Erymanthian Boar
The Erymanthian Boar was a monstrous wild boar ravaging the country around Psophis from its lair on Mount Erymanthus in Arcadia. Eurystheus set capturing it alive as Heracles's fourth labor. On the way, a visit to the centaur Pholus ended in a deadly brawl that left Pholus dead and the wise centaur Chiron wounded, before Heracles finally drove the boar into deep snow and carried it back to Mycenae.
Erymanthian Boar, the beast of Mount Erymanthus
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Core Myth
Apollodorus places the fourth labor on Mount Erymanthus in Arcadia, where a monstrous boar had been ravaging the countryside around the city of Psophis. Eurystheus ordered Heracles to bring it back alive, the same non-lethal condition that had made the Ceryneian Hind so difficult. On the way to the mountain, Heracles was hosted by the centaur Pholus, who served him roasted meat while eating his own raw, in the centaur custom, but hesitated to open a jar of wine that belonged to all the centaurs in common, a gift from Dionysus meant to be shared rather than opened for a single guest. Heracles persuaded him to open it anyway, and the smell of the wine drew the other centaurs into a frenzy; they attacked armed with rocks and uprooted fir trees, and Heracles fought them off with arrows still tipped with the Hydra's poisoned blood from an earlier labor. The brawl cost two lives that had nothing to do with the boar itself. One of Heracles's arrows struck the wise centaur Chiron in the knee by accident, a wound that could not kill him, since he was immortal, but that he could never stop suffering from either. Pholus himself died examining one of the same poisoned arrows after the fighting ended, marveling that so small a weapon could kill something so large, and dropping it on his own foot. Grieving, Heracles buried Pholus and resumed the hunt, chasing the boar with shouts until he drove it into deep snow high on the mountain, where its own weight and the cold exhausted it enough to be bound and carried back to Mycenae alive.
Why was capturing the boar alive harder than simply killing it?
Eurystheus deliberately set the labors to be as difficult as possible. Killing a dangerous boar was straightforward hunting; trapping one that size and temper without harming it meant Heracles had to corner it exhausted rather than fight it directly, the same constraint that made the Ceryneian Hind so hard to take.
Apollodorus, Library 2.5.4
Who was Pholus, and why does his death appear in the Boar labor's story?
Pholus was a centaur who hosted Heracles on the way to Mount Erymanthus. His decision to open a jar of wine shared jointly by all centaurs, rather than kept for one guest, drew the other centaurs into a violent frenzy once they smelled it, folding an entire second, deadly episode into what should have been a straightforward hunt for the boar.
Apollodorus, Library 2.5.4
How was the wise centaur Chiron wounded during this labor?
During the fight that Pholus's opened wine jar triggered, one of Heracles's arrows, tipped with the Hydra's venom from an earlier labor, struck Chiron in the knee by accident. Because Chiron was immortal, the wound could not kill him, which meant he had to endure the pain indefinitely rather than the injury ending his life outright.
Apollodorus, Library 2.5.4
How did Pholus himself die, if he was not fighting Heracles?
After the fighting ended, Pholus examined one of the arrows that had killed a fellow centaur, wondering that so small a thing could kill something so large, and dropped it on his own foot. The same poison that wounded Chiron killed Pholus almost instantly.
Apollodorus, Library 2.5.4
Did Heracles actually kill the boar?
No. As with the Ceryneian Hind, the labor required the animal alive. Apollodorus describes Heracles chasing the boar into deep snow until it was too exhausted to resist, then binding and carrying it to Mycenae rather than killing it outright; Ovid's Metamorphoses lists the same boar among Heracles's own catalog of labors without adding this chase detail.
Apollodorus, Library 2.5.4
Is the famous image of Eurystheus hiding in a jar from the boar based on an ancient text?
Not directly. The scene is extremely common on painted vases depicting this labor, but the surviving literary accounts describe only the chase and capture, never Eurystheus's personal reaction to seeing the animal. The jar-hiding image comes from Greek vase painting rather than from any named ancient author.
Later Traditions
Ancient vase painters seized on this labor's ending far more than any surviving literary source does: Eurystheus, too frightened of the captured boar to look at it directly, is shown hiding inside a large storage jar while Heracles displays the animal outside, one of the most reproduced images from the entire cycle of labors. No surviving text actually describes this specific reaction, only the chase and capture themselves - the jar-hiding scene survives as a visual tradition rather than a line any named ancient author wrote. Chiron's wound also outlives this one labor: unable to die from the poison yet unable to be healed of it, he eventually gives up his own immortality in exchange for Prometheus's release, an episode Apollodorus tells much later, during the labor of the golden apples.
Also Connected
2 recorded connections, each with the ancient line behind it.
Connected
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Capturing the boar alive was the fourth of Heracles's twelve labors, though the journey there caused more deaths than the boar itself did.
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The arrows Heracles used against the centaurs during this labor were tipped with venom from the Hydra, killed in an earlier labor - the same poison that wounded Chiron and killed Pholus.
Where Accounts Differ
- Eurystheus hiding from the boar: text or vase painting only
- The scene of Eurystheus hiding from the boar in a bronze jar is a well-attested motif in Greek vase painting, but no surviving literary source describes it directly.
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Mythology
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Related Terms
Sources
- Apollodorus, Library 2.5.4
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 9.185-9.198
- Timothy Gantz, Early Greek Myth (1993)