Greek Myths XS: Herakles and the Augean Stables

In this season of spring cleaning, all kinds of hacks engulf social media. But the one that Greek hero Herakles came up with, will not be of much use. Since his birth, Herakles was haunted by a jealous Hera. She had struck him with madness, which had resulted in him unaliving his family. As a repentance, he was forced to execute ten labours (twelve in the end). The fifth one was the cleaning of the stables of king Augeias of Elis, home of 3000 cattle. Herakles, who had been doing exciting male stuff, like slaying lions, snakes and boars, only agreed to this demeaning task if he would get paid. Yes, he demanded compensation for a household job. And he added a bet: to finish in one day. Yes, he included some form of competition. He succeeded by rerouting two rivers through the stables and let the water wash out the filth. Yes, he came up with some technical shortcut. But in the end, the conclusion was the he shouldn’t have been paid, as it was supposed to be a labour of love. Well, we didn’t quite get past that one, did we?

Herakles and the Augean Stables, Roman mosaic (Llíria, Spain),

National Archaeological Museum, Madrid, Spain

Hercules as a Child, Statuette, Correr Museum, Venice, Italy