In
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 ...
, Elephenor ( ''Elephḗnōr'', ''-oros'') was the king of the
Abantes of
Euboea
Euboea ( ; , ), also known by its modern spelling Evia ( ; , ), is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete, and the sixth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by ...
.
Family
Elephenor was the son of
Chalcodon by either
Imenarete,
Melanippe or
Alcyone.
Apollodorus
Apollodorus ( Greek: Ἀπολλόδωρος ''Apollodoros'') was a popular name in ancient Greece. It is the masculine gender of a noun compounded from Apollo, the deity, and doron, "gift"; that is, "Gift of Apollo." It may refer to:
:''Note: A ...
, E.3.11; Tzetzes, ''Allegories of the Iliad'' Prolegomena 548
Mythology
Elephenor received the sons of
Theseus
Theseus (, ; ) was a divine hero in Greek mythology, famous for slaying the Minotaur. The myths surrounding Theseus, his journeys, exploits, and friends, have provided material for storytelling throughout the ages.
Theseus is sometimes desc ...
of
Athens
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 ...
,
Acamas and
Demophon, when they fled from the usurper
Menestheus. One source states that he unwittingly killed his grandfather
Abas and was expelled from Euboea; because of that, he had to assemble his troops before the Trojan expedition on a rock of the
Euripus Strait opposite Euboea.
Tzetzes
John Tzetzes (; , Constantinople – 1180, Constantinople) was a Byzantine poet and grammarian who lived at Constantinople in the 12th century. He is known for making significant contributions in preserving much valuable information from ancien ...
ad Lycophron
Lycophron ( ; ; born about 330–325 BC) was a Hellenistic Greek tragic poet, grammarian, and commentator on comedy, to whom the poem ''Alexandra'' is attributed (perhaps falsely).
Life and miscellaneous works
He was born at Chalcis in Euboea, a ...
, 1034
Trojan War
Elephenor was a
suitor of Helen and the leader of the Euboean force of thirty or forty ships which joined the Greek expedition to
Troy
Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...
. On the day the truce was broken by
Pandarus, he was killed by
Agenor
Agenor (; ) was in Greek mythology and history a Phoenician monarch, king of Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre or Sidon. The Greeks, Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484–425 BC), born in the city of Halicarnassus under the Achaemenid Empire, estimated that Agen ...
whilst trying to drag off the body of
Echepolus.
[Homer, ''Iliad'' 4.463–470]
The return
On their way home, Elephenor's men were driven off course and shipwrecked off the coast of
Epirus
Epirus () is a Region#Geographical regions, geographical and historical region, historical region in southeastern Europe, now shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea, stretching from the Bay ...
, where they founded the city of
Apollonia. Alternately, Elephenor survived and settled on the island
Othronos, but was soon driven out of the island by a serpent and went to Abantia in Illyria.
Notes
References
*
Apollodorus
Apollodorus ( Greek: Ἀπολλόδωρος ''Apollodoros'') was a popular name in ancient Greece. It is the masculine gender of a noun compounded from Apollo, the deity, and doron, "gift"; that is, "Gift of Apollo." It may refer to:
:''Note: A ...
, ''The Library'' with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
* Gaius Julius Hyginus
Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Augustus, and reputed author of the '' Fabulae'' and the '' De astronomia'', although this is disputed.
Life and works ...
, ''Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus'' translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* Homer
Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...
, ''The Iliad'' with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924.
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
* Homer, ''Homeri Opera'' in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920.
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, ''Lives'' with an English Translation by Bernadotte Perrin. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. 1
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
* 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
* Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
{{Characters in the Iliad
Achaean Leaders
Princes in Greek mythology
Kings in Greek mythology
Mythological Euboeans