Heracles: Heracles was one of the Greatest Heroes in Greek Mythology . ( Grimal 1996) His parents were Zeus and Alcmene. (The Greek Gods of Mythology n.d) It was said that as an act of hatred in which Hera had for Heracles , she drove him mad, and caused him to slaughter his wife and kids. (The Greek Gods of Mythology n.d) As a result, his punishment was to complete the 12 labors given to the Greek Hero by his cousin Eurystheus. (The Greek Gods of Mythology n.d)
Geryon: Geryon was known as a giant with three bodies and four wings. (Atsma 2000) He was the son of Chrysaor. (Atsma 2000) Legend had it that he resided on the island of Erytheia. (Atsma 2000)
Eurytion : Eurytion was the herdsman in charge of the giant Geryon’s cattles (Grimal 1996)
Orthrus : Orhtrus was known as a ferocious two headed and serpent tailed dog. (Atsma 2000) His siblings included Kerberos and the chimera. (Atsma 2000) Orthrus and Eurytion were responsible for looking after the cattle of Geryon. (Atsma 2000)
Helios . Helios was famously known as the god of sun. His parents were Hyperion and Theia. (Lindemans 2006) Some of his children included Aeetes, Circe and Pasiphae .( Lindemans 2006)
Oceanus : According to Hesoid Oceanus was one of the oldest titans.. (Britannica 2011 ) His parents were Uranus and Gaia. (Britannica 2011 ) He was the husband of Tethys (Britannica 20110 His children consisted of around 3000 stream spirits as well as 3000 ocean nymphs. (Britannica 2011)
Alebion . Albeion was the son of the sea god Poseidon. (Dictionary 2011) He was later killed by Heracles while trying to steal the herd from the Greek hero. (Dictionary 2011)
Dercynus . He was the brother of Alebion and the son of Poseidon.( Grimal 1996) He was also killed by Heracles while trying to steal the cattle from the Greek hero. ( Grimal 1996)
Poseidon: Poseidon was known as the god of the ocean. (The Olympians n.d ) He was the sibling of both the mighty Zeus and Hades. (The Olympians n.d ) His father was Cronus and his wife was Amphirite.. (The Olympians n.d)
Gadflies . Gadflies are known as annoying flies that not only annoy but also bites domestic animals. (Dictionary 2011)
Cacus . Cacus was known as a fire-breathing giant, which dwells within the cave of the Aventine hill. (Lindemans 1999) He was known to ravage and terrorize the countryside. (Lindemans 1999) Heracles later slaughtered him for stealing the cattle. (Lindemans 1999)
Hera: Hera was known as the greatest goddess compared to the rest of the Olympian goddess. (Grimal 1996) Her parents were Cronus and Rhea. (Grimal 1996) Her husband was the mighty Zeus. (Grimal 1996) It was stated after having being swallowed by her father, she was then revived by the help of Metis and Zeus.( Grimal 1996)
Eurystheus: Eurystheus was the cousin of Hercacles, as well as the person responsible for assigning the 12 labors to the Greek Hero. (Encyclopedia of Greek Mythology n.d) Although Heracles was suppose to be older than Eurystheus, because of the knowledge that the first child born would eventually rule the kingdoms in the future. (Encyclopedia of Greek Mythology n.d) Hera decided to delay the birth of Heracles and sped up the birth of Eurystheus. (Encyclopedia of Greek Mythology n.d) Thus making Heracles younger than Eurystheus. (Encyclopedia of Greek Mythology n.d)
(Labor)
The tenth labor that Heracles had to complete was to capture and bring back the cattle of Geryon. (Grimal 1996) It was said that the cattle belonged to Geryon, and was looked after by a herdsman named Eurytion with the help of his gigantic dog named Orthrus.(Grimal 1996) The first obstacle that the hero had to face, was to cross the ocean.(Grimal 1996) In order to achieve this task, Heracles asked Helios if he could borrow the cup of sun to the cross the ocean. (Grimal 1996) However the self-fish sun god refused to lend the cup to the hero. (Grimal 1996) Heracles was force with no choice but to take an alternate path, which was to journey through the Libyan desert. (Grimal 1996) However after a while Heracles could not longer stand the heat and threatened to shoot the sun with his arrows. (Grimal 1996) The Sun god had no choice but to lend Heracles the cup of the sun (Grimal 1996) During his journey to Erythia, the hero faced another minor obstacle which were the enormous waves caused by Oceanus. (Grimal 1996) This was soon dealt with, once Heracles threatened the ocean with his poisonous arrows.(Grimal 1996) Upon arriving at Erythia , Greek hero was attacked by the ferocious Orthrus , and followed by Euythion. (Leadbetter 1999) However the Greek hero was able overcome his enemies with a single swing of his club. (Leadbetter 1999) He was later faced with the challenge of defeating the monstrous Geryon , in which he did so by shooting his poisonous arrow at the beast. (Leadbetter 1999) During his journey back to the kingdom, Heracles was faced with many adventures. (Grimal 1996) One of his first adventures was slaying the monsters that resided on Libya. (Grimal 1996) Followed by an attack by the natives of Liguria, however this was overcame by asking Zeus for help, in which the god made stones rain from heaven. (Grimal 1996) However before he could leave Liguria he was attacked by Alebion and Decticynus, both of them were Poseidon’s sons. (Grimal 1996) After having defeated them both , he passed through Latium in which he had to defeat the giant Cacus ,in order to get back the portion of the cattle which was stolen by the giant. (Leadbetter 1999). When the hero was about to reach the kingdom, the mischievous Hera sent gadflies to drive the herds mad. (Grimal 1996) As result Heracles was only able to gather up some of the cattle, which he later gave to Eurystheus. (Leadbetter 1999) Lastly the cattle were then sacrificed to Hera. (Grimal 1996)
References
Atsma, A 2000, Geryon, Available from: < http://www.theoi.com/Gigante/GiganteGeryon.html>. [ 22 September 2011]
Atsma, A 2000, Kyon Orthros, Available from : < http://www.theoi.com/Ther/KuonOrthros.html >. [ 22 September 2011]
Britannica 2011, Oceanus, Available from : < http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/424596/Oceanus >. [ 22 September 2011]
Dictionary 2011, Alebion, Available from: < http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Alebion >. [ 22 September 2011]
Dictionary 2011, gadfly, Available from : < http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gadfly >. [ 22 September 2011]
Encyclopedia of Greek Mythology n.d , Eurystheus, Available from: < http://www.mythweb.com/encyc/entries/eurystheus.html >. [ 22 September 2011]
Grimal, P 1996, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, , Blackwell Publishing , Oxford
Leadbetter , R 1999, Cattle of Geryon, Available from: < http://www.pantheon.org/articles/c/cattle_of_geryon.html >. [ 22 September 2011]
Lindemans , M 1999, Cacus, Available from: < http://www.pantheon.org/articles/c/cacus.html >. [ 22 September 2011]
Lindemans, M 2006, Helios, Available from: < http://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/helios.html> . [ 22 September 2011]
The Olympians n.d, Poseidon, Available from: < http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/bdodge/scaffold/gg/olympian.html#Poseidon >. [ 22 September 2011]
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