Opheltes (son of Lycurgus)
Opheltes ( ancient Greek Ὀφέλτης ), later called Archemoros , is a boy in Greek mythology , in honor of whom the games were held in Nemea .
His father was Lykurgos , king of Nemea, his mother's name was Eurydice . When the Seven passed against Thebes in Nemea, they asked Hypsipyle for a source. She put little Opheltes, whom she had to guard, on the ground to show them the source. Then a snake bit the little Opheltes, who then died. The seer Amphiaraos , one of the seven, recognizes a bad omen, whereupon they call the child Archemoros (“beginning of calamity”). The child was given a splendid funeral service with games in honor of the deceased, from which the Nemean games emerged. (Source: Libraries of Apollodor 1,9,14 [or 1,104] and 3,6,4ff. [Or 3,64-66]). Remains of the Heroons des Opheltes can still be seen in Nemea .
literature
- Otto Höfer : Opheltes 5 . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 3.1, Leipzig 1902, Col. 923 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Hans Gärtner : Opheltes. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 4, Stuttgart 1972, Col. 311.
- Wolfgang Pülhorn: Archemoros . In: Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). Volume II, Zurich / Munich 1984, pp. 472-475.
- Erich Bethe : Archemoros 1 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II, 1, Stuttgart 1895, Col. 456 f.