Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Augeas.
The gallery
Metope of the Augean Stables (Twelfth Metope of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia)
Unknown (workshop of the Master of Olympia), c. 460 BC
This Early Classical marble high-relief was the last of the twelve metopes ringing the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, the very sanctuary in Elis that Augeas ruled. It shows the climax of the fifth Labour: a now-matured, weary Heracles braces a long bar against the stable foundations while the helmeted Athena, his patroness, calmly points to the spot where he should breach the wall to let the diverted river sweep away the dung of Augeas' immense herds. Augeas himself is absent — the metope distils the Labour to the moment of triumph over his impossible task, the work that the Elean king would refuse to reward. Excavated at Olympia and now in the Archaeological Museum of Olympia, it is the most celebrated ancient image of this Labour.
Heracles Cleansing the Augean Stables (detail of the Labours of Hercules mosaic from Llíria)
Unknown Roman mosaicist, 3rd century AD (between 201 and 250 AD)
A panel from a Roman opus tessellatum pavement depicting the Twelve Labours of Hercules, this scene captures the fifth Labour set on the hero by Eurystheus: cleansing the dung-choked cattle-stables of Augeas, king of Elis, in a single day. Rather than shovelling, Heracles diverts the rivers Alpheus and Peneus through the yard, and the mosaic shows the hero turning the waters to flush the stalls clean. Found at Llíria (ancient Edeta) in Valencia, Spain, the mosaic is now held in the Museo Arqueológico Nacional in Madrid (inv. 38315 BIS). It illustrates the deed that won Augeas' grudging promise of a tenth of his herds — a reward the king afterward refused, setting Heracles' later war on Elis in motion.
In play
Augean stables
English still calls an impossibly filthy mess Augean stables — the labour Heracles cleaned in a day by diverting two rivers.
Augeas
The king of Elis who refused Heracles' wage remains the type of the bad employer — stables cleaned, payment denied, war to follow.