Chapter 6 Descendants of Hercules - 6

The descendants of Hercules swore to their protector Demophon to be eternally grateful for his help.Then they left Athens under the leadership of Hylos and Iolaus.They met allied forces everywhere, and advanced on their way to the Peloponnese, their father's hereditary domain.It took them a whole year to capture all the cities except Argos. At this time, the plague was prevalent throughout the peninsula and could not be prevented.The descendants of Hercules learned from an oracle that they were responsible for the disaster, because they returned to the Peloponnese before the appointed time.So they withdrew quickly and returned to the Attica area, living on the Marathon Plain.According to his father's last wish, Xu Luo married the beautiful girl Iol as his wife.Back then, Hercules had proposed to her.Now Schroth is brooding over taking back his father's domain.He came to Delphi again and prayed to the oracle, and the answer he got was: "When the third crop is ripe, you can return successfully." Xuluo understood it as the autumn harvest of the third year.He waited patiently, and after the summer of the third year passed, he invaded the Peloponnese again.

After the death of Eurystheus, Atreus became king in Mycenae.Atreus was the grandson of Tantalus and the son of Pelops.Seeing that Xu Luos led troops to invade, he joined forces with Tegea City and other cities to organize an army to meet the enemy. Soldiers from both sides set up camp near the Isthmus of Corinth and confronted each other.In order to prevent Greece from being destroyed by the war, Hylos still proposed to fight alone. He hoped that the two sides would sign an oath: if he wins, the kingdom of Eurystheus will be ruled by the descendants of Heracles; , then the descendants of Hercules shall not enter the Peloponnese for fifty years.

The word spread to the opposing camp, and King Ekimos of Tegea immediately accepted the challenge.After the two faced each other, they fought wits and courage, and the fight was inextricable.In the end, Xu Ross was unfortunately defeated.When he was dying, he was still painfully thinking about the cryptic oracle. The descendants of Hercules retreated from the vicinity of the Isthmus of Corinth and lived in the area of ​​Marathon in accordance with their oath. Fifty years have passed.The sons of Hercules had never breached their covenant before, and had no intention of taking back their lands, and Clivethos, the son of Hylos and Iol, was now fifty years old.Because the agreed time limit had expired, he could no longer be restrained, so he joined forces with the other grandsons of Hercules to invade the Peloponnese.Thirty years had passed since the Trojan War.But he was no luckier than his father, he and his men all died in the war.

Another twenty years later, Aristomachus, the son of Clewateus, the grandson of Hylos, and the great-grandson of Hercules, raised his army again.At this time the king who ruled the Peloponnese was Orestes' son Tisa Menos.Aristomachus also misunderstood an oracle.Said the oracle, "Through the narrow way, victory shall prevail." So he invaded from the Isthmus of Corinth, was defeated, and died like his father and grandfather. Another thirty years passed, that is, eighty years after the Trojan War.The three sons of Aristomachus, Temenos, Cresphontes, and Ariothemus, led an army to seize their ancestral lands.Although the meaning of the oracle was vague in the past few times, they still did not lose their faith in the gods.So they came to Delphi, and asked the priestess about the prospect of war, but the answer was exactly the same as that received by their ancestors.The elder brother Temenos couldn't help complaining: "My father, grandfather and great-grandfather all obeyed this oracle, but they all failed!" Finally, the god only took pity on them, and explained to them through the mouth of the priestess. The meaning of the encyclical. "The misfortunes of your ancestors," she said, "were brought on by themselves, because they did not understand the true meaning of the oracle! God was not referring only to the third harvest of the earth, but to the third harvest of the seeds of your race. .The first time is Kleinwaterus, the second time is Aristomachus, and the third time is you, the generation predicted to be victorious.

As for the so-called 'narrow path' it is also misunderstood.It does not refer to the Isthmus of Corinth, but to the Strait of Corinth on the opposite side. Now you understand the true meaning of the oracle.How you act depends on the help of the gods! " Temenos suddenly realized.Immediately joined forces with his brothers, armed a mighty army, and built ships of war in Crowley.From then on, that place was called Nopaktos, which means shipyard.Of course, this campaign was not an easy task for the descendants of Hercules.They paid a lot of blood and tears.Just as the troops were assembled and ready to go, the youngest brother, Aristotlemus, was suddenly struck by lightning.They buried their brothers, and just as the warship was leaving the shore, a magistrate came suddenly.He was arranged by the gods to mutter the oracle.In their fuss, they could not help but regard him as a wizard, and even as a spy sent by the Peloponnesians.Hippertus threw a javelin at him, killing him instantly.The gods were very angry with the descendants of Hercules, so they sent a disaster on them. A storm destroyed the warships, and many soldiers were drowned in the water.The army on land also suffered from famine, and the soldiers were starved of food and food, and soon the army also disintegrated.

After suffering successive disasters, Temenos prayed to the oracle, and the oracle's answer was: You killed the innocent prophet, that's why you suffered misfortune.Also, a man with three eyes had to be made to command the army.The first part of the oracle was carried out quickly.Hippertus was thrown out of the army and went into exile.But the second part made the descendants of Hercules feel awkward.Where will they find a man with three eyes?With devotion to the gods, everyone searched tirelessly everywhere.One day, by chance, they met Oxelos, the son of Haemon, who was a descendant of the royal family of Aedolia.Just as the descendants of Hercules entered the Peloponnese, Oxelos was forced to flee from Aetolia because of the crime of murder, and went to Elis, a small country in the Peloponnese, to escape disaster.After a while, he missed his homeland, so he rode a donkey back home, and met the descendants of Hercules on the road.Oxelos has only one eye, and the other eye was shot blind by an arrow when he was young, so he rode a donkey instead of walking, and the combination of man and beast has three eyes.

The descendants of Hercules believed that the oracle had been fulfilled.So they chose Oxelos as their leader.They reorganized their army, built warships, attacked the enemy, and finally killed Tissamenus, the military leader of the Peloponnese.