Medon

In Greek mythology and history, there were at least eight men named Medon (/ˈmiːdən/; Ancient Greek: Μέδων, gen.: Μέδοντος means "lord' or "ruler").

• Medon, the faithful herald of Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey. Following the advice of his son Telemachus, Odysseus spares Medon’s life after killing the suitors of Penelope who had been plaguing his halls in his homeland of Ithaca.[1] Medon attempts to return the favor by speaking on behalf of his master, claiming that Odysseus' violence was not unwarranted by the gods.[2] Ovid mentions the "cruel" Medon as one of the suitors;[3] he is also included on the list of suitors in the Bibliotheca.[4]
• Medon, a Centaur at the wedding of Pirithous and Hippodamia.[5]
• Medon, the son of Pylades and Electra and brother of Strophius.[6]
• Medon, son of Eteoclus and accordingly a participant in the war of the Epigoni.[7]
• Medon, one of the Tyrrhenian pirates who attempted to enslave Dionysus and were changed into fish.[8]
• Medon, half-brother of Ajax the Lesser and son of Oileus, king of Locris, by Rhene[9] or Alcimache.[10] He lived in Phylace, to where he had to flee after he had killed a relative of his stepmother Eriopis.[11] In the Trojan War, he took over Philoctetes' army after Philoctetes was bitten by a snake and left on Lemnos because the wound festered and smelled bad.[12] Medon was killed by Aeneas.[13] Medon, a "cunning craftsman" of Cilla, husband of Iphianassa and father of Metalcas and Zechis, of whom the former was slain in the Trojan War by Neoptolemus, and the latter by Teucer.[14]
• Medon (Μήδων), a son of Ceisus and grandson of Temenus. He was a king of Argos but his powers were limited to the minimum in favor of the people's self-government.[15]
• Medon, son of Codrus, was the first archon of Athens. He was lame, which was why his brother Neileus would not let him rule, but the Delphian oracle bestowed the kingdom upon Medon.[16]

For the settlement in Ivory Coast, see Médon. For a genus of sea sponges, see Leucandra (sponge).

References

1. Odyssey 22: 355-380
2. Od. 24: 346-354
3. Ovid, Heroides, 1. 91
4. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, Epitome of Book 4, 7. 26 ff
5. Ovid, Metamorphoses, 12. 303
6. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2. 16. 7, citing Hellanicus
7. Scholia on Iliad, 4. 404
8. Ovid, Metamorphoses, 3. 671; Hyginus, Fabulae, 184
9. Homer, Iliad, 2. 728
10. Scholia on Iliad, 13. 694
11. Homer, Iliad, 13. 694 - 697
12. Il. 2. 720 - 730
13. Il. 15. 332
14. Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy, 8. 296; 10. 125
15. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2. 19. 2
16. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 7. 2. 1

Sources

• Homer. Odyssey. Trans. Stanley Lombardo. Canada: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2000. Print.