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HERACLIDAE

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 309 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HERACLIDAE , the See also:

general name for the numerous descend-ants of Heracles (See also:Hercules), and specially applied in a narrower sense to the descendants of Hyllus, the eldest of his four sons by Delaneirathe, conquerors of See also:Peloponnesus. Heracles, whom See also:Zeus had originally intended to be ruler of See also:Argos, See also:Lacedaemon and Messenian See also:Pylos, had been supplanted by the cunning of See also:Hera, and his intended possessions had fallen into the hands of Eurystheus, See also:king of See also:Mycenae. After the See also:death of Heracles, his See also:children, after many wanderings, found See also:refuge from Eurystheus at See also:Athens. Eurystheus, on his demand for their surrender being refused, attacked Athens, but was defeated and slain. Hyllus and his See also:brothers then invaded Peloponnesus, but after a See also:year's stay were forced by a pestilence to quit. They with-See also:drew to See also:Thessaly, where Aegimius, the mythical ancestor of the See also:Dorians, whom Heracles had assisted in See also:war against the See also:Lapithae, adopted Hyllus and made over to him a third See also:part of his territory. After the death of Aegimius, his two sons, See also:Pamphilus and Dymas, voluntarily submitted to Hyllus (who was, according to the Dorian tradition in See also:Herodotus v. 72, really an Achaean), who thus became ruler of the Dorians, the three branches of that See also:race being named after these three heroes. Being desirous of reconquering his paternal See also:inheritance, Hyllus consulted the Delphic See also:oracle, which told him to wait for " the third See also:fruit," and then enter Peloponnesus by " a narrow passage by See also:sea." Accordingly, after three years, Hyllus marched across the See also:isthmus of See also:Corinth to attack See also:Atreus, the successor of Eurystheus, but was slain in single combat by Echemus, king of See also:Tegea. This second See also:attempt was followed by a third under Cleodaeus and a See also:fourth under Aristomachus, both of which were equally unsuccessful. At last, Temenus, Cresphontes and See also:Aristodemus, the sons of Aristomachus, complained to the oracle that its instructions had proved fatal to those who had followed them. They received the See also:answer that by the " third fruit " the " third See also:generation " was meant, and that the " narrow passage " was not the isthmus of Corinth, but the straits of Rhium.

They accordingly built a See also:

fleet at See also:Naupactus, but before they set See also:sail, Aristodemus was struck by See also:lightning (or shot by See also:Apollo) and the fleet destroyed, because one of the Heraclidae had slain an Acarnanian soothsayer. The oracle, being again consulted by Temenus, bade him offer an expiatory See also:sacrifice and banish the murderer for ten years, and look out for a See also:man with three eyes to See also:act as See also:guide. On his way back to Naupactus, Temenus See also:fell in with Oxylus, an Aetolian, who had lost one See also:eye, See also:riding on a See also:horse (thus making up the three eyes) and immediately pressed him into his service. According to another See also:account, a See also:mule on which Oxylus rode had lost an eye. The Heraclidae repaired their See also:ships, sailed from Naupactus to Antirrhium, and thence to Rhium in Peloponnesus. A decisive See also:battle was fought with Tisamenus, son of See also:Orestes, the See also:chief ruler in the See also:peninsula, who was defeated and slain. The Heraclidae, who thus became practically masters of Peloponnesus, proceeded to distribute its territory among themselves by See also:lot. Argos fell to Temenus, Lacedaemon to Procles and Eurysthenes, the twin sons of Aristodemus; and See also:Messene to Cresphontes. The fertile See also:district of See also:Elis had been reserved by agreement for Oxylus. The Heraclidae ruled in Lacedaemon till 221 B.C., but disappeared much earlier in the other countries. This See also:conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians, commonly called the " Return of the Heraclidae," is represented as the recovery by the descendants of Heracles of the rightful inheritance of their See also:hero ancestor and his sons. The Dorians followed the See also:custom of other See also: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 See also:

joint invasion of Peloponnesus by Aetolians and Dorians, the latter having been driven southward from their See also:original See also:northern See also:home under pressure from the Thessalians. It is noticeable that there is no mention of these Heraclidae or their invasion in See also:Homer or See also: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 See also:story was first amplified by the Greek tragedians, who probably drew their See also:inspiration from See also:local legends, which glorified the services rendered by Athens to the rulers of Peloponnesus. See also:Apollodorus ii. 8; Died. Sic. iv. 57, 58; See also:Pausanias i. 32, 41, ii. 13, 18, iii. I, iv.

3, v. 3; See also:

Euripides, Heraclidae; . See also:Pindar, Pythia, ix. 137; Herodotus ix. 27. See See also:Muller's Dorians, i. ch. 3; See also:Thirlwall, See also:History of See also:Greece, ch. vii.; See also:Grote, Hist. of Greece, pt. i. ch. xviii. ; Busolt, Griechische Geschichte, i. ch. ii. sec. 7, where a See also:list of See also:modern authorities is given.

End of Article: HERACLIDAE

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