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Calydon is a city in Aetolia, a region in
mainland Greece, north of the Gulf of Patrae
between the rivers Achelous and Evenus. The river
Evenus, formerly called Lycormas, is called after a
son of Ares and Demonice
who perished after throwing himself in that river.
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The eponym of Aetolia
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Aetolia is called after
Endymion's son Aetolus
2, who left Elis because he
had been convicted of an unintentional homicide.
However, on arriving to the new country, he did
commit some intentional homicides, killing his
hosts in the Curetian country: Dorus 2, Laodocus 2
and Polypoetes 2, all three sons of
Apollo and Phthia 2.
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His sons founded two fine cities
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Aetolus 2 married Pronoe 2 and had by her two
sons, Calydon and Pleuron, who gave their names to
the Aetolian cities they founded. Calydon's
daughter Epicasta 1 married her cousin Agenor 6,
son of Pleuron and Xanthippe 1. This Xanthippe 1
was a daughter of Dorus 2, one of the three hosts
that Aetolus 2 killed when he came to the land of
the Curetes.
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Thestius 1 and Porthaon
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Agenor 6 and Epicasta 1 had children: Porthaon,
Demonice and Thestius 1. Thestius 1 is also called
son of Ares and Demonice.
When King Tyndareus of
Sparta was banished by
Hippocoon 2, he came to Thestius 1, who at the time
was king of Pleuron.
Tyndareus married
Thestius 1's daughter Leda,
and once Heracles 1
had defeated Hippocoon 2 and his sons, he restored
Tyndareus and
entrusted the kingdom of
Sparta to him.
Porthaon married a granddaughter of the River
God Achelous, Euryte 2, and became father by her
of, among others, Oeneus 2, who in time became King
of Calydon.
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The negligence of Oeneus 2
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It is said that when Oeneus 2 was king of
Calydon, he was negligent towards
Artemis, and the goddess
punished him and his country by sending a boar of
huge size and strength, which prevented the land
from being sown and destroyed the cattle and the
people. In order to get rid of this ravaging beast,
King Oeneus 2 assembled the noblest men of Hellas,
who are now known as the
CALYDONIAN
HUNTERS, and promised to give the Boar's skin
as a prize to him who should kill it.
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While sacrificing, Oeneus
2 neglected Artemis
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Bellerophon
visits Calydon
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King Oeneus 2 is also known for having
entertained
Bellerophon in his
palace and exchanged friendship gifts with him.
Later, during the Trojan
War, the descendants of Oeneus 2 and
Bellerophon,
Diomedes 2 and Glaucus
3, met as enemies in the battlefield, but instead
of fighting also exchanged gifts to honour their
ancestors' friendship.
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Coup d'état
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King Oeneus 2 was, in his old days, deposed by
the sons of his brother Agrius 3 and put in jail by
them, but after the fall of
Troy, his grandson
Diomedes 2 liberated
him, killing Agrius 3 and his son Lycopeus, and
restored the kingdom to him [see details at
Diomedes 2]. However,
some say that Diomedes
2 did not restore the kingdom to Oeneus 2
because of his advanced age, but to the latter's
son-in-law Andraemon 1, who had married Oeneus 2's
daughter Gorge 2.
Others affirm that Lycopeus was killed by
Tydeus 2, son of Oeneus
2 and father of Diomedes
2, and that because of this he fled to
Argos, arriving at the
same time as Theban Polynices, who had been
banished by his twin brother Eteocles 1. Both
exiles were received by King
Adrastus 1 of
Argos, who gave them his
daughters as wives and promised them to restore
them to their native lands. And having decided to
restore Polynices first, they jointly organized the
expedition of the SEVEN
AGAINST THEBES, which meant death for both
Tydeus 2 and Polynices.
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Thoas 2
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When Andraemon 1 and Gorge 2 died, their son
Thoas 2 became king of Pleuron and Calydon, and
during the Trojan War,
Thoas 2 became leader of the Aetolians,
contributing 40 ships to the Achaean fleet. Some
say that after the war the exiled
Odysseus came to him
and married his daughter, having by her a son
Leontophonus.
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The circle closes
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Thoas 2 had a son Haemon 2, who in turn was
father of Oxylus 2. The story of Oxylus 2 reminds
of the story of Aetolus 2, but emigrating in the
opposite direction. Oxylus 2 fled from Aetolia to
Elis on account of the
murder of Thermius or Alcidocus, became guide of
the HERACLIDES, and
subsequently king of Elis.
It is said that as he was throwing the quoit he
missed the mark and committed unintentional
homicide. The man killed by the quoit, according to
one account, was Thermius, brother of Oxylus 2;
according to another, it was Alcidocus. Oxylus 2
and Pieria 2 had a son Aetolus 3, who could have
inherited the throne fulfilling the circle, had he
not died so young. He was buried in a tomb in the
gate leading to Olympia because an oracle forbade
the corpse to be laid either outside the city or
within it.
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