The 12 Labours of Hercules

The 12 labours of Hercules “The Labours Of Hercules” one of the most well known stories from Greek history. A story about a boy that grew into greatness. Son of Zeus, god of the sky, and Alchmene, granddaughter of Perseus. Hercules had never felt as much sorrow as he did on the day Hera, the goddess of marriage and his jealous step mother, had finally paid him a visit. She drove him mad making him kill his family. He instantly fell into grief when he had regained control of his mind after Hera was done what she planed to do.

As Hercules stared at his children whom he just slaughtered in cold blood he had to wrestle with his mind to keep from going mad with grief. After releasing that this was no dream or vision he requested for Delphi, a priestess, to tell him what he must do to atone for such a sin. “Go to Tiryns. Serve King Eurystheus. For twelve years you will perform labours. In reward you will be granted immortality” (Creighton 97). All in all Hercules is a myth that overall follows the traditional hero cycle in Greek mythology but still is found to stray off the straight path of other myths.

The birth in a Greek myth is normally the time when the hero is weak and at times not very wealthy, but with Hercules this step is one of the steps that he does not follow. Hercules was born powerful; he had the ability to strangle two large snakes to death as a mere month old. It had been foretold by elders that he would perform great deeds for his mankind before he had even grown into manhood, “There bodies became limp ropes. Hercules, a mere eight month old had killed them” (96).

With the elders foretelling of Hercules’ great deeds came his growth into which he proved the wise men right for he had grown seven feet tall and with strength that was unmatched by mortals. The discovery of a hero’s destiny is usually the start of training for the hero but in Hercules’ case he was already for life’s obstacles… or so he thought. After Hera had attacked his consciousness and forced him to do the horrible deeds that he had done Hercules instantly leapt into his adventure because he was at his mortal peek nothing could stand in his way(96-97).

This of coarse is yet another violation of the Greek hero cycle for at this point in the hero’s life the hero would be in a state of denial, not wanting to fulfill his quest for many different reasons. Some other situations it is that the hero is unable to continue because he lacks a certain trait or knowledge. But Hercules had no such bad luck he advanced very well threw every labour one by one (97). In a hero’s quest cycle he is often confronted or aided by a wise man/woman that help him reach his overall goal. This is often a big push toward the right direction for the hero.

In Hercules’ he is aided by more then one person. Delphi, whom had told him how to atone for his sin and guided him to immortality, and Zeus, whom gave him access to Prometheus in order for him to obtain the golden apples (97-98). These wise people sometimes are also the romantic partner of the hero but not in Hercules’ case. After finishing up his final deeds he decided it was time to remarry, but unfortunately that only lead to his downfall. For he chose Deianeira, princess of Calydon, and she proved herself to be easily tricked “Hercules fell in love with his beautiful daughter, Deianeira. (104). This lead Hercules to his final battle in which he would be powerless against death. This is how most heroes end there cycle with a final triumph or a disastrous down fall. This is referred to as ‘The Final Battle”. While on an adventure with his wife he met a centaur named Nessus whom asked if he could help them cross a river by carrying her over it. After she got on his back he bolted and made a run to try to ride off with Hercules’ wife. But Hercules with his deadly aim quickly shot an arrow at him killing him with a single blow.

With his dying words Nessus managed to convince Deianeira to smear the blood on the arrow onto Hercules’ clothing telling her that it would keep other woman from wooing him and stealing him from her. She accepted not knowing that the arrow still had the poison of the hydra on it from when Hercules had defeated it and taken its poison as a spoils of war. She had smeared it all over Hercules’ clothing and then notices something odd about the blood’s properties. By the time she put two and two together it was too late Hercules had been poisoned and eventually he had died.

With the death of a hero come a rebirth and a reward which is usually granted by a superior or someone close to the hero. After his death Zeus burnt away Hercules’ body in order to separate him from the mortal world and reincarnate him as a god and as a guardian or Olympus. Hercules had been awarded with the immortality he was promised. The story of the 12 labours is a unique one that stands out amongst other myths because it isn’t like the rest best still manages to tell a great story of a hero.

He had been born a warrior with strength and strategy nothing could be of any difficulty to him not even as a new born child in fact the only obstacle that could conquer Hercules was death. Hercules grew unwary of any enemy that could bring him any pain or sorrow until Hera came along. He learned of the many ways life can be confronted and that his might won’t win him every battle. The legacy of Hercules lives on in many people even if he is non existent. He symbolizes the fear inside people that no matter how high in power you shall get there is many things that will get in your way and you wont always have any ability to interfere