The great mythological hero Hercules (Heracles) was larger than life. While he became an example of virtue, Hercules also made serious errors. In the Odyssey, attributed to Homer, Hercules violates the guest-host covenant. He also destroys families, including his own, for which reason Hercules undertook the 12 labors.
The historian Diodorus Siculus (fl. 49 B.C.) calls the 12 labors a means to Hercules' apotheosis (deification). Apollodorus, a second century A.D. historian, says the 12 labors are a means of expiation for the crime of murdering his wife, children, and the children of Iphicles. In contrast, for Euripides, a dramatist of the Classical period, the labors are much less important. Hercules' motive for performing them is to gain permission from Eurystheus to return to Tiryns.
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Images 1-12 of 12
- Hercules Labor 1Herakles and the Nemean Lion
- Hercules Labor 2"Hercules and the Hydra" by Antonio del Pollaiolo.
- Hercules Labor 3Hercules and the Cerynitian Hind
- Hercules Labor 4Hercules Brings Eurytheus the Erymanthian boar. Attic Black-figured Amphora, c. 550 B.C.
- Hercules Labor 5Hercules and the Augean Stable
- Hercules Labor 6Hercules and Athena
- Hercules Labor 7Hercules and the Cretan Bull. Attic Black-figure mastos. C. 500-475 B.C. at the Louvre.
- Hercules Labor 8Alcestis
- Hercules Labor 9Heracles Fighting the Amazons. Attic Black-figure Hydria, c. 530 B.C.
- Hercules Labor 10Orthrus dead at the feet of Geryon and Heracles, red-figure kylix, 510–500 B.C.
- Hercules Labor 11Heracles in the Hesperides garden. From an Attic Red-figure Pelike, 380-370 B.C. From Cyrenaica.
- Hercules Labor 12
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