Gods, Myths and Heroes - Part 5b

Hercules

We continue our story of the Twelve Labors of Hercules.  How do you depict a naked hero?  Let me count the ways.

The fourth labor was to bring back the savage Erymanthian Boar alive.  On the advice of Chiron the centaur, Hercules drove the boar into thick snow on Mount Erymanthos, where it lived.  Hercules was then able to capture the boar.

(Hercules and the Erymanthian Boar, by Antoine-Louis Barye, c. 1820, Walters Museum, Baltimore)

For the fifth labor, King Eurystheus set Hercules a task that was not dangerous, just humiliating.  The task was to clean the stables of King Augeus.  Supposedly, 1000 cattle lived in the stables, and it hadn't been cleaned in 30 years.  That would be a lot of manure!  Instead of shoveling shit, Hercules rerouted a river to flow through the stables and wash it out. So, he had brains, not just brawn.

(Hercules diverting the Course of the River Alpheus by Francisco de Zurbaran, 1634, Prado Museum, Madrid)

The sixth labor was to get rid of the Stymphalian birds, which were man-eating birds with sharp metallic feathers that they launched at their victims.  They lived in Lake Stymphalia, but Hercules could not approach them because the area was swampy and would not support his weight.  The goddess Athena gave Hercules a noisemaker which he shook, frightening the birds into the air, and then he shot them with bow and arrow.

(This voluptuous sculpture is by Antoine Bourdelle, 1909, Middleheim Museum, Antwerp, Belgium)

The seventh labor was to capture the Cretan Bull, father of the Minotaur, which had been wreaking havoc in Crete.

(Relief from a sarcophagus in Asia Minor, c. 160 BC, now in the Galleria Borghese, Rome)

Like the lion, Hercules subdued the bull with his bare hands.

(Drawing by Giovanni Antonio da Brescia, 1500-1520)

The eighth labor was to steal the Mares of Diomedes.  Diomedes was the king of Thrace, and these mares were vicious creatures that fed on human flesh.

(Hercules and the Mares of Diomedes, mosaic from a Roman villa, c. 170-180 AD, Valence, France)

This sculpture showing Hercules stealing the mares was made in 1905 by Gutzon Borglum, best known as the sculptor of Mount Rushmore.  It is now in the Metropolitan Museum, New York.

Of course, Diomedes didn't appreciate his mares being stolen.  This sculpture shows Hercules and Diomedes fighting.  Diomedes is the one upside-down who's fighting dirty by grabbing Hercules' equipment.  But it's not a good idea to annoy Hercules.  In some versions of the myth, Hercules ended up feeding Diomedes to his own man-eating horses.

(Hercules and Diomedes by Vincenzo De Rossi, c. 1560, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence)

Tomorrow: the conclusion of the Twelve Labors of Hercules.