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Arcadia is the region in central Peloponnesus
south of Achaea, north of
Messenia and Laconia,
east of Argolis and west of
Elis. The boundaries of the
kingdoms of Arcadia and the succession in the
thrones are however less certain, and many have
been called "King of Arcadia".
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Remembered first king
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The first king in Arcadia is said to have been
Pelasgus 1, after whom the inhabitants of the
Peloponnesus were called Pelasgians. But otherwise,
he is remembered as the king of
Argos who received and
protected Danaus 1 and his daughters, the
DANAIDS. Pelasgus 1 was
the son of Zeus and Niobe
1, the first mortal woman to have consorted with
the god; otherwise Pelasgus 1 is said to have been
an autochthon (i.e. a son of the soil [see
AUTOCHTHONOUS]),
or as it is also asserted, son of Palaechthon. She
was in turn daughter of
Phoroneus, who is at
the origin of the royal house of
Argos, and is said to be
the first man. Pelasgus 1's brother Argus 5 became
in fact king of Argos
after Phoroneus.
Some say that Pelasgus 1 married Deianira 4,
daughter of Lycaon 6, son of Aezeius. This Aezeius
is said to have been one of the first kings of the
Peloponnesus. Others affirm that Pelasgus 1 married
Meliboea 1, one of the
OCEANIDS, and still
others say that his wife was Cyllene 1, a Naiad,
after whom Mount Cyllene in Arcadia is named (but
it is also said that it was after Cyllen, daughter
of Elatus 2, that Mount Cyllene, the highest in
Arcadia, was named). One of these women gave birth
to impious Lycaon 2, who
sat on the throne after Pelasgus 1.
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Impious king
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Lycaon 2 was a
powerful king who thought he could defy the gods,
and his sons were notorious for their insolence,
pride and impiety. Because of his crimes
(Lycaon 2 sacrificed a
human baby), Zeus
transformed him into a wolf or blasted him and his
sons with a thunderbolt. [For the numerous cities
founded by the sons of
Lycaon 2 see this one.]
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King during the time of the
Flood
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The one son who survived the the god's wrath,
Nyctimus, who some say was the youngest and others
the eldest of the sons, succeeded his father on the
throne. So, in that case, it cannot be, as some
say, that Nyctimus was the human baby that
Lycaon 2 served to
Zeus as a meal. In any
case, it is told that it is about this time that
Zeus, tired of the crimes
of this peculiar family, sent the
Flood that destroyed
mankind in the age of
Deucalion 1.
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Parrhasius
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Phylonome, daughter of Nyctimus and Arcadia 2,
consorted with Ares and had
twins; one of them, Parrhasius, has been called
king of Arcadia. This Phylonome used to hunt with
Artemis. However,
Ares got her with child in
the guise of a shepherd. Fearing her father,
Phylonome cast her twin children into the river
Erymanthus, but they found haven in the trunk of a
tree. A wolf suckled the children, and the shepherd
Gyliphus reared them as his own.
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King calls the land Arcadia ...
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After Nyctimus, the kingdom was ruled by Arcas
1, son of Zeus and
Callisto, daughter of
Lycaon 2. Some tell that
Maia, the eldest of the
PLEIADES and mother of
Hermes, brought up Arcas
1 in the land that was called Arcadia after him
(instead of Pelasgia).
Arcas 1, who some say was the human baby whom
Lycaon 2 served to
Zeus at a banquet, was put
among the constellations (Bear-Watcher), and made
immortal. He is called Arctophylax since he guards
Arctos (Great Bear) which is his mother
Callisto, placed among
the stars by Zeus. Arcas 1
is said to have introduced the cultivation of
crops, which he learned from
Triptolemus. During
his time, men learned to make bread and to weave
clothes, which has proved useful until now.
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...while others emigrate
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In the meanwhile, other grandsons of impious
Lycaon 2, such as
Archedius, Gortys 2 and Cydon 1, migrated to
Crete, and after them were
named the cities Cydonia, Gortyna and
Catreus. These are sons
of Tegeates and Maera 3, daughter of
Atlas.
Some say that Atlas
himself was once king of Arcadia, and that he was
succeeded in the throne by Deimas, son of Dardanus
1 and Chryse 3 [see also
Troy].
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Several kingdoms
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After Arcas 1, his sons became kings in
different Arcadian districts. Azan ruled in Azania,
and Aphidas 1, a weak king, ruled in Tegea; and
Elatus 2, who at first ruled in Mount Cyllene,
migrated to Phocis, helped the Phocians against the
Phlegyans, and founded the city of Elateia.
At Azan's death, his son Clitor 2 came to the
throne and became the most powerful of the kings in
Arcadia. But having died childless, he was
succeeded by Aepytus 3 and Stymphalus 1, sons of
Elatus 2.
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False friend
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Pelops 1, an Asian
immigrant after whom the Peloponnesus was named,
made war on Stymphalus 1's Arcadian kingdom, but
when he could not defeat him he slew Stymphalus
under a pretence of friendship, and scattered his
limbs. For this reason the whole of Hellas suffered
of infertility, a calamity that only was averted
when pious Aeacus (the
same who now keeps the keys of the
Underworld) offered
prayers.
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Aleus
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When Stymphalus 1 was murdered by the false
friend Pelops 1, and
Aepytus 3 was killed by a serpent while hunting,
Aphidas 1's son Aleus became king. Aleus married
Neaera 3, daughter of Pereus, son of Elatus 2, and
had children by her, among which Auge 2 and
Lycurgus 2. Aleus built a sanctuary of
Athena in Tegea, and made
this city the capital of his kingdom.
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Aleus' daughter
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Aleus' daughter Auge 2 was seduced by
Heracles 1, and she
hid her little child by him
(Telephus) in the
precinct of Athena that
her father had built and whose priesthood she held.
But the land remained barren, and the oracles
declared that there was impiety in the temple.
Finally she was discovered and delivered by her
father to Nauplius 1 to be put to death. But
Nauplius 1 gave her to King Teuthras 1 of Mysia
(northwestern part of Asia Minor), who married her.
Her child Telephus was
exposed on Mount Parthenius by Aleus, but he
survived because a doe gave him suck. Later
shepherds found him and called him
Telephus. He was
adopted by the king of Mysia, on whose death he
succeeded to the throne. During his rule,
Telephus chased the
Achaean expedition, which having sailed against
Troy, arrived by mistake in
Mysia.
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Lycurgus 2 kills mace-man and outlives his own
children
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Lycurgus 2 succeeded his father Aleus as king of
the Arcadians, and lived a long life. His son
Ancaeus 1 is counted among the
ARGONAUTS, and among
the CALYDONIAN
HUNTERS. He was killed by the Calydonian Boar
during the hunt. As his other son, Epochus died of
an illness, Lycurgus 2 had no heirs when he left
this world. Some say that Iasus 1, sometimes called
father of Atalanta, was
also his son. Lycurgus 2 is known for having killed
King Areithous 1, who was called the mace-man,
because he only used as a weapon an iron mace.
Lycurgus 2 came upon Areithous 1 in a narrow way,
where the mace was useless, and killed him with his
spear despoiling him of the armour that
Ares had given him. Later,
when Lycurgus 2 grew old, he gave the armour to
Ereuthalion 1, his squire, who in turn was killed
by Nestor in a war
between the Arcadians and the Pylians [for Pylians
see Pylos].
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Echemus
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As no child of Lycurgus 2 was alive when he
died, Echemus, son of Aeropus 2, son of Cepheus 2,
son of Aleus, became king [for Cepheus 2 see
Sparta]. During his time,
the HERACLIDES made
an attempt to return to the Peloponnesus under the
leadership of Hyllus 1, but were defeated in a
battle at the Isthmus of
Corinth. In this battle
Echemus killed Hyllus 1, son of
Heracles 1, in single
combat. Echemus married Timandra 1, daughter of
Tyndareus and
Leda, and had by her a son
Laodocus, after whom the suburb Ladoceia near
Megalopolis was named.
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Time to sail to Troy
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Echemus was succeeded on the throne by Agapenor,
son of Ancaeus 1, son of Lycurgus 2. Agapenor was
later one of he SUITORS
OF HELEN. Consequently, he became one of the
ACHAEAN LEADERS,
and he is counted among those who hid inside the
WOODEN HORSE. After
the Trojan War,
Agapenor did not return to Arcadia; instead he
sailed to Cyprus, founded Paphos, where he ruled.
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Capital moves to Trapezus
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As Agapenor did not return from
Troy, the kingdom of
Arcadia devolved upon Hippothous 6, son of Cercyon
2, son of Agamedes 2, son of Stymphalus 1.
Hippothous 6 established his capital in Trapezus,
and was succeeded by his son Aepytus 4, who was
struck blind after entering a forbidden sanctuary
of Poseidon, dying
shortly after.
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Mycenaean power
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During the reign of Aepytus 4, King
Orestes 2 of
Mycenae, son of
Agamemnon, moved his
home from Mycenae to
Arcadia, as his realm had extended considerably.
Orestes 2 was killed by
the bite of a snake at Oresteum in Arcadia. This
town was previously called Oresthasium, and had
been founded by Orestheus 2, son of
Lycaon 2.
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Arcadia spared by the
HERACLIDES
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Cypselus 1 succeeded his father Aepytus 4 as
king of the Arcadians, and was founder of a place
called Basilis. It is during his reign that the
HERACLIDES effected
their return invading the Peloponnesus, not as it
had before been attempted, that is, across the
Corinthian Isthmus, but by sea. Cypselus 1 made an
agreement with the invaders, marrying his daughter
Merope 2 to the Heraclid Cresphontes, and in this
way he had nothing to fear.
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From father to son
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Cresphontes received the kingdom of
Messenia by casting
lots with Procles 2 and Eurysthenes 1, who received
Lacedaemon and Sparta,
while Cypselus 1's son Holaeas succeeded his father
on the throne. The rule passed thereafter from
father to son: Holaeas to Bucolion 3 to Phialus
(who changed the name of the city Phigalia to
Phialia) to Simus to Pompus to Aeginetes 2 to
Polymestor 2 (under whose reign the Lacedaemonians
for the first time invaded Tegea, led by Charillus.
On this occasion the Lacedaemonians were defeated
in battle by the Tegeans, who used men and women
alike in defending the city; the whole
Lacedaemonian army, including Charillus, were taken
prisoners). Polymestor 2 was succeeded by Aechmis,
son of Briacas, brother of Polymestor 2.
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