Hercules: 12 Labors RANKED by Difficulty, Safe to Suicidal - Greek Mythology Explained
18:02 Share

Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video we're going to be discussing Hercules: more specifically, his 12 labors, ranking them from least to most dangerous. Before we jump into the list, though, we're going to quickly touch on why it was that Hercules had to complete 12 nigh-impossible, death-defying labors.

Hera could be vicious and vindictive. She had good reason, to be sure: Zeus was a lecher and a serial-offender in the adultery department. That said, perhaps the victims of Hera's wrath were unfairly chosen, for are the children begot from infidelity not blameless?

Of all Zeus' bastards, none was more doggedly targeted by Hera than Hercules. Hera attempted to thwart, ruin, and kill Hercules at every turn, but her most malicious attack was when she cursed Hercules with a spell of madness. In this state - his mind not his own - Hercules murdered his three sons and even his wife, Megara, who tried in vain to protect her children from her crazed husband. Hercules, seeking to atone for the atrocities he had committed, looking to cleanse himself of the sins of his past, traveled to Delphi where he consulted the resident oracle, who told Hercules that he needed purification, that a great penance was needed. Hercules was instructed to seek his cousin Eurystheus, King of Myceanae, and to submit himself to whatever was tasked of him.

Eurystheus was cunning and opportunistic, and he was very concerned about not being supplanted by Hercules, who would have been the rightful king had it not been for a contrivance from Hera that had Eurystheus born prematurely so to be older than Hercules. The labors devised by Eurystheus - encouraged by Hera - were diabolical in the degree of difficulty and danger entailed in them. His motivations for subjecting Hercules to such labors were two fold: to fully exploit and profit from having the strongest man on earth compelled to satisfy his every whim, and to eliminate a potential rival for his throne.

With that covered, let's dive into our list.