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 ...

, Oeneus (; grc , Οἰνεύς , Oineús , Wine-man) was a

Calydon Calydon (; grc, Καλυδών, ) was a Greek city in ancient Aetolia, situated on the west bank of the river Evenus, 7.5 Roman miles (approx. 11 km) from the sea. Its name is most famous today for the Calydonian boar that had to be ov ...

ian king. He introduced wine-making to

Aetolia Aetolia ( el, Αἰτωλία, Aἰtōlía) is a mountainous region of Greece on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, forming the eastern part of the modern regional units of Greece, regional unit of Aetolia-Acarnania. Geography The Achelous ...

, which he learned from

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...

and the first who received a vine-plant from the same god.

Apollodorus Apollodorus (Ancient Greek, Greek: Ἀπολλόδωρος ''Apollodoros'') was a popular name in ancient Greece. It is the masculine gender of a noun compounded from Apollo, the deity, and doron, "gift"; that is, "Gift of Apollo." It may refer to: ...

1.8.1
/ref>

Family

Oeneus was the son of King Porthaon and Euryte, and thus, brother of

Agrius Agrius (; Ancient Greek: Ἄγριος means 'wild, savage') in Greek mythology, is a name that may refer to: *Agrius, one of the Giants, sons of Gaia. He, together with Thoon, was clubbed to death by Moirai with maces made from bronze, during th ...

, Alcathous,

Melas Melas may refer to: * Plural of mela People * Melas (mythology), a number of different characters in Greek mythology * Pavlos Melas (1870–1904), a Hellenic Army officer and a symbol of the Greek Struggle for Macedonia * Chloe Melas, an America ...

, Leucopeus, and

Sterope Sterope (; Ancient Greek: Στερόπη, , from , ''steropē'', lightning) was the name of several individuals in Greek mythology: * Sterope (or Asterope), one of the Pleiades and the wife of Oenomaus (or his mother by Ares). * Sterope, a Pleu ...

. He married Althaea and became the father of Deianeira,

Meleager In Greek mythology, Meleager (, grc-gre, Μελέαγρος, Meléagros) was a hero venerated in his ''temenos'' at Calydon in Aetolia. He was already famed as the host of the Calydonian boar hunt in the epic tradition that was reworked by Ho ...

Toxeus In 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 Cosmo ...

Clymenus In Greek mythology, Clymenus (; grc, Κλύμενος, Klúmenos} means "notorious" or "renowned") may refer to multiple individuals: *Clymenus, a son of Phoroneus by either Cerdo or Teledice In Greek mythology, Teledice (Ancient Greek: Τηλε ...

Periphas Periphas (; Ancient Greek: Περίφᾱς ''Períphās'' means 'conspicuousness') in Greek mythology may refer to: * Periphas, a legendary king of Attica who Zeus turned into an eagle. *Periphas, an Egyptian prince as one of the sons of King Aegy ...

Agelaus Agelaus or Agelaos (Ancient Greek: Ἀγέλαος) is, in Greek mythology, the name of various individuals. *Agelaus, father of Antheus of Lyctus. He fought in the army of Dionysus during his campaigns in India. *Agelaus, an Arcadian prince as ...

(or Ageleus),

Thyreus ''Thyreus'' is an Old World genus of bees, one of many that are commonly known as cuckoo bees, and are cleptoparasites of other species of bees, mostly in the genus ''Amegilla ''Amegilla'' is a large genus of bees in the tribe Anthophorini. ...

(or

Phereus In Greek mythology, Phereus (Ancient Greek: Φηρεύς) may refer to the following personages: * Phereus, the "playful" leader of the satyrs who joined the army of Dionysus in his campaign against India. *Phereus, a Theban prince as one of the N ...

Pheres In Greek mythology, Pheres ( grc, Φέρης, ''Phéres'', modern pronunciation ''Féris''; la, Pheres) was the founder of Pherae in Thessaly. Family Pheres was the son of Cretheus, King of Iolcus and Tyro. He was the brother of Aeson and Amyt ...

Gorge A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...

Eurymede In Greek mythology, Eurymēdē (Ancient Greek: Εὐρυμήδη or Εὐρυμέδη, ''Eurumēdē,'' "lady with wide-ranging thoughts"'')'' may refer to the following characters: * Eurymēdē, mother by Glaucus of Bellerophon and possibly Deliade ...

, Melanippe and

Perimede ''Perimede'' is a genus of moths in the family Cosmopterigidae The Cosmopterigidae are a family of insects (cosmet moths) in the order Lepidoptera. These are small moths with narrow wings whose tiny larvae feed internally on the leaves, seed ...

(although Meleager's and Deianeira's fathers could also have been

Ares Ares (; grc, Ἄρης, ''Árēs'' ) is the Greek god of war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for success in war b ...

and

Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' 129 respectively). s''ee

Meleagrids In Greek mythology, the Meleagrids (Ancient Greek: ) were Calydon, Calydonian princesses as the daughters of Queen Althaea (mythology), Althaea and King Oeneus, and sisters of the hero Meleager. Mythology When their brother died, the Meleagrides ...

''. Oeneus was also the father of

Tydeus Tydeus (; Ancient Greek: Τυδεύς ''Tūdeus'') was an Aetolian hero in Greek mythology, belonging to the generation before the Trojan War. He was one of the Seven against Thebes, and the father of Diomedes, who is frequently known by the patr ...

and possibly Melanippus or Olenias by

Periboea __NOTOC__ In Greek mythology, the name Periboea (; Ancient Greek: Περίβοια "surrounded by cattle" derived from ''peri'' "around" and ''boes'' "cattle") refers to multiple figures: *Periboea, one of the 3,000 Oceanids, water-nymph daughte ...

, daughter of Hipponous, though Tydeus was exiled from Aetolia and appears in myths concerning

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 * ...

. According to Pausanias,

Mothone Methone ( grc, Μεθώνη), or Mothone (Μοθώνη), was a town in the southwestern corner of ancient Messenia. It was an important place in ancient times, on account of its excellent harbour and salubrious situation. It is situated at the extre ...

was a daughter of Oeneus by a concubine. In some accounts, Polyxo was called the sister of Meleager and thus, can be counted among the daughters of Oeneus.

Mythology

Oeneus slew his son Toxeus by his own hand because he leaped over the ditch.

Divine visit

When Dionysus had come as a guest to Oineus he fell in love with Althaea and the king realizing this, he voluntarily left the city and pretended to be performing sacred rites. But Dionysus lay with Althaea, who became mother of Dejanira. To Oineus, because of his generous hospitality, he gave the vine as a gift, and showed him how to plant it, and decreed that its fruit should be called oinos from the name of his host.

Calydonian boar hunt

Since Oineus had made sacrifices yearly to all the gods during the harvest ceremonies, but had omitted to honor

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...

, in anger she sent a boar of immense size to lay waste the district of Calydon. He sent out his son Meleager who promised that he would go with chosen leaders to attack the Calydonian boar. So began the

Calydonian boar hunt The Calydonian boar hunt is one of the great heroic adventures in Greek legend. It occurred in the generation prior to that of the Trojan War, and stands alongside the other great heroic adventure of that generation, the voyage of the Argonauts, ...

during which the boar was killed by

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily known ...

and Meleager. However, an argument began as to who should take the boar's skin as a prize: Meleager gave it to Atalanta, but two of his maternal uncles, sons of Thestius, wanted the trophy for themselves, claiming that it belonged to them by the right of birth if Meleager did not want it. Meleager, in rage, killed them, which resulted in a war between the Calydonians and the Curetes, in which all of Oeneus' sons, including Meleager, fell.

Antoninus Liberalis Antoninus Liberalis ( el, Ἀντωνῖνος Λιβεράλις) was an Ancient Greek grammarian who probably flourished between AD 100 and 300. His only surviving work is the ''Metamorphoses'' (Μεταμορφώσεων Συναγωγή, ''Me ...

2
as cited in Nicander's ''Metamorphoses''

Aftermath

When Hipponoüs of Olenus, angered at his daughter Periboea because she claimed that she was with child by Ares, sent her away into Aetolia to Oeneus with orders for him to do away with her at the first opportunity. Oeneus, however, who had recently lost son and wife, was unwilling to slay Periboea, but married her instead and begat a son Tydeus. The sons of Oeneus' brother

deposed him but

Diomedes Diomedes (Jones, Daniel; Roach, Peter, James Hartman and Jane Setter, eds. ''Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary''. 17th edition. Cambridge UP, 2006.) or Diomede (; grc-gre, Διομήδης, Diomēdēs, "god-like cunning" or "advised by ...

, his grandson through Tydeus, put Oeneus back on the Calydonian throne (or the throne passed to Andraemon, husband of Gorge, due to Oeneus' old age). Oeneus either died of natural causes or was killed by the surviving sons of Agrius who laid an ambush against him while Diomedes was transporting him to Peloponessus. He was buried in

by Diomedes, and a town was named Oenoe after him.Diodorus Siculus
4.35.1-2
Pausanias
2.25.2
Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' 175

Family tree

Notes

References

, ''The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis'' translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992)
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
*

, ''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
*

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...

, ''The Library of History'' translated by

Charles Henry Oldfather Charles Henry Oldfather (13 June 1887 – 20 August 1954) was an American professor of history of the ancient world, specifically at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He was born in Tabriz, Persia. Parentage Oldfather's parents, Jeremiah and Fe ...

. Twelve volumes.

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a series of books originally published by Heinemann in London, but is currently published by Harvard University Press. The library contains important works of ancient Greek and L ...

. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8
Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
* Diodorus Siculus, ''Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2''. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888-1890
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
*

Gaius Julius Hyginus Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus. He was elected superintendent of the Palatine library by Augustus according to Suetonius' ''De Grammatic ...

, ''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.
*Hard, Robin, ''The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology"'', Psychology Press, 2004,
Google Books
* 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.
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
*Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
{{authority control Princes in Greek mythology Kings in Greek mythology Family of Calyce Aetolian characters in Greek mythology Deeds of Artemis Deeds of Zeus Dionysus in mythology Incest in Greek mythology