Kresphontes
Kresphontes ( Greek Κρεσφόντης ) is a son of Aristomachus in Greek mythology and thus, alongside Temenos and Aristodemos , one of the three Heraclid brothers who divided the land conquered in the course of the Dorian migration on the Peloponnese among themselves. He was married to Merope and had a son Aipytus , who is also known as Kresphontes or Telephontes, unless further sons can be recognized behind both names.
When the land was divided, Kresphontes was assigned Messinia by lot. The raffle took place after the death of Aristodemos with the participation of Aristodemos' sons, Prokles and Eurysthenes . Messenia originally fell to Aristodemus and Kresphontes wanted to win it over under all circumstances. To do this, he uses a ruse that has been handed down in two versions. In each case, the lots were drawn from a container filled with water. In one variant, in which the third lot drawn was destined for Messenia, Kresphontes made sure that his "loose stone" was made of clay that dissolved in water. So the lot stones of Temenus and the sons of Aristodemus were drawn and Messenia fell to Kresphontes as planned. In the other variant, the person whose lot was drawn first should have a free choice. In this version, Kresphontes arranged it with the help of his brother in such a way that the lots of the others, in contrast to his, were made of unfired clay and dissolved. During the subsequent sacrifice, there was a toad on the altar for Argos, a snake for Sparta, and a fox for Messenia, symbolic symbols for the characteristics of the landscapes and their rulers.
Kresphontes stipulated that Stenyklaros should be the royal seat, but set up sub-kings in five cities and put the local population on an equal footing with the Dorians; Measures that he soon reversed. The dissatisfaction this triggered led to the murder of himself and two sons. Merope was forcibly married to the new ruler of Messenia, the Heraclid Polyphontes , but was able to save one of the sons of Kresphontes to Arcadia to her father Kypselus . He later returned to avenge his father. According to Pausanias and the library of Apollodorus, it was Aipytus; according to Hyginus Mythographus around Telephontes. At Euripides he was called Kresphontes like his father.
literature
- Heinrich Wilhelm Stoll : Kresphontes 1 . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 2.1, Leipzig 1894, column 1420 f. ( Digitized version ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Pausanias 2:18 , 6; 4, 3, 3; 4, 31, 9; 5, 3, 5; Libraries of Apollodorus 2, 8, 4.
- ^ Libraries of Apollodorus 2, 8, 4.
- ↑ Pausanias 4: 3, 4-5.
- ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus 2, 8, 5.
- ↑ Pausanias 4: 3, 7-8; Libraries of Apollodorus 2, 8, 5.
- ^ Hyginus Mythographus , Fabulae 137.
- ↑ Lost Work of Euripides , Kresphontes .