the 12 labors of hercules

• Hercules • Son of Zeus• Hera made Hercules

insane because she was jealous of him

• He killed his own wife and children

• As punishment he had to perform 12 labors for King Eurystheus

• If he could complete the labors he would regain his place in history and become an immortal himself!

Labor 1

• Nemean Lion • Hide so tough no arrow could pierce it

• Hercules strangled it with his bare hands

• He skinned the lion and wore its hide as a trophy!

Labor 2• Lernean Hydra • Snakelike Hydra with

9 heads• If one of the heads

got cut off, 2 would replace it!

• Hercules defeated the creature by having his assistant seal the wounds with a torch after he had cut a head off

Labor 3

• Capture the Hind • Deer with gold horns• Protected and

watched by the goddess Artemis

• It took Hercules an entire year to track the hind down!

Labor 4

• The Erymanthian Boar

• Terrorized the people of Mt. Erymanthus

• Hercules was able to defeat it by chasing it into a snowdrift

Labor 5• The Augean Stables • Over 1000 cows lived

in these stables• The stables had not

been cleaned in 30 years!

• Hercules bent two rivers so that they flowed into the stables, cleaning them out

Labor 6

• The Stymphalian Bird • Claws and beaks were sharp as swords and feathers flew like darts!

• Using a rattle made by Hephaestus, Hercules scared them from their nest and shot them with arrows

Labor 7

• The Cretan Bull • A savage bull who could breathe fire!

• Hercules was able to wrestle it to the ground and return it to the king

Labor 8• Horses of Diomedes • King Diomedes fed

these savage horses on human flesh!

• Hercules killed King Diomedes and fed him to his own horses

• After eating the king, miraculously the horses’ hunger for humans was satisfied

Labor 9• Hippolyte • Hercules had to bring

back the girdle of the Amazon queen

• The queen welcomed him, but Hera told Hippolyte lies

• In the end Hercules was forced to defeat the Amazons to secure the girdle

Labor 10

• The Cattle of Geryon • Geryon was a monster with 3 human bodies

• He guarded beautiful red cattle

• Hercules defeated Geryon and returned the cattle to the king

Labor 11

• The Golden Apples • The apples were guarded by Ladon, a dragon with 100 heads!

• Hercules had to enlist the help of the titan Atlas, who held up the earth, in order to obtain the apples

Labor 12• Cerberus • The three-headed

guard dog of the realm of Hades!

• Hercules had to defeat the beast without the aide of weapons!

• He was able to do so in order to complete his 12th task!