Alcaeus (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Alcaeus or Alkaios (Ancient Greek: Ἀλκαῖος) was the name of a number of different people:[1]
- Alcaeus, a son of Perseus and Andromeda, and married to Astydameia, the daughter of Pelops and Hippodamia, by whom he became the father of Amphitryon, Anaxo and Perimede.[2][3]
- Alcaeus, the original name of Heracles (according to Diodorus Siculus), which was given to him on account of his descent from Alcaeus, the son of Perseus mentioned above.[4]
- Alcaeus, a son of Heracles by a female slave of Jardanus, from whom the dynasty of the Heraclids in Lydia were believed to be descended.[5] Diodorus Siculus writes that this son of Heracles is named "Cleolaus".[6][7][8]
- Alcaeus, a general of Rhadamanthus, according to Diodorus Siculus, who presented him with the island of Paros.[9] Apollodorus relates that he was a son of Androgeus (the son of Minos and Pasiphaë) and brother of Sthenelus, and that when Heracles, on his expedition to fetch the girdle of Ares, which was in the possession of the queen of the Amazons, arrived at Paros, some of his companions were slain by the sons of Minos.[10] Heracles, in his anger, slew all the descendants of Minos except Alcaeus and Sthenelus, whom he took with him, and to whom he afterwards gave the island of Thasus as their home.
References
- ^ Schmitz, Leonhard (1867). "Alcaeus". In William Smith. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 1. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. pp. 94–95. http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0103.html.
- ^ Apollodorus, 2. 4. § 5-6
- ^ Scholiast, on Euripides' Hecuba 86
- ^ Diodorus Siculus, i. 14
- ^ Herodotus, i. 7
- ^ Diodorus Siculus, iv. 31
- ^ Comp. Hellanicus, ap. Steph. Byz. s. v. Ἀκέλη
- ^ ; Wesseling, ad Diod. l. c.
- ^ Diodorus Siculus, v. 79
- ^ Apollodorus, ii. 5. § 9
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1870).