Heracles's Labors Trivia Quiz

Answer: 30 days

The Nemean lion was believed to lure warriors to its cave. The warrior would see a woman, then when the warrior was close enough, it transformed back into the Nemean lion and killed the warrior.

One version of the events stated that a boy came up to Heracles and said that if he was to slay the lion within thirty days, a ram would be sacrificed to Zeus. If Heracles took longer than thirty days, or if Heracles died in the process, the boy would be sacrificed to Zeus. Heracles was able to complete this labor on the thirtieth day.

As a result of completing this labor, Heracles was forbidden to enter the city of Mycenae and anytime Eurystheus wished to talk with Heracles, it would be through a messenger and never face-to-face, since he feared Heracles.

Answer: Athena

The hydra Heracles was to slay was raised by Hera to kill Heracles. It also possessed an immortal head, although only one of its heads was actually immortal. Heracles was able to defeat this head by killing it with a golden sword given to him by Athena. While he was defeating the hydra, Hera also sent a crab to stop Heracles from completing the task; however, Heracles was able to easily defeat the crab. After defeating the hydra, Heracles dipped the sword into its poisonous blood.

Prior to defeating the hydra (when Heracles was thinking of ways to defeat it), his nephew came up with the idea of using a firebrand on the stumps of the hydra after each head was decapitated so that it could not regrow. Because Heracles was to perform each labor alone, Eurystheus declared this labor void.

Answer: Artemis

The Ceryneian Hind was so fast it could outrun an arrow. Accounts vary on how this task was accomplished. One story states that Heracles managed to shoot it when the hind was asleep. Another says that Artemis came to Heracles and told him to not slay the hind but tell Eurystheus that he had. Another story says that Heracles shot it between the forelegs.

The reason behind assigning this labor to Heracles was that Eurystheus believed that Artemis would be upset. Instead, Artemis was understanding and let Heracles take the hind to Eurystheus as long as it was returned afterwards.

Answer: Heracles was paid as a result of completing it.

Eurystheus assigned Heracles this labor to embarrass Heracles, since there were over a thousand cattle, each producing so much dung. Augeas agreed to give Heracles a tenth of his cattle if he was able to clean the stables in a day, but Heracles declined since he had been assigned this labor rather than doing it of his own free will.

Heracles completed this labor by diverting the Alpheus and the Pensus River to clean out the stables. As with the hydra, Eurystheus considered this labor void since it was technically the river that did the work and not Heracles. Additionally, Heracles had been paid as a result of completing the labor (presumably since Heracles refused the tenth of the cattle).

Answer: Ares

The Stymphalian Birds had sharp feathers that were used to attack their victims. They also had dung that was poisonous. To help Heracles on his labor, Athena provided him with a rattle created by Hephaestus that would frighten the Stymphalian Birds. This provided Heracles with an opportunity to shoot several of them. Those that he didn't shoot were too scared to come back and eventually made a new home on an island in the Exuine Sea.

As they were used to attack people and cause war, these birds were considered scared to Ares, the Greek god of war.

Answer: sacrifice it to Hera

Heracles's seventh labor was to capture the Cretan Bull which had been spreading destruction in Crete. Heracles was able to strangle it and send it back to Eurystheus in Athens. Eurystheus wanted to sacrifice it to Hera, but she declined, claiming that the sacrifice would really demonstrate Heracles's glory.

Therefore, Eurystheus decided to release the bull in Marathon where it became known as the Marathonian Bull.

Answer: Heracles believed she never planned on giving him her belt

Eurystheus asked Heracles to get the belt from the Amazon Hippolyta in order to give to his (Eurystheus's) daughter. Hera was displeased with Heracles completing each labor (and had a general hatred towards Heracles in general), so she disguised herself as an Amazon and tricked the other Amazons into believing that Heracles would kidnap Hippolyta.

When Hippolyta learned of this, she and her warriors attacked Heracles. This led Heracles to believe that Hippolyta never planned on giving him her belt in the first place.

Heracles then killed Hippolyta and took her belt, survived the attack by the Amazons, and took the belt to Eurystheus.

Answer: caused the cattle to scatter

Hera was annoyed at Heracles, so, to make this labor more difficult, she sent a gadfly to bite the cattle. This caused the cattle to scatter. It took approximately a year but Heracles was able to gather the cattle again. They were taken to Eurystheus who sacrificed them to Hera.

To complete this labor, Heracles first had to cross the Libyan desert to get to where the cattle were. Although the temperature was hot, Hera had nothing to do with that.

Answer: True

Heracles's eleventh and twelfth labor were added after Eurystheus declared two of them (the second and the fifth) void. The eleventh labor involved Heracles stealing apples from the garden of the Hesperides. Heracles tricked Atlas into retrieving the apples from him. This was accomplished by making a deal with Atlas. Heracles would hold up the earth instead of him while Atlas would retrieve the apples. After getting the apples, Atlas wanted to take the apples to Eurystheus himself, but Heracles knew that wouldn't be possible. Therefore, Heracles tricked Atlas into holding up the earth while Heracles straightened his robe. Instead of taking the earth back, Heracles left Atlas and took the apples to Eurystheus.

Other versions state that Heracles had to defeat several gods prior to learning the location of the garden. Heracles also had to defeat a multi-headed dragon in versions in which Heracles himself went into the garden.

Since these apples belonged to the gods, they had to be returned to the garden of the Hesperides, a task which was done by Athena.

Answer: returned it to Hades

For Heracles's twelfth and final task, he had to bring Eurystheus the three-headed dog Cerberus without using any weapons. The gods Athena and Hermes helped Heracles enter and leave the underworld, since Heracles had to remain alive to do this labor, and those who usually enter the underworld are dead.

Heracles found Hades, ruler of the underworld, and explained his situation. Hades said that as long as Heracles didn't use any weapons, he could have Cerberus. Heracles caught the three-headed dog and presented it to Eurystheus who told Heracles that he had completed his labors and could return Cerberus back to the underworld.