Kerynite doe
The ceryneian hind ( Keryneische hind , Keryneiische hind or doe from Kyrenia ) is a creature from Greek mythology that the fields in Arcadia devastated.
She is said to have been one of the five hinds on whom the goddess Artemis made her first hunting trial. She had chased four of them, the fifth she had let run into the woods again, because fate had decided that Heracles should wearily chase himself from it one day. The doe had gold hooves and gold antlers. It was so fast that it could run away from an arrow.
According to other sources, it was a dedication from Taygete to the virgin Artemis, goddess of the hunt and the moon, or Taygete herself, who had been turned into a doe by Artemis as a punishment for allowing Zeus to love her. She grazed all over Arcadia and on the Artemis mountains near Argos .
Heracles was to bring this to Mycenae as the third of his ultimately twelve works for Eurystheus from Oinoe . Since the doe was sacred, he was not allowed to kill it, but had to catch it alive.
According to various sources, he hunted her for a whole year until he finally caught her - either with a net that he threw over the sleeping hind, or by shooting an arrow through both of her forelegs, thereby tying her up. Since it hit exactly between the tendons and bones, no blood flowed.
Herakles then carried her away, but on his way met Artemis accompanied by her twin brother Apollo , who reproached him violently, but was appeased when Heracles told her that Eurystheus was responsible for everything. The goddess realized that Eurystheus had given Heracles the task of killing him out of revenge. Herakles promised her that he would release the hind as soon as he had completed the task. Eurystheus wanted to add the hind to his menagerie . Heracles insisted not to bring the Hind into the menagerie himself, but to hand them over to Eurystheus himself. The Hindu escaped, for which Heracles blamed Eurystheus because he was not quick enough.
literature
- Кун Н. А. Легенды и мифы Древней Греции - М .: ЗАО Фирма СТД, 2005. - 558 с. ISBN 5-89808-013-9
- Herbert J. Rose : Greek Mythology. A manual . Verlag CH Beck, Beck'sche Reihe, 3rd edition, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-406-49458-1 , p. 211 ( Google Books ), title of the original edition: A Handbook of Greek Mythology . Phaidon Press Ltd., London 1928
Web links
- Kerynite hind in the Theoi Project