Autolycus’s Family Tree

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Family

• Chione(parent),Hermes(parent)— Consort

  Hermes lay with Chione, daughter of Daedalion, on the same night as Apollo, and she bore twins — Autolycus to Hermes and Philammon to Apollo. Autolycus inherited his father's gift for thievery and deception.

• Anticlea(child)

  Anticlea was the daughter of Autolycus, the master thief and son of Hermes. Through this lineage, her son Odysseus inherited the cunning and resourcefulness for which he became famous.

• Mestra(spouse)— Marriage

  In Hesiod's Catalogue of Women, Mestra married Autolycus, the master thief and grandson of Hermes. Their union connected Erysichthon's cursed lineage to the ancestry of Odysseus through Autolycus's daughter Anticlea.

Enemy of

• Sisyphus

  Sisyphus outwitted Autolycus by marking his cattle's hooves, catching the master thief red-handed. In some traditions, their rivalry led to Sisyphus receiving Anticlea, connecting him to Odysseus's disputed paternity.

Member of

• Argonauts

  Autolycus sailed with the Argonauts on the quest for the Golden Fleece, contributing his skills in thievery and cunning to Jason's crew.

Associated with

• Erysichthon

  In Hesiod's Catalogue of Women, Autolycus married Erysichthon's daughter Mestra after acquiring her through one of her father's sales. Autolycus thus became connected to Erysichthon's cursed household.

• Eurycleia

  Eurycleia placed the infant Odysseus on the knees of his grandfather Autolycus and asked him to name the child. Autolycus named him Odysseus, as recounted in the digression of Odyssey 19.

• Odysseus

  Autolycus named his grandson Odysseus and later hosted him on Mount Parnassus, where Odysseus received the boar-tusk wound scar by which Eurycleia would recognize him in the Odyssey.