HERACLIDÆ, the descendants of Hercules, greatly celebrated in ancient history. Hercules at his death left to his son Hyllus all the rights and demands which he had upon the Peloponnesus, and permitted him to marry Iole as soon as he came of age. The posterity of Hercules were not more kindly treated by Euristheus than their father had been, and they were obliged to retire for protection to the court of Ceyx, king of Trachinia. Euristheus pursued them thither; and Ceyx, afraid of his resentment, begged the Heraclidæ to depart from his dominions. From Trachinia they came to Athens, where Theseus, the king of the country, who had accompanied their father in some of his expeditions, received them with great humanity, and assisted them against their common enemy Euristheus. Euristheus was killed by the hand of Hyllus himself, and his children perished with him, and all the cities of the Peloponnesus became the undisputed property of the Heraclidæ. Their triumph, however, was short; their numbers were lessened by a pestilence; and the oracle informed them, that they had taken possession of the Peloponnesus before the gods permitted their return. Upon this they abandoned Peloponnesus, and came to settle in the territories of the Athenians, where Hyllus, obedient to his father's commands, married Iole the daughter of Eurytus. Soon after he consulted the oracle, anxious to recover the Peloponnesus; and the ambiguity of the answer determined him to make a second attempt. He challenged to single combat Atreus, the successor of Euristheus on the throne of Mycenæ; and it was mutually agreed that the undisturbed possession of the Peloponnesus should be ceded to whosoever defeated his adversary. Echemus accepted the challenge for Atreus, and Hyllus was killed, and the Heraclidæ a second time departed from Peloponnesus. Cleodæus the son of Hyllus made a third attempt, and was equally unsuccessful; and his son Aristomachus some time after met with the same unfavourable reception, and perished in the field of battle. Aristodemus, Temenus, and Chresphontes, the three sons of Aristomachus, encouraged by the more expressive word of an oracle, and desirous to revenge the death of their progenitors, assembled a numerous force, and with a fleet invaded all Peloponnesus. Their expedition was attended with much success; and after some decisive battles, they became masters of all the peninsula. The recovery of the Peloponnesus by the descendants of Hercules
raclides
Heraclides.
cules forms an interesting epoch in ancient history, which is universally believed to have happened 80 years after the Trojan war, or 1190 years before the Christian era. This conquest was totally achieved about 120 years after the first attempt of Hyllus, who was killed about 20 years before the Trojan war. As it occasioned a world of changes and revolutions in the affairs of Greece, inasmuch that scarce a state or people but were turned upside down thereby, the return of the Heraclides is the epocha of the beginning of profane history: all the time that preceded it is reputed fabulous. Accordingly, Ephorus, Cumanus, Calisthenes, and Theopompus, only begin their histories from hence.