Electryon’s Death and Amphitryon’s Exile

Catalogue ID: 03-heroes/233-electryon-death-amphitryon-exile-apollodorus

Cycle: Heroes — Amphitryon / Heracles prelude / Mycenaean house

Version line: Apollodorean — accidental killing of Electryon; exile to Thebes; betrothal to Alcmene

Sources: Apollodorus, *Library* 2.4.5–8; Hesiodic *Shield* 1–56 (Alcmene frame)

Source file: /workspace/greek-myth-catalogue/03-heroes/233-electryon-death-amphitryon-exile-apollodorus.md

Characters

Amphitryon — killer; exile; betrothed to Alcmene
Creon — Theban purifier (background)
Electryon — Perseïd king; slain accidentally by Amphitryon
Heracles — daughter of Electryon; condition of vengeance before marriage
Sthenelus — brother who seizes Mycenae after the death
Taphians — earlier killers of Electryon’s sons (background)

Places

Midea — Electryon’s realm; scene of the fatal blow
Thebes — exile, purification, and later marriage

Themes

Narrative

Electryon, son of Perseus and king at Mycenae (or Midea), lost his sons in a raid by the Taphians/Teleboans over disputed cattle. When the cattle were recovered, Amphitryon—Electryon’s nephew and betrothed (or intended) to Electryon’s daughter Alcmene—was returning the herd. A cow charged; Amphitryon hurled his club (or a club rebounded) and struck Electryon dead. Sthenelus, another Perseïd, seized the chance to expel Amphitryon and seize the throne. Amphitryon fled with Alcmene to Thebes, where Creon purified him for the homicide. Alcmene refused full marriage until he avenged her brothers on the Teleboans—the campaign that overlaps Zeus’s prolonged night and Heracles’ conception. Catalogue Electryon’s accidental death and the exile apart from the Teleboan war and the divine birth-night.