but still Diomedes was defeated and fell in battle. Hercules returned to the ship. How great was his despair when he saw that wild horses had torn apart his favorite Abder. Hercules arranged a magnificent funeral for his pet, made a high hill on his grave, and next to the grave he founded a city and named it after his pet Abdera. Hercules brought the horses of Diomedes to Eurystheus, who ordered them to be released. Wild horses fled to the mountains of Lyceion (Mountains in the Peloponnese), covered with dense forest, and were torn to pieces by wild animals. (8 feat of Hercules)
Hercules at Admet
Mainly based on the tragedy of Euripides "Alkestida"
When Hercules sailed on a ship on the sea to the shores of Thrace for the horses of King Diomedes, he decided to visit his friend, King Admet, since the path lay past the city of Fer (the oldest city in Thessaly), where Admet ruled.
Hercules chose a difficult time for Admet. Great sorrow reigned in the house of King Fer. His wife Alkestida was about to die. Once the goddesses of fate, the great moiraes, at the request of Apollo, determined that Admet could get rid of death if at the last hour of his life someone agreed to voluntarily descend instead of him into the dark kingdom of Hades. When the hour of death came, Admet asked his elderly parents that one of them would agree to die in his place, but his parents refused. Not one of the inhabitants of Fer agreed to die voluntarily for the king Admet. Then the young, beautiful Alkestida decided to sacrifice her life for her beloved husband. On the day Admet was to die, his wife prepared for death. She washed the body and put on funeral garments and ornaments. Approaching the hearth, Alkestida turned to the goddess Hestia, who gives happiness in the house, with a fervent prayer:
- Oh, great goddess! The last time I kneel here before you. I pray you, protect my orphans, because today I must descend into the kingdom of gloomy Hades. Oh, do not let them die, as I die, prematurely! May their life be happy and rich here, in their homeland.
Then Alcestis went around all the altars of the gods and decorated them with myrtle.
Finally, she went to her chambers and fell in tears on her bed. Her children came to her - a son and a daughter. They sobbed bitterly on their mother's chest. The maids of Alkestida also cried. In despair, Admet embraced his young wife and begged her not to leave him. Already ready for the death of Alkestides; already approaching with inaudible steps to the palace of king Fer, the god of death, hated by the gods and people, Thanat, in order to cut off a lock of hair from the head of Alkestiis with a sword. The golden-haired Apollo himself asked him to postpone the hour of death of the wife of his beloved Admet, but Tanat is relentless. Alkestida senses the approach of death. She exclaims in horror:
- Oh, the two-oared boat of Charon is already approaching me, and the carrier of the souls of the dead is threateningly shouting to me, ruling the boat: “Why are you hesitating? Hurry, hurry! Time is running out! Don't delay us. Everything is ready! Hurry up! " Oh, let me go! My legs are getting weak. Death is approaching. Black night covers my eyes! Oh children, children! Your mother is no longer alive! Live happily! Admet, your life was dearer to me than my own life. Better to let the sun shine on you, not on me. Admet, you love our children no less than me. Oh, do not take your stepmother into their house, so that she does not offend them!
The unfortunate Admet suffers.
- You take all the joy of life with you, Alkestida! he exclaims, - all my life now I will grieve for you. Oh, gods, gods, what kind of wife are you taking from me!
Alkestida says a little audibly:
- Goodbye! My eyes have already closed forever. Goodbye children! Now I am nothing. Goodbye Admet!
- Oh, take another look! Don't leave your children! Oh, let me die too! - Admet exclaimed with tears.
Alkestida's eyes closed, her body grows cold, she died. Admet weeps inconsolably over the deceased and bitterly laments his fate. He orders a magnificent funeral for his wife. For eight months he orders everyone in the city to mourn Alkestida, the best of women. The whole city is full of sorrow, because everyone loved the good queen.
They were already preparing to carry the body of Alkestida to her tomb, when Hercules comes to the city of Fera. He goes to Admet's palace and meets his friend at the palace gates. Admet met with honor the great son of the aegis Zeus. Not wanting to sadden the guest, Admet tries to hide his grief from him. But Hercules immediately noticed that his friend was deeply grieved, and asked about the reason for his grief. Admet gives an unclear answer to Hercules, and he decides that a distant relative who was sheltered by the king after the death of his father died. Admet orders his servants to take Hercules to the guest room and arrange a rich feast for him, and lock the doors to the female half so that the groans of sorrow do not reach Hercules' ears. Unaware of what misfortune befell his friend, Hercules is having a merry feast in Admet's palace. He drinks goblet after goblet. It is hard for the servants to serve a cheerful guest - after all, they know that their beloved mistress is no longer alive. No matter how hard they try, on the orders of Admet, to hide their grief, Hercules nevertheless notices tears in their eyes and sadness on their faces. He calls one of the servants to feast with him, says that the wine will give him oblivion and smooth out the wrinkles of sorrow on his brow, but the servant refuses. Then Hercules guesses that a grave grief befell the house of Admet. He begins to question the servant what happened to his friend, and finally the servant tells him:
- Oh, foreigner, Admet's wife went down to the kingdom of Hades today.
Hercules was saddened. It hurt him that he was feasting in an ivy wreath and singing at the house of a friend who had suffered such great grief. Hercules decided to thank the noble Admet for the fact that, despite the grief that befell him, he nevertheless received him so hospitably. The great hero's decision quickly ripened to take away from the dark god of death Thanat his prey, Alkestida.
Having learned from the servant where the tomb of Alkestida is, he hurries there sooner. Hiding behind the tomb, Hercules waits for Thanat to arrive to drink at the grave of the sacrificial blood. Then the flapping of the black wings of Thanat was heard, a burial chill blew; the gloomy god of death flew to the tomb and greedily pressed his lips to the sacrificial blood. Hercules jumped out of the ambush and rushed to Thanat. He seized the god of death with his mighty arms, and a terrible struggle began between them. Straining all his strength, Hercules fights with the god of death. He squeezed the chest of Hercules Thanat with his bony hands, he breathes his icy breath on him, and the cold of death blows from his wings to the hero. Yet the mighty son of the thunderer Zeus defeated Thanat. He tied Thanat and demanded as a ransom for freedom to bring the god of death back to life Alcestis. Thanat gave Hercules the life of Admet's wife, and the great hero led her back to her husband's palace. (Hercules Hercules)
Admet, returning to the palace after his wife's funeral, bitterly mourned his irreplaceable loss. It was hard for him to stay in the empty palace, Where should he go? He envies the dead. He hates life. He calls for death. All his happiness was stolen by Thanat and taken to the kingdom of Hades. What could be more difficult for him than the loss of his beloved wife! Admet regrets that she did not allow Alkestides to die with her, then death would have united them. Hades would receive two loyal souls instead of one. Together these souls of Acheron would swim across. Suddenly Hercules appeared before the mournful Admet. He leads a woman, covered by a veil, by the hand. Hercules asks Admet to leave this woman, which he inherited after a hard struggle, in the palace until his return from Thrace. Refuses Admet; he asks Hercules to take the woman to someone else. It is hard for Admet to see another woman in his palace when he lost the one he loved so much. Hercules insists and even wants Admet to bring the woman into the palace himself. He does not allow Admet's servants to touch her. Finally, Admet, unable to refuse his friend, takes the woman by the hand to lead her into his palace. Hercules tells him:
- You took her, Admet! So protect her! Now you can say that the son of Zeus is a true friend. Look at the woman! Doesn't she look like your wife Alkestida? Stop longing! Be happy with life again!
- Oh, great gods! - Admet exclaimed, lifting the veil of the woman, - my wife Alkestida! Oh no, it's just her shadow! She stands silently, she has not uttered a word!
- No, it's not a shadow! - answered Hercules, - this is Alkestida. I obtained it in a difficult struggle with the Lord of Souls Thanat. She will be silent until she is freed from the power of the underground gods, bringing them atoning sacrifices; she will be silent until three times change from night to day; only then will she speak. Now goodbye, Admet! Be happy and always observe the great custom of hospitality, consecrated by my father, Zeus!
- Oh, great son of Zeus, you gave me the joy of life again! - Admet exclaimed, - how can I thank you? Stay with me as a guest. I will command in all my possessions to celebrate your victory, I will command you to bring great sacrifices to the gods. Stay with me!
Hercules did not stay with Admet; feat awaited him; he had to fulfill the order of Eurystheus and get him the horses of King Diomedes.
9 feat of Hercules (Belt of Hippolyta)
The ninth feat of Hercules was his campaign to the country of the Amazons behind the belt of Queen Hippolyta. This belt was presented to Hippolyta by the god of war, Ares, and she wore it as a sign of her power over all the Amazons. The daughter of Eurystheus Admet, a priestess of the goddess Hera, certainly wanted to have this belt. To fulfill her desire, Eurystheus sent Hercules for the belt. Gathering a small detachment of heroes, the great son of Zeus set off on a long journey on only one ship. Although the detachment of Hercules was small, there were many glorious heroes in this detachment, I was the great hero of Attica Theseus in it. (feat of Hercules read) (9 feat of Hercules)
A long way lay ahead of the heroes. They had to reach the farthest shores of the Euxine Pontus, since there was the country of the Amazons with the capital Themiscyra. On the way, Hercules landed with his companions on the island of Paros (One of the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea, famous in ancient times for its marble), where the sons of Minos ruled. On this island, the sons of Minos killed two companions of Hercules. Hercules, angry at this, immediately began a war with the sons of Minos. He killed many of the inhabitants of Paros, while driving others into the city, he kept them under siege until they sent the besieged ambassadors to Hercules and asked him to take two of them instead of the killed companions. Then Hercules lifted the siege and took the grandsons of Minos, Alkeus and Sfenelus instead of those killed.
From Paros, Hercules arrived in Misia (a country on the western coast of Asia Minor with the main city of Pergamum) to the king Lycus, who received him with great hospitality. Unexpectedly, the king of the bebriks attacked Lika. Hercules defeated the king of bebriks with his detachment and destroyed his capital, and gave all the land of bebriks to Lika. King Lik named this country in honor of Hercules Heraclea. After this feat, Hercules went further, and finally arrived at the city of the Amazons, Themiscira.
The fame of the exploits of the son of Zeus has long reached the country of the Amazons. Therefore, when the ship of Hercules docked at Themiscira, the Amazons with the queen came out to meet the hero. They looked in amazement at the great son of Zeus, who stood out, like an immortal god, among his companions-heroes. Queen Hippolyta asked the great hero Hercules: (9 feat of Hercules)
- Glorious son of Zeus, tell me what brought you to our city? Are you bringing us peace or war?
This is how Hercules answered the queen:
- Queen, I did not come here of my own free will with an army, having made a long journey along the stormy sea; I was sent by the ruler of Mycenae Eurystheus. His daughter Admet wants to have your belt, a gift from the god Ares. Eurystheus has instructed me to get your belt.
Hippolyta was unable to deny anything to Hercules. She was already ready to voluntarily give him the belt, but the great Hera, wanting to destroy the hated Hercules, took the form of an Amazon, intervened in the crowd and began to convince the warriors to attack the army of Hercules.
“Hercules is not telling the truth,” Hera said to the Amazons, “he came to you with an insidious intent: the hero wants to kidnap your queen Hippolyta and take her as a slave to his house.
The Amazons believed Hera. They grabbed their arms and attacked the army of Hercules. Ahead of the Amazon army was Aella, swift as the wind. She was the first to attack Hercules, like a stormy whirlwind. The great hero repelled her onslaught and put her to flight, Aella thought to escape from the hero by a quick flight. All her speed did not help her, Hercules overtook her and struck her with his sparkling sword. Fell in battle and Protoe. She defeated seven heroes from among the companions of Hercules with her own hand, but she did not escape the arrow of the great son of Zeus. Then seven Amazons attacked Hercules at once; they were companions of Artemis herself: no one was equal to them in the art of wielding a spear. Covering themselves with shields, they launched their spears at Hercules. but the spears flew past this time. All of them were slain by the hero with his club; one after another they struck the ground, flashing their weapons. The Amazonian Melanippe, who was leading the army into battle, was captured by Hercules, and Antiope was also captured with her. The formidable warriors were defeated, their army fled, many of them fell at the hands of the heroes who were pursuing them. The Amazon made peace with Hercules. Hippolyta bought the freedom of the mighty Melanippe at the cost of her belt. The heroes took Antiope with them. Hercules gave her as a reward to Theseus for his great bravery. So Hercules got Hippolyta's belt. (9 feat of Hercules)
Hercules rescues Hesione, daughter of Laomedont
On the way back to Tiryns from the country of the Amazons, Hercules arrived on ships with his army to Troy. A grievous spectacle appeared before the eyes of the heroes when they moored to the shore not far from Troy. They saw the beautiful daughter of the King of Troy Laomedont, Hesiona, chained to a rock near the very shore of the sea. She was doomed, like Andromeda, to be torn apart by a monster emerging from the sea. This monster was sent as punishment to Laomedon by Poseidon for refusing to pay him and Apollo a fee for the construction of the walls of Troy. The proud king, whom, according to Zeus' verdict, both gods were supposed to serve, even threatened to cut off their ears if they demanded payment. Then, the angry Apollo sent a terrible pestilence to all the possessions of Laomedont, and Poseidon - a monster that devastated, sparing no one, the vicinity of Troy. Only by sacrificing his daughter's life could Laomedont save his country from a terrible disaster. Against his will, he had to chained his daughter Hesiona to a rock by the sea.
Seeing the unfortunate girl, Hercules volunteered to save her, and for the salvation of Hesiona he demanded from Laomedont as a reward for those horses that Zeus gave the king of Troy as a ransom for his son Ganymede. He was once kidnapped by the eagle of Zeus and carried to Olympus. Laomedont agreed to Hercules' demands. The great hero ordered the Trojans to build a rampart on the seashore and hid behind it. As soon as Hercules hid behind the rampart, a monster swam out of the sea and, opening a huge mouth, rushed to Hesiona. With a loud cry, Hercules ran out from behind the rampart, rushed at the monster and thrust his double-edged sword deep into his chest. Hercules saved Hesione.
When the son of Zeus demanded the promised reward from Laomedont, the king felt sorry to part with the wondrous horses, he did not give them to Hercules and even drove him out with threats from Troy. Heracles left the possession of Laomedont, holding his anger deep in his heart. Now he could not take revenge on the king who had deceived him, since his army was too small and the hero could not hope to soon seize the impregnable Troy. The great son of Zeus could not stay long under Troy - he had to hurry with the belt of Hippolyta to Mycenae. (Hercules Hercules)
10 feat of Hercules (Geryon's Cow)
Soon after returning from a campaign in the country of the Amazons, Hercules set out on a new feat. Eurystheus instructed him to drive the cows of the great Geryon, the son of Chrysaor and the oceanis Calliroi, to Mycenae. The path to Geryon was far away. Hercules had to reach the westernmost end of the earth, those places where the radiant sun god Helios descends from the sky at sunset. Hercules set off on a long journey alone. He passed through Africa, through the barren deserts of Libya, through the lands of wild barbarians, and finally reached the limits of the earth. Here he erected two giant stone pillars on both sides of the narrow sea strait as an eternal monument of his feat. (The Pillars of Hercules, or the Pillars of Hercules. The Greeks believed that Hercules placed the rocks along the shores of the Strait of Gibraltar)
After that, Hercules had to wander a lot until he reached the shores of the gray Ocean. In thought, the hero sat down on the shore by the ever-rustling waters of the Ocean. How was he to reach the island of Erifeia, where Geryon grazed his flocks? It was already late afternoon. Here appeared the chariot of Helios, descending to the waters of the Ocean. The bright rays of Helios blinded Hercules, and an unbearable, scorching heat swept over him. In anger, Hercules jumped up and grabbed his formidable bow, but the bright Helios did not get angry, he smiled at the hero, he liked the extraordinary courage of the great son of Zeus. Helios himself proposed to Hercules to cross to Eritheia in a golden boat, in which the sun god sailed every evening with his horses and chariot from the western to the eastern end of the earth to his golden palace. The delighted hero boldly jumped into the golden boat and quickly reached the shores of Erifeia. (10 feat of Hercules)
As soon as he landed on the island, he smelled his formidable two-headed dog Orfo and rushed at the hero with a bark. Hercules killed him with one blow of his heavy club. Orfo was not the only one guarding Geryon's herds. Hercules also had to fight with Geryon's shepherd, the giant Eurytion. The son of Zeus quickly coped with the giant and drove the cows of Geryon to the seashore, where the golden boat of Helios stood. Geryon heard the mooing of his cows and went to the herd. Seeing that his dog Orfo and the giant Eurytion were killed, he chased after the thief of the herd and overtook him on the seashore. Geryon was a monstrous giant: he had three bodies, three heads, six arms and six legs. He covered himself with three shields during the battle, he threw three huge spears at once at the enemy. Hercules had to fight with such and such a giant, but the great warrior Athena-Pallas helped him. As soon as Hercules saw him, he immediately shot his deadly arrow at the giant. An arrow pierced the eye of one of Geryon's heads. The first arrow was followed by a second, followed by a third. Hercules menacingly waved his all-crushing mace, like lightning, the hero Geryon struck with it, and a three-body giant fell to the ground like a lifeless corpse. Hercules transported Geryon's cows from Erifeia in Helios' golden boat across the stormy Ocean and returned the boat to Helios. Half of the feat was over. (the exploits of Hercules read)
Much work still lay ahead. It was necessary to drive the bulls to Mycenae. Throughout Spain, through the Pyrenees mountains, through Gaul and the Alps, through Italy, Hercules drove the cows. In southern Italy, near the city of Regium, one of the cows escaped from the herd and swam across the strait to Sicily. There, King Eriks, the son of Poseidon, saw her, and took the cow into his flock. Hercules was looking for a cow for a long time. Finally, he asked the god Hephaestus to guard the herd, and he himself crossed over to Sicily and there he found his cow in the herd of King Eriks. The king did not want to return her to Hercules; hoping for his strength, he challenged Hercules to single combat. The winner was to be rewarded with a cow. Eriks could not afford such an enemy as Hercules. The son of Zeus squeezed the king in his mighty embrace and strangled him. Hercules returned with the cow to his herd and drove him further. On the shores of the Ionian Sea, the goddess Hera sent fury to all the herd. Mad cows scattered in all directions. Only with great difficulty did Hercules catch most of the cows already in Thrace and finally drove them to Eurystheus in Mycenae. Eurystheus sacrificed them to the great goddess Hera. (10 feat of Hercules)
11 feat of Hercules (Kerber)
As soon as Hercules returned to Tiryns, he again sent him to the feat of Eurystheus. This was already the eleventh feat that Hercules was supposed to accomplish in the service of Eurystheus. Hercules had to overcome incredible difficulties during this feat. He was supposed to descend into the gloomy underworld of Hades, full of horrors, and bring to Eurystheus the guardian of the underworld, the terrible hellish dog Cerberus. Kerber had three heads, snakes wriggled around his neck, his tail ended in the head of a dragon with a huge mouth. Hercules went to Laconia and through the gloomy abyss at Tenar (Cape, the southern tip of the Peloponnese) descended into the darkness of the underworld. At the very gates of the kingdom of Hades, Hercules saw the heroes Theseus and Periphoes, the king of Thessaly, adhered to the rock. The gods punished them in this way because they wanted to kidnap his wife Persephone from Hades. Theseus prayed to Hercules: (11 feat of Hercules)
- Oh, great son of Zeus, free me! You see my torment! You alone can rid me of them!
Hercules extended his hand to Theseus and freed him. When he wanted to free Periphoi, the earth trembled, and Hercules realized that the gods did not want his release. Hercules submitted to the will of the gods and went on into the darkness of eternal night. The messenger of the gods Hermes, the guide of the souls of the dead, introduced Hercules to the underworld, and the beloved daughter of Zeus, Pallas Athena, was the companion of the great hero. When Hercules entered the kingdom of Hades, the shadows of the dead scattered in horror. Only the shadow of the hero Meleager did not run at the sight of Hercules. She turned with a prayer to the great son of Zeus:
- Oh, great Hercules, for one thing I pray to you in memory of our friendship, have pity on my orphaned sister, beautiful Deianira! She remained defenseless after my death. Take her as your wife, great hero! Be her protector!
Hercules promised to fulfill the request of his friend and went further after Hermes. To meet Hercules, the shadow of the terrible gorgon Medusa rose, she menacingly stretched out her copper arms and flapped her golden wings, snakes moved on her head. The fearless hero grabbed the sword, but Hermes stopped him with the words:
- Don't grab the sword, Hercules! After all, this is only an ethereal shadow! She does not threaten you with death!
Hercules saw many horrors on his way; finally, he appeared before the throne of Hades. The ruler of the kingdom of the dead and his wife Persephone looked with delight at the great son of the thunderer Zeus, who fearlessly descended into the kingdom of darkness and sorrow. He, majestic, calm, stood before the throne of Hades, leaning on his huge club, in a lion's skin thrown over his shoulders, and with a bow over his shoulders. Hades graciously greeted the son of his great brother Zeus and asked what made him leave the light of the sun and descend into the kingdom of darkness. Bowing to Hades, Hercules answered:
- Oh, the ruler of the souls of the dead, the great Hades, do not be angry with me for my request, omnipotent! You know that I did not come to your kingdom of my own free will, I will not ask you of my own free will. Let me, lord Hades, take your three-headed dog Cerberus to Mycenae. Eurystheus ordered me to do this, whom I serve at the behest of the bright Olympian gods.
Hades answered the hero:
- I will fulfill, son of Zeus, your request; but you must tame Kerber without weapons. If you tame him, then I will allow you to take him to Eurystheus. (11 feat of Hercules)
For a long time Hercules Kerberus was looking for the underworld. Finally, he found him on the banks of Acheron. Hercules wrapped his hands, strong as steel, around Cerberus's neck. Aida's dog howled menacingly; the whole underworld was filled with his howl. He struggled to escape from the embrace of Hercules, but only tightened his grip on the hero's mighty hands on Cerberus's neck. Kerber wrapped his tail around the hero's legs, the dragon's head dug its teeth into his body, but all in vain. The mighty Hercules squeezed his neck harder and harder. Finally, the half-strangled dog Aida fell at the hero's feet. Hercules tamed him and led him from the kingdom of darkness to Mycenae. Frightened by the daylight of Kerber; he was covered with cold sweat, poisonous foam dripped from his three mouths to the ground; wherever a drop of foam dripped, poisonous herbs grew.
Hercules led to the walls of Mycenae Kerberos. The cowardly Eurystheus was horrified at one glance at the terrible dog. Almost on his knees, he begged Hercules to take back to the kingdom of Hades Cerberus. Hercules fulfilled his request and returned Hades his terrible guard, Kerberus.
12 feat of Hercules (Apples of the Hesperides)
The most difficult feat of Hercules in the service of Eurystheus was his last, twelfth feat. He had to go to the great titan Atlas, who holds the firmament on his shoulders, and get three golden apples from his gardens, which were watched by the Atlas daughters of the Hesperis. These apples grew on a golden tree grown by the goddess of the earth Gaia as a gift to the great Hera on the day of her wedding with Zeus. To accomplish this feat, it was necessary first of all to find out the way to the gardens of the Hesperides, guarded by a dragon who never closed his eyes in sleep. (12 feat of Hercules)
No one knew the path to the Hesperides and Atlas. Hercules wandered for a long time in Asia and Europe, he passed all the countries that he passed earlier on the way for Geryon's cows; everywhere Hercules asked about the path, but no one knew him. In his search, he went to the extreme north, to the river Eridanu (Mythic river), which always rolls its stormy, boundless waters. On the banks of Eridanus, beautiful nymphs met the great son of Zeus with honor and gave him advice on how to find out the way to the gardens of the Hesperides. Hercules should have attacked the sea prophetic elder Nereus by surprise when he came ashore from the depths of the sea, and learned from him the way to the Hesperides; except for Nereus, no one knew this path. Hercules searched for Nemea for a long time. Finally, he managed to find Nereus on the seashore. Hercules attacked the sea god. The struggle with the sea god was difficult. To free himself from the iron embrace of Hercules, Nereus took all sorts of forms, but still the hero did not let him go. Finally, he tied the weary Nereus, and the sea god had to, in order to gain freedom, reveal to Hercules the secret of the path to the gardens of the Hesperides. Having learned this secret, the son of Zeus released the sea elder and set off on a long journey.
Again he had to go through Libya. Here he met the giant Antaeus, the son of Poseidon, the god of the seas, and the goddess of the earth Gaia, who gave birth to him, nurtured and raised him. Antaeus forced all travelers to fight with him and all those whom he defeated in the struggle, mercilessly killed. The giant demanded that Hercules also fight him. No one could defeat Antaeus in single combat, not knowing the secret from where the giant received more and more strength during the struggle. The secret was this: when Antaeus felt that he was beginning to lose strength, he touched the earth, his mother, and his strength was renewed: he drew them from his mother, the great goddess of the earth. But one had only to tear Antaeus off the ground and lift him up into the air, as his strength disappeared. Hercules fought with Antaeus for a long time. several times he knocked him to the ground, but only the strength of Antaeus increased. Suddenly, during the struggle, the mighty Hercules Antaeus lifted high into the air - the strength of the son of Gaia dried up, and Hercules strangled him.
Then Hercules went and came to Egypt. There, tired of the long journey, he fell asleep in the shade of a small grove on the banks of the Nile. The king of Egypt, the son of Poseidon and the daughter of Epaph Lysianassa, Busiris, saw the sleeping Hercules, and ordered to tie the sleeping hero. He wanted to sacrifice Hercules to his father Zeus. There was a nine-year crop failure in Egypt; The soothsayer Thrasius, who came from Cyprus, predicted that the crop failure would end only if Busiris annually sacrificed a foreigner to Zeus. Busiris ordered the seizure of the soothsayer Thrasius and was the first to sacrifice him. Since that time, the cruel king sacrificed to the thunderer of all foreigners who came to Egypt. They also brought Hercules to the altar, but the great hero tore the ropes with which he was tied, and killed Busiris himself and his son Amfidamant at the altar. This is how the cruel king of Egypt was punished. (12 feat of Hercules)
Hercules still had to meet many dangers on his way, until he reached the ends of the earth, where the great titan Atlas stood. The hero looked in amazement at the mighty titan, who held the entire firmament on his broad shoulders.
- Oh, great titan Atlas! - Hercules turned to him, - I am the son of Zeus, Hercules. Eurystheus, king of the gold-rich Mycenae, sent me to you. Eurystheus commanded me to get from you three golden apples from the golden tree in the gardens of the Hesperides.
“I’ll give you three apples, son of Zeus,” Atlas replied, “you, while I go after them, must take my place and hold the firmament on your shoulders. (the exploits of Hercules read)
Hercules agreed. He took the place of Atlas. An incredible weight fell on the shoulders of the son of Zeus. He strained all his strength and held the firmament. The weight terribly pressed on the mighty shoulders of Hercules. He bent under the weight of the sky, his muscles swelled like mountains, sweat covered his entire body from tension, but superhuman forces and the help of the goddess Athena enabled him to hold the firmament until Atlas returned with three golden apples. Returning, Atlas said to the hero:
- Here are three apples, Hercules; if you like, I myself will take them to Mycenae, and you hold the firmament until my return; then I will take your place again.
- Hercules understood the cunning of Atlas, he realized that he wanted the titan to completely free himself from his hard work, and used cunning against the cunning.
- Okay, Atlas, I agree! - answered Hercules. “Just let me first make myself a pillow, I’ll put it on my shoulders so that the firmament does not press them so terribly.
Atlas fell back into place and shouldered the weight of the sky. Hercules raised his bow and quiver with arrows, took his club and golden apples and said:
- Goodbye, Atlas! I held the vault of the sky while you went for the apples of the Hesperides, but I don't want to carry the whole weight of the sky on my shoulders forever.
With these words, Hercules left the titan, and again Atlas had to hold the heavenly vault on his mighty shoulders, as before. Hercules returned to Eurystheus and gave him the golden apples. Eurystheus gave them to Hercules, and he gave apples to his patroness, the great daughter of Zeus, Pallas Athena. Athena returned the apples to the Hesperides so that they would remain forever in the orchards.
After his twelfth feat, Hercules freed himself from service with Eurystheus. Now he could return to the seven-fold Thebes. But the son of Zeus did not stay there for long. New exploits awaited him. He gave his wife Megara to wife to his friend Iolaus, and he himself went back to Tiryns.
But not only victories awaited him, Hercules also awaited grave troubles, since the great goddess Hera was still pursuing him. (12 feat of Hercules)
Hercules and Euryth
On the island of Euboea, in the city of Oikhalia, the king of Euryth ruled. The fame of Evritus, as the most skillful archer, went far throughout Greece. The arrow-leader Apollo himself was his teacher, he even gave him a bow and arrows. Once, in his youth, he studied archery under Evryta and Hercules. It was this king who announced throughout Greece that he would give his beautiful daughter Iola as wife to the hero who would defeat him in a competition in archery. Hercules, who had just finished his service with Eurystheus, went to Oikhalia, where many heroes of Greece had gathered, and took part in the competition. Hercules easily defeated the king of Evrita and demanded that he give him his daughter Iola as his wife. Hebrew did not fulfill his promise. Forgetting the sacred custom of hospitality, he began to mock the great hero. He said that he would not give his daughter to someone who was a slave of Eurystheus. Finally, Evritus and his arrogant sons drove Hercules, who was drunk during the feast, from the palace and even from Oikhalia. Hercules left Oykhalia. Full of deep sadness, he left Euboea, as the great hero fell in love with the beautiful Iola. Holding a grudge against the offending Euryth in his heart, he returned to Tiryns. (the exploits of Hercules read)
After a while, the most cunning of the Greeks, Autolycus, the son of Hermes, stole a herd from Evryta. Hebrew, on the other hand, accused Hercules of this beauty. The king of Oikhalia thought that the hero had kidnapped his flocks, wanting to avenge the insult. Only Iphit, the eldest son of Evrit, did not want to believe that the great Hercules could steal his father's flocks. Iphit even volunteered to find the herds, just to prove the innocence of Hercules, with whom he had the closest friendship. While searching, Iphit came to Tiryns. Hercules made his friend feel welcome. Once, when the two of them stood on the high walls of the fortress of Tiryns, built on a high rock, Hercules suddenly possessed a violent anger sent to him by the great goddess Hero. Heracles remembered in anger the insult that Hebrew and his sons had inflicted on him; no longer in control of himself, he grabbed Iphit and threw him from the wall of the fortress. Unfortunate Iphit crashed to death. With this murder, committed against his will, Hercules angered Zeus, since he violated the sacred custom of hospitality and the sanctity of the bonds of friendship. In punishment, the great thunderer sent a grave illness to his son.
Hercules suffered for a long time, finally, exhausted by the disease, he went to Delphi to ask Apollo how to get rid of this punishment of the gods. But the Oracle Oracle did not give him an answer. She even expelled Hercules from the temple as having defiled himself with murder. Enraged by this, Hercules stole a tripod from the temple, from which the Oracle gave divination. By this he angered Apollo. The golden-haired god appeared to Hercules and demanded the return of the tripod from him, but Hercules refused him. A fierce struggle ensued between the sons of Zeus, the immortal god Apollo and the mortal, the greatest of heroes, Hercules. Zeus did not want the death of Hercules. He threw his brilliant lightning from Olympus between his sons and, having separated them, stopped the struggle. The brothers were reconciled. Then the pythia gave the following answer to Hercules:
“You will only be healed when you are sold into slavery for three years. The money received for you, give Eurytus as a ransom for his son Iphit, who was killed by you.
Again Hercules had to be deprived of his freedom. He was betrayed into slavery to the queen of Lydia, daughter of Jardan, Omphale. Hermes himself took the money received for Hercules to Euryth. But the proud king of Oikhalia did not accept them, he remained as before the enemy of Hercules.
Hercules and Deianira
After Euryth drove Hercules out of Oikhalia, the great hero came to Calydon, the city of Aetolia. Oineus ruled there. Hercules came to Oineus to ask the hand of his daughter Deianira, as he promised Meleager to marry her in the kingdom of shadows. In Calydon, Hercules met a formidable opponent. Many heroes sought the hand of the beautiful Deianira, and among them was the river god Aheloy. Finally, Oineus decided that the hand of Deianira would be received by the one who emerged victorious in the struggle. All the suitors refused to fight the mighty Aheloy. Only Hercules remained. He had to fight the god of the river. Seeing the determination of Hercules to measure strength with him, Aheloy said to him:
- You say that you were born by Zeus and Alcmene? You lie that Zeus is your father!
And Aheloy began to mock the great son of Zeus and denigrate his mother Alcmene. Frowning his brows, Hercules looked sternly at Acheloy; his eyes flashed with fire of anger, and he said:
- Aheloy, my hands serve me better than my tongue! Be a winner in words, I will be a winner in deeds.
With a firm step Hercules approached Achelous and grabbed him with mighty arms. Huge Aheloy stood firmly; the great Hercules could not knock him down; all his efforts were in vain. So Aheloy stood, as an unshakable rock stands, and the sea waves do not shake it, hitting it with a thunderous noise. Hercules and Aheloy fight chest to chest, like two bulls, grappling with their crooked horns. Three times Hercules attacked Aheloy, for the fourth time, having escaped from the hands of Aheloy, the hero grabbed him from behind. Like a heavy mountain, he pressed the river god to the very earth. Aheloy could hardly, having gathered all his strength, free his hands, covered with sweat; no matter how he strained his strength, Hercules pressed him harder and harder to the ground. Aheloy bent down with a groan, his knees bent, and his head touched the very ground. In order not to be defeated, Aheloy resorted to cunning; he turned into a snake. As soon as Aheloy turned into a snake and slipped out of the hands of Hercules, Hercules exclaimed laughing: (the exploits of Hercules read)
- Even in the cradle I learned to fight with snakes! True, you are superior to other snakes, Aheloy, but you cannot equal you with the Lernaean hydra. Although two new ones grew instead of the cut off head, I nevertheless defeated her.
Hercules grabbed the snake's neck with his hands and squeezed it like iron tongs. Aheloy tried to escape from the hands of the hero, but could not. Then he turned into a bull and again attacked Hercules. Hercules grabbed the bull-Acheloy by the horns and threw it to the ground. With such terrible force Hercules knocked him down that he broke one of his horns. Acheloy was defeated and gave the Lights to Deianira to wife Hercules.
After the wedding, Hercules stayed in Oineya's palace; but he did not stay long with him. Once, during a feast, Hercules hit the son of Architel, Evnom, because the boy poured water on his hands, prepared for washing his feet. The blow was so strong that the boy fell dead. Hercules was saddened, and although Architele forgave him the involuntary murder of his son, the hero Calydon still left and went with his wife Deianira and Tiryns.
During the journey, Hercules came with his wife to the Even River (River in Aetolia, a region in the west of Central Greece). The centaur Nessus carried travelers on his broad back across this stormy river for a fee. Nessus offered to transfer Deianira to the other side, and Hercules put her on the back of the centaur. The hero himself threw the club and bow to the other side and swam across the stormy river. Hercules had just come ashore, when suddenly he heard a loud cry from Deianira. She called for help from her husband. The centaur, captivated by her beauty, wanted to kidnap her. The son of Zeus to Nessa shouted menacingly:
- Where are you running? Do you not think that your feet will save you? No, you will not be saved! No matter how fast you rush, will my arrow still overtake you?
Hercules pulled his bow, and an arrow flew off the tight bowstring. A deadly arrow overtook Ness, stabbed him in the back, and its point went through the centaur's chest. Mortally wounded Ness fell to his knees. Blood is drunk from his wound in a stream, mixed with the poison of the Lernaean hydra. Ness did not want to die unavenged; he collected his blood and gave it to Deianira, saying:
- Oh, daughter of Oineya, I carried you the last through the stormy waters of Even! Take my blood and keep it! If Hercules stops loving you, this blood will return his love to you, and no woman will be dearer to him than you, rub only Hercules' clothes with her. (Hercules exploits)
She took the blood of Ness Deianir and hid it. Ness died. Hercules and Deianira arrived in Tiryns and lived there until the involuntary murder of a friend of Iphitus by Hercules forced them to leave the glorious city.
Hercules and the Omphales
For the murder of Iphita, Hercules was sold into slavery to Queen Lydia Omphale. Never before had Hercules experienced such adversity as in the service of the proud Lydian queen. The greatest of heroes suffered constant humiliation from her. It seemed that Omphale finds pleasure in bullying the son of Zeus. Having dressed Hercules in women's clothes, she made him spin and weave with her maids. The hero who struck the Lernaean hydra with his heavy club, the hero who brought the terrible Kerberus from the kingdom of Hades, strangled the Nemean lion with his hands and held the weight of the heavenly vault on his shoulders, the hero, at whose name his enemies trembled, had to sit bent over, behind the weaving with a loom or spinning wool with hands accustomed to wielding a sharp sword, pulling the string of a tight bow and striking enemies with a heavy club. And Omphale, putting on the lion's skin of Hercules, which covered it all and dragged behind her along the ground, in his golden shell, girded with his sword and with difficulty shouldering the hero's heavy mace, stood in front of the son of Zeus and mocked him - her slave. Omphale, as it were, set out to extinguish all his invincible strength in Hercules. Hercules had to endure everything, because he was in complete slavery to Omphale, and this had to last for three long years.
Only occasionally did Omphale release the hero from her palace. Once, leaving the palace of Omphale, Hercules fell asleep in the shade of a grove, in the vicinity of Ephesus (City on the western coast of Asia Minor). During his sleep, dwarf kerkops crept up to him and wanted to steal his weapon from him, but Hercules woke up just at the time when the kerkops grabbed his bow and arrows. The hero caught them and tied their hands and feet. Hercules passed a large pole between the bound legs of the kerkopam and carried them to Ephesus. But the kerkops made Hercules laugh so much with their antics that the great hero let them go.
During the slavery of Omphale, Hercules came to Aulis (City in Boeotia), to the king Sileus, who forced all the strangers who came to him to work like slaves in the vineyards. He made Hercules work as well. The angry hero tore all the vines from Sileus and killed the king himself, who did not honor the sacred custom of hospitality. During his slavery at Omphale, Hercules took part in the campaign of the Argonauts. But, finally, the term of punishment ended, and the great son of Zeus was again free.
Hercules takes Troy
As soon as Hercules freed himself from slavery at Omphale, he immediately gathered a large army of heroes and set off on eighteen ships to Troy in order to take revenge on the king Laomedont who had deceived him. Arriving at Troy, he entrusted the protection of the ships to Oikl with a small detachment, while he himself marched with the whole army to the walls of Troy. As soon as Hercules left the ships with an army, Laomedont attacked Oikla, killed Oikla and killed almost his entire detachment. Hearing the noise of the battle at the ships, Hercules returned, put Laomedont to flight and drove him to Troy. The siege of Troy did not last long. Heroes burst into the city, climbing the high walls. The first to enter the city was the hero Telamon. Hercules, the greatest of heroes, could not bear to be surpassed by anyone. Drawing his sword, he lunged at Telamon ahead of him. Seeing that inevitable death threatened him, Telamon quickly bent down and began to collect stones. Hercules was surprised and asked:
- What are you doing, Telamon?
- Oh, the greatest son of Zeus, I erect an altar to Heracles the winner! - answered the cunning Telamon and with his answer humbled the anger of the son of Zeus.
During the capture of the city, Hercules killed Laomedont and all his sons with his arrows; only the youngest of them, Gift, was spared by the hero. Hercules gave the beautiful daughter of Laomedont Hesiona to wife Telamon, who distinguished himself by his bravery, and allowed her to choose one of the prisoners and set him free. Hesione chose her brother Gift.
- He must become a slave before all the prisoners! - Hercules exclaimed, - only if you give a ransom for him, he will be released.
Hesione removed the veil from her head and gave it as a ransom for her brother. Since then, they began to call the Gift - Priam (that is, bought). Heracles gave him power over Troy, and he went with his army to new exploits. (Hercules exploits)
When Hercules sailed on the sea with his army, returning from under Troy, the goddess Hera, wanting to destroy the hated son of Zeus, sent a great storm. And so that Zeus did not see what danger threatens his son, Hera begged the god of sleep, Hypnos, to put the aegis Zeus to sleep. The storm brought Hercules to the island of Kos (One of the Sporades islands off the coast of Asia Minor).
The inhabitants of Kos took the ship of Hercules for a robber and, throwing stones at it, did not allow him to land on the shore. At night, Hercules landed on the island, defeated the inhabitants of Kos, killed their king, the son of Poseidon Euripilus, and devastated the entire island.
Zeus was terribly angry when, waking up, he found out what danger his son Hercules was exposed to. In anger, he fettered Hera in indestructible golden fetters and hung her between earth and sky, tying two heavy anvils to her feet. Each of the Olympians who wanted to come to the aid of Hera was overthrown from the high Olympus by Zeus, formidable in anger. For a long time he also searched for Hypnos, the lord of the gods and mortals would have overthrown him from Olympus, if the goddess Night of the god of sleep had not sheltered him.
Hercules fighting the gods against the giants
On the island of Kos, Father Zeus sent his beloved daughter Athena-Pallas to Hercules to call on the great hero to help in their fight against the giants. The giants were spawned by the goddess Gaia from drops of blood overthrown by Cronus Uranus. They were monstrous giants with snakes instead of legs, with shaggy long hair on their heads and beards.
The giants possessed terrible strength, they were proud of their power and wanted to take away the power over the world from the light Olympian gods. They fought with the gods in the Phlegrean fields, which lay on the Pallene Peninsula of Chalcis. The gods of Olympus were not afraid of them. The mother of the giants, Gaia, gave them a healing agent that made them invulnerable to the weapons of the gods. Only a mortal could kill giants; Gaia did not protect them from the weapons of mortals. Gaia was looking all over the world for a healing herb, which was supposed to protect the giants from the weapons of mortals, but Zeus forbade the goddesses to shine - the dawn of Eos and the moon to Selene and the radiant sun god Helios, and he himself cut the healing herb.
Fearing death at the hands of the gods, the giants rushed into battle. The battle lasted a long time. Giants threw huge rocks and burning trunks of ancient trees at the gods. The thunder of battle echoed throughout the world.
Finally, Hercules appeared with Pallas Athena. The bowstring of the formidable bow of the son of Zeus rang, an arrow flashed, filled with the poison of the Lernaean hydra, and pierced the chest of the most powerful of the giants, Alcyoneus. A giant crashed to the ground. I could not comprehend his death on Pallen, here he was immortal - falling to the ground, after a while he got up even more powerful than before. Hercules quickly lifted him onto his shoulders and carried him off Pallene; outside of it a giant died. After the death of Alcyoneus, the giant Porphyrion attacked Hercules and Hera, he tore off her veil from Hera and wanted to grab her, but Zeus threw him to the ground with his lightning, and Hercules took his life with his arrow. Apollo pierced the left eye of the giant Ephialtos with his golden arrow, and Hercules killed him, hitting him with an arrow in his right eye. The giant Evryta was slain by his thyrsus Dionysus, the giant Cletius - Hephaestus, throwing a whole lump of red-hot iron at him. Pallas Athena piled the entire island of Sicily on the escaped giant Enceladus.
The giant Polybotes, escaping by sea from pursuit of the formidable earth-shaker Poseidon, fled to the island of Kos. Poseidon chipped off a piece of Scythe with his trident and piled it on Polybotes. This is how the island of Nisyros was formed. Hermes slain the giant Hippolytus, Artemis - Gration, the great moira - the giants Agrius and Phoon, who fought with copper clubs. All the other giants were struck by the thunderer Zeus with his sparkling lightning, but death was sent to all of them by the great Hercules with his arrows that did not miss.
Death of Hercules and his acceptance into the host of the Olympic gods
Based on the tragedy of Sophocles "The Trakhine girls"
When Hercules was sold into slavery by Omphale for the murder of Iphit, Deianira and her children had to leave Tiryns. The wife of Hercules was given shelter by the king of the Thessalian city of Trachina Keik. Three years and three months have passed since Hercules Deianira left. Hercules' wife worried about the fate of her husband. There was no news from Hercules. Deianira did not even know if her husband was still alive. Deianira was tormented by forebodings. She called her son Gill and said to him:
- Oh, my beloved son! It's a shame you don't look for your father. It's been fifteen months since he hasn't let any news of himself.
`` If you can only believe the rumors, '' Gill replied to his mother, `` they say that after three years his father was a slave to Omphale, when his term of slavery ended, he went with an army to Euboea to the city of Oikhalia in order to take revenge on King Eurytus for insult.
- My son! - interrupted Gilla's mother, - your father Hercules never left me before, leaving for great deeds, in such anxiety as the last time. Even at parting, he left me a tablet with an old prediction written on it, given to him in Dodona (City in Epirus, in the west of northern Greece, with the ancient oracle of Zeus, famous in ancient times). It is said there that if Hercules stays in a foreign land for three years and three months, then either his death befell, or, having returned home, he will lead a joyful and calm life. Leaving me, Hercules left me with an order that his children should inherit from the lands of his fathers in case of his death. The fate of my husband worries me. After all, he told me about the siege of Oikhalia, that he would either perish under the city, or, having taken it, would live happily. No, my son, go, I pray you, find your father. (Hercules exploits)
Gill, obedient to the will of his mother, set off on a long journey to Euboea, to Oyhalia, to look for his father.
Some time later, after Gill left Trachina, a messenger comes running to Deianira. He informs her that Ambassador Lichas is coming from Hercules. Lichas will bring good news. Hercules is alive. He defeated Evryta, took and destroyed the city of Oikhalia and will soon return to Trachina in glory of victory. Following the messenger comes to Deianira and Lichas. He leads the prisoners, and among them Iola, daughter of Evrita. Joyfully meets Deianir Lichas. Hercules' ambassador tells her that Hercules is still powerful and healthy. He is about to celebrate his victory and prepares to make rich sacrifices before leaving Euboea. Deianira looks at the prisoners; noticing a beautiful woman among them, asks Lichas:
- Tell me, Likhas, who is this woman? Who are her father and mother? She grieves most of all. Is this not the daughter of Evryta himself?
But Lichas replies to the wife of Hercules:
“I don’t know, queen, who she is. Probably, this woman belongs to a noble Euboean family. She did not say a word on the way. She has been shedding tears of sorrow ever since she left her hometown.
- Unhappy! - exclaimed Deianira, - to this grief I will not add new suffering to you! Lead, Likhas, to the prisoners' palace, I will come right after you!
Likhas left with the prisoners to the palace. As soon as he left, the servant approached Deianira and said to her:
- Wait, queen, listen to me. Likhas did not tell you the whole truth. He knows who this woman is; this is Evrita's daughter, Iola. Out of love for her, Hercules once competed with Eurytus in archery. The proud tsar did not give him, the conqueror, his daughter to wife, as he had promised - having insulted, he drove the great hero out of the city. For the sake of Iola, Hercules now took Oikhalia and killed the king of Evrita. The son of Zeus did not send Iola here as a slave - he wants to marry her.
Deianira was saddened. She reproaches Likhas for hiding the truth from her. Likhas confesses that Hercules, captivated by the beauty of Iola, really wants to marry her. Deianira grieves. Hercules forgot her during a long separation. Now he loves another. What should she do, unhappy? She loves the great son of Zeus and cannot give him to another. The heartbroken Deianira recalls the blood that the centaur Nessus once gave her, and what he said to her before he died. Deianira decides to resort to the blood of a centaur. After all, he told her: "Rub the clothes of Hercules with my blood, and he will always love you, no woman will be dearer to him than you." She is afraid to resort to Deianira's magic remedy, but love for Hercules and the fear of losing him finally overcome her fears. She takes out the blood of Ness, which she kept in a vessel for so long that a ray of the sun would not fall on her, so that the fire in the hearth would not warm her. Deianira rubs it on a luxurious cloak that she weaved as a gift to Hercules, puts it in a tightly closed box, calls Lichas and says to him:
- Hurry, Lichas, to Euboea and take this box to Hercules. There is a cloak in it. Let Hercules wear this cloak when he sacrifices to Zeus. Tell him that no mortal should wear this cloak except him, so that even a ray of bright Helios does not touch the cloak before he puts it on. Hurry, Likhas!
Likhas left, with a cloak. After he left, Deianira was seized with anxiety. She went to the palace and, to her horror, saw that the wool with which she rubbed the cloak with Ness's blood had decayed. Deianira threw this wool to the floor. A ray of sun fell on the wool and warmed the centaur's blood poisoned by the poison of the Lernaean hydra. Together with the blood, the poison of the hydra heated up and turned the wool into ash, and poisonous foam appeared on the floor, where the wool lay. Deianira was horrified; she is afraid that Hercules will die, wearing a poisoned cloak. The foreboding of irreparable misfortune torments Hercules' wife more and more.
Little time has passed since Lichas left for Euboea with the poisoned cloak. Gill, who has returned to Trachina, enters the palace. He is pale, his eyes are full of tears. Glancing at his mother, he exclaims:
- Oh, how I would like to see one of the three: either that you were not alive, or that the other would call you mother, not me, or that you have a better mind than now! Know that you have ruined your own husband, my father!
- Oh woe! Deianira exclaimed in horror. - What are you saying, my son? Which person told you this? How can you accuse me of such an atrocity! (Hercules exploits)
- I myself saw the suffering of my father, I did not learn it from people!
Gill tells his mother what happened on Mount Kaneion, near the city of Oikhalia: Hercules, having erected an altar, was already preparing to make sacrifices to the gods, and above all to his father Zeus, when Lichas came with a cloak. The son of Zeus put on a cloak - a gift from his wife and began to sacrifice. Before he sacrificed twelve selected bulls to Zeus, in total the hero sacrificed one hundred sacrifices to the Olympian gods. Flames burst out brightly on the altars. Hercules stood, reverently raising his hands to the sky, and called upon the gods. The fire, burning hot on the altars, warmed the body of Hercules, and sweat appeared on the body. Suddenly, a poisoned cloak stuck to the hero's body. Convulsions ran through the body of Hercules. He felt a terrible pain. Suffering terribly, the hero called Likhas and asked him why he had brought this cloak. What could innocent Likhas answer him? He could only say that Deianira had sent him with the cloak. Hercules, unaware of anything from the terrible pain, grabbed Lichas by the leg and hit him on the rock, around which the sea waves were rustling. Likhas crashed to death. Hercules fell to the ground. He fought in untold agony. His cry resounded far across Euboea. Hercules cursed his marriage to Deianira. The great hero called his son and with a heavy groan said to him:
- Oh, my son, do not leave me in misfortune - even if death threatens you, do not leave me! Lift me up! Get me out of here! Take me where no mortal can see me. Oh, if you feel compassion for me, don't let me die here!
They lifted Hercules, put him on a stretcher, carried him to the ship to transport him to Trakhina. This is what Gill told his mother and ended the story with the following words:
- Now you will all see here the great son of Zeus, maybe still alive, and maybe already dead. Oh, let the harsh Erinyes and the avenger Dike (Goddess of Justice) punish you, mother! You have destroyed the best human that the earth has ever carried! You will never see such a hero!
Silently she went to the palace of Deianir, without uttering a single word. There, in the palace, she grabbed a double-edged sword. The old nanny saw Deianira. She calls rather Gill. Gill hurries to his mother, but she has already pierced her chest with a sword. With a loud cry, the unfortunate son rushed to his mother, he hugs her and covers her cold body with kisses.
At this time, they bring the dying Hercules to the palace. He fell asleep on the way, but when they lowered the stretcher to the ground at the entrance to the palace, Hercules woke up. The great hero was unaware of the terrible pain.
- Oh, great Zeus! - he exclaims, - in which country am I? Oh, where are you men of Greece? Help me! For your sake, I cleansed the land and the sea from monsters and evil, but now none of you wants to save me with fire or a sharp sword from heavy suffering! Oh, you, brother of Zeus, great Hades, put me to sleep, put me to sleep, the unfortunate, put me to sleep with swift death!
- Father, listen to me, I pray you, - asks Gill with tears, - the mother unwittingly committed this atrocity. Why do you want revenge? Learning that she herself is the cause of your death, she pierced your heart with the edge of a sword!
- Oh, gods, she died, and I could not take revenge on her! The insidious Deianira did not die from my hand!
- Father, it is not her fault! - says Gill. - Seeing Iola, the daughter of Evryta, in her house, my mother wanted to return your love by a magical means. She rubbed the cloak with the blood of the centaur Nessus slain by your arrow, not knowing that this blood was poisoned by the poison of the Lernaean hydra.
- Oh woe, woe! - exclaims Hercules. - So this is how the prediction of my father Zeus came true! He told me that I would not die by the hand of the living, that I was destined to perish from the intrigues of Hades, who had descended into the dark kingdom. This is how Nessus, who was slain by me, ruined me! So this is what the oracle in Dodon promised me - the peace of death! Yes, it’s true - the dead have no worries! Do my last will, Gill! Take me with my faithful friends to high Oetu (Mountain in Thessaly near the city of Trachina), lay a funeral pyre on its top, put me on the fire and set it on fire. Do it quickly, end my suffering!
- Oh, have pity, father, are you really forcing me to be your killer! Gill pleads to his father.
- No, you will not be a killer, but a healer of my suffering! I still have a wish, grant it! - Hercules asks his son. “Take Evryta’s daughter, Iola, as your wife.
But Gill refuses to fulfill his father's request and says:
- No, father, I cannot marry the one who was responsible for the death of my mother!
- Oh, submit to my will, Gill! Do not cause in me the calmed suffering again! Let me die in peace! - persistently begs his son Hercules.
Gill resigned himself and dutifully replies to his father:
- Okay, father. I will be submissive to your dying will.
Hercules hurries his son, asks him to fulfill his last request as soon as possible.
- Hurry, my son! Hurry to put me on the fire before these unbearable torments begin again! Carry me! Goodbye Gill!
Friends of Hercules and Gill raised the stretcher and carried Hercules to high Oeta. There they made a huge bonfire and laid on it the greatest of heroes. The sufferings of Hercules are becoming stronger, the poison of the Lernaean hydra penetrates deeper into his body. Hercules tears off his poisoned cloak, he stuck tightly to his body; Together with the cloak, Hercules tears off pieces of skin, and the terrible torments become even more intolerable. The only salvation from these superhuman torments is death. It is easier to die in a fire, it is easier to endure them, but none of the hero's friends dares to light the fire. Finally, Philoctetus came to Oeta, he was persuaded by Hercules to light a fire and as a reward for this he presented him with his bow and arrows, poisoned by the poison of the hydra. Philoctetes set fire to the fire, the fire flared brightly, but Zeus's lightning flashed even brighter. Thunder rolled across the sky. On a golden chariot, Athena-Pallas was brought to the fire (according to some versions of the myth, it was not Athena, but the goddess of victory - Nica) who was on the chariot, and they lifted the greatest of the heroes of Hercules to the light Olympus. There the great gods met him. Heracles became the immortal god. Hera herself, forgetting her hatred, gave Hercules to wife her daughter, the eternally young goddess Hebe. Since then, Hercules has been living on the bright Olympus in the host of the great immortal gods. This was his reward for all his great deeds on earth, for all his great sufferings. (Hercules exploits)
Feats of Hercules- a cycle of adventures of the Thunderer's son, without which it is difficult to imagine and reflect the full completeness of ancient Greek mythology. Today they are not only included in general education textbooks, but are also the property of the people. They reflect the essence of many phenomena and concepts. In Ancient Greece, Hercules was a hero who was not afraid to go against the will of his father Zeus and managed to prove to everyone that willpower is the main tool in performing the most difficult, sometimes unimaginable tasks. To this day, based on the 12 exploits of Hercules, they create films and write books. Ready to find out a summary of each one?
The story begins as follows. Hera decides to teach Zeus a lesson for treason, and while Hercules is to be born, Heracles forces the Thunderer to promise the following: a child born at this hour will become a king. Hera specifically influenced the birth of Hercules' mother. As a result, the fragile and vile king Ephrysheus, who was born at that hour, received all power. Further, the ruler, together with the Hero, decide to get rid of the threat forever. Thus, an argument took place, within which Hercules had to complete 12 difficult tasks. How this happened, read on.
Myths about the twelve labors of Hercules (Briefly)
The first of the twelve labors of Hercules begins with a confrontation between the demigod and the invincible Nemean lion. The thick-skinned monster has never been defeated. He cannot be wounded by any weapon. The inhabitants of Nemia have long suffered from the attacks of the monster. The king decided to send the most brave warrior to the battle with the left. Of course, not without dastardly intentions. Fortunately, Hercules possessed no less monstrous strength. He strangled the lion and became the hero of Nemia, among whom he found many friends and allies.
The second feat of Hercules took place on the territory of the Lernean swamp, where the son of Zeus had to fight a mythical creature called the Lernean hydra. Whenever a demigod chopped off her head, two new ones appeared at the site of the wound. Then Hercules called his ally from Nemia, who managed to cauterize the wound with a torch. Thus, after the felling of the head, new ones ceased to grow. Having defeated the hydra, Hercules covered it with sand, and moistened his arrows with blood. Thus, he obtained poisonous arrows, for which no one had an antidote ...
Realizing that in the battles of Hercules there is no equal, Ephrisfeus decided to go for a trick. He offered the most outstanding race. As part of the third feat, Hercules was forced to fight in a race with the fastest animal of ancient Greek mythology. The uniqueness of this mission of the 12 labors of Hercules lies in the complexity of the task. Doe cannot be killed. And it's almost impossible to catch. For a long time, the son of Zeus hunted an animal. As a result, he managed to drive her along a narrow path to a dead end. Then Iolaus came to him and threw a rope over the doe. On the way down, the heroes met Artemis, the daughter of Zeus, and gave the Lan to her. But Hercules fulfilled the mission.
Another interesting myth of the 12 labors of Hercules is the battle of Hercules with the Erymanthian boar. For a long time, the huge animal made it difficult for the hunter to get food for their families. Allegedly with noble goals, Ephrysi pointed out to Hercules the need to destroy the enemy. The difficulty was that the boar lived high in the mountains. Only thanks to the help of Artemis, Hercules managed to climb the hills and defeat the monster. Slowly but surely, the son of the Thunderer gained fame, destroying all the cunning plans of Hera. And then...
Realizing all the power of Hercules, the king decided to go for another meanness. In ancient Greek mythology, the god of war, Ares, had his own legion of dangerous warriors - the Stimphalia birds. Only by their appearance, they prompted hundreds of thousands of soldiers to lower their weapons. This flock lived in the depths of a mountain gorge, where Hercules went.
This feat of Hercules of the 12 known, is one of the most interesting and impressive. It was only thanks to joint efforts with Iolaus that he managed to defeat all the predators. To complete this mission, he needed the skin of a lion from the first feat. And, of course, the accuracy of Iolaus's faithful assistant.
Tired of the king trying to defeat Hercules with the danger and power of ancient Greek creatures. Then he decided to give him an simply impracticable mission, providing for the manifestation of completely different qualities, not military ones.
As part of the 6 feat of Hercules, the hero had to go to a proud king named Augeas. He instructed Hercules:
- keep track of three hundred horses;
- feed two hundred red horses;
- catch twelve white horses;
- and another important part of the 12 labors of Hercules is to prevent the loss of one horse with a shining star in its forehead.
Of course, not without effort, he managed to cope with this goal. After that, the king instructed him to clean the stables, promising a tenth of the state. He did it. Then Augeas became angry that he could not fulfill the instructions of Ephrisfei and deceived Hercules, for which he lost his head.
7 feat of Hercules provides for the battle on the island of Crete. In this place, King Minos saved his people from the curse of Poseidon for a long time. Once he promised the god of water an amazing bull with golden horns, but later decided to deceive the patron saint of the seas and stole the fleece from him. Then Poseidon turned the bull into a real monster. Hercules fought with the demon for a long time, but managed to defeat him with the help of huge shackles and chains.
A truly interesting and instructive feat of Hercules from 12 famous adventures. Tells about the most unpleasant mission for a demigod. This time, the king ordered him to steal horses, which attracted even the gods. Hercules was angry for a long time, but did not go against the will of the king.
To get horses in an honest way, Hercules went to the kingdom of the dead, from where he brought the king his deceased wife. Thus, he was able to offer a compromise and deliver valuable horses to his dastardly king.
Now is the time to consider 9 of the 12 adventures of Hercules. For a long time, Ephrisfei's daughter asked for the belt of Hippolyta herself. So I decided to remember the vile enemy of Hercules about the request of his daughter. Then he decided to send his son Zeus to an island where only women lived. Perhaps you will now learn more about the history of the Amazons. In this place lived women who were given the belt by the god of war himself - Ares. Hercules had to fight the best warriors in history for a long and painful time. But he managed to get a belt, which Admeta did not dare to put on herself.
King Electrion ruled in Mycenae. The teleboys, led by the sons of Tsar Pterelai, stole a herd from him. The TV fighters killed the sons of Electrion when they wanted to recapture the stolen goods. Tsar Electrion then announced that he would give the hand of his beautiful daughter, Alcmene, to the one who would return his flocks and avenge the death of his sons. The hero Amphitryon managed to return the herds to Electrion without a fight, since the king of the TV fighters, Pterelai, instructed the king of Elis Polixenus to guard the stolen herds, and he gave them to Amphitrion. Amphitryon returned to Electrion his herd and received the hand of Alcmene. Amphitryon did not stay long in Mycenae. During a wedding feast, in a dispute over the flocks, Amphitryon killed Electrion, and he and his wife Alcmene had to flee from Mycenae. Alcmene followed her young husband to a foreign land only under the condition that he would take revenge on the sons of Pterelai for the murder of her brothers. Therefore, having arrived in Thebes, to the king Creon, with whom Amphitryon found a refuge for himself, he set off with an army against the TV battle. In his absence, Zeus, captivated by the beauty of Alcmene, came to her, taking the form of Amphitryon. Soon Amphitryon returned. And from Zeus and Amphitryon, two twin sons were to be born to Alcmene.
On the day when the great son of Zeus and Alcmene was to be born, the gods gathered on high Olympus. Rejoicing that a son would soon be born to him, the aegis Zeus said to the gods:
- Listen, gods and goddesses, what I say, it is my heart that tells me to tell you! A great hero will be born today; he will rule over all his relatives, who descend from my son, the great Perseus.
But the wife of Zeus, the royal Hera, angry that Zeus took the mortal Alcmene as his wife, decided by cunning to deprive the son of Alcmene of power over all the Perseids - she already hated the son of Zeus before birth. Therefore, hiding her cunning in the depths of her heart, Hera said to Zeus:
- You are not telling the truth, great thunderer! You will never fulfill your word! Give me the great, unbreakable oath of the gods that the one who is born today, the first of the Perseid family, will command all his relatives.
The goddess of deception Ata took possession of the mind of Zeus, and, not suspecting the cunning of Hera, the thunderer took an unbreakable oath. Hera immediately left Olympus of light and rushed to Argos in her golden chariot. There she hastened the birth of a son to the godlike wife of the Perseid Sfenela, and the first born on this day in the family of Perseus was a weak, sick child, the son of Sfenela, Eurystheus. Hera quickly returned to light Olympus and said to the great cloud-exterminator Zeus:
- Oh, Zeus-father throwing lightning, listen to me! Now the son of Eurystheus was born in glorious Argos to the Perseid Sfenelus. He was the first to be born today and must command all the descendants of Perseus.
The great Zeus was saddened, now he only understood all the insidiousness of Hera. He was angry at the goddess of deception Atu, who possessed his mind; in anger, Zeus grabbed her by the hair and threw her from the bright Olympus. The lord of gods and people forbade her to appear on Olympus. Since then, the goddess of deception Ata has lived among people. Zeus eased the fate of his son. He concluded an indestructible agreement with the Hero that his son would not be under the rule of Eurystheus all his life. He will perform only twelve great deeds on behalf of Eurystheus, and after that he will not only be freed from his power, but even receive immortality. The thunderer knew that his son would have to overcome many great dangers, therefore he ordered his beloved daughter Pallas Athena to help the son of Alcmene. Then Zeus often had to grieve when he saw how his son was carrying out great labors in the service of the weak and cowardly Eurystheus, but he could not break the oath he had made to Hera.
On the same day with the birth of the son of Sfenel, twins were born to Alcmene: the eldest, the son of Zeus, named Alcides at birth, and the youngest son of Amphitryon, named Iphicles. Alcides was the greatest hero of Greece. He was later named the Pythia Hercules. Under this name he became famous, received immortality and was accepted into the host of the light gods of Olympus.
From the very first day of her life, Hera began to persecute Hercules. Upon learning that Hercules was born and lies wrapped in swaddling clothes, with her brother Iphicles, she sent two snakes to destroy the newborn hero. It was already night when the snakes crept in, with sparkling eyes, into the rest of Alcmene. They quietly crawled to the cradle where the twins lay, and already wanted, wrapped around the body of little Hercules, to strangle him, when the son of Zeus woke up. He stretched out his little arms to the snakes, grabbed them by the necks and squeezed them with such force that he immediately strangled them. In horror, Alcmene jumped up from her bed, seeing the snakes in the cradle, the women who were alone screamed loudly. All rushed to the cradle of Alcides. At the cry of the women, Amphitryon came running with a drawn sword. They surrounded the cradle and, to great surprise, saw an extraordinary miracle: the little newborn Hercules was holding two huge strangled snakes, which were still weakly wriggling in his tiny hands. Struck by the strength of his adopted son, Amphitryon summoned the soothsayer Tiresias and asked him about the fate of the newborn. Then the prophetic elder told how many great deeds Hercules would accomplish, and predicted to him that he would achieve immortality at the end of his life.
Having learned what great glory awaits the eldest son of Alcmene, Amphitryon gave him an upbringing worthy of a hero. The famous heroes of Greece taught Hercules. The invincible shooter, the king of Evritus, taught Hercules to shoot from a bow, the grandfather of the cunning Odysseus, Autolycus, the son of Hermes, taught him how to wrestle, Dioscurus Castor taught him to drive a chariot, Amphitrion himself, who was considered the most skilled charioteer in Greece, taught him. Amphitryon not only cared about the development of the strength of Hercules, he also cared about his education. He was taught to read, write, sing and play the cithara. But Hercules did not show such successes in the sciences and music as he showed in wrestling, archery and in the ability to wield weapons. Often the music teacher, brother of Orpheus, Lin, had to be angry with his student and even punish. Once during a lesson, Lin hit Hercules, annoyed by his unwillingness to learn. Angry Hercules grabbed the cithara and hit Lin on the head with it. Young Hercules did not calculate the forces of the blow. The hit of the cithara was so strong that Lin fell dead on the spot. Young Hercules was called to court for this murder. Making excuses before the court, the son of Alcmene said:
- After all, says the fairest of the judges, Radamant, that anyone who is hit can return blow for blow.
The judges of Hercules were acquitted, but his stepfather, Amphitryon, fearing that something like this would not happen yet, sent Hercules into the wooded Kyiferon to graze the flocks.
Hercules in Thebes
Hercules in Thebes. Heracles grew up in the forests of Kiferon and became a mighty youth. He was a whole head taller than everyone else, and his strength far exceeded the strength of a man. At first glance, one could recognize him as the son of Zeus, especially by his eyes, which shone with some extraordinary, divine light. No one was equal to Hercules in dexterity in military exercises, and he mastered the bow and spear so skillfully that he never missed. While still a young man, Hercules killed the formidable Kiferon lion, who lived on the tops of the mountains. Young Hercules attacked him, killed and skinned him. He put this skin on himself, throwing it like a cloak over his mighty shoulders. He tied it with his paws on his chest, and the skin from the lion's head served as his helmet. Hercules made himself a huge club from an ash tree, hard as iron, which he had torn out from the roots in the Nemean grove. Hermes gave the sword to Hercules, Apollo gave him a bow and arrows, Hephaestus made him a golden shell, and Athena herself weaved his clothes.
Having matured, Hercules defeated the king of Orchomenes, Ergin, to whom Thebes paid a great tribute every year. He killed Ergin during the battle, and imposed a tribute on the Minyan Orchomenes, which was twice as much as that paid by Thebes. For this feat, the king of Thebes, Creon, gave Hercules his daughter, Megara, as a wife, and the gods sent him three beautiful sons.
Hercules lived happily in the seven-fold Thebes. But the great goddess Hera was still burning with hatred for the son of Zeus. She sent a terrible illness to Hercules. The great hero lost his mind, madness took possession of him. In a fit of rage, Hercules killed all his children and the children of his brother Iphicles, and threw their bodies into the fire. When the seizure passed, deep sorrow seized Hercules. He was oppressed by his conscience for an involuntary crime. Having cleansed himself of the filth of the murder he had committed, Heracles left Thebes and went to the sacred Delphi to ask the god Apollo what to do. The arrow-leader Apollo ordered him to go to the homeland of his ancestors in Tiryns and serve Eurystheus for twelve years, and the distant son of Latona Hercules predicted through the mouth of the Pythia that he would receive immortality if he performed twelve great deeds at the behest of Eurystheus.
Hercules in the service of Eurystheus
Heracles settled in Tiryns and became a servant of the weak, cowardly Eurystheus. Eurystheus was afraid of the mighty hero, like a god, and did not let him into Mycenae. He transmitted all his orders to the son of Zeus in Tiryns through his messenger Koprey.
Nemean lion
Hercules did not have to wait long for the first commission of King Eurystheus. He instructed Hercules to kill the Nemean lion. This lion, born of Typhon and Echidna, was of monstrous size. He lived near the city of Nemey and devastated all the surroundings. Hercules boldly set out on a dangerous feat. Arriving at Nemea, he immediately went to the mountains to find the lion's den. It was already noon when the hero reached the slope of the mountains. Not a single living soul was seen anywhere: neither shepherds nor farmers. All living things fled from these places in fear of the terrible lion. For a long time Hercules searched for on the wooded slopes of the mountains and in the gorges of the lion's den, finally, when the sun began to lean to the west, Hercules found a lair in a gloomy gorge; it was in a huge cave that had two exits. Hercules filled one of the exits with huge stones and waited, hiding behind the stones, for a lion. Toward evening, when dusk was already approaching, a monstrous lion with a long shaggy mane appeared.
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Hercules pulled the string of his bow and fired three arrows one after the other at the lion, but the arrows bounced off his skin - it was as hard as steel. The lion roared menacingly, its roar rolled like thunder over the mountains. Looking around in all directions, the lion stood in the gorge and looked with burning fury eyes for the one who dared to shoot arrows at him. But then he saw Hercules and rushed with a huge leap at the hero. Like lightning, the club of Hercules flashed and fell with a thunderous blow on the lion's head. A lion fell to the ground, stunned by a terrible blow; Hercules threw himself on the lion, grabbed his mighty arms and strangled him. Taking the slain lion on his mighty shoulders, Hercules returned to Nemea, sacrificed to Zeus and instituted the Nemean Games in memory of his first feat. When Hercules brought the lion he had killed to Mycenae, Eurystheus turned pale with fear, looking at the monstrous lion. The king of Mycenae understood what superhuman strength Hercules possesses. He forbade him even to approach the gate of Mycenae; when Hercules brought evidence of his exploits, Eurystheus looked at them with horror from the high Mycenaean walls.
Lernaean hydra
After the first feat, Eurystheus sent Hercules to kill the Lernean hydra. It was a monster with the body of a snake and nine dragon heads. Like the Nemean lion, the hydra was born of Typhon and Echidna.
The hydra lived in a swamp near the city of Lerna and, crawling out of its lair, destroyed whole herds and devastated all the surroundings. Wrestling with the nine-headed hydra was dangerous, especially because one of its heads was immortal. Hercules set out on the road to Lerna with Iphicles' son, Iolaus. Arriving at the swamp near the city of Lerna, Hercules left Iolaus with a chariot in a nearby grove, and he went to look for the hydra. He found her in a cave surrounded by a swamp. Having red-hot his arrows, Hercules began to shoot them one after another into the hydra. The hydra was enraged by the arrows of Hercules. She crawled out, writhing a body covered with shiny scales, from the darkness of the cave, rose menacingly on her huge tail and wanted to rush at the hero, but the son of Zeus stepped on her body and pressed her to the ground. The hydra wrapped its tail around the legs of Hercules and tried to knock him down. The hero stood like an unshakable rock, and with the waves of his heavy club, one after another he knocked down the heads of the hydra. A club whistled in the air like a whirlwind; the heads of the hydra flew off, but the hydra is still alive. Suddenly Hercules noticed that at the hydra, in place of each knocked down head, two new ones grow. Help came to the hydra. A monstrous cancer crawled out of the swamp and dug its claws into the leg of Hercules. Then the hero called his friend Iolaus for help. Iolaus killed a monstrous crayfish, lit a part of a nearby grove and with burning tree trunks began to attach necks to the hydra, from which Hercules knocked heads with his club. New heads ceased to grow at the hydra. Weaker and weaker she resisted the son of Zeus. Finally, the immortal head flew off the hydra. The monstrous hydra was defeated and fell dead to the ground. The victor Hercules buried her immortal head deeply and piled a huge rock on her so that she could not come out into the light again. Then the great hero cut the body of the hydra and plunged his arrows into its poisonous bile. Since then, the wounds from the arrows of Hercules have become incurable. They brought inevitable death even to those who received at least a slight wound. With great triumph, Hercules returned to Tiryns. There was already a new commission from Eurystheus awaiting him.
Kerinean fallow deer
Eurystheus knew that a wonderful Kerinean doe lived in Arcadia, sent as punishment to people by the goddess Artemis. This fallow deer devastated the fields. Hercules Eurystheus sent her to catch her and ordered him to deliver her alive to Mycenae. This golden-horned doe with copper legs was of extraordinary beauty. Like the wind, she rushed over the mountains and valleys of Arcadia, never knowing fatigue. For a whole year, Hercules pursued the Kerinean doe. She rushed through the mountains, across the plains, jumped over precipices, swam across rivers. Farther and farther north the deer was running. The hero did not lag behind her, not losing sight of her, he pursued her. Finally, Hercules reached in pursuit of a deer in the far north - the country of the Hyperboreans and the sources of Istria. The doe has stopped here. The hero wanted to grab her, but she escaped and, like an arrow, rushed back to the south. The pursuit began again. Only in Arcadia did Hercules manage to overtake the doe. Even after such a long chase, she did not lose her strength. Desperate to catch a doe, Hercules resorted to his arrows that did not miss. He wounded the golden-horned doe with an arrow in the leg, and only then did he manage to catch it. Heracles put a wonderful doe on his shoulders and was about to carry it to Mycenae, when an angry Artemis appeared before him and said:
- Didn't you know, Hercules, that this doe is mine? Why did you insult me by wounding my beloved doe? Don't you know that I do not forgive insults? Or do you think that you are more powerful than the Olympian gods?
With reverence, Hercules bowed before the beautiful goddess and replied:
- Oh, great daughter of Latona, do not blame me! I have never insulted the immortal gods living on the bright Olympus; I have always honored the celestials with rich victims and never considered myself equal to them, although I myself am the son of the thunderer Zeus. Not of my own free will I pursued your doe, but at the behest of Eurystheus. The gods themselves commanded me to serve him, and I dare not disobey Eurystheus!
Artemis forgave Hercules his guilt. The great son of the Thunderer Zeus brought the Kerinean doe alive to Mycenae and gave it to Eurystheus.
Erymanth boar and the battle with the centaurs
After the hunt for the copper-footed doe, which lasted a whole year, Hercules did not rest for long. Eurystheus again gave him a commission. Hercules had to kill the Erymanthian boar. This boar, possessing monstrous strength, lived on Mount Erimanth and devastated the surroundings of the city of Psophis. He did not give people mercy and killed them with his huge fangs. Hercules went to Mount Erimanth. On the way, he visited the wise centaur Fall. Foul accepted the great son of Zeus with honor and arranged a feast for him. During the feast, the centaur opened a large vessel of wine to treat the hero better. The fragrance of the wondrous wine spread far away. Other centaurs also heard this fragrance. They were terribly angry with Foul for opening the vessel. Wine belonged not only to Fall, but was the property of all centaurs. The centaurs rushed to the dwelling of Fola and attacked him and Hercules by surprise as the two of them feasted merrily, adorned with ivy wreaths on their heads. Hercules was not afraid of the centaurs. He quickly jumped up from his bed and began to throw huge smoking brands at the attackers. The centaurs fled, and Hercules struck them with his poisonous arrows. Until Malei was pursued by their hero. There the centaurs took refuge with a friend of Hercules, Chiron, the wisest of the centaurs. After them, Hercules burst into the cave of Chiron. In anger he drew his bow, an arrow flashed in the air and plunged into the knee of one of the centaurs. Hercules did not hit the enemy, but his friend Chiron. Great sorrow gripped the hero when he saw whom he had wounded. Hercules hurries to wash and bandage his friend's wound, but nothing can help. Hercules knew that a wound from an arrow poisoned by the bile of a hydra was incurable. Chiron also knew that he was facing a painful death. In order not to suffer from the wound, he subsequently voluntarily descended into the dark kingdom of Hades, redeeming the suffering of the titan Prometheus.
Saddened, Hercules Chiron left and soon reached Mount Erimanth. There, in a dense forest, he found a formidable boar and drove him out of the thicket with a cry. Hercules chased the boar for a long time and finally drove him into deep snow on the top of the mountain. The boar got stuck in the snow, and Hercules, rushing at him, tied him up and carried him alive to Mycenae. When Eurystheus saw the monstrous boar, he hid in a large bronze vessel out of fear.
Animal Farm of King Avgius
Soon, Eurystheus again gave instructions to Hercules. He was supposed to cleanse the entire cattle yard of King Elis, the son of the radiant Helios, Avgius, from manure. The sun god gave his son incalculable riches. The herds of Avgius were especially numerous. Among his herds were three hundred bulls with legs as white as snow, two hundred bulls were red like Sidonian purple, twelve bulls dedicated to the god Helios were white like swans, and one bull, distinguished by extraordinary beauty, shone like a star. Hercules proposed to Augius to cleanse his entire huge cattle yard in one day, if he agreed to give him a tenth of his flocks. Augeas agreed. It seemed to him impossible to do such a job in one day. Hercules broke the wall that surrounded the stockyard on two opposite sides, and diverted the water of two rivers, Alpheus and Peneus, into it. The water of these rivers in one day carried away all the manure from the barnyard, and Hercules again folded the walls. When the hero came to Augius to demand a reward, the proud king did not give him the promised tenth of the flocks, and he had to return to Tiryns Hercules with nothing.
The great hero took revenge on the king of Elis. A few years later, having already freed himself from service with Eurystheus, Hercules invaded Elis with a large army, defeated Avgius in a bloody battle and killed him with his deadly arrow. After the victory, Hercules gathered an army and all the rich booty near the city of Pisa, made sacrifices to the twelve Olympic gods and established the Olympic Games, which have been held since then by all Greeks, every four years, on a sacred plain, planted by Hercules himself with olives dedicated to the goddess Pallas Athena.
Heracles took revenge on all the allies of Avgius. The king of Pylos, Neleus, paid in particular. Hercules, having come with an army to Pylos, took the city and killed Neleus and his eleven sons. Neleus' son, Periklimenes, who was given the gift of Poseidon, the ruler of the sea, to turn into a lion, a snake and a bee, was not saved either. Heracles killed him when, having turned into a bee, Periklimenes sat on one of the horses harnessed to the chariot of Hercules. Only Nelei's son, Nestor, survived. Subsequently, Nestor became famous among the Greeks for his exploits and his great wisdom.
Cretan bull
To fulfill the seventh order of Eurystheus, Hercules had to leave Greece and go to the island of Crete. He was instructed by Eurystheus to bring the Cretan bull to Mycenae. This bull was sent to the king of Crete, Minos, the son of Europe, the earth-shaker Poseidon. Minos had to sacrifice the bull to Poseidon. It felt sorry for Minos to sacrifice such a beautiful bull, he left it in his herd, and sacrificed one of his bulls to Poseidon. Poseidon was angry with Minos and sent rabies to the bull that came out of the sea. A bull ran all over the island and destroyed everything in its path. The great hero Hercules caught the bull and tamed it. Hercules sat on the broad back of a bull and swam on it across the sea from Crete to the Peloponnese. He brought the bull Hercules to Mycenae, but Eurystheus was afraid to leave the bull of Poseidon in his herd and set him free. Feeling freedom again, the mad bull rushed through the entire Peloponnese to the north and finally came running to Attica on the Marathon field. There he was killed by the great Athenian hero, Theseus.
Cerberus
As soon as Hercules returned to Tiryns, Eurystheus sent him to the feat again. This was already the eleventh feat that Hercules was supposed to accomplish in the service of Eurystheus. Hercules had to overcome incredible difficulties during this feat. He was supposed to descend into the gloomy, horror-filled underworld of Hades and lead to Eurystheus the guardian of the underworld, the terrible hellish dog Cerberus. Cerberus had three heads, snakes wriggled around his neck, his tail ended in the head of a dragon with a huge mouth. Hercules prepared for this feat for a long time. He went to Eleusis, to the sanctuary of Demeter. There the priest Eumolpus initiated him into the Eleusinian mysteries. Hercules did this because only initiates in the mysteries did not know fear in the underworld. Only after his initiation did Hercules go to Laconia and through the dark abyss at Tynar he descended into the darkness of the underworld. At the very gates of the kingdom of Hades, Hercules saw the heroes Theseus and Peyrifoy, the king of Thessaly, adhered to the rock. The gods punished them in this way because they wanted to kidnap his wife, Persephone, from Hades. Theseus prayed to Hercules:
- Oh, great son of Zeus, free me! You see my torment! You alone can rid me of them.
Hercules extended his hand to Theseus and freed him. When he wanted to free Peyrifoy, the earth trembled, and Hercules realized that the gods did not want his release. Heracles obeyed the will of the gods and went on into the darkness of eternal night. Hercules was led to the underworld by the messenger of the gods Hermes, the guide of the souls of the dead, and the companion of the great hero was the beloved daughter of Zeus, Pallas Athena. When Hercules entered the kingdom of Hades, the shadows of the dead scattered in horror. Only the shadow of the hero Meleager did not run at the sight of Hercules. She turned with a prayer to the great son of Zeus:
- Oh, great Hercules, for one thing I pray to you in memory of our friendship: have pity on my orphaned sister, beautiful Deianira! She remained defenseless after my death. Take her as your wife, great hero! Be her protector!
He promised to fulfill the request of his friend Hercules and went on after Hermes. To meet Hercules, the shadow of the terrible gorgon Medusa rose, she menacingly stretched out her copper arms and flapped her golden wings, snakes moved on her head. The fearless hero grabbed the sword, but Hermes stopped him with the words:
- Don't grab the sword, Hercules! After all, this is only an ethereal shadow! She does not threaten you with death!
Hercules saw many more horrors on his way; at last he appeared before the throne of Hades. The ruler of the kingdom of the dead and his wife Persephone looked with delight at the great son of the thunderer Zeus, who fearlessly descended into the kingdom of darkness and sorrow. He, majestic, calm, stood before the throne of Hades, leaning on his huge club, in a lion's skin thrown over his shoulders, and with a bow over his shoulders. Hades greeted the son of his great brother Zeus graciously and asked what made him leave the light of the sun and descend into the kingdom of darkness. Bowing to Hades, Hercules answered:
- Oh, the ruler of the souls of the dead, the great Hades, do not be angry with me for my request, omnipotent! You know that I did not come to your kingdom of my own free will, I will not ask you of my own free will. Let me, lord Hades, take your three-headed dog Cerberus to Mycenae. Eurystheus ordered me to do this, whom I serve at the behest of the bright Olympian gods.
Hades answered the hero:
- I will fulfill, son of Zeus, your request, but you must tame Cerberus without weapons. If you tame him, then I will allow you to take him to Eurystheus.
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For a long time Hercules searched for the underworld of Cerberus. Finally found him on the banks of Acheront. He grabbed Hercules with his hands, strong as steel, the neck of Cerberus. Aida's dog howled menacingly; the whole underworld was filled with his howl. He tried to escape from the embrace of Hercules, but only tightened the mighty hands of the hero around the neck of Cerberus. Cerberus wrapped his tail around the hero's legs, the dragon's head dug its teeth into his body, but all in vain. Stronger and stronger squeezed the neck of Cerberus mighty Hercules. Finally, trembling, the half-strangled dog Aida fell at the hero's feet. Hercules tamed him and led him from the kingdom of darkness to Mycenae. Frightened by the daylight Cerberus. He was covered with cold sweat, poisonous foam dripped from his three mouths to the ground, and poisonous herbs grew from the ground wherever the foam dripped. Heracles Cerberus led to the walls of Mycenae. The cowardly Eurystheus was horrified at one glance at the terrible dog. Almost on his knees, he begged Hercules to take Cerberus back to the kingdom of Hades. Hercules fulfilled his request and returned to Hades his terrible guard - Cerberus.
Hercules takes Troy
He [Hercules] gathered a large army of heroes and set off on eighteen ships to Troy in order to take revenge on King Laomedont, who had deceived him. Arriving at Troy, he entrusted the protection of the ships to Oikl with a small detachment, while he himself with the whole army moved to the walls of Troy. As soon as Hercules left the ships with an army, Laomedont attacked Oikla, killed Oikla and killed almost his entire detachment. Hearing the noise of the battle at the ships, Hercules returned, put Laomedont to flight and drove him to Troy. The siege of Troy did not last long. Heroes burst into the city, climbing the high walls. The first to enter the city was the hero Telamon. Heracles, the greatest of heroes, could not bear to be surpassed by someone. Drawing his sword, he rushed at Telamon ahead of him. Seeing that inevitable death threatened him, Telamon quickly bent down and began to collect stones. Hercules was surprised and asked:
- What are you doing, Telamon?
- Oh, the greatest son of Zeus, I erect an altar to Heracles the winner! - answered the cunning Telamon, and with his answer he humbled the anger of the son of Zeus.
During the capture of the city, Hercules Laomedont and all his sons, only the youngest of them, Gift, was spared by the hero with his arrow. The beautiful daughter of Laomedont, Hesion, Hercules gave to wife Telamon, who distinguished himself by his bravery, and allowed her to choose one of the prisoners and set him free. Hesione chose her brother, the Gift.
- He must become a slave before all the captives, - exclaimed Hercules, - only if you give a ransom for him, he will be released.
Hesione removed the veil from her head and gave it as a ransom for her brother. From that time on, they began to call the Gift Priam (that is, bought). Heracles gave him power over Troy, and he went with his army to a new feat.
When Hercules sailed on the sea with his army, returning from under Troy, the goddess Hera, to destroy the hated son of Zeus, sent a great storm. And so that Zeus did not see what danger threatens his son, Hera begged the god of sleep, Hypnos, to lull the aegis-powerful Zeus. The storm brought Hercules to the island of Kos. The inhabitants of Kos took the ship of Hercules for a robber and, throwing stones at it, did not allow him to land on the shore. At night, Hercules landed on the island, defeated the inhabitants of Kos, killed their king, the son of Poseidon, Euripilus, and devastated the entire island.
Zeus was terribly angry when, waking up, he found out what danger his son Hercules was exposed to. In anger, he fettered Hera in indestructible golden fetters and hung her between earth and sky, tying two heavy anvils to her feet. Each of the Olympians, who wanted to come to Hera's aid, was overthrown from the high Olympus by Zeus, formidable in anger. For a long time he also searched for Hypnos, the lord of the gods and mortals would have overthrown him from Olympus, if the goddess Night of the god of sleep had not sheltered him in her dark womb.
Hercules fighting the gods against the giants
On the island of Kos, his father Zeus sent his beloved daughter Athena Pallas to Hercules to summon the great hero to help the gods in their fight against the giants. The giants were spawned by the goddess Gaia from drops of blood overthrown by Cronus Uranus. They were monstrous giants with snakes for legs, shaggy long beards and hair. The giants possessed a terrible power, they were proud of their power and wanted to take away the power over the world from the light Olympian gods. They fought with the gods in the Phlegrean fields, on the Pallene peninsula of Chalcis. They were not afraid of the gods of Olympus. The mother of the giants, Gaia, gave them a healing agent that made them invulnerable to the weapons of the gods. Only a mortal could kill giants; Gaia did not protect them from the weapons of mortals. Gaia was looking all over the world for a healing herb, which was supposed to protect the giants from the weapons of mortals, but Zeus forbade the goddesses of the dawn, Eos, and the moon, Selene, and the radiant sun god, Helios, to shine, and he himself cut the healing herb.
Fearing death at the hands of the gods, the giants rushed into battle. The battle lasted a long time. Giants threw huge rocks and burning trunks of ancient trees at the gods. The thunder of battle echoed throughout the world. Finally Hercules appeared with Pallas Athena. The bowstring of the formidable bow of the son of Zeus rang, an arrow flashed, filled with the poison of the Lernaean hydra, and pierced the chest of the most powerful of the giants, Alcyoneus. A giant crashed to the ground. I could not comprehend his death on Pallen, here he was immortal - falling to the ground, he got up after a while even more powerful than before. Hercules quickly lifted it onto his shoulders and carried it away from Pallena; outside of it a giant died. After the death of Alcyoneus, the giant Porfirion attacked Hercules and Hera, he tore off her veil from Hera and wanted to grab her, but Zeus threw him to the ground with his lightning, and Hercules took his life with his arrow. Apollo pierced the left eye of the giant Ephialtos with his golden arrow, and Hercules killed him, hitting him with an arrow in his right eye. The giant Evryta was defeated by Dionysus with his thyrsus, the giant Cletius - Hephaestus, throwing a whole lump of red-hot iron at him. Pallas Athena heaped the entire island of Sicily on the escaped giant Enceladus. The giant Polybotes, escaping by sea from pursuit of the formidable earth-shaker Poseidon, fled to the island of Kos. Poseidon split off a part of the Spit with his trident and piled it on Polybotes, so the island of Nisyros was formed. Hermes slain the giant Hippolytus, Artemis - Gration, the great moira - the giants Agrius and Phoon, who fought with copper clubs. All the other giants were struck by the thunderer Zeus with his sparkling lightning, but death was sent to all of them by the great Hercules with his arrows that did not miss.