Which Greek hero captured the Erymanthian Boar?

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Which Greek hero captured the Erymanthian Boar? Heracles captured the Erymanthian Boar as his fourth Labour.

King Eurystheus ordered Heracles to bring the enormous, dangerous animal back alive. The boar lived around Mount Erymanthos and ravaged the surrounding countryside. Unlike several labours that required killing monsters, this task demanded restraint and capture.

Heracles drove the boar from its hiding place and pursued it into deep snow, where the exhausted animal became easier to trap. He bound it and carried it alive to Mycenae. Eurystheus was so frightened by the sight that he hid in a large bronze storage vessel, a comic detail often shown in ancient art.

The labour is sometimes confused with the Calydonian Boar Hunt, a separate myth involving heroes such as Meleager and Atalanta. Heracles did not join that famous group hunt. The Erymanthian Boar episode also includes an encounter with the centaur Pholus and, in some versions, events connected with Chiron and Prometheus.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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