Hippocoon of Sparta

This article is about the king of Sparta. For other uses, see Hippocoon.

Hippocoön
King of Sparta
General Information
Sex	Male
Relationships
Parents	Oebalus and Bateia
Siblings	Tyndareus and Icarius
Children	Dorycleus, Scaeus, Enarophorus, Euteiches, Bucolus, Lycaethus, Tebrus, Eurytus, Hippothous, Hippocorystes, Alcinous, Alcimus, Dorceus, Sebrus, Eumedes, Enaesimus, Alcon and Leucippus

Hippocoön (Ancient Greek: Ἱπποκόων) was born the son of King Oebalus and half-brother of Tyndareus and Icarius. When his father died, Tyndareus inherited the kingdom, however, with the help of his sons, Hippocoon usurped the throne, exiling his brothers.

Later, he refused to cleanse Heracles of the death of Iphitus. Heracles subsequently declared war, supported by Iphicles and Cepheus, King of Arcadia. In the war, he killed Iphicles and was killed, along with his sons, by Heracles, as revenge for killing Oeonus, who stoned their dog in self-defense. Tyndareus was then reinstated as king, along with his brother Icarius.

Family

Hippocoon was the son of the Spartan King Oebalus and the naiad nymph Bateia. His brothers (or half-brothers) were Tyndareus and Icarius.

Names of Hippocoön's sons include Dorycleus, Scaeus, Enarophorus, Euteiches, Bucolus, Lycaethus, Tebrus, Eurytus, Hippothous, Hippocorystes, Alcinous, Alcimus, Dorceus, Sebrus, Eumedes, Enaesimus, Alcon and Leucippus (the last three were among the Calydonian hunters).

Diodorus Siculus states that there were twenty of them, but gives no individual names.

Mythology

When their father died, Tyndareus became king. Hippocoön, with the help of his sons, overthrew him, took the throne and expelled his brothers from the kingdom. Later, Hippocoön refused to cleanse Heracles after the death of Iphitus. Because of that, Heracles became hostile to Hippocoön, killed him and reinstated Tyndareus.

All of Hippocoön's sons were also slain by Heracles, as a revenge for the death of the young Oeonus, son of Licymnius, whom they had killed because he had stoned their dog in self-defense. Heracles' allies in the war against Hippocoön were Cepheus of Arcadia and his twenty sons, who all, as well as Heracles's brother Iphicles, died in the battle (according to Diodorus Siculus, three of Cepheus' sons did survive).

Genealogy

Lelegid/Lacadaemonid Genealogy in Greek mythology

Poseidôn               Lelex   Cleocharia                           Myles   Euhippe                         Clete   Eurotas     Zeús       Taygete                                                         Lapithes of the Lapiths   Orsinome           Sparta               Lacedaemon                                                                                                                           Acrisius of Argos   Eurydice               Amyclas   Diomede                                                             Zeús   Danaë                                                                                               Philomela   Cynortas       Argalus             Perseus   Andromeda                                                                                                             Gorgophone   Oebalus                                                                                                                                                             Hippocoon   Tyndareus       Leda       Zeús   Polycaste   Icarius                                                                                                                                                                     Castor               Polydeuces     Penelope   Odysseus of Ithaca                                                                                                         Agamemnon of Mycenae   Clytaemnestra           Helen   Menelaus                                                                                       Telemachus

Preceded by: Tyndareus (First Rule)

King of Sparta Mythic

Succeeded by Tyndareus (Second Rule) and Icarius

References

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Hippocoon of Sparta (view authors). As with Myth and Folklore Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported).