Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, Echemus (; , ''Ekhemos'') was the Tegean king of Arcadia who succeeded Lycurgus.

Family

Echemus was the son of Aeropus, son of King Cepheus. Pausanias
8.5.1
/ref> He was married to Timandra, daughter of Leda and Tyndareus of

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

. Hesiod, ''Ehoiai'' fr. 23a. Timandra bore him a son, Ladocus, before deserting Echemus for Phyleus, the king of Dulichium. This lineage made Echemus a part of the Greek mythical family Atreidai, which stood in direct opposition to the Heracleidae, and emphasised the "pre-dorian" ancestry of the Tegeans and Arcadians. An alternative genealogy makes Echemus a son of Aeropus, son of the war god

Ares Ares (; , ''Árēs'' ) is the List of Greek deities, Greek god of war god, war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for ...

rather than Cepheus, this was a genealogy presented to Pausanias in Tegea, which he includes in his description of the temple of Ares Aphenius between the cities of Tegea and Pallantium.

Mythology

After the death of Eurystheus, Hyllus led the

Heracleidae The Heracleidae (; ) or Heraclids were the numerous descendants of Heracles, especially applied in a narrower sense to the descendants of Hyllus, the eldest of his four sons by Deianira (Hyllus was also sometimes thought of as Heracles' son ...

to attack

Mycenae Mycenae ( ; ; or , ''Mykē̂nai'' or ''Mykḗnē'') is an archaeological site near Mykines, Greece, Mykines in Argolis, north-eastern Peloponnese, Greece. It is located about south-west of Athens; north of Argos, Peloponnese, Argos; and sou ...

. Echemus offered himself as the champion of the defending Arcadian forces and killed Hyllus in single combat, thus forcing the Heracleidae to withdraw. This story is mentioned by the Tegeans as an example of their people's bravery in book 9 of '' The Histories'' by

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

; who puts in connection with a debate between the Tegeans and

Athenians Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

about who should cover the left part of the Hellenic army at the Battle of Plataea, the last major battle of the Persian Wars. Pausanias further lists this among the most important achievements of the Tegeans. Echemus defeat of Hyllus allegedly stopped the arrival of the

Dorians The Dorians (; , , singular , ) were one of the four major ethnic groups into which the Greeks, Hellenes (or Greeks) of Classical Greece divided themselves (along with the Aeolians, Achaeans (tribe), Achaeans, and Ionians). They are almost alw ...

in the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

, and the events were considered to have taken place when the Peloponnese was unified under rule of Tisamenus. When visiting Tegea, Pausanias was shown the tomb of Echemus and a relief depicting his victory over Hyllus. A late Classical relief, now in the Archaeological Museum of Tegea, shows an inscription with the name Echemus. Echemus was the victor in wrestling during the first Olympic games established by Heracles.

Pindar Pindar (; ; ; ) was an Greek lyric, Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes, Greece, Thebes. Of the Western canon, canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar i ...

, ''Olympian Odes'' 10.65 ff.

References

{{reflist

Literature

* Hesiod, ''Catalogue of Women'' from ''Homeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homerica'' translated by Evelyn-White, H G. Loeb Classical Library Volume 57. London: William Heinemann, 1914. *Karapanagiotou, A. (2017) ''Archaeological Museum of Tegea: Guide,'' Athens: Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports/Ephorate of Antiquities of Arcadia. * Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
*Pindar, ''The Odes of Pindar'' including the Principal Fragments with an Introduction and an English Translation by Sir John Sandys, Litt.D., FBA. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1937
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
*Pretzler, Maria (1999) "Myth and History at Tegea - Local Traditio and Community Identity". In T.H Nielsen and J. Roy eds. ''Defining Ancient Arkadia,'' Munksgaard: Copenhagen, 89–120. Mythological kings of Arcadia Mythological Arcadians Ancient Tegeans Tegea