IT was Hera who sent two snakes to devour Heracles in his cot, but he strangled them with his bare hands. It was Hera who induced a fit of madness in Heracles so great, that he slew his own children. And when the broken-hearted Heracles consulted the oracle at Delphi, it was Hera who spoke through her, telling Heracles to serve his cousin Eurystheus for twelve years.

Hera knew that Eurystheus would leap at the chance to rid himself of his rival for the throne of Tiryns, and the sly king immediately sent Heracles to the Valley of Nemea, to capture a lion with a golden hide no weapon could pierce. But Heracles wrestled with the lion, and strangled it with his bare hands.

He had some difficulty getting the skin off until Athena suggested using the animal’s own claw. But he wore it for his homecoming, scaring Eurystheus so badly that he hid in a large winejar, and communicated thereafter through his herald.