In mythology Echetlus is one of the defenders of Thebes. He is killed when the Seven Against Thebes attacked the city.[1]
Echetlaeus or Echetlus a mysterious being, about whom the following tradition was current at Athens. During the battle of Marathon there appeared among the Athenians a man, who resembled a rustic, and slew many of the barbarians with his plough. After the battle, when he was searched for, he was not to be found anywhere, and when the Athenians consulted the oracle, they were commanded to worship the hero Echetlaeus, that is the hero with the echetlon, or ploughshare. Echetlus was to be seen in the painting in the Stoa Poikile , which represented the battle of Marathon. (Paus. i. 15. $4>32, ยง4.) [L.S.]
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1870).