Αλκυονευς
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Among the gods begotten by Ge (Earth) in her marraige to the Sky (Uranus), Alcyoneus was exceptional for his height and tremendous strength. It was he who played the leading part in the struggle between the Giants and the Gods, which took place in the Phlegrean Fields (at Pallene in Macedonia). Alcyoneus could not be killed so long as he fought on the earth where he had been born. Accordingly, on the advice of Athena, Heracles took him far away from Pallene and eventually shot him dead with an arrow after he had crushed to death twenty-four of Heracles' companions with a single blow from an enormous rock. The Alcyonids, daughters of Alcyoneus, in despair at the death of their father, cast themselves into the sea. They were changed into birds (the halcyons).
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Legend tells of another Alcyoneus, from Delphi, a young and exceptionally handsome man with exemplary manners. There was in those days on the slopes of Cirphis, a mountain near Delphi, a cavern which was the haunt of a monster called Lamia or Sybaris. This monster used to emerge from its cavern and carry off men and flocks from the fields nearby. The inhabitants asked the oracle how to rid themselves of this scourge. Apollo told them to offer a young man from the town as a sacrifice to the monster, and the lot fell upon Alcyoneus. The priests crowned him and led him in a procession toward the monster. On the way they unexpectedly met Eurybatus, son of Euphenmus, a noble young man of the race of the river Axius. When he saw that the priests were escorting a young man he asked the reason for the ceremony, and when he learnt that Alcyoneus was to be sacrificed he was overcome by love for him and, unable to release him by force, demanded to be substituted for him. The priests gave their consent and Eurybatus was crowned and led toward the monster. When he had reached the mouth of the cavern he entered it boldly and grasping the monster he dragged it into the open and threw it violently on the rocks, where its head was shattered. After that the monster was seen no more and in his place a spring gushed forth, called Sybaris. The town which the Locrians later founded in Italy was called after that spring.
{E2 DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY}
Table of Sources:
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- Apollod. Bibl. 1, 6, 1
- Suda s.v. 'Αλκυονιδης
- schol. on Apoll. Rhod. 1, 1289
- Pind. Isth. 6, 33 (46)
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- Antoninus Liberalis Met. 8