Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...

, the Erymanthian boar (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: ὁ Ἐρυμάνθιος κάπρος;

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: ''aper Erymanthius'') was a mythical creature that took the form of a "shaggy and wild" "tameless" "boar" "of vast weight" "and foaming jaws". It was a Tegeaean, Maenalusian or Erymanthian boar that lived in the "glens of

Lampeia Lampeia ( Greek: Λάμπεια, before 1928: Δίβρη - ''Divri'', between 1928 and 1929: Πρινόφυτον - ''Prinofyton'') is a mountain village, a community and a former municipality in Elis, West Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 loca ...

" beside the "vast marsh of Erymanthus". It would sally from the "thick-wooded", "cypress-bearing" "heights of Erymanthus" to "harry the groves of Arcady" and "abuse the land of

Psophis Psophis (Ancient Greek: , '' Eth.'' ) was an ancient Greek city in the northwest end of Arcadia, bounded on the north by Arcadia, and on the west by Elis. It was located near the modern village Psofida, part of the municipality Kalavryta. City ...

". The fourth labour of Heracles was to bring the Erymanthian boar alive to

Eurystheus In Greek mythology, Eurystheus (; grc-gre, Εὐρυσθεύς, , broad strength, ) was king of Tiryns, one of three Mycenaean strongholds in the Argolid, although other authors including Homer and Euripides cast him as ruler of Argos. Fami ...

Mycenae Mycenae ( ; grc, Μυκῆναι or , ''Mykē̂nai'' or ''Mykḗnē'') is an archaeological site near Mykines in Argolis, north-eastern Peloponnese, Greece. It is located about south-west of Athens; north of Argos; and south of Corinth. ...

. To capture the boar, Heracles first "chased the boar with shouts" and thereby routed it from a "certain thicket" and then "drove the exhausted animal into deep snow." He then "trapped it", bound it in chains, and lifted it, still "breathing from the dust", and returning with the boar on "his left shoulder", "staining his back with blood from the stricken wound", he cast it down in the "entrance to the assembly of the Mycenaeans", thus completing his fourth labour. "When the king urystheussaw him carrying the boar on his shoulders, he was terrified and hid himself in a bronze vessel." "The inhabitants of

Cumae Cumae ( grc, Κύμη, (Kumē) or or ; it, Cuma) was the first ancient Greek colony on the mainland of Italy, founded by settlers from Euboea in the 8th century BC and soon becoming one of the strongest colonies. It later became a rich Ro ...

, in the land of the Opici, profess that the boar's tusks which are preserved in the sanctuary of

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...

at Cumae are the tusks of the Erymanthian boar, but the assertion is without a shred of probability." In the primitive highlands of Arcadia, where old practices lingered, the Erymanthian boar was a giant fear-inspiring creature of the wilds that lived on

Mount Erymanthos Mount Erymanthos ( el, Ερύμανθος, Latin: ''Erymanthus'') overall is an irregular massif of peaks connected by ridges embedded in the mountains located in the north of the Peloponnese, Greece. Erymanthos is on the west side. Its highest ...

, a mountain that was apparently once sacred to the

Mistress of the Animals Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to: Romance and relationships * Mistress (lover), a term for a woman who is in a sexual and romantic relationship with a man who is married to a ...

, for in classical times it remained the haunt of

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...

(

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

, ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Iliad'', th ...

'', VI.105). A boar was a dangerous animal: "When the goddess turned a wrathful countenance upon a country, as in the story of

Meleager In Greek mythology, Meleager (, grc-gre, Μελέαγρος, Meléagros) was a hero venerated in his ''temenos'' at Calydon in Aetolia. He was already famed as the host of the Calydonian boar hunt in the epic tradition that was reworked by Ho ...

, she would send a raging boar, which laid waste the farmers' fields."Kerenyi (1959), p. 149.

Cultural depictions

Chronological listing of classical literature sources for the Erymanthian boar: * Sophocles, ''Trachiniae'' 1097 (trans. Jebb) (Greek tragedy C5th BC) * Apollonius Rhodius, ''Argonautica'' 1. 67-111 (trans. Coleridge) (Greek epic poetry C3rd BC) * Callimachus, ''Epigrams'' 36 (trans. Mair) (Greek poetry C3rd BC) * Diodorus of Sicily, ''Library of History'' 4. 12. 1-2 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek history C1st BC) * Virgil, ''Aeneid'' 6. 801 ff (trans. Dewey) (Roman epic poetry C1st BC) * Lucretius, ''Of The Nature of Things'' 5. Proem 1 (trans. Leonard) (Roman philosophy C1st BC) * Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' 9. 191 (trans. Melville) (Roman epic poetry C1st BC to C1st AD) * Ovid, ''Heroides'' 9. 87 ff (trans. Showerman) (Roman poetry C1st BC to C1st AD) * Philippus of Thessalonica, ''The Twelve Labors of Hercule''s (''The Greek Classic''s ed. Miller Vol 3 1909 p. 397) (Greek epigrams C1st AD) * Seneca, ''Hercules Furens'' 228 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st AD) * Seneca, ''Hercules Oetaeus'' 17-30 (trans. Miller) * Statius, ''Thebaid'' 4. 297 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic poetry C1st AD) * Statius, ''Thebaid'' 8. 746 ff * Plutarch, ''Moralia'', On the Fortune of Alexander 341. 11 ff (trans. Babbitt) (Greek philosophy C1st AD to C2nd AD) * Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''The Librar''y 2. 5. 3-4 (trans. Frazer) (Greek mythography C2nd AD) * Pseudo-Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' 30 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythography C2nd AD) * Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' 8 24. 5-6 (trans. Frazer) (Greek travelogue C2nd AD) * Quintus Smyrnaeus, ''Fall of Troy'' 6. 220 ff (trans. Way) (Greek epic poetry C4th AD) * Nonnus, ''Dionysiaca'' 25. 194 (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic poetry C5th AD) * Nonnos, ''Dionysiaca'' 25. 242 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic poetry C5th AD) * Boethius, ''The Consolation of Philosophy'' 4. 7. 13 ff (trans. Rand & Stewart) (Roman philosophy C6th AD) * Suidas s.v. ''Dryopes'' (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek Lexicon C10th AD) * Tzetzes, ''Chiliades'' or ''Book of Histories'' 2. 268 ff (trans. Untila et al.) (Byzantinian history C12 AD) * Tzetzes, ''Chiliades'' or ''Book of Histories'' 2. 494 ff

References

External links

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

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

, ''Heroides'' *Pseudo-Apollodorus, '' Bibliotheca'' ii.5.4 * Diodorus Siculus iv.12 *

Apollonius of Rhodes Apollonius of Rhodes ( grc, Ἀπολλώνιος Ῥόδιος ''Apollṓnios Rhódios''; la, Apollonius Rhodius; fl. first half of 3rd century BC) was an ancient Greek author, best known for the ''Argonautica'', an epic poem about Jason and t ...

, ''

Argonautica The ''Argonautica'' ( el, Ἀργοναυτικά , translit=Argonautika) is a Greek epic poem written by Apollonius Rhodius in the 3rd century BC. The only surviving Hellenistic epic, the ''Argonautica'' tells the myth of the voyage of Jason ...

'' i.122ff *

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC * Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...

, ''Description of Greece'' i.27.
Greek Mountain Flora
{{Twelve tasks of Hercules Labours of Hercules Monsters in Greek mythology Mythological pigs Arcadian mythology Wild boars