Stymphalian Birds (Detail)
creatureMan-eating birds with bronze beaks and metallic feathers they could launch as arrows, inhabiting the marshes of Stymphalos in Arcadia.
The Myth
The Stymphalian Birds infested the marshes around Lake Stymphalos in Arcadia, where they had gathered in numbers so vast they blotted out the sun. Their feathers were bronze and could be launched like arrows, their beaks could pierce armour, and their droppings poisoned the land. Some accounts say they were sacred to Ares and had been driven to Stymphalos by wolves. For his sixth labour, Heracles could not enter the marsh — the ground was too soft to bear his weight and too thick to sail through. Athena came to his aid, giving him a bronze rattle (krotala) forged by Hephaestus. The noise startled the birds into flight, and Heracles shot them down with arrows poisoned with the blood of the Lernaean Hydra. The surviving birds fled to the island of Aretias in the Black Sea, where the Argonauts later encountered them during their voyage to Colchis.
Parents
Ares (sacred to)
Symbols
Fun Fact
The Stymphalian Birds' bronze feathers that launch like projectiles make them effectively flying weapon systems — ancient mythology's closest analogue to a military drone. The idea of aerial threats that attack from above and must be countered with noise and projectiles reads like a remarkably prescient description of anti-aircraft warfare, conceived in the Bronze Age.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth:
Explore Further
Stymphalian Birds
creatureThe Stymphalian Birds were a flock of man-eating birds with beaks of bronze and toxic dung,...
Stymphalian Cranes
creatureWar-birds sacred to Ares on the Isle of Ares that attacked the Argonauts with bronze feather-darts
Stymphalos
placeLake Stymphalia was the marsh in Arcadia where Heracles drove away the Stymphalian Birds for his...
Heracles (Divine Hero)
heroThe son of Zeus and Alcmene who performed twelve impossible labours and was the only hero to...
Heracles (Labours)
heroHeracles performed twelve seemingly impossible labours as penance for killing his family in a...
Stymphalian Birds (Labour)
conceptThe sixth labour of Heracles: driving away man-eating birds with bronze beaks from Lake Stymphalos...
Hydra
creatureA monstrous water serpent with multiple heads that grew two more whenever one was cut off. Slaying...
Lernaean Hydra
creatureThe Hydra was a gigantic water serpent with multiple heads — when one was severed, two more grew in...
Arcadia
placeArcadia was both a real mountainous region in the central Peloponnese and an idealised landscape of...
Ares
godGod of the brutal, savage side of war. Unlike Athena's strategic warfare, Ares represented the raw...
Ares (War God)
godThe god of the savage violence of battle — feared, hated, and necessary, embodying the bloodlust...
Argo (Ship)
placeThe Argo was the ship built by Argus for Jason's quest — the first long-voyage ship in Greek myth,...