User:Paul August/Oicles

Oicles

To Do

• King? See Tripp (Arcadian king"), Hard, p. 413 ("Argive ruler").

Sources

Ancient

Apollodorus

1.7.10

Thestius had daughters and sons by Eurythemis, daughter of Cleoboea: the daughters were Althaea, Leda,1 Hypermnestra, and the males were Iphiclus, Evippus, Plexippus, and Eurypylus.

Porthaon and Euryte, daughter of Hippodamas, had sons, Oeneus, Agrius, Alcathous, Melas, Leucopeus, and a daughter Sterope, who is said to have been the mother of the Sirens by Achelous.

1.8.2

Amphiaraus, son of Oicles, from Argos.

2.6.4

After his servitude, being rid of his disease he mustered an army of noble volunteers and sailed for Ilium with eighteen ships of fifty oars each.¹ And having come to port at Ilium, he left the guard of the ships to Oicles² and himself with the rest of the champions set out to attack the city. Howbeit Laomedon marched against the ships with the multitude and slew Oicles in battle, but being repulsed by the troops of Hercules, he was besieged.

² As to Oicles at Troy, compare Diod. 4.32.3; Paus. 8.36.6, who says that his tomb was shown near Megalopolis in Arcadia. Sophocles seems to have written a play called Oicles, though there is some doubt as to the spelling of the name. See The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, ii.119.

3.7.5

After the capture of Thebes, when Alcmaeon learned that his mother Eriphyle had been bribed to his undoing also,1 he was more incensed than ever, and in accordance with an oracle given to him by Apollo he killed his mother.² Some say that he killed her in conjunction with his brother Amphilochus, others that he did it alone. But Alcmaeon was visited by the Fury of his mother's murder, and going mad he first repaired to Oicles³ in Arcadia, and thence to Phegeus at Psophis.

³ Oicles was the father of Amphiaraus, and therefore the grandfather of Alcmaeon. See Apollod. 1.8.2.

Bacchylides

9.10–24

There [Phlius] the heroes with red shields, the best of the Argives, held games for the first time in honor of Archemorus, whom a fiery-eyed monstrous dragon killed in his sleep: a sign of the slaughter to come. [15] Powerful fate! The son of Oicles [i.e. Amphiaraos] could not persuade them to go back to the streets thronged with good men. Hope robs men [of their sense]: it was she who then sent Adrastus son of Talaus [20] to Thebes ... to Polyneices ... The mortal men who crown their golden hair with the triennial garland from those glorious games in Nemea are illustrious;

Diodorus Siculus

4.32.3

When Heracles, then, had landed on the coast of the Troad, he advanced in person with his select troops against the city and left in command of the ships Oecles, the son of Amphiaraus. And since the presence of the enemy had not been expected, it proved impossible for Laomedon, on account of the exigencies of the moment, to collect a passable army, but gathering as many soldiers as he could he advanced p447 with them against the ships, in the hope that if he could burn them he could bring an end to the war. Oecles came out to meet him, but when he, the general, fell, the rest succeeded in making good their flight to the ships and in putting out to sea from the land.

4.68.5

And marrying Iphianeira, the daughter of Megapenthes, he begat Antiphates and Manto, and also Bias and Pronoê; and of Antiphates and of Zeuxippê, the daughter of Hippocoön, the children were Oecles and Amphalces, and to Oecles and Hypermnestra, the daughter of Thespius, were born Iphianeira, Polyboea, and Amphiaraüs.

Catalogue of Women

Hesiod fr. 22.34–40 Most [= Hesiod fr. 25.34–40 MW]

Hypermestra’s Children: Amphiaraus, Iphianeira, Endeus

[34] Godly Hypermestra bore Amphiaraus, leader of the people,

[35] after she went up into Oeclees’ vigorous marriage bed

in horse-grazed Argos, commander of many people;

he was good in assembly, and good at warfare,

fine in his thoughts, and he was dear to the immortals;

and she bore Iphianeira, who had a lovely form,

[40] and Endeus, lord of men, good and big.

Homer

Odyssey

15.225–247

Melampus, who of old dwelt in Pylos, ... For himself, he [Melampus] went to the land of other men, to horse-pasturing Argos, for there it was appointed him [240] to dwell, bearing sway over many Argives. There he wedded a wife and built him a high-roofed house, and begot Antiphates and Mantius, two stalwart sons. Now Antiphates begot great-hearted Oicles, and Oicles Amphiaraus, the rouser of the host, [245] whom Zeus, who bears the aegis, and Apollo heartily loved with all manner of love. Yet he did not reach the threshold of old age, but died in Thebe, because of a woman's gifts.

Hyginus

Fabulae

70

Amphiaraus son of Oecles (or son of Apollo as some authors say) ...

73

The augur Amphiaraus. the son of Oecles and Hypermestra daughter of Thestius, ...

Pausanias

3.12.5

Farther along the Aphetaid Road are hero-shrines, of Iops, who is supposed to have been born in the time of Lelex or. Myles, and of Amphiaraus the son of Oicles.

6.17.6

That he was the soothsayer of the clan of the Clytidae, Eperastus declares at the end of the inscription:

"Of the stock of the sacred-tongued Clytidae I boast to be,

Their soothsayer, the scion of the god-like Melampodidae."

For Mantius was a son of Melampus, the son of Amythaon, and he had a son Oicles, while Clytius was a son of Alcmaeon, the son of Amphiaraus, the son of Oicles. Clytius was the son of Alcmaeon by the daughter of Phegeus, and he migrated to Elis because he shrank from living with his mother's brothers, knowing that they had compassed the murder of Alcmaeon.

8.36.6

On the right of the road there has been made a precinct to the North Wind, and the Megalopolitans offer sacrifices every year, holding none of the gods in greater honor than the North Wind, because he proved their saviour from the Lacedaemonians under Agis. Next is the tomb of Oicles, the father of Amphiaraus, if indeed he met his end in Arcadia, and not after he had joined Heracles in his campaign against Laomedon. After it comes a temple of Demeter styled in the Marsh and her grove, which is five stades away from the city, and women only may enter it.

Pindar

Nemean

9.8–27

Let us rouse up, then, the resounding lyre and rouse the pipe for the very apex of contests

for horses, which Adrastus established for Phoebus by the streams of Asopus. Having mentioned them,

I shall exalt the hero with fame-bringing honors, [10]

who, reigning there at that time, made the city famous

by glorifying it with new festivals and contests for men’s strength and with polished chariots.

For in time past, to escape bold-counseling Amphiaraus and terrible civil strife, he had fled

from his ancestral home and Argos. No longer were Talaus’² sons rulers; they had been overpowered by discord.

But the stronger man puts an end to a former dispute.³ [15]

After giving man-subduing Eriphyle as a faithful pledge

to Oecles’ son⁴ for a wife, they⁵ became the greatest of the fair-haired Danaans . . .

and later they led an army of men to seven-gated Thebes

on a journey with no favorable omens, and Cronus’ son brandished his lightning and urged them not to set out

recklessly from home, but to forgo the expedition.⁶ [20]

But after all, the host was eager to march, with bronze

weapons and cavalry gear, into obvious disaster, and on the banks of the Ismenus⁷

they laid down their sweet homecoming and fed the white-flowering smoke with their bodies,

for seven pyres feasted on the men’s young limbs.⁸ But for Amphiaraus’ sake Zeus split the deep-bosomed

earth with his almighty thunderbolt and buried him with his team, [25]

before being struck in the back by Periclymenus'⁹ spear

and suffering disgrace in his warrior spirit.

² Talaus was Adrastus’ father.

³ I.e. Adrastus put an end to the quarrel by giving his sister Eriphyle in marriage to Amphiaraus. Others take it to refer to Amphiaraus: the stronger man puts an end to what was just before. The scholia support both interpretations.

⁴ Amphiaraus. Eriphyle persuaded him to embark on the expedition against his better judgment.

⁵ The sons of Talaus. No convincing supplement has been proposed for the lacuna at the end of the verse.

⁶ For lightning as a warning to hold back, see Od. 24.539–544. If οὐδέ is taken with both ἐλελίξαις and ἐπώτρυν᾿, the passage means: and by not brandishing his lightning Cronus’ son did not urge them to set out.

⁷ A river near Thebes.

⁸ There was a pyre for each contingent of the Seven.

⁹ A Theban defender, son of Poseidon and Chloris (Teiresias’ daughter), with the same name as the son of Neleus at Pyth. 4.175 (schol.).

10.26–28

[he] won the crown at both the Isthmus and Nemea and gave the Muses work for their plow, by thrice winning crowns at the gates to the sea,¹² and thrice on the hallowed ground in Adrastus’ institution.¹³

¹² I.e. at the Isthmus.

¹³ Adrastus instituted the Nemean games on his way to Thebes (cf. Nem. 8.51).

Olympian 6.13–17 [Loeb]

that Adrastus once justly proclaimed aloud about the seer Amphiaraus, son of Oecles, when the earth had swallowed up the man himself and his shining steeds.

Afterwards, when the corpses of the seven funeral pyres had been consumed,³ Talaus’ son⁴

spoke a word such as this at Thebes: “I dearly miss the eye of my army,

good both as a seer and at fighting with the spear.”

³ These are apparently pyres for each of the seven contingents led by Adrastus against Thebes.

⁴ Adrastus.

Pythian

8.39–55

which Oecles’ son⁷ once spoke in riddles as he beheld

the sons standing firm in battle at seven-gated Thebes, [40]

when the Epigoni came from Argos

on a second expedition.

Thus he spoke as they fought:

"By nature the noble resolve from fathers

shines forth in their sons. I clearly see [45]

Alcman wielding the dappled serpent on his flashing shield in the forefront at the gates of Cadmus.⁸

But he who suffered in a former defeat,

the hero Adrastus,

is now met with news [50]

of better omen, but in his own household

he will fare otherwise: for he alone from the Danaan army

will gather the bones of his dead son and with the favor

of the gods will come with his host unharmed

to the spacious streets of Abas."⁹

⁷ Amphiaraus.

⁸ Amphiaraus was both a seer and a fighter (cf. Ol. 6.16–17); the snake on Alcman’s shield symbolizes his own prophetic powers (schol.).

⁹ Twelfth king of Argos.

Modern

Gantz

p. 188

As for Melampous, the continuation of the story of the wooing of Pero in Odyssey 15 brings him to Argos (by himself), it being fated that he rule the Argives (Od 15.238-56). He marries (the Odyssey simply says "a woman") and begets Antiphates and Mantios. From Antiphates is born Oikles, and from Oikles Amphiaraos. Mantios for his part fathers ... Diodoros offers the same main line of descent from Melampous to Amphiaraos as the Odyssey ...

p. 318

In chapter 5, we saw that Theoklymenos' account of his family in Odyssey 15 included a son of Melampous, Antiphates, who in turn begat Oikles, the father of the seer Ampiaraos (Od 15.241-44). No mother is mentioned, but in the Ehoiai Oikles weds Hypermestra, and she bears him Amphiaraos, together with lovely Iphianeira and Endeos (Hes fr 25.34-40 MW). Apollodoros for his part does not even mention the marriage, and of the three children only Amphiaraos (ApB 1.8.2: here as elsewhere named son of Iokles, apparently a vaiant on Oikles³). For Diodorus the children of Oikles and Hypermestra were Amphiaraos, Iphianeira, and Polyboia, but he has no stories to tell about anyone except the seer (DS 4.68.5).

p. 442

If Sophokles did in fact write an Oikles (or if the Iokles of our sources is a variant on his name), that drama might have presented the exploits of the title figure (father of Amphiaraos) on the occasion of the sack (see below).

p. 443

(re DS 4.32-1-5) Upon landing, [Heracles] sets out ... leaving ... Oikles (here called a son of Amphiaraos) to guard the ships. Laomedon, however, makes a direct attack on the ships with a smaller group of men, and succeeds in killing Oikles, while the latter's comrades take the vessels out to sea.

Grimal

s.v. Oecles (Οἰχλῆς)

A descendant of Melampus, and therefore of the the race of Cretheus and Tyro (Table 1). He was the son of Antiphates, although some authors postulate Mantius, another of the sons of Melampus, as father. He married Hypermestra, one of the daughters of Thespius, and had several children:Iphianira, Polyboea, and , the best known, Amphiaraus. Oecles accompanied HERACLES on the Trojan expedition. He was entrusted with guarding the ships, and with a small band of soldiers had to withstand a counter-attack staged by Laomedon. He was killed during the first assault. Oecles is said to have given refuge to his grandson ALCMAEON in the Peloponnese when the latter, to avenge his father, killed his mother Eriphlyle, but chronologically the two episodes are incompatible.

p. 525

TABLE I

...

Hard

p. 276

Heracles assembled a sizeable army for the assault on Troy, recruiting some formidable heroes including Telamon, the father Aias (see p. 533), and Oikles, the father of Amphiaraos, and led them across the Agean in eighteen ships (or only eight according to the Iliad¹⁷⁰). After ariving at the Troad, he left Oikles behind to guard the ships while he advanced against the city with the main force. Having been caught by surprise and finding himself outnumbered as a consequence, Laomedon tried to weaken the position of the invaders by advancing against their ships with the intention of setting fire to them; but although Oikles was killed in the ensuing confrontation, his followers escaped back to their ships and rowed away from the shore.

p. 327

When first overcome by madness, Alkmaion fled to his grandfather Oikles in Arcadia, and then onward ...

p. 333

Amphiaraos was a great-grandson of Melampous and the only son of his father Oikles²²² (who has no myths of this own);

²²² For the descent of Amphiarauos, see Hom. Od. 15.225-44, D.S. 4.68.4-5.

p. 413

THESTIOS, king of Pleutron, ... by a wife ... he fathered ... Hypermnestra ... Hypermnestra married an Argive ruler, Oikles, to become the mother of the seer Amphiaraos.

p. 429

Melampous' branch of the family was also noted for the many seers who were born from it. This is already indicated in the Odyssey, which provides the greater part of the family tree in Table 13¹⁷⁶ (in which later additions are marked in italics). We have encountered Amphiaraos, the elder (or eldest) son of Oikles, and his son Alkmaion, as leading warriors in the Theban Wars. There were two important seers in this line (which was descended from Antiphates son of Melampous),

p. 706

Table 13 Deukalionids 5: The descendants of Melampous

...

p. 734

Oikles, father of Amphiaraos 276, 413

Oikles, son of Antiphates 327, 333

Parada

s.v. Oicles, (Oecleus)

Οἰκλη?ς

Helped Heracles 1, during this attack on Troy.

•a)Antiphates 3 ∞ Zeuxippe 4.

•b)Mantous ∞

•c)Amphiaraus ∞ Eriphyle.

••Hypermnestra 2.

•••Amphiaraus, Iphianira 2, Polyboea 2.

♇a)Laomedon 1 slew him in battle.

♇b)Met his end in Arcadia.

•a)Hom.Od. 15.243. •a)Dio.4.68.5. •b)Pau.6.17.6. •c)Dio.4.32.3

••Hyg.Fab.70. •••Hyg.Fab.73. D.-

♇a)Apd.2.6.4., Dio.4.32.3. :♇b)Pau.8.36.6

Oxford Classical Dictionary

s.v. OECLES (Οἰκλῆς) or OECLEUS (Οἰκλέους)

in mythology, father of Amphiaraus (q.v.; Aesch. Sept. 609 and often). He has neither a consistent place in genealogy nor a legend of the smallest importance.

Tripp

s.v. Oicles

An Arcadian king. Early writers knew nothing of Oïcles except that he was Amphiaraüs' father and a son of either Mantius of Antiphates. Later accounts added that he either was killed while guarding Hearcles' ships at Troy or else ruled long in Arcadia, was visited there by his mad grandson Alcmeon, and was buried at Megalopolis. [Homer, Odyssey, 15.243; Apollodorus 3.7.5]