Melanippus

➳ mss de Stat. Menal-.

(Μελάνιππος).

1. A son of Agrius, was slain by Diomedes. (Apollod. 1.8.6; comp. Oeneus.)

2. A son of Astacus of Thebes, who, in the attack of the Seven on his native city, slew Tydeus and Mecisteus. His tomb was shown in the neighbourhood of Thebes on the road to Chalcis. (Aeschyl. Sept. 409; Apollod. 3.6.8; Hdt. 5.67; Paus. 9.18.1.)

3. A son of Theseus and Perigune, and father of Ioxus. (Paus. 10.25.2; Plut. Thes. 8.)

4. A son of Ares and Tritaea, the daughter of Triton. (Paus. 7.22.5.)

5. One of the sons of Priam. (Apollod. 3.12.5.)

6. A youth of Patrae, in Achaia, who was in love with Comaetho, a priestess of Artemis Triclaria. As the parents on both sides would not consent to their marriage, Melanippus profaned the temple of the goddess by his intercourse with Comaetho. The goddess punished the two offenders with instantaneous death, and visited the whole country with plague and famine. The oracle of Delphi revealed the cause of these calamities, and ordered the inhabitants to sacrifice to Artemis every year the handsomest youth and the handsomest maiden. (Paus. 7.19.2.) A seventh mythical personage of this name is mentioned by Homer. (Il. 15.547, 576.) [L.S]

(Μελάνιππος), a youth of Agrigentum, who, having been treated with injustice by Phalaris, proposed to his friend Chariton to form a conspiracy against the tyrant. Chariton, alarmed for the safety of Melanippus, urged him to say nothing to any one of his intention, and promised to devise a fitting opportunity for the enterprise. Haying then resolved to take the whole risk upon himself, he attempted the life of Phalaris, and, being apprehended, was put to the torture, which he bore resolutely, refusing to confess that he had any accomplices. Melanippus hereupon came to Phalaris and avowed himself the instigator of the design, and the tyrant, struck with their mutual friendship, spared the lives of both on condition of their leaving Sicily. (Ael. VH 2.4.) [E.E]

(Μελάνιππος). A Theban, who mortally wounded Tydeus in the fight of the Seven against Thebes, and was himself slain by Amphiaraüs. See Tydeus.