Alkmaion (son of Amphiaraos)

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Alkmaion ( ancient Greek Ἀλκμαίων Alkmaíon [ Alkmaí̯ɔːn / ]) was a Greek hero , son of the seer Amphiaraos and Eriphyle , brother of Amphilochos , from Argos .

His mother, bribed by Polynices with the necklace of Harmonia, had betrayed her husband: Amphiaraos did not want to take part in the campaign of the Seven against Thebes and stayed in hiding, because he had foreseen that he would find death in the process.

Before he set out on the campaign, he asked Alkmaion to take revenge on his traitorous mother after his inevitable death.

When the sons of the heroes who had fallen before Thebes were preparing for a second military voyage against the city, Eriphyle allowed herself to be bribed anew by the precious garment of Harmonia and induced her two sons to take part in the procession.

Alkmaion, elected head of the Epigones , killed the Laodamas in a duel and conquered and destroyed Thebes.

After the campaign he fulfilled his father's mission and murdered his mother, but was persecuted by the Erinyes for this until he was atoned by King Phegeus in Arcadia in Phegeia, later Psophis . Phegeus gave him his daughter Arsinoe to wife. She now received the fateful gems.

Arcadia was then plagued by sterility, and Apollo announced that Alkmaion would not come to rest until he reached a country which had not yet been shone by the sun when his mother was murdered; he would find it at the mouth of the Acheloos.

Alkmaion went there and found newly washed land. He settled here and married Kallirrhoë , the daughter of the river god. Alkmaion returned to Phegeia to get her the collar and the peplos . He pretended that he wanted to offer the treasures to the god Apollo in Delphi to be healed. They were both given to him. But after his servant had revealed the real reason, Alkmaion was killed by the sons of Phegeus for his infidelity to Arsinoe.

In Psophis, in the shade of sacred cypresses, stood his tomb. In Thebes, too, he was worshiped as a seer, just like his father in Oropos .

Alkmaion is considered the father of Akarnan , who is the progenitor of the Akarnanians in Central Greece.

The story of Alkmaion was used many times by the tragedians, including Euripides in the tragedy of Alkmaion in Psophis .

literature