Famous Men of Greece · Ch. IV, part 1 · Unit 2: Hercules, Jason and Theseus

6. Hercules and His Labors (labors 1–9)

Goal: Your child can tell who made Hercules work and describe several of his first nine labors.

⏱ About 25 minutes · 6 steps

Open it at the Internet Archive ↗

You'll need

  • A map or globe (a free online map works well)
  • A notebook or paper and colored pencils
  • A large sheet of paper for a "Twelve Labors" chart

What's in the book

Hercules strangles two serpents in his cradle and becomes the slave of his cousin Eurystheus. Sections I and II tell the first nine labors: the Nemean lion, the hydra, the golden-horned stag, the boar, the Augean stables, the Stymphalian birds, the bull of Crete, the horses of Diomedes and the Amazon queen's girdle.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Set the scene

    Find Thebes (where Hercules was born) and Mycenae in southern Greece, where Eurystheus was king. Then find Crete, Thrace (north of Greece) and the Black Sea; the labors take Hercules to all of them.

  2. Read the chapter together

    Read pages 41–45 aloud, or let your child read and help with the hard names. Stop where Hercules carries the girdle to Eurystheus, before section III. The book gives his Greek name, He'ra-kles, too.

  3. Narration

    Close the book. Ask your child to tell the story back in their own words, from the beginning. Don't correct as they go; just listen. If they get stuck, use a prompt:

    - What happened when Hercules was a baby?

    - Why was he a slave to Eurystheus?

    - How did he clean the Augean stables in one day?

    - Why did the Amazon queen's girdle end in a battle?

  4. Start the labors chart

    Draw twelve boxes, numbered. Fill in the first nine with a word and a quick sketch: lion, hydra, stag, boar, stables, birds, bull, horses, girdle. Leave three empty boxes for next time.

  5. Talk it over

    Ask:

    1. Which labor needed cleverness more than strength?

    2. Who helped Hercules with the hydra?

    3. Why do you think Eurystheus kept giving him harder tasks?

  6. Remember it

    "Clean the Augean stables."

    SayToday, a very hard job is called a "Herculean" task.

Afterwards

Your child tells one labor to someone else in the family, acting it out.

Answers to the book's problems

1. The Augean stables (turning two rivers), and the horses of Diomedes. 2. A friend who burned each neck with a firebrand so new heads could not grow. 3. He hoped to find a task that would prove too much for the hero.

Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.

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