To atone for killing his children in a rage, Hercules was instructed by the Delphic oracle to serve Eurystheus, King of the Tiryns, for twelve years. For Eurystheus, he undertook the following labors.
| The Nemean Lion | strangled. |
| The Lernean Hydra | progressively decapitated and cauterized. |
| The Arcadian Stag | captured alive. |
| The Erymanthian Boar | driven into snowdrift and caught in a net. |
| The Augean Stables | cleaned by diverted river. |
| The Styphalian Birds | frightened into air with rattle, then shot with arrows. |
| The Cretan Bull | roped and taken back to Greece. |
| The Mares of Diomedes | tamed when fed on the flesh of |
| their owner, King Diomedes. | |
| The Girdle of Hippolyta | girdle won in fight with Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons. |
| The Oxen of Geryon | oxen captured; Geryon, three-headed monster, killed. |
| The Golden Apples of the Hesperides | apples picked; Ladon, serpent guard, slain. |
| Cerberus | guard dog of the Underworld, grabbed by the throat and retrieved. |