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In Greek mythology, the name Hippocoön (/hɨˈpɒkɵʊɒn/; Ancient Greek: Ἱπποκόων) refers to several characters:

  • A son of the Spartan King Oebalus and Bateia. His brothers (or half-brothers) were Tyndareus and Icarius.[1] When their father died, Tyndareus became king. Hippocoön, with the help of his sons, overthrew him, took the throne and expelled his brothers from the kingdom. Later, Hippocoön refused to cleanse Heracles after the death of Iphitus. Because of that, Heracles became hostile to Hippocoön, killed him and reinstated Tyndareus.[2][3] All of Hippocoön's sons were also slain by Heracles, as a revenge for the death of the young Oeonus, son of Licymnius, whom they had killed because he had stoned their dog in self-defense.[4][5] Heracles's allies in the war against Hippocoön were Cepheus of Arcadia and his twenty sons, who all, as well as Heracles's brother Iphicles, died in the battle (according to Diodorus Siculus,[6] three of Cepheus' sons did survive).

Names of Hippocoön's sons include Lycon, Alcinous, Dorycleus, Scaeus, Enarophorus, Eurytus, Bucolus, Euteiches, Lycaethus, Hippothous, Tebrus, Hippocorystes,[2] Alcimus, Dorceus, Sebrus, Eumedes,[7] Enaesimus, Alcon and Leucippus (the last three were among the Calydonian hunters).[8] Diodorus Siculus states that there were twenty of them, but gives no individual names.[6]

  • In the Aeneid, son of Hyrtacus, one of the participants in the archery contest at Anchises's funeral games. His arrow misses, striking the mast to which the target dove is tied.[10]
  • The great-grandfather of Amphiaraus. The lineage is as follows: Zeuxippe, daughter of this Hippocoön, married Antiphates and gave birth to Oecles and Amphalces; Oecles, in his turn, married Hypermnestra, daughter of Thespius, and to them were born Iphianeira, Polyboea and Amphiaraus.[11]


  1. ^ In Bibliotheca 3. 10. 4, all three are called sons of Oebalus and Bateia; in Pausanias, Description of Greece, 3. 1. 4, Tyndareus' s mother is Gorgophone
  2. ^ a b Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 10. 5
  3. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 3. 1. 4; 3. 15. 2
  4. ^ Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2. 7. 3
  5. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 3. 15. 4
  6. ^ a b Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 4. 33. 5
  7. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 3. 14. 6; 3. 15. 1
  8. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae, 173
  9. ^ Homer, Iliad, 10. 218
  10. ^ Virgil. Aeneid. Book V, 492-545.
  11. ^ Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 4. 68. 5
  12. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae, 10
Regnal titles
Preceded by
(first reign)
King of Sparta
Succeeded by
(second reign)