Iphimedon is presented in the surviving sources not as a created supernatural being but as a member of a royal household: he is named as a son of King Eurystheus of Tiryns (also king of Mycenae in some traditions) and Antimache. His 'origin' is therefore dynastic — born into the house of Eurystheus that serves as the narrative backdrop for Heracles' labors. No birth narrative, foundation tale, or mythic origin beyond these genealogical attestations is preserved in the provided material.
The cited sources supply no physical description of Iphimedon. He is attested only by name within lists of Eurystheus' children and as a minor participant in the genealogical fabric of the Heraclean milieu. Any detail about age, dress, stature, or distinguishing marks is absent from the excerpts available.
Sources do not attribute supernatural abilities, special skills, or notable deeds to Iphimedon. He functions as a named member of a royal family in catalogues of kinship. A fragmentary Pantheon entry suggests he 'fell in the battle against the…' but the opponent and circumstances are not preserved in the provided excerpt; beyond this incomplete notice there are no accounts of actions, powers, or a distinctive character-role in extant citations.
Eurystheus
Eurystheus (Ancient Greek: Εὐρυσθεύς) is a mortal king in the Heracles cycle who functions as the divinely authorized adjudicator and assigner of Heracles' labours. Located in the Argolid (commonly king of Tiryns, sometimes associated with Argos or Mycenae), he embodies institutional authority through which oracular and divine sanctions are executed.
Admete (Admeta)
Admete (Ancient Greek: Ἀδμήτη) is a mortal princess of the house of Eurystheus in the Heraclean cycle and, in alternate local tradition, a priestess of Hera associated with the transfer and purification of a cult image to Samos. She functions in surviving accounts as a named requester whose wish prompts one of Heracles' labors and as the human custodian of a sacred image in a Samian foundation story.
*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.
Abandinus
Abandinus is a locally attested Romano‑Celtic theonym known from a single inscribed bronze feather (votive object) dedicated at Godmanchester (the Roman fort Durovigutum) in Cambridgeshire. Scholars interpret him as a local god or male spirit tied to a specific place and possibly associated with a nearby spring or stream; this association is tentative and based on etymological readings of the name.
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.
Abellio
Abellio is a theonym attested in Roman‑period inscriptions from the Comminges area of the Pyrenees and reported as worshipped in the Garonne Valley of ancient Gallia Aquitania. Surviving evidence is limited to a small number of inscriptions; scholars have variously hypothesized solar or arboreal associations and compared the name to forms of Apollo or to Celtic Belenus, but the deity's precise role in local cosmology remains uncertain.
Abnoba
Abnoba is a Gaulish theonym and toponym attested in Roman-era sources and inscriptions: a localized deity associated with woods, springs and the sources of rivers (notably the Danube) and simultaneously the name applied to a mountain or mountain range in the Black Forest/Baar/Odenwald region. Roman altars equate her with Diana, reflecting syncretic cult practice in frontier provinces.
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.
Aborigines (mythology)
A mytho-historical label used in Roman and general reference sources to denote the oldest inhabitants of a region (specifically central Italy in the cited Roman context). The term functions as an identity/category for original human populations rather than as a characterized supernatural being in the provided sources.
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.
Abundantia
Abundantia is the Roman divine personification of abundance and material plenty, used primarily in imperial propaganda and public iconography to signify secure grain supplies, wealth, and the promise of a 'Golden Age' under the emperor. She also appears in later medieval European folklore as Domina Abundia / Dame Habonde, a household benefactor in accounts condemned by ecclesiastical writers.
Community Record
- [1]Iphimedon (ToposText entry). ToposText - Iphimedon entry (genealogical listing)other
- [2]Iphimedon | Pantheon.org. Pantheon.org entry for Iphimedon (includes fragmentary note about death in battle)wiki
- [3]Person: Iphimedon (Myths UVic). Myths and Heroes (University of Victoria) catalog entry listing Iphimedon among Eurystheus' childrenother
- [4]Admete (Wikipedia; contains family listing). Wikipedia article on Admete, which lists siblings including Iphimedonwiki
- [5]Wikidata: Iphimedon (Pauly-Wissowa reference). Wikidata entry pointing to Pauly-Wissowa/RE bibliographic record for Iphimedonother
- [6]Perseus (Wikipedia; Heraclean cycle context). Wikipedia Perseus article referenced for broader heroic-cycle context in which the house of Eurystheus appearswiki
- [7]King Eurystheus of Tiryns and Mycenae (GreekMyths-GreekMythology). Reference work on Eurystheus that enumerates his children including Iphimedonother
- [8]Eurystheus - Greek Mythology Link. Genealogical listing of Eurystheus' offspring including Iphimedonother
- [9]Admete, Daughter of Eurystheus (GreekMyths-GreekMythology). Page on Admete that names her siblings (including Iphimedon) in the Eurystheus family listsother