The Labors of Herakles Trivia Quiz

Answer: Alkmene

Alkmene's brothers were killed in a cattle raid at Argos, and she refused to sleep with her husband Amphitryon until he had avenged their deaths. On the same day Amphitryon had his vengeance, Zeus appeared to Alkmene in the guise of her husband and slept with Alkmene. Needless to say, she was rather surprised when her husband came home later that evening.

Answer: As punishment for the murder of his wife and children

When Herakles was born Zeus boasted of his fatherhood, an action which rather annoyed Hera (as did most of Zeus's infidelities). Hera then tried to kill Herakles by sending snakes to kill him in his crib (which failed -- the baby Herakles strangled the serpents).

Her attempt at murder having failed, she attempted to disgrace Herakles by driving him mad and making him kill his first wife Megara, his children, the children of his half brother Iphicles, and even the King of Thebes. When Herakles regained his sanity he consulted the Oracle at Delphi, who told him that as punishment he must go to Tiryns and perform whatever tasks his cousin Eurystheus imposed on him.

Answer: A Lion

This was no ordinary lion, but a (somewhat distant) descendant of Poseidon and Medusa. Its distinguished heritage gave its hide invulnerability to spears and arrows, so Herakles was forced to trap it in a cave and strangle it barehandedly.

The lion was made into the constellation Leo, while its hide and jaws stayed on earth and became the coat and helmet of Herakles.

Answer: The heads were impervious to attacks by normal swords and clubs.

Herakles wasn't able to make it through this task alone since he couldn't kill one head without more growing in its place. Instead, he brought along his nephew Iolaus. Each time Herakles bashed a head with his club, Iolaus would hold a torch to the corresponding neck, cauterizing the wound so no replacement could grow. He disposed of the final, immortal head by chopping it off and burying it beneath a stone. Not being a man to let good poison go to waste, he then cut open the Hydra and dipped his arrows in the poisonous blood.

Eurystheus, who was still too scared to meet with Herakles personally, decided that this didn't count as one of the original 10 labors since Herakles had help from his nephew. Thus 10 labors became 11.

Answer: The Hind was sacred to Artemis, so Herakles had to capture it without hurting it

Herakles had already earned the wrath of Hera, so it wouldn't have been a good idea for him to anger Artemis as well! After hunting the Hind (a red female deer) for more than a year, Herakles finally shot it out of frustration, wounding it. While he was carrying the Hind back to Eurystheus, Herakles was confronted by Artemis and Apollo.

After telling them the truth, however, Artemis forgave him and healed the Hind's wounds.

Answer: He trapped it in a net

The arrows were probably out of the question, as they had been dipped in poisonous Hydra blood. Instead, Herakles lured the Boar into a deep patch of snow containing a hidden net. Upon hearing of this, Eurystheus promptly went back to hiding in his jar.

Answer: King Augeus

Of course, there were two catches (after all, ANYONE can clean stables if they work hard enough). First off, the stables had not been cleaned in 30 years, and Augeus had a herd of a thousand oxen. This made them rather more messy than the norm. Secondly, Herakles was required to perform the task in a single day! He overcame both of these problems by diverting two rivers to flow through the stables and wash all of his troubles away.

After a rather long legal battle, Augeus was forced to pay Herakles a tenth of his cattle herd for services rendered. Upon hearing of this, Eurystheus decided that paid labor should not count as a Labor. Thus the original 10 (already 11) became the 12 of legend.

Answer: A musical Instrument

Krotala were similar to castanets and produced sounds by clapping their hands. Herakles' krotala were specially made by Hephaestus (Blacksmith to the Gods). The Stymphalian birds were scared out of the trees by the krotala, enabling Herakles to shoot the birds with his bow and arrow or slingshot.

Answer: Crete

King Minos of Crete had promised to Poseidon that he would sacrifice the first animal the sea god sent to him. When this bull arrived, Minos decided it was far too beautiful to kill and instead sacrificed another bull. Poseidon was so angry at this that he made the bull go mad and rampage the countryside. What's more, he also (according to some legends) made Minos' wife Pasiphae fall in love with the bull. The minotaur that came of their relationship would later be dealt with by Theseus.

Herakles brought the bull back to Erystheus, who tried to sacrifice it to Hera. Hera refused,claiming the sacrifice would bring reflected glory to Herakles. Stuck with a bull he didn't know what to do with, Eurystheus released it into the countryside, where it promptly terrorized many more people until being killed by Theseus at Marathon. Nice guy, isn't he?

Answer: Diomedes

Sources vary somewhat on this labor. Euripdes claims that Herakles did it alone, either harnessing the horses to his chariot or taming them while riding in a chariot drawn by other sources. On the other hand, Appodorus says that Herakles sailed with a band of soldiers to Bistonia, where he drove away the grooms guarding the horses.

When Bistone soldiers realized what was going on, they sent soldiers to fight Herakles' men, so Herakles had to entrust the horse to the care of the youth Abderos. Herakles defeated the Bistones, but while he was doing so Abderos tragically was dragged to his death by the horses.

The city of Abdera was founded by Herakles in his honor.

Answer: Amazons

Herakles sailed to the land of the Amazons on the shores of the black sea and was actually able to convince Hippolyte to give him the girdle as a gift. Hera certainly wasn't going to let him off that easily! In the guise of a warrior she went to various Amazons and convinced them that Herakles was trying to kidnap Hippolyte.

When he saw the Amazons before him in full battle array, Herakles acted quickly (and brutally), killing Hippolyte and stealing the girdle before fighting the rest of the tribe.

Answer: Gibraltar

The Pillars are two stone formations lining the entrance of the Strait of Gibraltar.

Although stealing the cattle was relatively easy, keeping them together and bringing them back was quite a challenge! Highlights of the return journey included wrestling (and killing) a King who stole one of the cattle and Herakles blocking off an entire river that he thought was bringing him bad luck. Hera wasn't much help either, appearing as a gadfly to scatter the cattle when Herakles was getting too close to home.

Answer: Holding the heavens on his shoulders

It wasn't a very enjoyable job, carrying the weight of the sky on one's shoulders for all eternity, but someone had to do it. Herakles agreed to hold the heavens up for a little bit while Atlas fetched the apples. After Atlas fetched them, he rather cunningly offered to return the apples to Eurystheus himself instead of Herakles (and probably never intended to return afterwords).

Herakles was smarter than that, however, and agreed...if Atlas would only hold the sky up for a moment while he got some shoulder pads! Atlas was fine with that, but Herakles then grabbed the apples and ran.

Answer: that Herakles capture the hound using only his own strength

How do you top a task that had Herakles carrying the entire Earth? Easy...by creating a task that was truly out of this world (or under it, at least)! Herakles indeed wrestled the hound using only his own brute strength (perhaps a triple headlock?). When the task was finished Kerberos was returned safely to the underworld to resume guarding the entrance to the realm of the dead.

Answer: He was in agony from a poisoned cloak, and, besides, his wife just killed herself

Remember those poisonous arrows from the Hydra? Well, Herakles shot Nessus with one of them after he attempted to assault Herakles wife. Before Nessus died, he told Deyanire (the wife of Herakles) to save his poisoned blood in case Herakles ever stopped loving her. In fact, claimed Nessus, the blood would act as such a powerful love potion that Herakles would never think of another woman again.

A few years later, when Deyanire feared Herakles was getting ready to marry another woman, she dipped a cloak in the Hydra-tainted blood and gave it to Herakles, immediately plunging him into great agony. Deyanire realized what had happened and stabbed herself with a dagger. The despair was too much for Herakles, who finally ordered himself burned on a funeral pyre.

Before this could happen, however, a chariot came down from the heavens and he became the first (and only) mortal brought to Olympus. Being married to Hebe (and thus becoming the son-in-law of Hera) did wonders for his relationship with the wife of Zeus, and he finally lived happily ever after. Or something like that.