Eurystheus at Mycenae set Heracles twelve tasks — to kill or capture beasts no mortal could tame, to cleanse what could not be cleansed, and to descend alive into Hades — and though two were later disqualified, the hero finished them all and won the immortality the oracle had promised.1
The Nemean Lion⚖
His first labour was the lion of Nemea, offspring of Typhon — or of Orthrus and Echidna, or dropped from the Moon, for the sources disagree on its birth. Its hide turned every weapon; Heracles strangled it with his arms and ever after wore the skin as armour.2
The Lernaean Hydra
At Lerna he fought the many-headed hydra, child of Typhon and Echidna, whose heads doubled when cut. Iolaus seared the necks with fire as Heracles struck them off; he dipped his arrows in the beast's gall, and Eurystheus refused to count the labour because Iolaus had helped.3
The Ceryneian Hind
The third task was to bring alive the golden-horned hind of Artemis, sacred to the goddess. Heracles chased it a full year from Oenoe to the Hyperboreans and back before he could capture it without harm.4
The Erymanthian Boar
He drove the great boar of Mount Erymanthus into deep snow, bound it, and carried it living to Mycenae — and on the way he visited the centaur Pholus, whose hospitality ended in the accidental opening of the wine that brought the other centaurs against him.5
The Augean stables⚖
Eurystheus ordered him to cleanse the stables of Augeas, king of Elis, in a single day — stables that held three thousand cattle and had never been cleaned. Heracles turned the rivers Alpheus and Peneus through them; Augeas refused the promised tenth of the herd, and the hero later made war on him and slew him.6
The Stymphalian Birds
At the lake of Stymphalus in Arcadia he drove off the man-eating birds with brazen castanets Athena gave him, shooting them down as they rose in flight.7
The Cretan Bull
He captured the bull Poseidon had sent up from the sea for Minos — the same beast that carried Europa or ravaged Crete — and brought it alive to Eurystheus, who let it go; it wandered to Marathon and was slain later by Theseus.8
The mares of Diomedes
At Thrace he fed King Diomedes, son of Ares, to his own man-eating mares and drove the mares back to Eurystheus.9
The girdle of Hippolyta
For the ninth labour he took the girdle of Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons — daughter of Ares, though some name the queen Antiope or Melanippe. Hera stirred the Amazons to attack; Hippolyta was slain, and Heracles carried off the girdle. On the voyage to the Amazons he put in at Paros, held by the sons of Minos — Eurymedon, Chryses, Nephalion, and Philolaus — and when two of his companions were killed on shore he slew the sons of Minos in revenge. Sailing on, he killed Sarpedon son of Poseidon on the Aenian beach, came to Thasos and subjugated the Thracians of the isle, and gave it to the sons of Androgeus before wrestling Polygonus and Telegonus at Torone.10
The cattle of Geryon
He crossed to Erytheia, slew the three-bodied Geryon and his hound Orthrus, and drove the red cattle of the western king back through Europe — pausing to set up pillars at the straits and to kill the Libyan giant Antaeus, who drew strength from his mother Earth each time he touched the ground.11
The apples of the Hesperides
Eurystheus would not accept the cattle labour because Heracles had been paid for his help, so he sent him for the golden apples of the Hesperides. Atlas fetched them while Heracles held up the sky; or the hero killed the sleepless dragon Ladon and took the fruit himself.12
Cerberus
The last labour was to bring up Cerberus from Hades. Descending at Taenarum, Heracles wrestled the hound of Pluto with bare hands and carried him to Eurystheus, who fled in terror into his jar.13
· EXEUNT ·
How the centuries saw it
In play
Labours of Hercules
Lion, Hydra, Hind, Boar, Stables, Birds, Bull, Mares, Belt, Cattle, Apples, Cerberus — the twelve deeds that made Heracles immortal.
Heracles
The labours are the hero's public face — every vase, statue, and film returns to Eurystheus' impossible list.