00:02Years after strangling Hera's serpents, when Heracles had grown into a well-skilled young
00:07man, he married Princess Megara, daughter of the then Theban king, Creon. And the two,
00:13had a number of children. Seeking to take away everything he loved, Hera sent the spirits of
00:19insanity and rage upon Heracles, driving him to kill his beloved wife and children.
00:25What great sorrow befell Heracles, when his madness left him. He visited the oracle of Delphi,
00:32to ask for punishment, to seek penance, to seek guidance. The oracle answered, that to atone for
00:39his sins, he must serve his cousin and usurper, King Eurystheus of Mycenae and Tyrenes, for 12
00:46whole years. To ensure the hero's failure, King Eurystheus, guided by Hera, would task Heracles,
00:53with 12 impossible labors, upon his arrival at Tyrenes.
01:31By the promise of Zeus, should Heracles successfully fulfill the 12 tasks, he would be granted immortality,
01:38at his death. But surely, it was not possible for any mortal or half-god, to pull off this feat,
01:45so Hera thought. She appeared to the king of Tyrenes, and directed him to humiliate Heracles,
01:51with originally 10 impossible labors. The first labor of Heracles, was to slay the Nemean lion.
01:59Eurystheus instructed him to kill the beast, and bring back its hide. Born from the monstrous Typhon,
02:05and Echidna, the Nemean lion was a fierce beast with an impenetrable skin, that could not be broken
02:10by the weapons of man. It resided in the town of Nemea, luring people into its den, to eat them
02:17alive.
02:19Heracles found the roaming beast, when he got to the mountain of Nemea. Shooting arrows at it,
02:25he quickly realized they were of no use, as none of his arrows, broke the beast's skin. Following it to
02:31its cave, he blocked the passages of the cave, so it could not escape. Then when the lion charged at
02:38him,
02:38Heracles wrapped his arms around its neck, and squeezed tight, strangling the beast.
02:44Now the lion was dead, but how could he skin it? What tool, or weapon, could he use?
02:51Athena in her wisdom, advised him to use the lion's claws, to carve out its own hide, which he did,
02:58using the hide as an armor, afterward. Heracles returned to the city of Tyrenes, to the palace of
03:05Eurystheus, exactly 13 days after he had set out on that task. Wearing the lion's skin, he presented
03:12himself to the horrified Eurystheus, ready to begin his second task.
03:35the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's
03:36head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the
03:36lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head,
03:36the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's
03:36head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the
03:36lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head,
03:36the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the lion's head, the
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