Greek PantheonGrove
Nemea
The valley in the northeast Peloponnese where Heracles performed his first labour, strangling the Nemean lion whose hide no weapon could pierce; later the site of the Nemean Games.
About Nemea
First labor, uncuttable hide
Apollodorus Library 2.5.1: Heracles' first labor for Eurystheus is the Nemean lion, whose skin weapons will not pierce. He traps it in a cave and strangles it, then wears the hide. Nemea in the Argolid later hosted games for Zeus; the lion is not a cult animal there in the labor text. Hesiod and Pindar already know the beast. The place is a valley with a monster that sets the hero's costume.
On the map
Nemea among other places of the Greek Pantheon.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Apollodorus, Library 2.5.1
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Coordinates mark where the myths place a site, or where the tradition locates it today. Mythic realms are left off the map or marked as symbolic placements.
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