Who is heracles in greek mythology

The people around could not bear the knowledge of Heracles act and told him. Crying for his loved ones, and calling himself a murderer, Theseus , king of Athens, came forth from the crowd, offered the demigod his hand and told him to come with him to Athens. At first, Heracles refused to touch the hand, since according to the Greek belief, a man who touches the blood of a murdered one is also responsible for the act. After Theseus insisted, Heracles agreed.

At Athens, Heracles sought out the Oracle, which told Heracles that if he wished to be pure again, he must punish himself. Heracles left and turned to his uncle, Eurystheus, who was a cruel, insidious man.

Eurystheus took the offer and gave Heracles what was later known as the Twelve Labors of Herakles. Some time after completing his twelve labors Herakles took part in another famous adventure, the Quest for the Golden Fleece. When they disembarked there, it is said, they discovered a maiden bound in chains upon the shore, the reason for it being as follows. Poseidon, as the story runs, became angry with Laomedon the king of Troy in connection with the building of its walls, according to the mythical story, and sent forth a Ketos Sea-Monster to ravage the land.

By this monster those who made their living by the seashore and the farmers who tilled the land contiguous to the sea were being surprised and carried off. Furthermore, a pestilence fell upon the people and a total destruction of their crops, so that all the inhabitants were at their wits end because of the magnitude of what had befallen them. Consequently the common crowd gathered together into an assembly and sought for a deliverance from their misfortunes, and the king, it is said, dispatched a mission to Apollon to inquire of the god regarding what had befallen them.

Consequently, Laomedon was constrained by necessity to deliver the maiden and to leave her, bound in chains, upon the shore. Here Herakles, when he had disembarked with the Argonauts and learned from the girl of her sudden change of fortune, rent asunder the chains which were about her body and going up to the city made an offer to the king to slay the Ketos.

When Laomedon accepted the proposal and promised to give him as a reward his invincible mares, Herakles they say, did slay the Ketos and Hesione given the choice either to leave her home with her saviour or to remain in her native land with her parents.

The girl, then chose to spend her life with the stranger, not merely because she preferred the benefaction that she had received to the ties of kinship, but also because she feared that a Ketos might again appear and she be exposed by the citizens to the same fate as that from which she had just escaped. His time however as an Argonaut was brief, the Argonauts decided to have a competition to see who could row for the longest period of time before exhaustion set in.

The last two were Jason and Herakles and finally Jason became exhausted but moments later Herakles' oar broke. So that Herakles could get wood for a new oar the Argonauts stopped at the island Mysia. Herakles set out to find a sturdy which Herakles could make his oar while his and his close companion Hylas went to get water.

The nymph or nymphs Pegaiai Naiades of the local spring Dryope in particular , fell in love with Hylas and kidnapped him thus Hylas vanished without a trace. When Herakles noticed Hylas had disappeared he along with Polyphemus searched the island for a great length of time.

The two spent so much time that under great pressure from most of the crew that Jason decided they had waited long enough for Herakles and Polyphemus.

So, the crew of the Argo left without them bringing an end to Herakles' brief time as an Argonaut. The lion was said to be bigger than Heracles, could not be harmed by any weapon. He used to emerge from two openings in his cave and destroy anything and anyone who stood in his way, and terrorized the nearby valleys. As a first task, Aristeaus told Herakles to bring him the skin of the Nemean Lion. Herakles climbed the mountain, passed the bushes and at twilight he found the lion.

Herakles took his bow and shot the lion. Since no weapons could harm it, the arrow fell to the ground as the lion did not even notice it. Heracles shot an arrow to the monster's chest, but of no avail. But that last arrow fell between the Lion's feet and he noticed Herakles, and jumped toward him.

The demigod tried to hit its head with an olive wood branch, but it only misted the Lion's eyes and it retreated back to its lair. Herakles used his enemy's blindness, and blocked the rear entrance of the cave, and stormed through the front, there he found the lion. The hero jumped on the beast's back, and since he could not harm it with weapons, he suffocated it to death.

Using the dead Lion's own claws, he opened its body and made a mantal from the skin. He wore it ever since. Returning with the pelt to the capital city, his uncle was so afraid of Herakles' mighty power he ordered him to never enter the capital with the evidence of his labors, and gave his nephew tasks using a messenger. It had nine heads of a serpent and a body of a dog.

With its deadly venomous spit, it killed animals and destroyed crops. Heracles was told to slay the Hydra, and came to her home by a chariot driven by Iolaus, his nephew. The demigod fired burning arrows into its lair to call the Hyra out, but to his surprise, both the Hydra and another beast came out.

It was a giant crab sent by Hera, so Heracles may find his death. Coming out of the mud, the crab bit Heracles' leg, trying to make him fall. Heracles crushed the crab with his heel, but was trapped by the Hyra. Herakles tried to behead the Hydra, but whenever a head was cut off, two others grew instead. Seeing Heracles failing to cut off the Hydra's heads, Iolaus burned a branch of a nearby tree, and whenever a head was chopped, he burned it so another may not grow. At the end, only one head remained, but it was immortal, so Heracles took a rock and buried the head underneath.

Returning to the city, Aristaeus claimed since Herakles had Iolaus as an assistance, it was not to be considered a task. Eurystheus and Hera were greatly angered to find that Heracles had managed to escape from the claws of the Nemean Lion and the fangs of the Lernaean Hydra , and so decided to spend more time thinking up a third task that would spell doom for the hero.

The third task did not involve killing a beast, as it had already been established that Heracles could overcome even the most fearsome opponents, so Eurystheus decided to make him capture the Kerynitis Hind , as it was so fast it could outrun an arrow. After beginning the search, Heracles awoke from sleeping and he could see the hind from the glint on its antlers. Heracles then chased the hind on foot for a full year through Greece, Thrace, Istria and the land of the Hyperboreans.

In some versions, he captured the hind while it slept, rendering it lame with a trap net. In other versions, he encountered Artemis in her temple and she told him to leave the hind and tell Eurystheus all that had happened and his third labor would be considered to be completed. Yet another version claims that Herakles trapped the Hind with an arrow between the forelegs of the creature. Eurystheus had given Heracles this task hoping to incite Artemis' anger at Heracles for his desecration of her sacred animal.

As he was returning with the hind, Heracles encountered Artemis and her brother Apollo. He begged the goddess for forgiveness, explaining that he had to catch it as part of his penance, but he promised to return it. Artemis forgave him, foiling Eurystheus' plan to have her punish him. Upon bringing the hind to Eurystheus, he was told that it was to become part of the King's menagerie.

Heracles knew that he had to return the hind as he had promised, so he agreed to hand it over on the condition that Eurystheus himself come out and take it from him.

The King came out, but the moment Heracles let the hind go, it sprinted back to its mistress, and Heracles left saying that Eurystheus had not been quick enough. He and his twin were just eight months old when Hera sent two giant snakes into the children's chamber. Iphicles cried from fear, but his 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. Driven mad by Hera, Heracles slew his own children and her wife, Megara. To expiate the crime, Heracles was required to carry out ten labors set by his archenemy, Eurystheus, who had become king in Heracles' place.

If he succeeded, he would be purified of his sin and, as myth says, he would be granted immortality and take his rightful place as a God on Mount Olympus with his father Zeus. Heracles accomplished these tasks, but Eurystheus did not accept the cleansing of the Augean stables because Heracles was going to accept pay for the labor. Neither did he accept the killing of the Lernaean Hydra as Heracles' nephew, Iolaus, had helped him burn the stumps of the heads.

Eurystheus set two more tasks fetching the Golden Apples of Hesperides and capturing Cerberus , which Heracles performed successfully, bringing the total number of tasks up to twelve. Finally, After Heracles completed all twelve of his tasks, he was granted his immortality and became a god on Mount Olympus, alongside his father. This is when he met Hebe, cupbearer to the gods and the goddess of eternal youth. Heracles fell in love with this woman immediately and married her. His principal weapons were the bow and arrow and the club.

Hera made many attempts on his life and although she was unsuccessful, she caused him immense misery. Some myths say that once he was free from the curse and saw what he had done he wanted to commit suicide, but his cousin Theseus stopped him. Theseus advised him to visit the Oracle of Delphi, who finally sent him down the path the prophecy had foreshadowed. Heracles went to serve his cousin, King Eurystheus, who would assign him the Twelve Labors to expiate his sins.

Heracles is best known for the Twelve Labors which he undertook at the command of King Eurystheus. Some accounts state that the original number of labors ten, but King Eurystheus later added two more. Heracles was commanded to kill the Nemean Lion, a creature known to be immune to all weapons due to its impenetrable skin.

Hera had sent the creature to ravage the land of Argos. According to the myth, Heracles tried to harm the monstrous lion with his arrows, but they could not penetrate his thick skin. Then, he managed to corner the beast in a cave and strangled it with his own hands. Once the creature was dead, he flayed the animal and wore his skin as a shielding cloak. The Hydra , daughter of Typhon and Echidna , was a nine-headed serpent-like monster who inhabited the swamps of Lerna. Every time one of its heads was cut, two more sprang from the wound.

Heracles took on the task, but found it difficult to kill the Hydra due to its numerous heads. He then asked for the help of his nephew, Iolaos who cauterized the necks of the Hydra after each cut Heracles. This way, they prevented the creation of new heads. King Eurystheus did not count this labor because Heracles had received help.

Heracles was commanded to fetch the Cerynithian Hind: a deer with golden horns sacred to goddess Artemis. Reportedly, this labor took Heracles over a year. When the hero finally managed to capture the creature, Artemis was infuriated by the capturing of her sacred animal and looked for Heracles. Heracles explained that he had had to fetch the animal to complete his labors and convinced the goddess to let him go. Heracles won, but the King abandoned his commitment, and Heracles advances were spurned by the King and his sons, except for the son Iphitus.

Heracles killed the king and his sons, abducted Iole and Iphitus became Heracles best friend. However, once again, Hera would drive Heracles mad, and he threw his best friend over the city wall to his death.

Eventually, he was freed and married his captor, some sources mention a son born to the two of them. Heracles would go on to be apart of many more adventures and tribulations; his life ended when he was married to Deianira, who tricked by a former foe of Heracles, accidently poisoned her husband via a shirt dipped in venom.

Since Heracles was a demi-god, he suffered a painful and slow demise. Eventually, Zeus enveloped him in a cloud and took him to dwell in the stars amongst the constellations. If you use any of the content on this page in your own work, please use the code below to cite this page as the source of the content. Home » Heroes » Heracles. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits.

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