The 12 Labours of Hercules Explained | Best Hercules Documentary

[Music] do [Music] [Applause] as zeus the king of the gods sat on his throne on mount olympus he looked down upon the troubled land of greece it was ravaged by war and ferocious beasts prowled the land zeus knew what had to be done a hero had to rise a hero that he would father who could unite the people and rid the world of these terrible monsters this hero was to be heracles later known as hercules to the romans zeus then chose the beautiful alc mina to be the mother of heracles as she was a descendant of the famous hero perseus while her husband was at war zeus impregnated alcamina planning to make his son the next great king of greece little did he know that his wife hera the queen of the gods had been watching these events unfold in the past she had sat idle while zeus had fathered many illegitimate children but this time she had finally had enough when zeus swore an oath to give kingship to the next descendant of perseus thinking it would be his son heracles hero saw an opportunity to get revenge on her husband [Music] when heracles was about to be born she used her magic to delay the birth while also speeding up the birth of another descendant of perseus a child called the eurytheus as eurydius had been born just mere seconds before heracles he had become the next descendant of perseus with zeus being forced to give him the kingship instead [Music] while zeus could do nothing about his son's lost kingdom he did manage to get his own revenge on hira after heracles was born zeus brought him up to hera's bed chamber on olympus as she was sleeping zeus placed the infant on hera's breast where heracles was able to feed on the goddess's milk stealing some of her divine power for himself startled hera woke up and threw the baby off her chest with milk spraying across the heavens this milk would settle out in space becoming known as the milky way zeus chuckled to himself and bought heracles back to earth placing him in a crib next to his mother back on olympus hiro was furious this was too great an embarrassment for her to ignore and so in an attempt to kill heracles she sent two snakes into his crib to her surprise heracles just giggled and grabbed a snake in each hand strangling them with the strength he had just stolen from her hiro looked down at the scene in rage promising to make heracles life as difficult as possible [Music] growing up heracles received an education from some of the most renowned masters of greece in all things from archery to music one thing that became clear from a young age was that heracles had a very short temper this combined with his supernatural strength made him dangerous to both his friends and enemies alike linus his music teacher found this out the hard way when he was teaching the young hero to play an instrument called the liar heracles lacked the finesse to play the instrument and became infuriated by the constant corrections of his teacher after some particularly harsh criticism he ended up smashing linus on the back of the head with the instrument killing him instantly while heracles only received a minor punishment his temper would go on to cause him issues in his later life the young hero got his first taste of battle when his foster father amphitron the leading general of the city of thebes was killed in a bloody war with the neighboring minions with his foster father dead heracles took his place as general and marched the theban army against the minions along the way athena the goddess of war and wisdom appeared before him having been sent by zeus to aid the young hero she bought gifts from the gods shining weapons and armor from the forge of olympus heracles thanked the goddess and charged into battle with athena's gifts avenging his foster father by destroying the minion armies upon returning to thebes heracles was greeted by the thankful feben king who gifted the hero his daughter magira in marriage heracles and maghira lived several happy years in thebes having three children and being admired by all the townsfolk for heracles role in protecting the city heracles good fortune was seen by many on olympus but none watched as closely as hera this was not what she had planned for the bastard son of her husband not only had this illegitimate child stolen her power but he was now in a happy marriage and was in line to become the next king of thebes this would not stand the queen of the gods would not be disrespected heracles completely oblivious to the scheming of hera came home one day to find his door broken down running inside he found that his family was nowhere to be seen when he cried out to them several hideous monsters appeared from the back of the house and began to crawl towards him finding himself overcome with an unnatural rage heracles lashed out at the monsters killing one instantly the other monsters began to run away in a panic but heracles now in a blind rage would not allow any to escape chasing them down and killing them with his bare hands it was only then that hera dispelled her magic lifting her illusion from heracles eyes the hero watched in horror as the monsters transformed back into their original form his own family now lay dead before him he frantically shook their bodies trying to wake them up tears flooding from his eyes but it was too late hira's magic had done its job and he would now forever live with the guilt of having murdered his own wife and children as heracles looked down at his blood-stained hands he realized that he would have to atone for his crimes the murder of a family member was considered one of the most serious crimes in ancient greece if heracles did not atone for his crimes then the furies monstrous creatures from the underworld would hunt and then torture him for eternity the only person he knew that could give him guidance was the famous oracle of delphi and so he exiled himself from his home in thebes and started his journey for redemption the oracle of delphi was the mouthpiece of apollo able to deliver prophecies and guidance from the god on this occasion however hiro managed to use her magic to influence some of the oracle's words when heracles asked what he should do to atone for his crimes the oracle responded that he had to serve king eurytheus of mycenae for ten years who was the descendant of perseus that had been born just mere seconds before heracles just as heracles was about to begin the journey the oracle stopped him saying that if he completed his service then his father zeus would make him immortal heracles bowed to the oracle stood up and made his way to maisini labour one the nemean lion king eurythius had known of heracles for some time and was deeply jealous of him the two were cousins as they shared dissent from perseus however they were nothing alike heracles was strong and heroic whereas eurytheus was cowardly and weak often sending others to fight his battles for him arriving in servitude herakles bowed before his cousin eurythius who could barely contain his joy quickly accepting heracles servitude the king instructed him to carry out 10 labors over a period of 10 years these labors however would have to be completed without any assistance or payment heracles hung his head in shame asking what his first labour would be king erytheus told him of a ferocious lion that had been terrorizing a village in the northeast part of his kingdom named an emea the lion could not be stopped its golden hide was impervious to weapons and its claws were sharper than any sword known to man it had killed all those sent against it and the task would now lay with heracles who was sent to slay the beast aware that no sword or spear could penetrate the lion's hide heracles trained for several months uprooting trees and lifting boulders to increase his strength stronger than ever he could now confront the beast with his hands upon arriving at the lion's den herekits past the bodies of warriors their swords and axes shattered on the floor walking through the lair he began to strip away the armor and weaponry athena had gifted him while calling out to the beast the lion appeared and began to charge towards him but just before it was about to pounce heracles stepped to the side catching its neck in his arms the two wrestled for hours but when heracles managed to get a good grasp on the lion's throat he squeezed with all his might until he heard a crack the dead beast fell down to the floor his first labor was complete heracles then paid respect to the lion bowing his head hoping he hadn't caused any unnecessary suffering realizing the lion's pelt would aid him in his upcoming labors he pulled out one of its razor-sharp claws using it to skin the animal he then threw the pelt around his shoulders like a cloak and used the lion's head as a protective hood as heracles left the lair he passed the armor athena had gifted him leaving it on the floor seeing it as a symbol of his old life he then found a giant oak tree which he lifted from the ground and stripped of its branches in it into a club this would be his new weapon and the lion's skin his new armor symbols of his path to redemption as heracles returned to mycenae draped in the pelt of the nemean lion eurythius was shocked never imagining he would make it back alive labour 2 the lanian hydra for his second labour heracles was sent to kill the lanian hydra and so he traveled to lake lerner near the city of argos where the fearsome water serpent had made its home known as the hydra this beast had nine heads one of which was immortal with its blood the most poisonous substance known to man upon his journey to face the creature however hiro wanted to make the challenge more difficult hiding a giant crab deep within the lake when herakles arrived having gained confidence by his victory over the nemean lion he quickly ran towards the hydra with his club in hand with a massive swing he took one of the hydra's heads clean off but to his horror where one head had been two new heads emerged in its place confused heracles began to cut off more heads but this only made the situation worse each time one head was removed two more would spawn to make matters worse here is giant crab then jumped out from the water pinning heracles to the ground with the two monsters attacking him heracles was sure that his death was close but as the hydra moved towards him an arrow flew out of the bushes and struck it in the side herakles turned around to see his nephew ayalas aiming a bow at the monster the boy had followed his uncle to the lake hoping to help in any way he could with the monsters distracted heracles reached for his club swinging it with such force that he crushed the giant crab in a single blow moving out of harm's way ayalaeus came up with a way to defeat the hydra as heracles sliced off ahead ayalaeus would then cauterize the hydra's neck with a flaming torch preventing more heads from growing the pair worked together for hours slicing and cauterizing until only the immortal head remained heracles then cut off the immortal head and with it still hissing buried it under a large rock beside the lake he then knelt beside the hydra's body dipping the tip of his arrows and its poisonous blood the slightest scratch from one of these arrows would prove fatal something that would aid him in his upcoming labors despite defeating the hydra eurytheus did not count this labour as heracles had been assisted by his nephew ayalas an additional labour would therefore have to be completed but heracles was unaware of this at the time as heracles and ayalas left the lake to thank the crab for its service hera took its remains and cast its image up into the heavens creating the constellation cancer labor three the serenian hind for his third labor heracles was ordered to catch the ceremony in hind and bring it back alive to eurythius the hind was a beautiful creature much like a stag with bronze-like hooves and a magnificent pair of golden antlers eurythius had chosen the hind because not only was it extremely fast being nearly impossible to catch but it was also sacred to the goddess artemis who used the animals to pull her chariot eurythius thought that even if heracles was able to catch the hind the goddess would in turn strike him down with him being no match for an olympian heracles then set off to mount serenia chasing the hind for a full year before he was able to capture it not wanting to wound the animal as the hind run towards the river laid on heracles shot an arrow near it scaring it into the river this slowed the hind down just enough so he could capture it bind its legs and throw it over his shoulder heracles then made his way back to maisini but as soon as he stepped outside of mount cerenia with the hind the goddess artemis descended from olympus aiming her bow at the hero's chest accusing him of trying to kill the animal heracles dropped to one knee quickly explaining that the blame lay with king eurythius her twin brother apollo then appeared and tried to de-escalate the situation he argued that eurythius was under the command of hira who had resented them both as they were just like heracles illegitimate children of zeus taking pleasure in helping hear his enemy artemis let heracles pass on the condition that he released the hind once his labor was complete heracles thanked the goddess and returned to eurythius who was shocked to see his cousin return successful for the third time after releasing the hind back into the wild as instructed heracles asked his cousin for his fourth labour labour four the aramanthian bore for his fourth labor eurytheus sent heracles to mount aramanthus to capture alive a giant boar that had been ravaging the area not thinking much of the task heracles set off with enthusiasm even deciding to visit his friend the centaur fullest along the way centaurs were half men half horse creatures renowned for acting more like beasts than humans foles was an exception however being both friendly and intelligent and had been friends with heracles since his youth after heracles arrived foles decided to host a dinner party to honour his guest inviting a few of the local centaurs one of whom was heracles old intelligent and immortal archery teacher chiron as the feast began everything was going well they dined on roast meat and heracles reminisced with his old teacher before deciding to take a walk on the way out he came across a jar of wine on fullest shelf which he decided to crack open and take a large helping of little did he know that the wine was communal property of all the centaurs some think the god dionysus had gifted them four generations earlier the wine also had a powerful odor that the centaurs could smell for miles around as heracles returned he was confronted by a huge crowd of centaurs demanding to know why he had drunk their wine his friends foleus and chiron tried to calm down the other centaurs but the situation soon got out of hand as the whole tribe had arrived drawn by the wine's odor enraged the centaurs tried to kill heracles but despite their numbers they were unable to overpower him in defense heracles began shooting them with his arrows coated in the poisonous hydra blood killing many with the rest of them fleeing unfortunately in the chaos heracles had accidentally shot his teacher chiron who fell down screaming in agony as he was immortal the wound did not kill him but with the hydra's poison coursing through his veins he would spend an eternity in pain zeus however had watched the events unfold and decided to take pity on the old centaur taking chiron's spirit and casting it up into the heavens creating the constellation sagittarius confused as to how such a small arrow had killed the other centaurs foleus picked up an arrow from the ground as he lifted it up to his face to take a closer look the arrow slipped from his fingers landing on his foot killing him instantly after chasing the other centaurs away herakles returned but when he found that he had killed both his friend and his teacher he was overcome with shame and regret heracles solemnly buried foleus's body paid his respects and then continued his journey to capture the aramanthian boar unknown to heracles a centaur called nessus was able to survive the massacre running far into the mountains where he would spend over a decade planning his revenge on the hero heracles completed his actual labor with ease chasing the boar into deep snow where he bound it in chains to bring back to eurythius upon seeing the giant monster eurythius was petrified quickly jumping into a large storage jar refusing to come out until heracles removed the boar from the room heracles could barely hide his amusement but did as he was told and set the ball free king eurytheus then crawled out of the jar in embarrassment and quickly sent heracles off on his fifth labour labour five the orgy and stables for his fifth labour heracles was tasked to clean the aegean stables in a single day using only his hands and without any assistance eurytheus believed the task to be impossible sending heracles on his way believing failure was certain the stables belonged to king augis from the neighboring kingdom of ellis they housed 3 000 immortal cattle and had not been cleaned for 30 years the stables were so overrun with animal dung that in some places the filth had piled several metres high and no one dared approached them due to their awful smell the dung had also overflown into nearby pastures which could no longer be plowed for grain upon arriving in ellis heracles was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd of citizens word had spread of his labors and with these beasts that had tormented many villages now gone people looked to him as a hero when he revealed that he had come to complete his fifth labour the people encouraged him to visit king orgias and ask for some sort of reward heracles was convinced and soon visited the king who was happy to promise the hero one tenth of his immortal herd if he was able to complete the task before nightfall thinking heracles would fail king orgias instructed his eldest son phillius to observe as he made his way over to the stables heracles was bombarded with a horrid smell it was even larger and more filthy than he had imagined spanning the length of a small city after taking a look around heracles himself thought the task impossible to complete he instead headed to the nearby rivers alpheus and penaeus which he hoped would do the job for him obeying the restrictions eurytheus had given him heracles used no tools instead using his bare hands to dig a canal which flowed from the rivers down into the stables once completed a great torrent of water came flooding into the stables washing away years of filth in an instant the water continued to flow into the surrounding farmland fertilizing the fields with an enormous amount of manure this caused celebration in ellis with the people cheering for heracles as their farms were to prosper for years to come when king augies found out what heracles had done he was furious only having agreed to give heracles a reward as he thought the task impossible while heracles had technically kept to the restrictions using only his bare hands or jesus refused to acknowledge that he had completed the task properly declining to pay him heracles proposed that the disagreement should be judged by leading citizens of ellis many of whom had witnessed the labour as the trial commenced orgias's son filius testified that heracles had kept his side of the deal outraged king orgia stood up mid-trial and banished heracles and filius from ellis he claimed heracles had cheated as the river gods not heracles had completed the task to make matters worse and unknown to heracles at the time eurytheus would refuse to count this labour as one of the ten as he claimed the task had been accomplished for payment in the form of a portion of the immortal herd heracles began his journey back to maisini so he could receive his next labor from king eurythius while he could do nothing for now he would later return after his labors were complete to take revenge on king ordeas who he would kill before making the king's son filius the new king of ellis heracles would mark this occasion by creating the famous olympic games which would occur every four years in ellis labour six the stimphaleian birds for his sixth labour heracles was tasked with driving away a flock of man-eating birds from lakes tim farlas these birds were sacred to ares and sported iron beaks capable of tearing through the toughest of armor when herakles arrived at the lake a problem had emerged it would not be killing the birds that would prove difficult but rather finding them amongst the dense swampy marshland surrounding the lake even if he was able to find and kill some every day it would take him well over a year to hunt them all down time he simply didn't have if he was to complete all of his labors within 10 years luckily for heracles his father zeus had been keeping an eye on him from the heavens while zeus didn't interfere directly for fear of upsetting hira further he did ask that other gods assist heracles when they could in this instance athena was keeping watch on heracles and saw an opportunity to help her half-brother as heracles was surveying the area he suddenly heard the clanging of metal behind him when he turned around he saw a godly figure disappear into the dense wood when he approached he found a set of bronze rattles resting on the fallen trunk of an old willow tree the quality of which could only have been made on olympus thanking whatever gods had aided him heracles took the rattles to a nearby hill that overlooked the marsh while the rattles did not sound like much to the hero as he began to shake them the noise they produced caused the birds enormous pain with hundreds of them rising from the lake crying out with frightening screams as the birds sawed up into the sky they formed a great flock to which heracles took his aim he drew back his bow using the arrows dipped in the hydra's blood to kill the birds instantly those that survived fled the lake with heracles labour now complete labour 7 the cretan bull when king urithius saw his cousin returning successfully yet again he realized that he had exhausted all of the difficult tasks within his kingdom needing more time to come up with one he sent heracles to crete an island near the greek mainland where king minos would give him his next labor king minos had been gifted a beautiful white bull from the sea god poseidon with the expectation that he would sacrifice the bull in poseidon's honor instead of doing this however king minos decided to keep the ball for himself thinking it too beautiful to kill in revenge poseidon made the king's wife fall in love with the ball with this union eventually leading to the birth of the half-man half-bull creature known as the minotaur a creature that king minos kept in a labyrinth beneath his palace after the bull impregnated the king's wife poseidon turned it mad with the bull running around crete destroying everything in its path while heracles was not destined to kill the minotaur beneath the palace that was a task destined for the hero theseus king minus did want heracles to capture the mad ball that was causing havoc in his kingdom having already wrestled with the nemean lion heracles was confident that he could overpower the bull when he found the giant creature it charged towards him he was able to skillfully grab it by the horns wrestling it to the ground the two fought for hours until the exhausted beasts finally submitted to heracles as the bull was a child of poseidon it could walk on water and so heracles jumped on its back and rode it across the ocean to mycenae when heracles arrived with the bull eurytheus was terrified to see yet another mythical animal in his palace again hiding in a storage jar refusing to come out until heracles had removed the beast not wanting to kill an animal sacred to poseidon heracles released the ball outside of the palace where it went on to rampage around the greek mainland until it was finally caught and killed by the hero theseus labour 8 the mayors of diomedes for his eighth labour heracles was tasked with bringing eurythius the mayors of the thracian king diomedes these horses were fearsome creatures known to breathe fire with their aggression made worse by diomedes feeding them the flesh of unsuspecting guests and strangers to his kingdom as heracles made his way to thrace he would be accompanied by his friend and lover abdurus the son of hermes as they arrived the pair made their way to the palace of diomedes where they witnessed the fire-breathing horses herakles was tasked with collecting the mares were bound to the palace wall with cast iron chains put on display for all to see thrashing around and foaming at the mouth beside them lay a bucket of human flesh making abduras distressed and hesitant to enter the palace he decided to wait outside while heracles entered the palace to begin negotiation heracles then approached king diomedes who was a foul-looking man with a nauseous stench his eyes darted around in madness and had blood caked under his fingernails human flesh left over from feeding the mares while heracles was revolted by the king he managed to compose himself enough to open negotiations for the horses not long into the discussion heracles heard a scream from outside rushing out to see what had happened he watched in horror as the horses ripped into the corpse of his young lover abdurus who had gotten too close to them in his curiosity filled with rage heracles charged back into the palace killing the guards and grabbing diametes by the hair dragging him outside giving the king a taste of his own medicine heracles threw diametes to the monsters who began to devour their master the flesh of diomedes was so found however that the horses stopped eating him halfway through forever put off the taste of human flesh with the horse's docile heracles grabbed their chains and brought them back to eurythius disappointed by their passivity king eurytheus put the beasts in his personal stable keeping them for his royal collection labour 9 the girdle of hippolyta for his ninth labor heracles was tasked to retrieve the girdle of hippolyta a gold and leather belt that ensured victory in battle this task however was not given by king eurythius but instead the king's daughter admitti admitti admired heracles but there was someone she admired more the fabled queen of the amazons hippolyta the amazons were a race of warrior women who lived at the edges of the known world they could fight better than any man with them routinely raiding local tribes to assert their dominance their leader was queen hippolyta daughter of the wargod aries who had received a magic girdle from her father ensuring that she never fell in battle it was this girdle that had meaty desired heracles to retrieve as it was something that belonged to her hero so heracles set off east bringing with him a small band of warriors in case he had to fight the amazons on arrival herakles was surprised by the amazon's hospitality with them offering his men food and shelter this was far from the ferocious and hostile reaction he had expected hippolyta herself was particularly interested in heracles as she had heard of his great quests and labours she invited heracles into her private residence where she quizzed him about his legendary adventures the two found that they got on very well with heracles suddenly reluctant to take the girdle from her he decided to tell the truth explaining his ninth labor and admitty's wish to his surprise hippolyta was all too happy to gift him the girdle immediately placing it in his hands as a sign of friendship hera could not believe her eyes the task was going too well her hatred for heracles had grown stronger with each labor he completed so to make this labour more difficult she decided to intervene disguising herself as an amazon she made her way into the camp walking amongst the women sowing seeds of distrust she slowly convinced the entire tribe that heracles had come to enslave them with his ultimate objective to kidnap hippolyta and take her back to greece the amazons were outraged mounting their horses they charged towards the men they had let into their camp heracles heard the commotion and rushed outside where he saw the amazons slaughtering his friends he turned around in rage thinking that hippolyta had tricked him keeping him away from his men so they could be slaughtered before the queen could explain heracles lifted his club and struck her dead her girdle did not protect her as she had already gifted it to heracles heracles then ran outside striking down any amazon who challenged him he managed to save a small handful of his companions and the group hastily left camp heading home to mycenae when heracles returned he gave the girdle to admitti sparing her the details of how he acquired it eurythius had grown tired of heracles beating any task laid before him and so decided to send him to the furthest place he could think of the island of erethea so he didn't have to deal with his cousin for a while labour 10 the cattle of gerion [Music] for his tenth labour heracles was sent to erythea to seal the cattle of a three-headed giant known as gerion and so heracles began the long journey to the edge of the world to what he thought would be his tenth and final labour heading south west he traveled along the african coastline but it did not take long for heracles unused to the intense and scorching heat of the continent to become annoyed with the sun itself halfway across the libyan desert he took out his bow and threatened to shoot the sun with one of his poisoned arrows if it continued to torment him quite distressed at this the sun came down in its human form as the god helius begging heracles not to shoot him he promised to shine less intensely while heracles was on his journey also offering to give the hero his great golden cup a vessel shaped like a water lily that helius used to sail around the ocean in at night accepting the god's gift heracles was able to quickly sail and continue his journey in the magic cup when he reached the entrance to the atlantic ocean he decided to celebrate his great voyage by setting up two pillars one on the african side of the entrance and the other on the european side these would later be called the pillars of hercules known today as suta on the african side and the rock of gibraltar on the european side as herakles continued he found himself caught in stormy waters and so again pulled out his arrows this time threatening the great titan oceanus frightened of the poisoned arrows oceanis calmed the waves with heracles continuing his journey finally reaching the island of erythea heracles was quick to see the herd of cattle he had to steal along with gerion their giant three-headed owner before heracles could fight the three-headed giant however he was confronted by the cattle's giant herdsmen eurydian the son of ares and orthos the two-headed dog and brother of cerberus but such threats proved trivial to heracles who simply crushed them both with his club wanting to be done with his final task as swiftly as possible heracles didn't bother to fight garion instead shooting the three-headed giant with a poisoned arrow killing him within seconds heracles herded the cattle into helius's cup and started to sail home when he arrived in greece however hira decided to intervene yet again she sent a swarm of gadflies to disturb the cattle with their painful stings causing the cattle to disperse some of whom run off into the thracian mountains heracles chased after the cattle but was unable to capture all of them arriving back in maisini a month or so later heracles returned the magic cup to helius and delivered what remained of the herd to eurythius who decided to sacrifice them to heara heracles let out a sigh of relief he was done ten years and ten labors later he could finally walk away a free man cleansed of his past crimes little did he know that his hardest labors were yet to come fahira had visited eurythius the night before and reminded him about the original terms of the labours heracles was to complete his tasks with no assistance and no payment for his second labor heracles had received help from his nephew ayalas in defeating the linear hydra and in his fifth labour had accepted payment from king orgias to clean the ojian stables even though he never received payment so much to heracles distress eurytheus revealed that the hero still owed him two labours refusing to pardon or release him until he completed a new total of twelve not only this but his next task was to be the most difficult yet labour eleven the apples of the hesperides for his 11th labor heracles was tasked with traveling to the garden of the hesperides the daughters of the night and collecting the golden apples that grew on a tree there which granted immortality to anyone who ate them not only was the location of the garden unknown but hera had sent a hundred-headed dragon called leydon to guard the tree from which the apples grew as heracles set off to find the mythical garden he first visited the titan prometheus who he thought would know of its location prometheus had stolen the fire of the gods and given it to humanity near the beginning of creation providing humans with warmth as well as the ability to cook food and forge metal as a punishment for this theft zeus tied prometheus to a large rock on the side of a tall mountain sending an eagle there to eat his liver every day for eternity as prometheus was immortal the liver would grow back every night only to be devoured by the eagle the next day by the time heracles found him this cycle of punishment had been going on for centuries taking pity on prometheus heracles broke his chains and shot down the eagle from the sky grateful for being set free prometheus was happy to share the location of the garden although he warned heracles that no mortal could pick the golden apples from the tree instead he suggested that heracles seek help from the titan atlas as he lived near the garden ignoring the advice prometheus had given heracles was confident he could pick the apples himself when he arrived he climbed over a great wall that surrounded the garden and was then confronted by laden the hundred-headed dragon he shot the dragon with one of his poisoned arrows killing it instantly and then approached the apple tree when he tried to take an apple however it disappeared his fingers moving through where the apple once was prometheus had been telling the truth heracles needed an immortal to do it for him he then went to find atlas which was not difficult due to the titan's immense size atlas had fought against the olympians in the war between the gods and the titans but as he was defeated zeus forced him to hold up the sky for eternity as punishment approaching the titan heracles explained his situation and offered to make a trade he would temporarily hold up the sky and give atlas a much needed break and in exchange atlas would collect the golden apples thankful to be free of his burden even for a short time atlas accepted the deal and went to collect the apples transferring the weight of the heavens onto the shoulders of heracles although he had achieved the impossible before even heracles struggled to bear the immense weight he now had to hold as time went on his muscles began to cramp his body began to shake and he contemplated whether this would be the task that would finally break him as the sun began to set atlas finally returned with a basket full of golden apples with a grunt of relief heracles thanked the titan moving to give him back the sky not wanting to take it back atlas offered to take the apples to eurytheus himself promising he would return and bear the weight of the sky once more but heracles would not be fooled he thanked the titan for his generous offer to deliver the apples and offered to hold the sky for a little longer but asked if atlas would take the sky back just for a moment so he could put on his pelt to cushion his shoulders and head knowing the pelt would make a great difference and none the wiser atlas placed the apples on the ground and took back the sky from heracles as soon as he was set free herakles picked up the apples and bit atlas farewell atlas was enraged cursing at the hero as he left with his roars shaking the ground for miles around returning to eurythius heracles presented him the fabled golden apples even eurythius seemed impressed at this though he did his best not to show it hera had warned him that he could not keep the apples as they belonged in the sacred garden and so he left them in athena's temple overnight with the goddess returning them to their rightful place labour 12 the capture of cerberus for his twelfth and final labor heracles was tasked with capturing cerberus the three-headed dog that guarded the gates of the underworld as heracles began his journey the messenger god hermes appeared before him knowing that heracles would not be able to navigate to the dark and winding halls of the dead by himself hermes had come to help guide his half-brother in his final task he warned heracles that it would be wise to ask the permission of hades and persephone the king and queen of the underworld before taking their dog as to not incur their wrath thanking the god for his advice heracles and hermes made their way to hades palace approaching the king and queen heracles explained that he had been tasked with collecting cerberus as his final labor knowing that helping heracles would infuriate hira who had always looked down on him hades allowed cerberus to be taken but two conditions had to be met first heracles must use no weapons to capture cerberus and second once his task was complete cerberus must be returned agreeing to the terms heracles set out to face the beast just as he had done with the namian lion and the cretan bull before heracles grappled with the dog wrestling it for hours until the beast was utterly exhausted with his club in one hand and cerberus in the other he dragged the dog by its chains and made his way back to the realm of the living just before crossing back over the river sticks the spirit of medusa appeared before quickly disappearing into one of the underworld's many tunnels turning around in shock heracles drew his sword but when he looked around he saw standing the spirit of his old friend maliga maliga revealed his recent death and the two engaged in conversation heracles then offered to marry dionyra maliga's sister in honor of his death thanking the hero for his offer maliga faded back amongst the spirits of the dead heracles then delivered cerberus to king eurythius who once again chose to cower in his jar a now permanent installation next to his throne the king poked his head out to the top of the jar and while shaking in fear agreed to release heracles from his servitude granting him pardon for his past crimes heracles was filled with joy he had finally atoned for his crimes and was to be a free man but before embarking on his next journey he fulfilled his promise and returned cerberus to the land of the [Music] dead heracles took some time to celebrate when he returned enjoying all the pleasures of a free life he was now a well-renowned hero and had admirers wherever he went he would go on several more adventures even joining the hero jason and the argonauts on their quest for the golden fleece heracles soon decided to fulfill the promise that he had made to the spirit of maliga in his final labor finding his sister dianaira and taking her as his wife as the newlywed couple were making their way to their new home in the city of tirins they came across a rapid river that they had to pass on the other bank stood a centaur who made his way over and offered to carry dionyra across on his back heracles accepted the offer not recognizing the centaur as nessus the sole survivor of the massacre heracles had committed against the centaur tribe on his way to his fourth labour nessus had been plotting his revenge against heracles for over a decade with him now seeing the perfect opportunity to execute his plan as soon as nessus reached the other side of the river he threw dionyra to the floor and attempted to violate her seeing this from the other bank heracles pulled out his bow and shot nessus through the chest with a poisoned arrow sending the centaur to the ground in agonizing pain in his last breaths nessus apologized to dionyra and offered her a gift as a means of apology he claimed that his blood had magic love properties telling dionyra to discreetly collect it up in a vial in case heracles ever fell in love with another woman as nessus finally died dionyra collected up his blood keeping it hidden in case she ever needed to win heracles back little did she know that she had just begun the chain of events that would lead to the death of her husband the couple lived happily in tirings for a time and had several children however after a few years heracles became tired of such a peaceful life and craved some of the action of his youth seeking some adventure he left his family behind and set out to the kingdom of orkelia where his old archery tutor euretus ruled as king once he arrived it took only a few days for heracles to fall in love with the daughter of king euretus a woman named aioli king euratus was currently holding an archery tournament to decide who would marry aioli a contest heracles decided to enter however when heracles won euratis refused to hand his daughter over as he had heard of how heracles had murdered his first family and had no desire to put aioli in similar danger heracles stormed out of the palace in a rage but would later return to kidnap aioli along with other women from the city he would bring them back home to where his children and wife dianaira were living while dianaira was initially happy to see her husband return she had become worried when she saw him arrive with a group of captive women the way he looked at aioli in particular was troubling making her correctly suspect that heracles had been unfaithful in her desperation to win heracles back dionyra retrieved the blood of the centaur nessus that she had been hiding hoping that its love properties would help her she smeared their blood on a robe which she then gifted to heracles asking him to wear it to dinner that evening when heracles put on the robe later that evening he immediately knew that something was wrong nessus's blood began to stick to his skin causing a horrible burning sensation heracles began to scream in agony and tried to rip off the robe tearing out large chunks of his flesh in the process the centaur nessus had planned this all along he knew that heracles would shoot him with a poisoned arrow when he attempted to attack dionyra by convincing dionyra to gather his blood that was tainted with the hydra poison nessus had craftily ensured that heracles would suffer the same agonizing death that he had inflicted on the other centaurs heracles torment lasted for hours with his wife dionyra hanging herself upon realising what she had done knowing his death was close heracles frantically ran around his courtyard ripping up trees to construct a funeral pyre once assembled the hero lay down upon it and asked one of his friends to set it alight as the fire seared through his skin and his body went up in flames a smile appeared on heracles's face as he was finally released from the horrific pain it was at this moment a great storm cloud gathered around the funeral pyre in the cloud sat zeus who watched as the mortal part of his son burnt away the god then grabbed heracles spirit taking his son up to olympus where he transformed him into an immortal [Music] [Music] uh [Music] [Music] you

Channel: The Life Guide

Views: 1,634,086

Keywords: The 12 Labours of Hercules, the 12 labours of Heracles, hercules, heracles, zeus, greek mythology, The 12 Labours of Hercules Explained, heracles explained, King Eurystheus of Mycenae, The Nemean Lion, The Lernaean Hydra, The Ceryneian Hind, The Eurymanthian Boar, The Augean Stables, The Stymphalian Birds, The Cretan Bull, The Mares of Diomedes, The Girdle of Hippolyta, The Cattle of Geryon, The Apples of the Hesperides, The Capture of Cerberus, The Death of Heracles

Id: 8qh7YV23aRY

Length: 50min 31sec (3031 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 01 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Philadelphon]

The myth of Hercules, rather than merely recount a series of glorious exploits, constitutes a narration of skill, cunning, atonement and redemption, in the manner in which ancient Greek civilization understood these ideas.