A
Greek mythological figure,
Telephus or
Telephos (
Greek ???ef??, "far-shining"
[1]) was one of the
Heraclidae, the sons of
Heracles, who were venerated as founders of cities. Telephos was by far the most famous of these
heroes, and the various sites at which
libations were offered to placate his spirit occasioned
etiological myths of travels around the Greek mainland, in
Magna Graecia and in
Ionia. As with other heroes, a series of episodic epiphanies can be chronologically ordered and a rationalized "biography" synthesized.
Telephus was the son of Heracles and Auge, a priestess of Athena Alea at Tegea; he was the spouse of Astyoche and the father of Eurypylus.
He was intended to be king of Tegea, but became the king of Mysia in Asia Minor. He was wounded by the Achaeans when they were coming to sack Troy and bring back Helen to Sparta.
Along with Hector, Helenus, Deiphobus, Aeneas, and Troilus he had accompanied Helen to Menelaus at Sparta and so was one of the first of all the Trojans and their allies to behold the beauty of Helen.
