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Heracles05AugeanStables

1842 depiction of Heracles cleaning the Augean Stables by Honore Daumier.

In Greek mythology, Augeas (or Augeias, Greek: Ἀυγείας), whose name means "bright", was king of Elis and husband of Epicaste. Some say that Augeas was one of the Argonauts.[1]

He is best known for his stables, which housed the single greatest number of cattle in the country and had never been cleaned — until the time of the great hero Heracles.

Augeas' lineage varies in the sources—he was said to be either the son of Helios and Nausidame,[2] or of Eleios, king of Elis and Nausidame,[3] or of Poseidon,[4] or of Phorbas and Hyrmine.[5] His children were Epicasta, Phyleus, Agamede (who was the mother of Dictys by Poseidon),[6] Agasthenes and Eurytus.

The Fifth Labour of Heracles[]

The fifth Labour of Heracles was to clean the Augean stables. This assignment was intended to be both humiliating (rather than impressive, as had the previous labours) and impossible, since the livestock were divinely healthy (immortal) and therefore produced an enormous quantity of dung. These stables had not been cleaned in over thirty years, and over a thousand cattle lived there. However, Heracles succeeded by rerouting the rivers Alpheus and Peneus to wash out the filth.

Augeas was irate because he had promised Heracles one tenth of his cattle if the job was finished in one day. He refused to honour the agreement, and Heracles killed him after completing the tasks. Heracles gave his kingdom to Augeas' son Phyleus, who had been exiled for supporting Heracles against his father.

According to the Odes of the poet Pindar, Heracles then founded the Olympic Games:

the games which by the ancient tomb of Pelops the mighty Heracles founded, after that he slew Kleatos, Poseidon's godly son, and slew also Eurytos, that he might wrest from tyrannous Augeas against his will reward for service done.[7]

The success of this labour was ultimately discounted because the rushing waters had done the work of cleaning the stables and because Heracles was paid. Eurystheus, stating that Heracles still had six Labours to do, then sent Heracles to defeat the Stymphalian birds.

References[]

  1. Hyginus. Fabulae, 14.
  2. Hyginus. Fabulae, 14.
  3. Pausanias. Description of Greece, 5.1.9.
  4. Apollodorus. The Library, 2.88.
  5. Apollodorus. The Library, 2.88.
  6. Hyginus. Fabulae, 157.
  7. Pindar. The Extant Odes of Pindar, Project Gutenberg.
Wikipedia
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original article was at Augeas. The list of authors can be seen in the page history.
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