Centaur
Nessus was the centaur whose poisoned blood, given as a false love charm, ultimately destroyed the invincible Heracles.
The Myth of Centaur
Nessus the centaur offered to ferry Deianira across the river Evenus while Heracles crossed by another route. Midstream, Nessus attempted to assault her. Heracles shot him from the far bank with an arrow dipped in the Hydra's venom — the poison that made his arrows lethal since his second labour. As Nessus lay dying, he whispered to Deianira that his blood, mixed with the Hydra's poison, would serve as a love charm to keep Heracles faithful. Years later, fearing she was losing Heracles to Iole, Deianira soaked a robe in the blood and sent it to him. The poison burned through his flesh. In agony, Heracles built his own funeral pyre on Mount Oeta and ascended to Olympus, where he married Hebe.
Parents
Ixion and Nephele
Symbols
Fun Fact
A "shirt of Nessus" means an inescapable torment — used in everything from diplomacy to describing toxic relationships.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Nessus
🐉 creatureCentaur whose blood killed Heracles
Nessus was the centaur who tried to abduct Heracles' wife Deianira — and whose poisoned blood, given as a love charm, eventually killed the greatest hero.
Centaur
🐉 creatureGentle centaur host of Heracles
Pholus was a civilised centaur who hosted Heracles on his way to capture the Erymanthian Boar — accidentally triggering a battle with the other centaurs.
Iolaus Serpent
🐉 creatureserpents,regeneration
The multi-headed water serpent of Lerna whose heads regenerated when cut — the Hydra — whose blood Heracles used to poison his arrows, causing indirect deaths for generations afterward.
Deianeira
🗡 herolove, destruction
The wife of Heracles whose love inadvertently killed the greatest hero in Greek mythology when she used the poisoned shirt of Nessus.
Cenaeum
🏛 placegeography
A promontory on the northwestern tip of Euboea where Heracles built an altar and put on the fatal shirt of Nessus.
Shirt of Nessus
💭 conceptcurse, artifact
The poisoned garment that killed Heracles, soaked in the blood of the centaur Nessus and given to Deianeira as a false love charm.
Asbolus
🗡 heroProphecy, centaurs
Centaur seer who read omens in the flight of birds and warned his kin against fighting Heracles
Chiron
🐉 creatureWisest centaur
Chiron tutored Achilles, Asclepius, Jason — the great teacher.
Lichas
🗡 heroNone recorded
Herald of Heracles who unwittingly delivered the poisoned robe that killed his master
Lernaean Hydra
🐉 creatureMany-headed water serpent
The Hydra was a gigantic water serpent with multiple heads — when one was severed, two more grew in its place, making it seemingly impossible to kill.
Ixion
🗡 heropunishment
First human murderer of kin, who attempted to seduce Hera and was bound to an eternally spinning wheel of fire.
Ophiotaurus
🐉 creaturehybrid creatures
A creature half bull and half serpent whose entrails, if burned, could grant power to overthrow the gods