Mnemosyne — Classical Greek Myth Library

Halirrhothius, son of Poseidon and the nymph Euryte (or a similar Attic mother), assaulted Alcippe, daughter of Ares by Aglaurus (or Agraulos) daughter of Cecrops. Ares found them and killed Halirrhothius. Poseidon prosecuted Ares for the murder before the gods. The gods sat in judgment on the hill later called the Areopagus—“Hill of Ares”—and acquitted him: the killing was held justified as defense of the violated daughter, or the votes tied and acquittal followed Attic rule. From that sitting the Areopagus became Athens’s ancient homicide court. Later myth folds Orestes’ trial for Clytemnestra onto the same hill (Athena’s tie-breaking vote), but the Atthidographic and Apollodorean charter for the place is Ares’ own case—god judged by gods for bloodshed on Attic soil. The story binds war-god, sea-god, and Cecropid house into one aetiology: sexual violence, paternal vengeance, and the invention of judicial process for killing.