In Greek mythology, Echemus was a Tegean king of Arcadia who succeeded Lycurgus. He is best remembered for defeating Hyllus, son of Heracles, in single combat, forcing the Heracleidae to abandon their attempt to invade the Peloponnese and so delaying the Dorian return. He was the son of Aeropus and married Timandra, a daughter of Tyndareus and Leda of Sparta. The Tegeans cited his victory as one of their proudest achievements and showed his tomb and a relief of the duel at Tegea.
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I.Identity and reign
Echemus (Ancient Greek: Ἔχεμος, Ekhemos; pronounced /ˈɛkəməs/) was the Tegean king of Arcadia who came to the throne in succession to Lycurgus.
Through his descent and marriage he was tied into the heroic genealogies of the Peloponnese, with the tradition presenting the Tegeans and Arcadians as a 'pre-Dorian' people set in opposition to the Heracleidae.
II.Family
Echemus was the son of Aeropus, who was in turn the son of King Cepheus. He married Timandra, a daughter of Leda and Tyndareus of Sparta.
Timandra bore him a son named Ladocus, before she abandoned Echemus for Phyleus, king of Dulichium. This marriage connected Echemus to the family of the Atreidae and underlined the Tegeans' standing as ancestral rivals of the Heracleidae.
An alternative genealogy reported to Pausanias at Tegea made Aeropus the son of the war-god Ares rather than of Cepheus; Pausanias recorded this version in connection with the local temple of Ares.
III.Mythology
After the death of Eurystheus, Hyllus led the Heracleidae in an attack on Mycenae. Echemus came forward as the Arcadian champion and defeated Hyllus in single combat, compelling the Heracleidae to withdraw.
Herodotus refers to this combat in Book 9 of the Histories, where it is cited as proof of Tegean valour during the dispute over the order of battle at Plataea, and Pausanias counts the victory among the greatest of Tegean achievements.
The duel is said to have kept the Dorians out of the Peloponnese during the reign of Tisamenus. At Tegea, Pausanias saw the tomb of Echemus together with a relief showing his victory over Hyllus; an inscription bearing his name survives on a Classical relief now in the Archaeological Museum of Tegea.
Echemus was also remembered as the victor in the wrestling contest at the first Olympic Games, which were said to have been founded by Heracles.