Polykaon (son of Lelex)

Polykaon ( Greek  Πολυκάων ) is the first king of Messene in Greek mythology .

Polykaon is the son of Lelex , King of Sparta , and Peridea, and the younger brother of Myles , to whom the fatherly kingdom falls. Messene , a daughter of King Triopas of Argos , is Polykaon's wife. She is disappointed that, despite her status as a princess, she was married to a man without a claim to the throne, and therefore causes Polykaon to gather a following in Argos and Sparta and to find a kingdom of her own. They move to the country that is named Messenia after Polykaon's wife . There they found several cities, including Andania , which became the royal couple's capital.

swell

• Pausanias : Description of Greece 3, 1, 1; 4, 1, 1-2.

literature

• Otto Höfer : Polykaon 1) . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 3.2, Leipzig 1909, column 2649 ( digitized version ).

Web links

• Polykaon in the Greek Myth Index (English)