Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 19, 2026

Onesippus

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

Last revised
Jul 19, 2026
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In Greek mythology, Onesippus (Ancient Greek: Ὀνήσιππος) was the Thespian son of Heracles and Chryseis,1 daughter of King Thespius of Thespiae.2

Mythology

Onesippus 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