Pholus (mythology)

Pholus (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Pholus was a wise centaur and friend of Heracles who lived in a cave on or near Mount Pelion.

The differing accounts vary in details, but each story contains the following elements: Heracles visited his cave sometime before or after the completion of his fourth Labor, the capture of the Erymanthian Boar. When Heracles drank from a jar of wine in the possession of Pholus, the neighboring centaurs smelled its fragrant odor and, driven characteristically mad, charged into the cave. The majority were slain by Heracles, and the rest were chased to another location (in the Bibliotheca, Cape Meleia) where the peaceful centaur Chiron was accidentally wounded by the arrows of Heracles which were soaked in the venomous blood of the Lernaean Hydra. In most accounts, Chiron surrendered his immortality to be free from the agony of the poison.

While this pursuit and second combat was occurring, Pholus, back in his cave, accidentally wounded himself with one of the venomous arrows while he was either marveling at how such a small thing could kill a centaur (Bibliotheca) or preparing the corpses for burial (Diodoros). He died quickly as a result of the poison's outrageous virulence and was found by Heracles.

Much later, authors like Hyginus (in his De Astronomia) became confused with these details since Chiron and Pholus, both being the only civilized centaurs in Greek myth, died in the same story. Consequently, his writings in places exhibit a conflation of details as a result of his typical inaccuracy.

In the Divine Comedy Pholus is found with the other centaurs patrolling the banks of the river Phlegethon in the seventh circle of Hell.