Two of Hercules Labors Essay

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Two of Hercules Labors

Background info:
Hera inflicted Hercules with madness that put him into a great rage. He became so mad that he murdered his wife Megara and the children. After Hercules realized what he had done, he asked the god Apollo for forgiveness. Apollo commanded Hercules to do twelve labors for Eurystheus.

2 of the 12 Labors:
1) Heracles was challenged to kill the Nemean lion as his first labor. On his way, he stopped in a town called Cleonae, where he stayed with a poor man’s named Molorchus. Molorchus offered to sacrifice an animal to pray for a safe lion hunt. Hercules asked him to wait 30 days and if he came back then they would sacrifice to Zeus but if Hercules died trying to kill the lion, Molorchus would sacrifice to Hercules as a hero instead. Hercules left for Nemea to find the lion. Hercules tried to use arrows to kill the Lion at first but then he realized the lion was supernatural. Its skin could not be penetrated by spears or arrows so Hercules went after the lion. He followed the lion into a cave that had two entrances. Hercules blocked one doorway. Then he went after the lion through the other entrance. Hercules picked up the Lion with his strong arms and he choked it to death while ignoring the beast’s powerful claws. Hercules wore the lion's skin as a cloak and its gaping jaws as a helmet after he killed it. Hercules returned to Cleonae with the dead lion and sacrificed with Molorchus to Zeus.

2) Eurystheus ordered Hercules to clean up King Augeas' stables in one day for the fifth labor. King Augeas owned more cattle than anyone in Greece and the animals had deposited so much manure over the years that a strong aroma hung over Peloponnesus, a large peninsula in Greece. Hercules told Augeas he would clean out the stables as long as he received one-tenth of the cattle but he did not say anything about Eurystheus. Hercules tore a big opening in the wall of the cattle-yard where the stables were. Then he made another opening in the wall on the opposite side of the yard. He dug wide trenches to two rivers that were near. He turned the course of the rivers