Labor IV: The Erymanthian Boar (page 390 upper)

Chapter 13: Herakles

Previous Page    Table of Contents    Next Page

DS 4.12.1-2 – Diodoros Siculus, Library of History

The third Command which he received was the bringing back alive of the Erymanthian boar which lived on Mount Lampeia in Arcadia. This Command was thought to be exceedingly difficult, since it required of the man who fought such a beast that he possess such a superiority over it as to catch precisely the proper moment in the very heat of the encounter. For should he let it loose while it still retained its strength he would be in danger from its tushes, and should he attack it more violently than was proper, then he would have killed it and so the Labour would remain unfulfilled. However, when it came to the struggle he kept so careful an eye on the proper balance that he brought back the boar alive to Eurystheus; and when the king saw him carrying the boar on his shoulders, he was terrified and hid himself in a bronze vessel. Greek Text

ApB 2.5.4 – Apollodoros, Bibliotheke (Library)

and [Herakles] proceeded to the boar hunt. And when he had chased the boar with shouts from a certain thicket, he drove the exhausted animal into deep snow, trapped it, and brought it to Mycenae. Greek Text

ApB 2.5.1 – Apollodoros, Bibliotheke (Library)

Amazed at his manhood, Eurystheus forbade him thenceforth to enter the city, but ordered him to exhibit the fruits of his labours before the gates. They say, too, that in his fear he had a bronze jar made for himself to hide in under the earth, and that he sent his commands for the labours through a herald, Copreus, son of Pelops the Elean. Greek Text

Il 15.639-40 – Homer, Iliad

Periphetes of Mycenae, the dear son of Copreus, that had been wont to go on messages from king Eurystheus to the mighty Heracles. Greek Text

Fab 30 – Hyginus, Fabulae

He killed the Erymanthian Boar. Latin Text

Previous Page    Table of Contents    Next Page

Edited by Elena Bianchelli, Retired Senior Lecturer of Classical Languages and Culture, Univ. of Georgia, January 2021

 749 total views,  2 views today