HYLLUS

The son of Heracles and Delanira, husband of Iole. When he, and the rest of the children of Heracles, at their father's death, were pursued everywhere by the enmity of Eurystheus, they at last found succour from Theseus, or his son Demophon. When Eurystheus drew near with his army to compel the Athenians to give them up, Macaria , daughter of Heracles, freely offered herself up as a sacrifice for her brethren, who, aided by the Athenians, defeated the enemy, Eurystheus being slain as a fugitive by Hyllus himself. Having withdrawn from Attica to Thessaly, Hyllus was adopted by the Dorian prince Aegimius, whom Heracles had once assisted in the war between the Lapithae and the Dryopes, under promise of his abdication of the royal power, together with a third part of the kingdom. Thus the rule over the Dorians passed to him and his descendants. When commanded by the Delphic oracle to attempt to conquer the kingdom of Eurystheus immediately after "the third fruit," he endeavoured after the lapse of three years to invade the Peloponnesus by way of the Isthmus. He was, however, repulsed by Atreus, the successor of Eurystheus and fell in single combat with Echemus, king of Tegea. It was in the "third generation" after him that the sons of his grandson Aristomachus, viz. Temenus, Cresphontes, and Aristodemus, at last conquered the Peloponnesus, which was then under the rule of Tisamenus, son of Orestes.