Lynceus

The son of Aphareus and Arene, and a great-grandson of Perseus. He was one of the Argonauts and a participant in the Calydonian hunt. Lynceus had preternaturally keen sight; he could see through the earth and through the trunk of an oak, and distinguish objects nine miles off, whence the proverb ὀξύτερον βλέπειν τοῦ Λυγκέως.

Castor and Polydeuces abducted Phoebe and Hilaeira, the daughters of Leucippus, who were betrothed to Lynceus and his brother Idas, and a fight ensued between the rivals. Lynceus spotted Castor in a hollow and Idas shot him with an arrow, but Polydeuces killed both brothers in an ambush.

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References

Sources

  • Apollonius Rhodius. Argonautica i, 151 ff.; iv, 1466 ff.
  • Aristophanes. Plutus, 210.
  • Ovid. Metamorphoses viii, 304.
  • Pausanias. Description of Greece iv, 2.7.
  • Pseudo-Apollodorus. The Library i, 8.2, 9.16; iii, 10.3, 11.2; comp. Pindar. Nemean Odes x, 21, 115 ff.
  • Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.