Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 20, 2026

Lyncaeus

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

Last revised
Jul 20, 2026
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In Greek mythology, Lyncaeus (Ancient Greek: Λυγκαῖος) was the Thespian son of Heracles and Tiphyse,1 daughter of King Thespius of Thespiae.2

Mythology

Lyncaeus 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, 9.27.6–7; Gregorius Nazianzenus, Orat. IV, Contra Julianum I (Migne S. Gr. 35.661)
  4. Athenaeus, 13.4 with Herodorus as the authority; Diodorus Siculus, 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