Alipherus

Alipherus
Eponymous King of Aliphera
Member of the Arcadian Royal Family
Abode	Arcadia
Genealogy
Parents	Lycaon and Cyllene or Nonacris
Siblings	Acacus, Aseatas, Caucon, Ceteus, Charisius, Cleitor, Cromus, Daseatas, Eleuther, Euaemon, Haemon, Helisson, Heraeus, Hypsus, Lebadus, Lycius, Macar, Macedon, Maenalus, Mantineus, Melaeneus, Nyctimus, Oenotrus, Orchomenus, Orestheus, Pallas, Parrhasius, Peraethus, Phigalus, Phthius, Stymphalus, Tegeates, Thesprotus, Thocnus, Thyraeus, Trapezeus, Tricolonus, etc.

Alipherus^[pronunciation?] or Halipherus (Ancient Greek: Ἀλίφηρος or Ἀλιφήρου) was in Greek mythology, an Arcadian prince as one of the 50 sons of the impious King Lycaon[1][2] either by the naiad Cyllene,[3] Nonacris[4] or by unknown woman.

Mythology

Alipherus and his siblings were the most nefarious and carefree of all people. To test them, Zeus visited them in the form of a peasant. These brothers mixed the entrails of a child into the god's meal, whereupon the enraged king of the gods threw the meal over the table. Alipherus was killed, along with his brothers and their father, by a lightning bolt of the god.[5]

The town of Aliphera in Greece was traditionally believed to have been founded by this Alipherus, and to have derived its name from him.[6]

Notes

1. Schmitz, Leonhard (1867). "Alipherus". In William Smith (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 132.
2. Pausanias, 8.26.6
3. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae 1.13.1
4. Pausanias, 8.17.6
5. Apollodorus, 3.8.1
6. Pausanias, 8.3.1 & 8.26.4; Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Aliphera (Ἀλίφηρα)

References

• Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Dionysus of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities. English translation by Earnest Cary in the Loeb Classical Library, 7 volumes. Harvard University Press, 1937-1950. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
• Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitatum Romanarum quae supersunt, Vol I-IV. . Karl Jacoby. In Aedibus B.G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1885. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
• Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Stephanus of Byzantium, Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt, edited by August Meineike (1790-1870), published 1849. A few entries from this important ancient handbook of place names have been translated by Brady Kiesling. Online version at the Topos Text Project.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Alipherus". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.