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Hercules' Fourth Labor - The Erymanthian Boar
Hercules' Fourth Labor - The Erymanthian Boar
Dewing 2440, silver stater from Lycia in Asia Minor, c. 520-500 B.C.
Obverse: the forepart of a boar.
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Dewing Numismatic Foundation
When Hercules asked for wine, Pholus said that he was afraid to
open the wine jar, because it belonged to all the centaurs in
common. But Hercules said not to worry, and opened it himself.
Soon afterwards, the rest of the centaurs smelled the wine and
came to Pholus's cave. They were angry that someone was
drinking all of their wine. The first two who dared to enter were
armed with rocks and fir trees.
:
RISD 22.215, Apulian red figure calyx krater, c. 430-420 B.C.
A centaur holds a rock, poised to attack Hercules.
Photograph by Brooke Hammerle, courtesy of the Museum of Art, RISD,
Providence, RI
While Hercules was gone, Pholus pulled an arrow from the body
of one of the dead centaurs. He wondered that so little a thing
could kill such a big creature. Suddenly, the arrow slipped from
his hand. It fell onto his foot and killed him on the spot. So when
Hercules returned, he found Pholus dead. He buried his centaur
friend, and proceeded to hunt the boar.
It wasn't too hard for Hercules to find the boar. He could hear the
beast snorting and stomping as it rooted around for something to
eat. Hercules chased the boar round and round the mountain,
shouting as loud as he could. The boar, frightened and out of
breath, hid in a thicket. Hercules poked his spear into the thicket
and drove the exhausted animal into a deep patch of snow.
Then he trapped the boar in a net, and carried it all the way to
Mycenae. Eurystheus, again amazed and frightened by the hero's
powers, hid in his partly buried bronze jar.
:
Mississippi 1977.3.63, Attic black figure neck amphora, c. 540-520 B.C.
Hercules brings the boar to Eurstheus, carrying it on his shoulder. He rests his
foot on the rim of the pithos, where Eurystheus cowers.
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the University Museums, University
of Mississippi
(wpm)