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5906: The river Evenus, AD 2001.
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Calydon is a city in Aetolia, a region in
mainland Greece, north of the Gulf of Patrae
between the rivers Achelous and Evenus. The river
Evenus, formerly called Lycormas, is called after a
son of Ares and Demonice
who perished after throwing himself in that river.
The eponym of Aetolia
Aetolia is called after
Endymion's son Aetolus 2, who left Elis because he had been convicted of an unintentional homicide. However, on arriving to the new country, he did commit some intentional homicides, killing his hosts in the Curetian country: Dorus 2, Laodocus 2 and Polypoetes 2, all three sons of Apollo and Phthia 2.
His sons founded two fine cities
Aetolus 2 married Pronoe 2 and had by her two sons, Calydon and Pleuron, who gave their names to the Aetolian cities they founded. Calydon's daughter Epicasta 1 married her cousin Agenor 6, son of Pleuron and Xanthippe 1. This Xanthippe 1 was a daughter of Dorus 2, one of the three hosts that Aetolus 2 killed when he came to the land of the Curetes.
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5903: The surroundings of Calydon, AD 2001.
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Thestius 1 and Porthaon
Agenor 6 and Epicasta 1 had children: Porthaon, Demonice and Thestius 1. Thestius 1 is also called son of Ares and Demonice.
When King Tyndareus of
Sparta was banished by Hippocoon 2, he came to Thestius 1, who at the time was king of Pleuron. Tyndareus married Thestius 1's daughter Leda,
and once Heracles 1 had defeated Hippocoon 2 and his sons, he restored Tyndareus and
entrusted the kingdom of
Sparta to him. Porthaon married a granddaughter of the River God Achelous, Euryte 2, and became father by her of, among others, Oeneus 2, who in time became King of Calydon.
The negligence of Oeneus 2
It is said that when Oeneus 2 was king of Calydon, he was negligent towards Artemis, and the goddess punished him and his country by sending a boar of huge size and strength, which prevented the land from being sown and destroyed the cattle and the people. In order to get rid of this ravaging beast, King Oeneus 2 assembled the noblest men of Hellas, who are now known as the CALYDONIAN
HUNTERS, and promised to give the Boar's skin
as a prize to him who should kill it.
Bellerophon
visits Calydon
King Oeneus 2 is also known for having entertained Bellerophon in his
palace and exchanged friendship gifts with him.
Later, during the Trojan
War, the descendants of Oeneus 2 and Bellerophon,
Diomedes 2 and Glaucus 3, met as enemies in the battlefield, but instead of fighting also exchanged gifts to honour their ancestors' friendship.
Coup d'état
King Oeneus 2 was, in his old days, deposed by the sons of his brother Agrius 3 and put in jail by them, but after the fall of Troy, his grandson
Diomedes 2 liberated him, killing Agrius 3 and his son Lycopeus, and restored the kingdom to him (see details at Diomedes 2). However, some say that Diomedes 2 did not restore the kingdom to Oeneus 2 because of his advanced age, but to the latter's son-in-law Andraemon 1, who had married Oeneus 2's daughter Gorge 2. Others affirm that Lycopeus was killed by
Tydeus 2, son of Oeneus 2 and father of Diomedes 2, and that because of this he fled to
Argos, arriving at the same time as Theban Polynices, who had been banished by his twin brother Eteocles 1. Both exiles were received by King Adrastus 1 of
Argos, who gave them his
daughters as wives and promised them to restore
them to their native lands. And having decided to
restore Polynices first, they jointly organized the
expedition of the SEVEN
AGAINST THEBES, which meant death for both
Tydeus 2 and Polynices.
Thoas 2
When Andraemon 1 and Gorge 2 died, their son Thoas 2 became king of Pleuron and Calydon, and during the Trojan War, Thoas 2 became leader of the Aetolians, contributing 40 ships to the Achaean fleet. Some say that after the war the exiled Odysseus came to him
and married his daughter, having by her a son
Leontophonus.
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3108: Oeneus, King of Calydon, neglects Artemis in a sacrifice. Engraving by Bernard Picart, 1673-1733.
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The circle closes
Thoas 2 had a son Haemon 2, who in turn was father of Oxylus 2. The story of Oxylus 2 reminds of the story of Aetolus 2, but emigrating in the opposite direction. Oxylus 2 fled from Aetolia to Elis on account of the
murder of Thermius or Alcidocus, became guide of
the HERACLIDES, and
subsequently king of Elis. It is said that as he was throwing the quoit he missed the mark and committed unintentional homicide. The man killed by the quoit, according to one account, was Thermius, brother of Oxylus 2; according to another, it was Alcidocus. Oxylus 2 and Pieria 2 had a son Aetolus 3, who could have inherited the throne fulfilling the circle, had he not died so young. He was buried in a tomb in the gate leading to Olympia because an oracle forbade the corpse to be laid either outside the city or within it.
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