- why Hercules is mighty hero in Greek mythology

The Mighty Hercules 

The stories from Ancient Greece, some of which you have now read, are not only about the gods and goddesses who lived on Mount Olympus but also about famous heroes, who performed great feats of courage and strength. These heroes were partly divine and partly human- they had one parent who was a god or goddess while the other was a human being.

The most famous of these heroes was Heracles, or Hercules, the son of the god Zeus and a woman named Alcmene. Hercules and took excellent care of him. He chose the best teachers to teach the young boy the manly skills that a prince was expected to learn, such as those of hunting and wrestling. Amphytrion himself taught Hercules how to drive a chariot. Apart from these skills, Hercules also had to learn music and literature and the other fine arts from a famous teacher called Linus. But Hercules had little interest in these things and he would not bother to prepare for his lessons, to the great annoyance of Linus. One day, Linus became so angry that he struck Hercules. Hercules had a quick temper and he retaliated by throwing his Iyer at linus, hitting his teacher with such force that he collapsed on the spot.

Amphytrion was very worried. He was afraid that Hercules, with his immense strength, would actually kill someone without meaning to do so. He, therefore, decided to send Hercules into the woods to the school of Chiron, the wise old centaur, who was part-horse and part-human. Chiron taught Hercules how he could use his strength in the right way, but in spite of this, Hercules often lost his temper and hit out at people, causing them serious harm.

The gods, who loved the good-hearted Hercules, told him that he should seek forgiveness for his rash acts by serving king Eurystheus of Tiryns for twelve years. Hercules would have to perform ten labours or tasks set by the king. Hercules, who truly sorry for his terrible temper, humbly agreed to serve king Eurystheus.

The first task that Eurystheus set Hercules was to kill a mountain lion which could not be killed with any weapon. Hercules tracked the lion to its cave and strangled it to death with his bare hands. He made a cloak out of the lion's skin and wore it for the rest of his life, using the lion's head as a helmet!

The act terrified Eurystheus so much that he forbade Hercules from entering the city; he had to show his trophy outside the city walls. Eurystheus even had a huge bronze jar made so that he could hide inside it and protect himself if Hercules ever came into the city despite his command!

Hercules' second task was to fight the Hydra, a monster with nine heads. The monster could not be killed because one of its heads was immortal. Each time this head was cut off, two new heads would spring up to replace it.

Hercules set off in a chariot with his nephew, Iolaus, to look for the Hydra. Presently, they reached the marsh where the monster lived and there, among the rushes, they saw the strange, menacing creature with its long neck, to which many fearful heads were attached. The minute he caught sight of the dreadful Hydra, Iolaus was ready to turn the chariot around and flee. Hercules, however, was undaunted and stepped out confidently to tackle the beast. To his horror, Hercules found that as soon as he crushed one of its place! He battled long and hard but failed to slay the monster. Finally, Iolaus came forward to help Hercules. He used flaming branches to burn the Hydra's neck after Hercules had cut off eight of its heads, thus preventing the beast from growing new heads. They dug a deep pit and buried the remaining head deep under the ground, and placed a huge rock over it. The Hydra was dead at last!

The next two tasks given to Hercules proved to be much simpler. First, he had to find a golden-horned stag, which was protected by Artemis, the goddess of hunting, and bring it back alive. Next, he had to capture an enormous boar. Hercules, who was fleet-footed as well as brave, accomplished both the tasks with ease.

Hercules was then ordered to clean out the stables of Augeas, the king of Elis, in a single day. This was no easy task, even for someone as strong as Hercules, for king Augeas had 3,000 heads of cattle and horses in his stables and no one had cleaned the stables for the last thirty years! Hercules despaired of being able to complete the task in a single day, but once again, Iolaus came to his rescue. Following his directions, Hercules changed the course of two mighty rivers which flowed nearby and made them gush through the stables. The water from the rivers soon carried away all the dirt and Hercules was successful, once more.

For the next task, Eurystheus commanded Hercules to get rid of a flock of man-eating birds which lived in a forest surrounded by marshlands. These birds had built their nests among the thick trees and it was impossible to see them from the task by giving him a rattle which made a deafening noise when shaken. The sound scared the birds out of their nests and Hercules shot them dead with his arrows as they flew overhead.

for the seventh and eighth tasks, Hercules had to capture a fire - breathing bull and seize four man-eating mares belonging to a neighbouring king. This he managed with ease.

He was then ordered to bring back a girdle that belonged to Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons.

The Amazons were a race of warrior who were invincible in battle. Hercules defeated the Amazonian army single- handed and Queen Hippolyta, admiring him for his bravery, gave him her girdle as a prize. Hercules sailed back to Greece with the girdle.

However, the next task awaiting him was more challenging than the earlier ones. Hercules had to journey around the world to capture the cattle belonging to a fearsome giant named Geryon. He cut a passage through the Atlas mountains, setting up the pillars of Hercules. These two huge columns of rock stand even today, on either side of a narrow sea called the straits of Gibraltar. Geryon was an enormous cattle was guarded by a ferocious two-headed dog. Hercules first battled with Geryon and his dog. After that, it was a simple matter to capture the oxen and bring them to Greece.

It had taken Hercules eight long years to perform these ten labours. Still, Eurystheus was not satisfied. As Hercules had taken the help of Iolaus in completing two of the tasks, Eurystheus refused to release him until he had performed two more tasks.

Eurystheus first directed Hercules to get some golden apples from a garden that belonged to Hesperides, who were the daughters of the titan Atlas. Atlas had once revolted against Zeus, the king of the gods. As a punishment he now had to hold up the sky on his shoulders. Hercules offered to relive Atlas of his burden for a while, if the old man would fetch some golden apples from the garden of his daughters. Atlas, tired of holding up the sky, was delighted to find someone who would take over his load. It seemed a golden opportunity! But, when he returned with the apples, Atlas refused to take the sky back from Hercules! However, Hercules was not only strong but clever too. He requested Atlas to hold the sky for just a moment while he arranged a pair of pads on his shoulders, which had begun to ache under the burden. Atlas had no idea that Hercules meant to outsmart him. As soon as he took the sky back on his shoulders, Hercules quickly grabbed the apples and fled back to Greece.

But Hercules still had another labour to perform before Eurystheus would let   him go. His last task was to fetch the three- headed dog, Cerberus or the Land of the Dead. Hades, the god of  the underworld , promised Hercules that he could have the dog if he managed to capture it without using any weapons. This was the same Hercules who had strangled two serpents with his bare hands as a baby and slain a lion in the same way- it was therefore not difficult for him to trap the beast. Hades kept his word and allowed Hercules to take the dog away to Greece. But Eurystheus was satisfied and set Hercules free. Having performed all the labours satisfactorily, he was forgiven and was a free man once again. Hercules never quite learnt to control his temper, but in every other way he was so good, brave and noble that when he died,  Zeus himself carried his soul away to Olympus and made him a god. Hercules became immortal and lived on in Olympus forever.