Abderus

Abderus was a man from Opus in Locris, a son of Hermes and the beloved of Heracles. He was killed by the man-eating mares of the Thracian king Diomedes during Heracles’ eighth labour, and Heracles founded the city of Abdera beside his grave.

Family

Apollodorus calls Abderus a son of Hermes and a Locrian from Opus (Library 2.5.8). No mother is named. The Library describes him as Heracles’ erômenos, his beloved. Hyginus, in his list of the labours, calls him only a servant (famulus) and names the four man-eating horses Podargus, Lampon, Xanthus and Dinus (Fabulae 30).

The Mares of Diomedes

The eighth labour that Eurystheus set Heracles was to bring the mares of Diomedes the Thracian to Mycenae. Diomedes was a son of Ares and Cyrene and king of the Bistones, a Thracian people described as very warlike, and his mares ate human flesh. Heracles sailed with a band of volunteers, overpowered the men who were keeping the mares at their mangers and drove the animals down to the sea (Apollodorus, Library 2.5.8).

The death of Abderus

When the Bistones came armed to the rescue, Heracles handed the mares to Abderus to guard. The mares killed him by dragging him after them. Heracles then fought the Bistones, killed Diomedes, and forced the rest of them to flee (Apollodorus, Library 2.5.8). Diodorus tells the capture differently: Heracles tamed the mares by throwing their master Diomedes to them, and when they had eaten him they were under his control (Diodorus 4.15.3). Where Abderus fell, Heracles founded a city named Abdera beside his grave. The Library ends the labour by saying that Heracles brought the mares to Eurystheus, who let them go; they went to the mountain called Olympus and were killed by wild beasts there.

Abdera

Abdera was a real Greek city on the coast of Thrace, east of the river Nestus. Strabo says that it was named after Abderus, whom the horses of Diomedes devoured, that the myths about Abderus were set there, and that the Bistonian Thracians over whom Diomedes ruled lived in this region (Strabo, Geography 7 fragments 43, 46). In the Library it is the city that Heracles founded beside Abderus’ grave.

Abderus Sources

Apollodorus, Library 2.5.8; Diodorus Siculus 4.15.3; Strabo, Geography 7 fragments 43, 46; Hyginus, Fabulae 30.

See Also: Heracles, Hermes, Mares of Diomedes, Diomedes, Eurystheus, Labours of Heracles