Hercules or Herakles is best known as the strongest of all mortals, and even stronger than many of the gods. Hercules was a demi-god which was a half god half mortal. His father was the god Zeus and his mother was a mortal woman named Alcmene. When Hera found out that her husband’s mistress was having a baby, she became very jealous and mad. She was so mad that when Hercules was born, Hera sent two snakes to kill him in his crib. However, Hercules was too strong for the snakes and strangled them before they could do so to him.
When he got older, he turned into a fierce warrior and married a woman named Megara. Hera casted a spell on him that made him temporarily crazy and caused him to murder his lovely wife and their two children. Guilty and ruined, Hercules tracked down Apollo, the god of truth and healing, and asked to be punished for the crime he had done. Apollo then assigned Hercules the hardest tasks and missions in the world, the 12 labors. These tasks were so hard they appeared impossible, but if Hercules were to complete them he would become immortal at his death.
First, Apollo sent Hercules to Nemea to kill a lion that was terrorizing the people of the region. Hercules trapped the lion in its cave and strangled it. For the remainder of his life, he wore the animal’s pelt as a cloak. Second, Hercules traveled to the city of Lerna to slay the nine-headed Hydra. The Hydra was a poisonous, snake-like creature who lived underwater. This monster defended and guarded the Underworld. For this task, Hercules had the help of his nephew lolaus. He cut off each of the monster’s heads while lolaus burned each wound with a torch.
This way, the heads could not grow back. The third labor, Eurystheus ordered Hercules to bring him the Hind of Ceryneia. The hind he had to get belonged to a red female deer with golden horns and bronze hooves. He searched and hunted this one deer for about a year. The fourth task, Hercules used an enormous net to catch the frightening wild boar of Mount Erymanthus. Everyday the boar would come down from the mountain and attack men and women all along the countryside. This wild pig was huge with a bad temper. Hercules killed it.
The fifth task was supposed to be humiliating as well as impossible. He had to clean all the dung out of King Augeas’ enormous stables in a single day. However, Hercules completed the job easily, flooding the barn by diverting two nearby rivers. Hercules’ sixth task was to travel to the town of Stymphalos and drive away the huge flock of carnivorous birds that had taken up residence in its trees. Athena gave him a pair of magical bronze noisemakers, forged by the god Hephaestus. Hercules used these tools to frighten the birds away.
The next and seventh task Hercules had to accomplish was to go to Crete to capture a rampaging bull that had impregnated the wife of the island’s king and terrorized the town. Hercules drove the bull back to Eurystheus, who released it into the streets of Marathon. The eighth challenge was to capture the four man-eating horses of Diomedes. He brought them back to Eurystheus, who dedicated the horses to the goddess Hera and set them free. The ninth labor was very sophisticated. Hercules had to steal an armored belt that belonged to the Queen Hippolyte.
At first, the queen welcomed Hercules and agreed to give him the belt without a fight. However, the jealous Hera disguised herself as a warrior and started a rumor that Hercules was going to kidnap the queen. To protect their leader, the women and her army attacked Hercules. However, the demi-god killed Hippolyte, ripped the belt from her body, and took off. For his 10th labor, Hercules made his way to Africa to steal the cattle of the threeheaded, six-legged monster Geryon. Once again, Hera did all she could to prevent the hero from being successful, but eventually he returned to Mycenae with the cows, completing he task. Next, Hercules is on the 11th labor. Eurystheus sent Heracles to steal Hera’s wedding gift to Zeus: a set of golden apples guarded by a group of nymphs known as the Hesperides. This task was difficult. Hercules needed the help of the mortal Prometheus and the god Atlas to pull it off, but the hero eventually managed to run away with the apples. After he showed them to the king, he returned them to the gods’ garden where they belonged. For his twelfth and final challenge, Hercules traveled to Hades to kidnap Cerberus, the vicious three-headed dog that guarded its gates.
Hercules managed to capture Cerberus by using his superhuman strength to wrestle the monster to the ground. He completed his final labor. Afterward, the dog returned unharmed to his post at the entrance to the Underworld. The labors were completed. Hercules had many accomplishments and challenges after the 12 labors. Hercules defended and saved Mount Olympus and the Gods from the titans and giants as a mortal. Long ago the gods had received an oracle that declared that the gods could kill the Giants only if they had the help of a mortal. This mortal was Hercules.
He joined the battle and helped kill all the titans and giants. Hercules has had a great impact on the greek world and it’s mythology. He might be the best demi-god who has ever lived but unfortunatley all good things must come to an end. The death of hercules was caused by his new wife giving him a tunic that she put poison on by mistake. When he died, he was carried up to Mount Olympus by Athena and spent the rest of eternity with the Gods and as an immortal God as promised. In my opinion, Hercules was Greece’s greatest hero and demi-god.