InGreek mythology ,Thestius (/ˈ θ ɛ s tʃ ə s ˈ θ ɛ s t i ə s Ancient Greek : Θέστιος) was a king of Pleuronians in Aetolia.[ 1] Thespius , who was sometimes referred to as "Thestius".[ 2] patronymic "Thestias" may refer to one of his daughters,Leda orAlthaea ,[ 3] [ 4]
Thestius was the son either ofAres byDemonice [ 5] Pisidice ,[ 6] Agenor (son ofPleuron )[ 7] Epicasta . He was the brother ofEvenus ,Pylus andMolus or ofDemonice andPorthaon instead. Thestius was the father ofIphiclus [ 8] Leucippe [ 9] Eurythemis , daughter ofCleoboea , who was the mother of his other children, Althaea,[ 10] Eurypylus ,Evippus ,Hypermnestra , Leda andPlexippus .[ 11] Laophonte , daughter ofPleuron [ 12] Deidameia , daughter ofPerieres .[ 13] Cometes andProthous ,Toxeus ,[ 14] Aphares [ 15] Calydon .[ 6]
Comparative table of Thestius' family Relation Name Sources Alcman Pherecydes Bacchy. Sch. on Apollon. Ovid Apollod. Plut. Hyg. Pau. Parent(s) Ares and Demonice ✓ Ares and Pisidice ✓ Agenor ✓ Wife Deidameia ✓ or Laophonte ✓ ✓ ✓ Eurythemis ✓ Leucippe ✓[ 16] Children Iphiclus ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Aphares ✓ Althaea ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Leda ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Toxeus ✓ Plexippus ✓ ✓ Eurypylus ✓ Evippus ✓ Hypermnestra ✓ ✓ Calydon ✓ Prothous ✓ Cometes ✓
Thestius was allied withTyndareus andIcarius againstHippocoon .[ 17] Strabo , when Tyndareus and his brother Icarius, after being banished by Hippocoön from their homeland, went to Thestius, the king of the Pleuronii. The king helped the two brothers to acquire possession of much of the country on the far side of theAcheloüs on condition that they should receive a share of it. Tyndareus, however, went back home, having married Leda, the daughter of Thestius, whereas Icarius stayed on, keeping a portion ofAcarnania , and byPolycaste , the daughter of Lygaeus, begot both Penelope and her brothers.[ 18]
In a rare variant of the myth byPlutarch , the river Achelous in Aetolia was formerly called after Thestius. This Thestius who upon some domestic discontent traveled as far asSicyon , where he had resided for some time, returned to his native home. But finding there his son Calydon and his mother [i.e. Pisidice] both upon the bed together, believing him to be an adulterer, slew his own child by a mistake. But when he beheld the unfortunate and unexpected fact he had committed, he threw himself into the riverAxenos , which from thence was afterwards called Thestius.[ 6]
^ Aeschylus ,Libation Bearers 602 ;Strabo ,10.2.24 ^ Pausanias ,9.27.7 ^ Aeschylus,Libation-Bearers 606;Euripides ,Iphigenia in Aulis ^ Apollonius of Rhodes ,Argonautica ^ Apollodorus ,1.7.7 ^a b c Pseudo-Plutarch ,De fluviis 22.1 ^ Pausanias,3.13.8 ^ Apollodorus,1.9.16 ^ Hyginus,Fabulae 14 ^ Antoninus Liberalis ,2 as cited inNicander's Metamorphoses ^ Apollodorus,1.7.10 ^ Alcman , fr. 15 as cited inScholiast on Apollonius of Rhodes,Argonautica 1.146^ Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, 201 ^ Note that we must not confuse Toxeus, the son of Thestius from his nephew who was also called Toxeus, the son of Althaea and Oeneus. ^ Bacchylides ,Epinician Odes ^ Leda's and Hypermnestra's mother might be Leucippe as well because there was no other woman mentioned as the wife of Thestius other than Leucippe in this text. ^ Apollodorus,3.10.5 ^ Strabo ,10.2.24 Aeschylus , translated in two volumes. 2.Libation Bearers by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1926.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website .Apollodorus ,The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.ISBN 0-674-99135-4 .Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website .Apollonius Rhodius ,Argonautica translated by Robert Cooper Seaton (1853-1915), R. C. Loeb Classical Library Volume 001. London, William Heinemann Ltd, 1912.Online version at the Topos Text Project. Apollonius Rhodius,Argonautica . George W. Mooney. London. Longmans, Green. 1912.Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library . Bacchylides ,Odes translated by Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1991.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Bacchylides,The Poems and Fragments . Cambridge University Press. 1905.Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library . Euripides ,The Plays of Euripides , translated by E. P. Coleridge. Volume II. London. George Bell and Sons. 1891.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Euripides,Euripidis Fabulae. vol. 3 . Gilbert Murray. Oxford. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1913.Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library . Gaius Julius Hyginus ,Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies.Online version at the Topos Text Project. Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus ,Morals translated from the Greek by several hands. Corrected and revised by.William W. Goodwin , PH. D. Boston. Little, Brown, and Company. Cambridge. Press Of John Wilson and son. 1874. 5.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library .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.ISBN 0-674-99328-4 .Online version at the Perseus Digital Library Pausanias,Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols . Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library . Strabo ,The Geography of Strabo. Edition by H.L. Jones. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Strabo,Geographica edited by A. Meineke. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877.Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library. 
