Hrs 119

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Labor 1
Neman Lion

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THE LEON NEMEIOS (or Nemean lion) was a large lion, whose hide was impervious to weapons, which plagued the district of Nemea in the Argolis. King Eurystheus commanded Herakles to destroy the beast as the first of his twelve Labours. The hero cornered the lion in its cave and seizing it by the neck wrestled it to death. He then skinned its hide to make a lion-skin cape, one of his most distinctive attributes. Hera afterwards placed the lion amongst the stars as the constellation Leo.

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Labor 5
Augeas

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AUGEIAS (or Augeas) was a king of Elis in the western Peloponnesos who possessed an enormous herd of cattle. Herakles was commanded by King Eurystheus to clean Augeias' stables as one of his Twelve Labours. The hero accomplished this by diverting the waters of the river Alpheios through the plain, washing the manure away. When Augeias refused him the promised payment, Herakles swore revenge and, after his Labours were complete, gathered an army to invade the country. The king at first repelled the hero with the help of several allies, including his nephews, the twin Molionidai, and Amarynkeus. Herakles was also struck down by illness in the middle of the campaign. After his recovery, he ambushed and slew the twins before launching a second invasion, this time conquering the country and slaying King Augeias in battle. To celebrate the victory Herakles founded the Olympic Game near the Eleian town of Pisa.

The parentage of King Augeias was disputed by classical writers. However, he was usually represented as the son of the country's eponym--either Eleios, a grandson of Endymion, Heleios, a son of Perseus, or Helios, the sun-god. The grandsons of Augeias, Polyxeinos and Meges, led the armies of Elis and the adjacent island of Doulikhion to the Trojan War.

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Labor 6
Stymphalian Birds

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THE ORNITHES STYMPHALIDES (or Stymphalian Birds) were a flock of man-eating birds which haunted Lake Stymphalis in Arkadia. Herakles' destroyed them as his sixth labour, employing first a rattle to rouse them from the thick vegetation of the lake, then shooting them down one by one with bow and arrow or a sling.

The birds may have been placed amongst the stars as the constellations Aquila and Cygnus, which sit on either side of Sagitta, the arrow of Herakles.

The Stymphalides were sometimes identified with the arrow-shooting Ornithes Areioi (Birds of Ares) encountered by the Argonauts in the Black Sea.

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Hercules

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The greatest of all the Greek heroes who was famed for the completion of the Twelve Labours. Upon his death he ascended to Olympus to join the ranks of the gods, and was thereupon titled the protector of man.

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Labor 11
The Apples of the Hesperides

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THE HESPERIDES were the goddesses of the evening and golden light of sunset. The three nymphs were daughters of either Nyx (Night) or the heaven-bearing Titan Atlas. They were entrusted with the care of the tree of the golden apples which was first presented to the goddess Hera by Gaia (Earth) on her wedding day. They were assisted in their task by a hundred-headed guardian drakon named Ladon. Herakles was sent to fetch the apples as one of his twelve labours, and upon slaying the serpent, stole the precious fruit. However, Athena later returned them to the Hesperides.

The Hesperides were also the keepers of other treasures of the god. Perseus obtained from the artifacts he required to slay the Gorgon Medousa.

The three nymphs and their golden apples were apparently regarded as the source of the golden light of sunset, a phenomena celebrating the bridal of the heavenly gods Zeus and Hera.