Erymanthian Boar

The Erymanthian Boar was a huge wild boar that ravaged the land around Psophis in Arcadia. Capturing it alive was one of the Labours that King Eurystheus set for Heracles, and Apollodorus lists it as the fourth. On the way Heracles fought the centaurs, an episode that led to the deaths of Pholus and Chiron.

The Boar of Mount Erymanthus

According to Apollodorus, the boar came down from the mountain called Erymanthus and ravaged the territory of Psophis (Apollodorus, Library 2.5.4). Diodorus says that it lived on Mount Lampeia in Arcadia and that the task was thought very difficult, since the hero had to take the animal alive (Diodorus Siculus 4.12.1). Pausanias says that the river Erymanthus rises on Mount Lampeia, which one might regard as part of Mount Erymanthus, and that Heracles hunted the boar beside that river (Pausanias 8.24.4–5). In Homer the mountain is a hunting ground of Artemis, who delights there in wild boars and swift deer (Homer, Odyssey 6.102–104).

The Fourth Labour

Eurystheus ordered Heracles to bring the Erymanthian boar back alive (Apollodorus, Library 2.5.4). The labours were relayed to Heracles through Eurystheus’ herald, Copreus (Library 2.5.1), and the king, who had already been frightened by the Nemean lion, had a bronze jar made to hide in under the earth.

Heracles and Pholus

On his way through Pholoe, Heracles was entertained by the centaur Pholus, a son of Silenus and a Melian nymph. Pholus set roast meat before his guest but ate his own meat raw. When Heracles asked for wine, Pholus said he feared to open the jar, because it belonged to all the centaurs in common. Heracles told him to take courage and opened it. Before long the centaurs, who had caught the smell of the wine, came armed with rocks and fir trees to the cave of Pholus (Apollodorus, Library 2.5.4).

Anchius and Agrius, the first to enter, were driven off by Heracles with burning brands, and he shot at the rest and chased them as far as Malea. There they took refuge with Chiron, who had settled at Malea after the Lapiths drove him from Mount Pelion (Library 2.5.4).

The Wounding of Chiron

As the centaurs crowded around Chiron, Heracles shot an arrow that passed through the arm of Elatus and stuck in Chiron’s knee. Heracles ran to him, pulled out the shaft and applied a medicine which Chiron himself gave him. But the wound could not be healed, and Chiron withdrew to his cave. He wished to die, but he was immortal. Prometheus then offered himself to Zeus to be immortal in his place, and so Chiron died. The centaurs fled in different directions: some to Mount Malea, Eurytion to Pholoe, Nessus to the river Evenus, and the rest were received by Poseidon at Eleusis, who hid them in a mountain (Library 2.5.4).

Pholus also died by one of the arrows. He pulled an arrow from a corpse and wondered that so small a thing could kill such huge creatures. It slipped from his hand, fell on his foot and killed him on the spot. When Heracles came back to Pholoe he found Pholus dead and buried him (Library 2.5.4).

Capturing the Boar

Heracles then went on to the boar. He chased it with shouts out of a thicket, drove the exhausted animal into deep snow, trapped it there and brought it to Mycenae (Apollodorus, Library 2.5.4). In Diodorus, when Eurystheus saw Heracles carrying the boar on his shoulders, he was terrified and hid himself in a bronze vessel (Diodorus Siculus 4.12.2).

Pausanias reports that the people of Cumae among the Opici claimed that tusks dedicated in their sanctuary of Apollo were those of the Erymanthian boar, but he calls the claim altogether improbable (Pausanias 8.24.5).

Erymanthian Boar Sources

Apollodorus, Library 2.5.1, 2.5.4; Diodorus Siculus 4.12.1–2; Pausanias 8.24.4–5; Homer, Odyssey 6.102–104.

See Also: Labours of Heracles, Heracles, Artemis, Eurystheus, Chiron, Prometheus, Centaurs