Mares of Diomedes
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_08.jpg) Heracles capturing the Mares of Diomedes. Roman mosaic, 3rd century AD |
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| Mythology | Greek mythology |
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| Grouping | Legendary creature |
| Sub-grouping | Man-eating horses |
| Country | Greece |
| Region | Thrace |
The Mares of Diomedes, also called the Mares of Thrace, were four man-eating horses of Greek mythology. Reportedly [1] magnificent, wild, and uncontrollable, they belonged to the giant Diomedes (not to be confused with Diomedes, son of Tydeus, king of Thrace, a son of Ares and Cyrene who lived on the shores of the Black Sea. Bucephalus, Alexander the Great's horse was said to be descended from these mares[2]).
The Eighth Labour of Heracles [edit]
After capturing the Cretan bull, Heracles next task was to steal the Diomedean Mares.[3] In one version of the story,[4] Heracles brought a number of youths to help him. They took the mares but were chased away by Diomedes and his men.
Heracles was not aware that the horses, Podagros (the fast), Lampon (the shining), Xanthos (the blond) and Deimos (the terrible), were kept tethered to a bronze manger because they were mad; their madness being attributed to an unnatural diet of human flesh.[5] Some versions of the myth [6] say that the mares expelled fire when they breathed and that they were man-eating and uncontrollable. It is told that Heracles left his favoured companion, the boy Abderus, in charge of them while he fought Diomedes. On his return to the stables he found Abderus had been eaten by them. In revenge, Heracles fed Diomedes to the mares and then founded the city of Abdera next to the boy's tomb.
In another version,[7] Heracles stayed awake so that he didn't have his throat cut by Diomedes in the night; he then cut the chains binding the horses and scared the horses onto nearby high ground. Heracles then dug a trench through the peninsula, filling it with water, thus isolating the horses on an island. When Diomedes returned Heracles killed him with an axe, the same axe he used to dig the trench, and fed the body to the mares to calm them.
Both versions have eating make the horses calmer, and Heracles taking this opportunity to bind their mouths shut. Once subdued Heracles was easily able to take them back to King Eurystheus who dedicated the horses to Hera. In some versions,[8] they were allowed to roam freely around Argos, having become permanently calm, but in others,[9] Eurystheus ordered the horses taken to Olympus to be sacrificed to Zeus, Zeus refusing the sacrifice and sending wolves, lions, and bears to kill them. Roger Lancelyn Green states in his Tales of the Greek Heroes that their descendants were used in the Trojan War.
Heracles next task, as instructed by Eurystheus, was to to bring back Hippolyta's Girdle.
References [edit]
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- ^ Horse madness (hippomania) and hippophobia, Yiannis G. Papakostas, Michael D. Daras, Ioannis A. Liappas and Manolis Markianos, History of Psychiatry 2005; 16; 467
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External links [edit]
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