Nemean Lion
Hercules fighting the Nemean Lion
Athenian black-figure vase
Hercules first had to go out and kill a great lion that lived in Nemea (Greece). He strangled the lion with his hands and hit it with his club. Then he skinned it and after that Hercules always wore the lionskin around his shoulders like a scarf.
You might compare this story to the later Jewish story of Samson, who also kills a lion with his bare hands.
To find out more about Hercules, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:
Twelve Labors of Hercules (Step into Reading, Step 3), by Marc Cerasini. Very easy, for beginning readers.
The Story of Hercules (Dover Children's Thrift Classics), by Robert Blaisdell (1997). For kids, very cheap.
Hercules, by Nancy Loewen (1999). Still for kids, but more sophisticated, with a look at how the myth was passed on and what it meant to people, as well as the story itself.
D'aulaire's Book of Greek Myths, by Edgar and Ingri D'Aulaire. (Look under Heracles).
The Myths of Herakles in Ancient Greece, by Mark W. Padilla (1998). By a specialist, for adults.
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