In Greek mythology, Nessus was a centaur famous for the manner of his death, which in turn brought about the death of Heracles. The son of Centauros, he took part in the battle against the Lapiths and later became a ferryman on the river Euenus (Evenus). When he attempted to assault Heracles' wife Deianeira while carrying her across the river, Heracles shot him with a Hydra-poisoned arrow; the dying centaur deceitfully told Deianeira that his blood would secure Heracles' love, and that poisoned blood ultimately caused the hero's death.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Nessus (centaur)" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Family
Nessus is named as the son of Centauros, placing him among the common centaur stock rather than singling him out by a unique parentage. (Other ancient authors instead make him a son of Ixion and Nephele, the parents of the centaur race.)
He is counted among the centaurs who fought in the battle against the Lapiths before the episode for which he is best known, and he later took up the role of ferryman on the river Euenus (Evenus).
II.Mythology
Nessus is renowned for the story of the Tunic (or Shirt) of Nessus. While serving as ferryman, he carried Deianeira, the wife of Heracles, across a river and then attempted to assault her. Heracles shot him through the chest with an arrow poisoned with the blood of the Lernaean Hydra.
As he died, Nessus maliciously told Deianeira that his blood would ensure Heracles' lasting faithfulness, knowing that it was poisoned. Later, when Deianeira came to fear that Heracles loved Iole more than her, she smeared the centaur's blood on a robe and sent it to him.
When Heracles put on the robe at a gathering, the poison burned him slowly and in agony. He died upon a funeral pyre of oak branches and was taken up to Olympus, where he was welcomed among the gods. Sophocles' play Trachiniae (Women of Trachis) retells this myth at length.
III.Before the Myth
It has been suggested that before the ancient Greeks told the story of Nessus and developed the figure of the centaur, the Kassites used such beings as guiding spirits.
An alternative explanation connects the term "centaur" to a meaning of "water-whipper" or "water spirit," a notion that resonates with Nessus' role at the river.
IV.In popular culture
In Dante's Inferno, Nessus appears among the centaurs who patrol the Circle of Violence beside the river Phlegethon; appointed by Chiron, he guides Dante and Virgil along that region.
T. S. Eliot drew on the episode for the section "Little Gidding IV" of his Four Quartets. The death of Nessus and the poisoned tunic was also loosely dramatized in the television movie Hercules in the Underworld (1994), which preceded the series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.
V.Historical Allusions
The story of the Shirt of Nessus has been linked to real-world events and figures of speech. It has been used as an allusion to early settlers giving infected blankets to Native Americans, the gift carrying within it the means of destruction.