The cattle yard of King Auge: the sixth feat of Hercules

In the oral and written speech is often found the expression "Augean stables." It means a mess, which requires a lot of time and effort to eliminate. But not everyone knows about the origin of the winged expression. The cattle yard of King Avgia is the place where Hercules performed one of his famous feats.

Before you tell us who Auge is, tell the story of a mythological character symbolizing strength and power.

The birth of a hero

Heracles' parents are all-powerful Zeus and Alkmena. About the main god of ancient Greek legends is known to all. But we will remind: Zeus, according to the ideas of the Hellenes, directed all life on earth. In addition, he was afraid of divine beings.

Zeus is a loving character. He has several wives, and more lovers. As a result, Thunderbolt has a lot of children, among whom a special group consists of the so-called heroes. That is, the gods are only half. The list of heroes is quite extensive. But we are only interested in one of them, namely Hercules.

Alkmena was married to Amphitryon, her husband was faithful. But one day Zeus took the form of the faithful Alcmene. She, unaware of the deception, honestly fulfilled her conjugal duty. This is how Hercules came into being, who later will accomplish the great deed, being in the cattle yard of King Avgia.

The choice of Hercules

Son of Alcmene spent his childhood in the palace. Amphitryon did not suspect what the father of Hercules really was, and if he did, he would only be glad. But one day the life of the boy completely changed. It happened after the nymphs came to him. Fine creatures visited Hercules not for an idle purpose. The son of Zeus had to choose between a life full of pleasures, and a thorny path to glory. Hercules preferred the second.

Feats

Before appearing on the cattle yard of King Avgia, Hercules did a lot of useful and interesting things. In order to prove his strength, he had to perform a series of feats. Ancient Greek poets and philosophers argued a bit about the number of hero acts. But in the end they agreed that there were twelve of them.

At first, Hercules deprived the life of the Nemean lion, who until then was invincible. Then he coped with the Lernaean hydra, a snake-like monster with a poisonous breath. By then, mere mortals were exhausted, inventing ways to save themselves from the terrible Simphalian birds. None of them helped. Birds with a copper beak attacked both humans and animals. Until Hercules came to the aid of the suffering, cunningly and cleverly, but not without the help of Athena Pallada, expelling them from Greece.

Thus the son of Zeus and Alcmene performed three exploits. But before the story that occurred in the cattle yard of King Avgia, the summary of which is set out below, it was still far away. Before, he had to catch the Cyrene deer and the Eriman boar. However, Hercules and coped with this playfully. And then he went to the cattle yard of King Avgy.

Character traits of Hercules - agility, cunning, perseverance. And, of course, an extraordinary force, thanks to which the hero, in infancy, managed to strangle several snakes without effort. Of the twelve feats, two were not counted, including that committed in the cattle yard of King Avgia. The summary of the five acts of the hero are set out above. It's time to move on to describing the sixth feat.

Who is Augee?

This is the king of the epic. But, like Hercules, too, not an ordinary mortal. Father Avgia - Helios. Nothing more than this character is not noticeable. Is that what is mentioned in the "Iliad" of Homer. But, of course, he is known for his stables, which were brought to such a horrible condition that he had to call for Hercules' help. Below is a summary of one of the famous ancient Greek myths.

Animal house of Tsar Aghia

So, Hercules rescued people from the Stymphal birds. By the way, he did this not only to boast with his strength and ingenuity. Hercules was for a long time in the service of King Eurystheus. When the fifth feat was accomplished, it was possible to rest.

However, the hero could not live in idleness. And so all was waiting for the messengers from Eurystheus. When one of them appeared and reported: "The king commands you to clean the stench of stinking Aghiev stables!", Rejoiced unspeakably. Heracles' heart beat in joyful anticipation. He knew that the barnyard of King Avgia had not been cleaned for 30 years. And this meant that the hero has a place to direct his tireless daring. In order to hide the joy (the hero did not have to do the dirty work of the cattleman), Hercules made a grimace and went to Augea.

Promise of Aghia

Before starting work, Hercules, secretly from Eurystheus, set a condition for the owner of the farmyard. He demanded from Aghia a tenth of the total number of horses that are kept in his stables. The owner of numerous herds has long given up on the conditions in which his animals are kept. He did not believe that, the manure, the volumes of which terrified even the sighted species of cattle, can be brought into a divine form. Even the one who managed to tame the boar and suffocate the giant lion.

Augee easily accepted Hercules' proposal. The sly king hoped that the hero would fulfill the task in part. And in this case, no remuneration and speech can not go.

But Hercules in the performance of the sixth feat showed wit. He demolished the wall that surrounded the farmyard. Thus sent water from the rivers of Alpheus and Peneia to the very source of stench and mud. The Augean stables were cleared, and, therefore, another feat of Hercules was accomplished. The farmyard of Tsar Aghii's hero was freed from manure in only half a day. But the owner of the stables deceived Hercules' expectations: he did not keep his promise and did not pay a tenth. The son of Zeus had no choice but to harbor anger and set off on new feats.