Serge Sedoff HERACLES' 12 GREAT LABOURS. REPORTS FROM THE FIELD AS THEY REALLY HAPPENED!

SERGE SEDOFF

REPORTS FROM THE FIELD AS THEY REALLY HAPPENED! Translation by Melanie Moore Illustrator & designer Tatyana Kormer

SERGE SEDOFF HERACLES’ 12 GREAT LABOURS

Published with the support of The Institute for Literary Translation, Russia St. Jim’s Press is an Imprint of St James’s Publishing Ltd 33 Hornton Street, London W8 7NR, United Kingdom Email: publishing@stjamesspublishing.com www.stjamesspublishing.com Translation by Melanie Moore Illustrator & Designer: Tatyana Kormer Editor: Struan Simpson Production Manager: Elizabeth Holmes Project Coordinator: Karina Karmenian English Edition Design: Laura Sylvester and Marianne Raye Hand-drawn Typeface: Laura Sylvester ISBN 978-0-9928925-0-0 Catalogue-in-Publication Data: a catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

Printed and bound in Lithuania by BALTO print.

Acknowledgements: The publishers wish to thank Professor Paul Cartledge, A.G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture, University of Cambridge, both for his insights and dedication to having a coherent text and to Peter Daniels for his attention to the book’s detail. © 2014 St James’s Publishing Ltd First published by Samokat, Moscow 2011 (ISBN 978-5-91759-044-8) © Sedov, SA, 2000 (Author) © Kormer, TB, 2011 (Design) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photographic, or otherwise, without prior permission of the copyright owner.

Foreword .........................................................................................................................................................................

Cast of characters ......................................................................................................................................................

Prologue: Heracles’ birth – the why and how................................................................................................................

Heracles and two snakes ......................................................................................................................................

Heracles grows up and is delivered into slavery ..................................................................................

Heracles’ Labours: 1st: The Nemean Lion ............................................................................................................................................1 2nd: The Lernaean Hydra .....................................................................................................................................7 3rd: The Stymphalian Birds................................................................................................................................ 15 4th: The Cerynean Hind .................................................................................................................................... 21 5th: The Erymanthian Boar ...............................................................................................................................27 6th: King Augeas’ Stables .................................................................................................................................... 35 7th: King Minos’ Bull .............................................................................................................................................. 41 8th: King Diomedes’ Mares ............................................................................................................................... 47 9th: Hippolyte’s Girdle .........................................................................................................................................57 10th: Geryon’s Cows ............................................................................................................................................63 11th: Kerebos Guardian of the Underworld ........................................................................................... 71 12th: The Nymphs’ Golden Apples ..............................................................................................................79 Epilogue: The Giants vs. The Olympians...................................................................................................90 Map: Heracles’ farthest labours .....................................................................................................................92 Editors note: Heracles in the scheme of things ....................................................................................94

In the not so distant past, every, or nearly every schoolboy and schoolgirl was able to recite tales of Graeco-Roman deities and mortal heroes, of Zeus, king of the Olympian gods (precursor to the Roman Jupiter) and the entire pantheon of Mount Olympus ousted by nascent Christendom. Especially of Heracles, the mightiest of the mythical mortals, a Hero of Ancient Greece, re-branded Hercules by the ancient Romans and adopted as their own Hero and deity. Indeed, Mark Antony claimed descent from Hercules, while all the Caesars claimed Venus in their ancestry, who like Aphrodite before her had been born in the foam of the sea.

Astronomy and astrology! Heracles’ adventures and those of other heroes resonate among the constellations of the Zodiac: Aries, Zeus’ ram from Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece; Taurus the Bull from Zeus’ transmogrification in order to abduct the princess Europa, only to lay the ground for Heracles’ 7th Labour – his struggle with king Minos’ Bull; the Dioskouri, the twins Castor and Pollux, gave us Gemini, while Cancer is the consequence of Heracles’ 2nd Labour after he had crushed Hera’s crab, the one that tried to distract him in his struggle with the Hydra. Leo (Leon in Greek) is of his 1st Labour, slaying the Nemean Lion. Demeter’s virgin daughter Persephone, whom Heracles met in the Underworld, is Virgo’s personification.

Like Persephone, Libra is also of the Underworld, but as the symbol of justice.

Artemis transmuted Orion the hunter whom she loved, stung to death by Gaia’s scorpion, into Scorpio. Cheiron, king of the centaurs and collaterally damaged during Heracles’ 5th Labour gave name to Sagittarius, or according to some commentators, transcended to Centaurus.

Completing the celestial circle of the Greek Zodiac, Capricorn and Aquarius commemorate Zeus, and Pisces the escape as fish of Aphrodite and Eros from the dreaded Typhon. Moreover, had not Heracles cleaned the Augean Stables (his 6th Labour) and assassinated king Augeas, the world would never have had the Olympic Games.

Hera’s irritation at suckling Alcides (as Heracles then was before he thwarted Hera’s snakes) resulted in the Milky Way. Named after the Mount Olympus deities are the planets Mars (Ares), Venus (Aphrodite), Saturn (Cronos), Jupiter (Zeus), Juno (Hera) and Mercury (Hermes).

You may imagine that while the history and mythology of Ancient Greece and their GraecoRoman successors laid the trail for leaders, philosophers, innovators and thinkers down the centuries, it is followed to-day only by dry classical scholars and theologians whose connection to life’s realities is somewhat academic. Why study the Classics? What bearing do they have on the way we think or act now in the corridors of power of the twenty-first Century?

Before answering this question, consider what legacies to politics, philosophy, arts and science, mathematics, law, literature, or astrology and astronomy might the Anglo-Saxons, Franks, Huns, Scythians, Mongol Hordes, or their successors emerging from the Dark Ages have bequeathed to our teachers and pupils?

Thus, Greece remains the cradle of Western civilization and Rome its nursery.

Struan, Simpson, Editor, December 2014

Admete the daughter of Eurystheus on whose account Heracles fetched Hippolyte’s girdle.

Admetus a king of Pherae in Thessaly; one of the Argonauts; Alcestis’ husband.

Alcestis daughter of king Pelias of Iolcus and wife of Admetus.

Alcides Heracles’ first given name.

Alcmene daughter of Electryon king of Mycenae; grand-daughter of Perseus; wife of Amphitryon and Heracles’ mother.

Amazons see main text.

Amphitryon son of Alcaeus king of Tiryns in the Argolid; Heracles’ mortal step-father.

Antaeus a son of Poseidon and Gaia; guardian of the Libyan Desert.

Apollo son of Zeus and the mortal Leto; god of the Sun & Music.

Ares son of Zeus and Hera; god of War; one of the twelve Olympians.

Artemis daughter of Zeus and the mortal Leto and sister to Apollo; goddess of the Hunt.

Athena daughter of Zeus and Metis; goddess of Wisdom & Arts and friend of heroes.

Atlas a Titan who carries the world on his shoulders.

Augeas king of Elis; some say son of Helios and Nausidame.

Bistones a Thracian people dwelling between the Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea. Busiris a king of Egypt and son of Poseidon and Lysianassa.

Cerberus Ancient Roman name for Kerberos, Guardian of the Underworld.

Chiron son of Cronus and Philyra a minor goddess; ‘the Centaur of Centaurs.’

Copreus a son of Pelops and Hippodameia.

Kng Eurystheus’ herald.

Diomedes a son of Ares; King of Thrace.

Eurystheus king of Tiryns; son of Sthenelus and Nicippe.

Married to Antimache. Both Eurystheus and Heracles were grandsons of Perseus.

Eurytion a son of Ares and the Hesperid Erytheia.

Gaia Mother Earth; Mother too of the Titans and the Giants. See Editor’s Note.

Geryon son of Chrysaor and Callirrhoe and grandson of Medusa.

Hades king of the Underworld who abducted Persephone.

Helios a son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia; god of the Sun. Hephaestus son of Zeus and Hera; blacksmith to the gods.

Hera a daughter of Cronus and Rhea; goddess of women and marriage; sister and wife of Zeus.

Heracles son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene; Hero of Ancient Greece.

Hermes son of Zeus and the nymph Maia; messenger of the gods.

Hesperus son of Eos the dawn goddess and Kephalos and father to three Nymphs, the Hesperides.

Hippolyte daughter of Ares and Otrera; queen of the Amazons.

Iolaus son of Iphicles; Heracles’ half-nephew.

Iphicles Heracles’ half-brother.

Kerberos Guardian of the Underworld: renamed Cerberus by the Ancient Romans.

Linus son of Oeagrus, a king of Thrace, and the muse Calliope; brother to Orpheus and considered to be the inventor of melody and rhythm.

Megara eldest daughter of king Creon of Thebes who gave her as a reward to Heracles for defending Thebes.

Minos son of Zeus and Europa; Cretan king whose wife Pasiphaë gave birth to the Minotaur.

Moirai the Fates – Clotho the spinner Lachesis the ‘allotter’ and Atropos the ‘unturnable’.

Nereus a Titan eldest son of Pontus and Gaia; The Old Man of the Sea.

Nicippe daughter of Pelops and Hippodamia wife of Sthenelus. Eurystheus’ mother.

Orpheus son of Apollo and the muse Calliope; husband of Euridice. Taught music by his brother Linus; Orpheus was among the Argonauts.

Orthrus two-headed dog; brother to Kerberos.

Persephone daughter of Zeus and Demeter; queen of the Underworld.

Perseus son of Zeus and Danaë; married Andromeda; Hero of Ancient Greece.

Pholus a son of Seilenus and the nymph Melia; a ‘wise’ centaur and friend of Heracles.

Phrasius a Cyprian soothsayer; doomed advisor to king Busiris of Egypt.

Poseidon a son of Cronus and Rhea; brother to Hades; god of the Sea. Prometheus a Titan and creator of mankind.

Pythia the name of the ‘resident’ priestess throughout the history of Temple of Apollo at Delphi: ‘The Oracle of Delphi’.

Sthenelus king son of Perseus and Andromeda; Eurystheus’ father.

Thanatos daemonic personification of death; son of Nyx and Erebos (Darkness).

Theseus Hero of Athens, whose fathers were Aegeus and Poseidon, with both of whom in one night his mother Aethra had slept.

Zeus Titan son of Cronus and Rhea; Heracles’ dad.

An Age of Heroes In February 1286 BC Heracles is conceived when Zeus extends one night into three, bringing about a ‘Total solar eclipse over the Aegean’. He is born nine months later in November, as Alcides. In 1285 BC baby Heracles strangles two serpents sent by Hera to kill him. Next we hear that in 1264 BC after defeating the Minyans he marries Creon’s daughter Megara. And then between 1258-1247 BC Heracles in enslaved to Eurystheus, king of Mycenae, to fulfill his 12 Labours. In 1258 BC he kills the Nemean lion, in the same year dispatching the Lernaean Hydra and chasing off the Stymphalian birds. He spends the next three years in pursuit of Artemis’ Cyrenian hind. In 1255 BC he accidentally shoots Cheiron in the knee when the Centaurs revolt, before continuing to capture the Erymanthian boar for Eurystheus and then cleaning out king Augeas’ stables in a single day. In 1254 BC Heracles tames the Cretan Bull. The following year, 1253 BC he ferries king Diomedes’ mares to Mycenae, after having rescued Admetus’ wife Alcestis from Thanatos. In 1252 BC Heracles brings Eurystheus queen Hippolyte’s girdle, before embarking in 1251 BC to collect Geryon’s cattle from Erythia. From 1250-1248 BC Heracles goes to Hades, captures Kerebos, takes him to Mycenae, then returns to Hades with him. In 1247 BC Heracles picks three golden apples from the Garden of Hesperides and completes his Labours. In 1242 BC Heracles conquers Elis and establishes the Olympic Games.

Eight years later, on 12 October 1234 BC, Heracles dies and becomes a god.

Here we are – Ancient Greece, land of flower-filled valleys, olive groves, vibrant cities, blue skies, blazing sun, azure seas and, of course, the mountains.

Mount Olympus, the very highest in Ancient (and Modern!) Greece is home to the Olympian gods who, having successfully usurped the rule of their predecessors, the Titans, keep an eye on the behaviour of mortal Greeks.

(The minute these mortals do anything, either they are punished by the gods, or, if they’re luckier, given all the help they could possibly hope for.)

And there’s Zeus, the strongest and mightiest of the Olympians, who as well as being their king has the power to hurl bolts of lightning at whomever he likes (or dislikes!), even too, at the other gods. This makes him feared and respected by all the people and obeyed by all the gods.

For the most part, Olympian gods have not a bad life: sustained by their ambrosia and nectar, they are never ill. They do not even die, spending most of their endless time either feasting or relaxing and just occasionally taking a quick look at earth in case something needs sorting.

But Zeus... he’s not happy. Sighing heavily and scratching his head, in a deep huddle with Apollo’s priestess, the Pythia. She has just shared a terrible secret with him, which is that Gaia, mother to a set of monstrous children – the Giants – is planning to rally and incite them into ousting the Olympian gods and re-establishing the rule of the Titans, telling Zeus, “Those little Giants have grown up into enormous Giants; they’re going to dig a huge, deep cave, shove in all the Olympian immortals and block up the entrance with boulders. And that’s where you’ll be living – with only beetles, worms and maggots to eat.”

Zeus, in a real quandary almost begs her, “So please tell me, my dear Pythia, how we shall avoid this dreadful fate and defeat these awful Giants? There’s got to be a way! You know I can’t stand beetles, and worms are even worse – they make me sick. And what kind of life would it be anyway without our blue skies and bright sun?”

Falling silent and gazing dreamily into the future, the Pythia sort of intoned, “Well. There’s one way to turn the tables but it won’t be easy.”

“I’ll do everything in my power to keep our freedom and our wonderful life here on Olympus.” cried Zeus, “And I’m not afraid of difficulties.”

The Pythia fixed him with a stern look.

“Well, then, listen! You, the immortal gods, can’t overcome the Giants. Gaia has given them a secret something to make them invulnerable to divine weapons. They can be defeated only by a mortal man using mortal weapons. But he can’t be ordinary – he must be unique. To be more precise, a son of Zeus – who has yet to be born, needs to come into the world just

as soon as possible.”

“I’d better get on with it, then,” said Zeus obligingly. “I’ll call the wife.”

“Er, no.” The ancient Pythia shook her head. “That would be too easy. After all, if Hera gave you a son, he would be just another immortal.”

“You’re right!” Mused Zeus the Thunderer. “I hadn’t thought of that. So who’s going to give me this son?”

“A mortal woman. You’ll have to stand in for her mortal man for a little while.”

“Easier said than done,” opined the Olympian-in-Chief, frowning. “You know my Hera. She’s so jealous. If she finds out I’ve taken up with yet another, even for a second, she’ll declare outright war on me and won’t go easy on my son, either...”

Nodding her understanding before gazing once more trance-like into the future, the Pythia intones once more, “It’s going to be very hard for your son. It’s still not clear whether he’ll make it through all the trials he’ll have to face…”

“My son? What are you implying?” asked Zeus huffily.

She continued mysteriously. “There’ll be some really difficult things for him to do before he gets to tackle the Giants. After all, to be worthy to fight them he’ll always have to behave in a fine, heroic way. A single mean act or wicked deed would disqualify him …”

“Don’t be so negative.” retorted Zeus, thumping a heavenly table and nearly spilling his nectar, “I have every confidence in my son. Just tell me which mortal should be his mother.”

“Well, that’s the point, you see. You’ve got to find her yourself. I can’t tell you. But here’s a couple of clues that might just help. She’s a descendant of Perseus, and her name begins with the letter ‘A’. She’s planning to marry someone who is about to return from war. His name begins also with ‘A’. Oh, and another thing: she’s very, very beautiful.”

Thus pronounced the Pythia before fading away into the wide blue yonder and returning to her consultation rooms in the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.

Without more ado, Zeus rushed off to find a potential mother from among Perseus’ descendants. He peeked in at every house, spying out the most beautiful women and trying to hear whether anyone called any of them with a name beginning with ‘A’. But nobody did. There were Philomenas and Polyxenas, Elektras and Niobes…

Zeus had spent the whole day seeking the appropriate mortal and grown tired and desperate before he caught sight of someone very, very beautiful standing in a very wealthy courtyard.

And what should she be doing, but anticipating her beloved’s return from the battlefield, that very night! Zeus was so intrigued and thrilled by finding this beautiful woman that immediately he assumed ‘A’s persona before taking her in his arms.

“Well, that didn’t take so long!” said a delighted beautiful mortal.

“Why drag things out? I came, I saw, I conquered,” said Zeus.

Zeus spent that night with her, vanishing into thin air early the following morning barely moments before the other ’A’s return.

“My darling Alcmene, I’m back.”

To which she retorted, “Amphitryon, my dear, actually, that was yesterday.”

Overhearing their conversation, the now invisible Zeus was mightily pleased with himself. ’What am I like?’ He thought. ’Didn’t I do well? ‘A-star’ – Alcmene and Amphitryon!’

Nine months later Alcmene gave birth to twin baby boys.

Iphicles, as he would be named, was the first to be born. The second, Alcides. But who was Zeus’ boy (who would bear the name of Heracles) and whom Amphitryon’s, remains to be seen!

That is how the greatest Hero of Ancient Greece came into the world and this is the story of his famous labours, as related to Serge, our scribe.

Of course Hera knew all about Alcides and whose son he was. And no wonder, since she shared the Oracle of Delphi with her husband! Still, she was very jealous. Even before Alcides was born Hera began to make trouble for him. While Zeus was waiting his son’s arrival, he announced proudly to his fellow Olympians that the first boy to be born that day to a descendant of Perseus would become high king of Ancient Greece.

“Oh, that’s just prittle prattle!” said Hera dismissively.

“Me, prattle?” denied an indignant Zeus. “I swear by the gods’ sacred oath that this will be so.”

Zeus was certain his son would be the first born that day, but he was wrong! Quick as a flash, Hera left Olympus for Mycenae, where she knew that king Sthenelus and Nicippe his wife were expecting a baby. Although it was not yet quite due, Hera cunningly brought forward the birth of Nicippe’s baby and delayed Alcmene’s.

Speeding back to Olympus, she exclaimed triumphantly, “Eurystheus, of Perseus’ line, is due today! It is he who will become high king!”

Thus into the world came Eurystheus, premature and puny, who, as Hera’s own candidate for Hero later was to give Heracles such a hard time.

Only then did Zeus appreciate just how cunning Hera had been. It was too late, even though he had promised by the sacred oath of the gods. Heracles would not become king after all.

Perhaps it was for the best since Hera had by no means finished with him. She was determined to spike Heracles’ destiny as a mighty warrior and somehow to kill him.

A little time after the twins were born Hera sent two enormous snakes to where they slept.

Imagine two baby boys, only eight months old, sleeping sweetly in their cradle as Hera’s snakes slither closer and closer. They reach the cradle confused. Hera had given them an order to kill only one baby – now there were two! Which one is meant to die?

“Kill them both!” came her terse telepathic instruction, for if truth be told, she knew not either, who was who.

But anticipation makes Hera’s jealous heart beat excitedly faster. Soon, after all, the mortal son of Zeus whom she hates so much will perish! Any minute he will be crushed to death …

Sliding to Alcides, the larger of the two snakes; the smaller to Iphicles, to wind their lethal coils.

But no! All of a sudden little Iphicles wakes up, sees the snakes and wets himself! The cradle is soaked, making little Alcides uncomfortable, waking him. Seeing the snakes, not for a single second does he show even the slightest fear. On the contrary.

He seizes one snake round the throat with his right hand, and the other with his left, choking the life out of them both.

The din!

Alcmene and Amphitryon come running in.

“What’s all the fuss?”

There, dangling from Alcides’ tiny fists, are two enormous dead snakes.

“Imagine what a mighty warrior Alcides will be when he grows up,” marvelled Amphitryon, “When even as a baby, he can dispatch with his bare hands such dangerous beasts!”

“Indeed,” agreed the amazed Alcmene, “He surely will become a great hero and be an honour to us in our old age!”

Only then, when it was clear which little boy was to become the greatest hero, did his parents, in a vain attempt to mollify Hera, rename him Heracles. Hera herself, at that point was beside herself with fury, tearing her hair and gnashing her teeth. Her eyes blazed with hatred and rage at her failure to kill Heracles. She would not be satisfied until she buried her shame, if not now, then later when Heracles grew up…

Had Hera known that Heracles was conceived to save the Olympian gods and Ancient Greece, she might not have been so spiteful. But Zeus was unable to tell her because he had taken a solemn oath with the Pythia that no other deity must know of Heracles’ great destiny.

Otherwise, given their quarrelsome nature, in all likelihood that would have meant the end of the Olympians.

Little Heracles grew quickly: it seemed like by the day, crawling on all fours while other infants were still in their cradles. He was running more swiftly than any deer while Iphicles was still taking his first steps. Heracles grew up to uncommon strength, courage and kindness, loving to fight and heave young bulls around on his shoulders. His stepfather, Amphitryon, taught him to drive a chariot; others to fence, to wrestle, box and to shoot arrows; old Linus attempted to teach him music.

Everything would have been fine had it not been for his step mother, Hera. Knowing she was unable to deal with Heracles openly any more, Hera was determined to act against him with craft and guile. Already having sent snakes to his cradle and failed, she decided in future to visit upon him her own wrathful and avenging nature, to act against his own best interests, whenever she could. And how!

One moment Heracles, kind and peaceful. Then, without warning, Hera’s wrathful spirit descends to really wind him up, driving out his kindness and peacefulness, to leave only rage, spite and often tragic consequences. By the time his true senses return, it is all too late to make amends.

Once, at a music and singing lesson, old Linus was trying to teach Heracles to play the lyre – quite a hefty musical instrument. He was listening to his teacher, of course, but not paying much

attention. Studying music could never compare to shooting arrows. As he sat dreaming about a forthcoming archery competition, Linus presented him the lyre, instructing, “Pluck me a ‘C’.”

Not a word from Heracles. Nothing could have been further from his thoughts. “Oh, honestly!” cried the noble old man. “Have you no respect at all for my lessons…no respect for music?” And with that, he hit Heracles with his ruler.

Heracles felt nothing. He had a hard head and Linus had doddery old hands. But then came Hera, spiriting him once again with her madness – and what happens? Heracles bristles, flies off the handle and into a rage.

“Did he hit me?! Me?! Heracles?! On the head?!” Completely losing his senses and seizing the heavy lyre, he beats old Linus about his head. Linus, great musician and brother of neverto-be-forgotten Orpheus, dies instantly.

Heracles confesses in immense shame to his stepfather who sends him away as a punishment to tend his flocks on a mountain near Thespiae, valley of the Muses.

There was much, much worse to come. Several years and several adventures later, once he had worked through his penance, Heracles was living in seven-gated Thebes. He had married Megara, eldest daughter of king Creon. They and Iphicles’ family were neighbours. One day, Iphicles took his eldest boy Iolaus to the doctor with a stomach ache, leaving his other children in Heracles’ care. In another fit of Hera-induced madness, a great rage seized Heracles and he kills the children, his own and his brother’s.

Coming to his senses, he gazed around in shocked, unimaginable horror. Had he really done this? With his own bare hands? How could he carry on living? Heracles stood and waited for the gods’ wrath and retribution to descend on him.

Up on Mount Olympus, they were absolutely outraged!

“This Heracles must be punished,” they cried, “He may be the son of Zeus but he’s not a god, he’s a mortal and cannot be allowed to go unpunished for terrible crimes.”

Zeus himself was more upset than anyone. Not only unable to tell any of his fellow gods about his son’s great destiny, he had in fact, doubts of his own. Heracles had by now done more than enough dreadful deeds to disqualify him from helping the gods in their battle with the Giants, for which he had been conceived.

With heavy heart, Zeus set out once more to consult the Oracle Pythia, to whom Heracles had already fled, but what neither he nor Zeus knew was that the Oracle was being consulted too by Hera!

“What am I to do?” Zeus enquired humbly,”Is there really no one who can help us, even from among the mortals? Will those awful Giants conquer us, Ancient Greece and civilization itself?”

The Pythia raised her hoary head and said, “You Olympians are really in a most unenviable position. Yet still you have one hope.”

“What is that?” begged Zeus.

“Heracles,” the Pythia replied simply, “But he needs to be cleansed of these wicked deeds.”

“Let me soak him in a shower of rain and, just gently, strike him with lightning. I can arrange that.”

“A drop of rain won’t help,” said the Pythia pityingly, “And lightning would hardly help.

Heracles has to suffer and endure all sorts of humiliation.”

After an age of deliberation, and in all probability discussing it with Zeus’s wife as well, she directed that Heracles serve king Eurystheus as his slave for ten years, to perform any task required of him.

Zeus was furious! “Deliver my favourite son into slavery? And what’s more to that cowardly, dastardly Eurystheus?!”

Slowly raising a finger, the divinely inspired Pythia explained, “You must understand that Heracles’ humiliations at being enslaved to such a mean and lowly king will all the better expiate his terrible deeds.”

“Is that it then?” resignedly asked the father of the gods.

“Almost!” said the Pythia, impatiently. “How many awful things has Heracles done?”

“About ten, I would say.”

“Well, then, he must perform ten tasks at Eurystheus’ command. Once accomplished, you the gods will be able to count yourselves lucky. He’ll be ready to fight the Giants. But if he makes a mess of even one task, he just won’t qualify. Just bear in mind that his tasks will be genuinely awesome, of a kind that no mortal other than Heracles could possibly accomplish.”

“I can help him!” thundered the mighty Zeus.

“Oh, no, you can’t!” said the Pythia, shaking her shrewd old head, “If you do, it simply won’t count. There must be no interference from above!”

Immediately, Zeus summoned another of his sons, the god Hermes whom he had appointed general messenger, to inform Eurystheus what the Pythia (and he! and Hera!) had decided.

Quicker even than a Zeus thunderbolt, Hermes arrived at Eurystheus’ palace, announcing, “As of now, mighty king, Heracles is your slave. You must devise ten highly dangerous and extremely difficult tasks for him. After successful completion, you will free him.”

Eurystheus was thrilled. Heracles’ spineless rival thought to himself, ‘Now I can get my own back!’

To Hermes he said, “The gods have no need to worry. I shall devise extreme tasks testing him to his absolute limit!” Omitting any help or guidance he might get from Hera!

Hermes then returned to his duties, job done!

That is how Heracles became enslaved to Eurystheus, king of Mycenae, who was to cheat him by disallowing two tasks, on technical grounds, so that altogether Heracles had to perform a total of Twelve Labours, as related to our scribe.

King Eurystheus made a very special effort to dream up Heracles’ first task. After quite a long while of deep contemplation, he decided that Heracles had to slay the Nemean Lion, an evil man-eater of monstrous size. It lived in the hills above the city of Nemea and had utterly devastated the area, gobbling up every living thing. Anybody left uneaten had fled.

Eurystheus, of course hoped the lion would eat Heracles as well.

Dispatching Heracles to do his bidding, Eurystheus waited to hear the blow-by-blow news from the battlefield, brought to him by his fleet-footed herald, Copreus, who was to tell him all the details, every twist and turn of the action.

At home on Mount Olympus, although Zeus was doing what he could to encourage his son, he was really worried. After all, everyone imagined the Nemean Lion to be invincible.

As Heracles approached the outskirts of Nemea he heard a blood-curdling roar so dreadful that many dropped dead on the spot. Even the bravest fainted away. But what about Heracles?

Did he falter? Did he fall? Did he faint? Not he! He kept right on going!

Nodding in approval as he looked down from Olympus onto the mortal world below, ‘Everything’s fine for the moment,’ the mighty Zeus reassured himself. But when the Lion actually appeared he was horrified. He had known it was enormous, just not that enormous.

Eurystheus meanwhile, anticipating Heracles’ demise, was eagerly interrogating his herald.

“Has it eaten him yet?”

“Not quite,” came the reply, “it’s still getting closer. Its mouth has opened.”

“Are the teeth big enough?” the worried king enquired anxiously.

“More than big enough,” told an encouraging herald.

“And are its claws sharp?”

“We’re just about to find out,” answered the loyal Copreus with a chuckle as the lion rushed towards the hero at great speed.

With the distance between them rapidly closing, Heracles firmly stood his ground, his great club on his shoulder, gazing calmly at the ever-closer looming jaws with their huge teeth…

“The lion has sprung!”

“From how far away?” excitedly asked the king.

“Exactly ten and a half metres.”

“By Zeus!… It didn’t forget to unsheathe its claws, did it?”

“With unsheathed claws the lion has thrown itself at Heracles. There are only nine metres between them,” reported the herald.

“Fine! Great!” said the king, rubbing his hands, “And what about Heracles?”

“He’s standing still, not moving a muscle.”

“He’s rooted to the spot.” Eurystheus exclaimed delightedly. “And they said he had no fear, no fear at all! How far is there between them now?”

“Seven metres – six... five... four...”

All the while on Mount Olympus, Zeus is terribly anxious about his son, frantically yelling instructions, “Step aside! Hide behind the cliff! Get down!”

Mercifully, Heracles cannot hear him and stands still as a statue, his eyes fixed on the blood-lusted lion.

Three metres left, then two… one… three-quarters... half… a quarter… the murderous claws are about to sink into the Hero’s chest.

But what’s this? At the very last possible moment, Heracles’ club flies from his shoulder – a short swing and… cr-aaa-ck! Crunch! Knocking out the lion, Heracles has destroyed his club.

But the evil beast lies collapsed at his feet, breathing its last, until the mighty warrior uses his vast strength to finish it off and skin it.

“That’s my boy!” exclaims Zeus, wiping away an unbidden tear and looking around proudly.

“It can’t be!” said an enraged Eurystheus, thwacking the herald. “I don’t believe it. It’s impossible. Tell me, where were those sharp teeth?”

“All over the place,” came the sullen reply.

“And the claws, where were the sharp claws?”

“On the ground by its paws.”

“Well, in that case, Hero of Greece, just you wait ‘till next time!” yelled Eurystheus, shaking his fist as though at someone up above, “For sure, your second task will be your last!”

And that roughly is how Heracles performed his First Great Labour.

From now on, and in all the rest of his labours, he’ll wear the impenetrable hide of the Nemean Lion – even sleeping in it.

Heracles thinks he has only nine labours left but he’ll find out about the other two, in Eurystheus’ own good time!

It must have been when Eurystheus thought that the tasks he had imposed upon Heracles – as difficult as he could have made them – were too many on the Peloponnesus peninsula, and too promptly executed.

After the Nemean Lion, the Lernaean Hydra and Cerynean Hind in the Argolid; the Stymphalian Birds in Arcadia, the Erymanthian Boar in Achea and king Augeas’ stables at Elis: probably advised by Hera, he sent Heracles farther afield.

First to Crete by sea, then overland to Thrace; by sea again to the land of the Amazons. He trekked twice towards the Pillars of Hercules (as they became known), the first time to capture Geryon’s cows. Before his second trek, Heracles was dispatched to Laconia in the Peleponnese to capture Kerebos.

Successfully returning the dog to its master, he set off in his final Labour towards the Pillars of Hercules, via Colchis, Egypt and Libya to buttonhole Atlas.

Editor’s notes

Of course, the Ancient Greek scheme of things into which Heracles fits, is quite complicated.

Earth’s mother, Gaia, according to the chroniclers of Ancient Greece, shaped the Earth out of Chaos, giving birth to the mountain gods and goddess nymphs (the ten Ourea – Aitna, goddess of Mount Etna; Athos, god of Mount Athos; Helikon and Kithairon – neighbouring gods in Boeotia; Nysos of Mount Kithairon, nurse to Dionysus; the two mounts Olympus – Thessalia and Phrygia; Oreios of Mount Othrys; Parnes in Attica, and Tmolus in Lydia): to Pontus, god of the oceans and to Uranus, god of heavens and sky.

Coupling with Uranus, who had become her first husband, Gaia produced the Titans, the first gods of the Universe; then, by her union with Pontus she gave birth to the sea gods.

This was the dawning of the Golden Age. An age before mortal people arrived, but one which never has been surpassed for family squabbling and sibling rivalry.

Gaia’s and Uranus’ twelve offspring, the first generation of Titans, were the boys Coeus, Crius, Cronus, Hyperion, Iapetus and Oceanus; the girls, the Titanesses, were Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Rhea, Tethys, Theia, and Themis.

The second generation of Titans comprised Oceanus’s daughter Metis (Zeus’ wife before Hera); Hyperion’s children – Eos, Helios, and Selene; Coeus’ daughters, Leto and Asteria; Cronus’ and Rhea’s sons and daughters, Hades, Poseidon, Hestia, Demeter, Hera (who became Zeus’ second wife) and Zeus; Crius’ sons Astraeus, Pallas, and Perses (father of Hecate, daughter of Asteria); Iapetus’ children Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Menoetius.

Atlas and Prometheus, brothers from the second generation,

as well as Zeus himself, warrant our particular attention. In Prometheus’ case, he had received an order from the gods to populate the Earth with mortal men and women.

Creating humanity from clay, he imbued the new people with the wisdom that he had borrowed cunningly from Zeus’ daughter Athena (by Methis), and from Hephaestus, Zeus’ son with Hera, the control of fire.

Offended by Prometheus’ disrespect of the gods’ wish to deny the new human race these qualities and skills, Zeus doomed him to be chained to a rock in the Caucasus Mountains, while an eagle feasted daily on his liver. Rescued eventually by Heracles, who, having shot the eagle with an arrow, brought Prometheus back home to Mount Olympus.

Atlas was a different story altogether. He took the side of the Titans in Zeus’ coup d’etat, who as an eternal punishment, made him stand at the western edge of the Earth, holding Uranus up on his shoulders to prevent him resuming his primordial embrace with Gaia, to reproduce more offspring. Atlas remains there to this day, having failed to trick Heracles into assuming his burden.

Nereus, eldest son of Pontus and Gaia, too was a Titan. He lived with Doris in the Aegean Sea and fathered the Nerites and Nereids, one of whom, Thetis, a Nereid, was mother of the great Greek hero Achilles, and Amphitrite, who married Poseidon. Nereus was The Old Man of the Sea who had a reputation for courtesy and kindness and well-liked, evidently, by the Olympians, especially Zeus.

Mighty Zeus sprang from the union of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. He was the youngest among his siblings, six of whom were pre-destined to make up the Olympian pantheon: with Zeus as king; Hera, goddess of Marriage, becoming his second wife; Poseidon, god of the Seas; Hestia, goddess of the Hearth; Demeter, goddess of Agriculture, and Hades, god of the Underworld.

Other gods and goddesses in the pantheon included Athena (daughter of Zeus and Metis), goddess of Wisdom & Arts and friend of heroes; Zeus’ and Hera had four children – Ares, god of War; Aphrodite, goddess of Love & Beauty; Hephaestus, god of Metallurgy and good with fire; Hebe, cupbearer to the other Olympian gods and goddesses.

Then, from his liaisons with different goddesses and mortal women, came Zeus’ other immortals: Artemis, goddess of the Hunt and her brother Apollo, god of the Sun & Music (offspring of Zeus and the mortal Leto); Persephone (daughter of Zeus and Demeter, goddess

of the Harvest), abducted by Hades to become queen of the Underworld; Dionysus, god of Wine (son of Zeus and the princess Semele); Hermes, messenger of the gods and himself god of Trade (son of Zeus and the nymph Maia); and finally the Muses (the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne).

Zeus’ semi-mortal heroes and heroines begotten with mortal women include Perseus (son of Zeus and Danaë); Heracles (with Alcmene, Perseus’ grand-daughter) and Helen of Troy whose face ‘launched a thousand ships’ (Leda’s daughter from Zeus pretending to be a swan.)

In one notorious escapade, having assumed this time the form of an white bull, Zeus abducted Europa who subsequently gave birth to Minos, the infamous king of Crete.

Well may we understand then, Hera’s irritation with Zeus and antipathy towards her stepson Heracles. Although too, towards Zeus’ lovers and her many step-children, she could be quite unpleasant!

It was Hera who was decisive in assigning her protege King Eurystheus to oversee and direct Heracles’ labours, while at the same time making it more difficult for him to succeed, most notably in his struggle with the Lernaean Hydra; in getting Geryon’s cattle back home to Mycenae or making trouble among the Amazons.

Heracles’ Twelve Labours, for which he is best remembered, were but part of a highly adventurous life. He joined the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece and had his own Trojan wars. On one occasion he became again enslaved, this time to queen Omphale of Lydia, in penance for yet another Hera-induced killing. For three years he was obliged to wear woman’s clothes and do women’s work! He was married three times and had many affairs. There is so much more that can be read about the greatest Ancient Greek Hero in the works of other scribes and chroniclers, but as far as we are concerned...

THIS IS THE VERY END!

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Serge Sedoff (aka Sergey Sedov)

SERGE SEDOFF

REPORTS FROM THE FIELD

AS THEY REALLY HAPPENED!

Photo: Nikolay Galkin

Serge Sedoff

Sergey Sedov was born in Moscow in 1954. After graduating from the Moscow Pedagogical University, he worked for a while as a primary school teacher before, in common with many of his fellow artists and writers in those times, taking to street cleaning and working as an artist’s model. As a writer, Sergey Sedov first appeared in print in the newspaper Family, 1987. His first published book, The Wonderful Stories of Lesha, was about a little boy who could change himself into any-any-anything, who first appeared along with Pipa the Frog in Tram magazine, from 1990-1995. This and his Tales of Kings, Tales about Mums, Tales for the Over 10s’… Heracles’12 Great Labours (now published in English), made Sergey a prominent children’s writer.

His books have been reprinted many times and translated into several languages. Some have become the basis of animated movies.

Writing for children and adults, by the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s he was a member of Black Hen, an alliance of children’s writers, from whence come all modern Russian children’s literature.

Since 1993, he has been a Member of the Union of Soviet Writers.

Melanie Moore

Melanie Moore

Melanie graduated in Russian and French from Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, 1984 and worked subsequently for the BBC Monitoring Service. “Writing this on the island of Crete, I didn’t meet King Minos or (thankfully) come across the Cretan Bull! I did meet people and see streets and businesses that bear the names of the gods and heroes of Ancient Greece. The island’s capital is called Heraklion after our hero Heracles… it just goes to show that stories are important and last a very long time.

A translator helps people tell their stories, sometimes just one person to another, sometimes, as here, reaching lots of people all at once. I can only thank Sergey Sedov and St. Jim’s Press for asking me to help tell this particular story. It even gave me chance to be funny which, as my own children would say, does not happen very often…” Melanie is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists.

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