Tlepolemus fled to Rhodes after slayingLicymnius, Heracles' aged maternal uncle.[1] According to theBibliotheca, this was an accident—Tlepolemus was beating a servant when Licymnius ran between the two, suffering a fatal blow,[5]—butPindar states that the death was intentional and motivated by anger.[3] Accompanied by hisArgive wifePolyxo,[6][7] Tlepolemus made passage to Rhodes and divided the island into three parts, founding three Rhodian city-states:Cameirus,Ialysus andLindus.[8][9]
Hyginus lists Tlepolemus among thesuitors of Helen;[10] thus bound by the oath ofTyndareus, he was among the Greek allies in the campaign against Troy, leading a force of nine ships.[1]
He encounteredSarpedon on the first day of fighting recounted in theIliad and taunted him saying that he lacked courage and could not really be the son ofZeus.[11] Tlepolemus then attacked him, and although he wounded Sarpedon, he was slain by the latter.[12]
According toPausanias, Polyxo killed Helen to avenge for her husband's death,[6] thoughPolyaenus says that Menelaus had dressed up a servant in Helen's clothes and that the Rhodians killed her instead as Menelaus and Helen escaped.[13]
^Hesiod,Catalogue of Women fr. 232 M–W = schol. Pind.Ol. 7.42b: "Homer says that she was Astyoche, not Astydameia ... Hesiod also says that she was Astydameia,Pherecydes says Astygeneia. She was a daughter of Phylas. ... Herein Pindar says that she was daughter of Amyntor, but Hesiod andSimonides say Ormenus." (Ὅμηρος ταύτην Ἀστυόχην φησὶν, οὐκ Ἀστυδάμειαν ... καὶ Ἡσίοδος δὲ Ἀστυδάμειαν αὐτήν φησι, Φερεκύδης δὲ Ἀστυγένειαν. ἦν δὲ Φύλαντος θυγάτηρ ... ἐνταῦθα δὲ Ἀμύντορος αὐτήν φησιν ὁ Πίνδαρος, Ἡσίοδος δὲ καὶ Σιμωνίδης Ὀρμένου.)
Pindar,The Odes of Pindar including the Principal Fragments with an Introduction and an English Translation by Sir John Sandys, Litt.D., FBA. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1937.Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
