Further Resources: The Horses of Diomedes

• Read the story of Hercules and the Horses of Diomedes, as told by Apollodorus, the ancient writer who collected legends in his mythology handbook, the Library.
• The Temple of Zeus at Olympia was decorated with sculptures illustrating the Labors of Hercules. Look at the sculpture catalog entry for the Horses of Diomedes metope.
• Browse the catalog entries and see more pictures of the Tampa vase with a horse and a groom, the Philadelphia amphora fragment with the warrior and the grazing horse, or the Tampa vase with the fallen warrior trampled by horses.
• See the site catalog entry for the city of Abdera, said to have been founded by Hercules in honor of Abderos, who was killed by the horses of Diomedes.
• Read a scene from Euripides' play Alcestis, in which Hercules describes his quest for Diomedes' horses, and his fate to perform the Labors.
• Check out a view of Abdera from the air.
• Abdera was particularly famous for its beautiful coins depicting griffins, mythical beasts which were crosses between eagles and lions.
• See the Euripides quote in context, in the play, Hercules.

Go back to the Horses of Diomedes page.

This exhibit is a subset of materials from the Perseus Project digital library and is copyrighted. Please send us your comments.