Paragraphs on THe Nemean Lion, Hydra, Ceryneia and Erymanthean Boar

1) THE NEMEAN LION

Heracles was commanded by Eurystheus to bring to him the hide of the Nemean Lion. The lion had been terrorizing the valley of Nemea. The lion was a monstrous offspring of Echidna and one of Orthus or Typhoeus, or had plunged from the moon (Selene) to the earth.

Heracles used his bow and arrows to shoot the lion, but he noticed the arrows could not penetrate its pelt. Thereby, he attacked it with his clubs causing the lion to run into a cave that had two entrances. Hercules blocked one entrance, he then wrestled with the lion and strangled it. Following this, he proceeded to skin it and wrapped himself in its skin after offering a sacrifice to Zeus.

Hercules returned to Mycanae with the lion hung on his shoulder. Eurystheus was terrified when he saw Heracles dressed in the lion’s pelt and ordered him to leave all his future trophies outside the city’s gate. Eurystheus then had a large, bronze jar crafted and buried in the earth so whenever Heracles came from a task he would hide in this jar and use a messenger to relay his next orders to the hero out of fear.

2) THE LERNEAN HYDRA

Heracles second labor was to kill the Lerna Hydra (water snake). The hydra was a daughter of Typhoeus and Echidna, and sister of Orthus and Cerberus. The hydra lived in the marshes of Lerna consumed people as well as animals. The hydra was a female monster with large dog-like body and several serpentine heads. One of these heads was immortal. The hydra possessed poisonous breath that killed anyone who inhaled it.

Heracles was accompanied by his nephew and charioteer Iolaus, who was the son of his twin brother Iphicles and Automedusa. They arrived at the Amynone Spring, where the monster lived in seclusion. Heracles forced the beast out...

... middle of paper ...

...ion of the Argonauts, had countless herds. When Hercules asked for one-tenth of the king's animals as his fee for cleaning the stables, the king agreed because he was convinced that the task was impossible. But Hercules, proved to be cleverer than the king had imagined: He tore down a wall and diverted the waters of the riversAlpheius and Peneius into the stables.

The stables were cleaned in a matter of hours, but Augeias refused to keep his promise, insisting that Hercules had a duty to perform this labor for Eurystheus. To make matters worse, Eurystheus refused to give him credit for accomplishing the labor, contending that he had done it as a job for hire. As some other storytellers insist, Eurystheus withheld credit and Augeias refused payment, because they contended that the river gods Alpheius and Peneius, rather than Hercules himself, accomplished the feat.