Here are more details about each of Herakles's labors:
1) Killing the Nemean Lion
The Nemean lion was said to target warriors. Accordingly, it kidnapped beautiful women and used them to lure unsuspecting warriors to its lair. The women would turn into lions and kill the warriors once the men approached. When Herakles reached Nemea in Argolis, a young boy presented him with a challenge. If Herakles killed the lion within 30 days, a lion would be sacrificed to Zeus. If Herakles failed, the boy would be the sacrifice.
Herakles succeeded within 30 days. After he strangled the lion to death, he used (on the advice of the goddess Athena) the lion's claws to remove its skin. Herakles then fashioned a cape for himself out of the lion's skin.
2) Killing the Lernaean Hydra
The Hydra was the offspring of Echidna and Typhon, the ancestors of all monsters. Typhon was an immortal giant, and Echidna was a half-woman, half-snake monster. The Hydra had anywhere between 6 to 100 heads at a time.
Herakles defeated this creature with his nephew Iolaus's help. After Herakles chopped off each head, Iolaus would cauterize it with a torch. When Hera realized that Herakles was succeeding, she was furious. She sent a giant crab to stop the hero, but Herakles crushed the crab under his foot. In the end, Herakles used Athena's golden sword to chop off the Hydra's last head, which was immortal. King Eurystheus claimed that Herakles failed this mission because he needed Iolaus's and Athena's help. This is part of the reason the king asked for two extra labors (in addition to the original ten).
3) Capturing the Ceryneian Hind
The Hind was the goddess Artemis's sacred deer. It had golden antlers and bronze hooves. The Hind could outrun any flying arrow. In the end, Herakles was able to capture the creature by targeting his arrow between its legs. When the deer tripped, Herakles grabbed it and trussed it up. Seeing that Herakles had succeeded, the king attempted to add the Ceryneian Hind to his collection of exotic animals.
However, Herakles devised a plan so that the Hind could return to Artemis. A split second before King Eurystheus grabbed the rope that held the deer, Herakles let the animal go. When the king protested, Herakles proclaimed that the royal was just not fast enough to capture the creature.
4) Capturing the Erymanthian Boar
When Herakles set off for this mission, he made a detour to visit Pholos, one of his centaur friends. The two began drinking, and the smell of the wine attracted all the other centaurs. The centaurs came and began to imbibe of the wine; eventually, they became drunk and violent. Herakles was forced to shoot poisonous arrows at them. The centaurs fled to Chiron, also one of Herakles' friends.
It was Chiron who told Herakles how to capture the boar. Herakles first lured the animal into deep snow. The snow considerably slowed down the animal's movements, and this eventually allowed the hero to capture it.
5) Cleaning the stables of Augeas in one day
Herakles completed this task by first making large holes in the walls of the cattle-yard. Then, he dug two deep trenches to two rivers, thus redirecting the waters to the cattle-yard. Once the waters reached the yard, it washed through the stables. Augeas, however, refused to pay Herakles a tenth of his cattle, which had been promised as a reward. Our hero then took Augeas to court to receive his payment. Because of this reward, King Eurystheus claimed that this mission did not count toward the required labors.
6) Killing the Stymphalian Birds
These birds were created by Ares, the god of war. Their dung was poisonous, and they had sharp feathers, which could be weaponized. Athena gave Herakles a special rattle made by the god Hephaestus. Our hero used the rattle to scare the birds out of their nests. When the birds tried to escape, Herakles shot most of them with arrows that were dipped in the Hydra's poisonous blood.
7) Capturing the Cretan Bull
This bull was said to be the progenitor of the Minotaur. Herakles made short work of this quest by wrestling the bull and then choking it to death. King Eurystheus wanted to sacrifice the bull to his benefactor goddess, Hera. However, Hera, who hated Herakles (because he was the illegitimate son of her husband, Zeus), wanted no part of the sacrifice. The bull was then released. It eventually made its way to Marathon and became known as the Marathonian Bull.
8) Stealing the mares of Diomedes
These horses needed human flesh to keep them calm. They were extremely dangerous creatures. To fully gain control of them, Herakles first cornered the horses on a peninsula. Then, he dug a trench around the peninsula and filled it with water, turning the peninsula into an island. Next, Herakles killed Diomedes. Then, he fed the flesh of the dead man to the cornered horses. After eating, the horses became tame enough for Herakles to lead them back to King Eurystheus.
9) Stealing the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons
The girdle represented Hippolyta's authority over the Amazonians; it was a symbol of her power. After hearing Herakles' story about his labors of atonement, Hippolyta reluctantly decided to give the hero her belt. However, Hera was angered that Herakles had obtained the girdle so easily. The goddess then disguised herself as an Amazonian warrior. Then, she warned the rest of the Amazonians that Herakles and his men meant to kidnap Hippolyta.
The Amazonians lost no time in attacking Herakles's ships. Some stories say that Herakles killed Hippolyta during the attack, thinking that she had betrayed him. He escaped with her girdle after the short battle.
10) Stealing the monster Geryon's cattle
Geryon was a three-headed monster. He had a two-headed dog named Orthrus which was the brother of Cerberus (guardian of the Underworld). Herakles reportedly stole Geryon's cattle by first killing Orthrus with a club. Our hero also killed Eurytion, Geryon's servant, who tried to stop him from taking the cattle. When Geryon heard about the killings, he tried to use his three shields, spears, and helmets to destroy Herakles. However, Herakles felled Geryon with an arrow that had been dipped in the Hydra's poisonous blood.
11) Stealing the apples of the Hesperides
These golden apples bequeathed immortality to all who consumed them. The tree that bore the apples belonged to Hera, and she jealously guarded the fruits with the help of the hundred-headed dragon named Ladon. Herakles was said to have subdued Ladon by giving him an intoxicating herb. Another version of the story has Atlas (who held the heavens on his shoulders) retrieve the apples for Herakles while the latter (with the help of Athena) supported the heavens in his absence.
12) Capturing Cerberus
Cerberus was a fearsome hellhound. The hound, however, met his match in Herakles. Herakles's thick lion cape was so strong that Cerberus' claws and teeth could not penetrate it. Eventually, Herakles wrestled Cerberus into submission and brought him back to King Eurystheus. Shocked that Herakles had succeeded, the king made Herakles take Cerberus back: he was simply too frightened of the dog to let it stay.
After Cerberus was returned, Hades cornered King Eurystheus and demanded to know why he wanted the hellhound. Fearing for his life, the king admitted that he was acting under Hera's orders. Hades then had an audience with Hera, promising her that if she ever made life difficult for Herakles again, she would have to contend with him (Hades).
https://www.ancient.eu/hercules/
https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/The_Myths/Labours_of_Heracles/labours_of_heracles.html
Herakles (better known by his Roman name, Hercules) is a hero in ancient Greek mythology. He was the son of the god Zeus and Alcmene, a mortal woman.
Zeus was a legendary adulterer. He had many affairs with mortals, which angered his jealous wife, the goddess Hera. When Hera found out about Herakles, she tried to kill him by placing snakes in his crib—but even as an infant, he was so powerful that he overcame them.
As an adult, Herakles asked Apollo how he could make amends for murdering his own wife and children (crimes he had committed after Hera threw him into a fit of insanity—she never did stop trying to take revenge on Zeus by interfering with his child’s life). Apollo’s reply (via the Oracle at Delphi) was that Herakles had to serve King Eurystheus for twelve years. During this time, the King (who was sympathetic to Hera) assigned him twelve tasks that seemed insurmountable—but in every case, through his own virtues (and with some help from other deities), Herakles was able to complete the job.
Many of these myths are immortalized to this day in the night sky. Most of our constellations are named after Greek characters, including Herakles and several of the beings he encountered in these Labors.
1. Kill the Nemian Lion
First Herakles was told to take care of this beast, which was terrorizing the land of Nemia. Its hide could not be pierced by any weapons, so Herakles strangled it with his own brute strength. He then took its hide to wear as his own armor.
The constellation Leo is named after the Nemian Lion.
2. Kill the Lernean Hydra
Hera created this monster specifically to defeat Herakles. It had nine heads, one of which was immortal. The others, if severed, would be replaced by two more. To make matters worse, the Hydra’s blood was poisonous, as was the mist in the swamp where it lived. Herakles needed help from his nephew Iolaus to defeat this creature, as well as a magical sword (from Athena) to kill the immortal head. Afterward, he dipped his arrows in its blood.
This battle is depicted in the constellations Hydra, as well as Cancer (because Hera sent a giant crab to fight alongside the Hydra).
3. Capture the Hind of Ceryneia
A hind is a kind of deer. This one belonged to Artemis, the goddess of hunting, so Herakles knew better than to kill or injure it. After chasing it for a year, though, he became desperate and had to shoot it. Luckily it didn’t die, and though Artemis was angry, she forgave him when he explained that he only acting under orders from the Oracle.
4. Capture the Erymanthean Boar
This animal was also sacred to Artemis. Capturing the boar was actually quite easy for Herakles (he drove it into a thick patch of snow and ensnared it in his net). The drama in this story really comes from Herakles’s visit to his friend Pholos, a centaur, on his way to capture the boar. The other centaurs resented the two drinking all the wine, there was a fight, and Herakles’s poison arrows killed many of them (including Pholos, who dropped one on his foot).
The centaur Chiron, who was the wisest and kindest of them all, is now the constellation Sagittarius.
5. Clean the Augean Stables
Herakles was given only one day to clean out the vast cattle stables of King Augeas. Instead of grabbing a shovel, he re-directed two rivers into the yards. The rushing water quickly flushed all the dirt and filth from the stables. As a bonus, Herakles tricked Augeas into giving him one tenth of the herd as a reward.
6. Kill the Stymphalian Birds
These enormous birds, vicious creatures with metal wings and beaks, belonged to Ares, the god of war. They ate humans and had been terrorizing the area around Lake Stymphalia. Herakles was unable to get through the swamps where they roosted, so the goddess Athena gave him a set of krotala (loud rattles) to flush them out, and he was able to shoot them with his poison arrows.
7. Capture the Cretan Bull
This creature was rampaging throughout the island of Crete, ruled by King Minos (another son of Zeus). The bull itself had been a gift to Minos from the sea-god Poseidon, and had been intended as a sacrifice. Minos loved the bull and refused to sacrifice it, so Poseidon caused it to become a destructive monster. Herakles captured it and sent it back to King Eurystheus, who was so terrified that he hid himself away.
The constellation Taurus has several connections to King Minos and the bull mythology surrounding him, particularly the famous Minotaur.
8. Steal the Horses of Diomedes
Herakles brought some companions to help him capture the flesh-eating horses of King Diomedes. They were able to steal the herd, but Diomedes and his troops chased after them. The horses ate Herakles’s friend Abderus while Herakles was engaged in battle (the city of Abderos is named after him), and some versions of the myth have Herakles feeding Diomedes to his own horses as an act of revenge. After eating, the horses became tame, and he was able to send them back to Eurystheus.
9. Steal the Belt of Hippolyte
Hippolyte was the Queen of the Amazons. Her belt was a gift from her father, Ares, the god of war. Eurystheus’s daughter wanted it for herself. Herakles brought friends on this mission, too, but at first it seemed like they wouldn’t be necessary—at first, Hippolyte agreed to just give him the belt. However, Hera interfered, inciting the other Amazons to attack Herakles’s band. Herakles, thinking that Hippolyte had betrayed him, killed her and claimed the belt.
10. Steal Geryon’s Cattle
Geryon was a monster who lived on the island Erythia “at the end of the world,” and Herakles had several adventures on his way to his realm, including earning admiration and assistance from the sun itself. Upon reaching Erythia, Herakles had to defeat Geryon’s guard dog (Cerberus’s brother Orthrus) as well as Geryon. The real task was driving the cattle all the way back to Eurystheus and keeping track of all of them in spite of Hera’s interference.
11. Steal the Apples of the Hesperides
The apples belonged to Zeus himself and were a gift from Hera, kept in a garden guarded by the dragon Ladon and the nymphs known as the Hesperides. Herakles had to find the garden, defeat several opponents along the journey, and figure out how to steal the apples. Prometheus advised him to ask Atlas to do it for him—this was the Titan (gods who predated the Greek Olympians) who held the world on his shoulders, and he welcomed a break. In fact, after retrieving the apples, Atlas refused to take up his burden again, and Herakles had to trick him into resuming his position.
12. Capture Cerberus
This was the three-headed dog who guarded the gates to the Underworld, Hades’s domain. (Certainly Eurystheus thought that this final task would be Herakles’s undoing.) Herakles needed to learn how to travel to the land of the dead and back without dying himself and petitioned the gods Athena, Hermes, and Hestia for help as well. Herakles was finally able to wrestle Cerberus into submission, and Hades allowed him to take the beast back to the surface if he would promise that it wouldn’t be hurt. This was the last straw for Eurystheus. Cowering in fear, he released Herakles from his service. Cerberus was returned to Hades, and Herakles was free.
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Herakles/bio.html
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Herakles/labors.html
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