Stymphalian Birds (Labour)
conceptThe sixth labour of Heracles: driving away man-eating birds with bronze beaks from Lake Stymphalos in Arcadia.
The Myth
Their feathers were bronze arrows — they could shoot them like a porcupine shoots quills. The Stymphalian Birds were sacred to Ares and had colonized Lake Stymphalos, destroying crops and killing livestock with their metallic feathers. Heracles could not enter the dense marsh. Athena gave him a bronze rattle (krotala) forged by Hephaestus, and the noise drove the birds into the air. Heracles then shot them with arrows dipped in the Hydra's venom. Surviving birds fled to the Isle of Ares in the Black Sea, where the Argonauts later encountered them. The labour shows Heracles using intelligence rather than brute force — Athena's solution was acoustic, not violent.
Symbols
Fun Fact
The bronze rattle Athena gave Heracles was forged by Hephaestus — the gods collaborated on the solution.
Explore Further
Heracles (Labours)
heroHeracles performed twelve seemingly impossible labours as penance for killing his family in a...
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...
Stymphalian Birds
creatureThe Stymphalian Birds were a flock of man-eating birds with beaks of bronze and toxic dung,...
Stymphalian Birds (Detail)
creatureMan-eating birds with bronze beaks and metallic feathers they could launch as arrows, inhabiting...
Stymphalian Cranes
creatureWar-birds sacred to Ares on the Isle of Ares that attacked the Argonauts with bronze feather-darts
Argonauts
conceptThe Argonauts were the band of heroes who sailed with Jason on the Argo to retrieve the Golden...
Heracles
heroThe greatest hero of Greek mythology, son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. Famous for his...
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,...