Tydeus- Greek HeroHero"Champion of the Proetid Gate"

Exile from Calydon

Tydeus was a son of King Oeneus of Calydon in Aetolia. Homer calls him short but ferocious. He killed a kinsman and fled Calydon for Argos, where King Adrastus received him and gave his daughter Deipyle in marriage.

The Embassy to Thebes

Before the war, Adrastus sent Tydeus as ambassador to Thebes to demand the throne for Polynices. The Thebans refused, and as Tydeus departed they sent fifty warriors to ambush him on the road. Tydeus killed all fifty single-handedly, sparing only one man, Maeon, to carry word back to Thebes. Agamemnon would later invoke this feat at Troy to shame Tydeus's son Diomedes.

The Siege of Thebes

At the Proetid Gate, Tydeus faced the Theban defender Melanippus. Melanippus struck him down with a mortal wound. Even dying, Tydeus killed his enemy. In Apollodorus's account, he called for his comrades to bring him Melanippus's severed head.

The Withdrawal of Athena

Athena, who had favored Tydeus throughout the campaign, descended from Olympus carrying a vial of ambrosia to make him immortal. But as she approached, she saw Tydeus split open Melanippus's skull and eat his brains. She withdrew the gift and let him die. In Apollodorus's telling, the seer Amphiaraus provoked the act. He brought Melanippus's head to the dying Tydeus. Prophecy had told him Tydeus would disgrace himself and lose the goddess's favor.