The name Acarnan is used for at least two separate human figures in Greek tradition. One attestation names Acarnan as a son of Alcmaeon and the naiad Callirrhoe and brother of Amphoterus; this places him within the Alcmaeonid mythic genealogy and the wider cycles of family murder and vengeance associated with Alcmaeon (source citations indicate fuller narratives exist though the supplied excerpts are fragmentary). Separately, Acarnan is attested as one of the Suitors of Penelope who came from Dulichium and who, together with the other suitors, was later killed by Odysseus with the aid of Eumaeus, Philoetius, and Telemachus. The lexical item also functions adjectivally as 'Acarnanian' (of Acarnania), tying the name to the region between Epirus and Aetolia rather than indicating a single unified mythical origin for a supernatural being.
The extant sources present Acarnan solely as an ordinary human figure in genealogical and epic contexts; there is no consistent physical or supernatural description in the provided material. In narrative contexts he appears as a mortal youth/man—either as a member of a heroic family (son of Alcmaeon and Callirrhoe) or as one among the assembled suitors courting Penelope—without any descriptive markers of unusual stature, features, or otherworldly form in the excerpts supplied.
No supernatural abilities are attributed to Acarnan in the provided sources. His reported roles are social and narrative: as a son and sibling within the Alcmaeon family (implying participation in that cycle's human events) and as a member of the suitors who court Penelope and are slain by Odysseus and his allies. The sources do not ascribe magical powers, prophetic gifts, immortality, or other paranormal capacities to either attestation of the name.
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Abderus
Abderus (Ancient Greek: Ἄβδηρος, romanized Ábdēros) is a mortal heroic figure in Greek myth closely associated with Heracles, remembered as the youth left in charge of the Mares of Diomedes who was killed by them. He functions as an eponymous local/divine-hero ancestor for the city of Abdera and received funerary commemoration and athletic agones at his tomb.
Acamas
Acamas (Ancient Greek: Ἀκάμας) is a personal name recurrent in ancient Greek narrative traditions applied to multiple human characters (warriors, princes, suitors), once to a Cyclops, and once as a hound's name. Rather than a single supernatural entity, bearers of the name appear episodically across the Trojan War, Theseid, and Theban cycles as mortal actors whose deeds intersect with gods and fate.
Acastus
Acastus is a mortal heroic figure of ancient Greek tradition: son of Pelias who became king of Iolcus, an Argonaut who sailed with Jason, and an actor in the post-Argonautic cycle involving Medea, Peleus, and the aftermath of Pelias’s death. He is attested as performing civic and ritual actions (burying Pelias, instituting funeral games, purifying Peleus) and as a participant in vendetta episodes that end in violent reprisals.
Acmon
Acmon (Ancient Greek: Ἄκμων, 'anvil') is a polyvalent personal name in Greek myth borne by several distinct minor figures — a Dactyl (artisan), a Phrygian eponymous king, a mischievous woodland creature, companions in epic cycles (one companion of Diomedes transformed into a bird; an Aenead), and in some brief traditions an alleged father of Uranus. The name therefore functions across artisanal, topographical, trickster, and metamorphosis motifs rather than denoting a single unified supernatural species.
Acrisius
Acrisius (Ancient Greek: Ἀκρίσιος, Akrisios) is a mythic-historical king of Argos in Greek tradition whose narrative is defined by an oracular prophecy foretelling his death by his daughter's son. He is portrayed as a mortal ruler entangled with dynastic rivalry, oracular authority, and the eventual accidental fulfillment of fate.
Aeacidae
The Aeacidae are a dynastic lineage in Greek myth and historiography descended from the hero Aeacus, son of Zeus and the nymph Aegina. The name functions as a patronymic designation for those 'of Aeacus' and is used to claim genealogical legitimacy and political prestige in regions such as Aegina and Molossian Epirus.
Aegipan
Aegipan (Αἰγίπαν / Αἰγίπανος) is an ancient Greek mythological figure associated with goat attributes and with the sea‑goat imagery of the constellation Capricornus. He appears in classical myth as a semi‑divine helper (notably in the Typhon episode) and, in later natural‑history and medieval bestiary reception, the name is applied to satyr‑like or ape‑like wild men in distant lands.
Aegisthus
Aegisthus (Greek Αἴγισθος, Aigisthos) is a mortal member of the House of Atreus in Greek myth who, born of incestuous circumstances and raised by shepherds and a goat, participates in dynastic murder and usurpation — notably the slaying of Atreus in some accounts and the conspiracy (with Clytemnestra) that results in Agamemnon's death — and is later killed by Orestes, an episode that figures in narratives about inherited guilt, vengeance, and the transition from private retribution to public justice.
Aepytus
Aepytus (Ancient Greek: Αἴπυτος, Aíputos/Aípytos, lit. 'steep, high, lofty') is a personal name in Greek myth borne by several legendary kings tied to Arcadian and Heraclid genealogies. The figures named Aepytus function as ancestral/dynastic nodes in literary genealogies and later literary receptions rather than as supernatural beings.
Aeson
Aeson (Ancient Greek: Αἴσων) is a legendary mortal king of Iolcus in Thessaly in Greek myth, best known as the father of the hero Jason. His fate—imprisonment by his half-brother Pelias and either suicide or a miraculous restoration performed by Medea—provides the dynastic and moral background for the Argonautic cycle.
Aethalides
Aethalides is a personal name borne by two distinct figures in ancient Greek myth: one listed among the Argonauts as a son of Hermes and Eupolemeia, and another named among the Tyrrhenian sailors who attempted to deceive Dionysus and was transformed into a dolphin. The sources treat Aethalides as named human mythic personages appearing in separate narrative contexts rather than as a class of supernatural being.
Agelaus
Agelaus (Ancient Greek: Ἀγέλαος) is not a single supernatural being but a personal name borne by multiple mortal figures in Greek myth, epic, and local history. Bearers include a herdsman who raised the exposed infant Paris, several minor warriors in the Trojan cycle, mythic princes (e.g., sons of Oeneus, Stymphalus, Temenus, and in some lists a son of Heracles), a suitor of Penelope, and a historical official of Naupactus in the Aetolian League.
Community Record
- [1]Acarnan. Wikipedia, 'Acarnan' (entry describing two characters and etymology)wiki
- [2]Acarnan (son of Alcmaeon). Wikipedia, 'Acarnan (son of Alcmaeon)' (parentage and sibling Amphoterus)wiki
- [3]ACARNAN | Dickinson College Commentaries. Dickinson College Commentaries, lemma 'ACARNAN' (records adjectival/ethnic use: 'of Acarnania')academic
- [4]Person: Acarnan (UVic myth index, attestation files). UVic Mythology person file for Acarnan (metadata/attestation)other
- [5]Person: Acarnan (UVic myth index, alternate file). UVic Mythology person file for Acarnan (alternate attestation)other
- [6]CALLIRHOE (Kallirhoe) - Acarnanian Naiad Nymph of Greek Mythology. Theoi.com entry on Callirrhoe (context for parentage of Acarnan)literary
- [7]Herodianus General Prosody 3.1.13.9-10 (discussion). Reference to prosody fragmentary citation (Herodianus) mentioned in source notesother
- [8]Acarnania (location entries). Geographic/toponym reference for Acarnania (context for adjectival use)other
- [9]Acarnania (location entries - alternate). Geographic/toponym reference for Acarnania (alternate resource)other
- [10]Wikidata: Acarnan. Wikidata entry for Acarnan (identifier/authority file)other