#twelve labours

[theogonyofbeauty]

The first of Heracles' twelve labours, set by King Eurystheus, was to slay the Nemean lion.

[illustratus]

Diomedes King of Thrace Killed by Hercules and Devoured by his own Horses

by Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre

[greekmythcomix]

The Twelve Labours of Heracles 💪

I made these for class, to revise the Labours along with the metopes of Heracles from the Temple of Zeus at Olympia! https://www.carc.ox.ac.uk/carc/resources/Sculpture/context/OlympiaMetopes

All my GCSE classes for Heracles and Hercules are here (from UK Lockdown 1): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLN36Hwtm4-c0bqo8hPCLeIMBmkUC5Jb4l

[dreamconsumer]

Erymanthian Boar.

[conformi]

Tom Bianchi, Untitled (674), Fire Island Pines, USA, 1975-1983 VS Hercules and the Lernaean Hydra

[verdantlyviolet]

The Nemean Lion

In mythology, the Nemean lion was a large fearsome monster that terrorised Nemea in the Argolid, with a hide impervious to iron, bronze or stone, and claws that could shatter weapons.

Hesiod has an early mention of the Nemean lion in Theogony 8-7 century BCE

[...] the nemean lion, which Hera, Zeus’ honoured wife, fostered and settled in the foothills of Nemea, an affliction for men. There it lived, harassing the local peoples, monarch of Tretos in Nemea and of Apesas; but mighty Heracles’ force overcame it. (trans. M L West)

Hesiod however does not mention the classic impenetrable skin that the lion has become known for. Though Hesiod’s wording is confusing, he does imply just before this passage, as do other sources, that the lion’s mother is Echidna and father Typhon, the parents of all the worst of Ancient Greek monsters, including Cerberus, Drakon and the Hydra. Hera then reared the lion and set it loose on the Argolid. Others say the lion was cast down by Selene at Hera’s request, or that Hesiod meant it was the offspring of the Chimera.

The fearsome Leon Nemeios was slain by Herakles at the behest of King Eurystheus as the first of the hero’s twelve labours. Herakles tried to shoot the lion down with his arrows, but they bounced off its golden hide. He then cornered the lion in a cave at the base of Mt Tretos in Nemea, having blocked one of the cave’s two entrances, and, clubbing the beast with his iconic weapon, grappled with it while the lion was dazed until he choked it to death with sheer force. Herakles attempted to skin the beast but his weapons still couldn’t pierce the skin. Goddess Athena whispered the secret to him; pierce the lion’s hide with its own claws.

The common iconography of Herakles wearing the lion skin seems fixed from 6 century BCE onward, with the earliest representations coming from the islands and eastern Greece. Herakles, poetically depicted as larger than life, wore the huge nemean lion’s skin as a perfectly fitting cloak, using its protective properties as a shield throughout his career. Herakles and his descendants, notably Alexander the Great, can be easily identified by the mighty lion mane and jaw worn as a helmet, and the skin as a cloak with the front paws tied in a knot at his chest. This imagery, in part, gave rise to the nautical rope knot known as the Hercules Knot.

Lions are no longer native to Greece, though Herodotus does say they were still present in his time. The image of the lion and the fight scene with Herakles is well documented and unmistakable. What’s interesting is the Nemean lion’s domain, Mt Tretos, means “to pierce” or “to perforate” because of a ravine dug in the base of the mountain. A lion with impenetrable skin lurked on a torn mountain, or, as Tyrrell says, ‘A perforated mountain shelters a lion that cannot be perforated.’

On a more personal note, that Herakles’ first labour was won by strength alone, with his bare hands, feels more significant than any of his other acts. He was known as a skilled archer, a formidable man with talents beyond any normal mortal, yet to be reduced to fighting with his hands with no aid from the onset cements his prowess to me. Even without the lion hide’s properties I believe he would have worn the skin regardless to show the world what he was capable of. Indeed, there are some myths that state the hide he wore was that of the Kithaeron lion, the first he slew as a much younger man.

🦁

Sources:

Theoi.com

Wikipedia (image 1)

Perseus (image 2)

Apollodoros, Library 2.5.1

From Bowman to Clubman: Herakles and Olympia

On Making the Myth of the Nemean Lion

[giuliadrawsstuff]

Inktober Day 27. Coat.

Heracles and the Nemean Lion. This was the first of Heracles's Twelve Labours he was given by king Eurystheus to atone for the murder of his wife Megara and his children. This monstrous lion was one of Typhon and Echidna's children, it terrorized the people of Nemea and had already killed plenty of heroes. Its pelt was so hard and thick that all weapons were useless and bounced right off; its claws so sharp they tore through every armour, while its jaws were so strong they crunched even rocks. Heracles studied the lion for months and when he felt ready he confronted it in its lair. Since weapons were of no use, Heracles assaulted it, tightening his grip around its neck. After a long struggle, Heracles strangled the lion. As a sign of respect after this fair fight, Heracles flayed the lion's hide, head included, with one of its claws to make himself a cloack; he then made a necklace from its teeth and a club from the greatest oak tree he could find.

[diaxyz]

My Illustration and (a very SaintSeiya) self-protrait avatar for the charity artbook "Costellarium" curated by Reverie Studio Several myths are related to Sagitta's constellation, two of which have Eracle as protagonist. Considering the three constellations surrounding it, the myth wants the arrow to be considered as the weapon used by the hero in one of the twelve labours, the sixth, in which he freed Arcadia from the scourge of the iron man-eating birds, in the Stymphalian swamps.