He has to steal the belt of the Queen of the Amazons, then steal the cattle of the monster Geryon. As a bonus, he gets two extra tasks, to steal the golden apples of the Hesperides, and finally to fetch Cerberus, guardian of the gates to the underworld.
myth
Capturing a boar and taking it back to the king, who promptly hid in a bronze jar. Cleaning the Augean Stables in a single day. Killing poisonous birds with his arrows. Capturing the Cretan Bull. Stealing horses that liked to eat people.
Paintings by John Martin, Gustave Courbet, Jules LeFebvre, Georges Lacombe, Gérôme, Edward Poynter, Georg Janny and others.
Paintings by Bosch, Giorgione, Velázquez, Jordaens, Benjamin West, Joseph Wright, Ingres, Ecksersberg, Ary Scheffer and others.
1. Kill the Nemean Lion, by stunning it with his club then strangling it with his bare hands. 2. Kill the Lernean Hydra, by cutting off its heads and searing the wounds, then removing its remaining immortal head. 3. Capture the Ceryneian Hind.
The son of Zeus when he raped Alcmene, Hera delayed his birth to trap Heracles into being forced to undertake his 12 labours, then tried to kill the infant by putting serpents into his cradle.
First he fights a beggar, then plans how to get rid of his wife’s many suitors by killing them all. He then fears his son will kill him, but succumbs to the venom in a stingray spine.
He swam ashore naked and fell asleep in a pile of leaves, When he awoke the following, he walked in front of princess Nausicaä, and had to ask for her father’s help.
Two sets of triplets fight outside the city of Rome acting as proxies for two warring cities. One survivor at the end demonstrates his loyalty by patriotic sacrifice. But which side was David on?
A classic legend of self-sacrifice, in which a single Roman soldier defended a bridge against a whole army until it was demolished, and Rome was saved from the Etruscans.
