A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

Smith, William

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890

(Ἀλήτης), a son of Hippotes and a descendant of Heracles in the fifth degree. He is said to have taken possession of Corinth, and to have expelled the Sisyphids, thirty years after the first invasion of Pelopennesus by the Heraclids. His family, sometimes called the Aletidae, maintained themselves at Corinth down to the time of Bacchis. (Paus. 2.4.3, 5.18.2; Strab. viii. p.389; Callim. Fragm. 103; Pind. O. 13.17.) Velleius Paterculus (1.3) calls him a descendant of Heracles in the sixth degree. He received an oracle, promising him the sovereignty of Athens, if during the war, which was then going on, its king should remain uninjured. This oracle became known at Athens, and Codrus sacrificed himself for his country. (Conon, Narrat. 26.) [CODRUS.]

Other persons of this name are mentioned in Apollod. 3.10.6; Hyg. Fab. 122, and in Verg. A. 1.121, 9.462.

[L.S]