Astydameia
Encyclopedia
In Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

, Astydameia (or Astydamea, Astydamia) is a name attributed to five individuals.

Queen of Iolcus

Astydameia, daughter of Cretheus
Cretheus
In Greek mythology, Cretheus or Krētheus was the king and founder of Iolcus, the son of Aeolus and Enarete. His wives were Tyro and either Demodice or Biadice. With Tyro, he fathered Aeson, Pheres, and Amythaon...

 (also known as Hippolyte), was the Queen of Iolcus and wife of Acastus
Acastus
Acastus is a character in Greek mythology. He sailed with Jason and the Argonauts, and participated in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar.-Biography:Acastus was the son of Pelias, then king of Iolcus, and Anaxibia ....

. Her husband purified Peleus
Peleus
In Greek mythology, Pēleus was a hero whose myth was already known to the hearers of Homer in the late 8th century BCE. Peleus was the son of Aeacus, king of the island of Aegina, and Endeïs, the oread of Mount Pelion in Thessaly; he was the father of Achilles...

 of the murder of King Eurytion
Eurytion
In Greek mythology Eurytion , "widely-honoured", was a name attributed to six individuals....

 of Phthia
Phthia
Phthia , Phthíē ) in ancient Greece was the southernmost region of ancient Thessaly, on both sides of Othrys Mountain. It was the homeland of the Myrmidones tribe, who took part in the Trojan War under Achilles....

. Astydameia fell in love with Peleus but he scorned her. Bitter, she sent a messenger to Antigone
Antigone (daughter of Eurytion)
In Greek mythology, Antigone was the daughter of Eurytion and wife of Peleus.Peleus and Telamon, his brother, killed their half-brother Phocus and fled Aegina to escape punishment. In Phthia, Peleus was purified by Eurytion and married Antigone, Eurytion's daughter...

, Peleus' wife, to tell her that Peleus was to marry Acastus' daughter, Sterope
Sterope
Sterope was the name of several individuals in Greek mythology:* Sterope , one of the Pleiades and the wife of Oenomaus **a name of 22 Tauri in the Pleiades cluster of stars...

; Antigone hanged herself. Astydameia then told Acastus that Peleus had tried to rape her. Acastus believed the false accusations and tried to take revenge n Peleus by taking him on a hunting trip and leaving him protectless as a group of Centaurs attacked. Peleus escaped death with the help of Chiron
Chiron
In Greek mythology, Chiron was held to be the superlative centaur among his brethren.-History:Like the satyrs, centaurs were notorious for being wild and lusty, overly indulgent drinkers and carousers, given to violence when intoxicated, and generally uncultured delinquents...

 and Hermes
Hermes
Hermes is the great messenger of the gods in Greek mythology and a guide to the Underworld. Hermes was born on Mount Kyllini in Arcadia. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the cunning of thieves, of orators and...

; he pillaged Iolcus and dismembered Astydameia, then marched his army between the rended limbs.

For the mytheme
Mytheme
In the study of mythology, a mytheme is the essential kernel of a myth—an irreducible, unchanging element, a minimal unit that is always found shared with other, related mythemes and reassembled in various ways—"bundled" was Claude Lévi-Strauss's image— or linked in more...

 of a woman taking revenge on the man who does not answer her feelings by falsely accusing him of sexual abuse, see also Phaedra
Phaedra (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Phaedra is the daughter of Minos and Pasiphaë, wife of Theseus and the mother of Demophon of Athens and Acamas. Phaedra's name derives from the Greek word φαιδρός , which meant "bright"....

, Stheneboea
Stheneboea
In Greek mythology Stheneboea or Stheneboia was the daughter of Iobates, king in Lycia, and consort of Proetus, joint-king in the Argolid with Acrisius, having his seat at Tiryns; she took a fancy to Bellerophon but was repulsed...

, Tenes
Tenes
In Greek mythology, Tenes was the eponymous hero of the island of Tenedos. He was the son either of Apollo or of King Cycnus of Colonae by Proclia, daughter or granddaughter of Laomedon. Cycnus' second wife Philonome, daughter of Tragasus or Cragasus, falsely accused Tenes of rape, bringing in a...

, Phoenix
Phoenix (Iliad)
In Greek mythology, Phoenix , son of Amyntor and Cleobule, is one of the Myrmidons led by Achilles in the Trojan War...

 and Eunostus
Eunostus (hero)
In Greek mythology, Eunostus was a hero of Tanagra, Boeotia. His parents were Elieus, son of Cephissus, and Scias. He was said to have received his name from the nymph Eunosta who reared him....

.

Consort of Heracles

Astydameia was the mother of Ctesippus by Heracles
Heracles
Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...

. In one source, she is the daughter of Amyntor
Amyntor
Amyntor , was an ancient Greek name attributed to several people both mythological and historical.- Mythological :...

 and Cleobule
Cleobule
In Greek mythology, the name Cleobule refers to:*Wife of Aleus of Tegea, mother of Cepheus and Amphidamas.*Wife of Alector or Lacritus and mother of Leitus.*Daughter of Aeolus or Aeopolus, one of the possible mothers of Myrtilus by Hermes....

. Another account makes her the daughter of Ormenius, king of Pelasgiotis
Pelasgiotis
Pelasgiotis was an elongated district of ancient Thessaly from the Vale of Tempe to the southern city of Pherae. Pelasgiotis included the below localities: Argos Pelasgikon, Argyra, Atrax, Crannon, Cynoscephalae, Elateia, Gyrton, Mopsion, Larissa, Kondaia, Onchestos river and town, Phayttos,...

. Heracles, the same source relates, wooed her, but Ormenius would not marry her to him since Heracles was already married to Deianira
Deianira
Deïanira or Dejanira is a figure in Greek mythology, best-known for being Heracles' third wife and, in the late Classical story, unwittingly killing him with the Shirt of Nessus...

. Heracles then led a war against Ormenius, killed him and took Astydameia by force.

Astydameia (or Astygeneia) is also an alternate name for Astyoche
Astyoche
The name Astyoche or Astyocheia was attributed to the following individuals in Greek mythology.*Daughter of the river god Simoeis, mother of Tros by Erichthonius....

, daughter of Phylas, who bore Heracles a son Tlepolemus
Tlepolemus
For others of this name see Tlepolemus In Greek mythology, Tlepolemus is the son of Heracles by Astyocheia, daughter of the King of Ephyra. Either that or he was the son of Melite and the second of the two sons of Hercules who goes by the name of Hyllus...

.

Daughter of Pelops

Astydameia was the daughter of Pelops
Pelops
In Greek mythology, Pelops , was king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus. He was the founder of the House of Atreus through his son of that name....

 and Hippodamia
Hippodamia
Hippodamia was a daughter of King Oenomaus and wife of Pelops with whom her offspring were Thyestes, Atreus, Pittheus, Alcathous, Troezen, Hippalcimus, Copreus, Astydameia, Nicippe, Eurydice and others....

. She married Alcaeus
Alcaeus (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Alcaeus or Alkaios was the name of a number of different people:*Alcaeus, a son of Perseus and Andromeda, and married to Astydameia, the daughter of Pelops and Hippodamia, by whom he became the father of Amphitryon, Anaxo and Perimede.*Alcaeus, the original name of Heracles ,...

 and had children by him: Amphitryon
Amphitryon
Amphitryon , in Greek mythology, was a son of Alcaeus, king of Tiryns in Argolis.Amphitryon was a Theban general, who was originally from Tiryns in the eastern part of the Peloponnese. He was friends with Panopeus....

, Anaxo
Anaxo
In Greek mythology, Anaxo , daughter of Alcaeus and Astydameia, daughter of Pelops and Hippodamia. She married Electryon, king of Mycenae, and her father's brother, being the son of Perseus and Andromeda. Her children were Alcmena, Stratobates, Gorgophonus, Phylonomus, Celaeneus, Amphimachus,...

, and Perimede
Perimede (mythology)
In Greek mythology, the name Perimede refers to:*A daughter of Oeneus, mother of Astypalaea and Europe by Phoenix .*Sister of Amphitryon and wife of Licymnius....

.

Daughter of Strophius

Astydameia is briefly mentioned by a scholiast on Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...

 as the daughter of Strophius
Strophius
In Greek mythology, Strophius, son of Crisus, was a King of Phocis, husband of the sister of Agamemnon and by her father of Pylades and Astydameia. When Orestes was hiding from his murderous mother, Clytemnestra, Strophius hid him...

 and Cydragora and sister of Pylades
Pylades
In Greek mythology, Pylades is the son of King Strophius of Phocis and of Anaxibia, daughter of Atreus and sister of Agamemnon and Menelaus. He is mostly known for his strong friendship with his cousin Orestes, son of Agamemnon.-Orestes and Pylades:...

.

Daughter of Phorbas

This Astydameia was the mother of Lepreus
Lepreus (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Lepreus was a son of Caucon or Pyrgeus, and grandson of Poseidon; one account calls him son of Poseidon. His mother was Astydameia, daughter of Phorbas....

 by Caucon, son of Poseidon
Poseidon
Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...

. She persuaded Heracles
Heracles
Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...

 to reconcile with her son, who had previously advised Augeas
Augeas
In Greek mythology, Augeas , whose name means "bright", was king of Elis and father of Epicaste. Some say that Augeas was one of the Argonauts....

to cast Heracles in bonds.
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