Heracles Cleans the Augean Stables: The Hero’s Fifth Labor

For his fifth labor, King Eurystheus ordered Heracles to clean the stables of King Augeas in a single day. The Augean Stables housed over 3,000 immortal cattle and had not been cleaned in decades, resulting in an enormous mountain of reeking dung. Heracles agreed to clean the stables in exchange for payment, but things did not go according to plan for the hero. Discover how Heracles managed to clean the Augean Stables in just one day and learn about the notorious agreement that resulted in him taking on another labor.

The fifth labor of Heracles began where the previous one ended, with a terrified King Eurystheus hiding inside a large jar. Once again, Heracles had humiliated the King in front of his subjects. In the previous challenge, Heracles had tricked Eurystheus into releasing the Ceryneian Hind. And now, when Heracles presented the Erymanthian Boar, Eurystheus was so terrified that he hid in a jar before his people. As if that wasn’t enough, Heracles hung the beast above the jar opening, threatening to drop it on the King.

Under Hera’s guidance, Eurystheus made Heracles’ life miserable by assigning him nearly impossible labors. Yet, the hero’s defiance of the impossible thwarted their initial attempts to kill Heracles by sending him to eliminate the unkillable and capture the uncatchable. This only served to irritate Hera further and deepen Eurystheus’ humiliation. In his misguided attempt to end Heracles, the King inadvertently allowed Heracles to save his subjects from evil monsters, transforming him into a beloved and respected hero throughout the kingdom.

King Eurystheus gave Heracles a new challenge, not intending to exploit his weaknesses or kill him but to humiliate him as he had been humiliated by Heracles. With Hera’s direction, Eurystheus created a difficult task that even Heracles could not complete with all his strength and bravery.

The king ordered Heracles to clean the dung mountains from the stables of King Augeas in the neighboring Kingdom of Elis, all in a single day. Eurystheus sent him out of his Kingdom to prevent Heracles from gaining more popularity among his subjects. Eurystheus wanted to see his cousin frantically moving mountains of reeking cow dung alone in a futile attempt to remove decades of cow manure.

King Augeas was the ruler of the Kingdom of Elis, located in the western Peloponnese region of Greece. The identity of Augeas’ father is disputed, with different accounts proposing different versions. Some suggest that his father was a mortal King named Eleois, the son of Poseidon. Others propose he was the Thessalian prince Phorbas or Heleios, son of Perseus. Most accounts agree that Augeas’ father was Helios, the sun god. According to different accounts, Augeas had a mortal mother named Hyrmine, Nausidame, or Iphiboe.

King Augeas was a prominent ruler in ancient Greece and considered one of his time’s wealthiest individuals. Cattle were an essential symbol of wealth and social status in those times, and Augeas had the largest number of cattle in the known world.

Augeas owned over 3,000 cattle, which he kept in a vast, sprawling enclosure called the Augean Stables. The cattle were a gift from his father, Helios, the sun god. These cattle were known as the Oxen of the Sun and were famous in Greek mythology for their stunning beauty, divine health, and immortality. It is worth noting that a separate herd of Helios’ cattle would play a significant role in Odysseus’ epic quest a few generations later.

Augeas’ cattle were blessed by Helios with divine health, making them immune to sickness and death. However, this blessing had a major drawback: the cattle produced an alarmingly large amount of waste. With over 3,000 cattle in his holy herd, Augeas struggled to manage the excessive dung they generated despite his wealth and resources. He had given up on cleaning the stables, and it had been over 30 years since anyone had attempted to clean them when Heracles arrived in Elis.

The Augean stables were massive, even bigger than some towns. Inside and around the stable complex were enormous mounds of cow dung, so huge that they could be spotted from a great distance while approaching them. The task of cleaning up the colossal Augean stable complex in a single day appeared to be entirely impossible, even for Heracles.

As Heracles drew closer to the city of Elis, he could see the distant mounds of dung on the horizon. It was clear to the hero that his cousin had sent him on this task to humiliate him. Heracles had previously taken for granted the luxury of time in his labors. He had taken weeks to complete some of his previous tasks, sometimes even a year. However, he only had a day to complete his task this time. After having defeated monsters and accomplished the impossible, it seemed to Heracles that he would lose everything to time and an incredibly large pile of excrement.

Heracles was a stubborn hero who defied both the gods and the universe. When he entered the magnificent palaces of Augeas, Heracles made a silent promise to himself that he would not let Eurystheus’ shallow attempts at humiliation get to him. Therefore, he swore that he would accomplish the near-impossible task of cleaning the stables without touching a single piece of dung.

It seemed that news did not travel fast in ancient Greece. Although King Augeas knew Heracles’ reputation, he was oblivious as to why the famous hero had come to see him. When Heracles realized that Eurystheus’ messengers had not yet reached Augeas, the hero, perhaps encouraged by his promise to himself, made an impulsive decision that he would later regret. Heracles proposed a deal to the King: if he could clean the Augean stables in a single day, Augeas would pay him a tenth of his divine cattle.

Augeas happily agreed to Heracles’ terms. The filth and stench of the stables must have been a constant problem for the King, and he welcomed any brave or foolish individual who tried to clean it. The offer was a win-win for the monarch. A renowned hero like Heracles would likely clear out an impressive amount of manure. However, not even someone as formidable as Heracles could ever clear out all the stable muck in a single day, ensuring he would never have to pay him.

The agreement was made before Augeas’ court and would start at sunrise the following day. Augeas also declared that his son Phyleus would accompany Heracles to ensure the hero did not cheat or trick the King.

Heracles is often depicted as a hero of brute force and is not typically associated with cunning and quick thinking. His modus operandi was more about swinging his club first and pondering later. But, this perception does not align with the reality of his capabilities. Heracles was by no means a fool. Just because Heracles did not like planning does not mean he was incapable of it.

Out of all of Heracles’ traits, his stubbornness is the most prominent. He vowed to clean the stables in one day without touching any of the reeking manure. With this in mind, Heracles gazed at the massive mountains of dung and devised a simple and clever plan. In fact, the minds of other Greek heroes like Perseus and Theseus, who were known for their cunning and intelligence, may not have been able to devise such a brilliantly straightforward and innovative scheme.

As the morning sun rose, Heracles began his task of cleaning the Augean Stables, accompanied by his observer Phyleus. Upon arriving there, instead of entering and starting the daunting task of removing the filth by hand, Heracles used his club to make a large hole in the stable wall. This surprised Phyleus, who watched as Heracles proceeded to dig a massive trench with his bare hands, leading away from the hole. The trench eventually split into two, and Heracles intermittently divided his time between each trench, which seemed to be heading in entirely different directions.

By noon, Heracles had yet to enter the stables even once, though he had made significant progress on his unusual digging project. By mid-afternoon, Phyleus could finally see the outlines of Heracles’ ingenious strategy. The trenches that the hero had been relentlessly digging had now reached their intended destinations, the two local rivers, the Alpheus and the Peneus.

After a strenuous day of digging, Heracles could finally execute his plan to divert the rivers and clean out the stables in one fell swoop. The plan was wonderfully simple but relied on the supernatural strength and endurance that only Heracles possessed. Heracles had created a massive and primitive toilet that could flush away all the waste and filth.

Once Heracles had diverted the Alpheus and Peneus rivers, the torrent of water took little over an hour to clear out the mountains of dung and waste that had hunted the stables for decades. With time to spare and without laying hands on any of the dung, Heracles cleared out the Augean stables in a single day, once again defying the gods and achieving the impossible.

Augeas was speechless, an effect Heracles seemed to have on kings. The king was unwilling to part with any of his precious cattle and genuinely believed that cleaning out his stables in one day was an impossible task.

By the time Heracles had finished cleaning the stables, messengers from Eurystheus had arrived and informed Augeas about the hero’s fifth labor. King Augeas refused to honor his agreement and pay Heracles, as it was technically a part of his atonement under Eurystheus’ command. Augeas went even further by denying that he had ever made any agreement with Heracles in the first place. He claimed that Heracles’ request was an act of pure greed and disrespect towards himself and King Eurystheus.

Heracles strongly objected to Augeas’ accusations and his complete denial of their agreement. Augeas believed that none of his subjects would dare to defy him, and he offered to let Heracles take the matter to court and arbitration if he wished. Stubborn, to a fault, Heracles accepted the offer.

As Augeas had anticipated, all the witnesses testified that there was no agreement among them. However, when Augeas’ son Phyleus came to testify, everything changed. Phyleus, like many of his generation, admired Heracles and spoke in his defense, much to his father’s surprise. Despite Phyleus’ eyewitness account, Augeas refused to pay Heracles one-tenth of his immortal cattle and banished Phyleus and Heracles from his kingdom. As a result, Phyleus went into exile on the island of Dulichium and established a settlement there.

After leaving, Heracles swore to come back and take revenge on Augeas for his deceit. Heracles would cross paths with Augeas again when they joined Jason in his quest for the golden fleece. However, it was only years later, after Heracles had completed his trials, that he returned to the Kingdom of Elis to seek revenge.

When Heracles returned to Tiryns, he was met with a surprising turn of events. Eurystheus had learned about his agreement with Augeas and the unsuccessful court case. Despite Heracles’ ability to accomplish the impossible and avoid humiliation, King Eurystheus saw an opportunity for revenge. He withdrew the task of cleaning the Augean stables, citing Heracles’ agreement for payment as the reason. The rules of Heracles’ atonement dictated that he must complete all of Eurystheus’ tasks without complaint or pay.

In response, Eurystheus imposed an additional labor on Heracles. Heracles was known for his stoic demeanor, but he could not hide his disappointment when he learned that his punishment would last longer. Despite this, he did not utter a word of protest and quickly composed himself. He then calmly turned to King Eurystheus, waiting for instructions for his sixth labor: Slaying the Stymphalian birds.