Melanippus

Not to be confused with Melanippe.

In Greek mythology, there were nine people named Melanippus (Μελάνιππος):

1. One of the sons of Agrius, killed by Diomedes.^[1]
2. Son of Perigune and Theseus, the father of Ioxus who, together with Ornytus, led a colony to Caria and became the ancestor of the family Ioxides.^[2][3]
3. Son of Astacus, defended Thebes in Seven Against Thebes. In Aeschylus' play, he defended the Proitid gate against Tydeus.^[4] He killed two of the seven attacking champions, Mecisteus and Tydeus,^[5][6] but was killed by either Amphiaraus or by Tydeus as he died, who then ate Melanippus' brains.^[7]
4. Son of Hicetaon and a native of Percote. He fought under Hector, willing to avenge the death of his cousin Dolops, and was killed by Antilochus during the Trojan War.^[8]
5. One of the 50 sons of Priam. His mother was a woman other than Hecuba. He fought in the Trojan War and was slain by Teucer.^[9][10]
6. Yet another Trojan, who was slain by Patroclus.^[11]
7. One of the Achaeans who fought at Troy.^[12]
8. Son of Ares and Triteia, daughter of the sea-god Triton, founder of the city of Tritaia, which he named after his own mother.^[13]
9. A young man of Patrae who was in love with Comaetho, but parents on both sides were against their marriage. Melanippus and Comaetho met secretly in the temple of Artemis, where the girl served as priestess, and had sex there. The outraged goddess cursed the country with plague and famine; in order to put an end to the calamity, the inhabitants of Patrae were instructed by the oracle of Delphi to sacrifice both lovers to the goddess and, from then on, to sacrifice the handsomest young man and the most beautiful girl of the city each year, until a new strange deity is introduced in Patrae. The practice lasted until Eurypylus, son of Euaemon, on his way back from Troy, brought an image of Dionysus to Patrae.^[14]

References

1. ^ Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, 1. 8. 6
2. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 10. 25. 7
3. ^ Plutarch, Theseus, 8. 3
4. ^ Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes, 609
5. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 9. 18. 1
6. ^ Herodotus, Histories, 5. 67. 3
7. ^ Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, 3. 6. 8
8. ^ Homer, Iliad, 15. 546 & 575
9. ^ Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, 3. 12. 5
10. ^ Homer, Iliad, 8. 276
11. ^ Homer, Iliad, 16. 695
12. ^ Homer, Iliad, 19. 240
13. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 7. 22. 8
14. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 7. 19. 1-9