Demophon from Athens

Demophon (?) Freed Aithra , white-ground Attic kylix , 470-460 v. Chr., State Collections of Antiquities (Inv. 2687)

Demophon (Greek Δημοφῶν) or Demophoon (Greek Δημοφόων) was a mythical king of Attica . He is the son of Theseus and Phaidra and the brother of Akamas , with whom he took part in the Trojan War . Both were also among the forty heroes hiding in the Trojan Horse . After the war, he demanded the surrender of his grandmother Aithra , who was kidnapped with Helena . After Helena agreed, Agamemnon released her.

On the way back he landed on the coast of the Thracian Bisalter and fell in love with Phyllis , the daughter of the King of Thrace . He married Phyllis and was also given the royal throne. Demophon continued to travel to Athens but promised to return. But since he did not return, Phyllis committed suicide. The story, told from the point of view of Phyllis, is the subject of the second letter in Ovid's Heroides .

Allegedly he brought the Palladion with him to Athens from Troy . Demophon showed solidarity with the Heraclids against Eurystheus . After his death, his son Oxyntes became king of Attica.

literature

• Heinrich Wilhelm Stoll : Demophon 2 . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1.1, Leipzig 1886, Col. 989-991 ( digitized version ).
• Georg Knaack : Demophon 2 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume V, 1, Stuttgart 1903, Col. 149-152.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Pausanias, Travels in Greece 10.25.7.
2. ^ Libraries of Apollodorus 9:16.
3. ↑ Ovid, Heroides 2.

Web links

Commons : Akamas and Demophon  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
Menestheus	King of Attica	Oxyntes