One of the Argonauts that helped Jason in his search for the Golden Fleece was Hercules a demi-god renowned for his physical strength.

    His father was Zeus, and his mother the mortal woman Alcmene. Just as Merlin disguised Uther Pendragon as the husband of Igraine when he slept with her, begetting Arthur who would later be king, Zeus disguised himself as Alcmene's husband Amphitryon. Oddly, Amphitryon returned later the same night and slept with Alcmene as well, and she gave birth to twins by different fathers: Hercules and his fully-mortal brother Iphicles.

    Hera, Zeus's wife, was fiercely jealous, and tormented all of Zeus's illegitimate offspring. Here's what Hera did to the hapless hero.

    After Hercules married Megara, daughter of King Creon, Hera brought on him a fit of madness, in which he slaughtered the children he and Megara had together. Once the madness had passed, in remorse he fled to the famed Oracle at Delphi but, unbeknownst to him, Hera had influenced the Oracle to send him to serve King Eurystheus for ten years.

    Eurystheus set him the task of completing ten labors but then added two more, thus creating the proverbial "Twelve Labors of Hercules." Scholars believe that most likely these were separate stories later tied into a continuous narrative. For that reason, different sources vary the list somewhat.

    In any case, all of the tasks required both great strength and a certain amount of cleverness, a hallmark of Greek heroes. These included slaying numerous monsters and capturing others. He also had to steal or otherwise obtain several precious items.

    But perhaps the most memorable task--meant to be as humiliating as it was difficult--was when he had to clean the stables of King Augeas in a single day. Not only were these vast, but the divine animals there produced ample amounts of dung, and the place had not been cleaned in over 30 years! Hercules turned two rivers to wash them out. After doing so--and killing King Augeas for going back on his agreement to pay Hercules--the hero went forth and founded the first Olympic Games.

    Vocabulary: Which words above mean:

    1. born outside of marriage

    2. plentiful, great

    3. used as a fixed expression

    4. unfortunate

    5. fathering

    6. able to die, therefore, not a god

    7. son or daughter

    8. one with the power to tell the future

    9. caused great suffering for

    10. deep regret

    ANSWERS: 1. illegitimate 2. ample 3. proverbial 4. hapless 5. begetting 6. mortal 7. offspring 8. oracle 9. tormented 10. remorse