The Labours of Hercules or Labours of Heracles (, ,LSJ, ἆθλος. ) are 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 (known as the Dodekathlos) was attributed by the Greeks to an epic poem, now lost, written by Peisander (7th to 6th centuries BC).Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Peisander (6).
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, who sent him to perform a series of difficult feats, called labours.
Background
Heracles was the son born by the mortal woman Alcmene after her rape by Zeus, the king of the gods, who had disguised himself as her husband Amphitryon.Hard, p. 247; Diodorus Siculus, 4.9.1–3; Apollodorus, 2.4.8. Alcmene, fearing the jealousy of Zeus's wife Hera, exposed her infant son, who was taken by either Zeus or his daughter Athena (the protectress of heroes) to Hera, who did not recognize Heracles and nursed him out of pity. Heracles sucked so strongly that he caused Hera pain, and when she pushed him away, her milk sprayed across the heavens, forming the Milky Way. But with divine milk, Heracles had acquired supernatural strength. Either Zeus or Athena brought the infant back to his mother, and he was subsequently raised by his parents. The child was originally given the name Alcides by his parents; it was only later that he became known as Heracles in an unsuccessful attempt to mollify Hera, with Heracles meaning Hera's "pride" or "glory". He and his mortal twin, Iphicles, were just eight months old when Hera sent two giant snakes into the children's chamber. Iphicles cried from fear, but his twin brother grabbed a snake in each hand and strangled them. He was found by his nurse playing with them on his cot as if they were toys. Astonished, Amphitryon sent for the seer Tiresias, who prophesied an unusual future for the boy, saying he would vanquish numerous monsters.
Ancient sources preserve multiple explanations as to why Heracles had to perform the labours.Gantz, p. 382. The earliest literary reference to the labours, in the Iliad, presents Heracles's servitude to his cousin Eurystheus as part of his fate, set in place by the machinations of Hera.Lu Hsu 2021, p. 16. The goddess fooled Zeus into making an oath that anyone born on that day would have dominion over their neighbours. She then ensured Eurystheus was born that day and Heracles was not, by manipulating their mothers' pregnancies.Lu Hsu 2025, ""Life and Labours", para. 1; Iliad 19.91–136 (Lattimore, pp. 394–395). According to the mythographer Apollodorus, Heracles murdered his children and those of his half-brother Iphicles in a fit of madness induced by Hera. After recovering his sanity, he was purified by King Thespius in Thespiai. He then sought out the oracle of Delphi, who advised him to move to Tiryns and serve Eurystheus, completing the series of labours with which his cousin would task him.Lu Hsu, pp. 14–15; Apollodorus, 2.4.12. According to Euripides's play Herakles, Heracles committed to serving Eurystheus (who is the king of Argos) in exchange for permitting him and his family passage to Argolis.Fowler 2013, p. 271; Euripides, Herakles 14–21 (Kovacs, pp. 310–313). Although Euripides also mentions necessity and Hera's enmity as reasons, in this version Heracles makes a voluntary decision to serve Eurystheus (Lu Hsu, p. 19). For a more detailed discussion of this passage, see Papadopoulou, pp. 74–78. Euripides places Heracles's murderous episode after the conclusion of the labours.Papadopoulou, p. 77; Lu Hsu, p. 18. The attainment of immortality after completing the tasks is a motivating factor in Diodorus Siculus's account, where Heracles is notified of this possibility by the Delphic oracle; this also appears as an ancillary reason in Apollodorus's version.Gantz, p. 382; Diodorus Siculus, 4.10.7.
The twelve 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.
According to Apollodorus but not other traditions, the oracle at Delphi told Heracles to perform just ten labours to Eurystheus's orders, but after Heracles accomplished these tasks, Eurystheus refused to recognize two: the slaying of the Lernaean Hydra, as Heracles's nephew and charioteer Iolaus had helped him; and the cleansing of the Augean stables, because Heracles accepted payment for the labourHard, p. 255 Apollodorus, 2.4.12, 2.5.11. (in other versions, it was the Stymphalian Birds that were 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.
The order of the labours given by the mythographer Apollodorus is:Gantz, p. 383; Apollodorus 2.5.1–2.5.12. 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 belt of Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons Obtaining the cattle of the three-bodied giant Geryon Stealing three of the golden apples of the Hesperides Capturing and bringing back Cerberus
Diodorus Siculus gives a similar sequence of the labours, though the orders of the third and fourth, fifth and sixth, and eleventh and twelfth labours are swapped.Gantz, p. 383; Diodorus Siculus, 4.11–26.
First: Nemean lion
Heracles wandered in the area until he came to the town of Cleonae. There he met a boy who said that if Heracles slew the Nemean lion, (which had been raised by Hera and set upon the hills of Nemea),Hesiod, Theogony 327 ff and returned within 30 days, the town would sacrifice a lion to Zeus, but if he did not return within 30 days or if he died, the boy would sacrifice himself to Zeus. Another version claims that he met Molorchos, a shepherd who had lost his son to the lion, saying that if he came back within 30 days, a ram would be sacrificed to Zeus. If he did not return within 30 days, it would be sacrificed to the dead Heracles as a mourning offering.
While searching for the lion, Heracles fletched some arrows to use against it, not knowing that its golden fur was impervious to projectiles. When he found and shot the lion using his bow, Heracles discovered the fur's protective property as the arrow bounced harmlessly off the creature's thigh. After some time, Heracles made the lion return to his cave. The cave had two entrances, one of which Heracles blocked; he then entered the other. In those dark and confined quarters, Heracles stunned the beast with his club and, using his immense strength, strangled it to death. During the fight, the lion bit off one of his fingers. Others say that he shot arrows at it, eventually shooting it in the vulnerable mouth. After slaying the lion, he tried to skin it with a knife from his belt, but failed. He then tried sharpening the knife with a stone and even tried using the stone itself. Finally, Athena, noticing the hero's plight, told Heracles to use one of the lion's own claws to skin the pelt. Others say that Heracles's armor was, in fact, the hide of the Lion of Cithaeron.
When he returned on the 30th day carrying the carcass of the lion on his shoulders, King Eurystheus was amazed and terrified. Eurystheus forbade him to ever again enter the city; from then on he was to display the fruits of his labours outside the city gates. Eurystheus would then tell Heracles his tasks through a herald, not personally. In the later Latin variants of the myth Eurystheus even had a large bronze jar made for himself in which to hide from Heracles if need be. Eurystheus then warned him that the tasks would become increasingly difficult.
Second: Lernaean Hydra
Heracles's second labour was to slay the Lernaean Hydra, a many-headed snake. Upon reaching the swamp near Lake Lerna, where the hydra dwelt, Heracles attacked the hydra's several heads, but each time one of its heads was removed, a new head (or two) would grow back. Additionally, during the fight, a giant crab came to assist the Hydra by biting Heracles on the foot. Heracles was able to kill the crab, but realizing that he could not defeat the hydra alone, he called on his nephew Iolaus (who had come with Heracles) for help. Working in tandem, once Heracles had removed a head (with his sword or club), Iolaus burned the stumps with a firebrand, preventing them from growing back. In such a way Heracles was able to kill the hydra, after which he dipped his arrows in the Hydra's poisonous blood. According to Apollodorus, one of the Hydra's (here nine) heads—the middle one—was immortal, so when Heracles cut off this head, Heracles buried it and placed a great rock on top of it.Hard, p. 258; Apollodorus 2.5.2.
Later, Heracles used one of his poisonous arrows to kill the centaur Nessus; and Nessus's tainted blood was applied to the Tunic of Nessus, by which the centaur had his posthumous revenge. Both Strabo and Pausanias report that the stench of the river Anigrus in Elis, making all the fish of the river inedible, was reputed to be due to the Hydra's venom, washed from the arrows Heracles used on the centaur.Strabo, viii.3.19, Pausanias, v.5.9; Grimal 1987:219.
Third: Ceryneian Hind
Angered by Heracles's success against the Nemean Lion and the Lernaean Hydra, Eurystheus (advised by Hera) devised an altogether different task for the hero, commanding Heracles to capture the Ceryneian Hind, a beast so fast it could outpace an arrow.
After a long search, Heracles awoke one night and laid eyes on the elusive hind, which was only visible due to the glint of moonlight on its antlers. He then chased the hind on foot for a full year through Greece, Thrace, Istria, and the land of the Hyperboreans. How Heracles caught the hind differs depending on the telling; in most versions, he captured the hind while it slept, rendering it lame with a trapping net.
Eurystheus commanded Heracles to catch the hind in the hope that it would enrage Artemis and lead her to punish the hero for his desecration of the sacred animal. As he was returning with the hind to present it to Eurystheus, Heracles encountered Artemis and her brother Apollo. He begged the goddess for forgiveness, explaining that he had snared the hind as part of his penance, but promised to return it to the wild soon thereafter. Convinced by Heracles's earnestness, Artemis forgave him, foiling Eurystheus's plan.