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Aphrodite Apollo Ares Artemis Athena Atlas Coeus Crius Cronus Demeter Dionysus Gaia Hades Hephaestus Hera Hermes Hestia Hyperion Iapetus Mnemosyne Oceanus Phobos Phoebe Poseidon Prometheus Rhea Tethys Themis Uranus Zeus
Bacchus Ceres Diana Juno Jupiter Mars Mercury Minerva Neptune Pluto Venus Vesta Vulcan
Amun Anubis Aten Atum Babi Bastet Bes Geb Hapi hathor heqet Horus Isis Khepri Khnum Khonsu Maat Nephthys Nut Osiris Ptah Ra Seshat Seth Shu Sobek Thoth
Alfheim Baldur Freya Freyr Frigg Heimdallr Helheim Idun Jotunheim Loki Nerthus Njord Odin Thor Tyr
Aengus Arawn Badb Brigid Cailleach Ceridwen Cernunnos Cu Chulainn Dagda Danu Gwydion Herne the Hunter Lugh Medb Morrigan Neit Nuada Taliesin Taranis
Chalchiuhtlicue Coatlicue Huitzilopochtli Mictlantecuhtli Mixcoatl Ometeotl Quetzalcoatl Tezcatlipoca Tlaloc Tonatiuh Xipe Totec Xochiquetzal Xolotl
Amaterasu Ame no Uzume Benzaiten Bishamonten Daikokuten Ebisu Fujin Fukurokuju Inari Izanagi Kagutsuchi Raijin Susanoo Tsukuyomi
Caishen Cangjie Dragon King Eight Immortals Erlang Shen Fuxi Guanyin Hou Yi Huxian Jade Emperor King Yama Leizi Lu-ban Mazu Nezha Nuwa Pangu Shennong Sun Wukong Xiwangmu Yue Lao Zhong Kui
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  3. Centaurs
    Centaurus Cheiron Eurytion Nessus Pholus
  4. Nessus

Nessus

A Centaur. Nessus was one of the Centaurs who fought against the Lapiths, at the wedding of Peirithous and Hippodameia. When the Lapiths drove the Centaurs out of their kingdom, most fled to Mount Pholus at Arcadia. Instead, Nessus headed west to the Evenus River in Aetolia, where he acted as a ferryman.

Nessus encountered the hero Heracles, who was leaving Aetolia with his wife, Deïaneira. Nessus offered to ferry Deianeira across the Evenus. Heracles accepted and went ahead, but Nessus tried to rape Deianeira. Hearing his wife's cry for help, Heracles mortally wounded the Centaur.

Dying, Nessus instructed Deianeira to keep his blood, which he falsely told the princess that it was a powerful love elixir. If Heracles was to stray from his marriage with her, she should smear his blood on the hero's shirt, and Heracles would love her again. Deianeira didn't know the poison that killed Nessus, came from the deadly venom of the Hydra. This blood would later kill Heracles.

See Deianeira and the Death of Heracles.

Related Information

Name

Nessus, Nessos.

Sources

Library was written by Apollodorus.

Metamorphoses was written by Ovid.

Women of Trachis was written by Sophocles.

Related Articles

Peirithous, Heracles.

Jimmy Joe Timeless Myths

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Centaurs:

  • • Centaurus
  • • Cheiron
  • • Eurytion
  • • Nessus
  • • Pholus
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Pholus

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April 9th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe

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