Tisamenus

Family: Achæans · Role: son of Orestes · First appears: Book 2 · Chapter 18

When Orestes died, Tisamenus, his son by Hermione, received the kingdom. During his reign, Temenus and Cresphontes returned to the Peloponnese and claimed Argos and its kingdom; they expelled Tisamenus from Lacedæmon and Argos. At Temenium, Temenus occupied and fortified a base from which he fought against Tisamenus and the Achæans.

After the Achæans’ proposal to colonize was rejected by the Ionians, they went to battle, and Tisamenus fell. The account of the Achæans also names his sons Däimenes, Sparton, Tellis, and Leontomenes among their most powerful men; his eldest son, Cometes, had crossed to Asia Minor. Damasias, son of Penthilus and grandson of Orestes, is identified as Tisamenus’ brother.

Relationship record

Life events

• Tisamenus succeeded Orestes and received the kingdom.(Book 2 · Chapter 18)
  • With: Orestes
  • “And when Orestes died Tisamenus, the son of Orestes by Hermione the daughter of Menelaus, had the kingdom.”
• The Heraclidæ returned, claimed Argos, and expelled Tisamenus from Lacedæmon and Argos.(Book 2 · Chapter 18 · 📍 Peloponnese)
  • With: Temenus Cresphontes
  • “It was in the reign of this Tisamenus that the Heraclidæ returned to the Peloponnese, viz. Temenus and Cresphontes the sons of Aristomachus, and, as Aristodemus had died earlier, his sons came too. And they laid claim to Argos and its kingdom”
• Temenus occupied and fortified Temenium during conflict with Tisamenus and the Achæans.(Book 2 · Chapter 38 · 📍 Temenium)
  • With: Temenus
  • “for he occupied and fortified the place, when he fought with the Dorians against Tisamenus and the Achæans from this base”
• Tisamenus fell in battle after the Ionians rejected the Achæans’ colonization proposal.(Book 7 · Chapter 1)
  • “So the Ionians did not accept the proposals of the Achæans but went to blows over it, and Tisamenus fell in the battle,”

Book 2 · Chapter 18

• parent: Orestes “when Orestes died Tisamenus, the son of Orestes by Hermione the daughter of Menelaus, had the kingdom”
• parent: Hermione “Tisamenus, the son of Orestes by Hermione the daughter of Menelaus, had the kingdom”
• rivals with Temenus “And they laid claim to Argos and its kingdom on it seems to me the justest grounds”
• rivals with Cresphontes “And they laid claim to Argos and its kingdom on it seems to me the justest grounds”

Book 2 · Chapter 38

• enemies with Temenus “when he fought with the Dorians against Tisamenus and the Achæans from this base”

Book 3 · Chapter 1

• parent: Orestes “But when the Heraclidæ returned in the reign of Tisamenus the son of Orestes, one party in Messene and Argos made Temenus king, and another section Cresphontes.”

Book 7 · Chapter 1

• parent: Orestes “And now when they were expelled from Argos and Lacedæmon by the Dorians, they and their king Tisamenus the son of Orestes made the Ionians proposals to become their colonists without war.”

Book 7 · Chapter 6

• child: Däimenes “And those who had the greatest power among the Achæans were the sons of Tisamenus, Däimenes and Sparton and Tellis and Leontomenes.”
• child: Sparton “And those who had the greatest power among the Achæans were the sons of Tisamenus, Däimenes and Sparton and Tellis and Leontomenes.”
• child: Tellis “And those who had the greatest power among the Achæans were the sons of Tisamenus, Däimenes and Sparton and Tellis and Leontomenes.”
• child: Leontomenes “And those who had the greatest power among the Achæans were the sons of Tisamenus, Däimenes and Sparton and Tellis and Leontomenes.”
• child: Cometes “Cometes, the eldest of Tisamenus’ sons, had previously crossed over into Asia Minor.”
• siblings with Damasias “Damasias (the son of Penthilus, the son of Orestes), the brother of Tisamenus.”

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Extracted from the original text of Pausanias' Description of Greece. Made with Rho MD.