In the surviving mythic tradition Oecles appears as an Argive noble of the generation before the Trojan cycle and as the father of the famed seer Amphiaraus. Sources offer variant filiations: some attest him as son of Antiphates while others list Astacus as his father; the supplied materials do not reconcile these differences. He is consistently named as husband of Hypermnestra (also attested Hypermestra/Hypermestra), who is described in different accounts as daughter of either Thespius of Thespiae or Thestius of Pleuron. Within these genealogical matrices Oecles anchors Amphiaraus and related Argive families into wider heroic narratives and is counted among those who accompanied Heracles on the expedition against Troy.
The extant sources provided give no physical description or iconographic detail for Oecles. He is attested only in genealogical listings and narrative roll calls (for example as father of Amphiaraus and as a companion of Heracles), and no ancient descriptive passages specifying his stature, clothing, or distinguishing features are included in the cited materials. References to him appear primarily in prose summaries, genealogical indices, and scene captions naming Amphiaraus as "son of Oecles/Oikles."
The sources do not attribute supernatural powers, prophetic abilities, or divine status to Oecles; his notable functions are social and narrative. He is repeatedly identified as the father of the seer Amphiaraus and as the husband of Hypermnestra, and he is named among the companions who took part in Heracles' campaign against Troy. Any exceptional capacities in the tradition are assigned to his son Amphiaraus (seercraft), not to Oecles himself.
Amphiaraus
Amphiaraus is a legendary Greek seer and chthonic hero, famed as one of the Seven against Thebes. After his death—when the earth opened and swallowed him—he was venerated at the Amphiareion of Oropos as a healing and oracular figure whose sanctuary received petitioners seeking dream-delivered solutions.
Heracles
Heracles is the greatest hero of Greek myth whose career bridges mortal hero-cult and full divinization. Celebrated for his Twelve Labours, martial prowess, and travels between the mortal world, the underworld, and Olympus, he functioned as a civic patron, ancestor of royal lines (the Heracleidae), and object of cult that treated him both as chthonic hero and as god.
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.
Acarnan
Acarnan (Ancient Greek: Ἀκαρνάν) is an anthroponym attested in Greek mythic and epic tradition as the name of at least two distinct mortal figures: a son of Alcmaeon and Callirrhoe, and a human suitor of Penelope from Dulichium. The lexical form also appears adjectivally/ethnically (Acarnanian), linking the word to the region Acarnania; etymologically the name is reported as derived from a Greek fish-name (akarnan).
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.
Community Record
- [1]Oicles (Wikipedia). Wikipedia, "Oicles"wiki
- [2]Wikidata entry for Oecles. Wikidata Q1358973, "Oecles"other
- [3]Argos (Plato-Dialogues / dialogues-de-platon.org) — locational/genealogical index. Argos entry, plato-dialogues.org (genealogical index mentioning Oecles and familial context)other
- [4]Argos (dialogues-de-platon.org) — locational/genealogical index. Argos entry, dialogues-de-platon.org (variant readings of filiations and marital links)other
- [5]ToposText: Oecles / People index (Astacus parentage entry). ToposText people index entry for Oecles (lists son of Astacus variant)other
- [6]ToposText: Oecles / People index (Antiphates parentage entry). ToposText people index entry for Oecles (lists son of Antiphates variant)other
- [7]Amphiaraus — Greek Legends and Myths. GreekLegendsAndMyths, "Amphiaraus" (identifies Amphiaraus as son of Oecles)folk
- [8]Amphiaraus — GreekMythology.com. GreekMythology.com, "Amphiaraus" (states Amphiaraus was son of Oecles and Hypermnestra)folk
- [9]Hus Kalydonios (Calydonian Boar) — Theoi (visual/caption reference mentioning Amphiaraus son of Oikles). Theoi.com depiction reference (caption names Amphiaraus as son of Oikles/Oecles)other