mythical Beginnings From an early age he was incredibly strong Zeus’s wife Hera hated Hercules and used her powers to make him go insane While under her spell Hercules did some terrible things But he eventually regained his senses Hercules was the son of Zeus and an Earth woman When he realized what he had done he asked for forgiveness He was told there was a way to make this happen 4
In Mycenae Hercules was forced to serve King Eurystheus The king assigned the mighty warrior 10 Labors The tasks were so difficult they seemed impossible First Hercules set out to best the Nemean Lion This beast terrorized the hills around Nemea No arrow could pierce its hide Hercules would have to find some other way to beat the lion 5
Hercules tracked the lion to a cave that had two entrances He blocked one entrance He then charged into the other Hercules caught the great beast off guard but dropped his club All Hercules had left was his mighty strength So he wrestled the beast to the ground and defeated it His first Labor was complete 6
His second Labor was to defeat the nine-headed Lernean Hydra The Hydra was a monstrous serpent Its nine heads attacked with venom And one of the heads could not be killed 7
