Alcmaeon- Greek HeroHero"Leader of the Epigoni"

The Father's Charge

Amphiaraus knew he would die at Thebes. Before he left, he charged his sons: kill your mother. Eriphyle had taken the Necklace of Harmonia from Polynices and, in return, compelled her husband to march to a war she knew would kill him.

Ten years later, Alcmaeon led the Epigoni against Thebes and conquered the city. The Thebans fled by night. With Thebes fallen, Alcmaeon turned to his father's command. Apollo's oracle at Delphi confirmed what was owed. Alcmaeon killed Eriphyle.

Madness and the Achelous

The Erinyes drove Alcmaeon mad for killing his mother. He fled from city to city, but the madness followed. At Psophis in Arcadia, King Phegeus cleansed him and gave him his daughter Arsinoe in marriage. Alcmaeon gave her the Necklace and Robe of Harmonia as bridal gifts. But plague struck the land. His presence had poisoned it.

Apollo's oracle told him he could only find peace on ground that had not existed when the matricide was committed. He traveled to the mouth of the river Achelous, where silt had built new islands since his mother's death. The river god purified him and gave him his daughter Callirrhoe in marriage. Callirrhoe demanded the Necklace of Harmonia. Alcmaeon returned to Psophis and lied to Phegeus to get it back.

Death

Phegeus discovered the deception, and his sons ambushed Alcmaeon and killed him. But Callirrhoe had prayed to Zeus, and he aged her infant sons Amphoterus and Acarnan to manhood in a single night. They killed Phegeus and his sons, then carried the Necklace of Harmonia to Delphi and laid it on Apollo's altar.