As the most popular of Greek heroes, Herakles, sometimes called "Hercules", has been celebrated in stories, sculptures, paintings and even in the geography of the ancient world.
This is the story of his Twelve Labours.

For the sake of his cousin, Eurystheus, Herakles was obliged to undertake twelve tasks.

His first task was to kill the Lion of Nemea.
In this valley, in the south of Greece, in Argos to be more precise, there was a lion which was the predatory offspring of the dog Orthos and the monster Ekhidna. Of course this lion terrorized travelers as well as livestock in this area.
Therefore, Eurystheus sent Herakles to slay the lion of Nemea.
Herakles fought strong. Wrestling the lion and finally strangling it to death.

His second task was to kill the Hydra.
What is known of the Hydra is that it was the offspring of Ekhidna and Typhon but it has never been described in detail although has often been depicted as a large multi headed snake, one of which was thought to be immortal.
The Hydra lived in the marshy swamps of Lerna, near Argos on the Peloponnesian Peninsula. This monster was terribly hard to kill, as each time one of the heads was hacked off two news ones would grow in its place. Its blood was also toxic and would in itself have been too poisonous to touch, even for Herakles.
While in mid-combat, Hera feeling vengeful as always sent a giant crab to add to Herakles concerns at the time. The clever Herakles succeeded in cauterizing the necks of the snake, with fire, to prevent the heads to grow once again. One the Hydra was dear Herakles then dipped his arrows in its blood, which he later would come to regret.

The third task he was forced into was to capture the Keryneian Hind.
This hind was depicted with great golden horns, which actually is indicative of a male deep but sexual ambiguity of this kind was seldom uncommon in ancient Greek mythology.
Some versions of this story say that Herakles did not kill but capture the hind while others of course state the opposite and in Euripides version Herakles was meant to have broken off the horns on the animal and nothing more. Artemis, to whom the hind was sacred, also demanded the animal to be returned but were not successful, as Herakles managed to explain his position and why he was forced to take the hind with him. Both figured have however often been depicted, in art, in a tug-of-war over the hind.

His forth task listed was to capture the Boar of Mount Erymanthos
During his quest to find the boar Herakles accidentally shot the noble centaur Khiron with one of the bows that he had dipped into the poisonous blood of the Hydra of Argos.
In the confusion yet another centaur, Pholos, dropped one of Herakles’ arrows onto his foot and as a result both centaurs died.
This devastated Herakles but yet he persisted in his quest to present to boar to Eurystheus.

His fifth task was one that commanded less bravery but more invention.
He was told to clean the stables of king Augeas, of Elis. Which of course were of a rather substantial size.
The way in which he cleaned the stables was rather funny. He actually diverted the rivers Alpheus and Peneus towards the stables and by knocking a hole in one of its walls allowed the torrential waters to flush out all of the detritus.

For his sixth task he had to kill the Stymphalosian birds, of Arkadia.
Legends tells of the birds being both man-eaters as well as a nuisance, so the true cause for the killing of them is rather unknown but never the less important to Herakles story.
It is said that Herakles searched for the birds armed only with his bow and quiver attempting to shoot them as they took flight out of the woods they were hiding in.

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Herakles’ seventh task was to capture the Kretan Bull and present it to Eurystheus.
Who seems to have wanted to use the magnificent bull as a sign of virility and as a show of dominance over Herakles. In some versions of this legend it is also said that the bull was later set free and made its way to the fields of Marathon where he was, once again, captured by Theseus and sacrificed to Apollo.

His eight task was to capture the Mares of Diomedes, king of Bistones, of Thrake.
As the son of Ares, Diomedes, he inherited his father’s thirst for blood and therefore fed his mares human flesh.
It has both been said that Herakles had help to finish this task as well as to have completed it himself. The death of Diomedes is also a bit of an enigma as it has both been told that he was fed, by Herakles, to his own stallions and that he was killed defending them. Whatever the case was, he met his death upon that day.

As a ninth task Herakles was asked to retrieve the belt of queen of the Amazons, Hippolyte.
This particular part of the legend, however, has always been exceptionally flawed.
First of all, the queen in question may not have been Hippolyte at all but also Andromeda, or even Andromakhe.
Second of all, did Herakles in fact kill said queen or did he only subdue her?
Third, did Herakles in fact complete this task on his own or did he actually take on the aid of soldiers for this challenge?
And last, but not least, even the belt itself causes a bit of trouble since it often has been depicted as a girdle which also is a bit erroneous. It was most likely an abbreviated cuirass, a piece of armour worn around the midsection, not covering the whole chest and back area.
What ever the case was, Herakles has often been depicted as standing over the fallen queen, whom ever she may be, with his club raised, as if ready to strike her.

His tenth task consisted of taking the cattle of Geryon, a three-bodied warrior.
Who’s body often times has been depicted in many different shapes, as a thee-bodied man is quite difficult to render not having been in his presence.
It is said that in his long journey to Erytheia, the land where this warrior grazed his cattle, Herakles became so weary from the heat and exhaustion that in rage he shot an arrow at the sun and Helios, amused by his impudence granted a golden bowl that Herakles used to traverse the western sea.
Once slaying Geryon’s two-headed dog, Ortho, and having a savage fight with Geryon himself, Herakles then loaded the cattle into the bowl and sailed all this way back to Eurystheus in Mykenae.

The eleventh task consisted of retrieving the Golden Apples of the Hesperides and bringing them to Eurystheus.
This would however turn out to be the most difficult one of his challenges as it also meant that he would have to accomplish numerous task to be able to finish this main one. Not only did he have to find the sea god Nereus but also fight the giant Antaios, escape death in Egypt, free the titan Prometheus from bondage, seek out the titan Atlas and then, finally, return the Apples of the Hesperides to Eurystheus.
Why it was such a hardship for Herakles to retrieve the Apples was because he first had to find the garden in which they were cultivated by the nymphs, known as Hesperides. To be able to find the garden he had to make Nereus reveal its location first, he later had to meet all the above mentioned characters who all in some form stood in his way before he could finally be allowed to find the very secret gardens.

Herakles’ twelfth and final task was to bring Kerberos back from the Underworld.
It would also prove to be his most dangerous, as well as mystical one.
Kerberos was another offspring of Echidna and the snake-bodied Typhon and was a vicious watchdog of the Underworld, often depicted as having three heads, a dragon tail and snakes writhing from his body. As a savage beast he would only obey the voice of Hades, Herakles’ uncle and the lord of the Dead.
The only condition that Hades presented to Herakles was that if he allowed for Kerberos to be presented to Eurystheus that Herakles was not to use any weapons to subdue the beast. Which Herakles of course managed to do, but it is rather unclear how he managed to shackle the hound.

Upon the completion of the twelve Labors, Herakles was free of the authority of his cousin, Eursytheus.

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