Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 6, 2026

Erasippus

In Greek mythology, Erasippus was the Thespian son of Heracles and Lysippe, daughter of King Thespius of Thespiae.

Last revised
Jun 6, 2026
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In Greek mythology, Erasippus (Ancient Greek: Ἐράσιππος) was the Thespian son of Heracles and Lysippe,1 daughter of King Thespius of Thespiae.2

Mythology

Erasippus and his 49 half-brothers were born of Thespius' daughters who were impregnated by Heracles in one night,3 for a week4 or in the course of 50 days5 while hunting for the Cithaeronian lion.6 Later on, the hero sent a message to Thespius to keep seven of these sons and send three of them in Thebes while the remaining forty, joined by Iolaus, were dispatched to the island of Sardinia to found a colony.7

Notes

Notes

  1. Apollodorus, 2.7.8
  2. Apollodorus, 2.4.10
  3. Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 9.27.6–7; Gregorius Nazianzenus, Orat. IV, Contra Julianum I (Migne S. Gr. 35.661)
  4. Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 13.4 with Herodorus as the authority; Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 4.29.3, f.n. 51
  5. Apollodorus, 2.4.10; Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 4.29.3; Tzetzes, Chiliades 2.224
  6. Apollodorus, 2.4.9–10
  7. Apollodorus, 2.7.6
References

References