Nessus- Greek CreatureCreature · Hybrid"The Ferryman of the Evenus"

The Ferryman and the Arrow

Nessus was a centaur who had settled at the river Evenus in Aetolia after the centaurs scattered across Greece, driven from their old ranges by Heracles's arrows. He made his living ferrying travelers across the swift current on his broad back. When Heracles and his wife Deianira came to the crossing, Heracles waded across on his own and entrusted Deianira to Nessus. Midstream, the centaur tried to rape her. Her cries reached Heracles on the far bank, and he shot Nessus with one of his arrows — arrows tipped with the venom of the Lernaean Hydra. The poisoned arrow struck Nessus as he staggered onto the opposite shore.

The Dying Lie

As he lay dying, Nessus beckoned Deianira close. Speaking so Heracles could not hear, he told her to collect his blood — it was a love charm, he said. If she ever feared losing Heracles's love, she need only smear the blood on a garment and give it to him. Deianira gathered the blood and kept it hidden away. She did not know that the Hydra's venom in Nessus's veins had turned his blood to poison.

The Shirt of Nessus

Years later, when Heracles took the princess Iole after sacking Oechalia, Deianira feared she was losing her husband. Remembering the centaur's words, she soaked a ceremonial robe in Nessus's blood and sent it to Heracles. When he put it on, the venom seared his flesh with fire that could not be quenched. The robe fused to his skin. In Sophocles's Women of Trachis, Deianira had tested the blood on a tuft of wool. When she left it in the sun, the wool crumbled into foam — and she understood. She hanged herself before word came of what the robe had done to Heracles. He built a funeral pyre on Mount Oeta and climbed onto it, choosing the flames over the poison's agony.