Cancer

It is known by all that Zeus is a prolific womanizer. His adoration of the fairer sex resulted in many illegitimate children, as well as the wrath of his wife, Hera. For many eons, Hera watched as Zeus sired demigod offspring. Her contempt at his unfaithfulness grew, but as the unfaithful are wont to do, he ignored the needs of his wife and carried on adulterating. In jealousy and exasperation, Hera resigned herself to taking her anger out on the bastard children of the god.

Out of the many children of Zeus, Hera harbored the most intense hatred for the hero Heracles.

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Alceme was said to be the tallest and most beautiful woman in all of Greece. Her long hair and deep, dark eyes were compared to those of Aphrodite's. Her wisdom was akin to that of the gods, and it's said that no mortal man could outwit her. As such, she was difficult to impress, and any man lucky enough win her over would be the most honored husband in all of Greece.

Many suitors presented themselves to her father, Electryon. All were sent away. In Alceme's eyes, her potential husband had to be absolutely perfect. It stands to reason that the entirety of Argolis was shocked when she fell in love with Amphitryon.

Amphitryon was a Theben general. He was kind, and generous — nothing at all like the pompous princes who presented themselves to Alceme. She believed he was perfect — not in the ways of looks or manners, but in how he treated Alceme.

Electryon betrothed the couple, and preparations began for the wedding ceremony.

As news spread of the impending celebrations, the six sons of Ptereralus took heed of the news. They decided it would be the perfect moment to strike the kingdom of Mycenae, and lay claim to the land.

Electryon's spies made haste to the king, and informed him of this plot. He moved quickly to put an end to the invasion. The six sons were angry at their failure, and in a petty act of revenge, drove off the kingdom's cattle. Learning of their cattle stock roaming free, Electryon's sons tracked down the six song of Ptereralus and broke out in a lethal fight.

Every one of the boys ended up dead, save for one on each side: Licymnius, the son of Electryon, and Everes, the son of Ptereralus. As Licymnius made his way home to lick his wounds, Everes sold off the cattle herd.

Now, Amphitryon heard of the devastation to the kingdom's cattle stock. He wanted to make good with his future father-in-law, and offered to repurchase the entire heard. Electryon accepted, and Amphitryon set out to return the cattle.

Upon his return to the kingdom, Amphitryon presented the heard to the king. As Electryon happily inspected his heard, a cow lazily stood on Amphitryon's foot. In pain, Amphitryon attempted to push they cow away, but it would not budge. Desperately, he threw his club as hard as he could at the cow. His aim was not true, and the club flew over the cow, spinning in the air, and into the back of the head of Electryon.

Somehow Amphitryon managed to free his foot, and he limped over to where the king lay in a pool of blood. He was dead.

Upon hearing this wondrous news, Electryon's brother Sthenelus lay claim to the kings throne. He banished Amphitryon for the murder of the king.

Alceme decided she would not let her love leave without her. She set off with her betrothed to Thebes, where they met the king Creon who purified Amphitryon for the accidental death of Electryon.

Considering himself clear of all wrongdoings, Amphitryon wished to officially marry his beloved Alceme. When he presented this idea to her, she refused. Alceme declared the general must avenge her brothers deaths before she would marry him. Willing to do anything for Alceme, Amphitryon set off.

Alceme sat in wait for her beloved Amphitryon. She couldn't bare the thought of any harm coming to him, but she knew she could not rest until her brothers were righted. For many months she pined for her love, and prayed to the gods that she could see him for just one night.

At hearing this prayer, Zeus perked up. Any chance to have such a beautiful woman set off his imagination. How could he have a woman who was so devoted to her husband? Especially one who was as clever as Alceme. She wouldn't be easily tricked, but fortunately Zeus had divine powers.

He changed his form into that of Amphitryon's, and convinced Alceme that he returned for the night.

One night turned into three, and Alceme had fallen pregnant.

A surprise was in store for the couple, as that same night the real Amphitryon returned home. When recounting the previous two nights to whom she assumed was the person responsible, Alceme was confused when Amphitryon claimed that wasn't him. The couple put two-and-two together, and realized the stranger had been Zeus.

At this point, Hera had learned of her husbands affair. Not that it was much of a secret — the moment Zeus learned of the pregnancy, he boasted to the other gods that a child born that night to a member of the House of Perseus would become High King. The clever Hera knew of another child soon to be born to a member of the House of Perseus — Eurystheus, son of the usurper king Sthenelus. Hera made Zeus promise that this prediction would come to pass, and upon his agreeing, Hera made haste to slow the birth of Alceme's son. Her scheme worked, and Eurystheus was born before Alceme's son.

Alceme realized what had happened during her labor, and she became afraid of Hera's wrath. She birthed a boy, and named him Heracles in honor of the goddess Hera. But her fear of the goddess outweighed her love for her child, and she left the infant in the wild. Athena, having seen the abandonment of this child, scooped him up into her arms, and whisked him away to Mount Olympus. She presented the child to Hera, who did not recognize Heracles.

Her motherly instincts overcame her, and she fed the child from her breast. Heracles suckled so fiercely that he hurt the goddess, and she ripped the infant from her breast, spraying milk across the night sky. This is the origin of the Milky Way.

Athena returned Heracles to his mother, where he was loved and raised. The demi-god Heracles had had divine milk, and this gifted the infant with supernatural powers.

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Many years passed, and Heracles grew into a strong and well respected man. He married the daughter of the king of Thebes, Megara. Together they had three sons: Therimachus, Creontiades, and Deicoon. The family lived happily for many years, much to the chagrin of Hera.

Indeed, Hera was very bitter about their happiness — especially after the dirty trick played by Athena. Hera began to scheme again, and cast a spell that inflicted madness upon the unsuspecting Heracles. This madness caused Heracles to lose control, and in his rage, he slayed his wife and children.

After the spell had passed, he saw the carnage of his murdered family. His grief at the realization of what he had done was immense. He traveled to the Oracle at Delphi to atone for his sin. Unbeknownst by Heracles, the Oracle was a servant of Hera. Under the guise of the goddess, the Oracle instructed Heracles to become the slave of the King Eurystheus for ten years. He must do any task assigned to him by the king. This was how the Twelve Labors of Heracles came to be.

His first task was to slay the Nemean Lion. An easy task for the hero. The success of the lion's death terrified Eurytheus, who forbade Heracles' entrance into his city. He commanded the fruits of his labor must be displayed outside the city gates, and he assigned him his second task: Slay the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra.

The Hydra was created by Hera for the sole purpose of destroying Heracles.

Heracles traveled with his nephew Iolaus to the swamps of Lernaean. The creature was said to live in a deep cave, and would only emerge to hunt for human prey. As the pair approached the cave, they had to cover their faces with cloth to avoid breathing in it's poisonous gas.

The Hydra could sense the two approaching, and made its way to the surface. He sprung upon the duo, and lashed at them with gnarling teeth.

Heracles dodged the wicked bite of the Hydra, and swung his club with such force, it removed one of it's heads. The excitement of this feat was a momentary flicker, as two heads grew its place. Again and again the hero removed the heads of the Hydra, and one after the other they grew back in droves.

In desperation, Heracles cried out for his nephew's help. They struggled with the Hydra for what seemed like eternity. Iolaus, exhausted with the fight, cleverly thought of a way to defeat it. If the stumps of the neck were burned closed, maybe the heads wouldn't be able to grow back. With no other ideas, Heracles figured they had nothing to lose.

Heracles swung his mighty club to remove the heads of the beast, and Iolaus ran in and cauterized the stumps.

This worked well, and the duo were able to slowly remove the remaining heads.

Her beast losing the battle, Hera became enraged at the thought of the hero's victory. She conjured up a crab, and sent the creature into the fray to distract Heracles. She thought if he looked away only for a moment, the Hydra could strike his prey and win the fight.

The crab scuttled into the fight, dodging heads as they plopped onto the ground. He found his victim, and made his way toward him. As the hero lifted his club into the air, the crab latched onto Heracles' ankle. Heracles cried out in pain, but this distraction lasted only a moment as he lifted his giant foot into the air, and smashed down onto the crab with all his might.

The crab was dead, and soon, too, was the Hydra.

To honor the Hydra she raised to slay the hero Heracles, Hera placed his body in the sky as the constellation Hydra.

She honored the crab in the same manner, and placed his body in the sky as the constellation Cancer.