Heracles

After taking Elis, Heracles marched against Pylos. Neleus and the Pylians resisted him, and a battle began for the city. Heracles overcame the defenders and captured Pylos. Periclymenus, the bravest of Neleus’ sons, fought against him. Periclymenus could change his shape during combat, but Heracles killed him despite this power.

Neleus also fell in the fighting. Heracles killed all of Neleus’ sons except Nestor, who was still a boy and was being raised among the Gerenians. Another account says that Neleus had twelve sons and that Heracles killed eleven of them. Nestor was therefore the sole survivor of the family. He remained the only son of Neleus to live beyond the destruction of Pylos.

Hades came to the aid of the Pylians during the battle. Heracles wounded him while fighting for the city. After Pylos had fallen and Neleus and his sons had been defeated, Heracles later marched against Lacedaimon. The sons of Hippocoon had supported Neleus, so Heracles attacked them in a separate campaign. That expedition followed the capture of Pylos and was not part of the fighting for the city itself.

As the tunic grew warm during the sacrifice, the Hydra poison within it began to act. Heracles was seized by terrible pain, as if he were burning. He tore at the garment, but it clung to his body and brought away pieces of his flesh. The suffering did not kill him. He remained alive, though he was in torment. In his first agony, he seized Lichas, who had brought the tunic, and hurled him from Mount Oeta into the Euboic Sea.

The tunic had been sent by Deianeira. Heracles had captured Iole after sacking Oichalia and killing Eurytos and his sons. He then remained at Cenaion to sacrifice to Zeus, while Lichas went to Trachis for fine clothing. Deianeira feared that Heracles loved Iole more than her. She rubbed the tunic with what she believed was a love potion made from the blood of Nessos. In fact, the blood had been poisoned by the Hydra venom carried into Nessos by Heracles’ arrow. Deianeira learned what the garment had done and killed herself.

Heracles could still kill others, but he could not die from the poison. Since death would not come to him, he decided to go to death. He ordered those around him to build a great pyre on Mount Oeta and carry him to it. When he reached the pyre, he knew that he could now die and welcomed the end. He lay upon the pile with his head resting on his club and the lion’s skin spread over him. His face was calm, as if he were taking his place at a feast.

Heracles commanded that the torch be applied. The flames spread across the pyre and covered it. The gods were troubled as they watched him perish. The immortal part of Heracles was then taken to Olympus by Zeus, and Heracles ascended through the flames to the gods. The site on Mount Oeta later held a fire festival with ox sacrifices and contests.

Eurystheus ordered Heracles to bring him the golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides. Heracles did not know where the garden lay, so he questioned the nymphs of the River Eridanus. They directed him to Nereus, the sea god. Heracles seized Nereus while he slept and held him fast as the god changed shape repeatedly. Forced to speak, Nereus told him how to continue.

During his journey, Heracles reached Mount Caucasus and found Prometheus suffering as his liver was continually devoured. Heracles freed him, and Prometheus gave further advice. Atlas, who lived near the garden and supported the heavens on his shoulders, should fetch the apples while Heracles took his place.

Heracles followed this plan. He took the heavens onto his shoulders, while Atlas went to the garden of the Hesperides and returned with the golden apples. Atlas then offered to carry the apples to Eurystheus himself. Heracles agreed, but asked Atlas to take back the heavens for a moment while he adjusted his burden. When Atlas resumed his task, Heracles picked up the apples and left with them. He brought them to Eurystheus, who later gave them to Athena.

Heracles sought the hand of Iole, daughter of Eurytus, king of Oechalia. Eurytus had taught him archery when he was young. He then offered Iole to the man who could defeat him and his sons in shooting. Heracles entered the contest and surpassed them. Eurytus nevertheless refused to give him Iole. He feared that Heracles might kill her, as he had killed Megara and their children during his madness. Iphitus, Eurytus’ eldest son, alone argued in Heracles’ favour, but his father did not change his decision.

Heracles later reached Trachis and gathered an army to take revenge. Arcadians, Melians from Trachis, and Epicnemidian Locrians joined him. He marched against Oechalia, stormed the city, and killed Eurytus and his sons. The city was captured and plundered, and Heracles set it on fire. He carried Iole away as a captive.

After the battle, Heracles buried the comrades who had fallen. They included Hippasos, son of Ceux, and Argeios and Melas, the sons of Licymnios. He then brought his ship to Cenaion, a headland of Euboea, where he built an altar to Cenaian Zeus. He planned to offer a sacrifice and sent Lichas, his herald, to Trachis for fine clothing.

Lichas told Deianeira that Iole was among Heracles’ captives. Deianeira feared that her husband might love Iole more than her. Remembering the blood given to her by the dying centaur Nessos, she believed it was a love charm and rubbed it into the tunic sent to Heracles. The blood in fact contained Hydra poison, which had entered Nessos’ blood from Heracles’ arrow. Heracles put on the tunic and began the sacrifice. When the garment grew warm, the poison took effect.

Heracles killed his children in a fit of madness, along with two sons of his brother Iphicles. Hera had sent the madness through jealousy. In one account, Heracles saw monsters instead of Megara and the children. He attacked them because he believed that he was protecting his family. When the madness passed, he understood what he had done. Megara was the mother of his children. The number of sons is given as three or five.

Heracles condemned himself to exile because of the killings. He was defiled by the deed and believed that others should turn from him with loathing. In the account that names Thespios, Thespios purified him before he went to Delphi. Heracles went there to ask Apollo where he should settle and how he could become clean again.

At Delphi, the Pythia called him Heracles for the first time. Until then, he had been called Alcaides. She told him to go to Eurystheus, his cousin, and submit to whatever he demanded. Eurystheus was king of Mycenae, or of Tiryns in some accounts. The Pythia ordered Heracles to serve him for twelve years and perform the labours imposed on him. Another account states the command more briefly: Heracles had to undergo a terrible penance under Eurystheus so that he could be purified.

Heracles accepted the sentence willingly. He was ready to do anything that could cleanse him. The labours were imposed as the means of his expiation. In the account that gives their number, there were ten labours. After completing them, Heracles was told that he would become immortal.

Heracles descended alive into the Underworld to complete the twelfth labour imposed by Eurystheus. Before setting out, he was purified from the murder of the Centaurs and initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries by Eumolpus. He entered through the opening at Taenarum in Laconia. The souls fled when they saw him, except for Meleager and the Gorgon Medusa. Heracles drew his sword at Medusa, but Hermes told him that she was only an empty phantom. Hermes and Athena accompanied him on the descent.

Near the gates of Hades, Heracles found Theseus and Peirithoos imprisoned. Theseus had been freed from the god’s grasp, but Peirithoos remained there. Heracles also saw Ascalaphus beneath a great rock. Demeter had thrown it upon him after he revealed that Persephone had eaten pomegranate seeds offered by Hades. Heracles removed the rock and released him.

Hades stood before the gates of his palace and barred Heracles’ way. Heracles struck him in the shoulder with a dart, causing the god to suffer mortal pain. He then asked to take Cerberus to the upper world. Hades agreed, on condition that Heracles used no weapons or force. Heracles went to the mouth of the river Acheron, where he found Cerberus. The creature had three heads, snakes across its head and back, a dragon’s tail, and poison dripping from its jaws.

Protected by his breastplate and lion’s skin, Heracles seized the beast and held it in his arms. He did not release his grip until Cerberus’ resistance failed, although the dragon in its tail bit him. He carried Cerberus out of the Underworld, ascending through Troezen, and brought the monster before Eurystheus. After Eurystheus had seen it, Heracles returned Cerberus to Hades. Cerberus then resumed its post as guardian of the Underworld.

Achelous changed shape during the contest for Deianira, daughter of Oeneus, king of Aetolia. He became a serpent and then a bull, trusting that his power would defeat Heracles. Heracles overcame him and broke off one of the bull's horns. Achelous admitted defeat, and Heracles married Deianira.

They remained together for three years. At a banquet held by Oeneus, Heracles accidentally killed Eunomus, the son of Architeles, after the boy spilled some wine. Heracles accepted exile under the law and left with Deianira. They travelled until they reached the river Evenus, also called Eunos in one account.

The centaur Nessus carried travellers across the river for a fee. Heracles carried his little son and forded the water himself, leaving Deianira with Nessus. After taking her across, Nessus tried to carry her away and assault her. Deianira cried out. Heracles heard her from the opposite bank and shot Nessus through the heart with an arrow poisoned by Hydra venom.

As he lay dying, Nessus sought revenge. He told Deianira to collect some of his blood and keep it. He claimed that, if she feared losing Heracles' affection, she could use it as a charm to prevent another woman from taking her place. Deianira followed his instructions, and she and Heracles continued their journey to Trachis.

Heracles sacked Oechalia to avenge Eurytus, who had broken his promise to give Iole to the winner of an archery contest. He killed Iole’s family, captured her, and sent her to Trachin while he remained to offer sacrifices to Zeus. Deianeira feared that Heracles would abandon her for Iole. She sent him a new shirt by the herald Lichas, after anointing it with what she believed was a love potion given to her by Nessus. The mixture instead contained the Hydra’s poison, which had entered Nessus’s blood from one of Heracles’ arrows.

When Heracles put on the shirt, the poison caused terrible suffering. He seized Lichas by one foot and threw him from Mount Oeta. Heracles was taken to Trachin, where Deianeira saw the result of her act and, overcome by grief and remorse, hanged herself. The dying Heracles called his son Hyllus to him. He ordered Hyllus to marry Iole, then told his followers to build a funeral pyre. Since no one would light it, Heracles appealed to those nearby to end his torment.

Philoctetes finally set the pyre alight and received Heracles’ bow and arrows. Another account names Philoctetes’ father, Poeas, as the person who lit it. As the pyre burned, thunder sounded and a cloud raised Heracles towards heaven. One account says that Pallas Athene carried him to Olympus in a chariot. Another says that Zeus conveyed his immortal part there. Heracles was admitted among the immortals.

Hera was reconciled with Heracles and gave him her daughter Hebe in marriage. Hebe was the personification of youth. Their sons were named Alexiares and Anicetos. The apotheosis is a later part of Heracles’ tradition. Earlier passages present him as mortal, and some accounts place only a phantom of him in Hades while the real Heracles is in heaven with Hebe. These references to his heavenly marriage are also treated as later additions.

Heracles asked Pholus for wine while passing through Pholoe during his fourth labour. Eurystheus had ordered him to capture the Erymanthian boar alive. Pholus, a Centaur and son of Seilenos and a Melian nymph, had received him as a guest. He served roasted meat to Heracles while eating his own portion raw. Pholus explained that the wine jar belonged to all the Centaurs and should not be opened unless they were present. Heracles persuaded him to open it.

The smell of the wine soon reached the other Centaurs. They came to Pholus’ cave carrying rocks and fir trees. Anchios and Agrios were the first to enter, but Heracles drove them away with flaming brands. He then pursued the others with arrows as far as Malea. The Centaurs took refuge with Cheiron, who had settled there after the Lapiths drove him from Mount Pelion. Heracles fought the Centaurs and killed many of them.

Pholus later removed an arrow from the body of a dead Centaur. He examined it, wondering how such a small object could cause such severe wounds. The arrow fell onto his foot and fatally wounded him. Heracles buried Pholus with due honours. He then continued after the boar, driving it from the thickets into the deep snow on the mountain summit. After tiring it through relentless pursuit, he captured it, bound it with a rope, and brought it alive to Mycenae.

Amphitryon placed a sword among the weapons of the young Heracles. He wanted to test the boy’s parentage and discover whether he possessed the strength expected of Zeus’s son. Heracles recognised the sword among the weapons and took it up. He used it as a weapon, showing that he knew its purpose and possessed unusual strength.

This test followed other signs of Heracles’s nature. Alcmene had given birth to Heracles after Zeus came to her in the likeness of Amphitryon. She also bore Iphicles to Amphitryon. Heracles was the elder by a night. When he was still an infant, two serpents came to the children’s bed. Heracles seized one in each hand and strangled them. In one account, Hera sent the serpents to destroy him. Amphitryon then saw the child’s extraordinary strength and understood that he had been sent to him as a special gift from Zeus.

Amphitryon consulted Teiresias, who told him that Heracles was divine in origin and foretold a distinguished future for him. He arranged for the boy to receive instruction in several arts. Amphitryon taught him to drive a chariot. Other teachers instructed him in wrestling, archery, fencing, and lyre-playing. After Heracles killed Linos with a blow from his lyre, Amphitryon sent him to the herds, fearing that he might cause another death. There Heracles grew in size and strength, and his appearance and skill showed his descent from Zeus. The sword test confirmed what the serpents and his later training had already revealed: Heracles possessed the parentage and strength of a god.

Heracles reached Prometheus in the Caucasus Mountains while seeking the Garden of the Hesperides and its apples. Prometheus had been fastened to a rocky summit by Zeus. Hephaestus had driven a shaft through his body to anchor him there, and an eagle came each day to eat his liver. The liver grew back during the night, so the torment continued.

Prometheus gave Heracles guidance for the search. In return, Heracles killed the eagle that had been tormenting him. Prometheus was then freed from his shackles. One account gives Zeus the role of releasing him. In that version, Zeus freed Prometheus after receiving his advice about Thetis. A prophecy had declared that Thetis would bear a son more powerful than his father, so Zeus was warned not to pursue her.

The punishment had followed Prometheus’s theft of fire for humans. He had hidden the flames in a hollow stalk after Zeus withheld fire from them. Zeus had also punished him for deceiving him over the portions of a sacrificed animal. Prometheus had wrapped the bones in shining fat, making that portion appear larger, while keeping the meat for humans. Zeus chose the bones and then took fire away from humanity.

After his release, Prometheus did not simply return to his former state in every account. Hyginus reports that Zeus made him wear an iron ring fitted with a piece of the stone to which he had been chained. The ring kept a reminder of his earlier offence with him. Another account says that someone offered to die in Prometheus’s place, and Zeus accepted the offer. In the account involving Heracles, however, the eagle was killed and Prometheus gained his freedom during Heracles’s quest for the apples.

A Molossian hound ran from King Hippocoon’s palace and bit Oionos, son of Licymnios. Oionos threw a stone at the dog. Hippocoon’s sons rushed out and beat him to death with their cudgels. Heracles had been with Oionos in Sparta, and the killing gave him reason to seek revenge. He was also angry because Hippocoon and his sons had fought as allies of Neleus.

Heracles attacked the Spartans, but they wounded him in the hand or the thigh, and he withdrew. After Asclepios had cured him, he returned with an army. He assembled this force to avenge Oionos and marched against Lacedaimon. In Arcadia, he asked Cepheus to join the expedition. Cepheus initially hesitated, but Heracles obtained his support for the campaign.

Heracles then defeated Hippocoon and killed him and his sons. The campaign changed the succession in Sparta. Hippocoon and his sons had taken the throne after the death of Oibalos, expelling Tyndareus and Icarios, though the traditions differ over Icarios’ part in this action. After Hippocoon’s death, Heracles restored Tyndareus to the Spartan throne. One account also says that Icarios was restored with him. The attack ended Hippocoon’s rule and removed his sons from power.

Heracles was returning from Mount Cithaeron after killing the lion that had ravaged the herds of Amphitryon. He wore the lion’s hide over his shoulders and used its head as a helmet. On the way, he met heralds travelling to Thebes on behalf of Erginus, king of the Minyans and ruler of Orchomenus. They had come to collect the tribute owed by the Thebans.

The tribute had been imposed after an earlier dispute. Clymenos, Erginus’s father and king of the Minyans, had been struck by a stone at the sanctuary of Poseidon at Onchestos. Perieres, a charioteer of Menoiceus, had thrown the stone. Clymenos was carried back to Orchomenus half-dead. As he was dying, he ordered Erginus to avenge him.

Erginus then led an expedition against Thebes. His forces killed many Thebans. Erginus and the Thebans made a treaty sealed by oaths. Thebes was to send him a tribute of one hundred cattle each year for twenty years. Heracles attacked the heralds who came to demand this payment. He cut off their ears, noses, and hands.

Heracles then fought against Erginus and defeated him. Thebes was freed from the tribute imposed after Erginus’s attack. The conflict ended the payment that had bound the city to the king of Orchomenus. Heracles returned to Thebes after the defeat of Erginus and the end of the treaty.

Eurystheus ordered Heracles to kill the Lernaean Hydra as his second labour. The monster lived in the swamp near Lerna, by the springs of Amymone, and made incursions into the plain. It destroyed cattle and the countryside. The Hydra was a serpent-bodied creature born from Echidna and Typhon. It had nine heads, eight mortal and one immortal. Heracles travelled to Lerna in a chariot driven by his nephew Iolaus.

The Hydra lay in its lair on a hill. Heracles threw flaming brands at it and forced it to emerge. He attacked with arrows, then struck at its heads with his club. Each time he destroyed one mortal head, two grew in its place. The monster twined around one of his legs, while a huge crab came to its aid and bit his feet. Heracles killed the crab, then continued the fight with Iolaus beside him.

Heracles cut off the Hydra’s heads, and Iolaus burned the necks beneath them. The cauterised wounds did not produce new heads. Heracles then dealt with the immortal head, which no weapon could destroy. He smashed it with his club, tore it away, and buried it in the ground beneath a great boulder. Heracles and Iolaus thereby destroyed the Hydra. The labour was completed through their combined actions.

Eurystheus ordered Heracles to fetch the Cretan bull as his seventh labour. Heracles went to Crete and seized the animal. He took it from the island and brought it before Eurystheus. The bull had appeared from the sea during a sacrifice to Poseidon. Minos had wanted to become king after Asterios died without offspring, but he faced opposition. He claimed that the gods had granted him the kingdom and said that whatever he prayed for would happen. During a sacrifice to Poseidon, he prayed for a bull to rise from the deep. He promised to sacrifice the animal when it appeared.

Poseidon sent up a magnificent bull, and Minos gained the kingdom. Minos then sent the bull to join his herds and sacrificed another animal instead. Poseidon grew angry because Minos had broken his promise. He turned the bull savage. He also caused Pasiphae to desire the animal. Pasiphae became infatuated with it and sought help from Daidalos, an architect who had been exiled from Athens for murder. Daidalos built a wooden cow on wheels, hollowed it out, covered it with the hide of a cow, and placed Pasiphae inside it.

The bull’s earlier history had another telling. Acousilaos said that it had carried Europa across the sea for Zeus. Another telling identified it with the bull that Poseidon sent up from the sea. Heracles still fetched the Cretan bull as the seventh labour and brought it to Eurystheus.