Lykos (King)

Lykos ( Greek  Λύκος ), King of Thebes , is the son of Hyrieus and Clonia in Greek mythology . However, there are also sources that name Chthonios as the father of Lycus. His wife was Dirke .

First reign

His brother Nykteus ruled over Thebes as the guardian of Labdakos . After Nykteus was fatally wounded in the battle for his daughter Antiope and finally died, Lykos took over the government. He freed the pregnant Antiope. In Eleutherai she gave birth to two sons, Amphion and Zethos . She either hid her children from her uncle and abandoned them on the kithairon , or Lykos did so herself. They were raised by a shepherd who found them.

When Labdakos came of age, Lykos handed over the government to him.

Second reign

Labdakos soon died, however. His son Laios was only a year old, so Lykos took over the government a second time. Since Antiope was mistreated by Lykos and especially by his wife Dirke, she fled to her now grown sons. These marched against Thebes and killed Lykos and Dirke, expelled Laios and took over the rule.

The library of Apollodorus reports, deviating from this, that Nykteus and Lykos had to flee to Hyria because of the murder of Phlegyas , the son of Ares and Dotis. Later, however, the Thebans chose Lykos as their general and he illegally contested the rule of the Laios.

swell

• Apollodor, Libraries , 3, 40-44
• Apollodor, Libraries , 3, 111.
• Pausanias, travels in Greece , 2, 6, 2 - 3.
• Pausanias, traveling in Greece , 9, 5, 5 - 6.
• Pausanias, traveling in Greece , 9, 16, 7.
• Pausanias, traveling in Greece , 9, 17, 6.
• Pausanias, traveling in Greece , 9, 25, 3.

literature

• Wilhelm Drexler : Lykos 4 . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 2.2, Leipzig 1897, Col. 2184-2186 ( digitized version ).

predecessor	Office	successor
Nykteus	King of Thebes 15th century BC BC (1st reign) (fictional chronology)	Labdakos
Labdakos	King of Thebes 15th century BC BC (2nd reign) (fictional chronology)	Amphion and Zethus