Mnemosyne — Classical Greek Myth Library

Electryon’s sons had fallen in a cattle conflict with the Taphians (Teleboans). Amphitryon, betrothed to Electryon’s daughter Alcmene, recovered cattle but accidentally killed Electryon and fled with Alcmene to Thebes, where Creon purified him. Alcmene would not share his bed until her brothers were avenged. Amphitryon therefore mustered war on the Teleboans: Creon aided on condition that Amphitryon first rid Thebes of the Teumessian fox (in some expansions), and allies from the islands joined—Cephalus of Thoricus with the dog that could catch any prey among them. The campaign reduced Taphos. Comaetho, daughter of the Teleboan king Pterelaus, fell in love with Amphitryon (or his ally) and pulled from her father’s head the golden hair that made him immortal; Pterelaus died, and the city fell. Amphitryon killed Comaetho for the betrayal and sailed home victorious—arriving the same night Zeus, in Amphitryon’s likeness, had already lain with Alcmene. This entry catalogues the mortal vengeance-war and the Pterelaus–Comaetho episode as the human hinge of Heracles’ conception narrative, separate from Zeus’s prolonged night.