Lycurgus

Family: Arcadia · Role: father of Ancaeus and Cepheus · First appears: Apollodorus, Library 1.8

🌐 Also appears in: The Iliad (as Lycurgus) · The Metamorphoses of Ovid (as Lycurgus)

Lycurgus is named in several genealogical traditions. He is given as the son of Pheres, the husband of Eurydice, and the father of Ancaeus, Cepheus, and Opheltes, who was later called Archemorus. Another account makes him the son of Heracles and Toxicrate, while a further genealogy names him as the son of Aleus and Neaera, with Ancaeus, Epochus, Amphidamas, and Iasus as his sons.

At Mount Pangaeum, Lycurgus was an enemy of Dionysus and was said to have been the first to insult and expel him. Driven mad by Dionysus, he killed his son Dryas with an axe, “imagining that he was lopping a branch of a vine.” He is also associated with Hypsipyle, who served in his house as a purchased bondwoman.

Relationship record

Life events

• Lycurgus, driven mad by Dionysus, killed his son Dryas with an axe.(Apollodorus, Library 3.5 · 📍 Mount Pangaeum)
  • With: Dionysus Dryas
  • “And in his madness he struck his son Dryas dead with an axe, imagining that he was lopping a branch of a vine”

Apollodorus, Library 1.8

• child: Ancaeus “Ancaeus and Cepheus, sons of Lycurgus”
• child: Cepheus “Ancaeus and Cepheus, sons of Lycurgus”

Apollodorus, Library 1.9

• parent: Pheres “Pheres, son of Cretheus, founded Pherae in Thessaly and begat Admetus and Lycurgus.”
• married with Eurydice “having married Eurydice, or, as some say, Amphithea”
• child: Opheltes “he begat Opheltes, afterwards called Archemorus.”

Apollodorus, Library 2.7

• parent: Heracles “by Toxicrate he had Lycurgus”
• parent: Toxicrate “by Toxicrate he had Lycurgus”

Apollodorus, Library 3.5

• enemies with Dionysus (Lycurgus insulted and expelled Dionysus.) “But Lycurgus, son of Dryas, was king of the Edonians, who dwell beside the river Strymon, and he was the first who insulted and expelled him.”
• parent: Dryas (Lycurgus is the son of Dryas.) “But Lycurgus, son of Dryas, was king of the Edonians, who dwell beside the river Strymon, and he was the first who insulted and expelled him.”

Apollodorus, Library 3.6

• servant: Hypsipyle “wherefore she served in the house of Lycurgus as a purchased bondwoman.”

Apollodorus, Library 3.9

• parent: Aleus “And Aleus had a daughter Auge and two sons, Cepheus and Lycurgus, by Neaera, daughter of Pereus.”
• parent: Neaera “And Aleus had a daughter Auge and two sons, Cepheus and Lycurgus, by Neaera, daughter of Pereus.”
• child: Epochus “Lycurgus had sons, Ancaeus, Epochus, Amphidamas, and Iasus, by Cleophyle or Eurynome.”
• child: Amphidamas “Lycurgus had sons, Ancaeus, Epochus, Amphidamas, and Iasus, by Cleophyle or Eurynome.”
• child: Iasus “Lycurgus had sons, Ancaeus, Epochus, Amphidamas, and Iasus, by Cleophyle or Eurynome.”

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Extracted from the original text of Greek Mythology. Made with Rho MD.