Theiodamas (Dryopia)

Theiodamas ( Greek  Θειοδάμας ), father of Hylas , is a figure in Greek mythology .

When Heracles once wandered through Thessaly , he got hungry and grabbed a cattle. The farmer Theiodamas, who owned the animal, resisted. The demigod laughed at him, slaughtered the ox and enjoyed it. Then he slew Theiodamas and took his son Hylas with him as a pleasure boy .

There are many different variants of the narrative. Theiodamas is often referred to as the king of the dryoper . Herakles is said to have only asked him to give him a cow so that he - the hero - could give his starving little son Hyllos to eat, and even Heracles' wife Deianeira was wounded in the desperate fight.

The two main branches of the saga are the Dryopian and the Rhodian version. According to the latter, the drama takes place in Lindos , and Theiodamas curses the robber, who does not let it spoil his appetite.

literature

• Otto Höfer : Theiodamas . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 5, Leipzig 1924, Col. 556-566 ( digitized version ).
• Hans von Geisau : Theiodamas. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 5, Stuttgart 1975, Col. 674 f.