Mecisteus (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Mecisteus (/məˈsɪsˌt(j)uːs/; Ancient Greek: Μηκιστεύς Mēkisteús) may refer to the following personages:

• Mecisteus, an Arcadian prince as one of the 50 sons of the impious King Lycaon either by the naiad Cyllene,[1] Nonacris[2] or by unknown woman. He and his brothers 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 Zeus threw the meal over the table. Mecisteus was killed, along with his brothers and their father, by a lightning bolt of the god.[3]
• Mecisteus, one of the Seven Against Thebes who attacked the city. He was the son of Talaus and Lysimache.[4]
• Mecisteus, an Achaean warrior who participated in the Trojan War. He was the son of Echius,[5] another Greek soldier during the siege of Troy. Together with the Pylian Alastor, Mecisteus carried the wounded Teucer off the battle-field,[6] as they later did with Hypsenor.[7] Ultimately, Mecisteus was killed by the Trojan Polydamas.[8]
• Mecisteus, one of the Suitors of Penelope who came from Dulichium along with other 56 wooers.[9] He, with the other suitors, was killed by Odysseus with the help of Eumaeus, Philoetius, and Telemachus.[10]

Notes

1. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae 1.13.1
2. Pausanias, 8.17.6
3. Apollodorus, 3.8.1
4. Apollodorus, 1.9.13, 1.9.16 & 3.6.3
5. Homer, Iliad 8.333, 13.422
6. Homer, Iliad 8.333
7. Homer, Iliad 13.422
8. Homer, Iliad 15.33
9. Apollodorus, Epitome 7.26–27
10. Apollodorus, Epitome 7.33

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.
• Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. ISBN 978-0674995796. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Homer, Homeri Opera in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. ISBN 978-0198145318. 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.
• Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneid. Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Publius Vergilius Maro, Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics. J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.