Hippolytes Belt The ninth labor was complicated: stealing an armored belt that belonged to the Amazon queen Hippolyte.

His life was not easyhe endured many trials and completed many daunting tasksbut the reward for his suffering was a promise that he would live forever among the gods at Mount Olympus.

According to legend, his father was Zeus, ruler of all the gods on Mount Olympus and all the mortals on earth, and his mother was Alcmene, the granddaughter of the hero Perseus.

Perseus, who was also said to be one of Zeus sons, famously beheaded the snake-haired Gorgon Medusa.) Did you know The constellation Hercules is the fifth-largest one in the sky.

When Zeus wife Hera heard that her husbands mistress was pregnant, she flew into a jealous rage.

First, she used her supernatural powers to prevent the baby Hercules from becoming the ruler of Mycenae.

Though Zeus had declared that his son would inherit the Mycenaean kingdom, Heras meddling meant that another baby boy, the feeble Eurystheus, became its leader instead.) Then, after Hercules was born, Hera sent two snakes to kill him in his crib.

The infant Hercules was unusually strong and fearless, however, and he strangled the snakes before they could strangle him.

When her stepson was a young adult, she cast a kind of spell on him that drove him temporarily insane and caused him to murder his beloved wife and their two children.

Guilty and heartbroken, Hercules tracked down Apollo, the god of truth and healing (and another of Zeus sons), and begged to be punished for what he had done.

The Heroic Labors of Hercules Apollo understood that Hercules crime had not been his faultHeras vengeful actions were no secretbut still he insisted that the young man make amends.

He ordered Hercules to perform 12 heroic labors for the Mycenaen king Eurystheus.

Once Hercules completed every one of the labors, Apollo declared, he would be absolved of his guilt and achieve immortality.

The Nemean Lion First, Apollo sent Hercules to the hills of Nemea to kill a lion that was terrorizing the people of the region.

Some storytellers say that Zeus had fathered this magical beast as well.) Hercules trapped the lion in its cave and strangled it.

For the rest of his life, he wore the animals pelt as a cloak.

The Lernaean Hydra Second, Hercules traveled to the city of Lerna to slay the nine-headed Hydraa poisonous, snake-like creature who lived underwater, guarding the entrance to the Underworld.

He cut off each of the monsters heads while Iolaus burned each wound with a torch.

This way, the pair kept the heads from growing back.The Golden HindNext, Hercules set off to capture the sacred pet of the goddess Diana: a red deer, or hind, with golden antlers and bronze hooves.

Eurystheus had chosen this task for his rival because he believed that Diana would kill anyone she caught trying to steal her pet; however, once Hercules explained his situation to the goddess, she allowed him to go on his way without punishment.

The Erymanthean Boar Fourth, Hercules used a giant net to snare the terrifying, man-eating wild boar of Mount Erymanthus.

The Augean StablesHercules fifth task was supposed to be humiliating as well as impossible: cleaning all the dung out of King Augeas enormous stables in a single day.

However, Hercules completed the job easily, flooding the barn by diverting two nearby rivers.

This time, it was the goddess Athena who came to the heros aid: She gave him a pair of magical bronze krotala, or noisemakers, forged by the god Hephaistos.

The Cretan Bull Next, Hercules went to Crete to capture a rampaging bull that had impregnated the wife of the islands king.

She later gave birth to the Minotaur, a creature with a mans body and a bulls head.) Hercules drove the bull back to Eurystheus, who released it into the streets of Marathon.

The Horses of Diomedes Hercules eighth challenge was to capture the four man-eating horses of the Thracian king Diomedes.

He brought them to Eurystheus, who dedicated the horses to Hera and set them free.

Original Hercules Movies