Megareus of Onchestus

In Greek mythology, Megareus of Onchestus was king of Onchestus in Boeotia. He was either son of Poseidon and Oenope, daughter of Epopeus^[1], or of Onchestus (eponym of their kingdom), or of Apollo, or of Aegeus,^[2] or of Hippomenes^[3]. He came with his army to the assistance of Nisos, husband of his sister Abrota^[4], against Minos. In one version, he died in the battle, and the city of Nisa (Nisos' domain) was renamed Megara in his honor^[3][5]; in another, he married Iphinoe, daughter of Nisos, and succeeded to his father-in-law's power over Megara^[6]. His children by Iphinoe were Evippus, Timalcus, and Evaechme; he also had a son Hippomenes by Merope^[7]. With the aid of the god Apollo, Alcathous killed the Cithaeronian lion, for which Megareus gave him his daughter Euaechme as a wife. He subsequently made Alcathous his successor, because his own sons did not outlive him: Evippus was killed by the lion, and Timalcus was slain by Theseus, having joined the Dioscuri in the campaign against him.^[8]

References

1. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae, 157
2. ^ Stephanus of Byzantium, s. v. Megara
3. ^ ^{a b} Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, 3. 15. 8
4. ^ Plutarch, Quaestiones Graecae, 16
5. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 1. 39. 5
6. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 1. 39. 6; 1. 41. 5
7. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae, 185
8. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 1. 41. 3