Hercules Carrying the Boar by Giambologna

In Greek mythology, the Erymanthian Boar is remembered in connection with The Twelve Labours, in which Heracles, the (reconciled) enemy of Hera, visited in turn "all the other sites of the Goddess throughout the world, to conquer every conceivable 'monster' of nature and rededicate the primordial world to its new master, his Olympian father," Zeus (Ruck and Staples, p.163). Download high resolution version (275x640, 40 KB)Hercules Carrying the Erymanthian Boar after Giovanni Bologna. ... Download high resolution version (275x640, 40 KB)Hercules Carrying the Erymanthian Boar after Giovanni Bologna. ... Portrait of Giovanni Bologna by Hendrick Goltzius Giambologna, born as Jean Boulogne, also known as Giovanni Da Bologna and Giovanni Bologna (1529 - 1608) was a sculptor who best known for his marble statuary and works in bronze. ... Greek mythology comprises the collected legends of Greek gods, goddesses, heroes, and heroines, originally created and spread within an oral-poetic tradition. ... The Twelve Labours of Herakles (Hercules) are a series of stories connected by a continuous narrative, concerning a penance carried out by Herakles. ... Statue of Heracles In Greek mythology, Heracles, or Heraklês (glory of Hera, Ἡρακλῆς) was the demigod son of Zeus and Alcmene, the grand-daughter of Perseus and the wife of Amphitryon. ... In the Olympian pantheon of classical Greek Mythology, Hêra (Greek or ) was the wife and sister of Zeus. ... Statue of Zeus The Greek sculptor Phidias created the 12-m (40-ft) tall Statue of Zeus in about 435 bc. ...

In the primitive highlands of Arcadia, where old practices lingered, the Erymanthian Boar was a vicious creature that lived on Mount Erymanthos, a mountain that was apparently once sacred to the Mistress of the Animals, for in classical times it remained the haunt of Artemis (Homer, Odyssey, VI.105). A boar was a dangerous animal: "When the goddess turned a wrathful countenance upon a country, as in the story of Meleagros, she would send a raging boar, which laid waste the farmers' fields." (Kerenyi 1959, p 149) One was sent by Apollo to kill the youth Adonis, a favorite of Aphrodite, for revenge on her, as she had blinded Apollo's mortal son, Erymanthus because he had stumbled upon her bathing. Robert Graves (Graves 1955,126.1) suggested that Aphrodite had been substituted for Artemis in this retelling of the mytheme of the eponymous Erymanthus. Arcadia or Arkadía (Greek Αρκαδία) is a region of Greece in the Peloponnesus. ... Potnia Theron (Mistress of the Animals) is an ancient title of the Minoan Goddess, an aspect of her power that was assumed by Artemis among others in the Olympian hierarchy that was later introduced in mainland Greece. ... This article is about the Greek goddess. ... Bust of Homer in the British Museum For other uses, see Homer (disambiguation). ... The Odyssey (Greek Ὀδυσσεία) is the second of the two great Greek epic poems ascribed to Homer, the first of which is the Iliad. ... This article is about the mythological figure Meleager. ... Apollo (Greek: Απόλλων, Apóllōn) is a god in Greek and Roman mythology, the son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin of Artemis (goddess of the hunt). ... A 19th-century reproduction of a Greek bronze of Adonis found at Pompeii A Syrian dying-and-reborn annual vegetation god imported into Greek mythology but always retaining aspects of his Semitic Near Eastern origins, Adonis was one of the most complex cult figures in classical times. ... Aphrodite (Αφροδίτη, risen from sea-foam) is the Greek goddess of love and beauty. ... Portrait of Robert Graves (circa 1974) by Rab Shiell Robert von Ranke Graves (July 24, 1895–December 7, 1985) was an English scholar, best remembered for his work as a poet and novelist. ... An eponym is a person, whether real or fictitious, whose name has (or is thought to have) given rise to the name of a particular place, tribe, discovery, or other item. ...

Heracles' fourth labour—by some counts, for there is no single definitive telling—was to capture the Boar. On the way there, Heracles visited Pholus ("caveman"), a kind and hospitable centaur and old friend. Heracles ate with him in his cavern—though the centaur devoured his meat raw—and asked for wine. Pholus had only one jar of wine, a gift from Dionysus to all the centaurs on Mt Erymanthus. Heracles convinced him to open it, and the smell attracted the other centaurs, who did not understand that wine needs to be tempered with water, became drunk and attacked. Heracles shot at them with his poisonous arrows, and the centaurs retreated all the way to Chiron's cave. Guido Reni, Abduction of Deianira, 1620-21 In Greek mythology, the centaurs (Greek: Κένταυροι) are a race part human and part horse, with a horses body and a human head and torso. ... Bacchus by Caravaggio The god Dionysus is occasionally confused with one of several historical figures named Dionysius, a theophoric name that simply means [servant] of Dionysus. ... In Greek mythology, Chiron (hand) — sometimes spelled Cheiron — was held as the superlative centaur over his brethren. ...

Pholus was curious why the arrows caused so much death, and picked one up but dropped it, and the arrow stabbed his feet, poisoning him. A stray arrow hit Chiron as well, but Chiron was immortal, although he still felt the pain. Chiron's pain was so great, he volunteered to give up his immortality, and take the place of Prometheus, who had been chained in Tartarus (part of the underworld), although he was an immortal Titan. Prometheus' torturer, the eagle, continued its torture on Chiron, so Herakles shot it dead with an arrow. It is generally accepted that the tale was meant to show Herakles as being the recipient of Chiron's surrendered immortality. The tale of the Centaurs sometimes appears in other parts of the twelve labours, as does the freeing of Prometheus. Immortal can refer to: Immortality The Eight Immortals of Taoism Immortal (band) Immortal (computer game) Immortal (cell line) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... This article is about the mythological figure. ... In Greek mythology, Tartarus, or Tartaros, is both a deity and a place in the underworld - even lower than Hades. ...

Heracles had visited Chiron to gain advice on how to catch the boar, and Chiron had told him to drive it into thick snow, which sets this Labour in mid-winter. Having successfully caught the Boar, Heracles bound it and carried it back to Eurystheus (illustration upper right), who was frightened of it and ducked down in his subterranean wine jar, begging Heracles to get rid of the beast, a favorite subject for the vase-painters. Heracles obliged. Eurystheus was a mythical king of Mycenae and grandson of the hero Perseus. ...

Sources

• Ovid, Heroides ix
• Apollodorus, ii.5.4ff
• Diodorus Siculus iv.12
• Apollonius of Rhodes i.122ff
• Pausanias, Greece

Engraved frontispiece of George Sandyss 1632 London edition of Publius Ovidus Naso, (Sulmona, March 20, 43 BC â€“ Tomis, now Constanta AD 17) Roman poet known to the English-speaking world as Ovid, wrote on topics of love, abandoned women, and mythological transformations. ... Apollodorus was a popular name in the ancient world. ... Diodorus Siculus was a Greek historian, born at Agyrium in Sicily (now called Agira, in the Province of Enna). ... Apollonius of Rhodes (Apollonius Rhodius), librarian at Alexandria, was a poet, the author of Argonautica, a literary epic retelling of ancient material concerning Jason and the Argonauts quest for the Golden Fleece in the mythic land of Colchis. ... Pausanias was Greek traveller and geographer of the 2nd century A.D., who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. ...

References

• Graves, Robert, The Greek Myths 1955.
• Kerenyi, Karl, The Heroes of the Greeks 1959.
• Ruck, Carl A.P. and Danny Staples, The World of Classical Myth, 1994.