Eurystheus was envious of the
exit of Heracles and decided to entrust him some dangerous tasks.
Heracles went crazy, since he was not used to serve to mortals, and he
killed his own children in a crisis. As a repentance for this he
started to work with his tasks. The whole story shows clearly the broken
personality of Heracles, who even though he fulfilled many good deeds,
had an arrogant and irritable character.
1st. The fight with
the lions
His
first job was to bring the fur of the Nemean lions that lived in the
forests of the Peloponnesus. There he went, found the lions, killed them
and brought the fur to Mycenae.
2nd. Hydra
In his second job he had to kill Hydra, a huge
monster that lived in the marshes of Lerna. The beast was hidden in a
cave, and Heracles shot burning arrows inside until Hydra went out to
get some air. Hydra had many heads and of each one there were going out
two more heads. Then he got a good idea and stuck burning arrows in its
wounds and so he defeated Hydra. Before leaving, he wet his arrows with
the poisonous blood of the beast thinking they could come in handy in
the future.
3rd. The hind
The third job
was to get the golden antlers of a hind that lived in the hill of
Arcadia and had metal hoofs on its paws. However, he had to get them
without killing the animal, so he ended up chasing her around Greece
during one whole year without success. Finally, he decided to shoot to
wound it, and then he caught it and brought it to Mycenae on his
shoulders.
4th and 5th.
The birds and the boar
The fourth job was to chase the huge birds of prey
that lived in the lake of Stymphalia in Arcadia to free the people from
there of their torment. The birds were attacking them and their castles
and made them live in fear and horror. Heracles took his arrows and shot
them one by one until they were all dead or had escaped. But there was
still an enormous boar in the area, in the mountain of Erymanthos, that
was killing peasants in their lands and destroying their harvests. The
hero found the animal and hunted it until it collapsed on the floor
exhausted, and then took it alive back to Mycenae.
Perseus / Heracles / Theseus / The Argonauts / Odyssey / Phaethon / Orpheus
