Alkon (son of Erechtheus)

Alkon (also Alcon ; Greek  Ἄλκων ) is the father of Phaleros , an Argonaut in Greek mythology . In the Attic genealogy he himself is the son of Erechtheus .

Alkon is famous for his excellent archery skills. He is said to have saved his son Phaleros when he was attacked by a snake by killing the snake with a precisely aimed arrow, but without injuring his son. In addition, according to Servius , Alkon could split an arrow held up on a lance. However, the Alkon des Servius was a Cretan and companion of Heracles .

Another source reports how Alkon and his daughter Chalkiope (or Chalkippe) flee to Euboea and are not extradited despite his father's demands. In the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith this episode, however, attributed his son Phalerus. Nevertheless, based on this story, the connection between Attica and Chalcis becomes clear. In the Chalcidian mythology, Alkon is the son of Abas , the progenitor of the Abanten . In another representation, Alkon is the father of Abas. But Abas is sometimes portrayed as a descendant of Kekrops . The ancient historian Johannes Toepffer sees these ramifications as confirmation of the early intense and sometimes conflicting relationships between the residents of Attica and Chalcis.

literature

• Friedrich Hiller von Gaertringen : Alkon 1 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 2, Stuttgart 1894, Sp. 1577 f.
• Leonhard Schmitz : Alcon 2, a son of Erechtheus . In: William Smith (Ed.): Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology . tape 1 : Abaeus – Dysponteus . Little, Brown and Company, Boston 1870, p. 108 (English, Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
• Heinrich Wilhelm Stoll : Alkon 5 . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1,1, Leipzig 1886, column 249 ( digitized version ).
• Richard Stoll Shannon: The Arms of Achilles and Homeric Compositional Technique. Leiden 1975, p. 36.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Apollonios of Rhodes , Argonautika 1.96 ( archive.org );
   Hyginus , Fabulae 14 ( theoi.com ).
2. ↑ Scholion to Apollonios of Rhodes, Argonautika 1.96.
3. ↑ Valerius Flaccus , Argonautica 398-402.
4. ^ Servius , Commentary on the Eclogues of Virgil 5:11.
5. ↑ Scholion to Apollonios of Rhodes, Argonautika 1.96.
6. ^ Leonhard Schmitz: Phalerus 2, a son of Alcon . In: William Smith (Ed.): Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology . tape 3 : Oarses-Zygia and Zygius . Little, Brown and Company, Boston 1870, p. 236 (English, Textarchiv - Internet Archive ). .
7. ↑ Ephorus from Kyme, fragment 33.
8. ↑ Eustathios of Thessalonike , Commentary on Homer's Iliad, p. 232.
9. ↑ Scholion to Homer, Iliad 2, 536.
10. ^ Johannes Toepffer , Attische Genealogie, Berlin 1889, pp. 163–165.