Stymphalian Birds
The Bronze-Feathered Flock of Death
⚡ Quick Facts
The Plague of Lake Stymphalia
The Stymphalian Birds were a vast flock of man-eating birds that infested the marshes around Lake Stymphalia in the region of Arcadia. Sacred to Ares, these were no ordinary birds — their beaks were made of bronze, capable of piercing armor. Their feathers were metallic and could be launched like arrows at their prey. Their droppings were toxic, poisoning the land and water below.
The birds had originally fled to the lake to escape a pack of wolves, but they multiplied so rapidly that they became a plague upon the entire region, destroying crops, killing livestock, and attacking anyone who ventured near the marshes.
The Sixth Labour
As his sixth labour, Heracles was sent to drive out or destroy the birds. The challenge was that the marsh was too boggy to walk across, and the flock was too vast to fight directly. Athena provided the solution: a special rattle (krotala) forged by Hephaestus.
Heracles climbed a nearby mountain and shook the divine rattle. The tremendous noise startled the entire flock into the air simultaneously. As they rose in a panicked cloud, Heracles shot them down with his arrows, while the survivors fled across the sea to the Black Sea island of Aretias, where the Argonauts later encountered them.