The golden-horned hind sacred to Artemis, set as the third labour of Heracles, who was ordered to bring her alive to Mycenae and so hunted her a whole year, wishing neither to kill nor to wound her.1
For his third labour Eurystheus commanded Heracles to bring the Cerynitian hind alive to Mycenae. The creature haunted Oenoe; her horns were of gold and she was sacred to Artemis, so that Heracles, wishing neither to kill nor to wound her, ran her down rather than struck her — and hunted her a whole year.2
At last, weary with the chase, the beast took refuge on the mountain called Artemisius and thence passed to the river Ladon. There, just as she was about to cross the stream, Heracles shot her, and catching her up he set her on his shoulders and hastened through Arcadia.3
On the way Artemis met him, and Apollo with her, and they would have wrested the hind from him, rebuking him for attempting to kill her sacred animal. But Heracles pleaded necessity and laid the blame on Eurystheus, and so appeased the goddess's anger and carried the beast alive to Mycenae.4
The hind's haunt was holy to Artemis herself: above Oenoe rises Mount Artemisius, crowned with a sanctuary of the goddess, and on that same mountain are the springs of the river Inachus.5
In the canonical roll of the labours she is remembered as the fierce, golden-horned hind of Arcadia, whom Heracles led back alive into the sight of the king who had set the task.6
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the spine ignites as you read · hover a bond on the card — every mention of them lights in the story
