Why Did Heracles Do the Twelve Labours? The Myth Behind the Greek Hero

In Greek myth, Heracles performed his famous labours as penance. The goddess Hera, who hated him, drove him into a fit of madness in which he killed his own children; to atone, he went to the Oracle of Delphi, which told him to serve King Eurystheus and carry out whatever tasks the king set. The original sentence was ten labours, but Eurystheus refused to count two of them, so the hero ended up performing twelve. The Romans called him Hercules, and under either name he became the ancient world's best-loved hero: immensely strong, often reckless, and always paying for his mistakes.

A son of Zeus, hated by Hera

Heracles was the son of Zeus, king of the gods, and a mortal woman, Alcmene. That made him a half-god, and it made Zeus's wife, Hera, his lifelong enemy. In one well-known story, Hera sent two snakes to kill him in his cradle, and the baby strangled them with his bare hands. Even his name, which means something like "glory of Hera", carries the irony of that hostility.

Madness and atonement

As an adult, Heracles married and had children. Then Hera struck again, sending a madness on him in which he killed his children, and in some versions his wife too. When he recovered his senses, he was devastated. Seeking purification, he consulted the Oracle of Delphi, which ordered him to serve Eurystheus, king of Mycenae or Tiryns, for a period of years.

Eurystheus was a weak and cowardly king, and he chose tasks that seemed impossible, hoping Heracles would fail or die.

Why ten became twelve

According to the ancient writer known as Pseudo-Apollodorus, the oracle set ten labours. Eurystheus later disqualified two: the killing of the Hydra, because Heracles's nephew Iolaus had helped him, and the cleaning of the Augean stables, because Heracles had been promised payment. In some versions a different labour is rejected. Either way, two extra tasks were added, making twelve.

The twelve labours

The standard order, from Pseudo-Apollodorus's Library, is:

1. Kill the Nemean lion, whose hide no weapon could pierce. Heracles strangled it and wore its skin as armour.
2. Kill the Lernaean Hydra, a many-headed serpent that grew two heads for each one cut off.
3. Capture the Ceryneian Hind, a deer sacred to Artemis.
4. Capture the Erymanthian Boar.
5. Clean the Augean stables in a single day, which he did by diverting rivers through them.
6. Drive away the Stymphalian birds.
7. Capture the Cretan Bull.
8. Steal the man-eating Mares of Diomedes.
9. Obtain the belt of Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons.
10. Bring back the cattle of Geryon, a three-bodied giant.
11. Fetch the golden apples of the Hesperides.
12. Capture Cerberus, the three-headed dog guarding the underworld.

Other ancient authors, such as Diodorus Siculus, give a similar sequence with a few labours in a different order.

Strength is not enough

Read closely, many labours are puzzles rather than fights. Heracles uses fire to stop the Hydra's heads growing back, rivers to clean the stables, and, in the most famous version of the golden apples, a trick to persuade the Titan Atlas to take back the weight of the sky. The myth celebrates brains as well as muscle.

Heracles in art

The labours were a favourite subject of Greek art. Some of the best-known early depictions are carved panels, called metopes, on the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, made in the 460s BC. Since Olympia was the home of the Olympic Games, it was a fitting place to honour the ultimate athlete-hero. Heracles was also linked in legend to the founding of the Games themselves.

Why the myth lasts

Heracles is a strange hero: violent, impulsive, sometimes ridiculous, and yet admired for endurance and for accepting the consequences of terrible acts. That mix of flaws and effort makes him feel more human than many perfect heroes, which may be why "Herculean" is still a common word for a huge effort.

Learn with Heracles: English phrases

Phrase	Meaning	Example
a Herculean task	an extremely difficult job	Cleaning the garage was a Herculean task.
to make amends	to do something good to correct a wrong	He made amends by helping his neighbour.
to cut off one head, and two grow back	solving one problem creates more	Fixing that bug was like fighting a hydra.
to clean the Augean stables	to fix a huge, long-neglected mess	The new manager had to clean the Augean stables.
to shoulder a burden	to accept a heavy responsibility	She shouldered the burden alone.

Try this: Write your own "three labours" for learning a language this month in English, using "a Herculean task" and "shoulder a burden". Then rank them from easiest to hardest.