Eurytus and Cteatus

In Greek mythology, Eurytus (/ˈjʊərɪtəs/; Ancient Greek: Εὔρυτος) and Cteatus (/ˈtiːətəs/; Ancient Greek: Κτέατος) were twin brothers and also named the Moliones or Molionidai for their mother, Molione.

For other uses, see Eurytus.
"Cteatus" redirects here. For the genus of beetle, see Cteatus (beetle).

Family

Eurytus and Cteatus were the sons of either Actor or Poseidon and nephew of Augeas. Eurytus and Cteatus married the twin daughters of Dexamenus, Theraephone and Therenice, respectively. Their respective sons, Thalpius and Amphimachus, were counted among the Achaean leaders in the Trojan War.[1]

Greek rhetorician and grammar Athenaeus of Naucratis, in his work Deipnosophistae, Book II, cited that poet Ibycus, in his Melodies, described twins Eurytus and Cteatus as "λευκίππους κόρους" ("white-horsed youths") and said they were born from a silver egg,[2] - a story that recalls the myth of Greek divine twins Castor and Pollux and their mother Leda.

Mythology

Greek legend maintains that the brothers were born conjoined with only one body but two heads, four arms and four legs,[3] though Homer makes no mention of this.

Both brothers went on expeditions of war to the Neleus and the Pylians, and later led an army marching against their uncle Augeas at the behest of Heracles. However after the latter made peace, the brothers attacked Heracles and were subsequently killed by him outside Cleonae.[4][5]

Notes
  1. Homer, Iliad, 2. 615
  2. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2013.01.0003:book=2:chapter=50&highlight=neocles
  3. Hesiod, Catalogue of Women frr. 17(a)–18.
  4. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, ii.7.2
  5. Smith (1846). Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. Taylor, Walton, Maberly. p. 1111.
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