1. Please listen to my version of Hercules (the first ½ today)…

2. Baby Hercules! Son of Hera and Zeus? Nope! His mom was Alcmene, the “lady of the light footsteps”. She was the wisest and most beautiful of all mortal women.

3. Heracles: “The Glory of Hera”

4. A Zeus wanted Hercules to be a GOD someday. He was to first live on earth, among men. Then the gods could gain insight Into the human condition.

5. 10 months old! ½ brother Iphicles

6. Jealous Hera…

7. Hera’s mind control!

8. Raiding party of enemies!

9. Hercules was very proficient with a bow and arrows. HERA used this against him.

10. Oracle of Delphi The Oracle exerted considerable influence throughout the Greek world, and she was consulted before all major undertakings, such as wars,

11. What can I do? How can I go on? King Eurytheus, his cousin

12. #1: Kill the Nemean Lion! It could not be killed with mortal weapons because its golden fur was impervious to attack. Its claws were sharper than mortal swords and could cut through any armor. Strangled it and skinned it with its own claws?

13. #2: Kill the Hydra! -Water beast that possessed nine heads— and for each head cut off it grew two more — and poisonous breath so virulent even her tracks were deadly!

14. Hydra: Offspring of TYPHON and Echidna (the mother of all monsters. She was ½ woman and ½ snake. These 2 attacked the Olympians!

15. Zeus buried Typhon under a mountain. He allowed Echidna and the other monster children to exist as a challenge to future heroes…

16. #3: Bring me Back the Sacred Stag of Artemis! Artemis was very possessive. She would show her wrath on anyone who disobeyed her wishes, especially against her sacred animals.

17. Artemis: Twin sister of Apollo- daughter of Zeus (and Leto)

18. #4: Capture the Eurymanthian Boar Driving it from the forest up to the snow covered peaks, chasing the beast until it weakened. When the boar fell into a large snow-drift Heracles then pounced on the beast, tightly binding its feet, he then threw the boar over his shoulder and carried it back to the palace of Eurystheus.

19. #5: Clean the Augean Stables! Augeas was one of the Argonauts. He is best known for his stables, which housed the single greatest number of cattle in the country and had never been cleaned.

20. Hercules was promised by Augeas 1/10 of the cattle if the task was completed in one day. So, this task was not allowed by his cousin, as Hercules was paid…

21. That’s it for today…

22. How did Hercules solve his first “task”? Answer: He wrestled the Nemian Lion to the ground and killed it. He used the creature’s own claws to skin it. He wore the hide and scared King Eurytheus.

23. #6: Drive away the Stymphalian Birds! man-eating birds with beaks of bronze and sharp metallic feathers they could launch at their victims, and were sacred to Ares the god of war. Furthermore, their dung was highly toxic.

24. Thanks, Athena!

25. The Isle of Ares, in the Black Sea…Some of the birds escaped…

26. #7: Savage Bull from Crete! This was the Minotaur’s father! Poseidon released it from the sea and it terrorized the countryside.

27. The bull was a white bull… Hercules jumped on its back, seized its horns, and wrestled it to the ground…

28. #8: Get the man-eating mares of King Diomedes! Diomedes kept four savage mares, to which he fed the flesh of unsuspecting strangers. It is said he was as savage as his mares; they were totally uncontrollable and were tethered by chains to a bronze manger.

29. King Diomedes= mean He would harness his 4 mares. After a battle, he would have them eat the people who had been killed!

30. Hercules broke the chains in the stalls.

31. He bound the horses’ jaws with rope…King Eurytheus eventually Had the horses killed. 

32. #9: Bring me the belt of Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons! … leather belt that had been given to her by Ares, the war god, because she was the best warrior of all the Amazons.

33. Hera intervenes again…

34. #10: Bring Back the Cattle of Geryon! He owned a two-headed hound named Orthrus, who was the brother of Cerberus.

35. Orthrus: 2-headed watchdog guarded the cattle.

37. Mean King Euytheus sacrifices the cattle to Hera!

38. #11: Get some apples from the Garden of Hesperides

39. The apples were guarded by LADON, a 100-headed dragon!

40. The apples actually belonged to Hera!

41. Hesperides, daughters of Atlas…

42. Atlas

43. “Return the apples to the Hesperides, before Hera discovers they are gone!

44. #12: Get me Cereberus! Cereberus was the offspring of Echidna, a hybrid half-woman and half-serpent, and Typhon, a fire-breathing giant whom even the Olympian gods feared.

45. Hercules goes to the underworld! He passes by the 3 Fates.

46. “If you can overcome him with your bare hands, he is yours! But…I want him back!”

47. He used the lion skin to entangle Cerebus…

48. Mean King Eurytheus runs away, never to be heard from again. Hercules can now live out his life in peace.

49. Death of Hercules: Nessus, the centaur

50. NESSUS: Ferryman

51. HYDRA- blood is poisonous

52. Heracles dipped his arrows in Hydra blood to make them poisonous.

53. Deianeira: Nessus tricked her!

54. Funeral Pyre

55. Other information about Hercules: He once fought Apollo to a DRAW! Zeus had to part them with a thunderbolt to stop the fight!

56. Hercules severely wounded Ares once in battle!

57. Hercules rescued Prometheus!

58. Hera accepted Hercules. She let him marry Hebe, her daughter. She was “cupbearer” for the gods/goddesses. She served them nectar and ambrosia.