Ceryneian Hind

In Greek mythology, the Ceryneian hind (Greek: Κερυνῖτις ἔλαφος Kerynitis elaphos, Latin: Elaphus Cerynitis), was a mythical creature that lived in Ceryneia,[1] Greece and took the form of an enormous female deer, larger than a bull,[1]with golden antlers[2] like a stag,[3] hooves of bronze or brass,[4] a "dappled hide",[5] "excelled in swiftness of foot"[6] and snorted fire.[3] Other names for it were: doe with the golden horns[7], Golden-horned hind[5], Ceryneia hind,[4] Cerynitian hind,[2] beast with golden antlers[8], Parrhasian hind[9], or hind Cerynitis. To bring it back alive to Eurystheus in Mycenae was the third labour of Heracles.

Ceryneian Hind
Heracles breaking off the golden antler of the Ceryneian Hind, while Athena (left) and Artemis look on (black-figure amphora, ca. 540–30 BC)
GroupingLegendary creature
Other name(s)doe with the golden horns, Golden-horned hind, Ceryneia hind, Cerynitian hind or hind Cerynitis
CountryGreece
RegionKeryneia, Greece

One tradition says that Artemis found a mighty herd of five Ceryneian hinds playing on the base of Parrhasian hill far away from the banks of the "black-pebbled Anaurus"[1] where they always herded. Artemis was so impressed by the hinds that she yoked four of them to her golden chariot with golden bridles, but purposely let one escape to the Ceryneian hill to be a future labour for Heracles.[1] Frazer says that the hind took its name from the river Cerynites, "which rises in Arcadia and flows through Achaia into the sea"[2]. Whilst in Ceryneia, the hind chased farmers from vineyards.[3]

The Ceryneian hind was sacred to Artemis.[4] "The hind is said to have borne the inscription. 'Taygete dedicated [me] to Artemis.' "[2] Because of its sacredness, Heracles did not wish to harm the hind and so hunted it for more than a year, from Oenoe[2] to Hyperborea[7], to a mountain called Artemisius, (a range which divides Argolis from the plain of Mantinea) before finally capturing the hind near the river Ladon.[2]

One tradition says he slew the hind.[5] Another that he captured it with nets or while it was sleeping or that he ran it down.[6] While another says he shot and maimed it with an arrow just before it crossed the river Ladon.[2]Once Heracles captured the hind, and only after explaining to Artemis and Apollo ("who would have wrested the hind from him"[2]) that he had only hurt the sacred hind out of necessity, was he allowed to take it alive to Eurystheus in Mycenae, thus completing his third labour.[2]

Heracles and Apollo struggling over the Hind, as depicted on a Corinthian helmet (early 5th century BC)

Art
  • Athenian plate, c. 560 BC
  • Roman bronze, 1st century BC
  • Roman-era bronze, 1st–2nd centuries AD
  • Mosaic from Roman Spain, 3rd century AD
  • Statuette by J. M. Félix Magdalena (b. 1941)

Stag or Hind

"Pindar says that in his quest of the hind with the golden horns Hercules had seen "the far-off land beyond the cold blast of Boreas.[ Hyperborea]"[7] Hence, as the reindeer is said to be the only species of deer of which the female has antlers, Sir William Ridgeway argues ingeniously that the hind with the golden horns was no other than the reindeer."[2]

A doe bearing antlers was unknown in Greece, but the story of the hind is suggestive of reindeer, which, unlike other deer, can be harnessed and whose females bear antlers. The myth relates to the Hyperborea[7], which may have been the archaic origin of the myth itself, as Robert Graves thought.

Authoritative primary source translations say the creature was a:

  • doe [Pindar, Olympian Odes III 28 ff., (trans. Sandys)]
  • hind [Euripides, The Madness of Hercules 370 ff., (trans. Way); Seneca, Hercules Furens 222, (trans. Miller); Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2. 5 3-4, (trans. Frazer); Aelian, On Animals 7. 39, trans. Scholfield)]
  • deer [Aelian, On Animals 7. 39, trans. Scholfield; Callimachus, Hymn 3 to Artemis 98 ff., (trans. Mair)]
  • hart [Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4. 12. 13, (trans. Oldfather)]
  • stag [Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 30, (trans. Grant); Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 6. 223 ff., (trans. Way); Seneca Hercules Oetaeus 1237 ff. (trans. Miller)]

Classical Literature Sources

Chronological listing of classical literature sources for the Ceryneian Hind:

  • Pindar, Olympian Odes III 28 ff. (trans. Sandys) (Greek lyric C5th BC)
  • Euripides, The Madness of Hercules 375 ff. (trans. Way) (Greek tragedy C5th BC)
  • Callimachus, Hymn 3 to Artemis 98 ff. (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd BC)
  • Diodorus of Sicily, Library of History 4. 12. 13 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian C1st BC)
  • Virgil, Aeneid 6. 801 ff (trans. Dewey) (Roman epic C1st BC):
  • Seneca, Hercules Furens 222 ff. (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st AD)
  • Seneca, Agamemnon 833 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st AD)
  • Seneca, Hercules Oetaeus 1237 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st AD)
  • Pseudo-Apollodorus, The Library 2. 5. 3-4 (trans. Frazer) (Greek mythographer C2nd AD)
  • Aelian, On Animals 7. 39 (trans. Scholfield) (Greek natural history C2nd AD):
  • Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 30 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd AD)
  • Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 6. 223 ff. (trans. Way) (Greek epic C4th AD)
  • Nonnus, Dionysiaca 25. 223 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th AD)
  • Nonnos, Dionysiaca 25. 242 ff
  • Tzetzes, Chiliades or Book of Histories 2. 265 ff (trans.Untila et. al.) (Byzantine historian C12 AD)
  • Tzetzes, Chiliades or Book of Histories 2. 495 ff

See also

References
  1. "Hymn III (to Artemis). 98 ff.". Callimachus and Lycophron. Translated by Mair, G. R. London; New York: William Heinemann; G. R Putnam's Sons. 1921. p. 69. ark:/13960/t7qn6bw6r.
  2. "The Library 2. 5. 3-4". Apollodorus the Library. 1. Translated by Frazer, Sir James George. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1921. pp. 191 with the Scholiast. ark:/13960/t00012x9f.
  3. "The Fall of Troy, Book VI. 223 ff.". Quintus Smyrnaeus The Fall Of Troy. Translated by Way, A. S. London; Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd; Harvard University Press. 1984 [1913]. p. 271. ark:/13960/t2m61f62d.
  4. Smith, W., ed. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography And Mythology. Boston: Little, Brown, And Company. p. 395. ark:/13960/t9f47mp93.
  5. "Madness Of Hercules. 370 ff.". Euripides. 3. Translated by Way, Arthur S. London; New York: William Heinemann; G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1930. p. 157. ark:/13960/t6057th3x.
  6. "Book 4. 13". Diodorus of Sicily. 2. Translated by Oldfather, C. H. London; Cambridge, Massachusetts: William Heinemann Ltd; Harvard University Press. 1967 [1935]. p. 385. ark:/13960/t7qn6bw6r.
  7. "Olympian Odes III 28-42. 28 ff.". The Odes of Pindar. Translated by Sandys, Sir John. London; New York: William Heinemann; The Macmillan Co. 1915. pp. 37 with the Scholiast. ark:/13960/t02z1h76p.
  8. "Hercules Oetaeus 1237 ff". Seneca's Tragedies. 2. Translated by Miller, Frank Justus. London; New York: William Heinemann; G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1929 [1917]. p. 285. ark:/13960/t7fr0065f.
  9. "Agamemnon 829 ff". Seneca's Tragedies. 2. Translated by Miller, Frank Justus. London; New York: William Heinemann; G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1929 [1917]. p. 69. ark:/13960/t7fr0065f.

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