"Twelve feats of Hercules": a summary

Two nymphs (Phenomenon and Virtue) offered our hero, when he was still young, the choice between a pleasant, easy life or a heavy, but glorious and full of exploits, and Hercules chose the latter. One of the first tests was given to him by King Fezpii, who wanted the hero to kill a lion on Mount Kieferon. As a reward, the king invited him to impregnate each of his 50 daughters, which Hercules accomplished in one night (sometimes it is referred to as the 13th feat).

Later, the hero married Megara. The goddess Hera sent him a fit of madness, as a result of which Hercules killed Megara and his children. Our hero went to the Delphic oracle to find out his fate. The oracle was governed by Hera, which he had no idea of. Following the received prediction, the hero went to serve King Eurystheus, for 12 years carrying out any of his instructions. This service has won many victories, their description is collected in the book "Twelve feats of Hercules," a myth or the truth, every reader has the right to decide for himself. The exploits brought the hero great fame and fame. After all, to think only, Hercules is known and remembered until now, after many millennia!

In brief, Hercules's twelve feats will be described below.

Feat 1. The Nemean Leo

The first task given to Hercules Eurystheus (the cousin of the hero) is to kill the Nemean Lion and bring his skin. It was believed that Leo was a descendant of Typhon and Echidna. He controlled the lands around Nemea and had such a thick hide that it was impenetrable by any weapon. When Hercules first attempted to kill the beast, any of his weapons (bow and arrows, a club of olive trees that he pulled right out of the ground, and a bronze sword) proved ineffective. Finally, the hero threw back his weapon, attacked the Lion with his bare hands and strangled him (in some versions he broke Lion's jaw).

Hercules had already lost faith in the fact that he could perform the task, because he could not remove the skin from the beast. However, the goddess Athena helped him, saying that the best tool for this is the claws of the animal itself. Twelve feats of Hercules were performed not without the help of the skin of the Nemean Lion, which was used for protection purposes.

Feat 2. Lernean Hydra

The second feat was the destruction of the Lernaean Hydra, a sea creature with many heads and poisonous breathing. The monster had so many goals that an ancient artist, drawing on a vase, could not picture them all. Arriving at the swamp near Lake Lerna, Hercules closed his mouth and nose with a cloth to protect them from poisonous fumes. Then he fired a red-hot arrow into the monster's den to catch his attention. Hercules attacked Hydra with a sickle. But, as soon as he cut off her head, he found that two more heads had grown in her place. Then our hero called his nephew, Iolaus, to the rescue. Iolaus (perhaps inspired by Athena) suggested using burning flares after they cut off Hydra's head. The animal's own poisonous blood was thus used to burn the heads, and they could not grow again. When Eurysthey learned that Hercules was helped by his nephew, he declared that the feat was not counted.

Feat 3. Kerinean Lan

Eurystheus was very indignant that Hercules managed to avoid death, carrying out the two previous tasks, so he decided to spend more time thinking about the third test, which must certainly bring death to the hero. The third task was not connected with the killing of the beast, as Eurysthey thought that Hercules could cope even with the most formidable opponents. The king sent him to capture the Kerenean Lan.

About this animal there were rumors that she was running so fast that she could overtake the flight of any arrow. Hercules noticed Lan on the golden brilliance of her horns. He pursued her for a year in the vastness of Greece, Thrace, Istria, Hyperborea. Our hero was caught by Lan when she was exhausted and could not continue to run. Eurystheus gave Hercules this difficult task also because he hoped to provoke the wrath of the goddess Artemis for desecrating the sacred animal. When the hero returned with Lanyu, he faced Artemis and Apollo. He asked the goddess for forgiveness, explaining his deed by the fact that he had to catch the animal to atone for his guilt, but promised to return it. Artemis forgave Hercules. But, arriving with Laney to the court, he learned that the animal should remain in the royal zoo. Hercules knew that he should return Lan, as promised to Artemis, so he agreed to give it only on condition that Eurystheus himself went out and took the animal. The king came out, and at the moment when our hero passed Lan to the king, she fled.

Feat 4. Erimanthus Boar

Twelve feats of Hercules continues the fourth - the capture of the Erimanfian Boar. On the way to the place of accomplishing the hero's hero visited Fol, a kind and hospitable centaur. Hercules had lunch with him, and then asked for wine. Fol had only one pitcher, a gift from Dionysus, but the hero persuaded him to open the wine. The smell of the drink attracted other centaurs, who were drunk with undiluted wine and attacked. Hercules shot them with his poisonous arrows, forcing the survivors to retreat to the cave of Chiron.

Foul, interested in arrows, took one and dropped it on his foot. The arrow also struck Chiron, who was immortal. Hercules asked Chiron how to catch the Boar. He replied that it was necessary to drive him into deep snow. The pain of Chiron, caused by a wound from the arrow, was so strong that he voluntarily renounced immortality. Following his advice, Hercules caught Boar and brought it to the king. Eurystheus was so scared of the terrible form of the animal that he climbed into his chamber pot and asked Hercules to get rid of the beast. Twelve feats of Hercules, pictures and description of the following feats see below.

Feat 5. Augean stables

The story "Twelve feats of Hercules" continues with the purification of the Augean stables in one day. Eurystheus gave the hero such an assignment to humiliate him in the eyes of people, because previous exploits glorified Hercules. The dwellers of the stables were a gift from the gods, and therefore they never got sick or died, it was considered impossible to clean them. However, our hero succeeded, he came up with the idea to change the riverbeds of the rivers Alpheus and Penya, which washed all the dirt.

Augee was angry, because he promised Hercules a tenth of his cattle, if the work is done within a day. He refused to fulfill his promise. Hercules killed him after completing the assignment, and handed over control of the kingdom to the son of Augea, Sieve.

Feat 6. Stymphalian birds

"The twelve feats of Hercules" the author continues the next feat. Eurystheus ordered Hercules to kill the birds that feed on people. They were Ares' pets and had to fly to Stymphalia to avoid the pursuit of a pack of wolves. These birds multiplied rapidly, capturing the countryside and destroying the crop of local crops and fruit trees. The forest in which they lived was very dark and dense. Athena and Hephaestus helped Hercules, forging huge copper rattles, which frightened the flying birds and helped the hero to shoot them down with arrows. The surviving Stymphalian birds never again returned to Greece.

Feat 7. The Cretan bull

The seventh task of Hercules was to go to Crete, where the local King Minos allowed him to take the bull, as he sowed chaos on the island. Hercules defeated the bull and sent him back to Athens. Eurystheus wanted to sacrifice a bull to the goddess Hera, who continued to be angry with the hero. She refused to accept such a gift, because it was obtained as a result of the victory of Hercules. The bull was released and went to wander around the Marathon. According to another version, he was killed by this city.

The feat 8. Coni Diomedes

Hercules had to steal horses. In different versions of the books "Twelve feats of Hercules," the names of the exploits vary slightly, and the plot changes somewhat. For example, according to one version, the hero took his friend Abder and other men with him. They stole horses and were persecuted by Diomedes and his assistants. Hercules did not know that the horses were cannibals, and they could not be tamed. He left Abder to look after them, and he went to fight Diomedes. Abder was eaten by animals. In retaliation, Hercules fed Diomedes to his own horses.

According to another version, the hero collected animals on the peninsula's heights and quickly dug a trench, filling it with water, thus forming an island. When Diomedes arrived, Hercules killed him with the ax used to create the trench, and fed the horses to his body. The meal made the horses more calm, and the hero took advantage of this to tie their mouths and send them to Eurystheus. Then the horses were released and began to roam around Argos, having calmed down forever. Twelve feats of Hercules pictures of ancient artists depict a very picturesque.

Feat 9. Hippolyta Belt

The ninth task of Hercules was to receive, at the request of Admeta, the daughter of Eurystheus, the belt of Hippolytus, the queen of the Amazons. The belt was a gift from Ares, the god of war. So the hero came to the land of the Amazons, a well-known tribe of women warriors living on the bank of the River Fermodont, which flowed through the northeast of Asia Minor and flowed into the Black Sea.

According to one legend, to save their men, to leave them at home, the Amazons interrupted the hands and feet of male babies, making them unfit for war. According to another legend, they killed all the male babies. The left breast of the Amazons was either open, or cut off, so as not to prevent them from using a bow or throwing a spear.

Ippolit was so fascinated by the muscles and lion's skin of the hero that she gave him the belt without a fight. But Hera, who continued to follow Hercules, took on the form of the Amazon and distributed among them the rumor that Hercules wants to kidnap the queen. The Amazons rushed at the enemy. In the ensuing battle, the hero killed Hippolytus and received a belt. Then he and his comrades defeated the Amazons and returned with the trophy.

Feat 10. Herion's Herd

Hercules had to go to Eritrea to get Herion's herd. On the way there, he crossed the Libyan desert and was so annoyed with the heat that he launched an arrow into the Sun. Svetlana was delighted with his exploits and gave him the golden rook that it used every night to swim the sea from west to east. Hercules on the boat reached Eritrea. As soon as he set foot on this land, he faced a double-headed dog, Orpheus. In one blow our hero killed a sentinel dog. The shepherd came to the aid of Orfu, but Hercules got rid of him in the same way.

Hearing the noise, Gerion himself went out to the hero with three shields, three spears and three helmets. He pursued Hercules on the Antemus River, but fell victim to an arrow dipped in the poisonous blood of the Lernae Hydra. The arrow was fired so forcefully that the hero struck her forehead with Gerion. The herd was sent to Eurystheus.

To annoy Hercules, Hera sent a gadfly, which stings the animals, causing them to scatter. It took the hero a year to assemble the herd. Then Hera arranged a flood, raising the level of the river so that Hercules together with the herd could not cross it. Then our hero sketched rocks into the water and made the water level lower. Eurystheus brought a herd to the goddess Hera.

Feat 11. Apples of the Hesperides

Eurystheus did not count Hercules two feats, as they were committed with the help of others or bribery, so he assigned the hero two additional tasks. The first of these was to steal apples from the garden of the Hesperides. Hercules first caught Nereus, the god who took the form of a sea wave, and asked him about where the garden is located. Then he deceived Atlas, promising several golden apples if he agreed to hold the sky for a while. When the hero returned, Atlas decided that he would not want to hold more of the sky, and suggested delivering the apples himself. Hercules again deceived him, agreeing to take his place, provided that he would hold the sky for a short while, so that the hero could correct the cloak. Atlas agreed, and Hercules left and did not return.

On the way back, our hero had to endure many adventures. In Libya he met the giant Anteus, son of Gaia and Poseidon, who loved to fight his guests until exhaustion, and then kill them. When they fought, Hercules realized that the power of the giant and his energy were renewed every time he fell to the ground, as the Earth was his mother. Then the hero lifted the giant high into the air and crushed it with his hands.

Arriving in the Caucasus mountains, he met with the titan Prometheus, who was chained to the rock for 30,000 years. Grieving over him, Hercules killed an eagle that feasted on the titan's liver every day all these years. Then he went to the wounded centaur Chiron, see feat 4 ("Twelve feats of Hercules," a summary), which begged him to free himself from pain.

When the hero finally brought the golden apples to Eurystheus, the king immediately gave him the fruits back, because they belonged to Hera and could not stay outside the garden. Hercules handed them to Athena, who returned the apples to their place.

Feat 12. The Taming of Cerberus

Closes the twelve feats of Hercules taming Cerberus from the underground kingdom of Hades. Hades was the god of the dead and the master of the underworld. The hero went first to Eleusis, to be initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries and to be able to enter the underworld and return from there alive, and at the same time and to absolve himself of the blame for the killing of the centaurs. Athena and Hermes helped him to find the entrance to the earthly world.

Hercules passed Charon, the shadow carrier, with the help of Hermes. In hell, he freed Theses, but when he tried to free his friend Pirifoy, an earthquake began, and the hero had to leave him in the underworld. Both friends were imprisoned for attempting to kidnap Persephone, the wife of Hades, and by magic were riveted to the stone. The magical spell was so strong that when Hercules freed Theusa, part of his thighs remained on the stone.

The hero appeared before the throne of Aida and Persephone and asked permission to take Cerberus. The gods agreed, but on the condition that he did not harm him. According to one version, Persephone agreed because Hercules was her brother. Then our hero drove the dog to Eurystheus, passing through the cave at the entrance to the Peloponnese. When he returned with Cerberus to the palace, Eurystheus was so frightened of the terrible beast that he jumped into a large vessel to escape from it. From the saliva of the dog, fallen to the ground, the first poisonous plants, including aconite, grew.

You read "Twelve feats of Hercules," a brief summary. A whole book is devoted to these feats. Collection "Twelve feats of Hercules" Kuhn composed, collecting together all the heroic deeds of the hero. Another option suggested by the Russian writer. In the book "Twelve feats of Hercules," Ouspensky set out his vision no less interesting.

Cinematography also did not stay away from these exciting myths. The film "Twelve feats of Hercules" exists in a variety of variants in different countries of the world, there are even serials dedicated to these events.