Zeus an unfaithful husband, cheated on his wife Hera with a mortal named Alcmena who later gave birth to Hercules. Hera was seeking revenge on Zeus, she two snakes into the crib to kill baby Hercules but to her amazement Hercules had strangled both the serpents without struggle.
When Hercules reached adulthood he became a very strong warrior, he possessed superhuman strength and was very talented with a bow and arrow. He had large muscles and was usually wearing robes or armor. Later in his life he had a relationship with a woman named Megara; they had several children and were a very happy family.
After Hera failed the first time at killing Hercules, she tried again, this time driving him into a frenzy and making him turn slightly insane. Sadly this rage led him to killing his beloved wife and children.
After Hercules had done this horrible deed he prayed to the god Apollo, seeking advice to cleanse himself of this terrible crime. Apollo set Hercules 12 tasks that if he was to succeed his soul would be once again purified.
These tasks included: Slaying a super-natural lion, killing a beast with 8 heads that was able to re-generate its heads, capturing a powerful deer without drawing blood, carrying a monstrous boar from the mountains back to the king, cleaning out a large stable full of manure in less than a day, killing birds that had feathers of brass that were able to pierce a mans body, killing a creature that was half bull and half human with the ability to breathe fire and capturing horses that were strong and powerful, they would feed on travelers or any thing that passed them.
Hercules was next tasked to retrieve a queen's belt for the king's daughter. Hercules did it without trouble, but then Hera interfered once more and told the people that Hercules had kidnapped their queen. On Hercules tenth task he was instructed to steal three heads or bodies from the waist down of multiple headed cattle, without being caught. Hercules eleventh task was to shoot arrows into a garden of apples guarded by a dragon with several heads. After he had done this he had to hold a large pillar above his head while a man went and retrieved the fruit, this symbolized the strain of keeping earth and heaven apart.
Hercules final task was to bring the Hell hound Cerberus from Hades, the kingdom of the dead to the king and his soul would be purified and his debt be complete.
These tasks took Hercules just over 12 years to complete, Hercules died several years after from Hydra venom that poisoned him on one of his first tasks.
A myth is often told to bring meaning to a story, they might not always be true but they show a lesson about what someone did or what happened in a story.
