Ancient Greek Myths : Hercules legendary forest in Greece | 4K walking tour | Europe
The Labours of #Hercules or Labours of Heracles (Greek: ἆθλοι, âthloi Latin: Labores) are, according to #mythology a series of tasks carried out by Heracles, the greatest of the #Greek heroes, whose name was later romanised as Hercules. They were accomplished in the service of King Eurystheus. The #episodes were later connected by a continuous #narrative.
The establishment of a fixed cycle of #twelve #labours was attributed by the Greeks to an epic poem, now lost, written by Peisander (7th to 6th centuries BC).
Having tried to kill Heracles ever since he was born, #Hera induced a madness in him that made him kill his wife and children. Afterwards, Heracles went to the #Oracle of #Delphi to atone, where he prayed to the god Apollo for guidance. Heracles was told to serve Eurystheus, king of #Mycenae, for ten years. During this time, he was sent to perform a series of difficult feats, called labours.
Of the twelve labours performed by Heracles, six were located in the #Peloponnese, culminating with the rededication of #Olympia. Six others took the hero farther afield, to places that were, according to Ruck and Staples, "all previously strongholds of Hera or the 'Goddess' and were Entrances to the #Netherworld". In each case, the pattern was the same: #Heracles was sent to kill or subdue, or to fetch back for Eurystheus (as Hera's representative) a magical animal or plant.
A famous depiction of the labours in Greek sculpture is found on the metopes of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, which date to the 460s BC.
Eurystheus originally ordered Heracles to perform ten labours. Heracles accomplished these tasks, but Eurystheus refused to recognize two: the slaying of the Lernaean Hydra, as Heracles' nephew and charioteer Iolaus had helped him; and the cleansing of the Augean stables, because Heracles accepted payment for the labour (in other versions it was the #Stymphalian Birds that was discounted instead of the Augean stables, for the help of Athena giving Heracles bronze rattles). Eurystheus thus set two more tasks (fetching the golden apples of the Hesperides and capturing #Cerberus ), which Heracles also performed, bringing the total number of tasks to twelve.
In his labours, Heracles was sometimes accompanied by a male companion (an eromenos), according to Licymnius[citation needed] and others, such as Iolaus, his nephew. Several of the labours involved the offspring (by various accounts) of Typhon and his mate Echidna, all overcome by Heracles.
The order of the labours given by the #mythographer Apollodorus is:
#Slaying the #Nemean lion
Slaying the nine-headed #Lernaean #Hydra
Capturing the #Ceryneian Hind
Capturing the #Erymanthian Boar
Cleaning the #Augean #stables in a single day
Slaying the #Stymphalian birds
Capturing the #Cretan #Bull
Stealing the #Mares of #Diomedes
Obtaining the girdle of #Hippolyta, queen of the #Amazon
Obtaining the cattle of the three-bodied giant #Geryon
Stealing three of the golden #apples of the #Hesperides
Capturing and bringing back Cerberus
After Heracles completed the first ten labours, Eurystheus gave him two more, claiming that slaying the Hydra did not count (because Iolaus helped Heracles), neither did cleaning the Augean Stables (either because he was paid for the job or because the rivers did the work).
The first additional labour was to steal three of the golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides. Heracles first caught the Old Man of the Sea, the shapeshifting sea god, to learn where the Garden of the Hesperides was located.
#forest #magic #asmr #magical #relaxing