Ro 8. mares of diomedes-SFTLOH Travel Guide

1. 13
ERASMUS+ KA2
Searching for the Labours of Hercules
2014-1-TR01-KA201-012990
Romania: Steal the Mares of Diomedes
Lampon(the Shining),Xanthos(the
Yellow) and Deinos (the Terrible)
and whom he kept tethered to a
bronze manger.
Herculesandhiscompanionswent
to the mangerwere the fourmares
were kept and killed the servants
of the king in charge with the
stables. He then cut the chains of
the horses and drove them to the
shore of the seawhere hisshipwas
anchored. However, king
Diomedes soon found out that his
mareswere stolenbyHerculesand
with an army of Bistones went to
rescue the horses.
Hercules entrusted the
guardianship of the mares to his
companion Abderos and went to
fight Diomedes and his men in
arms.
He defeatedthe Bistones,bykilling
Diomedes and many of the
warriors, forcing the rest to run
away. Whenhe returnedtowhere
he had left Abderos, he found him
dead, eaten by the mares.
Saddened by the event, Hercules
burried him and founded the city
of Abdera, to the memory of his
loyal friend. Diomedeswas fed to
his mares who thus were calmed
down by Hercules.
He then went back to Mycenae
with the tamed horses. But king
Eurystheus set the mares free.
They wandered up Mount
Olympus, falling prey to wild
beasts.
Hercules was assigned a new
labour by king Eurysteus, after
finishing his seventh job with the
Cretan Bull: to bring to Mycenae
the fourmaresof the Thracianking
Diomedes. They were wild horses
who would not be fed on plants.
Hercules gathered some
volunteers and set off on his
journey to the kingdom of the
Bistones, where Diomedes ruled.
These Thracians inhabited a
territory lying north and north –
east of Peloponnese. Hercules set
sail acrossthe Aegeantoreachthat
far away realm.
Hercules was sure that king
Diomedes would not gladly hand
over his precious wild horses
without a good fight. But Hercules
did not know that the mares were
so wild because they eat man
meat.
Diomedes wasfamedtobe theson
of Ares, the god of war.
These four uncontrollable mares
were Podargos (the Swift),