Gorgophonus is attested as a son of King Electryon, himself a son of the hero Perseus, and of Anaxo (daughter of Alcaeus). His place in the mythic genealogy is as one of Electryon's many sons whose slaughter at the hands of the sons of the Taphian king Pterelaus, who claimed the kingdom of their ancestor Mestor, forms part of the chain of violent events that lead to Amphitryon's exile and the later conditions surrounding Alcmena and the birth of Heracles. Sources present Gorgophonus only as a named member of this household lineage; they do not provide a separate life-story or individual deeds beyond his inclusion in the roster and his death in the cattle-raid/feud episode.
No physical description of Gorgophonus is given in the supplied materials. He appears solely in genealogical lists of Electryon's children; there are no ancient or modern descriptions of his age, stature, clothing, or distinguishing marks in the cited sources.
The supplied sources attribute no supernatural abilities, cult, or individual exploits to Gorgophonus. He functions in the material as a named mortal casualty within a dynastic feud. The name itself is etymologically 'Gorgon-killing', which elsewhere can function as an epithet, but in the attested genealogical lists this bearer is not credited with the Gorgon's slaying and exhibits no recorded powers or special behaviors.
Weaknesses
- othernone recorded
Wards
- othernone recorded
Electryon
Electryon (Ancient Greek Ἠλεκτρύων) is a mythic king of the Perseid line in Greek tradition, ruler of Mycenae and Tiryns whose conflict over stolen cattle, the deaths of his sons, and his own death set the succession events that lead to Amphitryon, Alcmena, and the birth of Heracles. He is presented in classical sources as a mortal dynast rather than a supernatural being; versions differ on whether his death was accidental or the result of homicide.
Perseus
Perseus is a legendary hero of ancient Greek myth, a mortal son of Zeus and Danaë famed as a slayer of monsters and founder of the Perseid dynasty; his narrative emphasizes divine intervention (gifts from Hermes, Athena, and Hades), heroic cunning, and eventual placement among the stars as a constellation.
Amphitryon
Amphitryon is a mortal nobleman of Greek mythic-historical tradition: son of Alcaeus of Tiryns, husband of Alcmene, and the acknowledged stepfather of Heracles. He appears in heroic-age narratives as a warrior, dynastic actor, and the human whose identity is impersonated by Zeus in literary treatments that explore paternity and identity.
*Péh₂usōn (reconstructed)
Péh₂usōn is a hypothetical Proto‑Indo‑European pastoral guardian reconstructed by comparative scholars from parallels in Greek and Vedic traditions. Proposed as a Graeco‑Aryan ancestor‑figure, the reconstruction describes a protector of flocks, roads, and travellers rather than an attested historical cultic personality.
Aba (disambiguation / name-form)
Aba is a polyvalent name-form attested across many unrelated contexts (place names, personal names, animal names, and brief mythological listings). The provided sources do not support a single, coherent supernatural entity called "Aba" and offer no descriptive or ritual material for such a being.
Abarbarea
Abarbarea is a name attested in classical Greek and Roman sources for freshwater nymphs (naiads). The name appears for at least two individual mythic figures — a naiad wife of Bucolion and a naiad counted among ancestors of the Tyrians — and Hesychius records plural forms that may indicate the name was also used as a class-name (Abarbareai / Abarbalaiai).
Abas
Abas (Ancient Greek: Ἄβας, gen.: Ἄβαντος) is not a single mythic being but a recurring personal name borne by multiple mortals and minor mythic figures in Greek epic and genealogical traditions — kings, founders, seers, warriors, attendants, a centaur, and a youth transformed by a goddess. The name is glossed in the sources as 'guileless' or 'good-hearted' and appears across Argive, Theban, Trojan, Euboean, and other local cycles.
Abderus
Abderus (Ancient Greek: Ἄβδηρος, romanized Ábdēros) is a mortal heroic figure in Greek myth closely associated with Heracles, remembered as the youth left in charge of the Mares of Diomedes who was killed by them. He functions as an eponymous local/divine-hero ancestor for the city of Abdera and received funerary commemoration and athletic agones at his tomb.
Abomination of Desolation
An apocalyptic prophetic phrase originating in the Book of Daniel designating a profaning thing or act that renders the Jerusalem Temple cult desolate; later reused in the Synoptic Gospels as an eschatological sign prompting urgent flight. The term denotes ritual/cultic impurity (Hebrew shiqquts) and is variously interpreted as pagan offerings or altar, a foreign cult statue, or (in some New Testament readings) an acting agent.
Absyrtus
Absyrtus (Ancient Greek: Ἄψυρτος) is a Colchian prince in the Greek Argonautic cycle, son of King Aeëtes and brother or half-brother of Medea. He appears in variant traditions either as a companion taken by Medea during her flight with Jason and murdered/dismembered to delay pursuit, or as a pursuer sent by Aeëtes who is overtaken and slain by Jason; his death functions as a key narrative device in the escape from Colchis.
Acacallis
Acacallis (Ancient Greek: Ἀκακαλλίς; also Acalle) is a mythological princess of Crete in Greek tradition, daughter of King Minos and Pasiphae. She functions primarily as a dynastic and etiological figure: in varying accounts she is mother, by gods such as Hermes (Mercury) or Apollo, of eponymous or founder-figures like Cydon (founder of Cydonia), Miletus, or Lydon/ Lydus.
Acacus
Acacus (Ancient Greek: Ἄκακος) is, in Arcadian Greek tradition, a mortal eponymous founder-king of Acacesium and is remembered as the foster-father who reared the infant Hermes (Mercury) in that local tradition. He is presented in genealogies as a son of Lycaon and functions as a local ancestral/onomastic figure rather than a supernatural spirit.
Academus
Academus (Greek: Akádemos / Hekádemos) is an Attic hero-eponym tied to a sacred grove (Akademeia) on the Cephissus near Athens. In myth he revealed where Helen was hidden to the Dioskouroi, an act said to have saved the city, and the place bearing his name became a long-lived sacred precinct, later the site of Plato's Academy.
Acamas
Acamas (Ancient Greek: Ἀκάμας) is a personal name recurrent in ancient Greek narrative traditions applied to multiple human characters (warriors, princes, suitors), once to a Cyclops, and once as a hound's name. Rather than a single supernatural entity, bearers of the name appear episodically across the Trojan War, Theseid, and Theban cycles as mortal actors whose deeds intersect with gods and fate.
Acantha
Acantha (Ancient Greek: Ἀκάνθα, 'thorn') is a late or secondary mythological figure known from modern retellings as a nymph transformed into the acanthus plant. The tale that she scratched Apollo and was changed into a spiny-leaved plant is not attested in surviving classical corpora and appears to be a modern compilation or invention rather than a firmly documented ancient myth.
Community Record
- [1]Gorgophonus — Wikipedia. Wikipedia, entry 'Gorgophonus' (provides name, meaning, parentage, and account of death)wiki
- [2]Gorgophonus — Wikidata. Wikidata item Q17375981 (identifier and linked data for the genealogical figure)wiki
- [3]LP0003 The Son of Amphitryon (Archive audio summary). Archive.org audio summary referencing Electryon's sons and the war with Pterelaus' sons (narrative context)other
- [4]Gorgophonus entry — Theoi / Myths of the Ancient World (Myths.uvic). Mythographic summary listing Gorgophonus among Electryon's sons and noting his death in the conflict with Pterelaus' descendantsliterary
- [5]ToposText — People: Gorgophonus. ToposText entry for Gorgophonus listing genealogical placement among Electryon's childrenliterary
- [6]Electryon in Greek Mythology — Greek Legends and Myths. Summary of Electryon's family and the conflict with the sons of Pterelaus that led to many deaths among Electryon's sonsother
- [7]ATHENA: THE EPITHETS — HellenicGods.org. Reference showing 'Gorgophonus' as a lexical epithet meaning 'slayer of the Gorgon' applied elsewhere (epithet-list), demonstrating the lexical element's independent attestationsother