Hercules/Herakles Flashcards
Strangling of Nemean lion
Dwelt in a region known as Nemea, living in a cave and feeding on whatever it could find
Failed to kill the lion with his bow and arrow and his club
forced the lion into the corner of the cave, blocked the exit, and strangled it to death
Flayed the dead animal with its own claw, and wore its skin
Slaying the Lernaean Hydra
A snake with several heads ( from around 5 to 100), had a breath so foul that it was enough to kill a man
Hercules fired arrows, which were on fire, at the beast
He chopped of the Hydras’ numerous heads
Hercules was assisted by Iolaus (nephew), who cauterised the wounds
Was considered uncomplete as he had help
Capturing the Erymanthian Boar
lived in snow-capped Mount Erymanthus
Hercules caught it by calling to it so it came out of his lair & leading it on a chase until it is exhausted
After it collapsed Herakles was allowed to bring it alive to Mycenae
Capturing the Hind of Ceryneia
A large female deer that was ravaging the crops at Oenoe
This creature gave him the run-around, tracking it across vast terrain
After a year he could eventually wound it with an arrow and then capture it alive
Cleaning out the Stymphalian Birds
Faced a whole flock of birds which lived in Arcadia
Using bronze castanets, Hercules was able to shoot them out of the bushes and kill them with his arrows
Cleaning the Augean stables
Eurystheus wanted to humiliate him by making him perform such drudgery
Augius owned substantial herds, but didn’t bother to clean the dung out, so insisted Herakles complete the task for a wage
Counted as incomplete as he was paid
Capturing the Cretan bull
Minotaur was a man with the head of a bull
Herakles was sent to capture the bull, Minos gave permission to take the bull
Herakles captured the bull and shipped him to Eurystheus in Tiryns
Later escaped and became known as the Marathonian bull
Stealing the Mares of Diomedes
Herakles has to bring the four mares belonging to Diomedes, alive to Eurystheus
Herakles managed to free the horses from the bronze mangers and bring them back and free them
In some cases Diomedes is fed to the horses
capturing the girdle of Queen Hippolyta
Given by Eurystheus’ daughter to capture the girdle worn by Hippolyta
Hercules travelled to the land of the Amazons and persuaded Hippolyta to give him the girdle
In some depictions Hippolyta gives it willingly in others Hera sows division between the two groups and Herakles ended up killing Hippolyta
The cattle of Geryon
Tasked to travel to the island of Erythia, where a man named Geryon owned a huge herd of cattle
Herakles got sick of crossing the desert and threatened to shoot the sun
Once there he gathered up the herd, slew the shepherd and killed Geryon
On his way back he also erected two columns which became known as the ‘pillars of Hercules’
Fetching Cerberus from the Underworld
Had to capture the three-headed dog, which Pluto agreed to give to Herakles if he could train the dog without using a weapon
He eventually managed this and brought Cerberus up to the land of the living to prove he had completed the task]returned the dog
Stealing the apples of Hesperides
The garden of Hesperides belong to Hera, who put them under guard of a fearsome dragon with a hundred heads
Herakles tricked Atlas into retrieving some of the golden apples for him, while he shouldered some of Atlas’ burdens
When Atlas came back he declined to take back the heavens
He tricked Atlas by asking him to take back the heavens for a moment as he adjusted his cloak
Herakles strolled off with the apples
What is the context Olympic games
Olympia was in Elis, west of the Peloponnese
traditional date for founding of the Olympic games was 776 BC
Olympic games origin- Pelops and Hippodamia
Shown on the eastern pediment of Zeus’ temple
Hippodamia was the daughter of Oinomaos- king of Pisa.
Oinomaos received an oracle that he would die once his daughter married. To avoid this he set up a chariot competition his daughter’s suitors must complete
Pelops challenged him to the race, and to ensure he would win he bribed Oinomaos’ charioteer to replace the bronze linchpins (what secured the wheels) with wax.
While racing the wax melted and threw Oinomaos from the chariot killing him.
Pelops married Hippodamia and set up the Olympics as funerary games for Oinomaos
How did Hercules affect the Olympic games
After his labour of cleaning out the stables
Hercules collected an Arcadian army, and being joined by volunteers marched against Augeas, taking the city Elis
celebrated with the Olympic games, and finding an alter of Pelops, and built 6 alters of the 12 gods
