Aleus was the son ofApheidas whose father was Arcas, the son ofZeus andCallisto, and the eponym of Arcadia.[1] Some accounts make Aleus the brother ofStheneboea, the wife ofProetus.[2] Aleus succeeded his father as king ofTegea in Arcadia, and whenAepytus died, Aleus became king of all Arcadia, with Tegea as his capital.[3] He was said to have been the eponymous founder of the city ofAlea.[4] From Aleus also comes, presumably, the epithetAthena Alea, whosetemple at Tegea, he was said to have built.[5]
Aleus' daughter Auge, virgin priestess ofAthena Alea, was made pregnant by Heracles, and though Aleus tried to dispose of mother and child, both ended up at the court of kingTeuthras inMysia, with Auge his wife (or by some accounts his adopted daughter) and Telephus his adopted heir.[8] According to one account, theDelphic oracle had warned Aleus that if his daughter had a son, then this grandson would kill Aleus' sons, so Aleus made Auge a priestess of Athena, telling her that she must remain a virgin, on pain of death.[9] But Heracles, passing through Tegea,[10] became enamored of Auge and while drunk had sex with her.[11] In some accounts, Aleus discovered that Auge was pregnant and gave her to Nauplius to be drowned,[12] but instead Nauplius sold her to Teuthras.[13] Others say that Auge had her baby secretly in the temple of Athena at Tegea and hid it there, but that an ensuing plague and investigation caused her to be found out,[14] so Aleus put Auge and Telephus to sea in a wooden chest and cast them adrift.[15]
In some accounts, the infant Telephus arrives together with Auge in Mysia, where he is adopted by Teuthras.[16] In others, Telephus is left behind in Arcadia, having been abandoned onMount Parthenion, either by Aleus,[17] or by Auge when she was being taken to the sea by Nauplius to be drowned;[18] however, Telephus is suckled by a deer,[19] and eventually reunited with Auge in Mysia many years later.[20] Some accounts have Telephus killing his maternal uncles, the sons of Aleus, thereby fulfilling the oracle, but none say how.[21]
When Aleus was an old man, his sons Amphidamas and Cepheus left Tegea to joinJason and theArgonauts on their quest to find theGolden Fleece. Aleus' eldest son Lycurgus stayed home to care for his father, sending his sonAncaeus in his stead. But Aleus, hoping to keep his grandson with him safe at home, hid all of Ancaeus' implements of war, and so Ancaeus went with Jason wearing a bearskin, and wielding a double-sided axe.[22] Later Ancaeus joined the hunt for theCalydonian boar, but was killed when the beast gored him.[23] At the time ofPausanias, the scene was depicted on the front gable of the temple of Athena Alea at Teage, with Ancaeus shown wounded, supported byEpochus, next to his dropped axe.[24]
The story of Aleus and his grandson Ancaeus shares similarities with the story told byHerodotus[25] aboutCroesus and his sonAtys. Croesus had dreamed that Atys would be killed by a spear. Because of this, to keep Atys safe, Croesus locked away all of his son's weaponry. A wild boar began to ravage the countryside and when a hunt was organized to rid the land of the raging beast, Croeus would not let his son join. However Atys said the boar would surely not kill him using a spear. So Croesus relented, and Atys was killed by a spear thrown by a fellow hunter.[26]
^An early genealogy inHesiod'sCatalogue of Women (Hesiod fr. 129 Merkelbach–West numbering, Most, pp. 148–151) has Stheneboea as the daughter of Aleus' father Apheidas (see also Apollodorus3.9.1) but by the time of Euripides' lost tragedyStheneboea her father isIobates (Gantz, pp. 311–312), see Apollodorus,2.2.1, Hyginus,Fabulae57.
^Pausanias,8.4.8, Apollodorus,3.9.1, Apollonius Rhodius,Argonautica1.161–171, Hyginus,Fabulae14 and Diodorus Siculus,4.68.1. Of the sources given here, only Diodorus Siculus mentions Alcidice. Pausanias, gives no mother. Apollodorus names Neaera the daughter of Pereus as mother (but compare with Pausanias,8.4.6 which says that Neaera married Autolycus), and has Amphidamas as a son of Lycurgus. Hyginus says that Cleobule was the mother of the Argonauts Amphidamas and Cepheus.
^Gantz, pp. 428–431; Hesiod (Pseudo),Catalogue of Women fr. 165 (Merkelbach–West numbering) from theOxyrhynchus Papyri XI 1359 fr. 1 (Most, pp. 184–187, Grenfell–Hunt,pp. 52–55—this version of the myth, unlike all others, has Heracles fathering Telephus in Mysia); Alcidamas,Odysseus 16 (Garagin and Woodruff,p. 286);Hecataeus (according to Pausanias,8.4.9); Hyginus,Fabulae99; Diodorus Siculus,4.33.10–12; Strabo,12.8.2,12.8.4,13.1.69; Apollodorus,2.7.4,3.9.1 (Hesiod and Hyginus have Teuthras adopting Auge).
^This is according to a declamation attributed to the fourth century BC oratorAlcidamas,Odysseus 14-16 (Garagin and Woodruff,p. 286) which probably used Sophocles' playAleadai as a source (see Gantz, p. 428). Alcidamas is the only source for the oracle given to Aleus (see Jebb,I, p.46, 47). As for Auge being a priestess of Athena see also, Euripides,Auge, test. iia (Hypothesis), Collard and Cropp, pp. 264–267; Apollodorus,3.9.1; Pausanias,8.45.4–7,8.47.2 and8.47.4; Moses of Chorene,Progymnasmata 3.3 (Collard and Cropp, pp. 266–267).
^Alcidamas,Odysseus 14 (Garagin and Woodruff,p. 286), says that Heracles stopped at Tegea on his way toElis to make war onAugeas; Apolodorus,2.7.2–4 and Diodorus Siculus,4.33 say that he was on his way back from Elis and his subsequent campaign againstHippocoon in Sparta.
^Euripides'Auge had Auge raped (Collard and Cropp, pp. 260, 264–265, Rosivach,pp. 43–44, Webster,p. 238–240, Winnington-Ingram,p. 333, Huys,pp. 115–116), see also Apollodorus,2.7.4,3.9.1, Hyginus,Fabulae99, Pausanias,8.47.4, Diodorus Siculus,4.33.8, Strabo,13.1.69, Ovid,Heroides9.47, Moses of Chorene,Progymnasmata 3.3 (Collard and Cropp, pp. 266–267). In other versions Auge received Heracles willingly: Hesiod (Pseudo),Catalogue of Women fr. 165 (Merkelbach–West numbering) from theOxyrhynchus Papyri XI 1359 fr. 1 (Most, pp. 184–187, Grenfell–Hunt,pp. 52–55),Hecataeus (according to Pausanias,8.4.9), Quintus Smyrnaeus,6.152–153.
^Alcidamas,Odysseus 15 (Garagin and Woodruff,p. 286), Pausanias,8.48.7 and Diodorus Siculus,4.33.8, which adds that Aleus did not believe Auge when she told him that Heracles was the father. Apollodorus,3.9.1 says simply that Naupliaus was to kill Auge. Moses of Chorene,Progymnasmata 3.3 (Collard and Cropp, pp. 266–267), says that Auge was to be "drowned in the ocean", but does not mention Nauplius.
^Alcidamas,Odysseus 16 (Garagin and Woodruff,p. 286); compare with Diodorus Siculus,4.33.10, where Nauplius gave Auge to "some Carians" who ultimately gave her to Teuthras, and Apollodorus,2.7.4, where (contradicting3.9.1) Aleus gave Auge to Nauplius "to sell far away in a foreign land; and Nauplius gave her to Teuthras".
^Euripides'Telephus, fr. 696 has Telephus say that Auge "bore me secretly" (Collard and Cropp (2), pp. 194–195; Page, p. 131), see also Pausanias,8.4.9. Euripides,Auge had Auge give birth in the temple and hide it there, (see Aristophanes,Frogs1080, withTzetzes on Aristophanes,Frogs 1080, test. iii, Collard and Cropp, pp. 266–267, and frs. 266, 267, pp. 270–271; Webster,p. 239; Huysp. 115). Apollodorus2.7.4,3.9.1, says that pestilence and pollution caused the birth to be discovered, events suggested byAuge frs. 266, 267 (Collard and Cropp, pp. 260, 270–271).
^Hecataeus (Pausanias,8.4.9). See also Strabo,13.1.69, which attributes this to Euripides, if so then this would have presumably been in Euripide'sAuge (see Webster,p. 238) however Strabo's attribution may be erroneous (see Collard and Cropp, p. 261).
^Alcidamas,Odysseus 16 (Garagin and Woodruff,p. 286); Euripides,Auge (Collard and Cropp, p. 261, Webster,pp. 238—240); Strabo,12.8.2,12.8.4,13.1.69; Moses of Chorene,Progymnasmata 3.3 (Collard and Cropp, pp. 266–267).
^Apollodorus,2.7.4,3.9.1. Moses of Chorene,Progymnasmata 3.3 (Collard and Cropp, pp. 266–267) says simply that Aleus "ordered Telephus to be cast out in a deserted place".
^Diodorus Siculus,4.33.9,4.33.11. Compare with Hyginus,Fabulae99, which has Auge abandoning Telephus on Parthenius while fleeing to Mysia.
^Sophocles,Aleadae fr. 89 (Lloyd-Jones,Sophocles Fragmentsp. 40–41), Apollodorus,2.7.4, Diodorus Siculus,4.33.11, Hyginus,Fabulae99,252, Pausanias,8.48.7,8.54.6, Quintus Smyrnaeus,6.154–156, Moses of Chorene,Progymnasmata 3.3 (Collard and Cropp, pp. 266–267). In the Telephus frieze from thePergamon Altar, Telephus is shown being suckled by a lioness (Heres, p. 85).
^Euripides,Telephus fr. 696 (Collard and Cropp (2), pp. 194–195, Page, pp. 131–133, Webster,p. 238), Apollodorus,3.9.1, Hyginus,Fabulae100, Diodorus Siculus,4.33.11–12.
Collard, Christopher and Martin Cropp,Euripides Fragments: Aegeus–Meleanger, Loeb Classical Library (June 30, 2008).ISBN978-0674996250.
Collard, Christopher and Martin Cropp (2),Euripides Fragments: Oedipus–Chrysippus, Other Fragments, Loeb Classical Library (June 30, 2008).ISBN978-0674996311.
Diodorus Siculus,Diodorus Siculus: The Library of History. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. Twelve volumes.Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 2. Books 2.35–4.58.ISBN0674993349.
Gantz, Timothy,Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes:ISBN978-0-8018-5360-9 (Vol. 1),ISBN978-0-8018-5362-3 (Vol. 2).
Garagin, M., P. Woodruff,Early Greek Political thought from Homer to the Sophists, Cambridge 1995.ISBN978-0-521-43768-4.
Grenfell, Bernard P., Arthur S, Hunt,The Oxyrhynchus Papyri Part XI, London, Egypt Exploration Fund, 1915.Internet Archive.
Heres, Huberta, "The Myth of Telephos in Pergamon" inPergamon: The Telephos Frieze from the Great Altar, Volume 2, by Renée Dreyfus, Ellen Schraudolph, University of Texas Press, 1996.ISBN9780884010913.
Huys, Marc,The Tale of the Hero Who Was Exposed at Birth in Euripidean Tragedy: A Study of Motifs, Cornell University Press (December 1995).ISBN978-9061867135.
Page, Denys Lionel, Sir,Select Papyri, Harvard University Press.ISBN978-0674993976 (v. 3).
Pausanias,Description of Greece. W. H. S. Jones (translator).Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. (1918).
Pausanias,Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918.ISBN0-674-99328-4.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
Quintus Smyrnaeus,Quintus Smyrnaeus: The Fall of Troy, Translator: A.S. Way; Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, 1913.
Rosivach, Vincent J.,When a Young Man Falls in Love: The Sexual Exploitation of Women in New Comedy, Psychology Press, 1998.ISBN9780415184489.
Strabo,Geography, translated by Horace Leonard Jones; Vol. 6, Books 13–14 Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. (1924).ISBN0674992466.
Webster, Thomas Bertram Lonsdale,The Tragedies of Euripides, Methuen & Co, 1967ISBN978-0416443103
Winnington-Ingram, Reginald Pepy,Sophocles: An Interpretation, Cambridge University Press, 1980.ISBN9780521296847.
