Deiphontes

Family: Epidaurian · Role: general · First appears: Book 2 · Chapter 19

Deiphontes, son of Antimachus, was appointed general by Temenus, who made him his associate in all things and gave him his daughter Hyrnetho in marriage. At Epidauria, Pityreus surrendered the land to Deiphontes and the Argives, then retired to Athens with his subjects. After Temenus’s death, Deiphontes and Hyrnetho opposed his sons, while the army favored them.

At Epidaurus, Hyrnetho affirmed Deiphontes as her husband when she refused a marriage proposal. During the ensuing events, Deiphontes shot and killed Cerynes with an arrow; with Phalces close to Hyrnetho, he did not dare shoot at him and instead closed with him to try to take her away. After Hyrnetho died, Deiphontes and their children—Antimenes, Xanthippus (son of Deiphontes), Argeus, and Orsobia—carried her body to Hyrnethium, where they built a chapel in her memory and paid her other honours.

Later, Procles (son of Pityreus) and his men were banished from Epidauria by Deiphontes and the Argives.