erymanthian boar

Name:  Erymanthian Boar

Features:  Extremely large boar with razor sharp teeth

Source:  Greek Mythology

Habitat:  Mount Erymanthus - Ancient Greece

This huge mythical beast stood as tall as a full grown human and weighed one ton.  This enormous wild pig also had pointy canine-like teeth on its lower and upper jaws. 

Its teeth protruded and upturned outside of its mouth.  It also had huge sharp tusks that it used to impale its victims.  Using its massive size, this monstrous boar would also charge at its victims and crushed their bones to smithereens.

This humongous wild beast is said to be the largest pig that ever roamed the earth.  It would descend the mountain side of Mt. Erymanthus daily, goring victims with its huge tusks and ramming them with its large body.

This extremely dangerous boar was also on the famous list of Hercules’s twelve labors.  He was actually the fourth; right after Hercules had to capture the “Golden hind of Artemis”.    

Hercules was ordered by King Eurystheus to capture this deadly wild pig once and for all.  Hercules traveled a long ways to find the beast and arrived to where it lived Mt. Erymanthus, in the middle of winter when all the surroundings where covered by a thick layer of snow.

Hercules had previously sought the advice of Chiron who gave him some tips on how to go about catching this wild and savage boar.

Hercules eventually found its den, guided by its loud snores and surprised the beast as it lay sound asleep.  He snuck up on the beast and the wild pig was scared out of its deep slumber, let out a loud scream and ran out of fright right into the deep snow.  This allowed Hercules to easily capture it.

When Hercules returned with the boar in captivity, King Eurystheus was so scared of the beast and the mighty Hercules that he hid in a jar get and asked the strong man to just get rid of the beast.  He then told Hercules to clean the Augean stables, which was also Hercules's fifth labor.

How did this beast come to exist?  The Greek god Apollo transformed himself into a giant boar so he could trample Aphrodite’s boyfriend Adonis.  The beautiful Aphrodite had captured the heart of his son Erymanthus, so Apollo killed her boyfriend in retaliation.  Apollo then simply returned to Olympus.

The Erymanthian Boar is said to have been born out of Apollo’s rage where he continued to ravage the countryside until the day when he received an unannounced visit from the all mighty Hercules.

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