The lion had been terrorizing the area around Nemea, and had a hide so tough that no arrow could pierce it. After trying to slay the lion with his own weapons, a bow and arrow, a club made from an olive tree (which he reputedly pulled out of the ground himself) and a bronze sword, he threw his weapons away. Following it to a cave which had two entrances, Heracles blocked one of the doorways, then approached the lion through the other. Gripping the lion in his arms, and ignoring its powerful claws, he held it tightly by the throat choking it to death. (In some variants, Heracles killed it by thrusting his arm down its throat and choking it.)

After many hours trying unsuccessfully to skin the lion, Athena, in the disguise of an old crone, helped Heracles to realise that the best tools to cut the hide were the creature's own claws. So, with a little divine intervention, Heracles completed his first task.

From then on he wore the impenetrable hide as armour. King Eurystheus was so frightened by Heracles' fearsome guise and strength that he forebade him to enter the gates of the city of Mycenae. He half buried a large bronze jar and hid in it, from then on he communicated all his instructions to Heracles through a herald.

The snakelike Hydra had nine heads. If one was cut off two would grow in its place.

Heracles covered his mouth and nose with a cloth to protect himself from the poisonous fumes then lured the creature from its lair by shooting flaming arrows at it. Heracles quickly sliced off the heads, while his nephew and charioteer, Iolaus, sealed the wounds with a torch.

Once he had removed and destroyed the eight mortal heads, Heracles then chopped off the ninth, immortal head. He buried it at the side of the road between Lerna to Elaeus and covered it with a heavy rock. The body of the hydra Heracles slit open and used the venomous blood to make his own poisoned arrows.

The Cerynian Hind had golden horns, bronze hooves and was so fast it could outrun an arrow. It was sacred to the goddess Artemis, this meant that Heracles could neither kill nor hurt the deer without angering the goddess.

Heracles following the hind for a year, after which time the hind began to tire. When it stopped for a drink at a stream Heracles quickly shot it with one of his unpoisoned arrows and captured it. As he was returning with the hind he met Artemis and Apollo, her twin. He begged the goddess for forgiveness, explaining that he had to catch it as part of his penance, but promised to return it. Artemis heeled the hind and forgave him, foiling Eurystheus' plan to have her punish him.

When Heracles brought the hind to Eurystheus, he was told that it was to become part of the King's menagerie. Heracles knew that he had to return the hind as he had promised Artemis, so he agreed to hand it over on the condition that Eurystheus himself came out and took it from him. The King came out, but the moment Heracles let the hind go it sprinted back to Artemis. Heracles left saying that Eurystheus had not been quick enough.

The Boar lived on a mountain called Erymanthus. Every day the boar would come down from its lair on the mountain, killing people and destroying everything in its path.

Hercules chased the boar round and round the mountain, shouting as loud as he could. The boar, frightened and out of breath, hid in a thicket. Hercules poked his spear into the thicket and drove the exhausted animal into a snowdrift. He then trapped the boar in a net, and carried it all the way to Eurystheus.

Eurystheus ordered Heracles to clean the stables of King Augeas in a single day. Thousands of cows lived in the stables, these cows had been a divine gift to King Augeas and as such were immune to disease, because of this the stables had not been cleaned in 30 years.

Before he began Heracles approached Augeas, and without telling him anything about Eurystheus, made a deal that Augeas would give him a tenth of the cattle if he could clean the stables in a day, to which Augeas agreed.

To complete his task Heracles tore holes in opposite sides of the stable yard, he then dug trenches to the two nearby rivers Alpheus and Peneus making them bend so that they flowed into the stables, sweeping out the filth.

Once he learned that Eurystheus had set Heracles the task, Augeas refused to honour the agreement they had made. Heracles killed him and gave his kingdom to Augeas' son, Phyleus, who had been exiled for supporting Heracles against his father.

The Stymphalian birds were reputedly the pets of Ares. They had claws and beaks of brass, sharp metallic feathers they could launch at their victims like darts and toxic dung.

Athena aided Heracles in his task by giving him a set of bronze kratola (similar to castinets), made by the god of the forge, Hephaestus. Heracles used these bronze clappers to scare the birds from their nests, then he shot them with the poisoned arrows he had made from the Hydra's blood, though some versions say he used a catapult.

Eurystheus sent Heracles to capture the bull kept by King Minos of Crete. Heracles easily lassoed it and wrestled it to the ground then rode it back to Eurystheus, who offered it to Hera as a sacrifice. She refused saying it reflected the glory of Heracles whom she hated. The bull was released to roam free and cause terror until it was captured by Theseus.

Heracles was sent to steal the four man-eating, wild mares belonging to Diomedes, King of Thrace and leader of the Bistones. Several versions of the story exist. In one version Heracles discovers the mares to be chained to a bronze manger. He leaves one of his men, Abderus, to watch over the mares, while he fights Diomedes, but the mares kill and eat Abderus. In revenge Heracles kills Diomedes and feeds him to his own horses.

In another version Heracles stayed awake to prevent Diomedes from cutting his throat in the night. He severs the chains binding the horses to the manger and scaring the horses to higher ground, he digs a trench making the peninsula into an island. When Diomedes arrives, Heracles kills him with the axe he used to dig the trench and him to the horses.

In yet another version Diomedes has the four horses harnessed to a chariot, and Heracles has to bring back the chariot as well as the horses. In another, Heracles tames the horses using his own chariot.

The outcome is the same in all versions though; feeding Diomedes to his own horses calms them long enough for Heracles to bind their mouths closed and safely return with them to Eurystheus.

The girdle or belt was a piece of armour given to Hippolyte by Ares the god of war. She wore it across her chest and used it to carry her sword and spear. Eurystheus wanted the belt as a gift for his daughter.

There are many varying versions of the story but the most common seems to be that Heracles friends, knowing he could not defeat the Amazon army alone, joined him and they set sail for the land of the Amazons in a single ship.

When they arrived Hippolyte came down to meet them and when Heracles explained why he was there she agreed to give him the belt. But the goddess Hera disguised herself as an Amazon warrior and went among the army saying that the strangers were there to carry off their queen. The warriors put on their armour and charged on horseback to attack the men.

During the fight Heracles succeeded in killing Hyppolyte, he undid her belt and removed it. Once the battle was over, Heracles and his crew sailed away, and after a short stop at the city of Troy they returned with the belt to Mycenae and Eurystheus.

Geryon, a winged Titan monster with three heads, three bodies and six arms, but only one pair of legs lived on the island of Erytheia. He owned a prized herd of beautiful red cattle, which he guarded with the help of a giant called Eurythion and a vicious two-headed dog named Orthus, the brother of Cerberus.

Heracles was ordered by Eurystheus to obtain the Cattle of Geryon as his tenth labour. Apollodorus writes that Hercules built two massive mountains; one in Europe and one in Libya (Libya was the name given to Africa by the Greeks), to commemorate his journey. Other accounts say that Hercules split one mountain into two. These mountains became known as the Gates or Pillars of Hercules. The strait Hercules made when he broke the mountain apart is now called the Strait of Gibraltar, the gateway from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean between Spain and Morocco.

One version of the story states that on his way there he was so frustrated by the heat of the desert that he shot one of his poisoned arrows at Helios, the sun, who begged him to stop. Heracles then demanded the golden cup used by Helios to sail across the sea each night, he then used the cup to reach Erytheia. Another version states that Helios gave Heracles the cup in admiration for creating the mountains and straits.

As soon as Heracles reached Erytheia he was confronted by Orthrus, but he killed the dog with one blow from his olive-wood club. Eurythion the giant came to help Orthrus, but Heracles overcame him the same way. One of the other herdsmen reported to Geryon what had happened, and just as Heracles was escaping with the cattle, Geryon attacked him. Heracles shot him with one of the arrows poisoned with the Hydra's blood. Some versions say that he shot the arrow so forcefully it pierced all three bodies of Geryon. And others that Heracles tore Geryon's bodies into three separate pieces.

Heracles then had to herd the cattle all the way back to Mycenae.

Despite completing the initial 10 labours set him, Heracles had to complete two more as Eurystheus did not consider the Hydra or the Augean Stables properly done.

The Garden of the Hesperides was Hera's orchard, where golden apples grew, these apples supposedly gave immortality and grew on a tree or trees that were a wedding gift from Gaia.They were protected by the Hesperides and Ladon, a hundred-headed dragon who never slept. The Hesperides were nymphs, the daughters of Atlas.

There are varying stories about Heracles journey to the grove and how he found it, the most common seems to be that it was Prometheus (an immortal who suffered daily tortures by an eagle, until Heracles killed it) who told Heracles where the garden was and that he would need to enlist Atlas' help in getting the apples. Upon arriving at the garden Heracles struck a bargain with Atlas. Atlas hated holding up the sky and earth so much that he agreed to get the apples for Heracles if Heracles would take his burden for a while.

When Atlas returned, he told Heracles he would take the apples to Eurystheus himself, and asked Heracles to stay there and hold the heavy load for the rest of time. Heracles agreed, but asked Atlas if he would take it back again for a while so he could put some soft padding on his shoulders to help him bear the weight. Atlas agreed and put the apples down, and took up the burden again himself. Heracles quickly picked up the apples and ran away, taking the apples back to Eurystheus himself.

Heracles final task was to capture Cerberus without using weapons. Cerberus was a three-headed dog that guarded the gates of Hades, the Greek underworld, and ensured the living could not enter and the dead could not leave.

First Heracles went to Eleusis and saw Eumolpus, a priest from whom he learned the Eleusian Mysteries, so he could pass between this world and the underworld alive. Heracles found the entrance to Hades at Taenarum in Laconia where he met Athena and Hermes who helped him cross over into the underwold, Hermes helped him past Charon, the ferryman of the river Styx.

Many versions of how he captured Cerberus exist; in one Hercules wrestled down the dog's wild heads, and dragged it out of Hades. In another Heracles simply asks Hades' permission, Hades agrees providing Heracles does not harm the beast. Another version states that Heracles shot Hades with one of his poisoned arrows and stole the hound, and yet another tells how Heracles treated the vicious beast with the first kindness it had ever known, and so walks out of Hades with a tame dog.

Once Heracles returned to Mycenae with the hound; Eurystheus was so terrified he immediately hid in a jar and ordered the beast returned to Hades.