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Nessus, a MythSource painting
Greek

Nessus

The Centaur · The Ferryman · The Dying Centaur

01Identity

Nessus in Greek tradition

Nessus carried travellers across the Evenus River for hire before Heracles killed him with a poisoned arrow. He is a centaur and ferryman, described as a kind of upper-world Charon rather than a guide of the dead. While dying, Nessus gave Deianeira his poisoned blood as a supposed love charm, leading to the tunic that killed Heracles.

Top questions

The quick answers

02Family

Nessus’s family, at a glance

IxionNephele
Nessus
03The names

The names Nessus answers to

Nessos

Greek form of the name Nessus

SourceClassical Mythology a to Z

Nessus

Latin form of the name Nessos

SourceWar in Greek Mythology

The Centaur

Nessus's mythic species

SourceGreek Myths & Tales

The Ferryman

His role ferrying travelers across the Evenus River

SourceGreek Myths & Tales

04The myths

The myths of Nessus

2 myths, with sources recorded for each.

Nessus’s Deadly Blood

Nessus tried to carry Deianira away while crossing the river Evenus. Heracles heard her cries from the other bank and shot the centaur with an arrow coated in Hydra poison. Nessus fell wounded, with the arrow passing through his body. As blood flowed from his wounds, he gathered it and planned revenge. He told Deianira to keep the blood and use it as a love charm if she feared losing her husband’s affection. He claimed that a garment smeared with it would prevent a rival from taking her place. Deianira believed him.

Heracles and Deianira continued their journey. Later, Heracles became involved with Iole, the beautiful daughter of Eurytus, king of Oechalia. Eurytus had refused to give Iole to Heracles after Heracles had won her, so Heracles gathered an army and attacked Oechalia. He killed Eurytus and his sons, captured the city, and took Iole captive.

On his return, Heracles stopped at Cenaion in Euboea to sacrifice to Zeus. He sent a herald to Trachis for fine clothing, including a robe for the ceremony. Deianira learned that Iole was travelling with Heracles and feared that her husband’s affection would pass to the younger woman. She remembered Nessus’s advice and decided to test the charm. She rubbed the centaur’s blood into the garment and sent it to Heracles.

Heracles put on the garment and began the sacrifice. When the tunic grew warm, the poison from the Hydra began to act. The blood that Nessus had presented as a love charm carried the venom from the arrow, and the garment poisoned Heracles. Deianira’s attempt to keep her husband’s love therefore brought about his death.

Nessus’s Deadly Blood, a MythSource painting of the scene

3 sources· checked 2026-08-18

  1. 1Greek Myths & TalesT1
  2. 2War in Greek MythologyT1
  3. 3Apollodorus, The LibraryT1

    Quote

    “Nessus, dying from Heracles’ arrow, told Deianira to preserve the blood from his wound as a means of keeping her husband’s love, though its Hydra poison later killed Heracles when he wore the treated garment.”

    Apollodorus, The Library

Nessus Carries Off Deianira

Heracles and Deianira reached the River Evenus while travelling in exile. Heracles had killed Eunomus, son of Architeles, unintentionally while feasting with Oineus. Although Eunomus’s father forgave him, Heracles chose to leave in accordance with the law and took Deianira with him. At the river, the Centaur Nessus carried travellers across for a fee. Heracles held his little son and crossed the stream on foot, while Nessus took Deianira.

Nessus was attracted by Deianira’s beauty. After reaching the far bank, he tried to carry her off. Another account says that he tried to rape her. Deianira cried out, and Heracles heard her from the opposite bank. He shot Nessus through the heart with an arrow poisoned by the Hydra’s venom. Nessus pulled the arrow from his body, but the weapon had pierced him through, and the poison entered his blood.

As he lay dying, Nessus planned revenge. He called Deianira to him and told her to collect blood from his wounds. He claimed that it would preserve Heracles’ love if she later feared losing his affection to another woman. In the account associated with Ovid, Nessus gave her a shirt soaked in his poisoned blood and called it a charm to kindle love. Deianira believed him.

Later, Deianira heard about Iole, the daughter of Eurytus of Oechalia, whom Heracles had taken captive after killing Eurytus and his sons. Fearing that Heracles loved Iole more than her, Deianira rubbed Nessus’s blood into a tunic and sent it to Heracles. He put it on before making a sacrifice. When the tunic grew warm, the Hydra’s poison began to act.

Nessus Carries Off Deianira, a MythSource painting of the scene

3 sources· checked 2026-08-18

  1. 1Greek Myths & TalesT1
  2. 2Apollodorus, The LibraryT1

    Quote

    “Nessus carried Deianira for Heracles across the Evenus, attempted to carry her off, and, after Heracles killed him with a Hydra-poisoned arrow, gave her blood from his wound as a supposed means of preserving Heracles’ love.”

    Apollodorus, The Library

  3. 3War in Greek MythologyT1

Also mentioned in

Stories elsewhere on MythSource that mention Nessus, each on that figure’s page.