Lichas

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title: "Lichas" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["mythology-of-heracles", "metamorphoses-characters", "metamorphoses-into-terrain-in-greek-mythology"] description: "Mythical character, servant of Heracles" topic_path: "general/mythology-of-heracles" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichas" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Mythical character, servant of Heracles ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/SorokinPS_Gerkules&Lihas.jpg" caption="Hercules and Lichas (Pavel Sorokin, 1849)."] ::

In Greek mythology, Lichas ( ; ) was Heracles' servant, who brought the poisoned shirt from Deianira to Hercules because of Deianira's jealousy of Iole, which killed him.

Mythology

Lichas brought to his master the deadly garment, and as a punishment, was thrown by him into the sea, where the Lichadian islands, between Euboea and the coast of Locris, were believed to have derived their name from him. The story is recounted in Sophocles' Women of Trachis and Ovid's Metamorphoses.

Ovid's account

Cape Lichada is said to be where Hercules flung Lichas into the sea:

::quote So, in his frenzy, as he wandered there, he chanced upon the trembling Lichas, crouched in the close covert of a hollow rock. Then in a savage fury he cried out, "Was it you, Lichas, brought this fatal gift? Shall you be called the author of my death?" Lichas, in terror, groveled at his feet, and begged for mercy"Only let me live!" But seizing on him, the crazed Hero whirled him thrice and once again about his head, and hurled him, shot as by a catapult, into the waves of the Euboic Sea. Lichas was innocent but due to a big misunderstanding Hercules threw in him the sea.While he was hanging in the air, his form was hardened; as, we know, rain drops may first be frozen by the cold air, and then change to snow, and as it falls through whirling winds may press, so twisted, into round hailstones: even so has ancient lore declared that when strong arms hurled Lichas through the mountain air through fear, his blood was curdled in his veins. No moisture left in him, he was transformed into a flint-rock. Even to this day, a low crag rising from the waves is seen out of the deep Euboean Sea, and holds the certain outline of a human form, so surely traced, the wary sailors fear to tread upon it, thinking it has life, and they have called it Lichas ever since. —Ovid. Metamorphoses, IX:211 ::

Gallery

File:Lichas bringing the garment of Nessus to Hercules.jpg|Lichas bringing the garment of Nessus to Hercules, engraving of Hans Sebald Beham for the "Labors of Hercules" (1542–1548) File:Canova ErcoleLica 1.jpg|Hercules and Lichas (1795), by Antonio Canova File:Canova ErcoleLica 2.jpg|Detail from Hercules and Lichas (1795), by Antonio Canova

References

References

1. [[Strabo]]. ''[[Geographica]], Book [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/9D*.html 9.4.4] & [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/10A*.html 10.1.9]''
2. [[Sophocles]]. ''[[Women of Trachis
3. [[Ovid]]. ''[[Metamorphoses]], Book 9.155 & 211'' compare with [[Gaius Julius Hyginus. Hyginus]]. ''Fabulae'', 36

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