Have you heard about the great hero Hercules, whom the Greeks called Heracles? He was the son of Zeus, the king of gods, and a mortal woman named Alcmene. Hera, the wife of Zeus, hated Hercules and tried to harm him. When he was just a baby, she sent two snakes to kill him in his cot. But Hercules killed the snakes instead.
Hera continued to persecute Hercules all his life. In a fit of madness caused by Hera, Hercules killed his wife and children. When he recovered, he was overcome with guilt and asked the Oracle of Delphi what he should do to gain forgiveness. The oracle told him to serve his cousin Eurystheus, king of Tiryns and Mycenae. However, Eurystheus hated Hercules and did his best to get him killed. He set 12 difficult tasks and these are known as the 12 labours of Hercules. The first was to kill the Nemean Lion.
First step forward
The Nemean Lion was a monster that terrorised people in the land of Argolis. Once Hercules got there, he heard how vicious it was and all about the hunters who tried to kill it with poisoned meat and arrows and swords. Unfortunately, the lion was smart enough to not eat the meat; it ate the hunters instead. And arrows and swords could not even scratch its impenetrable hide.
Hercules studied the area carefully and realised that the lion’s cave had two entrances. So he blocked one entrance, made himself a club by pulling out an olive tree and marched into the cave. As the lion pounced on him, he caught it in his bare hands and strangled it to death.
Now Eurystheus had insisted that Hercules bring back proof that he had killed the lion. Hercules wondered how he was to cart this huge creature to his cousin. Then, he decided to take only the skin back. But no knife or sword could pierce the skin. Remember, the Nemean Lion had impenetrable skin! Finally Hercules figured out that the lion’s own claws would do the trick and he was right. So he took the skin back to the king.
The mere sight of the lion’s hide frightened Eurystheus so much that Hercules got to keep it. He used it as a cloak with the head as a helmet. This way, he was protected when in battle. Though he won this battle, Eurystheus wasn’t happy with his success. And so he asked Hercules to kill the Lernean Hydra. But that’s a story for another day.
