In Greek mythology, Erginus (Ancient Greek Ἐργῖνος) was king of Minyan Orchomenus in Boeotia, son of Clymenus (or, in variants, of Periclymenus or Azeus). After Thebans killed his father, he defeated Thebes and imposed a yearly tribute of a hundred oxen. Young Heracles later attacked the Minyan collectors, routed Orchomenus, and — in most accounts — slew Erginus; Pausanias instead has Heracles spare him so that he lived to old age and fathered Trophonius and Agamedes.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Erginus (king of Orchomenus)" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Family
Erginus succeeded Clymenus (sometimes called Periclymenus) as king of the Minyans at Orchomenus. His mother is named Buzyge or Budeia; brothers in the genealogical tradition include Arrhon, Azeus, Pyleus, Stratius, and sisters Eurydice and Axia. One account makes Azeus his father instead. Some later writers identify the Minyan king with the Milesian Argonaut of the same name — a merger this atlas keeps separate.
II.War with Thebes
Erginus avenged his father's death at the hands of Perieres, charioteer of Menoeceus of Thebes, by making war on the Thebans and inflicting a heavy defeat. Thebes was compelled to pay a tribute of one hundred oxen a year for twenty years.
The tribute ended early when Heracles attacked the Minyan emissaries sent to collect it. A second war followed; under Heracles' leadership Thebes won, and a double tribute was imposed on Orchomenus. Apollodorus, Strabo, Diodorus, and Eustathius have Erginus slain in that war. Pausanias alone reports that Heracles spared him, that he lived to a ripe old age, and that late in life he fathered the master-builders Trophonius and Agamedes.
III.Homonyms
This atlas entry (erginus-orchomenus) is the Minyan king of Orchomenus. Distinct from Erginus the Milesian Argonaut, son of Poseidon (erginus-miletus); from a Theban defender killed by Hippomedon in Statius' Thebaid; and from later historical or anecdotal namesakes.