Enyalios (2)Enyalius

An island in the Euxine (Black Sea) known as the Island of Ares.

On their way to retrieve the Golden Fleece, the Argonauts came upon the island of Enyalios and were attacked by a flock of fierce birds; the birds protected the island by dropping their feathers, which struck like arrows, on the sailors; the Argonauts used a trick similar to the one Herakles (Heracles) used during his Sixth Labor (by using krotalon (castanet-like clappers) to frighten the Stymphalian Birds); the Argonauts put on their plumed helmets and pounded on their shields with their swords; the movement of the plumes and the noise from the clanging shields frightened the war-birds away and the Argo was able to land on the island with only one sailor being wounded by the projectile-like feathers.

• Argonautika, book 3, lines 320-366