Leaving Libya, he passed through Egypt, which was then under the rule of Bousiris, son of Poseidon and Lysianassa, daughter of Epaphos. Bousiris used to sacrifice strangers on an altar of Zeus, in accordance with an oracle; for barrenness had gripped the land of Egypt for nine years, and Phrasios, a skilled diviner who had come from Cyprus, said that the barrenness would come to an end if they slaughtered a male foreigner in honour of Zeus every year. Bousiris began by slaughtering the diviner himself, and continued to slaughter strangers who landed there. So Heracles was arrested and dragged to the altars, but he broke free of his bonds, and killed both Bousiris and his son Amphidamas.
After passing through Asia, he put in at Thermydrai, the harbour of the Lindians. And releasing one of the bullocks from the cart of a drover,* he sacrificed it and feasted on its flesh. The drover, unable to defend himself, stood on a certain mountain and cursed him; and because of that, even to this day, when they sacrifice to Heracles there, they do so to the accompaniment of curses.
Passing by Arabia, he killed Emathion* the son of Tithonos; and he travelled through Libya* to the outer sea, where he received the cup from the Sun. He crossed over to the mainland opposite, and on the Caucasos he shot the eagle, born to Echidna and Typhon, that fed on the liver of Prometheus. He then set Prometheus free, taking the fetters of olive for himself, and presented Cheiron to Zeus as an immortal being who was willing to die in Prometheus’ place.*
When he reached Atlas in the land of the Hyperboreans, Heracles followed the advice of Prometheus, who had told him not to go for the apples himself but to take over the sky from Atlas and send him instead. So Atlas took three apples from the Hesperides and returned to Heracles; and not wishing to hold up the heavens again, [he said that he himself would carry the apples to Eurystheus, and asked Heracles to support the sky in his place. Heracles promised that he would, but passed it back to Atlas by means of a ruse. For Prometheus, when offering his advice, had told him that he should ask Atlas to take the sky back until*] he had prepared a pad for his head. And when Atlas heard his request, he placed the apples on the ground and took the sky back. In this way, Heracles was able to pick up the apples and depart. (It is said by some, however, that he did not get the apples from Atlas, but plucked them himself after killing the guardian snake.*) He brought the apples back, and gave them to Eurystheus; but as soon as he received them, he returned them to Heracles. Then Athene took them from Heracles, and carried them back again; for it was unholy* for them to be deposited anywhere else.
Twelfth labour: the capture of Cerberos
12As a twelfth labour, he was ordered to fetch Cerberos* from Hades. Cerberos had three dogs’ heads, the tail of a dragon, and on his back, the heads of all kinds of snakes. When Heracles was about to depart for Cerberos, he went to Eumolpos in Eleusis with a view to being initiated;*† but since it was impossible for him to behold the Mysteries unless he had been purified from the murder of the Centaurs, he was purified by Eumolpos* and initiated thereafter. He made his way to Tainaron in Laconia, where the mouth of the descent to Hades is located, and descended through it. When the souls caught sight of him, they fled, except for Meleager and the Gorgon Medusa.* He drew his sword against the Gorgon as if she were still alive, but learned from Hermes that she was an empty phantom. As he drew close to the gates of Hades, he discovered Theseus there, and Peirithoos,* who had tried to gain Persephone as his bride, and had been imprisoned there for that reason. When they saw Heracles, they stretched their arms towards him, hoping that his strength would enable them to be raised from the dead. He took Theseus by the hand and raised him up, but when he wanted to raise Peirithoos, the earth shook and he let him go. He also rolled aside the stone of Ascalaphos.* Wanting to procure blood for the souls,* he slaughtered one of the cattle of Hades; but their herdsman, Menoites, son of Ceuthonymos, challenged him to a wrestling match. Heracles seized him round the middle and broke his ribs, but let him go when Persephone interceded. When he asked Pluto for Cerberos, Pluto told him to take the beast if he could overpower it without using any of the weapons that he was carrying. Discovering Cerberos by the gates of Acheron,* Heracles, sheathed in his breastplate and fully covered by his lion’s skin, grasped its head between his arms and never relaxed his grip and stranglehold on the beast until he had broken its will, although he was bitten by the dragon in its tail. Then he carried it off and made his way back, ascending through Troezen. As for Ascalaphos, Demeter turned him into an owl.* After Heracles had shown Cerberos to Eurystheus, he returned the beast to Hades.
The murder of Iphitos and Heracles’ enslavement to Omphale
1After his labours, Heracles returned to Thebes. He gave
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Megara to Iolaos,* and wanting to remarry, he made enquiries and learned that Eurytos, king of Oichalia, had offered the hand of his daughter Iole as a prize to the man who could defeat himself and his sons at archery.* So he went to Oichalia and proved himself superior to them at archery, but even so, he failed to get his bride; for although Iphitos, the eldest of the sons, said that Iole should be given to Heracles, Eurytos and the others refused, saying that they were afraid that if he had children, he would kill his offspring once again. 2Not long afterwards, some cattle were stolen* from Euboea by Autolycos, and Eurytos thought that Heracles was responsible. Iphitos, however, did not believe it, and went to see Heracles. Meeting him as he was returning from Pherae after he had saved the dead Alcestis for Admetos, Iphitos asked him to help in the search for the cattle. Heracles promised to do so and entertained him as a guest; but then, in a fresh fit of madness,* he hurled him from the walls of Tiryns. Wanting to be purified of the murder he visited Neleus, who was king of the Pylians. When Neleus rejected him* because of his friendship with Eurytos, he then went to Amyclai and was purified by Deiphobos, son of Hippolytos.
He was struck by a terrible disease as the result of his murder of Iphitos, and went to Delphi to ask how he could be delivered from it. When the Pythia refused to grant him a response,* he wanted to plunder the temple and tried to carry off the tripod to found an oracle of his own. But Apollo joined battle with him, until Zeus hurled a thunderbolt between them. After they had been separated in this way, Heracles received a response from the oracle, which told him that he would be delivered from his illness if he was sold into slavery, served for three years, and gave the price paid for him to Eurytos as compensation for the murder. 3Following the delivery of this oracle, Hermes put him up for sale, and he was purchased by Omphale, daughter of Iardanos, queen of Lydia, who had been left the kingdom by her husband, Tmolos, after his death. As for the money paid for him, Eurytos refused to accept it when it was brought to him.
While serving Omphale as a slave, Heracles captured and bound the Cercopes* at Ephesus, and at Aulis he killed Syleus —who compelled strangers to dig [in his vineyard*]—and also his daughter, Xenodoce, and burned his vines to their roots. Calling in at the island of Douche, he saw the body of Icaros* cast ashore there, and buried it, calling the island Icaria instead of Doliche. In return, Daidalos made a statue at Pisa in the likeness of Heracles (who failed to recognize it one night, and threw a stone at it, taking it for a living person). It was during the time of his servitude to Omphale that the voyage to Colchis* is said to have taken place, and the hunt for the Calydonian boar, and that Theseus is said to have cleared the Isthmus as he travelled from Troezen.*