Hyllus in the context of "Heracles"

The Heracleidae (/hɛrəˈklaɪdiː/; Ancient Greek: Ἡρακλεῖδαι) or Heraclids /ˈhɛrəklɪdz/ were the numerous descendants of Heracles, especially applied in a narrower sense to the descendants of Hyllus, the eldest of his four sons by Deianira (Hyllus was also sometimes thought of as Heracles' son by Melite). Other Heracleidae included Macaria, Lamos, Manto, Bianor, Tlepolemus, and Telephus. These Heraclids were a group of Dorian kings who conquered the Peloponnesian kingdoms of Mycenae, Sparta and Argos; according to the literary tradition in Greek mythology, they claimed a right to rule through their ancestor. Since Karl Otfried Müller's Die Dorier (1830, English translation 1839), I. ch. 3, their rise to dominance has been associated with a "Dorian invasion". Though details of genealogy differ from one ancient author to another, the cultural significance of the mythic theme, that the descendants of Heracles, exiled after his death, returned some generations later to reclaim land that their ancestors had held in Mycenaean Greece, was to assert the primal legitimacy of a traditional ruling clan that traced its origin, thus its legitimacy, to Heracles.

In the historical period, several dynasties claimed descent from Heracles, such as the Agiads and Eurypontids of Sparta, or the Temenids of Macedonia. In modern times, the same lineage has been claimed by the House of Burgundy and the kings of Castile.

Kourotrophos (Greek: κουροτρόφος 'child nurturer') is the name that was given in ancient Greece to gods and goddesses whose properties included their ability to protect young people. Numerous gods are referred to by the epithet such as Athena, Leto, Apollo, Hermes, Hecate, Aphrodite, Artemis, Eileithyia, Demeter, Gaia, Cephissus and Asclepius.They were usually depicted holding an infant in their arms. Deianeria and Ariadne were occasional shown on vases with their children, Hyllus and Staphylos and Oenopion respectively, but there is no evidence that there was a cult around them as kourotrophic figures.

Kourotrophos was also the name of a goddess or goddesses worshiped independently in shrines of their own. For example, Kourotrophos was a deity of the city of Athens but was not among the major Olympian deities. She appeared as the protector of children and young people and a sanctuary built on her name in honor of the cult, the Kourotropheion. Kourotrophos was a major figure of cult, appearing in sacrifice groups connected with fertility and child care.

In Greek mythology, Nessus (Ancient Greek: Νέσσος, romanized: Nessos) was a famous centaur who was killed by Heracles, and whose poisoned blood in turn killed Heracles. He was the son of Centauros. He fought in the battle with the Lapiths and became a ferryman on the river Euenos.

In Greek mythology, Cresphontes (/krɛsˈfɒntiːz/; Ancient Greek: Κρεσφόντης) was a son of Aristomachus, husband of Merope, father of Aepytus and brother of Temenus and Aristodemus. He was a great-great-grandson of Heracles and helped lead the fifth and final attack on Mycenae in the Peloponnesus. He became king of Messene.

Cresphontes and his brothers complained to the oracle that its instructions had proved fatal to those who had followed them (the oracle had told Hyllus 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 of Corinth, but the straits of Rhium. They accordingly built a fleet at Naupactus, but before they set sail, Aristodemus was struck by lightning (or shot by Apollo) and the fleet destroyed, because one of the Heraclidae had slain an Acarnanian soothsayer.

In Greek mythology, Melite (/ˈmɛlɪtiː/; Ancient Greek: Μελίτη) was one of the Naiads, daughter of the river god Aegaeus, and one of the many loves of Zeus and his son Heracles. Given the choice, she chose Heracles over Zeus who went off in search of other pursuits. She gave birth to Hercules's son Hyllus; some suggest that he was a figure distinct from Hyllus, the son of Heracles by Deianeira.

The name Nausithous (/ˌnɔːˈsɪθoʊəs/; Ancient Greek: Ναυσίθοος Nausíthoos) is shared by the following characters in Greek mythology:

• Nausithous, the king of the Phaeacians who reigned in the generation before Odysseus washed ashore on their home island of Scherie (his son Alcinous was king at the time of Odysseus's arrival). He was the son of the god Poseidon and Periboia, the daughter of the Giant king Eurymedon. According to Homer, Nausithous led a migration of Phaeacians from Hypereia to the island of Scheria in order to escape the lawless Cyclopes. He is the father of Alcinous and Rhexenor. Alcinous would go on to marry his niece, Rhexenor's daughter Arete. One source relates that Heracles came to Nausithous to get cleansed after the murder of his children; during his stay in the land of the Phaeacians, the hero fell in love with the nymph Melite and conceived a son Hyllus with her.
• Nausithous, one of the two sons born to Odysseus by Calypso, the other one being Nausinous. According to Hyginus, Nausithous was a son of Odysseus and Circe; his brother was Telegonus.

The Return of the Heracleidae is an ancient Greek myth concerning the return of the descendants of the hero Heracles to the Peloponnese, Heracles's homeland, and their conquest of various realms in the region. In the myth, Heracles was assisted by the Dorians: the story served as an aetiological myth for the Dorian communities of the Peloponnese, particularly Sparta.

According to the myth, Heracles's children (the Heracleidae) were forced from the Peloponnese by Eurystheus, and settled in the northern Greek region of Thessaly, where Hyllus, Heracles's eldest son, formed an allegiance with the Dorians. The Heracleidae killed Eurystheus, with Athenian support and protection, but Hyllus's attempt to retake the Peloponnese ended in failure and his own death in battle. Following the advice of the Oracle of Delphi, Hyllus's great-grandson, Temenos, led his relatives in a successful invasion, fifty years later, with the help of the Dorians and Oxylus. Temenos then divided the kingdoms of the Peloponnese between himself (receiving Argos), his brother Cresphontes (who received Messenia), and Eurysthenes and Procles, the sons of his brother Aristodemus, who had been killed before the Heracleidae reached the Peloponnese. Eurysthenes and Procles jointly received the kingdom of Sparta, founding the city's dual royal lineage.