Pholus

A centaur, son of Silenus and a Melian nymph or of Ixion. When the other centaurs refused hospitality to Heracles, Pholus entertained him in his cave. During the attack of the centaurs, Pholus accidentally dropped one of Heracles' poisoned arrows on his foot and died. Heracles buried him.

Mount Pholoe, between Arcadia and Elis, was believed to have derived its name from him.

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Iconography

On one of the archaic metopes from the Thesaurus at Paestum (first half of the sixth century BCE) Pholus is displayed, merrily gesturing to Heracles.

References

Sources

  • Aken, Dr. A.R.A. van. (1961). Elseviers Mythologische Encyclopedie. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
  • Ovid. Metamorphoses xii, 306.
  • Pseudo-Apollodorus. The Library ii, 5.4.
  • Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.
  • Theocritus, vi, 149.