![]() Alcmene, the daughter of King Electryon of Argos, married her cousin Amphitryon. Like so many Greek heroes, Heracles was a son of Zeus by a mortal woman. The Wonder Years: The Birth and Youth of Heracles Virtually the only element of the Heracles myth that Disney depicted faithfully was the overall theme: The story of Heracles centers on a hero who gains immortality through accomplishments in the mortal sphere. This casting of the villain gave the climactic battle that pitted Hercules and the gods against Hades and the Titans (rather than the Giants) more echoes of Milton's Paradise Lost than of classical mythology. What's more, Hollywood created a new villain for the piece, an archenemy who conforms more closely to our current conceptions of Satan: Hades. Disney skipped virtually all of the labors of Heracles, gave him at least one new parent, reduced his many teachers to one, limited him to just one wife (and no concubines), and ignored his tragic death altogether. If you saw the 1997 Disney movie called Hercules, forget almost everything you think you know about the hero (called Heracles by the Greeks). The Far Corners of the Earth: The Final Four Labors.Even More Beastly Chores: The Second Four Labors.This exhibit is a subset of materials from the Perseus Project digital library and is copyrighted. To read more about these topics, see Further Resources. But Eurystheus said that this labour didn't count, because Hercules was paid for having done the work. So the boy went to the north country to live with his aunts, and Hercules headed back to Mycenae. In a rage, Augeas ordered both his own son and Hercules to leave his kingdom at once. The judge ruled that Hercules would have to be paid. The boy swore that his father had agreed to give Hercules a reward. Hercules called the son of Augeas to testify. Augeas said that if Hercules didn't like it, he could take the matter to a judge to decide. Not only that, he denied that he had even promised to pay a reward. ![]() When Augeas learned that Eurystheus was behind all this, he would not pay Hercules his reward. Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum The goddess Athena pours him a cup of wine. Mount Holyoke 1925.BS.II.3, Attic black figure skyphos, c. The rivers rushed through the stables, flushing them out, and all the mess flowed out the hole in the wall on other side of the yard. He turned the course of the rivers into the yard. Next, he dug wide trenches to two rivers which flowed nearby. Then he made another opening in the wall on the opposite side of the yard. First the hero tore a big opening in the wall of the cattle-yard where the stables were. Hercules brought Augeas's son along to watch. 440-430 B.C.Īugeas couldn't believe his ears, but promised. Munich 2412, Attic red figure stamnos, c. Hercules went to King Augeas, and without telling anything about Eurystheus, said that he would clean out the stables in one day, if Augeas would give him a tenth of his fine cattle. With permission of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 530-500 B.C.įrom Caskey & Beazley, plate IV. Schoder, S.J., courtesy of Bolchazy-Carducci PublishersĮvery night the cowherds, goatherds and shepherds drove the thousands of animals to the stables.īoston 13.195, Attic red figure lekythos, c. Some say that he was a son of one of the great gods, and others that he was a son of a mortal whosever son he was, Augeas was very rich, and he had many herds of cows, bulls, goats, sheep and horses.Īn aerial view of Olympia in Elis, where Augeas ruled his kingdom. Now King Augeas owned more cattle than anyone in Greece. Then Eurystheus made Hercules' task even harder: he had to clean up after the cattle of Augeas in a single day. Hercules knew this job would mean getting dirty and smelly, but sometimes even a hero has to do these things. Hercules' Fifth Labor: the Augean Stablesįor the fifth labor, Eurystheus ordered Hercules to clean up King Augeas' stables.
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