If he did not return within 30 days, it would be sacrificed to the dead Heracles as a mourning offering. Another version claims that he met Molorchos, a shepherd who had lost his son to the lion, saying that if he came back within 30 days, a ram would be sacrificed to Zeus. There, he met a boy who said that if Heracles slew the Nemean lion and returned alive within 30 days, the town would sacrifice a lion to Zeus if he did not return within 30 days or he died, the boy would sacrifice himself to Zeus. Heracles wandered the area until he came to the town of Cleonae. The first of Heracles' twelve labours, set by King Eurystheus (his cousin), was to slay the Nemean lion. Hercules' fight with the Nemean lion, Pieter Paul Rubens. In another tradition, told by Aelian (citing Epimenides) and Hyginus, the lion was "sprung from" the moon-goddess Selene, who threw him from the moon at Hera's request. According to Apollodorus, he was the offspring of Typhon. According to Hesiod, the lion was raised by Hera and sent to terrorise the hills of Nemea. Hesiod has the Nemean lion as the offspring of Orthus and an ambiguous "she", often understood as probably referring to the Chimera, or possibly to Echidna or even Ceto. In Bibliotheca, Photius wrote that the dragon Ladon, who guarded the golden apples, was his brother. Its claws were sharper than mortals' swords and could destroy any strong armour. Because its golden fur was impervious to attack, it could not be killed with mortals' weapons. Eventually, it was killed by Heracles (Hercules). The Nemean lion ( / n ɪ ˈ m iː ə n/ Greek: Νεμέος λέων Neméos léōn Latin: Leo Nemeaeus) was a monster in Greek mythology that lived at Nemea. Detail of a Roman mosaic from Llíria (Spain). He also traveled with Jason and the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece, was tricked into holding up the world by Atlas, freed the titan Prometheus from his bonds (bound by Zeus for giving fire to man), and more.Heracles slaying the Nemean lion. The twelve labors are only the beginning of a very impressive list of deeds and tales that Hercules completed over his life. Obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon. Obtain the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons.Clean the Augean stables in a single day. In return for his service, Hercules would be rewarded with immortality.ĭuring his time working for King Eurystheus, Hercules initially performed ten labors, but after completing them, Eurythesus declared he had cheated on two of them by getting help from others and added two more, resulting in the final Twelve Labors of Heracles.Ī traditional order of the labors found in the Bibliotheca, a compendium of myths and heroic legends from the first and second century AD, includes Hercules’s successful attempts to: The oracle commanded Hercules to serve King Eurystheus of Tyrins for twelve years. Hercules strangled them in his crib, saving both his own life and the life of his twin brother Iphicles (whose father was a mortal, the husband of Hercules’ mother whom Zeus seduced.)Īfter regaining his sanity Hercules went to the oracle at Delphi to learn how he could atone for his actions. Hera had one before unsuccessfully tried to kill Hercules, proof of her husband’s infidelity, when he was 8 months old by sending two snakes to poison him. They were, in fact, his penance for killing his wife Megara and six children after being driven mad by the goddess Hera, wife of Zeus and Hercules’ father. But the twelve labors were not active acts of fame seeking. Those twelve labors took him around the known world, performing impossible tasks that no one but the son of Zeus could have ever completed. The twelve labors of Hercules (Heracles is Greek mythology), also known as the dodekathlon, are how Hercules gained much of his mythological fame as a demi-god.
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