Temenus

In

.

Temenus was a great-great-grandson of

five centuries later.

Conquest of the Peloponnese

Temenus and his brothers complained to the oracle that its instructions had proved fatal to those who had followed them (the

.

They accordingly built a fleet at

soothsayer. The oracle, being again consulted by Temenus, bade him offer an expiatory sacrifice and banish the murderer for ten years, and look out for a man with three eyes to act as guide.

On his way back to Naupactus, Temenus fell in with

Peloponnesus

.

A decisive battle was fought with

. The Heracleidae ruled in Lacedaemon until 221 BC, but disappeared much earlier in the other countries.

This conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians, commonly called the "Return of the Heracleidae", is represented as the recovery by the descendants of Heracles of the rightful inheritance of their hero ancestor and his sons. The Dorians followed the custom of other Greek tribes in claiming as ancestor for their ruling families one of the legendary heroes, but the traditions must not on that account be regarded as entirely mythical. They represent a joint invasion of Peloponnesus by Aetolians and Dorians, the latter having been driven southward from their original northern home under pressure from the Thessalians.

It is noticeable that there is no dominant mention of these Heracleidae or their invasion in Homer or Hesiod. Herodotus (vi. 52) speaks of poets who had celebrated their deeds, but these were limited to events immediately succeeding the death of Heracles. The story was first amplified by the Greek tragedians, who probably drew their inspiration from local legends, which glorified the services rendered by Athens to the rulers of the Peloponnese.

Reign

When Temenus, upon the division of the Peloponnese, had obtained Argos as his share, he bestowed all his affections upon his daughter Hyrnetho and her husband Deiphontes, for which he was murdered by his sons, who thought themselves neglected. According to Apollodorus, after the death of Temenus the army declared Deiphontes and Hyrnetho his rightful successors. Pausanias, however, reports a different story. According to him, after Temenus's death it was not Deiphontes that succeeded him, but Ceisus. Deiphontes on the other hand is said to have lived at Epidaurus, whither he went with the army which was attached to him, and whence he expelled the Ionian king, Pityreus. His brothers-in-law, however, who begrudged him the possession of their sister Hyrnetho, went to Epidaurus and tried to persuade her to leave her husband; and when this attempt failed, they carried her off by force. Deiphontes pursued them, and after having killed one of them, Cerynes, he wrestled with the other, who held his sister in his arms. In this struggle, Hyrnetho was killed by her own brother, who then escaped. Deiphontes carried her body back to Epidaurus, and there erected a sanctuary to her.

According to the playwright Euripides, Temenus had a son named

. This was likely a fabrication to help solidify the connection to the Argive Heritage. The first historically accurate mention is the much later king Archelaus(413-399).

References

Sources

• Bibliotheca ii. 8.
• Diodorus Siculus, iv. 57, 58.
• Pausanias, i. 32, 41, ii. 13, 18, iii. I, iv. 3, v. 3.
• Heracleidae
  .
• Pindar, Pythians, ix. 137.
• Herodotus, ix. 27.
• Karl Otfried Müller. Dorians, Part I, Chapter 3.
• Thirlwall. History of Greece, Chapter VII.
• Grote. History of Greece, Part I, Chapter XVIII.
• Georg Busolt. Griechische Geschichte, Part I, Chapter 11, Section 7, where a list of authorities is given.

Regnal titles
Preceded by Cylarabes	King of Argos	Succeeded by Deiphontes