Eurystheus

Borrowing from Ancient Greek Εὐρυσθεύς (Eurustheús).

Eurystheus

1. (Greek mythology) A Mycenaean king of Tiryns (or, according to some authors, of Argos), in Argolis, who imposed the twelve labours on Heracles.
   • 1991, Transactions of the American Philological Association, Scholars Press, page 129,

     "But why hasn't Iolaus killed Eurystheus?," she asks. In a witticism very much akin to Electra's "But where are the messengers?," Euripides has Alcmene ask, essentially, why the plot she is part of has just swerved from its expected course: Iolaus is supposed to kill Eurystheus, by tradition.

   • 1993, Timothy Gantz, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Volume 2, Johns Hopkins University Press, page 381,

     Already we have seen from Iliad 19 and the birth of Eurystheus that at an early stage of the tradition Herakles was destined to be subordinate to his cousin.

   • 2003, Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood, Tragedy and Athenian Religion, Rowman & Littlefield (Lexington Books), page 323,

     There is a different kind of religious reference at 989-90, where Eurystheus claims that it was Hera who had afflicted him with the enmity towards Heracles.

• Eurystheus appears (as king of Argos) in Euripides' Heracleidae ("Children of Heracles").

• Eurysthean