View source for Hyllus

{{Short description|Mythical Greek character}}
{{Other uses|Hyllus (mythology)|Hyllus (spider)}}
[[File:Fresco of Hercules and Deianira meeting the centaur Nessos.jpg|thumb|[[Hercules]], holding Hyllus, and [[Deianira]] meet the centaur [[Nessus (mythology)|Nessus]], who will attempt to rape Deianira when he helps her to cross the river]]
In [[Greek mythology]], '''Hyllus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|ɪ|l|ə|s}}; [[Ancient Greek]]: Ὕλλος, ''Hyllos'') or '''Hyllas''' (Ὕλλᾱς, ''Hyllas'') was a son of [[Heracles]] and [[Deianira]]<ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DH%3Aentry+group%3D17%3Aentry%3Dhyllus-bio-2 s.v. Hyllus (2)]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.79.xml fr. 22 Most, pp. 78, 79].</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Hall|first1=Jonathan M.|title=A History of the Archaic Greek world : ca. 1200-479 BCE|date=2014|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|location=Malden, MA [u.a.]|isbn=9781118340462|edition=2.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YR8NAAAAQBAJ&q=%22Aegimius%2C+the+king+of+the+Dorians%2C+adopted+Heracles%27+son+Hyllus+alongside+his+own+sons%2C+Pamphylos+and+Dymas.%22&pg=PT72}}</ref> and the husband of [[Iole]].
== Mythology ==
Heracles, whom [[Zeus]] had originally intended to be ruler of [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]], [[Lacedaemon]] and Messenian [[Pylos]], had been supplanted by the cunning of [[Hera]], and his intended possessions had fallen into the hands of [[Eurystheus]], king of [[Mycenae]]. After the death of Heracles, his children, after many wanderings, found refuge from Eurystheus at [[Athens, Greece|Athens]]. Eurystheus, on his demand for their surrender being refused, attacked Athens, but was defeated and slain.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=308}}
Hyllus and his brothers invaded [[Peloponnesus]], but after a year's stay were forced by a pestilence to quit.
They withdrew to [[Thessaly]], where [[Aegimius]], the mythical ancestor of the [[Dorians]], whom Heracles had assisted in war against the Lapidae, adopted Hyllus and made over to him a third part of his territory. After the death of Aegimius, his two sons, [[Pamphylus (mythology)|Pamphylus]] and [[Dymas]], voluntarily submitted to Hyllus (who was, according to the Dorian tradition in [[Herodotus]] V. 72, really an Achaean), who thus became ruler of the Dorians, the three branches of that race being named after these three heroes. Being desirous of reconquering his paternal inheritance, Hyllus consulted the [[oracle|Delphic oracle]], which told him to wait for "the third fruit," and then enter Peloponnesus by "a narrow passage by sea."{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=308}}
Accordingly, after three years, Hyllus marched across the isthmus of [[Corinth, Greece|Corinth]] to attack [[Atreus]], the successor of Eurystheus, but was slain in single combat by [[Echemus]], king of [[Tegea]]. This second attempt was followed by a third under his son [[Cleodaeus]] and a fourth under his grandson [[Aristomachus (Heracleidae)|Aristomachus]], both of which were equally unsuccessful.  At last, [[Temenus]], [[Cresphontes]] and [[Aristodemus]], the sons of Aristomachus, complained to the oracle that its instructions had proved fatal to those who had followed them.  They received the answer that by the "third fruit" the "third generation" was meant, and that  the "narrow passage" was not the isthmus of Corinth, but the straits of Rhium.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=309}}
They accordingly built a fleet at [[Naupactus]], but before they set sail, Aristodemus was struck by lightning (or shot by [[Apollo]]) and the fleet destroyed, because one of the [[Heracleidae]] had slain an Acarnanian soothsayer.  The oracle, being again consulted by Temenus, bade him offer an expiatory sacrifice and banish the murderer for ten years, and look out for a man with three eyes to act as guide.  On his way back to Naupactus, Temenus fell in with [[Oxylus]], an Aetolian, who had lost one eye, riding on a horse (thus making up the three eyes) and immediately pressed him into his service.  According to another account, a mule on which Oxylus rode had lost an eye.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=309}}
The Heracleidae repaired their ships, sailed from Naupactus to [[Antirrhium]], and thence to Rhium in Peloponnesus.  A decisive battle was fought with [[Tisamenus (son of Orestes)|Tisamenus]], son of [[Orestes (mythology)|Orestes]], the chief ruler in the peninsula, who was defeated and slain.  The Heracleidae, who thus became practically masters of Peloponnesus, proceeded to distribute its territory among themselves by lot. Argos fell to Temenus, [[Lacedaemon]] to [[Procles]] and [[Eurysthenes]], the twin sons of Aristodemus; and [[Messene]] to Cresphontes.  The fertile district of [[Ancient Elis|Elis]] had been reserved by agreement for Oxylus.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=309}}
The Heracleidae ruled in Lacedaemon until 221 BC, but disappeared much earlier in the other countries.  This conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians, commonly called the "Return of the Heracleidae," is represented as the recovery by the descendants of Heracles of the rightful inheritance of their hero ancestor and his sons.  The Dorians followed the custom of other Greek tribes in claiming as ancestor for their ruling families one of the legendary heroes, but the traditions must not on that account be regarded as entirely mythical.  They represent a joint invasion of Peloponnesus by Aetolians and Dorians, the latter having been driven southward from their original northern home under pressure from the Thessalians.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=309}}
It is noticeable that there is no mention of these Heracleidae or their invasion in Homer or Hesiod. Herodotus (vi. 52) speaks of poets who had celebrated their deeds, but these were limited to events immediately succeeding the death of Heracles.  The story was first amplified by the Greek tragedians, who probably drew their inspiration from local legends, which glorified the services rendered by Athens to the rulers of Peloponnesus.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=309}}
After [[Heracles]] was poisoned by [[Deianira]], Heracles charged Hyllus to marry Iole when he came of age.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.7.7 2.7.7].</ref> Hyllus and [[Iole]] had a son [[Cleodaeus]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0126:book=6:chapter=52&highlight=cleodaeus|title=The Histories, Book 6, chapter 52|author=Herodotus|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|access-date=2018-08-31}}</ref> and three daughters, [[Evaechme]], [[Aristaechme]], and [[Hyllis]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://press.princeton.edu/books/lyons/appendix.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720034913/http://press.princeton.edu/books/lyons/appendix.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2011-07-20|title=Deborah Lyons: GENDER AND IMMORTALITY -- APPENDIX: A Catalogue of Heroines|date=2011-07-20|access-date=2018-08-31}}</ref>
== Notes ==
{{reflist}}
== References ==
* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes'', Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann Ltd., 1921. {{ISBN|0-674-99135-4}}. [http://data.perseus.org/texts/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Hesiod]], ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'', in ''Hesiod: The Shield, Catalogue of Women, Other Fragments'', edited and translated by [[Glenn W. Most]], [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 503, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 2007, 2018. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99721-9}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL503/2018/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]], ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'', London (1873). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.04.0104 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Heraclidae|volume=13|pages=308–309}}
[[Category:Heracleidae]]
[[Category:Children of Heracles]]