Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

, Hyrnetho (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

: Ὑρνηθώ) was a daughter of

Temenus In Greek mythology, Temenus ( el, Τήμενος, ''Tḗmenos'') was a son of Aristomachus and brother of Cresphontes and Aristodemus. Temenus was a great-great-grandson of Heracles and helped lead the fifth and final attack on Mycenae in the ...

, and the wife of

Deiphontes Deiphontes (; grc, Δηϊφόντης) was king of Argos. He was a son of Antimachus, and husband of Hyrnetho, the daughter of Temenus the Heracleide, by whom he became the father of Antimenes, Xanthippus, Argeius, and Orsobia. Deiphontes was desc ...

, by whom she became mother of Antimenes, Xanthippus,

Argeius Argeius ( grc, Ἀργεῖος, but also sometimes Argeus) was one of the Elean deputies sent to the Persian Empire to co-operate with Pelopidas in 367 BCE on counteracting Spartan negotiation and attaching Artaxerxes II of Persia to the Theban ca ...

, and Orsobia. Temenus favored his daughter Hyrnetho and her husband Deiphontes more than his sons, Hyrnetho's brothers, and planned on making Deiphontes his heir. His sons plotted against him and killed him, but nevertheless, the kingdom of

Argos Argos most often refers to: * Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece ** Ancient Argos, the ancient city * Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland Argos or ARGOS may also refer to: Businesses ...

passed to Deiphontes and Hyrnetho, since the army supported them rather than Temenus' sons; alternately, the kingdom was seized by

Ceisus In Greek mythology, Cisus, or Ceisus, son of Temenus, was a king of Argos. Temenus had left his kingdom to his son in law Deiphontes even though he had natural sons of his own. In consequence of this, Deiphontes was slain by the stratagems of the ...

, the eldest son of Temenus. The brothers knew they would hurt their rival Deiphontes the most if they separated him from Hyrnetho. So Cerynes and Phalces, ignoring the objections of their youngest brother Agraeus, came to

Epidaurus Epidaurus ( gr, Ἐπίδαυρος) was a small city (''polis'') in ancient Greece, on the Argolid Peninsula at the Saronic Gulf. Two modern towns bear the name Epidavros: ''Palaia Epidavros'' and ''Nea Epidavros''. Since 2010 they belong to the ...

, where Hyrnetho and Deiphontes resided. At first they tried to persuade Hyrnetho to leave her husband and go with them, promising her to marry her to a better person and making heavy accusations against Deiphontes. She didn't believe any of the accusations and defended her husband passionately; so the brothers simply carried her off by force. Upon hearing of it, Deiphontes rushed to her rescue. He shot Cerynes with an arrow, but was afraid to shoot at Phalces, who was holding Hyrnetho; he caught up with his chariot and attempted to get Hyrnetho away. But Phalces dragged her back with such violence that it killed her (she was pregnant at the time). Hyrnetho was buried by her husband and children at a place which later received the name of Hyrnethium. Her tomb and a heroum, with a sacred grove, were shown at

and

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC * Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...

, ''Description of Greece'', 2. 23. 3; 2. 28. 6

References

{{reflist Women in Greek mythology