Hercules Slaying the Nemean Lion
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| Francisco de Zurbaran, Hercules Slaying the Nemean Lion, 1634 |
Hercules led a cursed life. His struggles began with Zeus for the thousandth time failing to remain loyal to his wife, Hera. He impregnated a young woman, Alcemene, in the guise of her husband, who would return from war later that night. The same night, Alcemene’s real husband sired a son, meaning that she gave birth to fraternal twins from two different fathers, one mortal and one divine. Hera was displeased and tried to prevent Hercules from arriving; after she gave birth, Alcemene abandoned him to avoid Hera’s divine wrath. Athena, several times Hercules’ protector, deceived Hera and brought Hercules to her for her to nurse. Hera’s divine milk granted him supernatural powers, but she cast him out after he bit her. Athena returned him to Alcemene and his mortal brother, Iphicles. Hera essayed again to murder the boy. She sent two serpents to kill him and his brother, but he strangled them. He grew up and married Megara, daughter of the king of Thebes. Hera caused him to go insane, and he slaughtered all of their children.
To make up for this, the gods told him that he had to perform ten labors for his hated rival, Eurystheus, king of Argos. Francisco de Zurbaran painted his first task—killing the Nemean Lion. This beast hid in Cleone and terrorized the townsfolk. It lured young men to their deaths in a cave. Its fur was impervious to blades, and its claws could cut through any armor. Hercules, after much effort, killed the lion in one of two ways. He managed to shoot the lion through its mouth, or he wrestled the lion to the ground and strangled it to death. Zurbaran shows him engaged in a struggle for his life with the lion inside the dark cave, slowly leaching its vitality. This was the first of twelve labors he would eventually complete—Eurystheus assigned him two extra. After he finished these, he continued a life of torment and servitude, every bit as dark and fearful as Zurbaran’s painting. He did get what he wanted in the end, as Zeus made him a God while Hercules lay dying. His legend persists to this day, and we can still see his constellation in the night sky.
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