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Lichas_bringing_the_garment_of_Nessus_to_Hercules

The shirt of Nessus.

Those surprised by the striking parallels between legends of the Basque Country and India should be still more amazed to hear in them echoes of age-old myths such as the shirt of Nessus, Medea’s poisoned dress or Harmonia’s cursed necklace, all of them fabled objects capable of inflicting a most painful death to those who, unconscious of their fatal effect, have the temerity to wear them. A summary of the story of the centaur Nessus by the great French mythographer Pierre Grimal will provide us with a higher basis for comparison: (more…)