Even in his cradle, Hercules showed a strength that was not of this world. But the goddess Hera held a grudge against him, and the hero's greatest trial would not come from monsters. This is the story of how the famous Twelve Labors began.

A lion no weapon can wound, a serpent with nine heads, a giant boar, and a king hiding inside a bronze jar. In his first six labors, Hercules discovers that strength alone is not enough — he will need patience and cleverness too.

With the Trojan War over, Odysseus wants only to sail home. But between him and the island of Ithaca wait flowers that make men forget, a one-eyed giant, and the fury of a god of the sea.

A bag that holds all the winds, a sorceress who turns men into pigs, and a song no sailor can resist. The hardest perils of Odysseus's long voyage home.