The third task or hind or doe of Ceryneian, the horned one, earth cults and the need to include not assimilate them as equals in the Greek pantheon.

The third task or hind or doe of Ceryneian, the horned one, earth cults and the need to include not assimilate them as equals in the Greek pantheon.
by valpetridis @ 2008-06-07 - 20:02:53
The third task or hind or doe of Ceryneian, the horned one, earth cults and the need to include not assimilate them as equals in the Greek pantheon.
The third task was the capturing of the hind of Ceryneian. A hind is a type of deer, or doe to be exact, and ruminant eater. Hercules is said to have chased this hind through out Greece for a year, including the areas of Thrace, Istria and the land of the Hyperboreans. The hind was said to be to fast to be taken down by an arrow. The hind was Artemis' sacred animal. Artemis was the goddess of the hunt. The word Artimes means sacred gift. The arta of heaven are the gifts of heaven, To the ancients having the animals to be hunted were gifts from heaven, So the hind represents a sacred gift from the goddess of sacred gifts. Its antlers were golden and its hoofs made of bronze or brass.
It is said Hercules finally caught the hind after it ran out of energy and needed to drink water, in later renditions it is said he used a non poisonous arrow to capture it but the original tales say it ran out of steam and was captured. The hind is the horned one, the sacred symbol of earth cults like the wicca, Hercules chased the cults of the horned one through greece and outlaying areas. They were too many and scattered to be taken down by any arrow. In fact the hind represented an idea that could not be shot by an arrow, but had to be chased down and captured. In other words hercules collected the ideas of these cults but upon returning king Eurystheus the hind fled the second Hercules handed him over and it is said hercules said, you were not quick enough to capture the hind. In other words the ideas of these ancient ideas and horned one were too quick for the king to over power or assimilate, rather Hercules understood them and they were free to continue being their own religions , while being unified with the herculean idea of divinity and not simply made a part of the older cults of greece. In other words hercules assimilated the earth cults into a new idea of divinity and as well as the religion of the greeks represented by Eurystheus, though the old religion could not capture the essence of these cults without hercules ideas of divinity, the old religion could not assimilate the ideas as it was not smart or quick enough, though using hercules ideas the and his new ideas of divinity the greek and earth cults of the horned ones and the cults of Artemis were made equal parts of a greater idea of the divine, not as much assimilated but unified as equal parts of the greater religion of Zeus and God. The cults of the horned one and Artemis were beyond the realms of the greek olympic God head till made equal parts of the overall olympic godheads religion.