Aristodemus

Aristodemus

Aristodemus

Legendary ancestor of the Spartan kings


In Greek mythology, Aristodemus (Ancient Greek: Ἀριστόδημος) was one of the Heracleidae, son of Aristomachus and brother of Cresphontes and Temenus. He was a great-great-grandson of Heracles and helped lead the fifth and final attack on Mycenae in the Peloponnese.[1]

The Heracleidae attacks on the Peloponessus.

Aristodemus and his brothers complained to the oracle[clarification needed] that its instructions had proved fatal to those who had followed them; the oracle had told Hyllas to attack through the narrow passage when the third fruit was ripe. They received the answer that by the "third fruit" the "third generation" was meant, and that the "narrow passage" was not the isthmus of Corinth, but the straits of Rhium. They accordingly built a fleet at Naupactus, but before they set sail, Aristodemus was struck by lightning (or shot by Apollo) and the fleet destroyed, because one of the Heraclidae had slain an Acarnanian soothsayer.

His brothers were later able to conquer the Peloponnese.

By his wife Argia, daughter of King Autesion of Thebes, he was the father of twin kings Eurysthenes and Procles, the ancestors of the two royal houses of Sparta.[2]


Citations

General and cited sources


Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Aristodemus, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.