Telegonus
- son of Ulysses and Circe, who, when he came to Ithaca, killed his father without knowing him; on his return he founded Tusculum, Hyg. Fab. 127; Hor. C. 3, 29, 8; Prop. 2, 32 (3, 30), 4; Ov. F. 3, 92; 4, 71; Stat. S. 1, 3, 83; Sil. 7, 692; 12, 535; Hyg. Fab. 127.—As an appellative: Tēlĕgŏni, ōrum, the amatory poems of Ovid, so called because his misfortunes arose from them, Ov. Tr. 1, 1, 114.
(Τηλέγονος).
1. A son of Proteus and brother of Polygonus, was killed, together with his brother, by Heracles, whom they had challenged to a contest in wrestling. (Apollod. 2.5.9; comp. Polygonus.)
2. A king of Egypt who married Io, after she had come to rest from her wandering and found her son Epaphus. (Apollod. 2.1.3.) According to the Scholiast on Euripides (Or. 920) this Telegonus was a son of Epaphus and a brother of Libya.
3. A son of Odysseus by Circe. At the time when Odysseus had returned to Ithaca, Circe sent out Telegonus in search of his father. A storm cast his ship on the coast of Ithaca, and being pressed by hunger, he began to plunder the fields. Odyssens and Telemachus, on being informed of the ravages caused by the stranger, went out to fight against him; but Telegonus ran Odyssens through with a spear which he had received from his mother. (Comp. Horat. 3.29. 8; Ov. Tr. 1.1, 114.) At the command of Athena, Telegonus accompanied by Telemachus and Penelope, went to Circe in Aeaea, there buried the body of Odysseus, and married Penelope, by whom he became the father of Italus. (Hes. Theog. 1014 ; Hygin. Fab. 127 ; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 805 ; Eustath. ad Hom. pp. 1660, 1676; Serv. ad Aen. 2.44; Lucian, De Salt. 46 ; Aristot. Poet. 14.) In Italy Telegonus was believed to have been the founder of the towns of Tusculum and Praeneste. (Ov. Fast. 3.92, 4.71; Horat. l.c. ; Dionys. A. R. 4.45 ; Plut. Parall. Min. 41.) In some traditions Telegonus (also called Teledamus) is described as a son of Odysseus by Calypso. (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1796.) [L.S]
(Τηλέγονος). The son of Odysseus and Circé. At his mother's command he set out to find his father. Landing on the coast of Ithaca, he began to plunder the fields, and Odysseus came out armed against him. Telegonus did not recognize his father, and mortally wounded him with the spine of a sting-ray which Circé had given him to serve as the barb of his lance. When he learned that the wounded man was his father, he took the body home with him, accompanied by Telemachus and Penelopé, and subsequently married the latter. He was supposed to be the founder of Tusculum (Hor. Carm. iii. 29, 8) and Praenesté, near Rome (Plut. Parall. Min. 41; Propert. ii. 32, 4). The legend of Telegonus was the theme of the Telegonea by the Cyclic poet Eugammon of Cyrené. The strange manner in which Odysseus met his death is also mentioned in Oppian (Halieut. ii. 497). Roman tradition ascribed to Telegonus a daughter Mamilia, the legendary ancestor of the Mamilii.
- marries Io: Apollod. 2.1.3
- killed by Herakles: Apollod. 2.5.9
- Apollod. E.7.16
- sails in search of Odysseus: Apollod. E.7.34
- comes to Ithaca and kills Odysseus unwittingly: Apollod. E.7.34
- conveys the corpse and Penelope to Circe: Apollod. E.7.37
- marries Penelope: Apollod. E.7.37
- sent with Penelope to the Islands of the Blest: Apollod. E.7.37