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And he had sons by Andromeda: before he came to Greece he had Perses, whom he left behind with Cepheus ( and from him it is said that the kings of Persia are descended); and in Mycenae he had Alcaeus and Sthenelus and Heleus and Mestor and Electryon,[*](As to the sons of Perseus and Andromeda, compare Scholiast on Hom. Il. xix.116; Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.747. The former agrees with Apollodorus as to the five sons born to Perseus in Mycenae, except that he calls one of them Aelius instead of Heleus; the latter mentions only four sons, Alcaeus, Sthenelus, Mestor, and Electryon.) and a daughter Gorgophone, whom Perieres married.[*](See below, Apollod. 3.10.3.)

Alcaeus had a son Amphitryon and a daughter Anaxo by Astydamia, daughter of Pelops; but some say he had them by Laonome, daughter of Guneus, others that he had them by Hipponome, daughter of Menoeceus; and Mestor had Hippothoe by Lysidice, daughter of Pelops. This Hippothoe was carried off by Poseidon, who brought her to the Echinadian Islands, and there had intercourse with her, and begat Taphius, who colonized Taphos and called the people Teleboans, because he had gone far[*](The name Teleboans is derived by the writer from “telou ebē” (τηλοῦ ἔβη), “he went far.” The same false etymology is accepted by Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 932;. Strabo says (Strab. 10.2.20) that the Taphians were formerly called Teleboans.) from his native land. And Taphius had a son Pterelaus, whom Poseidon made immortal by implanting a golden hair in his head.[*](See below, Apollod. 2.4.7.) And to Pterelaus were born sons, to wit, Chromius, Tyrannus, Antiochus, Chersidamas, Mestor, and Eueres. Electryon married Anaxo, daughter of Alcaeus,[*](Thus Electryon married his niece, the daughter of his brother Alcaeus (see above, Apollod. 2.4.5). Similarly Butes is said to have married the daughter of his brother Erechtheus (Apollod. 3.15.1), and Phineus is reported to have been betrothed to the daughter of his brother Cepheus (Apollod. 2.4.3). Taken together, these traditions perhaps point to a custom of marriage with a niece, the daughter of a brother.) and begat a daughter Alcmena,[*](According to another account, the mother of Alcmena was a daughter of Pelops (Eur. Herc. 210ff.), her name being variously given as Lysidice (Scholiast on Pind. O. 7.27(49);; Plut. Thes. 6) and Eurydice (Diod. 4.9.1).) and sons, to wit, Stratobates, Gorgophonus, Phylonomus, Celaeneus, Amphimachus, Lysinomus, Chirimachus, Anactor, and Archelaus; and after these he had also a bastard son, Licymnius, by a Phrygian woman Midea.[*](Compare Scholiast on Pind. O. 7.27(49).) Sthenelus had daughters, Alcyone and Medusa, by Nicippe,[*](According to other accounts, her name was Antibia (Scholiast on Hom. Il. xix.119) or Archippe (Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.172, 192).) daughter of Pelops; and he had afterwards a son Eurystheus, who reigned also over Mycenae. For when Hercules was about to be born, Zeus declared among the gods that the descendant of Perseus then about to be born would reign over Mycenae, and Hera out of jealousy persuaded the Ilithyias to retard Alcmena's delivery,[*](Compare Hom. Il. 19.95-133, where (v. 119) the Ilithyias, the goddesses of childbirth, are also spoken of in the plural. According to Ov. Met. 9.292ff., the goddess of childbirth (Lucina, the Roman equivalent of Ilithyia) delayed the birth of Herakles by sitting at the door of the room with crossed legs and clasped hands until, deceived by a false report that Alcmena had been delivered, she relaxed her posture and so allowed the birth to take place. Compare Paus. 9.11.3; Ant. Lib. 29, according to whom it was the Fates and Ilithyia who thus retarded the birth of Herakles. Among the Efiks and Ibibios, of Southern Nigeria, “the ancient custom still obtains that locks should be undone and knots untied in the house of a woman who is about to bear a babe, since all such are thought, by sympathetic magic, to retard delivery. A case was related of a jealous wife, who, on the advice of a witch doctor versed in the mysteries of her sex, hid a selection of padlocks beneath her garments, then went and sat down near the sick woman's door and surreptitiously turned the key in each. She had previously stolen an old waist-cloth from her rival, which she knotted so tightly over and over that it formed a ball, and, as an added precaution, she locked her fingers closely together and sat with crossed legs, exactly as did Juno Lucina of old when determined to prevent the birth of the infant Herakles” (D. Amaury Talbot, Woman's Mysteries of a Primitive People, the Ibibios of Southern Nigeria (London, etc. 1915), p. 22). See further Taboo and the Perils of the Soul, pp. 294ff. ) and contrived that Eurystheus, son of Sthenelus, should be born a seven-month child.[*](Compare Scholiast on Hom. Il. xix.119; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.172ff., 192ff. )

When Electryon reigned over Mycenae, the sons of Pterelaus came with some Taphians and claimed the kingdom of Mestor, their maternal grandfather,[*](Taphius, the father of Pterelaus, was a son of Hippothoe, who was a daughter of Mestor. See above, Apollod. 2.4.5. Thus Mestor was not the maternal grandfather, but the great-grandfather of the sons of Pterelaus. Who the maternal grandfather of the sons of Pterelaus was we do not know, since the name of their mother is not recorded. The words “their maternal grandfather” are probably a gloss which has crept into the text. See the Critical Note. Apart from the difficulty created by these words, it is hard to suppose that Electryon was still reigning over Mycenae at the time of this expedition of the sons of Pterelaus, since, being a son of Perseus, he was a brother of their great-grandfather Mestor.) and as Electryon paid no heed to the claim,

they drove away his kine; and when the sons of Electryon stood on their defence, they challenged and slew each other.[*](Compare Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.747-751, with the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.747; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 932, whose account seems based on that of Apollodorus.) But of the sons of Electryon there survived Licymnius, who was still young; and of the sons of Pterelaus there survived Everes, who guarded the ships. Those of the Taphians who escaped sailed away, taking with them the cattle they had lifted, and entrusted them to Polyxenus, king of the Eleans; but Amphitryon ransomed them from Polyxenus and brought them to Mycenae. Wishing to avenge his sons' death, Electryon purposed to make war on the Teleboans, but first he committed the kingdom to Amphitryon along with his daughter Alcmena, binding him by oath to keep her a virgin until his return.[*](Compare Hes. Sh. 14ff., where it is said that Amphitryon might not go in to his wife Alcmena until he had avenged the death of her brothers, the sons of Electryon, who had been slain in the fight with the Taphians. The tradition points to a custom which enjoined an avenger of blood to observe strict chastity until he had taken the life of his enemy.) However, as he was receiving the cows back, one of them charged, and Amphitryon threw at her the club which he had in his hands. But the club rebounded from the cow's horns and striking Electryon's head killed him.[*](A similar account of the death of Electryon is given by Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 932, who seems to follow Apollodorus. According to this version of the legend, the slaying of Electryon by Amphitryon was purely accidental. But according to Hes. Sh. 11ff.; Hes. Sh. 79ff., the two men quarrelled over the cattle, and Amphitryon killed Electryon in hot blood. Compare the Scholiast on Hom. Il. xiv.323.) Hence Sthenelus laid hold of this pretext to banish Amphitryon from the whole of Argos, while he himself seized the throne of Mycenae and Tiryns; and he entrusted Midea to Atreus and Thyestes, the sons of Pelops, whom he had sent for. 0 Amphitryon went with Alcmena and Licymnius to Thebes and was purified by Creon[*](That is, for the killing of Electryon. Compare Hes. Sh. 79ff.; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 932; Eur. Herc. 16ff. ) and gave his sister Perimede to Licymnius. And as Alcmena said she would marry him when he had avenged her brothers' death, Amphitryon engaged to do so, and undertook an expedition against the Teleboans, and invited Creon to assist him. Creon said he would join in the expedition if Amphitryon would first rid the Cadmea of the vixen; for a brute of a vixen was ravaging the Cadmea.[*](The animal had its lair at Teumessus, and hence was known as the Teumessian fox. See Paus. 9.19.1; Ant. Lib. 41; Apostolius, Cent. xvi.42; Suidas, s.v. Τευμησία ; Tzetzes, Chiliades i.553ff. (who refers to Apollodorus as his authority); Ov. Met. 7.762ff. By an easy application of the rationalistic instrument, which cuts so many mythological knots, the late Greek writer Palaephatus (De Incredib. 8) converted the ferocious animal into a gentleman (καλὸς κἀγαθὸς) named Fox, of a truculent disposition and predatory habits, who proved a thorn in the flesh to the Thebans, until Cephalus rid them of the nuisance by knocking him on the head.) But though Amphitryon undertook the task, it was fated that nobody should catch her.

As the country suffered thereby, the Thebans every month exposed a son of one of the citizens to the brute, which would have carried off many if that were not done. So Amphitryon

betook him to Cephalus, son of Deioneus, at Athens, and persuaded him, in return for a share of the Teleboan spoils, to bring to the chase the dog which Procris had brought from Crete as a gift from Minos[*](As to Procris, see below, Apollod. 3.15.1.); for that dog was destined to catch whatever it pursued. So then, when the vixen was chased by the dog, Zeus turned both of them into stone. Supported by his allies, to wit, Cephalus from Thoricus in Attica, Panopeus from Phocis, Heleus, son of Perseus, from Helos in Argolis, and Creon from Thebes, Amphitryon ravaged the islands of the Taphians. Now, so long as Pterelaus lived, he could not take Taphos; but when Comaetho, daughter of Pterelaus, falling in love with Amphitryon, pulled out the golden hair from her father's head, Pterelaus died,[*](Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 932. For the similar story of Nisus and his daughter Megara, see below, Apollod. 3.15.8.) and Amphitryon subjugated all the islands. He slew Comaetho, and sailed with the booty to Thebes,[*](In the sanctuary of Ismenian Apollo at Thebes, the historian Herodotus saw a tripod bearing an inscription in “Cadmean letters,” which set forth that the vessel had been dedicated by Amphitryon from the spoils of the Teleboans. See Hdt. 5.59. Among the booty was a famous goblet which Poseidon had given to his son Teleboes, and which Teleboes had given to Pterelaus. See Athenaeus xi.99, p. 498 C; Plaut. Amph. 256ff. For the expedition of Amphitryon against the Teleboans or Taphians, see also Strab. 10.2.20; Paus. 1.37.6; Plaut. Amph. 183-256.) and gave the islands to Heleus and Cephalus; and they founded cities named after themselves and dwelt in them.

But before Amphitryon reached Thebes, Zeus came by night and prolonging the one night threefold he assumed the likeness of Amphitryon and bedded

with Alcmena[*](For the deception of Alcmena by Zeus and the birth of Herakles and Iphicles, see Hes. Sh. 27-56; Diod. 4.9; Scholiast on Hom. Il. xiv.323, and Scholiast on Hom. Od. xi.266; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 33; Hyginus, Fab. 29. The story was the subject of plays by Sophocles and Euripides which have perished (TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 156, 386ff. The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C Pearson, i.76ff.); and it is the theme of a well-known comedy of Plautus the Amphitryo, which is extant. In that play (Plaut. Amph. 112ff.), Plautus mentions the lengthening of the night in which Jupiter (Zeus) begat Herakles. The Scholiast on Hom. Il. xiv.323 says that Zeus persuaded the Sun not to rise for three days; and the threefold night is mentioned also by Diod. 4.9.2. The whole story was told by Pherecydes, as we learn from the Scholiasts on Hom. Il. xiv.323; Od. xi.266; and it is likely that Apollodorus here follows him, for he refers to Pherecydes a few lines below.) and related what had happened concerning the Teleboans. But when Amphitryon arrived and saw that he was not welcomed by his wife, he inquired the cause; and when she told him that he had come the night before and slept with her, he learned from Tiresias how Zeus had enjoyed her. And Alcmena bore two sons, to wit, Hercules, whom she had by Zeus and who was the elder by one night, and Iphicles, whom she had by Amphitryon. When the child was eight months old, Hera desired the destruction of the babe and sent two huge serpents to the bed. Alcmena called Amphitryon to her help, but Hercules arose and killed the serpents by strangling them with both his hands.[*](As to the infant Herakles and the serpents, compare Pind. N. 1.33(50)ff.; Theocritus xxiv; Diod. 4.10.1; Paus. 1.24.2; Plaut. Amph. 1123ff.; Verg. A. 8.288ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 30. According to Theocritus xxiv.1, Herakles was ten months old when he strangled the serpents.) However, Pherecydes says that it was Amphitryon who put the serpents in the bed, because he would know which of the two children was his, and that when Iphicles fled, and Hercules stood his ground, he knew that Iphicles was begotten of his body.