The Twelve Labours

The Twelve Labours (Greek: dodekathlos) of Heracles (Latin: Hercules) are a series of archaic episodes connected by a later continuous narrative, concerning a penance carried out by Heracles, the greatest of the Greek heroes. The establishment of a fixed cycle of twelve labours was attributed by the Greeks to an epic poem (now lost) written by a certain Peisandros of Rhodes, perhaps to be dated about 600 BCE (Burkert).

As they survive, the Labours of Heracles are not told in any single place, but must be reassembled from many sources. Ruck and Staples (pp 169–170) assert that there is no one way to interpret the labours, but that six were located in the Peloponnese, culminating with the rededication of Olympia. Six others took the hero farther afield. In each case, the pattern was the same: Heracles was sent to kill or subdue, or to fetch back for Hera's representative Eurystheus a magical animal or plant. "The sites selected were all previously strongholds of Hera or the 'Goddess' and were Entrances to the Netherworld" (p 169).

A famous depiction of the labours in Greek sculpture is found on the metopes of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, which date to the 450s BCE; in the Archaic period, it may actually have been the labours' display on the twelve available metopes on temples which led to their being counted as twelve in number.

The framing narrative

Zeus, having made Alcmene pregnant with Heracles, proclaimed that the next son born of the house of Perseus would become king. Hera, Zeus' wife, hearing this, caused Eurystheus to be born two months early as he was of the house of Perseus, while Heracles, also of the house, was three months overdue. When he found out what had been done, Zeus was furious; however, his rash proclamation still stood.

In a fit of madness, induced by Hera, Heracles slew his wife and children; the fit then passed. Realizing what he had done, he isolated himself, going into the wilderness and living alone. He was found (by his cousin Theseus) and convinced to visit the Oracle at Delphi. The Oracle told him that as a penance he would have to perform a series of ten tasks set by King Eurystheus, the man who had taken Heracles' birthright and the man he hated the most.

The Labours

In his labours, Heracles was often accompanied by a male companion (an eromenos), according to some, Licymnius, or by others Iolaus, his nephew. Although he was only supposed to perform ten labours, this assistance led to him suffering two more. Eurystheus didn't count the Hydra, because Iolaus helped him, or the Augean stables, as he received payment for his work (in other versions it is because the rivers did the work).

A traditional order of the labours found in Apollodorus (2.5.1-2.5.12) is:

Inner meaning

Behind their outer, literal meaning, Greek myths always hid an inner mystical tradition, and thus the labours could be interpreted as a symbolization of the spiritual path. The last three labours (10-12) of Heracles are generally considered metaphors about death.

Origin of the stories

Geographic locations

Pointing to a possible location for their origin, or at least their formalisation, is the fact that most of the geographic locations, are all located in, or on the borders of Arcadia, or connected with it significantly.

the town of Nemea, northwest of Argos
lake Lerna to the south (which is now dry).
the mountain Erymanthos, currently also called Olonos.
the town Ceryneia, in the far North West of the Peloponnese
lake Stymphalia, close by, and west of, Nemea. In ancient times it was marshy.
the river Alphaeus feeds the bay of Elis, and drains the north western mountains.
the city of Sparta to the south. It features as the entrance to the Underworld.
the island of Crete, a sea trading nation
the nation of Thrace, is described as being the enemy of Argos during the Trojan War, and in that situation is associated with Diomedes.

Modern popular culture

The Twelve Labours have been spoofed a number of times in comic books:

Asterix starred his own Twelve Tasks, since the original were "outdated"
Monica, a popular Brazilian character, fought the "original" 12 labours, with a few changes^*
In a 1970s story arc, Wonder Woman underwent her own twelve labours to demonstrate her fitness to rejoin the Justice League of America. Each of these tasks was monitored by an incumbent member of the League.
In a 1995 Marvel comics mini-series, Heracles undertook modernized versions of his twelve labours, often with comedic results.

Howard Waldrop also reset the Twelve Labours to the Depression-era American South in his novella A Dozen Tough Jobs.

Agatha Christie used the twelve labours as allegories for the last twelve cases that her detective Hercule Poirot would solve before his retirement in the 1947 short story collection The Labours of Hercules. (He didn't retire until Curtain in 1975.)

References

Burkert, Walter, Greek Religion 1985 (Cambridge, Massachusetts:Harvard University Press)
Ruck, Carl A.P., and Danny Staples, 1994. The World of Classical Myth (Durham:Carolina Academic Press)

External links

Twelve labours of Herakles

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