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click for more images  Hercules and Antaeus Clipart.com More Labors of HerculesLabor 4 - Erymanthian BoarLabor 5 - Augean StablesLabor 6 - Stymphalian Birds More Labors of HerculesLabor 7 - Cretan BullLabor 8 - Mares of DiomedesLabor 9 - Belt of Hippolyte Hercules - Madness and Atonement of the 12 Labors of HerculesContinues from Hercules Genealogy and Relationship With Eurystheus Madness of Hercules and ExpiationFor most of his life, Hercules (Greek: Herakles/Heracles) was in thrall to his Uncle Eurystheus, the King of Tiryns [see Peloponnese map section Cb, in the Argolis], but it wasn't until Hercules committed unspeakable acts that Eurystheus really got to have some fun at his nephew's expense, with Hera's help.Hera, who had been angry with Hercules since even before he was born and had repeatedly tried to destroy him, now drove the hero mad and delusional. In this state, Hercules imagined he saw Eurystheus with his family. In reality, the figures he saw were his own children and his well-loved wife Megara. Hercules slew them all (or most of them) and incinerated two of the children of his brother Iphicles, as well. In some accounts, where Megara survived, after Hercules came to his senses, he married Megara to Iolaus. [To learn more about Hercules' murderous rage, you should read the Hercules Furens tragedies of Seneca and Euripides.] Madness was not an excuse for the carnage, so Hercules had to make amends. First he went to King Thespius on Mt. Helicon [see map of northern Greece, Dd, in Boeotia] for purification, but that wasn't enough. To learn what further course he must take, he consulted the oracle at Delphi where the Pythian priestess told him to expiate his crime by serving King Eurystheus for 12 years. During this time he had to perform the 10 labors the king would require of him. The Pythian also changed Hercules' name from Alcides (after his grandfather Alcaeus) to what we normally call him, Heracles (in Greek) or Hercules (the Latin form and the one commonly used today), and told him to live at Tiryns. Willing to do anything to atone for his murderous rage, Hercules obliged. The Twelve Labors - IntroductionEurystheus set before Hercules a series of impossible tasks. If completed, some of them would have served a useful purpose because they removed the world of dangerous, predatory monsters -- or excrement, but others were capricious whims of a king with an inferiority complex: Comparing himself with the hero was bound to make him feel inadequate. Since Hercules was doing these tasks to atone for his crimes, Eurystheus insisted there be no ulterior motive. Because of this restriction, when King Augeas of Elis [see Peloponnese map Bb] promised Hercules a fee for cleaning his stables (Labor 5), Eurystheus denied the feat -- Hercules had to do another to fill his quota. That King Augeas reneged and didn't pay Hercules made no difference to Eurystheus. Other tasks the king of Tiryns set his nephew were make-work. For instance, once Hercules retrieved the apples of the Hesperides (Labor 11). Eurystheus had no use for the apples, so he had Hercules send them back again.One more important point needs to be made in connection with these tasks. Eurystheus was afraid of Hercules -- anyone who could survive the suicide missions on which the king had sent the hero must be very powerful indeed. It is said Eurystheus hid in a jar and insisted -- contrary to the instructions of the Pythian priestess -- that Hercules stay outside the Tiryns city limits. Next Page Hercules Labors - The Sources More on Hercules More Labors of HerculesLabor 4 - Erymanthian BoarLabor 5 - Augean StablesLabor 6 - Stymphalian Birds More Labors of HerculesLabor 7 - Cretan BullLabor 8 - Mares of DiomedesLabor 9 - Belt of Hippolyte |
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