View source for Lichas

{{Short description|Mythical character, servant of Heracles}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{distinguish|text=[[Lichas (Spartan)|Lichas the Spartan]], who discovered the bones of Orestes, or a [[Lichas (trilobite)|genus of trilobite]]}}

[[File:SorokinPS Gerkules&Lihas.jpg|thumb|Hercules and Lichas (Pavel Sorokin, 1849).]]
In [[Greek mythology]], '''Lichas''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|aɪ|k|ə|s}} {{respell|LY|kəs}}; {{langx|grc|Λίχας}}) was [[Heracles]]' servant, who brought the [[The Shirt of Nessus|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 [[Lichades|Lichadian]] islands, between [[Euboea]] and the coast of [[Locris]], were believed to have derived their name from him.<ref>[[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]''</ref> The story is recounted in [[Sophocles]]' ''[[Women of Trachis]]''<ref>[[Sophocles]]. ''[[Women of Trachis|Trachiniae]], [http://topostext.org/work.php?work_id=28 Lichas]''</ref> and [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses]]''.<ref>[[Ovid]]. ''[[Metamorphoses]], Book 9.155 & 211'' compare with [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]]. ''Fabulae'', 36</ref>

=== Ovid's account ===

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

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

==Gallery==
<gallery widths="200" heights="200" perrow="4" mode="nolines">
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]] 
</gallery>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Metamorphoses in Greco-Roman mythology}}

[[Category:Mythology of Heracles]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses into terrain in Greek mythology]]