ABSTRACT
As his first labour, Herakles was ordered to kill the monstrous Nemean lion that lived in the mountains near Nemea in the north-western corner of the Argolid. According to Hesiod, it was the offspring of Orthos and Chimaira (or possibly Echidna, see p. 63), and was reared by Hera, who caused it to roam the hills of Nemea, evidently with the intention of providing an ordeal for Herakles.45 Or in another tradition, it was a child of the moon-goddess Selene (or was at least born on the moon), and lived on the moon until Selene cast it down to the earth with a fearsome shudder at the request of Hera.46 It was especially formidable because it was invulnerable (except perhaps in the earliest tradition, for images from the visual arts suggest that there may once have been a version in which it could be killed with a sword). Although Herakles soon discovered that its hide was impenetrable to his arrows and sword, he was able to use his club and indeed his bare hands to greater advantage. In the standard later version, he struck fear into it by threatening it with his club, causing it to flee back to its lair, a two-mouthed cave on Mt Tretos (Perforated Mountain) near Nemea; and he then blocked up one mouth of the cave before entering through the other to seize it by its neck and strangle it.47 Or in another account, he stunned the lion by battering it with his club at their first meeting, and then strangled it in the open air.48
