The eleventh Labor of Hercules was the obtaining of the three golden apples from the Garden of the Hesperides. The location of these gardens, according to most versions of the story, was to the west of Mount Atlas where this most rare and delightful tree was guarded by a dragon and the four nieces of Atlas. Atlas, who knew best where to find the apples, offered to obtain them for Hercules if he would hold up the heavens while he was gone. Nothing daunted Hercules, so,
"The wearied Atlas he relieved,
His arm the starry realms upheaved,
And propped the Gods above."
—Euripides.
In the meantime Atlas went to the garden and got the apples from his nieces. But according to another myth, Hercules went himself and stole the apples, after slaying the dragon that guarded them. It is to be noted that in the constellations Hercules has been placed in a decidedly uncomfortable position so that he might rest his foot upon the Sky Dragon, Draco—so perhaps Draco, after all, was the monster that was wound around that wondrous apple tree.
There is also a possibility that the sixth Labor of Hercules has been memorialized in the sky although the weight of evidence is against it. In his sixth Labor, Hercules destroyed the cruel carnivorous birds with the arrows he had dipped in the blood of the poisonous hydra. These birds, which had brazen wings, beaks and claws, hovered over the stagnant waters of Lake Stymphalus, in Arcadia, and ravaged all the surrounding country. This praiseworthy deed may have been represented in the sky by the "bird" constellations, Cygnus, Lyra and Aquila, which hover near the stream of the Milky Way, and in the little arrow Sagitta, which lies not far away, but it is more than likely, according to the majority of the myths, that these constellations were named in honor of other things rather than to commemorate the deeds of Hercules.
Among other exploits which illustrate the unrivaled prowess of this hero, are his battles with giants, monsters and centaurs; catching Diana's brazen-footed stag by driving it deep into a snowdrift in the distant northland; obtaining the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, in the land of women; capturing boars, bulls, mares and even bringing from the infernal regions the three-headed dog Cerberus.
The greatest demonstration of his strength, aside from the time that he upheld the heavens for Atlas, is reported by the historian Pliny. According to the myth which Pliny relates, Hercules had rent asunder the rocks which had previously divided the Mediterranean from the ocean; although another legend takes the opposite view and asserts that he had narrowed the strait in order to exclude the sea-monsters which had hitherto forced their way in from the ocean. This gateway, known as the "Pillars of Hercules," consists of two promontories which bounded the western horizon of the then known world. The promontory on the northern side of the straits is now called the "Rock of Gibraltar."
Hercules one day donned a tunic that had been steeped in the blood of a Centaur which he had slain with a poisoned arrow. To escape the terrible torture, he erected a funeral pyre on Mount Etna, lay down on his lion's skin and set the pyre on fire. Amid peals of thunder Jupiter descended in his chariot and carried the hero to Mount Olympus where he was given his promised reward.
"High o'er the hollow clouds the coursers fly,
And lodged the hero in the starry sky."
As seen in the sky, Hercules kneels on Draco, the Dragon, with his head lying downward near the head of the giant Ophiuchus. These two giants cover a vast amount of sky space although neither one have very bright stars. Although Hercules rests inactive, Ophiuchus, one notes, is busily engaged, for his limbs are enfolded by the scaly body of a huge serpent