King Eurystheus set Hercules originally ten monumental tasks to achieve. Despite these being incredibly difficult, King Euythesus ultimately added two extra labours. He claimed Hercules had got help from others to accomplish one task and received payment for another. In the legend, the king comes across as a petulant, frightened and mean-spirited man while the hero Hercules shines forth as an incredibly brave and heroic figure tackling unimaginable horrors to achieve victory despite the odds. Here, I look at just six of his tasks to see if there are lessons from these that can help us today.
Slaying the Nemean lion
The lion had fur that protected it from all arrows and Heracles, in order to kill the animal, had to lure it into a cave and block its entrance. There in the darkness at close quarters he was eventually able to club and strangle the lion. To skin the lion he had to use the animal's own claws as nothing else was powerful enough to cut through. He was able to use the lion skin as a coat and use its protection in future tasks.
Lesson 1
Sometimes in order to achieve your objective you must create an environment that suits your particular skills. The more you accomplish the more informed you become at knowing how and where to make your stand.
You can take from any conflict or achievement vital tools that will help you in future challenges. If navigated well, even unexpected developments can help you emerge a stronger and more competent person.
Hydra-nine headed monster
Heracles covered his mouth and nose with a cloth to protect himself from the nine-headed Hydra monster’s poisonous fumes. Heracles discovered that when he successfully cut off one head two more heads grew in its place. The only way to disarm the monster was to not only cut off the head but also to cauterise the remaining neck with a firebrand. Heracles was assisted in this task by his nephew and although he succeeded Eurystheus used the fact that Heracles had not acted alone to justify adding an extra task. By dipping his arrows in the Hydra's poisonous blood he managed to make his weapons much more powerful.
Lesson 2
At times the environment in which you must work is so toxic you need to protect yourself to survive it. Such a poisonous atmosphere needs to be recognised to stop it from overpowering you and making you incapable of functioning at all.
Tests often come back at you again and again. Striking repeatedly and viciously they can even grow stronger and more numerous. When this happens, it is important to spot the similar source of difficulties and take remedial action to avoid future repetition. Simple instant removal will not suffice and a longer-acting permanent process needs to be put in place.
You will often need friends or colleagues to help you overcome such situations and it may be necessary to have the humility to accept such help despite any complications their assistance may through up.
The good news is that overcoming such a pernicious situation leaves you with an exceptionally potent remedy for future adversaries.
Capturing the Ceryneian Hind
Because of its sacred nature, Heracles did not want to hurt the hind and so had to be patient in this task. It took over a year for him to achieve this task. It is said he used nets to capture it while it slept and when he returned to Eurystheus with the hind he was reluctant to give it to the king who wanted to keep it in his collection of animals at the palace. Hercules cleverly called for the king to come and get the hind himself and when the king emerged from the palace he let the animal run off freely.
Lesson 3
Destroying something is much easier and faster than keeping a thing alive. However, such wanton destruction has consequences and you need to recognise that some goals are not worth all the anguish and pain they entail. If at the end of a lot of effort and time you have not injured or damaged something precious take that as a job well done not a failure.
Capturing the Erymanthian Boar
Hercules caught the boar by shouting and chased it from the thicket into deep snow. Eventually, the boar was totally exhausted and Hercules was able to bind it with chains. When he reached king Eurystheus with the boar on his shoulder Hercules threw the boar at his feet and the king was so terrified he hid himself in a bronze vessel to escape danger.
Lesson 4
Humans can outpace almost any other animal on the planet, including even cheetahs, horses, and wolves in an endurance race. It is your stamina that may make all the difference in many challenging situations. That ability to persevere will mean even a stronger opponent can be beaten especially when they are pushed into unfamiliar landscapes.
Those in charge of us are sometimes not worthy of the role they choose to play and hide from their responsibilities.
Cleaning the Augean stables in a single day
Hercules's next task was a humiliating one. He was instructed to clean the huge Augean stables, which had over 3000 oxen and had not been cleaned in over three decades. This would have been an impossible task for one person but Heracles succeeded by cleverly rerouting the rivers Alpheus and Peneus to wash out the filth.
Lesson 5
When dealing with huge quantities of shit and with little time to dig it out you need to be creative. Sometimes the solution is not getting bad stuff out but putting good stuff in. Even in our own lives instead of constantly being depressed by all that we dislike in our lives get busy filling it with something good and worthwhile instead.
Slaying the Stymphalian birds
The Stymphalian birds were man-eating birds with beaks of bronze, sharp metallic feathers they could launch at their victims, and poisonous dung. They had migrated to a marsh in Arcadia to escape a pack of wolves. They swarmed over the countryside, destroying crops, fruit trees, and townspeople. Hercules could not enter the marsh as he would sink into the soggy ground so he used a rattle to make a loud sound and this drove the birds high into the sky. He was able to shoot some of them with his poisonous arrows and take them back to the king as proof that he had achieved his mission.
Lesson 6
Even those who are terrifying to us are invariably scared of some other thing.
When you cannot enter a dangerous area to achieve a difficult objective then start by driving your opponent, through distraction, to a more beneficial zone for you. Once you have achieved that use the potent skills you have already acquired to eradicate the problem.
There are many other tasks Hercules undertook and many other lessons to be learned from all of them but I grew weary of my task and decided to stop at the sixth. Knowing when to stop is another valuable lesson! The reason Hercules had to undertake all these tasks was because he had killed his wife and children and the deeds were set as a form of atonement. Surely that itself is the mightiest lesson of all. Don’t harm those nearest and dearest to you because you end up spending the rest of your life fighting demons and monsters, like yourself!
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