Agathyrsus

Agathyrsus (ancient Greek Ἀγάθυρσος) is a figure in Greek mythology. He was a son of Heracles and the Scythian Echidna.

After Herakles had done his tenth job in the service of Eurystheus, i.e. had driven away the cattle of Geryon, according to Herodotus, who reports a legend of the Pontic Greeks here, he is said to have come to a wooded area north of the Black Sea. While he was sleeping, his horses were stolen. He found out that the ruling queen in the area, whose lower body was serpentine, had taken the horses. She only wanted to give this back to him on condition that he fathered children with her. Heracles agreed and had with her the three sons Agathyrsus, Gelonus and Scythes. Now Heracles got his horses back and, on her question, gave the snake woman the instruction to let their three sons, when they were grown up, draw his bow and put on his belt; let those who did these deeds live in the country, but send away those who were not up to the task. When the time for their examination came for the sons, only the youngest, Scythians, was able to perform the prescribed deeds and was therefore allowed to stay in the country and became king and eponymous progenitor of the Scythians. Agathyrsus and Gelonus had to leave their homeland, but gave their names to other powerful peoples, Agathyrsus to that of the Agathyrsoi who lived in what is now the Banat and Transylvania. [1]

Literature

Georg Knaack: Agathyrsos. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classical antiquity science (RE) Volume I, 1, Stuttgart 1893, column 765.

Remarks
Herodotus, Histories 4, 8-10; Suda, see Agathyrsos; Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnika, see Agathyrsos.

Greek Mythology

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