S3E1 - Heracles Pt. 1 - the G.O.A.T. of Greek Mythology

The stories featured in Greaking Out are original adaptations of classic Greek myths.

This week's story features comical amounts of dung, fraternal twins, an uncontrollable destructive rage, and snakes.

And we all know how the oracle feels about snakes.

The goat of Greek mythology, part one.

Our story today is not about farm animals.

It's not goat, eh, goat, it's G-O-A-T, as in greatest of all time.

The greatest hero in all of Greek mythology.

He is the LeBron James of ancient Greece, the Usain Bolt of Olympus, the Serena Williams of Thebes.

If someone asked you to name one hero from Greek mythology, what's the first name that would pop into into your head?

That's right.

Heracles.

Hercules.

Right.

Wait, wait, hold on, wait, what?

Heracles.

It's Hercules, isn't it?

No, Hercules is the Latin name for the same person.

But Heracles is how it's pronounced in the original Greek.

It means famous because of Hera.

The Romans later adapted these same stories, but called the hero Hercules instead.

But more people today know him as Hercules.

True, but the name of this podcast is Greaking Out.

So we should use the original version, don't you think?

If it was called Roman Around, then maybe we could go with Hercules.

Okay, fair point.

Thank you.

And I like the Roman Around thing.

Can I use that?

Knock yourself out.

Okay, all right.

So, you probably already know a little bit about Hercules.

He was...

Really?

Heracles.

Heracles.

Sorry.

Heracles.

Heracles was born half mortal, half god, a demigod, as it was called.

Like a lot of heroes in these stories, he was the son of Zeus and a mortal woman named Alcmene, who happened to be the granddaughter of the great hero Perseus and was married to a decent guy named Amphitrion.

Now, if you've been following these stories already, you'll know that Zeus's wife Hera didn't like him spending a lot of time with other ladies, and he did that a lot.

So it's understandable that she would be jealous, but she often took her anger out on the children of Zeus as opposed to the god himself.

Zeus was the king of the gods, after all.

He could kind of do whatever he wanted and no one could stop him, but Hera was tricky.

The night before Heracles was to be born, Zeus was bragging all over Olympus about his new son and how he would be the greatest of all of the descendants of Perseus.

And this is when Hera decided to have her revenge.

She egged Zeus on, daring him to back up his boasts with actions.

So the king of the gods proclaimed the next child to be born in the house of Perseus would become a high king of the mortals.

And that the one that was born right after him would be his servant.

But Zeus didn't know that Heracles was about to have a cousin.

Hera immediately left Olympus and traveled to Argos, where she caused the wife of the king of Argos to give birth to her baby early.

The baby was a boy, and his name was Eurystheus.

He was born small, and sickly and weak, but by Zeus's decree, he was to be the new ruler.

And now Hercules was Hera, Cleves.

Sorry.

And now Heracles was bound to serve him.

Zeus was obviously furious about all of this, but of course, he couldn't violate his own oath.

So instead, he made a deal with Hera.

He made her promise that if Heracles performed enough great works in the service of King Eurystheus, that he would become immortal and could join the gods.

Hera agreed.

I mean, if Eurystheus got to decide what these great works were going to be, then little Heracles was bound to have a hard road ahead of him.

But Hera was in for a surprise too.

It turns out that Alchmene actually delivered two babies.

Didn't know that Herc had a twin brother, did you?

The first was Heracles, and he was a demigod.

The second was Iphocles, who was not a demigod.

Although they looked alike as babies, Heracles and Iphocles are not identical twins.

They would be fraternal twins.

But even so, as infants, it was almost impossible to tell which baby was which.

So Hera decided upon a test.

One night, when the babies were still very young, Hera sent two snakes into their bed.

Iphocles cried at the sight of the snakes in his crib, but Heracles reacted differently.

He immediately snatched up the snakes, knocked their heads together, and flung them out of the crib.

This is an irresponsible use of snakes.

I know, Oracle, I know, I know, but this is how Hera found out which one of the twins was the demigod.

Heracles was raised by his mother and his stepdad in the city of Thebes.

But Zeus was still sort of in the picture.

He made sure his son had the best tutors as he grew up.

Heracles' stepfather taught him to drive a chariot, but Heracles was taught how to wrestle by Odysseus' grandfather.

He was taught how to shoot a bow by the king of Achillea.

The legendary Castor taught him how to use a sword, and the son of the god Hermes taught him how to box.

He also learned to read and write and sing from Linus, one of the Muse's sons.

So basically, he had personal tutors for every subject and never had to zoom class even once.

And over time, Heracles actually became better than his teachers at just about every subject.

See what a good education can do?

Exactly.

And having a powerful godfather literally helps a lot too.

But of course, Heracles was also still a kid and he had chores to do, one of which involved keeping an eye on his stepfather's cattle while they were grazing in the fields.

One morning, when Heracles went up to the fields to bring the herd back, he discovered that a number of oxen had been killed by a huge lion.

Heracles had heard stories of this devious lion.

Even the king next door complained of this beast that preyed upon the innocent creatures in his kingdom.

Lions lived in Europe many centuries ago.

Today, the only lions outside of Africa are Asiatic lions who still live in India's gear forest.

While they are considered endangered, with only 500 left in the wild, their population is trending towards stable.

Heracles decided to put a stop to it.

He hunted for 50 days for the creature.

Aided in the hunt by the king's fierce daughters, Heracles finally caught and killed the mighty lion.

Afterwards, Heracles took the skin of the lion and made it into a cloak, and he even wore the lion's scalp on his head like a helmet.

It became kind of a trademark thing for him.

After the hunt, Heracles was bringing the herd back down the mountain when he was stopped by four soldiers sent by another king, King Erkinos of Minos.

And they were collecting their annual tribute of a hundred cows.

This had been going on for years.

The people of Thebes were being bullied by the neighboring kingdom into paying them off or risk having their homes destroyed, their crops burned, etc., etc., etc.

Heracles knew all of this, but let's face it, he had just killed a huge lion to protect this herd.

He wasn't about to just give it up to some big bully who wanted what wasn't his.

So, not surprisingly, there was a fight.

Even outnumbered, Heracles was able to best the four soldiers.

In fact, one legend claims that he sent the soldiers marching back to their king with their ears and noses cut off.

Your ears and your nose continue to grow your whole life because they are made of cartilage.

Bones and muscles stop expanding after puberty, but not cartilage.

That's why older people have larger noses and ears.

It probably won't be a problem for these guys.

Well, this didn't go over well with King Arcinus.

He was furious and he sent the entire Minian army to Thebes to retaliate.

This was not well received by everybody in town.

I mean, all of a sudden this kid in a lion suit picks a fight with some soldiers and now we're in a war?

Heracles' stepfather stood by his stepson and defended his actions, even rallying soldiers and organizing men into troops to fight the Minians.

And Heracles Heracles was determined to prove his worth and make things right.

He prayed to the gods for help.

And on the evening before the battle, Athena herself appeared to Heracles and offered to lend him a suit of her enchanted armor to wear under his lion skin.

Since Athena was the goddess of battle and strategy, you know her armor was going to be special.

Heracles led this small group of soldiers from Thebes against the Minian forces and won.

It was was a long battle.

Heracles was surrounded for much of the time, but he swung his club again and again, knocking back the enemy every time.

His spear and his sword were just as dangerous, and his armor was impenetrable.

Eventually, King Arcinus realized his forces were outmatched, and he instructed the few soldiers he had left to throw down their arms and surrender.

Heracles had won, but he had also lost something too.

His stepfather had died fighting in the great battle, and Heracles and Iphicles had a great funeral in his honor.

Now, Heracles was a bona fide hero.

As part of the terms of the surrender, Heracles demanded that the minions actually start paying tribute to Thebes instead of the other way around.

And Thebes loved him.

The king of Thebes loved him.

He got engaged and married to the Princess Megara.

And the gods gave him amazing gifts too.

Hermes gave him a sword, Apollo a bow and arrows, and Hephaestus gave him a golden coat of chainmail.

Everything was going great for Heracles.

And this was more than Hera could take, honestly.

His fame and fortune were driving her crazy.

So she decided to do the same to him.

Some say it was the fame and power going to his head.

Others say he just missed fighting too much, but it was really the goddess Hera whispering an evil spell into his ear while he slept that drove Heracles to madness and destruction.

He turned into a monster.

Without explanation, Heracles started destroying everything in his path.

His home, his wife, his family, everything.

He was like a force of nature that just ripped everything to pieces.

The people of Thebes hid from him as he raged through the streets, yelling and smashing things.

And days later, when he came to his senses, he found himself alone with his armor and his weapons and no idea what to do next.

You know, I think maybe this is a good place to take a break and regroup.

Believe me, Heracles is thinking the same thing.

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So what do the ancient Greeks do when they don't know what else to do?

Ask the oracle.

Heracles left Thebes heartbroken and shame-faced and traveled to the oracle at Delphi to ask for advice.

She told Heracles that he should go to his cousin Eurystheus, the king of Tyrans, and serve him as the gods had decreed years ago.

Heracles was devastated by what happened in Thebes.

He longed to make up for the horrible things he had done, so he journeyed all the way to Tyrans and pledged to serve his cousin, King Eurystheus, as long as he could also rid the world of evil.

Tiran's is a real place dating back more than 4,000 years.

It's located in southern Greece on a peninsula called the Peloponnesus.

It was once marked by a massive hilltop palace and fort with great stone walls that were rumored to be built by a Cyclops.

Naturally, Eurystheus was more than happy to accept Heracles as his servant.

Now remember, Eurystheus was the baby that Hera had tricked Zeus to.

She used her godlike influence to cause Eurystheus' mother to go into labor early.

As a result, he was born small and weak and had some health problems his whole life.

Yes, he was king.

But when the mighty Heracles appeared before him with his hero's jaw and strapping frame and his Olympus given good looks, well, I'm pretty sure that Eurystheus was probably at least a little jealous.

That might explain why he gave Heracles such a hard time.

Perhaps the goddess Hera whispered in his ear a bit too, but either way, Eurystheus laid out a hard road for Heracles.

He instructed our hero to perform 10 heroic tasks, which were also called labors, before he could fulfill his oath.

Naturally, a lot of this involved fighting monsters, but Herc also wound up wrangling horses, retrieving cattle, fetching magical fruit, even stealing somebody's girdle.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The first task that Eurystheus laid out for Heracles was to kill another lion and bring the skin back to tyrants.

This might not sound so bad at first, but this was the notorious lion of Nemea, a fierce and terrible beast that was rumored to be impossible to kill and ate whole herds of cows and sheep.

Eurystheus was pretty sure that his cousin would never make it back.

Human-wildlife conflict are problems that happen when growing human populations overlap with established wildlife territory, creating competition for space and resources.

Stories about monsters eating livestock are usually a result of this experience.

Heracles was all business.

He decided to look at every task set before him as a way to make up for the horrible things he had done in Thebes.

When he finally found his way to Nemea, he stopped in a small town where he was given shelter by a poor workman.

When he heard of Heracles' plan to kill the dreaded Nemean lion, the workmen suggested they make an offering to the gods that night to pray for a safe and successful hunt.

But Heracles talked him out of it, asking the man to wait 30 days.

If I succeed, he said, we will dedicate the lion together in Zeus's name.

If I do not, I will be dead, and you can dedicate me as a hero.

Heracles set out the next day and began tracking the notorious lion.

The workmen told him stories of arrows and swords bouncing off the hide of the beast.

It was said to be invincible.

But Heracles was not swayed in the slightest.

The lion's paws were so large that the prints were easy to spot, and Heracles tracked the giant cat into the mountains.

When he finally encountered the lion, Heracles had to admit, it was ferocious-looking.

It was the biggest cat he'd ever seen with blood-stained teeth and vicious-looking claws.

An adult lion has about 30 teeth.

An adult human has between 28 and 32.

But the lions are bigger and sharper.

Stepping out from behind the rocks, Heracles notched an arrow to his bow and let it fly.

A perfect shot to the heart of the beast, except it didn't stick.

The arrow smacked hard against the lion's chest, a strong blow to be sure, but it didn't break the skin.

The lion leapt to its feet and charged at Heracles, who was lucky enough to roll away just beyond the reach of the sharp claws.

He drew his broadsword and charged, thrusting the blade into the beast with all of his might.

But even that couldn't penetrate the hide of the lion.

Heracles staggered back and the lion ran up the hill behind him.

He was escaping to higher ground, and Heracles knew he couldn't let that happen.

He sprinted as fast as he could after the creature, up a winding path, over an outcropping of rocks, and into a cave.

Heracles started in after the lion for a second, but then he stopped himself.

Standing at the entrance, he could feel a breeze coming from inside.

This meant there was another way in somewhere.

So Heracles quickly blocked the mouth of the cave with rocks and boulders and then raced around to the other side of the mount where there was, in fact, a second entrance now the lion had no way out heracles had him trapped before he ventured into the darkness of the cave heracles threw down his bow and his sword and his knife knowing they would be useless he grabbed his club and marched in to find the lion

it wasn't long before they found each other The lion was waiting.

It pounced on Heracles, biting and scratching at the warrior.

Heracles swung his club, beating the monster back, and then he pounced on the lion.

The great beast thrashed and writhed and roared, but he could not escape Heracles' arms around his neck.

Using only his bare hands and his strength, the mighty Heracles finally subdued the Nemean lion without ever piercing his heart.

Heracles tried several times to skin the lion, but none of his weapons could even make a dent.

So he carried the Nemean lion back to the home of his friend the workman, where they had a feast and dedicated the lion in honor of Zeus.

I feel it is important to mention here, listeners, that you should not go out and wrestle lions.

The lion population in Africa has decreased by 90% in the last century, and they are extinct in 26 African countries.

We need to help lions, not wrestle them.

Also, you'd probably lose.

You would definitely lose.

Amazingly, the very next morning, Heracles found that he was suddenly able to to skin the lion and he brought the pelt back to Eurystheus as requested.

Maybe a little help from the gods?

The king was amazed.

Heracles had done the impossible.

Suddenly, Eurystheus wasn't just jealous anymore.

He was actually kind of afraid.

He didn't even allow Heracles into the palace to present his prize.

In fact, Eurystheus never spoke directly to Heracles after that.

He simply sent his commands to the warrior through a messenger and never met him face to face again.

Meanwhile, up in Olympus, Zeus was back to bragging about his son the hero, and Hera was beside herself.

She decided to get a little more involved in things as she whipped up a new monster for Heracles to face that was going to be a lot more of a challenge than a big cat with a tough skin.

Enter the dreaded Hydra.

A six-headed water snake that had suddenly just appeared in an ancient lake near the town of Lerna, terrorizing all of the townspeople nearby, or at least anybody who wanted to go swimming.

Now, the hydra was a complicated beast.

In addition to being a giant water snake with six heads, it could spit acid from any of its mouths, and its blood was poisonous.

So, yeah, there was a lot going on there.

Heracles knew this was going to be difficult.

Fortunately, His nephew Eolaus, the son of his half-brother Iphocles, volunteered to help him.

Heracles wasn't really in touch with many folks from his life in Thebes, for obvious reasons, but Eolaus had always been fond of his uncle, and he had journeyed to Tyrans and sought him out so he could help the hero with his quests.

Finally, Heracles relented and allowed Eolaus to tag along.

The kid wouldn't necessarily fight, but he could help.

Something between a servant and a sidekick.

You know, this is a long episode of Greaking Out, so I think this is a good spot to pause for a second if you want to get a snack or do some homework, take a stretch before we head into the next labor.

Everybody good?

You got we good?

We good?

You got a snack?

Okay, all right, let's go.

As they approached the lake near Lerna, the Hydra slithered out of the water's edge and roared at Heracles with all six of its heads.

Without fear, Heracles charged the giant beast and swung his sword, cutting off one of its heads.

Iolaus cheered, and Heracles allowed himself to smile for a second.

But only for a second, because he saw that something was growing from the neck that had been severed.

Two somethings, actually.

The Hydra regrew two heads from the very spot where Heracles had cut away one.

Suddenly, Heracles wasn't sure what to do.

He ducked and dodged when the monster spit acid at him, grateful for his new Nimean lion-skin cloak.

And he lunged at the Hydra with his sword and his spear, but it was almost impossible not to cut cut off a head now and then.

I mean, these things were snakes.

They're pretty much all neck.

That's not entirely true.

Structurally, snakes do have a specific neck area, a defined tail area, and a backbone of sorts.

Most of their vertebrae are thoracic, so that means most of the average snake is an extended chest, with a little neck at the top and a small tail at the bottom.

Okay, well, thanks, Oracle.

You know how much I love snakes.

Yes, I do.

I want one.

I'm sorry, what?

As a pet.

I will name her Brenda.

Can we talk about this later?

Fine.

Okay.

So, where were we?

Snakes.

Before that.

Heracles was losing to the Hydra.

Right.

Heracles was exhausted.

He was running and dodging and getting nowhere.

He had to find a way to stop these heads from growing back.

But then, Eolaus got an idea.

He lit a torch and waited.

Each time Heracles severed one of the Hydra's heads, Eolaus would seal the wound by touching it with flame.

This kept the new heads from growing back.

And soon, Heracles was able to slay the beast, cutting off the last head and burying it beneath a giant rock.

It is said that Heracles also dipped his arrows in the hydra's poisonous blood to make him extra dangerous with a bow.

Indeed.

Just a pro tip for any monster fighters out there.

Well, you never know.

Thanks.

For his third task, Heracles was sent to Chaonea to catch a deer.

But this wasn't just a deer.

It was an enchanted hind, or mother deer, that was dedicated to the goddess Artemis.

It was larger than a bull and lightning fast.

Heracles chased it all over the place, even following it to the northernmost edges of the earth.

But eventually, he caught the hind and returned victorious.

After that, for his fourth task, he was sent into the mountains to chase down a wild boar.

This was another oversized beast that was terrorizing the locals and destroying farms.

Giant wild boars appear in several places in Greek mythology.

In season two of Greaking Out, you may remember that the warrior Atalanta defeats one as well.

Right!

So Heracles chased the beast down, but was unable to trap it until he got the idea to drive it into the snow.

This made it hard for the boar to run, and once he was slowed down, he was easy prey for Heracles and his boat.

When Heracles received the orders for labor number five from Eurystheus, he thought at first there must be a mistake.

He even asked the messenger if he had brought the right message, because there were no monsters to fight or beasts to hunt.

Instead, the instructions read, Travel to Elis and clean the stables of King Augius in one day's time.

Clean the stables?

Was he a warrior or a stable boy?

Obviously, this was a task designed to embarrass and humiliate the mighty Heracles, but he didn't realize how bad it would be until he arrived in Elis.

It turned out that King Augeas owned more livestock than anyone in Greece.

The king was very, very rich, and he had many herds of cows and horses and bulls and sheep and goats, thousands of animals.

And every night, an army of shepherds and farmhands would bring them into these stables so heracles knew he'd be up to his knees in dung but this was overwhelming to put it simply it was an enormous amount of poop even the son of zeus himself couldn't clean all that up in one day although heracles was pretty sure the gods could smell the stench all the way up on olympus

but again iolaus had an idea he and heracles were standing on the bank of a nearby river when it occurred to the young man that maybe the river could help.

Heracles smashed through a wall on one side of the stables and then punched another massive hole through the wall on the other side.

Then he and Iolaus began to dig.

They made a giant trench running from the river to the hole in the side of the stable.

Then they dug a second trench that ran from the second hole back to the river.

This way, they were able to channel the water from the river into the cattle yard and used it to flush all of this mess out of the stables.

In ancient times, aqueducts were a way to move water from one place to another.

These were usually channels in the ground or clay pipes.

While the Romans are known for their sophisticated aqueduct systems, the Greeks were actually using them as early as the second millennium.

Heracles returned to Tyrans proud and victorious.

and probably pretty smelly.

Okay, it was no hydra fight, but Heracles was proud of the way they managed to handle that task.

He was now halfway through his 10 labors.

But then, King Eurystheus changed the game.

He was certainly happy about the stables being cleaned up a bit, but he wasn't pleased with the success that Heracles was enjoying at all.

And he accused the hero of cheating, since two of the labors weren't completed by Heracles alone.

Eolaus had helped Heracles defeat the Hydra and clean the stables at Elis, so Eurystheus decreed that Heracles would need to perform two more heroic deeds before his service was complete.

And so, the 10 labors of Heracles now became 12, and Heracles knew he had a lot more challenges ahead.

And we'll get to all of those challenges the next time we Greek out.

Greeking out!

That's it for this week, but get ready for our return to the story of Heracles and his 10 or 12 labors next week.

National Geographic Kids Greaking Out is written by Kenny Curtis and Jillian Hughes and hosted by Kenny Curtis, with Tori Kerr as the Oracle of Wi-Fi.

Audio production and sound design by Scotty Beam, and our theme song was composed by Perry Gripp.

Dr.

Diane Klein is our subject matter expert and Emily Everhart is our producer.