InGreek mythology,Aristodemus (Ancient Greek: Ἀριστόδημος) was one of theHeracleidae, son ofAristomachus and brother ofCresphontes andTemenus. He was a great-great-grandson ofHeracles and helped lead the fifth and final attack onMycenae in thePeloponnese.[1]
Aristodemus and his brothers complained to theoracle[clarification needed] that its instructions had proved fatal to those who had followed them; the oracle had toldHyllas to attack through the narrow passage when the third fruit was ripe. They received the answer that by the "third fruit" the "third generation" was meant, and that the "narrow passage" was not the isthmus ofCorinth, but the straits ofRhium. They accordingly built a fleet atNaupactus, but before they set sail, Aristodemus was struck by lightning (or shot byApollo) and the fleet destroyed, because one of theHeraclidae had slain anAcarnanian soothsayer.
His brothers were later able to conquer the Peloponnese.
By his wifeArgia, daughter of KingAutesion ofThebes, he was the father of twin kingsEurysthenes andProcles, the ancestors of the two royal houses ofSparta.[2]
