The king and queen we amazed at this feat of strength and called for a fortuneteller who told them of the child's divine birthright. From that point forward Herakles was trained as a warrior. His skill and feats of strength were unmatched by any mortal.

Herakles was accomplished in slaying giants, wild beasts and defending the oppressed. Men as well as the gods hailed his mighty deeds. When he defended the city of Thebes from invaders and then won the victory, King Creon gave his daughter Megara in marriage. But Herakles' happiness was short, for Hera's vengeance caused him fall into a fit of madness and, in this fit, killed his wife and children. To repent and purify himself for the murders, Herakles chose to serve his cousin, King Eurystheus for twelve years. Eurystheus commanded Herakles to perform twelve labors, which he is most famous for. Those labors included slaying a lion, mastering a bull, beheading a huge snake with nine heads and cleaning the Augean stables by diverting the course of two rivers that washed away the filth of 3,000 years. He even journeyed into the underworld and returned with Cerebus, the three-headed hellhound. With this last feat accomplished King Eurystheus had no choice but to let Herakles go. He was now free to return to Thebes and marry Deianira. Afterward a centaur named Nessus tried to abduct Deianira, but Herakles shot him with a poisoned arrow. The dying centaur told Deianira to keep his blood, as it would always preserve Herakles' love for her if she would touch the demigod with its power. Later, when Deianira feared another woman was replacing her, she sent Herakles a garment soaked in Nessus' blood. It poisoned and killed the great Hero. He was taken to Olympus and laid upon a funeral pyre with all the gods in attendance. With Hera's vengeance finally satisfied, she welcomed Herakles among the gods and Zeus endowed his son with his rightful legacy of immortality and places him among the stars so that men and gods alike would always know of his glory.

Astronomically, Herakles had two functions. First, he was worshipped as the undying sun and as the sun, he was a god. Secondly, he was the cycle of the dying and renewing solar year and as the Spirit of the Year, he was a demigod. For the Greeks, he was the embodiment of the cyclical nature of life, death and rebirth and the essence of regeneration. The many labors of Herakles were epitomized into twelve, symbolized by the luni-solar calendar cycle. He defeated creatures like the Nemaean Lion (Leo) and then wore its skin that represents the yellow summer sun. He conquered the Cretan Bull (Taurus), the multi-headed Hydra (Cancer) and a dragon (Draco). The Augean stables (Capricorn) were the darkest tract of the ecliptic for the Greeks. This was when the sun passed through the Winter Solstice and symbolically washed away the evil influences of the sky and cleansed the year towards its rebirth at the Vernal Equinox. The Centaur (Sagittarius), who was ultimately responsible for the death of Herakles, sits at the southern crossroads of the galaxy and ecliptic by the end of Scorpio's tail. This region of the sky symbolizes the entrance to the netherworld.

The Greeks utilized mythology as a way to explain the cyclical nature of the earth and the sky. The science of archaeoastronomy attempts to trace the methods and insights behind the astronomical connections to hunting rituals, mythology, religion, philosophy, agriculture, and architecture. As we approach the first Vernal Equinox of the new millennium, let us all re-examine the scientific nature of mythology and embrace the rebirth of our worldwide celestial heritage through the fascinating science of archaeoastronomy.