Hyllus

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ

...However, in the order, there was, for many reasons, the displeasure of the Tegetians and the Athenians, for they each had the right to have the other's horn, both quoting new and old works. this is what the Tegeitai used to say. 2 "We are worthy of the same rank among the allies of the north, who were already common in the Peloponnese, both the old and the new, from that time when the said Herakles was descending to the Peloponnese after the death of Eurystheus; 3 then we find this because of that. After the Achaeans and Ionians who were then in the Peloponnese, who were helping you across the Isthmus, we went to the Isthmus like this Their judgment is excellent, this one those who fight on the subject. 4 Praise the Peloponnesians, and this is a poem, and we have sworn an oath to that effect, that if Ollus defeats the Peloponnesian ruler, Heraclides will occupy the territories, but if he is defeated, Heraclides will be freed and the army taken away. For a hundred years, don't be asked to come down to Peloponnese. 5 Choose from among all the allies the volunteer Ehemos, the general of Heropus of Phigeus, who is also a king for the rest of his life, and fight with me and expand the kingdom... - Herodotus, Histories of Calliope, Th.26

Pompeii fresco depicting Heracles holding Hyllus, with Deianira nearby, as the centaur Nessus pleads for his life...

Hyllos (and more rarely Yllas or Yllis) was the son of Herakles (Heracles,Hercules) and Deianeira, husband of Iolis. He was considered a surname of the Doric tribe of the Hylleans. After his father's death he was probably adopted by Aegimios.

Mythology

Hercules having completed his 12 labors was persecuted by the king of Tiryns Eurystheus as a usurper of the throne and died as an exile without ever returning to his homeland. His descendants, the Heraklides, led by Hyllos always wanted to return to their ancestral lands and claim the throne (see Return of the Heraklides). Allied with the Athenians, they fight against Eurystheus, kill him and destroy his army. Led by Hyllus they captured almost all its cities, but after a year or so a deadly epidemic appeared there, and the oracle they asked said it was a manifestation of "divine wrath" because they had returned before the appointed "by fate" time. . Obeying then the "will of the gods", the Heraklides left the Peloponnese and returned to Attica, where they settled in the region of Marathon.

As soon as the last traces of the epidemic disappeared, Hyllos fled to the Oracle of Delphi and asked for an oracle as to when they should return to the Peloponnese. He was then given an oracle that the appropriate time would be "after the third harvest" or "after the third harvest." Among all his brothers, Hyllus was the true heir of Hercules and the one who had lived the longest with him and was brought up by him. For these reasons Hyllos had been recognized by the Heraclides as their leader and they had assigned him to lead them to their home. Immediately after this oracle, Hyllos at the head of his brothers attempted to cross the Isthmus of Corinth. But there he met the army of Ehemus, the king of Tegea, arrayed. Instead of a battle, both sides preferred a duel between their leaders. Hyllos was killed in it, and so the Heraclides returned.

They retired to Thessaly, where Aegimius, the mythical progenitor of the Dorians, whom Herakles had helped in the war against the Lapids, adopted Hyllus and gave him a third part of his territory. After the death of Aegimius, his two sons, Pamphylus and Dymas, voluntarily submitted to Hyllus (who was, according to Doric tradition in Herodotus V. 72, really Achaean), who thus became ruler of the Dorians, of his three branches that the tribe was named after these three heroes. Wishing to regain his paternal heritage, Hyllos consulted the oracle at Delphi, which told him to wait for "the third fruit" and then enter the Peloponnese by "a narrow passage from the sea."

Accordingly, after three years, Hyllos crossed the Isthmus of Corinth to attack Atreus, the successor of Eurystheus, but was killed in a single battle by Echemus, king of Tegea. This second attempt was followed by a third under his son Cleodaeus and a fourth under his grandson Aristomachus, which were equally unsuccessful. At last Temenus, Cresphontes, and Aristodemus, the sons of Aristomachus, complained to the oracle that his instructions had proved fatal to those who had followed them. They received the answer that by the "third fruit" was meant the "third generation" and that the "narrow passage" was not the isthmus of Corinth, but the straits of Rio.

Accordingly, they built a fleet at Nafpaktos, but before they could set sail, Aristodemus was struck by lightning (or shot by Apollo) and the fleet destroyed, because one of the Heraclides had killed an Acarnanian seer. The oracle, again consulted by Timenos, asked him to offer an expiatory sacrifice and chase the murderer for ten years and to look out for a three-eyed man to act as a guide. On his return to Nafpaktos, Timenos fell in with Oxylos, an Aetolian, who had lost one eye, on horseback (thus making the three eyes) and immediately pressed him into his service. According to another account, a mule on which Oxylus rode had lost an eye.

The Heraclides repaired their ships, sailed from Nafpaktos to Antirrio and from there to Rio in the Peloponnese. A decisive battle was fought with Tisamenos, son of Orestes, the chief of the peninsula, who was defeated and killed. The Heraclides, who thus effectively became masters of the Peloponnese, proceeded to distribute their territory among themselves by lot. Argos fell to Timenos, Lacedaemon to Procles and Eurysthenes, the twin sons of Aristodemus. and Messini to Cresfontes. The fertile district of Elis had been reserved by agreement for Oxylus.

The Heraclides ruled in Lacedaemon until 221 BC, but disappeared much earlier in the other countries. This conquest of the Peloponnese by the Dorians, commonly called the "Return of the Heraclides," is represented as the recovery by the descendants of Herakles of the rightful inheritance of their heroic ancestor and his sons. The Dorians followed the custom of other Greek tribes in claiming as an ancestor for their ruling families one of the legendary heroes, but the traditions must not on this account be regarded as entirely mythical. They represent a joint invasion of the Peloponnese by Aetolians and Dorians, the latter driven south from their original northern homeland under Thessalian pressure.

It is remarkable that there is no mention of these Heraclides or their invasion in Homer or Hesiod. Herodotus (v. 52) speaks of poets who had celebrated their works, but these were confined to events immediately after the death of Hercules. The story was first reinforced by the Greek tragedians, who probably drew their inspiration from local legends, which glorified the services rendered by Athens to the rulers of the Peloponnese.

After Hercules was poisoned by Deianira, Hercules commissioned Hyllos to marry Iole when he came of age. Hyllos and Ioli had a son Cleodaeus and three daughters, Euichmi, Aristaichmi and Hyllis.

The tomb of Hyllos was supposed to be near Megara. His hero was also in Athens, north of the Acropolis, near the sanctuary of Achelous. Hyllos was also worshiped in Sparta, Argos and Troizena.

NOTE: Another son of Herakles, whom he had by the nymph Melitis, is also mentioned by the name Hyllos. This Yllos gave its name to the city of Ylli and the so-called "Yllaiko Limena" of Corfu. This Yllas was killed while departing with the Phaeacians from Corfu