Hercules Fourth Labor

1257 Words6 Pages
Motionless, a newborn baby lies in his crib, barely minutes old. In this bedroom chamber, there was a small crib containing a newborn baby inside. Two serpents slithered over to the crib rails as doing their master’s request. Doom is on the way for the small infant, who was thought to be long dead by now. The baby got up from the crib and strangled the two serpents to death by holding on to their necks starving for air. “Up jumped his mother, and ran to help, and all the women shrieked out” (Lemming 55). This special baby was alive thanks to his super strength, which would make him a powerful being forever. He was known as Hercules. Hercules was born as the son of Zeus, the king of gods, and Alcmena, a mortal woman. He was a strong being…show more content…
It took him a year to capture the stag, which he could have easily killed. The fourth labor was to capture a boar in its lair on Mount Erymanthus. The boar was chased to near exhaustion and trapped by cornering it into deep snow. The fifth labor was to clean the Augean Stable in a single day. The stables contain thousands of cattle and their stalls have not been cleaned in years. Hercules divided two rivers and force them threw the stables to create a flood to wash out all the filth. The sixth labor was to drive away the Stymphalian birds. The beaks and claws of the birds were sharp and tough as metal. The birds were also a plaque to the people of Stymphalus in which the birds grew into enormous numbers. Hercules received help from Athena to drive the birds away from their coverts, as the birds flew away from to coverts he killed them. The seventh labor was to go to Cretes to take back the bull that Poseidon gave to Minos. Hercules mastered the bull, took him to the boat where he was going to take him Eurystheus. The eighth labor was to bring back the man-eating mares of King Diomedes of Thrace. Hercules killed Diomedes first and then drove the mares away from the…show more content…
“The tenth labor was to bring back the cattle of Geryon, who was a monster with three bodies living on Erythia, a western island” (Snodgrass 233). When Hercules reached land at the end of the Mediterranean Sea, he set it up as a memorial of his journey by placing two massive rocks, called the Pillars of Hercules. Then he got the cattle and took them to Mycenae. The eleventh labor was considered to be the most difficult so far, which was to bring back the Golden Apples of Hesperides,and he did not know where to look for them. Hercules decided to go to Atlas to ask him to get the golden apples for him. He gladly agreed to help him since he realized that this would relieve him from his heavy task on holding the sky. After the deal was accepted, Atlas got the golden apples, yet did not give them to Hercules. Instead, he told Hercules that he had to keep holding on the sky, and Atlas would take the apples to Eurystheus. Hercules had to use up all the strength to hold the Sky in place. “He was successful, but because of Atlas’ stupidity rather than his own cleverness” (Snodgrass 233). He agreed to Atlas’s plan for the golden apples, He wanted him to hold the sky again so he can put a pad on his shoulders to ease the pressure. Hercules took the apples from Atlas and went
Show More
Related

  • Dragonheart Research Paper

    743 Words  | 3 Pages

    astronomer Ptolemy. There are actually four representations of this collection of stars, only three of which are dragons. The first of these explanations is the Greek tale of Ladon, a dragon slain by Hercules as part of his twelve labors. Ladon was a beast protecting the golden apples of Hesperides, which Hercules was tasked with stealing.

    Read More

More about Hercules Fourth Labor

Open Document