Aristodemus
In Greek mythology, Aristodemus (Ancient Greek: Ἀριστόδημος) was a Heracleidae, son of Aristomachus and brother of Cresphontes and Temenus. He was a great-great-grandson of Heracles and helped lead the fifth and final attack on Mycenae in the Peloponnesus.
Aristodemus and his brothers complained to the Oracle that its instructions had proved fatal to those who had followed them (the Oracle had told Hyllas to attack through the narrow passage when the third fruit was ripe). They received the answer that by the "third fruit" the "third generation" was meant, and that the "narrow passage" was not the isthmus of Corinth, but the straits of Rhium. They accordingly built a fleet at Naupactus, but before they set sail, Aristodemus was struck by lightning (or shot by Apollo) and the fleet destroyed, because one of the Heraclidae had slain an Acarnanian soothsayer.
His brothers were later able to conquer the Peloponessus.
By his wife Argia, daughter of King Autesion of Thebes, he was the father of twin Kings Eurysthenes and Procles, the ancestors of the two royal houses of Sparta.
Aristodemus (disambiguation)
Aristodemus was a mythological figure who was a descendant of Heracles.
Aristodemus is an ancient Greek name that may also refer to:
Aristodemus may also refer to:
Aristodemus of Sparta
Aristodemus (Greek: Ἀριστόδημος) was a Spartan warrior, one of the many sent to the Battle of Thermopylae.
Thermopylae
Aristodemus was one of only two Spartan survivors, as he was not present at the last stand. Along with a comrade, Eurytus, Aristodemus was stricken with a disease of the eye (they were "ὀφθαλμιῶντες" as Herodotus wrote), causing King Leonidas to order the two to return home before the battle, but Eurytus turned back, though blind, and met his end charging into the fray.
The Greek historian Herodotus believed that had both Aristodemus and Eurytus returned alive, or had Aristodemus alone been ill and excused from combat, the Spartans would have ascribed no blame to Aristodemus. However, because Eurytus did turn back and died in combat, Aristodemus was regarded as a coward and subjected to humiliation and disgrace at the hands of his compatriots; in the words of Herodotus, "no man would give him a light for his fire or speak to him; he was called Aristodemus the Coward."
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