# Cresphontes

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{{Short description|Character in Greek mythology}}
{{For|the lost tragedy by Euripides, named for the son of this Cresphontes|Merope (Messenia)}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=March 2012}}

In [Greek mythology](/source/Greek_mythology), '''Cresphontes''' ({{IPAc-en|k|r|ɛ|s|'|f|ɒ|n|t|iː|z}};<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionary-of-classical-mythology/page/72/mode/2up |page=72 |title=Dictionary of Classical Mythology|first=J. E. |last=Zimmerman |publisher=Harper & Row |location=New York |year=1964}}</ref> {{langx|grc|Κρεσφόντης}}) was a son of [Aristomachus](/source/Aristomachus_(Heracleidae)), husband of [Merope](/source/Merope_(mythology)), father of [Aepytus](/source/Aepytus) and brother of [Temenus](/source/Temenus) and [Aristodemus](/source/Aristodemus). He was a great-great-grandson of [Heracles](/source/Heracles) and helped lead the fifth and final attack on [Mycenae](/source/Mycenae) in the [Peloponnesus](/source/Peloponnesus). He became king of [Messene](/source/Messene).

thumb|right|200px|Cresephontes.

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

The oracle, being again consulted by Temenus, bade him offer an [expiatory sacrifice](/source/expiatory_sacrifice) and banish the murderer for ten years, and look out for a man with three eyes to act as guide. On his way back to Naupactus, Temenus fell in with [Oxylus](/source/Oxylus), an [Aetolia](/source/Aetolia)n, who had lost one eye, riding on a horse (or mule) (thus making up the three eyes) and immediately pressed him into his service. The Heraclidae repaired their ships, sailed from Naupactus to [Antirrhium](/source/Antirrhium), and thence to [Rhium](/source/Rhium) in [Peloponnesus](/source/Peloponnesus). A decisive battle was fought with [Tisamenus](/source/Tisamenus), son of [Orestes](/source/Orestes), the chief ruler in the peninsula, who was defeated and slain.

The Heraclidae, who thus became practically masters of Peloponnesus, proceeded to distribute its territory among themselves by lot. [Argos](/source/Argos%2C_Peloponnese) fell to [Temenus](/source/Temenus), [Lacedaemon](/source/Lacedaemon) to [Procles](/source/Procles) and [Eurysthenes](/source/Eurysthenes), the twin sons of [Aristodemus](/source/Aristodemus); and [Messene](/source/Messene) to Cresphontes. The fertile district of [Elis](/source/Ancient_Elis) had been reserved by agreement for [Oxylus](/source/Oxylus). The Heraclidae ruled in Lacedaemon until 221 BC, but disappeared much earlier in the other countries.

==See also==
* [Heracleidae](/source/Heracleidae)
* [Papilio cresphontes](/source/Papilio_cresphontes)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*''[Bibliotheca](/source/Bibliotheca_(Pseudo-Apollodorus))'' ii. 8.
*[Diodorus Siculus](/source/Diodorus_Siculus), iv. 57, 58.
*[Pausanias](/source/Pausanias_(geographer)), i. 32, 41, ii. 13, 18, iii. I, iv. 3, v. 3.
*[Euripides](/source/Euripides), [Heraclidae](/source/Heraclidae).
*[Pindar](/source/Pindar), [Pythia](/source/Pythia), ix. 137.
*[Herodotus](/source/Herodotus), ix. 27.
*[Karl Otfried Müller](/source/Karl_Otfried_M%C3%BCller). ''Dorians'', Part I, Chapter 3.
*[Connop Thirlwall](/source/Connop_Thirlwall). ''History of Greece'', Chapter VII.
*[George Grote](/source/George_Grote). ''History of Greece'', Part I, Chapter XVIII.
*[Georg Busolt](/source/Georg_Busolt). ''Griechische Geschichte'', Part I, Chapter 11, Section 7, where a list of authorities is given.

Category:Heracleidae
Category:Kings in Greek mythology
Category:Messenian mythology

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Cresphontes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cresphontes) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cresphontes?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.