Ceryneian Hind
creatureThe Ceryneian Hind was a magnificent deer with golden antlers and bronze hooves, sacred to Artemis — the third labour of Heracles required capturing it alive without harming it.
The Myth
This deer was one of five that Artemis had once chased; she captured four to pull her chariot but this one escaped across the river Celadon. It was sacred to the goddess and killing it would bring divine wrath. Heracles pursued it for an entire year through Greece, Thrace, and into the land of the Hyperboreans. He finally captured it as it crossed a river, either by netting it while it slept or by wounding it with an arrow that passed between bone and sinew without drawing blood. When Artemis confronted him angrily, he blamed Eurystheus and promised to release it — thus completing the labour without offending the goddess.
Parents
Sacred to Artemis
Children
None recorded
Symbols
Fun Fact
The Ceryneian Hind is unique among Heracles' labours — the only one that required patience and restraint rather than brute strength.