Mares of Diomedes
Beautiful, deadly, and out of control, the four man-eating mares belonged to Diomedes, the king of Thrace. They even had names: Podagros (the fast), Lampon (the shining), Xanthos (the blond), and Deinos (the terrible).
For his eighth labor, Hercules set out to steal the mares. In one version, Hercules wasn’t aware that their madness was a result of eating human flesh. He left his companion, Abderus, to watch them while he fought Diomedes. Naturally, the mares ate the boy, so Hercules retaliated by feeding Diomedes to the mares.
Hercules then bound their mouths shut and presented them to Eurystheus, who dedicated the mares to Hera. He then sent the horses to Zeus as a sacrifice. Zeus refused the offering and sent tigers, wolves and bears after the mares to kill them.
Possible descendants of the mares include Bucephalus, Alexander the Great’s horse, and horses used in the Trojan War.
Man eating horses – he didn’t see that coming!
It’s hard to say what he was thinking, Alex, although he did get to kill someone!
Ok wow that is different.
I agree, Savannah. I kind of feel sorry for the horses, though.
Madness from eating human flesh. Yuck.
It was pretty yuck, Ciara.
Hercules definitely had his troubles. Glad horses are not man-eating today.
They wouldn’t have many riders, Carol.
Oh fascinating! I did google images and they remind me a little of the horses the wraiths ride in LotR. And there is a LOT of later stuff on madness from eating human flesh. They are cool to me–the idea of something you think is just beautiful, but when you get close is so dangerous is appealing… fictionally speaking, I mean.
LOL! I’m sure they’d appreciate your nakedness as well, Hart. No clothes to chew on.
Naturally, the mares ate the boy – lol That line cracked me up. Only natural in Greek Mythology.
The Greeks had a good line on horror writing, Mary.
Diomedes got what he deserved. What was he thinking? Keeping carnivorous horses around wasn’t a good idea. Here again, Eurystheus asked Hercules to do something that needed being done anyway. Sorry to hear about the boy, though. I’m sure he didn’t expect to be eaten by out-of-control horses, for whom the usual oats, timothy, and clover weren’t good enough.
The boy probably wore a red toga, Ron. What else could he expect?