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The Mares of Diomedes |
The eighth challenge Eurystheus, the King of Mycenae, set to Heracles was to capture the mares of Diomedes and bring them to him alive. Diomedes, was the King of Thrace in Northern Greece, and a son of Ares, the god of War. He possessed four wild mares that used to eat the flesh of every passer-by.
Each mare had a name and, according to a myth, the horses of Alexander the Great were descendants of those mares. Heracles killed Diomedes and gave his flesh to the mares to eat and this way, they say, the mares were tamed and Heracles could handed them over to Eurystheus. Eurystheus then set them free in Mount Olympus where they were devoured by the wild beasts.
SourcesApollodorus
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