Procles

Family: Epidauros · Role: despot; Melissa's father · First appears: Book 3 · §42–50

In Book 3, Procles was despot of Epidauros and father of Melissa. He told Lycophron that Periander had killed his mother; afterward, Lycophron regarded his father as her murderer. Procles also received his daughter’s sons kindly, as their maternal grandfather. Periander later made war on his father-in-law, took Epidauros, and captured Procles.

Book 4 names Procles as a son of Aristodemos and brother of Eurysthenes, with Theras as their maternal uncle and guardian while they were children. In Book 6, Aristodemos’s wife Argeia gave birth to twins, Eurysthenes and Procles; the Spartans raised Eurysthenes as the elder and named the other twin Procles. The account says the brothers later disagreed. Book 8 names Procles as the father of Euryphon, and Euryphon as the father of Leotychides (son of Anaxilaos).