Amphidamas was an Arcadian prince counted among the Argonauts who sailed with Jason in quest of the Golden Fleece. According to most accounts he was a son of King Aleus of Tegea (by Neaera or Cleobule) and a brother of the Argonaut Cepheus. A divergent tradition instead makes him a son of King Lycurgus and brother of Ancaeus, Epochus and Iasus, in which case he is the father of Melanion and of Antimache, wife of Eurystheus. The name was shared by several other unrelated figures of Greek myth.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Amphidamas" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Identity
Amphidamas (Ancient Greek: Ἀμφιδάμας) is the name of multiple people in Greek mythology. The Arcadian Amphidamas, an Argonaut from Tegea, is the figure described here; he is also referred to in some sources by the variant name Iphidamas.
Wikipedia treats the figure within a set index article that gathers all the bearers of the name, because the ancient sources do not agree on his parentage and place him in two different generations of the Arcadian (Tegean) royal house.
II.Family (son of Aleus)
In the majority tradition, Amphidamas (or Iphidamas) is an Arcadian prince, son of King Aleus and of either Neaera or Cleobule. He is the brother of Cepheus, with whom he sails on the Argo.
Under this account he is named as the father of Nausidame, who bore Helios a son, Augeas, king of Elis.
III.Family (son of Lycurgus)
A divergent tradition places Amphidamas one generation later, as an Arcadian prince and son of King Lycurgus by either Cleophyle or Eurynome, and so brother of Ancaeus, Epochus and Iasus.
In this version he is the father of two children: Melanion, the husband of Atalanta, and Antimache, who married King Eurystheus of Tiryns.
IV.Mythology
Amphidamas is best known as one of the Argonauts, the heroes who joined Jason aboard the Argo in the quest for the Golden Fleece. He is paired in the catalogue with his brother Cepheus, the pair coming from Arcadia where they inhabited Tegea and the allotment of Apheidas.
His role in the surviving narrative is brief but distinct: during the voyage he is remembered for his presence among the Arcadian contingent and his counsel to the crew at the Isle of Ares, where the Argonauts contend with the Stymphalian birds.
V.Other figures of the name
Several other mythological figures share the name Amphidamas and are distinct from the Arcadian Argonaut. Among them are Amphidamas, father of Pelagon the Phocian king who gave Cadmus the guiding cow, and an Amphidamas (or Amphidamantes) named as father of Clytia.
Others include Amphidamas (or Iphidamas), son of Busiris king of Egypt, killed alongside his father by Heracles; Amphidamas of Cythera, owner of the helmet given by Autolycus that later passed through Meriones to Odysseus; and Amphidamas of Opus, father of Clitonymus who was killed by Patroclus over a game of dice.
Two further bearers of the name appear in the Trojan cycle: an Amphidamas among the warriors concealed in the Trojan horse, and an Amphidamas counted among the comrades of Odysseus who survived the encounter with the Cyclops Polyphemus.