The 12 Labours of Hercules

Herakles (Hercules) was a demigod (half human, half god) within the mythological pantheon of ancient Greece (and later, Rome) and illegitimate son of Zeus.

Off to a bad start, he was the target of assassination attempts by Zeus's wife Hera, who was appalled at her husband's insatiable lusting after mortal women. But Heracles' sheer strength and naïve determination saw him evade these threats and roam the countryside, ridding the local kingdom of monsters to the great celebration of both kings and peasants. Outraged by his celebrity, Hera caused him to mistake his wife and children for monsters and slay them, before revealing their true identities to his great horror, and outrage of locals, who thought he had simply gone mad.

Distraught, and contemplating suicide, he was instead convinced to submit to servitude to his jealous cousin, in the traditional manner of expiating his sins; who, in league with Hera, contrived to humiliate Herakles, and have him killed, but time after time, Herakles completed the now famous 12 Herculean labours, frustrating all attempts to make him fail, and thus lose all possibility of seeing his family in the afterlife.

Throughout his life, Hercules demonstrated incredible commitment and tenacity in completing his assigned duties, demonstrating the super-human and awe-inspiring power of the divine half of his nature. But time after time, he lapsed into selfish, childish and ignorant behaviours that highlighted his all-too-human vulnerabilities, that caused him nothing but grief and despair for much of his time on Earth.

In typical Greek fashion, Herakles was a blended portrayal of both the vices and virtues of men and gods. His story highlights the often brutal and helpless nature of existence; yet the possibility of redemption from even the most despairing circumstances, through the exercise of patience, forbearance and tenacity, and so his story acts as instructive on the seductions of power, frailty of existence, and the virtues of fortitude in the face of overwhelming odds.
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