Melanippus

Melanippus is the name of several figures in Greek mythology. The best known is Melanippus, son of Astacus, the Theban who defended the Proetid gate against Tydeus in the war of the Seven Against Thebes. Another is the young man of Patrae whose love for the priestess Comaetho brought plague and human sacrifice on his city.

Melanippus, Son of Astacus

Melanippus, son of Astacus, was a Theban, descended from the Sown Men who grew from the dragon’s teeth sown by Cadmus. In Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes, Eteocles chooses him to face Tydeus at the Proetid gate, calling him a man of noble birth who honors the throne of Shame and hates arrogant words, born from the Sown Men whom Ares spared, and truly a son of the land who will keep the enemy spear from the mother that bore him (Seven Against Thebes 377–416). Pausanias still saw his grave by the Proetid gate on the road from Thebes to Chalcis, and calls him one of the very best of the Theban soldiers (Description of Greece 9.18.1).

Melanippus and Tydeus

The sources do not agree about how the duel ended. According to Apollodorus, the sons of Astacus fought bravely in the battle: Melanippus, the last of them, wounded Tydeus in the belly. As Tydeus lay half dead, Athena brought him a medicine that she had begged from Zeus, which would have made him immortal. But Amphiaraus hated Tydeus, because Tydeus had persuaded the Argives to march against Thebes. Seeing the goddess’ intention, he cut off the head of Melanippus, whom Tydeus had also struck down, and gave it to him. Tydeus split the head open and gulped down the brains, and Athena, disgusted, withheld the gift (Library 3.6.8). In another place Apollodorus says that Tydeus died of the wound he received from Melanippus (Library 1.8.5).

Pausanias gives a short version: Melanippus killed Tydeus and also Mecisteus, one of the brothers of Adrastus, and was himself killed by Amphiaraus (9.18.1). Herodotus also says that Melanippus had killed Adrastus’ brother Mecisteus and his son-in-law Tydeus (5.67).

Melanippus at Sicyon

Herodotus tells a story about his afterlife as a hero. The tyrant Cleisthenes of Sicyon, who was at war with Argos, wanted to drive out the cult of the Argive hero Adrastus, who had a shrine in the marketplace of Sicyon. The oracle at Delphi would not allow him to expel Adrastus, so he asked the Thebans to hand over Melanippus, who was Adrastus’ deadliest enemy. He built Melanippus a sanctuary in the government house of Sicyon, and gave him the sacrifices and festivals that had belonged to Adrastus (Herodotus 5.67).

Melanippus of Patrae

Another Melanippus lived in the region of Patrae in Achaea. Pausanias tells that Comaetho, a beautiful maiden, was priestess of Artemis Triclaria, and that Melanippus, handsomer and better than the other young men, loved her and asked her father for her hand. Both families opposed the marriage. The two lovers then had their fill of love in the sanctuary of Artemis. The wrath of the goddess followed: the earth gave no harvest, and unusual diseases killed the inhabitants (Pausanias 7.19.2–3).

When the people asked the oracle at Delphi, the Pythia named Melanippus and Comaetho as the guilty ones. The oracle ordered that they should be sacrificed to Artemis and that every year the fairest youth and the fairest maiden should be sacrificed to her. The river by the sanctuary was called Ameilichos (“Relentless”) because of these sacrifices (7.19.4). The human sacrifice ended, according to Pausanias, when Eurypylus, a Greek returning from Troy, came to Patrae with a chest holding an image of Dionysus. Seeing it, he went mad. The oracle at Delphi told him to settle where he found a people offering a strange sacrifice. In Patrae he found a youth and a maiden brought to the altar of Artemis, and the sacrifice ended; the river was renamed Meilichos (“Gentle”) (7.19.6–9).

Other Figures Named Melanippus

• In the Iliad, Melanippus, son of Hicetaon, pastured cattle at Percote until the Greeks arrived at Troy. He was struck down by Antilochus (Iliad 15.545–582). Another Trojan Melanippus is among the men killed by Teucer (Iliad 8.274–276).
• Melanippus was a son of Theseus by Perigune, the daughter of Sinis, and the father of Ioxus (Plutarch, Theseus 8.3). Pausanias says that the Argives told of him as the winner of the running race at the second Nemean games held by the Epigoni (10.25.7).
• Pausanias reports a tradition that Melanippus, son of Ares and Triteia, founded the Achaean city of Tritaea and named it after his mother (7.22.8).
• Apollodorus lists a Melanippus among the sons of Agrius who took the kingdom of Calydon from Oeneus (Library 1.8.6), and another among the sons of Priam (Library 3.12.5).

Melanippus Sources

Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 377–416; Homer, Iliad 8.274–276, 15.545–582; Herodotus 5.67; Apollodorus, Library 1.8.5–6, 3.6.8, 3.12.5; Plutarch, Theseus 8.3; Pausanias 7.19.2–9, 7.22.8, 9.18.1, 10.25.7.

See Also: Seven Against Thebes, Eteocles, Polynices, Tydeus, Amphiaraus, Comaetho, Artemis, Adrastus