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In Greek mythology
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, the Stymphalian birds (Stymphalídes órnithes) were man-eating bird
Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s with wings of brass
Brass

Brass is any alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties. In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin....
 and sharp metallic feathers they could launch at their victims, and were pets of Ares
Ares

In Greek mythology, Ares is the son of Zeus and Hera. Though often referred to as the Twelve Olympians God of warfare, he is more accurately the god of bloodlust, or slaughter personified: "Ares is apparently an ancient abstract noun meaning throng of battle, war."...
, the god of war. Furthermore, their dung was highly toxic. They had migrated to Lake Stymphalia
Lake Stymphalia

Lake Stymphalia is located in the north-eastern part of the Peloponnese, in the Corinthia prefecture. It is a Wetlands area, a popular farming area....
 in Arcadia
Arcadia

Arcadia, Arkad?a , or Arcady is a region of Greece in the Peloponnesus. It takes its name from the mythological character Arcas....
 to escape a pack of wolves, and bred quickly and took over the countryside, destroying local crops and fruit trees. Ridding the land of these birds was one of Heracles
Heracles

In Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles meaning "glory of Hera", or "Glorious through Hera" Alcides or Alcaeus " was a hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus....
' Twelve Labors, and some sources claim the Stymphalian birds were the same avians that attacked the Argonauts
Argonauts

In Greek mythology, the Argonauts were a band of heroes who, in the years before the Trojan War, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece....
.

forest around Lake Stymphalia was very dense, making it so dark as to impair vision.






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In Greek mythology
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, the Stymphalian birds (Stymphalídes órnithes) were man-eating bird
Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s with wings of brass
Brass

Brass is any alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties. In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin....
 and sharp metallic feathers they could launch at their victims, and were pets of Ares
Ares

In Greek mythology, Ares is the son of Zeus and Hera. Though often referred to as the Twelve Olympians God of warfare, he is more accurately the god of bloodlust, or slaughter personified: "Ares is apparently an ancient abstract noun meaning throng of battle, war."...
, the god of war. Furthermore, their dung was highly toxic. They had migrated to Lake Stymphalia
Lake Stymphalia

Lake Stymphalia is located in the north-eastern part of the Peloponnese, in the Corinthia prefecture. It is a Wetlands area, a popular farming area....
 in Arcadia
Arcadia

Arcadia, Arkad?a , or Arcady is a region of Greece in the Peloponnesus. It takes its name from the mythological character Arcas....
 to escape a pack of wolves, and bred quickly and took over the countryside, destroying local crops and fruit trees. Ridding the land of these birds was one of Heracles
Heracles

In Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles meaning "glory of Hera", or "Glorious through Hera" Alcides or Alcaeus " was a hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus....
' Twelve Labors, and some sources claim the Stymphalian birds were the same avians that attacked the Argonauts
Argonauts

In Greek mythology, the Argonauts were a band of heroes who, in the years before the Trojan War, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece....
.

The Sixth Labor of Heracles

The forest around Lake Stymphalia was very dense, making it so dark as to impair vision. Athena
Athena

In Greek mythology, Athena is the shrewd companion of Hero and the goddess of Hero endeavour. She is the virgin patron of Athens, which built the Parthenon to worship her....
 and Hephaestus
Hephaestus

Hephaestus was a Greek god whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan . He was the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculpture, metals, metallurgy, Fire and volcanoes....
 aided Heracles by forging for him huge bronze clappers (crotala
Crotalum

In classical antiquity, a crotalum was a kind of clapper or castanet used in religious dances by groups in ancient Greece and elsewhere, including the Korybantes....
), which scared the birds into flight. Hercules shot them down with his arrows, or according to other versions, a catapult
Catapult

A catapult is any one of a number of non-handheld mechanical devices used to throw a projectile a great distance without the aid of an explosive substance?particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines....
. The birds that survived never returned to Greece
Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkans. It has borders with Albania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the north, and Turkey to the east....
.

Origin

When the sun is in the sign of Sagittarius
Sagittarius (constellation)

Sagittarius is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for the archer, and its symbol is , a stylized arrow. Sagittarius is commonly represented as a centaur drawing a bow....
, the constellations Lyra
Lyra

Lyra is a constellation. Its name derived from the lyre, a string instrument well known for its use in classical antiquity and later. Lyra was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 1st century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union today....
, Aquila
Aquila (constellation)

Aquila is a constellation. Its name is Latin for 'eagle' and it is commonly represented as such. It lies roughly at the celestial equator. The alpha star, Altair, is a vertex of the Summer Triangle asterism ....
 the Eagle
Eagle

Eagles are large bird of prey which are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several Genus which are not necessarily closely related to each other....
, and Cygnus
Cygnus (constellation)

Cygnus is a northern constellation. Its name is Latin for swan. One of the most recognizable constellations of the northern summer and autumn, it features a prominent asterism known as the Northern Cross ....
 the Swan
Swan

Swans are birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes goose and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini....
, rise. (Lyra is now considered a lyre
Lyre

The lyre is a string instrument well known for its use in classical antiquity and later. The recitations of the Ancient Greece were accompanied by lyre playing....
, but originally it was a vulture
Vulture

Vultures are scavenger birds, feeding mostly on the carcasses of dead animals. Vultures are found on every continent except Antarctica and Oceania....
; eventually the vulture was imagined as holding a lyre, and eventually it became just a lyre). At this time of year (i.e. during Sagittarius) the evenings darken and the rain season in Greece starts, creating swampland from previously drier areas. Thus the bird constellations gained negative connotations. Sagittarius (the constellation) had various interpretations, especially as an archer but also as a rattle. In the later story, Heracles scared off the Stymphalian Birds (who lived in a swamp) with noise, and firing an arrow at them (the constellation Sagitta
Sagitta

Sagitta is a constellation. Its name is Latin for arrow , and it should not be confused with the larger constellation Sagittarius, the archer. Although ancient, it is insignificant, for it has no star larger than the 4th magnitude and is the third smallest of all constellations ....
, an arrow, is aiming towards Aquila). The noise, archery, and sinister birds associated with the constellations may reflect the origin of the myth.

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