Ceryneian Hind
The 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 of Ceryneian Hind
The Ceryneian Hind was a deer sacred to Artemis, distinguished by golden antlers and bronze hooves — the only female deer in Greek mythology to bear antlers. For his third labour, Heracles was ordered to capture it alive without harming it, since injuring Artemis's sacred animal would be sacrilege. He pursued the hind for a full year across Greece, from Arcadia through the Peloponnese to the land of the Hyperboreans. When the exhausted deer finally paused at the river Ladon, Heracles caught it — or shot a net-arrow between bone and sinew without drawing blood. Artemis and Apollo confronted him, furious, but Heracles blamed King Eurystheus. The goddess relented. This was a labour of patience, not violence — unlike the brute force needed against the Hydra or the Nemean Lion.
Parents
Sacred to Artemis
Symbols
Fun Fact
The Ceryneian Hind is unique among Heracles' labours — the only one that required patience and restraint rather than brute strength.
Explore Further
Ceryneian Hind
🐉 creaturelabour, sacred
A golden-antlered, bronze-hooved deer sacred to Artemis that Heracles pursued for an entire year as his third labour.
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⚡ godGoddess of the hunt, wilderness, the moon, childbirth
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🐉 creaturehybrid creatures
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