Herakles, more often known as Hercules, was the son of Zeus and princess Alkmene of Mycenae. Herakles had heard of a lion which terrorised a nearby kingdom, and decided to seek it out, and kill it. His search brought him to the castle of King Thespios, who was more than delighted to have his service. Apart from that, the king wished his fifty daughters to bear children with lineage from the gods, and therefore offered his daughters to him for every night he stayed in the castle, while in the day he searched for the lion.

This went on for forty-nine days. Finally, when Herakles had killed the tiger, all but one of the king's daughters was pregnant. Later, they all gave birth to children, some twins. After this task, he went on in search for more adventure, and came upon the city of Thebes. Herakles helped the king bring certain areas under his rule. As a reward, the king gave him his daughter, Princess Megara, as his wife.

The couple had a few children, and Herakles settled down to a quiet and peaceful life. But Hera, who was jealous of Zeus' many love affairs and children, did not wish Herakles to get away so easily. She used her dark arts to fill Herakles' mind with such insanity that he lost his mind, and went into a frenzy and killed his wife and his children.

When he finally regained his sanity, Herakles was ashamed by what he had done, and wanted to purify himself for the heinous acts he had committed. He thus consulted an oracle of Delphi, and asked how he might be purged of his sins. The oracle told him that he was to serve King Eurystheus of Mycenae, and perform ten tasks for the king. Knowing that Hera would be on the side of Eurystheus, the gods did whatever they could to help Herakles along his way, by giving him gifts. Apollo gave him a bow and arrows that would never miss, whilst Zeus gave him a shield and Athene gave him a robe.

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