The Goddess Hera (wife of Zeus) was determined to cause trouble for Heracles (Zeus' son). Hera made Heracles kill his own wife and children. When he was out of the insanity state, Heracles startled of what he had done. He prayed to the God Apollo for conduction, and the God's oracle told him to serve Eurystheus, the King of Tiryns and Mycenae for 12 years as his punishment. Performing 12 labours was part of the punishment. Now, the labours seemed impossible. Fortunately, Heracles had Athena and Hermes to help him on the tasks.
1. The first task was to defeat the Nemean Lion and bring Eurystheus the lion's skin. This lion petrified the hills around Nemea. He made a deal to Molorchus' host that if he killed the lion, they would sacrifice the lion to Zeus. If he died fighting the lion, Molorchus' host would sacrifice the dead Heracles instead. Heracles followed the lion into a cave, and blocked one of the cave's doorways. Holding the lion in his powerful arms, he chocked it to death. After the kill, he went to Molorchus' host and sacrificed the lion together to Zeus.
2. The second labour for Heracles was to kill the Lernean Hydra. Heracles' nephew, Iolaus, was at his side. From the waters of Lerna, the hydra would rise up and terrorize the countryside. The hydra was a monster with 9 heads, and attacked with its venom. Each of the hydra's head was immortal. Whenever, he sliced off a hydra's head, 2 came back in replacement of the one he cut off! The hydra also had a trusty sidekick: a crab which would bite Heracles' feet. Heracles called his nephew to help him with the situation. Each time Heracles sliced off a head, Iolaus would hold a torch beside it, preventing another head to grow back. Once he destroyed the 9 heads, he buried them with a giant rock.
3. For the third labor, Eurystheus ordered Heracles to bring him the Hind of Ceryneia. A hind is just a deer, but this deer was a special deer. The Hind of Ceryneia was the sacred pet to the Goddess Artemis. That means Heracles couldn't kill Artemis, nor kill the deer. Finally, Heracles found the deer and shot it. When he was carrying it back to Mycenae, Heracles met Artemis and Apollo along the way, and Artemis got very cross. After telling Artemis the truth about obeying the oracle, she healed the deer, and Heracles brought it back alive to Mycenae.
4. Bring the Erymanthian Boar alive was Heracles' fourth labour. A boar is a gigantic wild pig with tusks coming out of its mouth. The Erymanthian Boar lived on the mountains of Erymanthus. Everyday, this boar would come down, and attack the people and animals of the village. Finding the boar wasn't too hard, as the boar's snoring and grunting lead the way. Heracles trapped the boar with a net, and carried it to Mycenae.
5. Heracles' fifth labour was to clean the stables of Augean. This job would lead Heracles to be dirty and smelly. To make his task even harder, Eurystheus made Heracles clean up all the cattle of Augeas in a single day. King Augeas was very rich, so he owned herds of horses, sheep, and cattle. He made a deal to the king saying if he cleaned the cattle in a day, the king would give him on tenth of his cattle. The king accepted the bet. Heracles dug a hole near 2 rivers which flushed towards the stables and cleansed the cattle. When Augeas found out Eurystheus was behind all this, he wouldn't give Heracles his cattle. The king told a judge to come, and Heracles won the bet, so the king HAD TO give Heracles the cattle. Eurystheus didn't count this as a labour because Heracles was getting something in return for doing this labour.
6. Eurystheus wanted the labour to be even harder, so he told Heracles his sixth labour would be to drive away the flock of the Stymphalian Birds. When Heracles arrived at the mountain where the birds were, he shot the birds with an arrow. This caused the birds to fly away.
7. Heracles seventh labour was to bring the Cretan Bull to Eurystheus. Minos is the King of Crete. He promised Poseidon to sacrifice whatever he brought up. Poseidon brought up a bull, but Minos thought it was too beautiful to sacrifice. So instead, Minos sacrificed another bull. Poseidon was very angry that Minos had broke his promise. So Poseidon caused a rampage of bulls, and Minos' wife fell in love with one of the bulls. They gave birth to a Minotaur which was a creature that was half bull and half man. Minos trapped the Minotaur in the labyrinth. Heracles easily seized the animal and brought it to Eurystheus. After, Eurystheus set the Minotaur free.
8. Heracles' eighth task was to capture the man-eating horses of Diomedes. Then Heracles had entrusted a mare to a young named Abderos. Unfortunately, the mares dragged Abderos till his death. Heracles fought and killed Diomedes, and brought the mares back to Eurystheus.
9. For the ninth labour, Heracles was supposed to get the belt of Hippolyte. This was no ordinary belt, and he had to fight the Amazons to gain it. The Amazons were a tribe with women warriors. Queen Hippolyte was the leader of the Amazons and she had a special belt, which was given by Ares, the God of War. The queen asked Heracles why he was here. Heracles told her, and the queen said she agreed to give him the belt. Hera knew Heracles was going to cause trouble for the Amazons, so she disguised as a Amazon warrior and told the tribe that Heracles wanted to carry off the queen. So the Amazon warriors charged at Heracles. Heracles knew he was under attack, so he killed Queen Hippolyte, snatched the belt, and ran off to give it to Eurystheus.
10. Heracles' tenth labour was to bring Eurystheus the cattle of Geryon. Geryon was a monster, with 3 heads, and 3 sets of legs. Stealing the cattle was not difficult, since Poseidon's sons tried stealing the cattle so they killed it. Now, Heracles was trying to search for the animal. He entrusted the rest of the herd to the God Hephaestus, and went after the bull. When he found it, the king would only return it if he was beaten in a wrestling match. Heracles beat Eryx 3 times in wrestling and killed the king, and then he took back the bull and returned it to its herd. However, Hera was not about to let Heracles accomplish the labour, so she sent a gadfly to attack the cattle. Heracles regrouped the herd, and brought the cattle to Eurystheus.
11. For the eleventh task, Heracles had to bring Eurystheus golden apples which belonged to Zeus. Now, Hera had given the apples to Zeus for a wedding present, so surely, she could not let him succeed. Finally, Heracles met Prometheus, a God that stole the secret fire from Zeus, and was punished on a mountain, when everyday, an eagle ripped off his liver. Heracles killed the eagle, and Prometheus told Heracles how to get the golden apples. He had to ask Atlas. He went to ask Atlas, and Atlas agreed, only if Heracles could hold the sky for him. After Atlas got the golden apples, Heracles ran off and gave showed them to Eurystheus. He had to return the golden apples to the Goddess Athena afterward.
12. The final task was designed to be the hardest one. Heracles had to kidnap Cerberus, the keeper of the Underworld. Cerberus was the pet of Hades, God of the Underworld. Cerberus was a horrid creature with 3 heads. This task was nearly impossible, because all mortals that went in the Underworld, never came out. When Heracles found Cerberus, he wrestled Cerberus until he had to give in. Heracles took Cerberus to show Eurystheus. After he was done, Cerberus was returned to the Underworld to guard it once again.
Without a doubt, after all of these great feats, Heracles was known as the strongest man on Earth. Now, he is Greece's greatest hero.
